"This is your room, Clark." Lluvia led me to a room in a corner of the first floor.
The room was not very big. It had a small bed, a table, and a chair. An old drawer was located beside the bed. It had a few old books filled with dust.
The room also had a window, something I was very grateful for. Even if I was not going to use this room frequently, I preferred if it had access to a bit of sunlight.
"Do you like it?" Lluvia asked.
"A bit smaller than I thought, but still nice." I nodded.
Lluvia put on a bitter smile. "Sorry, we have an unoccupied room bigger than this, but it's on the second floor, and my husband did not agree to give it to you."
"Oh?"
"… Well, my daughter and daughter-in-law live on the second floor, so he thought it was not appropriate for you to live there too." Lluvia said in an apologetic tone.
"I understand." I smiled wryly. "No matter. I'm not planning to stay here regularly. In fact, I only need the room to leave my belongings here. I'll probably come here once each few days." I explained.
"Is it so? I'm glad then."
I finished examining the room while talking with Mrs. Lluvia. I then told her that I would bring my belongings tomorrow.
After agreeing to a price for the room, I spoke about another important thing.
"… Food and clothes, is it?" She asked.
"Yes. Food is not very important, after all, most likely I will not eat here. But I need help washing my clothes and cleaning the room."
"Mmm… I understand. If you don't mind paying a bit of extra money and I'll take care of it. My daughter and daughter-in-law will have no problem doing a few extra chores."
I sighed in relief. "No problem. I'll pay."
Lluvia smiled brightly. "Then there is not a problem."
Probably because her family was urgently needing money, Lluvia seemed happy when she saw how generous I was.
But then, her expression turned to one of embarrassment. "… Also, I forgot to tell you but you need to pay the month upfront."
I frowned. Normally, in the empire, when you rent a room or house, you pay when the month ends. Sometimes, you pay half of the price upfront, and the remaining half when the month ends.
But Mrs. Lluvia asked me to pay everything upfront.
Although paying everything upfront in not completely unheard of, it's very unusual.
I heard that her husband had gambling troubles. It looks like the situation was worse than I thought.
I only needed to think for a second before nodding. Anyway, paying now or later does not make a difference to me.
"Okay. But I did not bring the money today. I'll give it to you tomorrow."
Mrs. Lluvia sighed in relief and nodded. "Don't worry, I understand."
But at that moment, a voice interrupted us. "If you don't have the money, then get lost!"
Instantly, the room fell silent.
I wrinkled my brows in displeasure and looked towards the entrance of the room. There, Mrs. Lluvia's husband was looking at me with a frown.
Behind him, two girls were staring at the ground in embarrassment. They seemed ashamed of Peter's attitude.
Hearing her husband's words and seeing the displeasure on my face, Lluvia's face turned pale white. One second later, she turned around with a furious expression.
"Shut up! It's your fault that we need to rent a room in the first place! Clark will be living with us from today onwards, so treat him with respect!"
"You…!" Peter's face became completely red when he heard Lluvia's scolding. He glared at us in fury and opened his mouth. "Hmph! I told you I don't find him trustworthy! He probably has bad intentions by staying here! When something happens later, don't come to me crying!"
Then, he turned around and left.
Lluvia's face changed and looked at me fearing my reaction to her husband's words. But when she saw that I remained expressionless and just frowned slightly, she heaved a sigh of relief.
"Sorry about that. My husband finds it hard to trust in strangers. Don't take his words to heart." She bowed in apology.
"… Mrs. Lluvia, I'll be honest with you. I need the room, so I'll stay here during this one month. But if during this month, something like this happens again, I'll leave."
Lluvia looked into my eyes and sighed. "Sorry. Don't worry, this will not happen again. Now, I'll introduce the girls to you." She said to direct the conversation to another topic and pointed towards the girls that came with her husband. "You already know Clarice, my daughter in law, right?"
"Yes, we talked a little yesterday."
"Good. The other girl is my daughter, Nana." She said while pointing to a sixteen-year-old girl.
The girl shared the features of her mother, but her hair was much shorter. She had a petite body and was a bit chubby, but instead of looking bad, it made her look adorable.
I even had the impulse to pinch her cheeks. Fortunately, I controlled myself, or I would have looked like a creep.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Clark." I smiled softly.
The girl blushed shyly and lowered her head. "… Nana."
Seeing her reaction, Mrs. Lluvia was slightly startled before grinning. "By the way, Clark, do you have a girlfriend?"
"… Not yet." I said with a strange expression. It was true, my current identity was still single.
"Oh? What do you think about Nana?"
"Mom!" Nana screamed embarrassed, but Lluvia just grinned and looked at me.
I was slightly stunned. To think that this woman would hit on me… Although she did it for her daughter.
Fortunately, I was pretty experienced in topics like this.
"Very cute. I'm sure she will be a good wife."
Nana looked at me and turned completely red. She then escaped away to her room.
Seeing that, Lluvia grinned. She then stared at me with an appraising look and nodded. I was pretty awkward knowing that she was evaluating me as a possible son-in-law.
Fortunately, she stopped mentioning the topic.
"Clark, now that we reached an agreement. Do you want to eat dinner with us? It's not to brag, but Clarice's cooking is very good."
I hesitated slightly before shaking my head. "Sorry, I'll need to deal with some matters tonight. Tomorrow perhaps."
Lluvia made a disappointed expression before agreeing. "I see. It will be tomorrow then."
Afterward, I chatted a bit more with Mrs. Lluvia and Clarice, who was a bit more amicable than yesterday, and left.