"I know you could get hurt," commented Cluma out of nowhere while I was extracting the cores from a group of giant pythons, floor eight once again being a repeat of the previous floor, except with scaled up monsters. The poison contingent consisted of grey cobras, which were the first snakes in the dungeon to not rely on sight. Not that it helped them any.

"Hmm? Where did that come from?"

"I've been thinking about what you said. I know you can get hurt. You couldn't even feed yourself after the great dungeon, after all. I just don't like to think about it. But that's no reason to deliberately hurt yourself."

We continued our trek, circling around the outside of the dungeon floor, as I pondered my response. We'd given up on following scent trails. Perhaps the first five floors were more heavily travelled, or perhaps we were just lucky with our timing, but since the first thunderstorm we'd been forced to follow the outside of each jungle.

ding

Skill [Superimpose] advanced to level 4

"Cluma. I'm... ambitious," I replied, eventually, trying to scrub chunks of grey cobra from my fist, it having practically exploded when punched with my [Superimpose] enhanced power. "I know most people are happy coasting along, finding a pleasant rut to live in and not feeling any need to push themselves. I'm not like that. I intend to hit rank five and solo the great dungeon. That's not something I'll achieve by playing safe."

"But that's different. Taking risks in a dungeon doesn't endanger your life anymore. Taking risks outside it does."

"Would it make you feel better if any experiments you deem too risky take place in a dungeon?"

"I... Maybe? Sorry. I don't know why I'm so..."

"Worried?" I filled in when Cluma trailed off.

"Maybe? I feel weird."

"Your mum would probably say something about young maidens in love," I replied, sniggering, only to get a playful punch in the chest as she unstealthed herself.

"Be serious!" she complained.

"I was!"

Cluma just smiled wistfully, then vanished back into [Stealth].

"When we're done with this floor, can we go to the merchants guild and see what houses are for sale?" she asked after a few more minutes of silent python genocide.

"Why are you so interested in buying a house? What's the rush?"

Through my active mana sight, I saw her hesitate, but her [Stealth] did horrible things to my ability to read her expression. I had no idea what she was thinking, but it was certainly true that she kept mentioning it.

"Is it bad that I want to move out from my parents as soon as possible?" she asked.

That caused me enough shock that I tripped over a tree root and face-planted into the mud. She was planning to move in right away? But... I mean, I know I'd assumed she would eventually, but not immediately! She hadn't even asked! Why would she assume that?!

"...You don't want me to move in yet?" she asked, negatively interpreting my face full of mud. "That's okay. I don't need to live there. I just don't want to be stuck with my parents for mating season."

This time, I just about managed to avoid the face-plant, but it was a close thing. She knew my thoughts on that subject. Why would she want to move in with me for it?!

Again, she caught my negative reaction, this time giving a big sigh. "I know you don't like talking about mating season, but can you please tolerate it just this once? I'm not asking to share a room with you, never mind a bed. It's just... would you like to be stuck in the house with your parents if they were in heat? And then imagine how much worse it would be if you were too."

Okay, that was a slightly better reason than what I was thinking, and I had to hand it to her that I wouldn't. Soundproof walls were not a thing anyone here had got the hang of yet.

"But what about you? Wouldn't being near me be a problem?"

"It's not like it's so bad that we lose our rationality," she huffed. Yes, mum had told me that before, too, but that didn't automatically mean it wouldn't be unpleasant. "Besides, I just need to keep my odour suppression on, and it'll be like there are no viable mates in the area. In fact, I'll be better off than I thought I would; I was expecting to be stuck in my room for two weeks, but thanks to this earring, I can go outdoors without a problem."

Wow. Different species certainly had interesting issues to deal with. Could I live with her throughout that time of summer? What would she be like? I suppose I could always leave the house to her and move back to the village for a couple of weeks, if things got weird.

"You're frowning," she commented. "Is the thought of me staying with you really that bad?"

"No, it's just... Umm..."

"Oh, come on. What is it that happens to us beastkin at the start of summer? Go on, say it out loud."

"You..." I started, wondering how to put it in polite terms.

