Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Chapter 719

Mylene, Making a Move

Mylene’s POV

“Haah.” (Mylene)

I sighed.

Cliff had put me to the wringer.

That mansion had a lot of history behind it.

First, the previous owner of the house had passed away for some unknown or vague reason.

The circumstances of that person’s death was something that couldn’t be made public.

So, when the mansion got passed on to a distant relative of the original owner, they in turn sold it to the Merchant Guild at a low price, for a quick buck.

The property was then listed on the market, but no buyer could be found, partly because the building was so opulent. 

Some people even wondered who would live there in the first place.

As a result of neglecting it for a long time, rumors of ghosts surfaced.

The mansion, which was already difficult to sell, had  an even more omnios reputation tacked on it.

I had no choice but to instruct the staff to investigate the matter.

When about five staff members went to check the mansion, one of them said he saw a shimmering light.

He pointed his finger in that direction, but the other staff members could not see it.

The rumors the house was haunted spread even wilder.

Later, I heard that some people could see ghosts from the mansion while others could not.

By the way, I have never seen a ghost.

Anyway, to put the rumors of ghost haunting to rest, I sent a request to the Adventurers’ Guild.

I only submitted the request to the Adventurers’ Guild to get them to investigate, expecting it to result that no ghosts would be found.

However, the report from the Adventurers’ Guild was that “ghosts may be present”.

Some of the adventurers saw the shimmering light as did our staff, but those who went with me did not see it.

There were even reports of hearing voices, but no one was there.

There were also reports of other things.

Was there really a ghost? 

Not only would it be costly to tear the mansion down, it would also be a waste to destroy that magnificent building.

It would be impossible for the Merchant’s Guild to ignore such a good property.

While I was thinking about what to do, Cliff came to the guild with Helen from the Adventurers’ Guild.

They came to talk about the haunted house.

Helen told me about Yuna-chan receiving the request to investigate the mansion.

Why did Cliff with Helen come to report it? 

I never expected this combination.

It appears that Cliff came to report on behalf of Yuna-chan.

The ghost of the house were said to be children who trespassed into the property.

Such a scenario was impossible from the start.

When we asked them to check the house, they reported that all the locks were securely closed and there were no signs of break-ins.

So there was no way that children could have gotten inside the house.

But Cliff was confident that there would never be another haunting incident.

Moreover, he even agreed to buy the mansion himself. It would certainly help if Cliff would buy it. If it did not sell, we would suffer losses.

And after buying the mansion, Cliff said that he would turn it into an inn.

If Cliff really turned it into an inn, the outcome would certainly look great. Accommodation fee for the rooms would be high to maintain the property. Well, he could simply increase the price enough that it would not bother other inns and would only attract the wealthy patrons.

Cliff then asked me to bring out the blueprint of the mansion.

Cliff then explained his ideas while looking at the drawings.

Many of the rooms on the first floor were previously used by servants. We could open these rooms to the general public. Then, he said, the prices would be higher for the rooms on the second and third floors.

That would certainly separate the occupants depending on their budget tiers.

There was a kitchen in that mansion, so food could be served to every room.

There was also a warehouse, so they would have a place to store their food.

A bathroom was also available.

Certainly, it would be possible to convert that mansion into a multi tier inn.

With this plan, the Merchant Guild would finally be able to get rid of that mansion and free up its invested funds.

Not only that, this would also solve the shortage of lodging, which has been a problem recently. If that happened, more people and merchants from outside would gather in the town, increasing the flow of money.

The income of every guilds would also increase.

When I agreed with him, Cliff even provided an outrageous suggestion. He said that he would entrust the management of the inn to us, the Merchant Guild.

…We would be forced to go through a lot of trouble.

But the conditions that Cliff offered were not bad at all.

Cliff would get 20% of the profits. The rest of the profits would go to us, the Merchant’s Guild.

There were many people who wanted work, so the guild should be able to hire staff for inn’s management and day to day operations quite easily.

Above all, Cliff had said that he would take responsibility if another ghost incident occurred in the future.

If there was any damages, Cliff would pay for it from his share.

There would be no disadvantages to the Merchant Guild.

So I decided to accept Cliff’s proposal.

But…

“…haah.”

I sighed once again.

If I were to start refurbishing that mansion, I would be inclined to keep the costs down. Even if the initial cost of the work would not be much, it would still not be from zero.

Yuna-chan spent money without thinking about it when she set up her store, but I wonder where she got that kind of money.

“If you want to check the condition of the place, you’ll have to go there on your own.” (Cliff)

I decided to head over to the mansion to see for myself the state of the mansion.

Although Cliff promised that there wouldn’t be any ghosts, I was still afraid to go alone, so I decided to take one of the staff members along with me.

…

Outside the haunted mansion…

“Why am I here with you?” (Liana)

I was accompanied by Liana, whom I asked to take care of Yuna-chan when I was busy.

