Chapter 142
All the Aegis students in charge of hosting the 32 exchange students from Kannagi High School had gathered. Once they handed out the earbud translators, the Japanese students somehow looked more lively too, probably because they could finally talk with everyone.
“You've all matched up properly with the partners you'll be living with at home for the next couple of months, right? It's your first day, so I'm sure you'd like to go see a few places, but please be sure to head back before it's too late~”
The students were walking home in pairs. Since it was the first day, aside from three or four of them, everyone had a car waiting to pick them up, so most were heading to the visitor parking lot.
Of course, there were plenty of students who were standing around talking a little longer before leaving.
“Boss! Why are you homestaying with an elementary schooler?”
“Hmm, good question. Maybe because I'm getting special treatment.”
“Eve-chan! You'll help your senpai out, right?”
“Ah, me? I'll do my best.... Ungihihi.”
“So cute~ I'm jealous, Boss~”
“Where does Eve-chan live? Is it okay if I come visit?”
All the homes hosting homestay students are limited to inside Seoul. Apparently that was because the exchange students were attending Seoul Aegis as commuters rather than living in the dorms.
Still, if they had to commute from far away in Gyeonggi, it would be hard on the Japanese students too. In other words, during the exchange period, the house where Utaha unnie lives would become incredibly close.
Among the exchange students from Kannagi High School, many lived in dorms, so it was hard to experience something like this.
“My house..? Um... if you have time, I guess you can come over...”
“Eee~ Sounds fun!”
“Kotone. Eve might get uncomfortable.”
“Ah, right.... Then I'll contact you again later, Utaha senpai!”
Honestly, it probably wouldn't have been much of a problem, but once Utaha unnie made that little beckoning gesture, the matter was over in a flash.
“Eve, are your parents coming to pick you up?”
“Ah, Yeonwoo unnie!”
Yeonwoo unnie had come here with me too, and with her was another Japanese schoolgirl.
“Utaha unnie, this person is Yeonwoo unnie... and she's in the same class as me?”
“Ah, nice to meet you. I'm Tennoji Utaha.”
“Wow, a handshake from an S-rank Hunter. Nice to meet you. Please take care of Eve.”
“Uing.”
In this situation, shouldn't I be the one asking Utaha unnie to take care of me?
Anyway... the Japanese student Yeonwoo unnie was taking with her was named Kiryu Shino. She had short white hair and looked incredibly pretty. Yeonwoo unnie also said a car from home had come, so we all headed off to the visitor parking lot.
“Utaha unnie, how was class today?”
“Hmm, it was useful. The theory class taught in Korea seems a little different from Japan's.”
“Hee, I see.”
As we chatted our way into the visitor parking lot, I could see students still waiting because their cars hadn't come yet, as well as cars that had already arrived and were waiting.
“Whoa, a Rolls-Royce. Must be from a rich family.”
“There's even a maid.”
“The maid's cute. Hyunwoo, do you know whose car that is?”
“Nope. I think it's my first time seeing it too.”
“Gah.”
Of course it was our car. For some reason Flora had driven it over. She wasn't even waiting inside the car; instead, she was peering around from the passenger side, busily looking for someone. Then her eyes met mine...
“Ah! Princess!”
“Eek.”
Flora ran toward us, waving both hands wildly with a beaming face.
“I'm here to help you get home! Ah, this must be Tennoji Utaha, the one who's homestaying with us starting today, right?”
“Ah, yes. That's right.”
“Please get in! I already started the engine!”
“Y-yes....”
With everyone's attention on us a full five hundred times stronger than usual, Flora even opened the car door for me, so I hurried inside.
“Yeonwoo unnie! We're heading out!”
“Mm-hm! G-goodbye!”
As Eve and Utaha got into the car and headed off, the students still waiting for their rides nodded on their own.
“You'd need at least a Rolls-Royce and a maid to take Utaha away.”
“Amazing.”
* * * * *
ㅡVroooom.
On the way home, I kept chatting with Utaha unnie about various things, mostly asking her questions I was curious about regarding Japan.
“Whoa, then if this gets broken again, you'd get super angry, huh.”
“Well, it means I cut down an enemy that strong. I didn't really get angry.”
“Whoa, cool.”
In Japan, unlike here, hunter gear isn't a mass-produced industrial product made with modern technology; instead, specialized swordsmith guilds forge weapons by processing the corpses of powerful monsters. And among the hunter weapons currently in Japan, Utaha unnie's katana is one of the top five masterpieces.
“Kurenai! That's insanely cool.”
“By the calendar, I've been using it well for two years now.”
“Wooooow...”
Utaha unnie slightly opened Kurenai at her waist to show me the blade, and something about it felt off right from the atmosphere. It was like the air inside the car was being sliced to pieces.
