After listening to her explanation, Kabe finally cooled down.
Right now, looking at Mira who was actively trying to "seduce" him,
he only gave her a flat, uninterested once-over from head to toe, then let out a disdainful little chuckle.
"Too plain. When this here and this here turn into that..."
He lifted one hand in front of his chest, the other behind his rear to indicate the curves in question.
"...then you can come try tempting me again."
Mira's teeth instantly ground together at the sight.
"And besides, if you knew the pressure was so big, you should not have rented such a huge place in the first place."
"You?!" Mira almost exploded on the spot.
"Stop talking around it and just answer me. Want to share the place or not?
As long as you say yes, whenever you are home, I will be the one cooking.
All your laundry, pants included, plus the cleaning of your room, my brother and sister and I will take care of everything."
"That..."
Hearing those terms, Kabe started to waver.
No matter how cheap the guild food was, it was still more expensive than cooking for himself.
If Mira helped with cooking, even if he had to buy the ingredients himself, with his appetite he could still save quite a bit every month.
Most importantly, there would be someone to wash his clothes and sweep the floors, to keep his place clean.
Whichever way he looked at it, it was a pretty sweet deal.
"And the rent? How are we splitting it, and what about my room?"
"Rent is three hundred thousand J a month. Split four ways, that is seventy-five thousand each.
I absolutely will not make you pay more.
As for the rooms, you get first pick. Two rooms on the first floor, three on the second, whichever you choose is yours."
Mira waved her hand boldly as she offered the best conditions she could.
Kabe thought it over carefully and realized the terms really were not bad.
He had no more objections and reached out to seal the deal with her.
"All right then, it is decided. I do not really care where I stay. The entire second floor can be for you three siblings. I will just take a room on the first floor."
Mira clenched her fist in excitement, let out a cheer, then happily shook his hand.
"No problem. Welcome to your new home, roommate.
In a bit I will take you to find Auntie Landlord and explain everything."
With the co-rental settled so smoothly, the three Strauss siblings all secretly exhaled in relief.
Kabe was also quite satisfied, paying just over seventy thousand J to live in such a luxurious apartment.
Only Erza, left hanging on the side, went completely blank for a moment.
Her head was suddenly full of just two words: "living together."
Watching Kabe animatedly discuss things with Mira, the two of them dividing up which parts of the house would be whose,
Erza felt as if some beloved toy was about to be snatched away, leaving her chest strangely empty.
She had known Kabe for so long, yet she had never even taken him to visit her own room.
Now this newcomer Mira was just going to grab Kabe in one swoop and lock him up in her house.
In a daze, Erza could almost see Mira smirking at her in mockery.
"No. I cannot accept this."
She shouted it out loud before she could stop herself.
Everyone stared at her in surprise. Mira looked especially displeased.
"Hah? This is something Kabe and I decided. What does it have to do with you, you cold, poker-faced armor girl?"
Erza's body stiffened. She silently regretted blurting out what was really on her mind.
Facing the four pairs of eyes, she forced out a bitter little smile.
"I mean, Kabe finally moved into a new place. We cannot just let it end so blandly.
We could... have some kind of celebration, maybe."
Mira shot her a suspicious look, but still gave a begrudging nod.
"That is true at least. I did not expect you, cold armor girl, to actually be capable of this kind of idea."
Creak.
Erza's fingers, hidden behind her back, quietly clenched into a death grip.
Just you wait, you scrawny delinquent girl. I am going to settle this debt sooner or later.
Just like that, the rift between Erza and Mira deepened another notch, all without Kabe noticing a thing.
...
After that, the group went together to find the "Auntie Landlord" Mira had mentioned.
She was a short, a little plump middle-aged woman in her fifties or sixties.
According to Mira, though, this auntie had once been a member of Fairy Tail in her youth and had quite an impressive level of strength herself.
That was why Makarov felt at ease letting the Strauss siblings live in such a remote area.
It was also thanks to her that this rather luxurious standalone house could be rented to the three of them for the bargain price of three hundred thousand J a month.
When Auntie Landlord saw Mira bringing Kabe along to talk about co-renting, her expression turned very strange.
Afterward she not only cheerfully rewrote the contract, she even pulled Mira aside and whispered a "joke" to her.
If Mira and Kabe got married someday, the house could be their wedding home, and she would just give it to them outright.
Those "too straightforward" words made even the usually brash Mira blush scarlet.
When she looked at Kabe again, her gaze carried a strange mix of shyness and something like faint disgust.
Once the new rental contract was signed, they all went to a restaurant in town to have a big celebratory meal, just like they had agreed.
Naturally, Kabe was the one who paid, counting it as his housewarming treat.
After that, Kabe needed to buy bedding and other necessities.
The Strauss siblings enthusiastically volunteered to help him shop.
Only Erza claimed she still had things to do and left alone, looking very much like a defeated stray dog walking away with her tail between her legs.
"Erza sis seems like she has something on her mind," Lisanna murmured, watching Erza's back.
Mira immediately grabbed Lisanna's cheeks and stretched them, clearly unhappy.
"What do you mean Erza 'sis'? You only have one sister, and that is me, got it?"
"Mm, I got it, Mira sis..."
Only after Lisanna mumbled her agreement did Mira let go, satisfied.
"Come on, Kabe, I know a place with good prices and good quality. I will take you there."
"Hey, hey, hey, how long do you think I have been living here already?
I know where the good stuff is way better than you do."
Grumbling, Kabe tore his eyes away from Erza's departing figure and turned to follow after Mira and the others.
...
"Hey, Kabe, I heard about it you know, you are shacking up with that new little girl."
That evening, just as Kabe returned to the guild, Wakaba threw an arm around his shoulders and dragged him aside.
Wearing a sleazy grin, he poked Kabe's head with his pompadour and whispered teasingly,
"I am telling you, as a man you should really try to be a little more devoted.
You already have two adorable little girlfriends, Erza and Cana, and you still have the energy to go mess around outside.
Keep this up and one day you are going to get yourself killed by your own love life."
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T/N:
Please donate powerstones. If I get enough powerstones, I will start the bonus chapter system.