Around the time the vermillion of dusk melted into purple darkness.

  The mansion standing on a secluded street in the Third District was, from the outside, a luxurious three-story Western-style building. However, its iron gates were slathered in red rust, and the front yard was completely overgrown with weeds as tall as a person.

  I pushed open the heavy oak doors.

  The damp smell of mold pierced my nose. Dead leaves and mud were scattered across the entrance hall, and thick spider webs were spun in the corners of the high ceiling. The floorboards were rotting, letting out unpleasant creaks with every step I took.

  Lily tugged the pure white lace gloves on both her hands up tightly over her wrists.

  Her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly.

  "...What a terrible state of affairs. To think they haven't even prepared to welcome their Master."

  "Well, it was one-third of the market price. For now, let's just find somewhere to sit..."

  Just as I started to speak.

  The air in the entrance hall suddenly chilled rapidly.

  Rattle, rattle! Smash!

  The windows on the supposedly empty second floor began to rattle all at once. From out of nowhere, a low, muddy groan echoing as if crawling from the depths of the earth rang out.

  '...Geeet ouuuut... This place is cursed... by the dead...'

  I let out an exasperated sigh.

  Immediately after, several dirty ceramic plates came flying at breakneck speed from the depths of the darkness, aimed right at my face.

  Lily stepped forward.

  Her hands flashed sharply in the air. The flying plates didn't shatter; instead, they nestled softly onto her fingertips.

  Lily traced the edge of a plate with her finger, looking at the dark grime stuck there. What floated in her eyes wasn't surprise at a paranormal phenomenon, but pure disgust.

  "...Horrendous grease stains. And black mold that looks like it was left to sit for years. To hurl such an extremely unsanitary weapon at the Young Master is a crime worthy of ten thousand deaths."

  Lily removed her gloves and snapped her fingers.

  Crimson mana completely covered the entire hall. An intense gust of wind raged. Giant spheres of water were created in midair, licking over the walls and floor at high speed. The rotting floorboards instantly dried, regaining their original glossy wood grain. The shattered window glass merged as if pulled by threads of mana, regaining its unclouded transparency. The blown-away dust was enveloped in magical flames, vanishing without a trace.

  Just a few dozen seconds.

  The dilapidated entrance hall was now radiating a brilliance that could be mistaken for a salon in a royal castle.

  I sat down on a single-seat leather sofa that looked as good as new and let out a deep sigh.

  "...For welcoming guests, that was quite a dusty reception. Third-rate magic tricks at best."

  I was simply complaining about the low quality of their self-staged paranormal phenomena. However, a dark flame suddenly lit in Lily's eyes.

  "As you say, Young Master. Those fools thought they could threaten my Master with such boring illusions. ...Your intention is for me to thoroughly clean this place first, preparing a sterile and beautiful stage for them to be cast into the depths of despair, is it not?"

  No, I just wanted to sit down and rest already...

  Finding it too troublesome to correct her, I simply stayed silent and shrugged my shoulders.

  Taking that as a sign of affirmation, Lily gently brushed off a minuscule speck of dust that had fallen onto the shoulder of my coat and quietly lowered her eyes.

  "I shall polish the remaining rooms in a few minutes as well. ...During that time, I will have the rats trembling behind the walls taste the ultimate terror."

  Lily snapped her fingers once more.

  The rattling of the windows from the second floor stopped dead. In its place, toward the fake ghosts who must be holding their breath deep inside the mansion, the presence of inescapable, true death silently crept in.

  In the center of the beautifully resurrected reception room.

  I entrusted my body to the leather sofa, savoring the aroma of the Darjeeling tea Lily had brewed. Pale blue magical flames flickered in the fireplace, and the remnants of the abandoned house from earlier were nowhere to be found.

  "...This looks like it'll be a rather decent base."

  "I am honored to hear you say so, Young Master."

  Lily placed the teapot on the table and lightly wiped the rim of my cup through her pure white lace gloves.

  Bang!

  Shattering that silence, the heavy doors of the living room were violently kicked open.

  "Enough of this, you ridiculous upstarts!"

  A robed man with bloodshot eyes barged in, shouting while pointing a warped wooden staff. Behind him, five men wearing crude wolf and demon masks, holding rusted swords and clubs, came avalanching in.

  They must have lost their patience when their poltergeist illusions completely failed and we elegantly started a tea party. They had given up on sneaking around behind the scenes and switched to direct robbery and violent threats.

  "If you aren't scared of ghosts, we'll just slit your throats directly! Leave all your belongings and get out of this mansion right now!"

  The masked men raised their weapons with vulgar laughter.

  I slowly returned the teacup in my hand to its saucer.

  A clink of porcelain echoed through the room.

  "...The tea I went through the trouble of having brewed is getting cold. Could you keep it quiet?"

  I let out a thoroughly exhausted complaint.

  However, the shoulders of Lily, standing next to me, twitched. Her gaze pierced the intruders as cold as ice.

  "To defile the Young Master's time of relaxation, and to think, making the black tea I brewed go cold."

