Cleaning up this place is a nightmare. These rooms are huge—if I scrub every corner by hand, I'll be here until next year.
Alistair walked through the apartment, checking the layers of dust. It would take an hour just to do one floor. Wait, why not test the Word Soul? Its range should be broad enough for housework.
"Purify."
Alistair spoke the word softly, focusing his intent on every surface within the manager's suite. Immediately, a ripple of mana radiated outward from him in a visible wave.
Whoosh—
Because he hadn't suppressed the output, the wave was incredibly obvious. Every tenant in the building felt the surge.
"What the hell was that?" Sadako poked her head out of the TV screen. "A mana pulse that loud without any concealment? You trying to call an airstrike on us?"
An accident, an accident, Alistair typed quickly.
"It feels much cleaner now. Even the toilet is sparkling," Hanako noted, walking out of the bathroom.
Alistair remained silent, unsure how to respond to that specific compliment.
"It is cleaner. We can actually use the bed now, though it's too small," Hachishaku's voice boomed from behind him.
Alistair turned. At some point, Hachishaku had sprawled across the bed. It was a standard king-size—2.2 meters long—but for a woman standing well over eight feet tall, her feet dangled off the end.
"It's only small for you," Hanako suggested. "Maybe we should get a custom bed? Six meters wide and six meters long? Then we could all roll around together."
"Rolling around? I love it!" The Human-Faced Dog (Inu) shouted, hugging Hanako from behind.
Six meters? Alistair visualized it. A bed that takes up thirty-six square meters? That's the size of a whole studio apartment!
"A six-meter bed won't fit; we need room for other furniture," Kuchisake-onna (Slit-Mouthed Woman) added, measuring the floor with her eyes. "A 4.3-meter square is the maximum, but a 4-meter one would leave walking space."
Is she that precise? Alistair wondered.
"Don't underestimate her," Sadako said, crawling out of the TV and pulling a bag of sunflower seeds from her cleavage. "Her legend is about cutting a perfect smile into people's faces. She has a god-like sense of spatial measurement."
Urban legends entering the workforce... Alistair felt the vibe of the room shifting into something domestic and strange.
Knock, knock.
"Excuse me? Is anyone there?" a female voice called from the front door.
"I've muted your passive ability," Sadako whispered, her hand on Alistair's back. "You can talk normally now."
"Thanks, Sadako-chan. Coming!" Alistair called out, heading to the foyer.
"Hello. I'm Alistair, the official manager of Spectral Manor. How can I help you?"
"Oh, hello! I didn't expect the manager to be so young," a warm, motherly Forte (Bovine) woman said. She had a gentle smile and curved horns. "I'm Mrs. Ironhoof. My daughter and I have been dealing with Sadako for a while."
"I took over from my grandfather," Alistair explained. "He was away, but I'm here to stay now."
"Well, since you're also a horned race, I thought you two might get along," she said, pushing a shorter girl forward. "This is my daughter, Anthe Ironhoof. She's starting at the Academy of Elves soon."
Holy... talk about 'stacked', Alistair thought. Anthe was barely five feet tall—a "short-stack" in the truest sense—but she carried a bust that rivaled Sadako's. Only Hachishaku could clearly beat her in scale.
"Ah, Ms. Midwinter. Good to see you again," Alistair noted as a blue-haired woman appeared behind them—Yukino Midwinter.
"Hello," Yukino nodded curtly, her icy gaze softening slightly.
"I actually have something for you," Alistair said, producing a small box. "Some milk puffs from the human district. Think of it as a thank-you for being such a good customer to my friend's shop."
Actually, these were "special" puffs Alistair had Hanako bake using his own "Cream" as an ingredient. Hanako, surprisingly, was a master baker.
"Thank you," Yukino accepted the gift, her fingers brushing his.
The mother and Yukino left, but Anthe remained. Once her mother was out of earshot, her expression shifted from shy to pure contempt.
"Heh. Is the big brother just a pathetic little 'simp'? Couldn't make it in the human world so you had to crawl back to inherit the family business?" Anthe crossed her arms, making her massive chest shelf outward. "You were checking out the Snow Girl, weren't you? You're such a 'trash-tier' loser. You don't even have the balls to tell her. My mom wants me to be nice to you, but you're just a nobody. A little fish in a big pond. Hahaha!"
"Kid, watch your mouth," Alistair's brow twitched. Where did this 'Mesugaki' (brat) attitude come from? "I could raise your rent, you know."
"Go ahead! The Academy of Elves will protect me. I have the professors as my backing. What do you have? You're new here, you probably aren't even close with the ghost sisters yet. No one's going to help a 'trash-tier' big brother like you!"
"The Academy, huh?" Alistair pulled a letter from his pocket. "You mean this one?"
He showed her the official invitation with the Golden Leaf seal.
"Wh-What?!" Anthe froze.