"Seriously? You're blushing just from thinking about it? Mating season! Heat! You can't even say the words. Why did I ever believe..." she stopped herself short and heaved a massive sigh. "Fine. Sorry. Forget I said anything."

"No, don't be like that. It's just..."

"Uncomfortable. So you keep saying."

"No! Well, yes, but... Sorry." Argg! I was rubbish at this relationship thing. "Yes, we can go house hunting, and you can stay there in the summer. You just caught me by surprise."

Cluma didn't answer, but the next group of giant pythons were unable to offer up any cores, due to her shredding them to pieces.

"Okay, this is obviously still bothering you. Sorry, but I'm really useless at this. What's wrong?"

"Did you think I'd miss that? Most people would say 'you can stay with me', not 'you can stay there'. We used to sleep in the same bedroom, for goodness' sake! What's different now? Do you want to pretend I'm just a human with extra fluff, and don't want to see me in heat so you can pretend mating season doesn't exist?"

I held my tongue, mostly because I suspected the truthful answer was yes. I'd already told her I wasn't ready for any sort of physical relationship. Admittedly, she'd never tried to pressure me in that direction, but she did keep reminding me that the summer was coming up. It was so much easier to ignore it. I probably shouldn't, but... I really didn't want to think about it.

But I did need a house at some point, and now was as good a time as any.

"I know I've messed this conversation up, but I still think we should go house hunting after we're done here."

As expected, we didn't struggle to reach the end of the floor. Cluma spent the first part of the trek in a ponderous mood, but thankfully had reverted to her usual, energetic self by the time we reached the portal. We teleported back to Dawnhold, and shortly found ourselves in front of the merchants guild. Who was it that used to man the desk in here? Eric?

"Hi!" called Cluma as we walked in, causing the elderly man at the desk to look up. Either it had been a lot longer since I'd been in here than I thought, or that wasn't Eric.

Graham Morant, Human, Merchant (37/67)

Ouch. So close to rank four, yet not quite there, and old enough that maybe he never would. Also, he had a family name? He was a noble?

"Can I help you children?" he asked, proving that there was still, thankfully, the odd person in Dawnhold who didn't know me by sight.

"We want to buy a house!" exclaimed Cluma energetically.

He looked unconvinced, but didn't immediately go into some sort of children-can't-buy-houses tirade. It helped that we weren't actually children, of course, but from his face, I'd still bet this situation was abnormal.

"You're getting married?" he asked, causing me to blush and Cluma to giggle. "Are your parents not helping you? It's unlikely that you'll be able to borrow much money without a guarantor."

"I was hoping that borrowing would be unnecessary, from our parents or otherwise," I said, materialising a handful of large gold coins from my [Item Box].

"Whu?" he gasped, before his eyes narrowed. He peered at the top of my head and then frowned at Cluma. "You must be Peter, then. I didn't realise you were... Wouldn't you prefer to..."

Whatever he was thinking, he failed to get the words out. Feeling a hint of suspicion, I gave him a scan with [Soul Perception], and sure enough, he was struggling against the Law. I felt a frown forming on my own face; this guy seemed to be trying his hardest to make some sort of racist comment.

"Are you attached to this little town?" he asked, changing tack. "With your abilities, you'd be welcomed in any city. You could find more gainful employment elsewhere."

There weren't many people in this mind-controlled world that managed to get on my nerves, but this guy was trying his best. He was definitely in competition with Hugo for the title of most arrogant prick.

"Yes. Living here is something we decided after careful consideration. We didn't pop in on a whim."

"But it's not even as if the people here are your real family," he snapped, raising his voice. "You waltz in here with enough money to buy half the town, wearing fake ears, as if life is some sort of game. Do you have any idea how much chaos you're causing, dropping another world's ideas and technology in a backwater like this?! It's your fault I've been dragged here from headquarters, because the staff here couldn't cope with the influx of work you're responsible for."

Not my real family?! I hadn't even heard the rest of the rant, after that insult. But what could I do? I couldn't just storm out; that would be more of a pain for me than for him.

