It has been 11 days since the start of the demon stone hunt.
　We finished the hunt in the evening, and now we hunt at night with Luna.
　Under the starry night sky, we hunted goblins and orcs incessantly until we finally reached 2000 magic stones.
　When they reached the target number, they ended the hunt and went home.

''All right!　It's done!

'Oh!　Is it finally over?!

Good job, brother. You have a good night's rest.

　Right after I got home, I let out a yell of joy and the Noles who were waiting for me at home greeted me with joy.
　I had less than 30 left by the end of the evening, so I didn't have to be that late today.
　I'm done, I'm done.......I'm too tired to turn into pure white ashes.......

''Huh, it's over? As for me, I would have liked to continue hunting a little longer........

'Enough is enough......... I'll continue to hunt, but give me a break....

　Sisha let out a sigh and looks really disappointed.
　He's still not satisfied after hunting for about 800 magic stones....
　Thanks to Sisuha's massage, I felt much better, but this hunt was really tough.
　Luna was tense at first, but now, as soon as she came back, she's sitting on a chair and lounging with her face on the desk, just like me before this.

'.........I'm at my limit. I'm terribly sleepy today.

Luna seems to sleep like she does every day, though...

'Of course. I can always fall asleep within a second if I want to.

'It's not even a dignified thing to say... eh, Luna, she's sleeping.

Hey!　Get up!　We're about to eat!

　Right after I said it, Luna started to breathe in her sleep, so I woke her up in a hurry.
　
　Luna seemed to be sleepy as well, so I decided to stop rejoicing and make it to dinner.

''Mufufu, it's a bit of a late dinner, but since we've finished collecting the magic stones, we're going to make a gorgeous meal today!

Isn't it gorgeous, or is it too much?

Nole got all worked up about it being the end of the day.

　Maybe it's because the end of the evening was in sight, but it looks like Nole cooked a rather lavish dinner to celebrate.
　Meat, mushrooms, salads, etc., the table is filled with food as if it were already a buffet style meal.
　How many people did I make this amount of food for? There's like a pound of meat here and there.
　I don't think we'll be able to eat it all, but even if we can't, Noor will finish the rest, so we'll be fine.

　We were also hungry, so we started eating immediately.
　Yes, it's a lot of food, but it's still delicious. Noor's seasoning is not too thick or thin. I would have preferred it to be a little thicker, but it was good enough.
　While we're all eating in a hubbub, Sisha gets up and walks to her room in the middle of the meal.
　And soon, he returned with an unfamiliar bottle.

''Sisha, what's that?''

Yeah, the alcohol.

I didn't know you had that stuff...

'I always enjoy just one drink in the evening. Since you're here, I thought I'd have an after-dinner drink. Mr. Okura, would you like a drink?　It's easy to drink and has a nice mouth feel.

Well I'll just take one drink then.

　I'm not much of a drinker, but I'm in a celebratory mood, so I'll have at least one drink.
　I took the tapered cup that Sisuha brought and had the sake poured into it.
　The liquid in it was a clear yellow-brown color. When I smelled the aroma, I could smell a fruit-like aroma wafting through the air. It's a pretty good smell.
　It had a strong fruit-like sweetness and aroma in my mouth. As I swallowed it and passed it down my throat, a good scent rose up my nose.
　This is........delicious. Even I, who don't like to drink alcohol, find it delicious.

'Oh ... it's delicious.'

'Mmmm, it sounds like you've got your mouth on it. This is one of my favorites of all the things I've been drinking.

　It was definitely delicious but........what about the priests comparing drinks?
　It's not like Sisuha's room is full of alcohol........

''It looks delicious, doesn't it? Let me drink it too--''

No!　Noll is a definite no-no!

Why is that, sir? We just need a little drink, sir.

"You're not a very good drinker.... You'll be down in one sip if you drink this stuff.

'If Noor doesn't, I guess I won't either. I might have wanted to try it for a bit.

　It was sweet and easy to drink, but this seemed to be pretty alcoholic.
　If Noor, who was drunk from the liquor in the candy, drank it, he would be drunk in one sip, of course.
　Estelle is still very young, so I can't make her drink alcohol.

''By the way, Okura-san. I finished collecting the magic stone, but what do you plan to do after tomorrow?

Hmm?　What do you think will happen when you're done collecting magic stones?

What ... what the hell is going on?

You don't get it. Collecting grimoires.

Boo!

　The moment I sipped that, Noll, who had been drinking her drink, turned her face to the side and spewed out to avoid flying into her food.
　Estelle also choked on what she was eating and hurriedly sipped her drink while pounding her chest.

'Whoa!　"Hey, what's the matter?

"Gee, gee, gee, gee.......it's because Okura-dono said something strange!　Why do you start collecting magic stones when you've finished collecting them?

I was joking. I was joking. It's a joke, Heihachi.

''Keho, Keho my brother, even if it's a joke, that's terrible...''