“You should be happy because you get to work by the Guild Master’s side.” (Mylene)

“I would be happy if we weren’t in a haunted house.” (Liana)

I felt the same way.

“Anyway, you mustn’t leave me.” (Mylene)

Because I was scared.

“I won’t leave you, even if you don’t tell me to.” (Liana)

Liana moved closer to me so that I wouldn’t leave her.

We entered the mansion and checked the first floor first.

The first floor had many rooms that seemed to have been used by the servants, just as Cliff had said.

“The beds, chairs, and tables are still there, aren’t they?” (Liana)

Liana was right, each room had a bed, desk, and chair still in place.

Some rooms even have two beds, so these rooms could be used as a room for two.

“It needs to be cleaned, but I think we can use it as is.” (Liana)

Liana touched the desk, it was covered in dust.

“Alright. Let’s go through it and if there are no problems, we’ll bring in the cleaners once we’re done.” (Mylene)

Leaving the room, she checked the rest of the place.

There was the kitchen and the dining room.

The tableware and other items have been left untouched. They were stored in drawers, so they were clean.

“I guess we can use these as well.” (Mylene)

“And since there are also some high-end cutlery, it looks like they could be used for guests staying in the expensive rooms.” (Liana)

I looked around the first floor and found the stairs to the basement.

“Guild Master, are you going down?” (Liana)

“We’ll have to check.” (Mylene)

We went down to the basement.

There was a door, and when we opened it, we discovered a warehouse.

It was clean and there was a bouquet of flowers on the floor.

As we approached, we saw that the bouquet was dead.

“Did the previous occupants put them there?” (Liana)

“Maybe…” (Mylene)

“This place could be used as a warehouse.” (Liana)

“…You can’t use this place.” (Mylene)

I didn’t know the details of what had happened.

…But I could guess.

“Are we clear?” (Mylene)

“Yes, we’ll keep it locked up tight, and I will make sure to relay it to the Merchant’s Guild to take care of it.” (Liana)

After leaving the basement, we moved to the second floor.

Unlike the first floor, the rooms on the second floor were larger and included a guest room and a parlor. The furniture was still intact, so we could use it.

As we were about to move to the third floor, we saw a painting on the wall between the second and third floor staircases.

“Guild Master, what do you want to do with this painting?” (Liana)

Liana’s eyes fell on the image of a fat figure.

The painting of that man.

Though I’ve met this person a few times, I’m tempted to burn this painting.

Cliff said that everything in this house was free for us to modify, and burning this painting would be the best use of it.

If I invited Cliff to the burning of this, he might be willing to watch.

Or maybe I could just put it up in that basement.

I’ll discuss this with Cliff.

“I’ll talk to Cliff about it, but we’re going to have to take it down.” (Mylene)

The decision to remove the painting was made.

“Okay.” (Liana)

Liana made a note.

But I was tempted to hang something else in place of that painting.

Well, we would figure that out later, slowly.

Next, we started checking the third floor.

It was furnished with fine furniture, probably as a declaration that it was the former homeowner’s private room.

After the former owner’s death, his relatives who inherit his property decided to sell the mansion along with things in it.

Turns out it was a good thing for us, it would have cost a lot of money just to furnish this room with high-end furniture.

After that, I continued to give instructions on what we could use and what we had to get rid of. Liana took notes on everything.

There were more usable items left than I had expected. It looked like we would be able to keep our initial expenses down.

Now we had to determine the price of accommodation so that we could make a profit.

“…Ghosts won’t appear, will they?” (Liana)

Liana’s words reminded me.

I had forgotten that we were here to verify if there were still any ghostly happenings in this mansion.

I’ve been in the mansion for quite some time and haven’t encountered anything that looked like a ghost.

There have been no lights shaking, voices coming out of nowhere, curtains shaking even though the windows were not open, or anything else that would indicate a ghostly disturbance.

Could it have been a children’s prank, as Cliff suggested? 

Liana said, “Could it be that this whole ghost incident was something that Cliff-sama orchestrated?”

“What do you mean?” (Mylene)

“Like you see, if the place was reported to have ghosts in it, no one will want to buy it. For that reason, the price of the property will have to be lowered to sell it.” (Liana)

I lightly poked Liana on the forehead.

“What, you’re being ridiculous. That can’t be true.” (Mylene)

After the orphanage incident, I did my research on this mansion and its owner.

From what I heard, I knew that Cliff himself very much hated this mansion and couldn’t wish more than to simply demolish this building.

So I could assure her that Cliff did not set up such a scheme.

As a Lord, he simply found a way to utilize it, and that was the reason he bought the place.

However, he did not have good memories of this mansion, so I think he forced it on me.

Perhaps I accepted Cliff’s proposal because somewhere in my heart, I understood Cliff’s sentiment.

Then, as soon as I heard the news of Yuna-chan’s return to Crimonia, I decided to ask her for a favor.

I asked Yuna-chan to paint a picture to hang in place where the fat guy’s picture used to be.

Of course, I wanted a picture of a cute bear patron saint.

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