Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Rules
"First," Mars began, Solaris still seated beside him, Moon and Willow across the table, "I need to ask you some important questions."
His expression was serious, his hazel eyes darting between the three of them.
"Do you know how to clean and cook?"
Moon instantly cackled, laughing so hard she clutched her stomach as if in pain.
Solaris glared at him as though to say, "How dare you ask me such a plebeian question!"
Willow’s lips twitched. She seemed on the verge of laughing but held it back.
Meanwhile, Mars had his answer, obvious even without a word from any of them.
’These damn princesses.’
"Moon, I’m not sure why you’re laughing. If you don’t know how to clean or cook, you’re going to learn." Mars said, "Same goes for you, Solaris, and you, Willow."
"You must have lost your damn mind." Solaris said immediately, "Me? Cleaning and cooking? Are you insane?"
"I hate to say it, but I have to agree with her on this one." Moon added, shaking her head, holding up her hands, "Do these hands look like they were made for labor? I’ve never done that kind of thing in my life."
"No time." Willow said, "Too many books to read."
"So I’m guessing you all expect me to handle it?" Mars asked, keeping himself composed, his eye twitching.
"Yes." They said in unison.
’Oh look at that, all in sync now, huh? Damn you all.’
"That’s not going to work." Mars shook his head firmly, "I can’t do everything all the time. We need to rotate household duties. I’m not asking any of you to pay for anything, I’ll find a way to earn money and cover our expenses, now that we know this house is all we’re getting. But I do need to know if any of you have a way to earn money yourselves."
"We’re strong." Solaris said with confidence, "We could become Hunters, enter Warrens, hunt monsters. Sell their bodies, or whatever artifacts we find."
"But we’d need a Hunter License to legally enter the Warrens." Moon added, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "And the only way to get one is through a test administered by the Rightful Guardian."
"Do any of you already have one?" Mars asked, looking between them.
They all shook their heads.
"We only awakened a few days ago. We haven’t had time." Moon replied.
’Just like me, huh.’
"I see. Then we’ll need to take the test soon, so we can enter the Warrens and get stronger. We need to complete our Dream Cores, after all." He said, "But do we need a Hunter License to sell a Serum?"
Moon raised an eyebrow at the question, as did Solaris and Willow.
"Well, yes." She said, "Why do you ask?"
Mars saw no reason to hide it. His knowledge of the Gifted world was abysmal compared to theirs.
Better to lean on their expertise.
"Yes, I’m planning to brew and sell a Serum." He said, "I’ll ask you more about that later, but for now, let’s lock in how the household will run. What do you propose?"
Then he added, "Anything other than me doing all the work. Let’s be fair, please."
Solaris’s face remained uncooperative, grunting and shaking her head.
Moon reacted the same way.
But while Solaris’s reluctance came mostly from arrogance, Mars realized Moon’s stemmed from being the type of woman who simply didn’t want to get her nails dirty.
Willow was different. She wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about it either...
"A team." She said.
...but she knew how to be logical and practical.
"A team?" Mars repeated.
"There are four of us. Let’s split into two teams of two." She said, "One cooks, the other cleans. We rotate."
"Permanent teams?" Moon asked.
Willow thought a moment, then shook her head, "No. We change teams every month."
Solaris sighed, "But you little fuckers seem to be forgetting we don’t know how to clean or cook. How exactly are we supposed to do that?"
All eyes turned to Mars, and at that exact moment,
DING!
[You have received a Quest.]
[Quest: Teach your wives how to cook and clean.]
[Rewards: Massage Talent upgraded to C Rank, Oil Massage (C Rank)]
’You pervert of a system. I see exactly what you’re doing here, damn you!’ Mars said inwardly to his system, before smiling and nodding toward his wives,
"I’ll teach you." He said, "And to make it worth your while, since I know none of you are used to this, I’ll give you a massage after each lesson."
"Massage?" Moon said, her smile slowly turning suggestive, "Oh, sweetheart, you want it that badly~"
"You will not touch my body!" Solaris shouted at him.
"No." Willow shook her head.
"Are you sure you don’t want to?" Mars smiled slyly, glancing at each of them, "Don’t come crying later."
"Is this plebeian out of his mind?" Solaris said, surprised, looking at Moon and Willow as if seeking confirmation, "Why would we cry over that?!"
"Why, of course, because I have a Massage Talent." He said with a grin.
Instantly, all of them fell into stunned silence, eyes widening slightly.
"You have a what?" Moon asked, surprised.
"Massage Talent." Mars repeated, "Which means my massages...are far more than ordinary ones."
"This...this changes everything." Moon murmured slowly. Solaris and Willow nodded, watching him intently.
If he really had one, passing it up would be a serious mistake.
Talents were already rare. Rarer than Gifts, even. And the hardest kind for people to acquire were the utility ones like this.
Most people only ended up with combat-oriented talents, which made something like Massage exceptionally valued in this new modern Earth.
Moon recalled her mother once killing a low-ranked family head, purely to claim his wife, whose Talent let her give others pleasant dreams.
Since then, her mother’s mood had improved somewhat. Though her rotten attitude remained mostly intact.
Massage was something none of them had ever heard of before. But they were certain it would be far superior to a normal massage.
So if Mars was telling the truth...
The three women exchanged glances, and without waiting, Willow spoke first.
"I’m first." She said, raising her hand, "Teach me to cook. I’m a fast learner."
"Ah! So you have some whore in you too." Solaris immediately sneered.
"I’m second." Moon said, raising her hand as well, smiling, "I prefer cooking, too."
"Then Solaris, you’ll learn how to clean." Mars said with a smile, immediately standing and putting distance between them, seeing Solaris ready to lunge at him.
"You..." Solaris said through gritted teeth, silently regretting not raising her hand first. She hated coming last.
"Now," Mars said, "how do we decide the teams?"
"A card game." Moon said instantly, grinning, "It just so happens I have a deck."
She raised her hand, reached into her pants, and pulled out a deck, "Don’t mind me, I always keep important things there."
Mars, Solaris, and Willow all stared at her, mouths falling open in a wide "O."
Moon smiled, sniffed the deck, then smiled even wider, "Don’t worry. It smells amazing."
"...fuck you, I’m not playing." Solaris said, wincing in disgust.
"Same." Willow added, lips pressed tight.
"Can I sniff it too?" Mars blurted out.
Dead silence.
The three women snapped their heads toward him.
Mars coughed in embarrassment,
"...damn, who said that?"
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