Chapter 374 - 374 - The Item That Finally Comes In Handy 300 Chapters Later

"Ladies... the floor is yours."

Leon tossed the contract scroll onto the coffee table, then sprawled out on the sofa with his legs spread, an unabashedly cocky grin on his face.

"What is this?"

Iri unrolled the scroll curiously, and as her eyes swept line by line, surprise and bewilderment slowly surfaced on her delicate face.

"A Mansion Construction Contract...?"

Margaret leaned in for a look and froze too.

"Huh? What, what?"

Laurier poked her little head out from behind Iri's shoulder and read it aloud, one word at a time.

"What does this mean?"

"It means that as long as we put forward a plan, the other party to this contract will build it exactly to our specifications."

Then Leon added, "He provides the materials too. In other words... all I have to do is pay him for the labor hours."

"As for the price, it's written right there, clear as day."

"..."

In an instant, the whole reception room fell silent.

That silence was downright deafening.

But the next second...

"Ehhhhhhhhhhh?!?"

A perfectly synchronized shriek nearly blew the roof off the mansion.

"What did you say? We can build a great big house for just that little bit of money? And every one of us gets to throw in whatever ideas we want?"

Laurier's big eyes blinked rapidly, her face full of disbelief.

"Leon, you're not pulling some Christmas joke on us, are you?"

Watching the incredulous looks on Laurier, Aura, and the others, Leon let out a soft chuckle, cocked his mouth, and shot a glance toward the teacup.

"Hm?"

"Here, Master Leon. Your tea~"

Iri obediently held out the freshly brewed black tea. Leon took the cup, sipped, narrowed his eyes, and contentedly enjoyed Margaret's perfectly timed shoulder rub.

"Mm~ right there, yes yes, a little harder..."

"Hss... that's the spot!"

Margaret's soft little hands were working his shoulders with just the right pressure, and the service was, frankly, downright professional. As for where she'd picked up the skill, well, that owed everything to Mr. Leon's "personal instruction."

Watching the man sink fully into the sofa, getting his legs pounded by Iri and his shoulders kneaded by Margaret, Master Leon practically floating with bliss, Jeanne's little face went dark.

Rose still stood gently off to the side, hands lightly folded in front of her, posture elegant, smiling with her eyes narrowed, saying nothing.

It was just... Kureha, standing beside her, picked up on a faint, inexplicable air of danger. So she quietly took half a step back, smoothly tucking the still-clueless Lydia in front of her, while shooting Leon a pitying "you're on your own" look.

Lydia: "..."

Dear Kureha, your skill at reading the room is probably worse than mine, and I grew up in a royal palace.

"Leon~~~"

Rose stepped forward to Leon's side, elegantly bent down, and laid slender fingers tipped with bright red nail polish lightly against the man's chest.

"Hss..."

The cool touch made Leon shiver slightly. He opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Rose's, mere inches away. She was bracing one hand lightly on his leg, her figure curved into a graceful line.

"So big, so pale..."

His gaze drifted across her slightly open neckline, and the view in that glance made him straighten his spine on reflex, as a show of respect.

His left hand caught Iri, who was massaging his legs, his right hand reached back to press down Margaret's hand on his shoulder, and Leon grinned, looking into Rose's beautiful eyes, the tip of his tongue grazing the corner of his lips.

"As for this whole thing, you all remember when we joined the Goliath subjugation battle, right? If I'm remembering right... that was over half a year, almost a year ago now. Laurier and Aura had only just joined the familia back then."

"It was in that battle that I got the 'Monster Rex Grand Treasure Chest,' and this contract was what came out of it."

Seeing that Jeanne, Rose, and the others still looked puzzled, Leon went on, "At the time I figured this thing wouldn't be any use for a good while. You all know what land prices in Orario are like, and on top of that we were only Lv. 2 back then, so I just stashed it at the bottom of the case and never bothered bringing it up."

At that, Rose straightened up and nodded thoughtfully.

"I see."

"If this contract is reliable, then doesn't that mean... we can start discussing how to design the house right now?"

Leon blinked, his tone breezy.

"That's right, my lady."

Rose clapped her hands lightly and turned to everyone.

"You all heard that, didn't you? Any ideas or requests you have about the new house, feel free to bring them up. I'll organize it all into a list afterward."

Once the head housekeeper Rose had spoken, that settled it... building the house was officially on the agenda!

So what kind of mood should one show?

Laurier grabbed Aura's hand, and amid the other girl's slightly flustered little struggles, the two of them lifted their legs face to face and jumped up together.

"Yesss!"

"Ah! Laurier!"

Not just Laurier and Aura. Even Iri and Margaret, who'd been pounding Leon's legs and rubbing his shoulders a moment ago, "abandoned" him the instant Rose finished speaking, pulling Kureha and Lydia over to sit to one side and launching into an animated discussion of all the possibilities for the new house.

Leon: "..."

Hang on, was his standing in this household really this low now?

"Leon, I think the overall style of the base could be designed like a castle."

Jeanne had walked over and sat down beside him at some point, leaning in lightly to talk it over with him in a low voice.

Breathing in the faint fragrance unique to the Holy Maiden, Leon's mood went from overcast to sunny in an instant.

He ignored Jeanne's slight struggling, caught her hand, and pulled her whole body into his arms.

"What are you doing!"

"...There are so many people watching!"

"Show a little restraint!"

Jeanne flushed red, lightly pounding his chest, her voice full of bashful indignation.

"Aw, we're an old married couple by now... besides, we're all family here, everyone already knows everyone, so what's there to be embarrassed about."

Leon's shameless little speech made Persephone spit quietly off to the side. She gave up and decided out of sight was out of mind, turning to go discuss the new home's plans with Rose instead.

...

Over the next three days.

Everyone put forward all sorts of ideas for the new home's design. Of course, some of the proposals were too wild and impractical, and those got rationally vetoed by Rose and Persephone.

In their words: "This is for living in, not for playing around in."

After another two days of back-and-forth discussion, the day before the new year, the design plan for the new home was finally settled.

And while the ladies were busy bickering over all the details, Leon, the one who'd started it all, quietly slipped into the background, retreating alone to the underground workshop to silently study the "Christmas present" he'd gotten from Asfi.

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