The bank staff, seeing how confident Nanami Aoyama was, helped her get in touch with someone from the real estate company.
Although the bank and the real estate firm were two entirely different entities, they dealt with each other quite often.
In fact, their interactions were remarkably frequent.
That was why the bank employee had the real estate company's contact information.
By noon that day, thanks to the bank staff's efforts, Nanami met with a representative from the real estate company.
He was a man in his forties.
Not the slick, seasoned office type.
But an honest-looking middle-aged guy.
When he heard that Nanami wanted to become a haunted house trial sleeper, the real estate agent agreed without hesitation. Beika Town needed people like her.
Especially a female high school student like Nanami—houses she stayed in would see their prices rise a bit.
He was more than happy to welcome someone like her as a trial sleeper.
Unfortunately, most high schoolers weren't that bold; the mere mention of a haunted house scared them off.
Let alone becoming a trial sleeper.
Nanami was an outlier among outliers.
The company couldn't agree fast enough—how could they possibly refuse?
However, when the middle-aged agent learned that Nanami wanted the most haunted of all haunted houses, he was utterly shocked.
He blurted out instinctively, "You can't sleep in that one—people really die there."
This piqued Nanami's curiosity immensely. "What's wrong with that house?"
The real estate agent said cautiously, "It's not an ordinary haunted house. It's a genuinely cursed one."
"Anyone who's entered the Saeki House so far—none have come out alive."
"Every single one died."
At this, Morpheus couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
Saeki House?
Which Saeki House? It couldn't be the one he was thinking of, could it?
Good grief, had this world stitched in The Grudge as well?
If it really was the Saeki House he imagined...
Morpheus's mind involuntarily conjured an image of Nanami Aoyama battling Kayako Saeki.
On second thought, it seemed kind of thrilling.
As for whether Nanami could beat Kayako Saeki, Morpheus figured it shouldn't be much of a problem.
Nanami was his follower, after all—she couldn't possibly lose to a mere malevolent spirit.
Even if that spirit was named Kayako.
No matter how powerful the spirit, it couldn't stand against one of his followers. Did they think the power of light he granted Nanami was only good for massages?
It worked just as well for exorcisms.
"So, did you go?" Morpheus asked with a hint of anticipation.
But Nanami shook her head. "No."
"Why not?" Morpheus was curious, a wave of disappointment rising inside him.
Nanami explained to the intrigued Morpheus that the middle-aged real estate agent, fearing he'd get her killed, stubbornly refused to recommend the Saeki House to her.
Well, darn... this guy was actually pretty decent.
In short, because this honest middle-aged man wouldn't budge, the showdown Morpheus had been looking forward to—Nanami versus Kayako—never happened.
Instead, he recommended another haunted house to her.
By the way, this one was also in Beika Town.
After staying there for a few days, Nanami successfully collected her payment.
Around 500,000 yen.
It's also worth noting that while this haunted house had seen a murder, there were no malevolent spirits present.
This surprised Nanami a bit.
Ever since becoming Morpheus's follower, she'd seen the real world.
Malevolent spirits on the streets weren't exactly everywhere, but they were common enough.
So she'd genuinely thought a place with a murder history like this would have spirits.
But she found nothing in this haunted house—not even a trace of a spirit, not even its shadow. It had fewer than the streets outside.
Talk about a letdown.
Honestly, after getting the 500,000 yen, Nanami even felt the money burned a little in her hands.
It had come too easily.
It almost didn't feel real.
This was the first sum Nanami had earned since becoming Morpheus's follower. Originally, it was supposed to be split evenly with him.
But considering she needed it to open her shop, Nanami held onto the money.
She noted it down on paper.
Then, using this payment plus the savings she'd accumulated over the years, Nanami rented a remarkably cheap haunted house in Beika Town and converted it into a massage parlor.
Hearing this, Morpheus finally realized that this massage parlor was also a haunted house.
More importantly, this was the infamous Beika Town, where death seemed to lurk around every corner.
When Morpheus had arrived, he hadn't noticed at all—he'd only been focused on finding Nanami, not realizing he'd stepped into the Grim Reaper's territory.
Of course, the Grim Reaper here wasn't the traditional one.
It was the anime version... Conan.
Though it's worth mentioning that Shinichi Kudo was still making headlines in newspapers and on TV, with no sign of shrinking yet.
That meant the Detective Conan storyline hadn't started.
So Beika Town's crime rate hadn't begun its mad dash toward Gotham levels.
But even so, the crime rate in Beika Town remained stubbornly high.
Otherwise, Nanami couldn't have rented a storefront so cheaply and turned it into a massage parlor.
It might look rundown, but business was booming.
This was largely thanks to the enthusiastic recommendations from the bank staff and the real estate agent.
During their interactions with Nanami, both had experienced her massages and were thoroughly impressed by her skills.
So when Nanami opened this humble parlor, the two of them brought in a flood of customers.
Mostly their colleagues.
At first, everyone turned up their noses at the shabby place.
But after trying Nanami's massages, their attitudes flipped 180 degrees—they couldn't stop praising her technique.
On her opening day—today—Nanami earned 400,000 yen straight away.
She kept a portion and offered the remaining 300,000 to Morpheus.
After hearing the full story, Morpheus couldn't help but say, "This calls for some criticism, Nanami. Didn't we agree on a fifty-fifty split...?"
"Exactly, fifty-fifty."
Before Morpheus could finish, Nanami interrupted excitedly. "Have you forgotten, my lord? This is the second sum I've earned since becoming your follower."
"The first was the 500,000 yen from being a trial sleeper."
"As per our agreement, I owe you 250,000 yen, but I needed it to open the shop back then, so I didn't offer it up."
"Now that I've earned more, I naturally have to make up for it."
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
If you want to read up to 50 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (removespace)