Ch.6060. Complete.

After finishing the cleanup to some extent, I could gauge the range of what Ellie was capable of doing.

Well, from my perspective, at least.

Cleaning, laundry, washing dishes… and so on.

Those things, well, she does without any problems.

Rather, if the house was originally clean, she’d be good at maintaining it.

I wonder why I’m evaluating such things, but then again, she’s a housekeeper now.

And since I just got fired as a training instructor, I should probably focus more on this job. That’s what I think.

Well, cleaning isn’t a difficult task anyway. Besides, I’m more eager to get out of this mess as soon as possible, so I’m working harder.

So I’m really trying to clean up with enthusiasm, but then there’s Blanc’s nagging to take it easy…

Sigh. Seriously, I feel like I’m going to have a mental breakdown if I stay in this mess any longer, and she’s telling me to take it easy?

I snapped at her, saying I’d genuinely go crazy if I had to stay in this place for even another hour, and only then did she flinch and start grumbling behind me.

Whenever I bend down to pick something up, she says I’ll hurt my back.

Don’t move heavy objects…

Come on, I’m not some elderly person confined to a back room. What is this?

“Look, I’m a person too. Can’t I do this much? If you’re going to nitpick everything, just go inside!”

Sigh, well.

Blanc wasn’t the only one telling me not to do this or that.

Arini kept insisting on helping whenever she saw me doing something, and I barely managed to make her sit down. And the redhead kept telling me to do things later whenever I moved, until my pent-up frustration finally exploded.

Seriously, what do they take me for?

Making such a fuss just because I collapsed once. Such an overreaction.

It’s even more ironic when I think about how these same people who are so worried about me collapsing were the ones who dropped me from the sky, stomped on me, and attacked me mercilessly when we were enemies.

Really, I’d prefer if they had hit me a little less painfully back then.

If they had aimed their attacks from a lower height, I wouldn’t have fallen from so high up, and maybe I wouldn’t have passed out. They could have managed that much.

Don’t you think? I can’t be the only one who thinks this way.

Even Ellie, with her minuscule combat experience, should be able to sympathize with this much.

“If you really want to help me, sort through everything in your rooms—what to throw away, what to keep—and pile it all in one place. Quickly now. Go upstairs, shoo, shoo.”

As I watched the magical girls being shooed back to their rooms with strange looks on their faces, I thought this was better anyway.

But why is Ellie looking at me like that?

“Vine, you… you seem to have changed a lot…?”

“What do you mean? I haven’t changed at all.”

“No, in many ways… how did you become so friendly with the magical girls… Ah, never mind. Well…”

“What? What’s the problem?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s just finish cleaning quickly and rest.”

I don’t know why, but Ellie’s slightly changed attitude is strange.

Well, this attitude is more comfortable, so maybe it’s better for now.

It’s nice that she’s being so compliant.

It would have been better if she’d been like this from the start.

Sigh. These people are really aging me.

It feels even harder than when I was at Eden, honestly.

Anyway, without anyone interfering, the cleanup was finished in no time.

I had already done most of the dishes in advance, anticipating there would be more.

I cleaned the entire floor and mopped it diligently too.

Ah, I didn’t mop myself because it was tiring—I made Ellie do it.

She should be able to handle that much on her own. But I took charge of the inspection, and I can proudly say everything is spotlessly clean.

It seems bringing Ellie was indeed a good decision.

Thinking about it now, I feel sorry for getting angry at Blanc earlier when she suggested using Ellie.

Well, as long as the results are good, that’s what matters. Right?

It looks so nice when it’s clean.

And then there was the pile of laundry.

How could they let it accumulate like this?

When I was here before, there were more people, so we did laundry at least once a day consistently.

Well, even if they got a bit lazy with fewer people around, they shouldn’t have let it pile up into a mountain.

Still, having it all in one place made it easier to wash.

Sigh. Now what’s left…

Right, cleaning the individual rooms.

I decided to check Ellie’s room first and took her upstairs with me.

When I mentioned cleaning personal rooms, she insisted her room was fine, but we’d have to see for ourselves.

“V-Vine! It’s, it’s fine. See? Look, it’s fine, right?”