"Why are you being so unfriendly?" complained Cluma, who had listened to it all. "Don't blame Peter just because you don't like your job. Go find a new one! Now, are you going to help us buy a place or not?"

"I suppose I have no choice," he muttered, although his still-struggling soul made it very clear that he wished he did. "Let me get you a list of empty properties."

He stormed out of the room, leaving the pair of us alone. "Well, isn't he a big grumpy-pants," muttered Cluma, scowling. "I think I'm going to need to tweak my life goal to hug everyone in the world. Anyone who behaves like that isn't going to get any hugs, even if they beg for them."

"Why would I want to be hugged by a random animal I don't even know?" came a shout from the room next door. "You're the weird one for wanting to hug complete strangers, but then you animals never were much for being rational."

I blinked. That really was an actual racist comment, wasn't it? Wow. Cluma stood there fuming, while I was mostly wondering how the Law let him behave like that. He made a valid point about the town, though; it was tiny, with the only transport link to anywhere bigger being a single portal. Given how the research institute had taken off, it had probably increased the foot traffic through that portal by an order of magnitude or more. But it was Lord Reid's decision to build the place, not mine, and he would hopefully have checked the logistics beforehand. I wasn't involved in its day to day running, nor was anyone stopping other settlements investing in their own research.

"If you're jealous of our research institute, why not set up one of your own in the Emerald Nest? And don't you dare insult Cluma like that again. I'd much rather her attitude than whatever the hell is up with you."

He didn't even answer, coming back into the room with a thin folder. Each page described a location and a property, along with its price. What it didn't have were any pictures.

"If you did set up a competing institute, and managed to invent a (camera), I'd certainly buy one," I added, under my breath. Or maybe they could hire Darren to draw some images. Or some other artist, perhaps, given that using Darren would risk him setting the houses on fire to make the pictures more interesting.

"What about plots of land, if we wanted to build our own?" I asked, noting that the folder contained nothing but property. I spotted a shop in there, but no empty plots.

"You would have to proposition Lord Reid if you wanted to claim a plot of land," begrudgingly admitted Graham. "If the land was in use for farming, you would also be required to pay compensation to the current user, even if the land wasn't officially owned by them."

"What about this one?" asked Cluma, picking out a house in the terrace opposite the delvers guild. "Only two bedrooms, but there are no bigger places for sale."

"Of course there aren't," scoffed Graham. "Why would anyone build expensive properties in a tiny town like this?"

The town had grown over the past decade, but it wasn't as if the institute had caused it to suddenly balloon. Most of the researchers lived on site, and they hadn't moved out once the money started rolling in. There hadn't been a sudden influx of riches causing large mansions to be built, nor were there a glut of people looking for regular, commoner housing.

That house didn't meet her specifications, with not only the lack of bedrooms, but also only the single bathroom and no space to add another.

"If you want to move in by the summer, we don't have time to build somewhere. We could wait and see if something bigger comes up?"

"I'm fine with that one," replied Cluma, Graham giving her another dirty look at the mention of summer, even though I was the one that mentioned it. "It doesn't sound like there's much chance of something bigger becoming available, and besides, it's expensive enough already. Can you really afford it?"

I suppose Cluma didn't have any idea how much money I had. "Yes. That's actually on the cheaper side of things, compared to what your dad said the Emerald Nest costs. But we need to go look at it first."

Maybe we could use that one initially, and after I took [Artisan], I'd build one of my own somewhere else. Maybe out in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere with space for a smithy, fields, and kit for every other craft type that was rolled up into [Basic Crafting].

I glanced through the rest of the listings one last time, but there wasn't exactly a wide range of property available, and what there was was very samey. As far as I could see, there was no advantage to one place over another, and the town was small enough that it really didn't matter which end of it our house was. If Cluma preferred that one, I had no reason to object. We made a quick trip to the location, letting ourselves into the unlocked, unoccupied house, and ensuring it was all in order. I gave it a more thorough scan with [Mana Sight], but all looked fine to me.

We returned to Graham and handed over a portion of my fortune. He pulled out a thick folder, scanned through it, wrote a note when he found the page he was looking for, and that was it. I owned a house in Dawnhold.