  Lily smiled quietly. It was a refreshing smile purely directed at pest extermination. She firmly pulled the lace glove on her right hand up over her wrist and lightly snapped her fingers.

  Shatter!

  The iron swords and clubs the masked men had raised shattered into tiny pieces in midair, like thin spun sugar.

  The fragments rained down onto the floor. It didn't even give the men time to let out dumbfounded voices.

  "Wha, t... Gyaah?!"

  The robed man screamed. The wooden staff he was holding suddenly burst into explosive flames, and the man with burned palms hastily threw it to the floor.

  Lily hadn't moved a single step.

  However, a pitch-black shadow crawled out from beneath her feet, swallowing the living room in the blink of an eye.

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  The air froze solid.

  Frost clung thickly to the window glass, and the pale blue flames in the fireplace shrank back as if trembling in fear.

  An overwhelming presence of death. The intimidating aura of a predator emitted by a true monster.

  "H-Hii... ah..."

  The knees of the masked men buckled like marionettes with their strings cut.

  All of them prostrated themselves on the floor, leaking breathing sounds like crushed frogs. As for the robed mage, he rolled his eyes back and spread a lukewarm liquid from his crotch onto the floor.

  No one could utter a single word. Their cells had understood that if they moved even an inch, invisible giant fangs would tear out their windpipes.

  I looked down from the sofa at them, foaming at the mouth and incontinent.

  Mysteriously, my emotions didn't stir at all.

  They are just hired petty thugs. But they nonchalantly try to deceive, rob, and kill others for their own benefit. The humans I've encountered in this world have generally had corrupt morals.

  In my heart, not a single millimeter of sympathy for them, nor any guilt of having gone too far, welled up.

  ...No.

  I analyzed my own chilled thoughts with a hint of self-deprecation.

  It's not just because human society is corrupt. My own mind is likely already beginning to be rewritten into that of a 'Demon' who looks down upon the human race.

  But, it's not bad. If there's no need to treat these unpleasant fellows as humans, I'll just thoroughly use them up as pieces on my board.

  "Lily. Release the intimidation. It'll be a problem if they die."

  "As you will. However, these impure dirts have soiled the floor. I will have to thoroughly disinfect it once more later."

  When Lily withdrew the shadow, the men all choked at once, rubbing their foreheads against the floor covered in tears, snot, and mud.

  "P-Please forgive us...! Just our lives, just spare our lives!"

  "Now then."

  I uncrossed and recrossed my legs, fixing my gaze on the mage trembling on the floor.

  "I shall give you a simple choice."

  Three days had passed since we acquired the mansion.

  During that time, we fully enjoyed an astoundingly comfortable life in this Western-style house in the Third District. Thanks to Lily's magic and tenacity, the building was radiating a brilliance that surpassed even new construction.

  And then, on the afternoon of the third day.

  As I was savoring the highest-grade Darjeeling on the living room sofa, our "awaited guest" finally arrived.

  Multiple rough footsteps echoed in the entrance hall.

  The heavy doors of the living room were violently kicked open.

  The thick carpet was trampled by muddy leather boots.

  "Hahaha! That Giron, just as I thought! Those country bumpkin adventurers couldn't bear the terror of the evil spirits and fled!"

  A man wearing a jacket embroidered with flashy gold thread stepped in with a loud laugh. Behind him followed about ten fully armed private soldiers.

  He was the mastermind behind this third-rate comedy. The younger brother of Count Bardia's mistress, Viscount Morris.

  Morris looked around the room triumphantly - and then froze, his mouth hanging half-open.

  It was no wonder.

  The living room, which should have been covered in dust, was polished to the point where there wasn't a single speck of dirt.

  Rolled up in the corner of the room, tightly bound with rope, were the mage and thugs he had hired. Gagged, they writhed with tears and snot streaming down their faces upon seeing their employer arrive.

  And in the center of the room.

  I was sitting deeply in the leather sofa, quietly tilting my teacup.

  "...You're late."

  I returned the cup to its saucer.

  The clink of porcelain echoed through the dead-silent room.

  "I thought you would have come to check on things sooner when your pawns didn't return. To make me wait three days, you are quite leisurely."

  "W-You bastard...! Why are you here?!"

  Morris's face dyed from shock into a vermillion rage.

  Lily, standing behind me, slowly polished a silver tray with her pure white lace gloves.

  A faint squeak of friction rang out. It overlapped with the sound of the private soldiers unconsciously gulping. Her cold gaze caressed Morris's entire body as if looking at filth.

  "Young Master. To think you sacrificed three precious days of your time just to reel in this sort of dull-witted pig. ...My heart feels as though it will burst at the Young Master's patience, which is deeper than the ocean. Such an incompetent fool should immediately have both his legs severed and displayed in the front yard."

  "...No, leave his legs. I have an errand I need him to run later."

  When I let out an exasperated complaint, Lily gasped and her eyes widened.

  "Ahh...! You intentionally let him escape with all his limbs intact, making him swim in despair! The Young Master's unfathomably cruel game... this Lily cannot stop trembling!"

  Wrong. I literally just want to use him as an errand boy.