“Why are you trembling so much? You’ve been here less than a day, so of course it’s clean. Hmm. Pass. Let’s move on to the next room.”

Next, I should check my room.

I noticed earlier it was quite dusty.

I’ll just need to open the windows for ventilation and clean the floor.

In this way, I went through everyone’s rooms for cleaning.

Yes, I surprised the redhead by suddenly opening her door. I also saw the white-haired one hiding under a blanket fort because she was cold after I opened her window.

As for Blanc and Arini… well, they seemed to have been cleaning in anticipation of my arrival.

But I ended up redoing it anyway because it wasn’t up to my standards. So their efforts were in vain.

As for the crybaby…

Since she wasn’t here anyway, I just went in and cleaned.

Finally, it’s done.

Now I was about to rest a bit as Blanc had suggested.

“Excuse me, Vine.”

“Why are you calling me, Blanc? I was about to rest as you suggested.”

“Oh, really? Then excuse me for a moment.”

Blanc came and sat next to me on the sofa, and while stroking my head, she began to speak.

Well, there was one cute girl who seemed uncomfortable seeing this.

Well, as for Ellie…

The solution was to let her lie on my lap.

It created a somewhat strange scene, but anyway, I prepared to listen to Blanc.

“Well, I think finding the standard for your evil deeds should be our top priority, right?”

“Is that so? I don’t particularly care. You can put it at the very bottom of your priority list for all I care.”

“No, still. Hmm… Right. The justification is to prevent you from committing criminal acts again.”

“What kind of justification is that? I wouldn’t do that anyway.”

“Then, to help with Arini’s training?”

“You have Ellie for that, don’t you? Oh, but thinking about it, she might have the same limitations as me.”

That’s right. Ellie is also a villain.

She must have limitations in using magic too.

“Huh? Me? Why?”

Ellie looked at me, seeking attention because I mentioned her, so I explained the reason.

“Your magic generation is probably suppressed by the concept of evil deeds, just like mine. You probably don’t know your own standard for evil deeds either.”

“No? I’ve figured it out to some extent. It’s not like I didn’t know the nature of the lock. I tested it all in advance.”

“Huh…? You knew even earlier than I expected? But why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Umm… that’s a bit difficult to explain right now. You’ll find out when the time comes. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, if Ellie says not to worry. Still, I’d like to know.”

“No. Besides, I’m under contract anyway, right?”

“Ah, contract magic. Does that affect your magic too?”

“Yes, I can also draw on my master’s magic with permission. Of course, that’s only possible with the master’s consent.”

“Really? Then if you help Arini, the problem is solved. That’s great, Blanc. Isn’t it?”

“Hmm… we’ll also need to find out the truth about Ellie’s contract magic. I should summon Jibril here sometime. How long is she planning to stay cooped up in that world?”

“Ah, you mean that weird cat? The one who never listened.”

“Well, that’s because you were a villain when you met her. She’s actually quite nice.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know. So, how do you plan to figure out my standard for evil deeds? I don’t think you’d make a magical girl commit criminal acts, but if you want to corrupt yourself, I’d be happy to participate in your corruption plan.”

“What corruption? Let’s start with something light. We’ll try to find out what you subjectively consider absolutely forbidden. Well, we won’t do everything today. If we need to destroy a building, it might get a bit troublesome, but the Association President said she’d arrange something.”

“Why are you preparing so much for a villain like me…”

“There you go again with that.”

“Am I not allowed to express my feelings? I genuinely don’t understand why you care so much about a villain like me.”

“There’s a lot to talk about. Besides that, we should also visit Eden’s headquarters. Is there anything you need to bring back from there?”

Ellie, who had been listening to our conversation without much thought, excitedly jumped in.

“Me! Me! My personal belongings or precious things I’ve hidden…”

Cutting off Ellie’s words as if suddenly remembering something, Blanc said:

“Ah, if you want to go, we’ll need to learn more about contract magic first. I should summon Jibril first.”

With that, Blanc began drawing a magic circle that emitted a soft white light.

Why go to such lengths just to summon a mascot?

Drawing a magic circle with rune inscriptions.

The floor I just cleaned is getting dirty with magic powder.