“H-how much is it..?”
“Its value... I honestly don't know, because I don't calculate it in money. It was made for me in exchange for materials, not money.”
“Gasp, I see.”
There is no equipment that boosts a Hunter's combat power like a powerful weapon. Artifacts matter too, of course, but even so, weapons are king.
“To become an S-rank Hunter, you have to go to America and get tested, right??”
“Yeah. I went to America at the end of my first year of high school.”
“That's insanely cool.”
According to Ophelia, I could probably get S-rank too, but there was no need to do it now just to draw attention. She'd also said something weird might happen if I went to the U.S., so I didn't really have a plan.
“So you're, like, one of the strongest people in the world?”
“W-well, I guess so. My ranking is low, though.”
“Hee, Dengdengi. What's Utaha unnie's world ranking?”
ㅡBeep?
Dengdengi ran a search with a ring-ding, ring-ding sound, then displayed the result on the screen.
[214]
“Mm, oh...”
“Mm...”
What is this. Somehow it feels kind of ambiguous. If she's 214th out of 8 billion people, that's definitely amazing, but somehow it's a number that doesn't really give you that same stunned feeling. Still, it's insanely impressive. There are only 200-something people above her, right??
“She's seriously amazing...”
“Eve. Have you gotten a lot stronger compared to before?”
“Hmm, me? When was it again, the last time I met you, unnie...”
I first got the proposal to raid the Ansan Royal Tombs in early December, and I had met Utaha unnie before that, so by the calendar it was the very end of November. That was almost half a year ago, and if you ask whether I've gotten a lot stronger since then...
“Uh, I guess I've gotten a lot stronger...”
“You've grown.”
Minium has become 500 times stronger than back then, and the soldiers have increased by a huge amount too, not to mention that Grandpa Galahad and Bradamante have appeared as well. Suri got stronger too, Dengdengi got stronger too. My skills have also ranked up tremendously.
“It feels like I'm on a completely different level from back then!”
“That's amazing.”
While we were talking about all sorts of things, Flora let us know that we'd arrived home. So Utaha unnie peeked out the window.
“This is... home..?”
“Ah, ahaha... our house is in this building...”
“I see.”
Of course Utaha unnie knew this building too. It's the tallest building in Korea, so whether as a tourist spot or for anything else, it's incredibly famous. But now that she was being brought in saying this was home, she seemed a little uncertain.
ㅡVroom-vroom.
When we entered the underground resident-only parking lot, Utaha unnie's eyes widened even more. We passed through a parking lot full of expensive cars that even someone who doesn't know cars would recognize, and then went into the resident-only elevator, which you can only enter after identity verification.
“Se-seventieth floor...”
“It's pretty high, right? Are you scared of heights?”
“No, I'm fine.”
A giant 200-pyeong penthouse in the heart of one of the most expensive buildings in Korea, one of the most expensive homes in the country. I'm glad we moved before Utaha unnie got here, I guess? It's not that our old place was bad, but I felt like something this level was necessary if an overseas S-rank Hunter was going to stay for two months...
“I'll open the door for you!”
“Okay.”
Flora opened the apartment door with the card key and went inside. In the entryway, five maids including Ophelia were waiting in two rows.
-“Welcome home, Princess.”-
“Eep, you were all here?”
“Yes, that's right.”
* * * * *
Tennoji Utaha's home is a shrine tucked away in a mountain valley. Since it's halfway up the mountain, it might be cool in summer, but it's a place where insects swarm and the winters are brutally cold.
On the floorboards and tatami mats of the one-story house, they would sit around the irori and keep out the cold seeping in through the thin paper doors that let the winter wind through.
Of course, being an S-rank Hunter, she had stayed at plenty of luxury hotels during domestic and overseas schedules, so it wasn't as though she had no experience with them, but that was what home meant to her.
“Uh...”
“Miss Tennoji Utaha, I am the head maid Ophelia, who contacted your agency in advance. Your bag and coat can be left here, and I will guide you to the bathroom and private room you'll use for the next two months.”
“T-thank you...”
Guided by maid Ophelia, whom she'd spoken to before, Utaha handed over her bag and coat to the other maids and entered the house after receiving indoor slippers with a luxurious feel.
‘The ceiling is high.’
A ceiling that looked to be over five meters high and a staircase leading to the second floor. Added to that was a chandelier hanging from the center of the living room ceiling, brightly lighting the surroundings, and a wall of floor-to-ceiling glass that revealed a wide view of Seoul.
A balcony where all sorts of landscaping plants grew, and a lounge area decorated in harmony with luxurious furniture.
ㅡPitter-patter.
