Lisa's mansion
At this time, Lina and the trio are walking on the streets as they head back to the academy. On the way back, Lina explained the things in the city but she appeared to be a little bit distracted.
"So, what do you think of the man earlier?" Rick said as the corners of his lips curled up to a smirk.
Carla and Leon couldn't help but look at Lina whose cheeks appeared to have a faint blush.
"What man?" Lina replied, pretending to be clueless.
"You know, that man who stopped your battle with Ellaine, the one who gave you the rose" Rick said as his smile widened.
"Oh, that man? He's strong" Lina replied as her steps quickened.
"Don't you think that he's handsome?" Carla said as she joined in on the fun.
"He's... alright" Lina replied as her face reddened.
"Looks like we got a shy girl here." Rick teased.
"Stinky brat, you want a piece of me?" Lina replied as she lightly smacked Rick's head.
Rick just scratched the back of his head as he chuckled.
They chatted for a bit with each other while occasionally teasing Lina.
...
After almost an hour of walking, they arrived at the Academy before night fell and headed straight to the training ground. When they arrived, they were greeted by a loud explosion.
"Oh, brats. You finally arrived. I've been waiting for you" Lisa said as she grinned from ear to ear.
The trio couldn't help but shudder in terror as they looked at Lisa's figure while Lina made her quick escape.
'I knew we shouldn't have come back so early' Leon complained inwardly.
"Noooooooo" the trio screamed as Lisa "sparred" with them.
An hour later, they lay on the ground with their clothes rugged and sweat covering their body as they panted for breath.
"Huff.. we're still alive" said Rick.
"At this rate, it's only a matter of time before we breathe our last breath." Carla replied.
"Hey, that's rude. And here I thought I was being kind enough to spar with you kids but it looks like you're still not satisfied. Very well, I will-" Lina said but her words were cut off by the trio.
"No, no, no.. We're satisfied!"
"Please save your energy. The Academy needs you"
"We're fine the way we are now"
"Really? I see, I see. I know you're satisfied with my kindness. No need to be shy" Lisa said as she chuckled.
'No, we're definitely not satisfied!' the trio inwardly complained but didn't dare to voice it out.
"Oh, by the way, you still haven't seen my house, right? I'll take you guys there tonight" Lisa said.
The trio's ears spasmed in interest when she mentioned her house. Currently, they just rented an inn for them to sleep at night. But it would be better if they live in an actual house.
Shortly afterwards, the trio rose up as they followed Lisa to her house.
Who would have thought that her house is actually a mansion? It was an empty one but a mansion nevertheless.
The trio's eyes couldn't help but twitch when they learned that she actually had a mansion.
'You had such a large mansion yet you don't even live in it?' Rick inwardly complained.
They entered the gates of the mansion and noticed that the surroundings were filled with dust and fallen leaves.
Cobwebs covered the corners of the house. There was little furniture around but the mansion, in general, was mostly empty.
"Why don't you live here? Don't tell me it's haunted" Carla said as the corners of her eyes narrowed.
"Of course, not. It's just that I'm busy and it's too troublesome for me to clean the entire mansion. As you can see, there's only me and Lina but she doesn't even live here" Lisa replied.
"Why don't you hire a few maids and butlers to maintain the house then? As the Vice Headmaster of the Golden Gate Academy, surely, you don't lack money, right?" Leon asked.
"Maids and butlers aren't really my thing. I don't trust them so I just left this in the dust" Lisa said with a sigh.
"You kids are from the village so I have some degree of trust towards you so I can allow you three to live in this mansion but you have to regularly clean it, understand?" Lisa added as she looked at the trio.
"You should have done so from the start" Rick said as he nodded.
"Well, I forgot that I actually had a mansion. It was only when Lina reminded me that I remembered" Lisa replied.
'So unreliable.' the trio exclaimed inwardly.
"Come to think of it, where does Lina live?" Rick said with a curious gaze.
"Oh, you have a crush on her? I don't mind if it's you" Lisa replied with a teasing tone.
"Not really. Just curious" Rick denied.
'You've got to be kidding me. She's 13 for God's sake and I'm not some pedo. Even with the standards of this world, I'm still 10 so I shouldn't even think about things like that.' Rick thought to himself.
"Tch, so boring. I live in the Academy while Lina just rents some inn nearby. She frequently goes outside the city to do missions so you don't usually see her around the city" Lisa replied.
"I'm still young, you know." Rick said.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Anything else? If not, I'll go now" Lisa said as she slightly raised her right eyebrow.
"Is it okay for us to live here? Is it safe?" Leon asked.
"Don't worry. As long as I'm alive, no one would dare to sneak inside this mansion, much less harm you. And if some idiot really dares to, I have this crumpled paper here with me so Rick can just teleport to notify me. Anything else?" Lisa said as she held a ball of crumpled paper with her left hand.
"This mansion isn't really haunted.. right?" Carla asked once again.
"Alright, take care of yourselves, kids" Lisa ignored Carla's question and immediately left.
"Hey, you didn't answer!" Carla yelled as she shuddered.
"You weren't this scared when we were alone in the forest" Leon said as he looked at Carla.
"That was different." Carla retorted.
"Don't worry. Even if there really is some ghost here lingering here, I can immediately teleport outside" Rick said as he patted her shoulder.
"What about us?" Carla asked.
"I'll be safe" Rick replied as he chuckled with Leon.
"Idiot, I'm not worried about you!" Carla said as she lightly kicked his butt.
Unbeknownst to the trio, however, was that there's more to this place than being just a mansion.