Chapter 22: Helping Out and Cleaning the Storehouse
That night—
“Gah, seriously!? Ahhh!!”
“And once again, victory belongs to me.”
“Using counters is cheating!! Let’s ban counters!?”
Raphiel and Eve were currently locked in an intense fighting game match in front of the living room television.
Since having them blow up mountains every night was obviously a public nuisance, they had reluctantly agreed to settle things through video games after dinner instead.
Apparently their win-loss record was nearly identical.
The current rule was simple: first person to achieve two consecutive victories wins.
And somehow, despite countless matches, they kept alternating wins and losses at the worst possible timing.
“Ah!?”
“My victory!! Two consecutive wins are mine!!”
Raphiel pumped her fist silently while maintaining her usual expressionless face.
Ever since losing badly to me, she’d spent every spare moment secretly practicing combos and counter techniques.
Looks like the training had paid off.
“Gnnnngh… w-well, whatever!? I’d still crush you in a real fight anyway!! Don’t get cocky just because you won some stupid game!!”
“Spoken exactly like a loser making excuses.”
“Hah!? Then how about we settle this with a real battle right now!?”
“I would welcome tha—”
“You two.”
The instant I spoke, both girls froze completely.
Then, like scolded children, they quietly sat back down.
“You can have your serious battle tomorrow.”
“R-Right. Yeah. We shouldn’t disturb the neighbors.”
“Good.”
Honestly, when Eve first showed up, I’d been terrified about what might happen.
But despite all the arguing, she and Raphiel were actually getting along surprisingly well.
Maybe I didn’t need to worry so much after all.
After their gaming session ended, the two of them immediately switched over to watching anime together through a streaming service.
The funny thing was, these two actually had remarkably similar tastes.
Both Raphiel and Eve loved stories where the protagonist overwhelmingly dominated everyone else.
Though…
“Pffft, there’s no way a girl would fall for a guy just because he patted her head a little!!”
“Agreed. Personally, I question women who spread their legs for a man they met moments ago.”
They were unexpectedly harsh toward easy heroines.
Then again, everyone had different tastes.
Maybe this was normal for them.
And then—
“Introducing the revolutionary controller built specifically for fighting games!! On sale now!!”
A commercial suddenly interrupted the anime midway through the episode.
The instant Eve saw it—
“That’s it!! Hey hey, mister!!”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Buy me that controller!! If I have that, I know I won’t lose to Saintie anymore!!”
“To blame your losses on your tools… truly the mindset of a third-rate fighter.”
“Enjoy acting smug while you still can, Saintie!!”
Eve grinned triumphantly.
Well, if it was specifically designed for fighting games, maybe it really did improve performance or usability.
Still, could a controller really make that much difference?
Then Eve suddenly latched onto my arm, pressing herself against me while speaking in a sweet, clingy voice.
Dangerously cute.
“Heeey? Pleeease, mister? Buy me that controller?”
“No.”
“Eh!? Why not!? I’m asking this adorably!!”
The reason was simple.
“If you spoil someone by giving them everything they want, they’ll turn into a useless person.”
“I’m the Demon Lord, though?”
“That’s not the point. This is something my grandfather used to say,” I explained. “Things you work hard to earn yourself feel more valuable. You end up cherishing them more.”
Eve tilted her head in confusion.
Because her face was absurdly beautiful on the same level as Raphiel’s, even tiny gestures like that looked ridiculously adorable.
“Then what should I do?”
“If you help around the house and stuff, I’ll consider buying it for you.”
“Ehhh, chores sound annoying.” Eve suddenly brightened. “Ah! Then wanna grope my boobs instead?”
“BWUH!? W-What are you saying!?”
“They’re not as big as Saintie’s, but they’re nicely shaped and feel good, you know? Or…” She smiled seductively. “Would you prefer something even more exciting?”
Eve’s smile shifted completely.
Gone was the childish cuteness from before.
Now she looked dangerously mature, almost enchantingly so.
For a split second, my heart skipped violently—
Then I noticed Raphiel silently staring at me with absolutely no expression.