'Totally. I was going to bite you and roll you to the floor.

　Luna had exposed her fangs and was staring at me with a sharp look in her eyes.
　I didn't expect her to react this badly... I was half joking, but it looks like this was indeed a bad idea.

'So what are your real plans?　I was going to buy a home in King's Landing, but do you think about that?

Hmmm, I'm going to think about that too, but there's other stuff.

　Before collecting the magical stones, I decided to consider buying a house in the capital.
　But before that, I also want to decide something else.

''First of all, regarding the hunting, I'll put the collection of magic stones to rest and switch my priority to leveling up.

Mmm, must we level up?

'Come to think of it, the cost was pretty close to the edge. What's the level now?

I'm at level 79 now.

　At my current level, the total cost of being able to summon units is 93, and my current usage cost is 76.

''Even though it's gone up a lot since I summoned Luna-san, I don't think I'll be able to summon the next one without a little more cost.

'That's what I mean. I'd like to have at least twenty to spare in cost until the next mess comes along.

Hmm, just when you thought the hunt for the magical stone was over, you decide to level up.

Don't look so uncomfortable I'm not going to spend all morning and all night hunting for magic stones like I did.

　The extra cost is 17, so I'd like to be able to raise 3 levels for now and summon up to cost 20.
　I'd like to have room to get to about 30 if possible but it's going to take a lot of time to get up to that level.
　Because we're already at a higher level too, it's hard to raise our level in an average hunting ground.
　Hunting in Mount Remri or Alde Forest seems to be the best way to get experience, but it's time to find another hunting ground.
　I don't want to fight against strong demons in a fatigued state, so as far as leveling up is concerned, I'm going to hunt for an hour or two.

''Enough about hunting, now let's talk about buying a home in King's Landing.

Oh, I've been waiting for you!

'I could buy one, but how much do you have in your budget?'

　I said I would consider buying a house in King's Landing, but there's no way to decide without checking how much money we have.
　So, I counted the money I had when the subject came up last time.

Our total assets right now are 764 gold coins, plus silver coins and so on and so forth.

'Seven hundred and sixty-four gold coins ... seven hundred and sixty-four!　I didn't know we earned that much money!

If you can save up that much money, then you will be able to establish a proper home in the capital this time.

　764 gold coins means that we have 76.4 million G's worth of gold coins alone.
　If we add silver and other coins to that, we have a total of roughly 77 million Gs.
　Thanks to the fact that we haven't made any major purchases since we bought our house in Brunne, it looks like we've finally accumulated this much money.

''Hmmm, it's definitely a great amount of money, but it's still a bit short.

'Really?　Seems like enough to me...

'I spoke to a real estate agent in King's Landing once and he told me that if I wanted to buy a house for four people to live in, I would need G90 million.

90 million.........that's too much, sir.

　Estelle was right, this amount of money I have on hand is still not enough to buy a house in King's Landing.
　I was told that just a single house close to the Adventurer's Association would cost 70 million Gs........
　If we divide it up as transportation, we can buy it with what we have now.
　But when I think about the future........what will I do?

But it's an amount of money that you'll soon be able to afford. It would be better to save up some money and then buy one, instead of forcing yourself to buy one with what you have now.

Since we're going to be leveling up from now on, we should be able to accumulate enough if we hunt while aiming for demon materials that are likely to sell well.

　As long as you have the house extension, you are free to extend it. But we don't even know when they will come out.
　I'd like to have enough house to live in normally, if possible, since I might invite someone over.
　It's not something I'm in a hurry to buy, and like Sisha said, I should just hunt and decide on it to combine leveling up and making money.

''I have a lot of things to do, but I've finished collecting the magic stones, so I don't have to worry about the Gacha event coming any time soon. It was a good decision for your brother to put the collection of magic stones first.

'Hmmm, isn't it?　I'm always thinking ahead, you know!

　The moment they heard my words, Noor and Sisha fell silent and turned their faces away.
　Estelle froze with a smile on her face, while Luna ignored them and proceeded to eat her food.
　That reaction is sad, so please stop it.

''Ah, Okura-dono. You forgot that you have one more appointment.''

What's going on?

　There was silence in the air, and Noll said he still had plans.
　What else did he have to do?

It is riding. Now we can practice in peace!

'That's right. Me and Mr. Noll will be there to guide you through the process, so let's try to get on!

What, Heihachi can't ride a horse?

　...I forgot. Come to think of it, there was some talk about training for horseback riding.
　I thought it was just Noor, but he seems to be willing to get involved with Sisha as well..............................and then I die.
　If I get unraveled by these two people at the same time, I'm definitely going to die!

'Wait a minute, these two are in trouble. Estelle, help me!

'Hmm, brother. Do your best to ride for me.

Oh, no!

　With a smile and Esther's encouragement, my riding training schedule was completely set.
　An ordeal. This was the ordeal that stood in front of the mess.
　.........Excellent!　I don't care if it's Noor and Sisha, I'll do it!