ㅡPffft.
Dengdengi flapped its short legs while shaking itself off, let out a refreshing fart, then sprinted to the living room sofa and flopped down as if nothing had happened.
“Utaha. I'll guide you to the bathroom first. Handwashing is the rule here.”
“Ah, understood.”
“Princess? Please wash your hands first.”
“Okay. Utaha unnie, should we wash our hands together?”
“There are six indoor bathrooms and toilets. There are slight differences in the fixtures, so please use whichever you need. For now, this way.”
“Six bathrooms..?”
After washing their hands in the dry bathroom with a sink and toilet, Utaha and Eve were guided by head maid Ophelia. After that, the maids took over her coat and bag, along with the clothes and other luggage—items received through customs and sent on ahead via the agency—and led her to the room reserved for Utaha.
“How did these clothes get here...”
“This is the room you'll use for the next two months. A dressing room and private bathroom are next to it. If you need anything else, we'll have it prepared.”
“T-thank you...”
A closet packed with dozens of outfits, and a private bathroom with a large hinoki tub. Even a view this luxurious was something she'd never enjoyed at home.
“Wow, it's like Utaha unnie's room.”
ㅡBoing-boing.
“Princess, bouncing on a guest bed is not polite.”
“Okay...”
Unlike the home where she'd always laid a futon on the tatami floor and slept, there was even a huge bed set up on top of wide marble tiles.
“Every morning, a maid will come and tidy the bedding, and lay out freshly laundered linens. However, if you notice any dirt on the bedding before sleeping, please ask a maid for a replacement.”
“The bedding... gets washed every morning?”
“Bedding gets dirty as soon as it's used, after all. The maid room is this way.”
They passed through a room with a mood lamp softly glowing atop a luxurious side table and a desk set up for simple work, then entered the maid room.
After briefly showing them where the maid room was, they moved on to the living room where dinner would be served.
“All meals are served here. Menus are provided according to the time, but if there's something specific you'd like, tell us at least 30 minutes before mealtime and we'll prepare it.”
“Ah, yes...”
Even after the general explanation of the interior was finished, there were still plenty of places they hadn't gotten to see yet. Meanwhile, Eve had gone up to her room on the second floor and come back after changing into indoor clothes.
“Come to think of it, your agency didn't prepare indoor clothes or sleepwear, so we prepared them here instead. Did you perhaps already have some in your suitcase?”
“Indoor clothes...”
When Utaha returned home, she would change into her usual ceremonial robes and live in them, and when it was time to sleep, she'd roughly change into clothes called nemaki and go to bed.
The clothes she had packed in her suitcase were only her school uniform, gym clothes, and some of her battle equipment.
“If you don't have any, you can change into the indoor clothes we've prepared here.”
“Ah, thank you.”
They made the long trip back to the private room once more.
“A bathrobe for after bathing is always kept here. We check and replace it three times a day, but if you don't have one, you can call a maid and get a fresh bathrobe.”
“Uh...”
“In this closet are your indoor clothes, and in that closet is your sleepwear. After changing in the dressing room, please leave your outer clothes here; the maids will wash them overnight.”
“Ah, thank you...”
After hearing all those explanations, Utaha watched Ophelia leave and walked into the dressing room. In a dressing room even larger than the master bedroom she shared with her mother, Utaha carefully recalled what she'd just been told.
“This is the indoor-clothes closet... Isn't this a little too revealing..?”
After Utaha opened the indoor-clothes closet and checked the clothes inside, she blinked for a moment. Having grown up in a hereditary shrine family that had passed down and performed shrine duties for generations, Utaha was used to either traditional Japanese clothing, whatever her agency gave her, or her school uniform—and that was about it.
“So this is the kind of clothes they wear... It definitely seems more comfortable than nemaki.”
* * * * *
As Ophelia had promised in advance, she informed Tennoji Utaha's agency that Utaha had arrived home. Since she was an important figure even in Japan, conditions like these were unavoidable.
Japan had never had an active high school student become an S-rank Hunter before, and naturally this was also the first time a high school student would be staying overseas long-term as an exchange student. So they had no choice but to be extremely strict about security.
“Yes, we've checked everything that came through customs. Thank you for your hard work.”
After finishing the report, Ophelia moved to the living room. She wanted to ask Utaha and Eve what they wanted for dinner, since it would be soon.
“Utaha-chan, for dinner, what menu would you like... hmm.”
“Ah, dinner.”
Tennoji Utaha sat there fidgeting nervously, unable to settle down as she glanced around.
“Utaha-chan, those are the undergarments for indoor clothes. The indoor-clothes closet is stocked with two sets of indoor clothes and their undergarments.”
“Ah.”