  My internal correction didn't reach her in the slightest, and the corners of Lily's mouth curled up sharply. Pitch-black shadows crawled out from beneath her feet, and the temperature in the room plummeted rapidly. The breath exhaled by the private soldiers suddenly turned white.

  "Y-You bastards, are you madmen...?!"

  Morris scrambled back and rested his hand on the slender sword at his waist.

  Completely failing to understand the situation, he clung to the flimsy shield of his "status."

  "E-Eei, I am Viscount Morris! A status connected to the great House of Count Bardia! You adventurers from god-knows-where, the crime of trespassing in my mansion is severe!"

  Morris barked, spit flying from his mouth.

  His logic was completely broken. The deed to this land had already been linked to my Guild Card via the Giron Company. They had simply assumed the adventurers fled and came to forcibly revoke our rights in collusion with Giron.

  "Private soldiers, draw your weapons! Cut down those ridiculous scoundrels! I will make them rust on my blade!"

  At Morris's command, the ten private soldiers drew their swords simultaneously.

  The sharp sound of steel scraping steel echoed through the living room. Clear killing intent was directed at us.

  I didn't even stand up from the sofa.

  I merely, softly let my fingertips trace over a piece of parchment placed on the table - a bundle of documents detailing Morris's fatal weakness.

  Ten sharp blades tore through the air of the living room. The moment the bloodthirsty private soldiers stepped forward, I leaned my body deeply into the backrest of the sofa.

  "'White Lily Pharmacy' in the back alley of the Second District. And regarding the black leather ledger hidden beneath the false floorboards of your study."

  The blood drained from Morris's face in an instant.

  "Staging a ghost disturbance is a cute little trick. But what about the illegal back-alley trade of medicinal herbs? The fact that your sister, the Count's mistress, is skimming those profits to create a slush fund?"

  Silence dominated the room. However, the judgment of a cornered petty villain was foolish. His terror broke past its limits, and Morris raised a frantic voice.

  "K-Kill them! Mince them to pieces right this instant! Burn them along with the evidence!"

  The private soldiers slashed at us all at once. I let out a deep sigh internally.

  They're going to dirty the carpet I just polished to look brand new. I feel like charging them for the cleaning fees.

  "Lily. ...Give them a little education."

  "As you will."

  Lily firmly pulled the pure white lace gloves on her hands up over her wrists. The next instant, her shadow swelled explosively. Black thorns extending from beneath the private soldiers' feet bound their limbs and slammed them violently against the floor. Swords rolled away with a hollow sound. Without shedding a single drop of blood, the ten armed soldiers were completely subdued.

  Morris's knees buckled, and he collapsed right there. Lily walked over quietly and lifted Morris by the collar with one hand.

  "Young Master. To what extent shall I dismantle the body and mind of this disrespectful pig?"

  "...Let's see. Take your time, about a full week. Just enough so he doesn't die."

  I merely intended it as a light penalty, meaning to just toss them in the basement until they completely quieted down. However, a dark, feverish light lit up in Lily's eyes.

  "Ahh...! A one-week hell heavier than mere death. You intend to strip away his hope by confronting him with information, and then thoroughly violate his body and mind, remaking him into a complete flesh puppet who will never even conceive the will to defy you again! The methodology of the Young Master's cold-blooded domination... it sends shivers to my very core!"

  No, I just meant let him reflect on his actions for about a week...

  ***

  Seven days later. A stone-built space set up in the basement of the mansion. In the cold air mixed with the smell of mold and iron, I descended the stairs with heavy steps.

  In the center of the basement, Morris was suspended, bound by chains. There was almost no external trauma. Lily's advanced healing magic had regenerated his flesh the moment a wound opened. However, the light of intelligence had completely vanished from his eyes; he was staring into the void and drooling.

  Lily was carefully wiping down small knives and scalpels lined up on a silver tray with a pure white cloth. A quiet squeak of friction rang out.

  "I have been waiting for you, Young Master. The education has been perfectly completed."

  The moment he heard my footsteps, Morris's body jumped with a start. He thrashed about as if to tear the chains apart, desperately writhing to grovel at my feet.

  "A-Ga... Forgive me, please forgive me...! Master, Maaasterrr...!"

  There was no longer any trace of the arrogant noble from before. He was just a terrified, pitiful creature, begging for his life as if ready to lick my shoes.

  I desperately suppressed my cheeks, which felt like they were about to twitch.

  You went way too far, Lily. His mind is completely broken. Is this guy even going to be useful later?

  However, on the surface, I didn't break the mask of a cold-hearted ruler.

  "I shall give you a choice, Morris. You will protect my secrets thoroughly and pay me a monthly tribute from the profits of your black-market deals. ...If you crawl before me as my 'disposable dog', I will let you out of here."

  "I will be a dog! I am your disposable dog! Woof! Woof woof! Please, please give me a collar...!"

  Morris rubbed his forehead violently against the stone floor and began imitating the barking of a dog like a madman.

  Lily narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and gently adjusted the collar of my coat with her fingertips.

  "A brilliant checkmate, Young Master. Through one week of taming, you have obtained the ultimate collar connecting to the apex of this town."