I snapped back to reality instantly.
N-No.
I was not the kind of pathetic man who got swept away by temptation so easily.
“Eve-san,” I said firmly, “please value your body more.”
“Cheeeh.” Eve puffed out her cheeks in disappointment. “But if I’m helping with chores, what exactly am I supposed to do? You’re basically perfect at housework already.”
“…That’s true.” I thought for a moment. “Ah, then could you help clean out the storage shed?”
“This house has a storage shed?”
Both Eve and Raphiel tilted their heads at the exact same angle.
These two really were weirdly compatible.
◇ ◆ ◇
The following day—
Wearing work gloves, I guided Raphiel and Eve toward the old storehouse located behind the house.
“This is the shed?”
“There was something like this here?”
“Well, the yard around my house is ridiculously huge, and there are trees everywhere. Unless you deliberately explored the place, it’s no surprise you never noticed it.”
I unlocked the rusty door and slowly pulled it open.
The moment the door creaked aside, a massive cloud of dust burst outward.
“Cough— gah… still dusty as ever…”
“Ew. I already don’t wanna go inside.”
Honestly, I understood exactly how she felt.
Every time I opened the shed intending to clean it, the mountain of dust inside somehow destroyed my motivation instantly.
Until now, I’d kept putting it off by telling myself I simply didn’t have enough help.
But—
Strike while the iron is hot.
Now that Raphiel and Eve were here, I wanted to clean everything out in one go.
“…Eight. What exactly is this shed?”
“Hm? What do you mean? It’s just a storage shed.”
“That is not what I meant…”
Raphiel slowly surveyed the interior.
“This shed contains an alarming number of relics.”
“…Relics?”
“For example, open that box over there.”
“The box…? Ah, this one?”
Following Raphiel’s gaze, I reached for a wooden box—
Then stopped.
The box was covered in countless paper seals.
“…I really don’t want to open this.”
“It is fine. There does appear to be an extraordinarily powerful curse sealed inside, but I can neutralize it instantly.”
“…You’re absolutely sure this is safe, right?”
Very reluctantly, I peeled away the talismans and opened the lid.
Inside the box was—
A shattered bronze mirror.
…Just a mirror?
Honestly, I was relieved it wasn’t something stereotypically horrifying like a ruined Japanese doll or bundles of long black hair—
『Y O U L O O K E D』
“…Huh?”
The instant my reflection met my eyes in the broken mirror—
A black hand suddenly burst out from the shattered surface.
“WHOA—”
“—Sacred Purification.”
A brilliant flash of holy light exploded from Raphiel’s hand.
『GYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!』
The black hand disintegrated instantly under the radiance.
Meanwhile, I collapsed backward onto the floor in complete shock.
“…Eh? Wh— What just happened!?”
“That was amaaaazing!!” Eve shouted excitedly. “A hand just went whoosh out of the mirror!! Mister, mister, do it again!!”
“Why would I ever do that again!?”
“It seems to possess the tendency to drag anyone who looks into it toward the other side.”
“…The other side?”
“What people commonly refer to as Hell, the Underworld, or similar realms inhabited by the dead.”
A violent chill ran down my spine.
Just imagining it gave me goosebumps.
“I can faintly sense divine energy,” Raphiel continued calmly. “Originally, it was likely an object worshipped as the vessel of some deity.”
“Then why is something like this in my house!?”
“How would I know? Shouldn’t you have some idea?”
“There’s no way I’d—”
…
No, wait.
Come to think of it, Grandpa did have a habit of taking in cursed-looking objects with mysterious backgrounds.
Whenever they disappeared later, I’d assumed he was bringing them to shrines or temples for proper disposal.
I never imagined he’d just been tossing them into the storage shed.
…What do I even do about this?
“If you are unsure how to dispose of these cursed items,” Raphiel said calmly, “I can purify them all.”
“Please do!!”
“In exchange, tonight’s dinner must be extravagant.”
“D-Deal!!”
“Very well. Then let us finish before dinner.”
And thus—
The great storage shed cleanup began.