Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 304: The Mansion’s Mysteries

"Theo... do wanna trade the mansions with me?"

"...Sorry, Damien, but absolutely not," he replied flatly.

Yeah, figured.

Reluctantly abandoning his plan to offload the mansion onto Theo, Damien resigned himself to following Elyon inside.

The others trailed behind, looking a little bit hesitant.

Hey, you’re all living here from now on, Damien thought. Might as well get used to it like I am.

Preparing himself for more mind-boggling surprises, Damien entered the foyer—only to find it was surprisingly ordinary.

The entrance opened into a modest hall, with hallways branching off to the left and right and a grand staircase leading up to the second floor.

A chandelier hung from the ceiling—elegant but not overly flashy—and the overall design gave a familiar impression.

If anything, it looked like a smaller version of Theo’s house.

Since elves didn’t traditionally build houses, maybe they had really used Theo’s home as a reference.

"Teacher, even the interior walls, the staircase, and the railings..." someone began.

"Ah, yes, it’s all made from Sky Tree," Elyon confirmed.

Well, considering it’s the only kind of tree that grows around there, that made sense...

Damien decided not to think about the cost of the materials.

Instead, he resolved to be grateful. "Thank you for building this with such sturdy materials!"

"Also, Teacher... that chandelier. It’s not made of glass, is it? Surely it’s not crystal... or—no, it couldn’t possibly be diamond, right?"

...Why’d Theo have to go there?

In fantasy worlds, glass was often considered a luxury.

And knowing the elves, they might’ve used some absurdly rare gemstone instead.

The faint glow coming from the chandelier wasn’t helping Damien’s nerves.

He’d been trying to ignore it entirely—but now he couldn’t.

"Ah, don’t worry," Elyon said reassuringly. "Even we understand the value of gemstones. Those aren’t things you’d find lying around, and we certainly didn’t use anything so extravagant. Everything here was made with materials we already had."

Hearing that it wasn’t made of diamonds, Damien felt a bit relieved.

Come to think of it, Elyon had once struggled to pay for tea.

Maybe the elves didn’t have much in the way of actual currency.

"Materials you already had...?" Damien asked cautiously.

Theo’s expression shifted from wary to curious.

"What exactly does ’materials on hand’ mean?" he wondered aloud.

Had they melted sand to make glass?

That’s how glass was made, right?

If so, the elves, with their proficiency in magic, could probably do it effortlessly.

"Well," Elyon began, "to keep costs down and use what we had at hand... we used magic crystals."

"Pfft!"

Theo, Sebas, and a few others audibly choked at his words.

"I mean... it was on hand..." Elyon said, slightly defensive.

"Cough, cough... yes, technically... but still..." Theo sputtered, struggling to recover.

Damien, seeing Theo was too out of breath to explain, turned to Leonide, who seemed relatively unaffected.

"Leonide, what exactly are magic crystals?" Damien asked.

"Uh... well, they’re crystals created through a special ritual that condenses magic into a solid form. They’re used when people magic power isn’t sufficient for rituals or grand spells. But the conversion efficiency is really poor, and only someone with at least twice the normal magical capacity can even attempt to make one," Leonide explained.

Oh, this sounded serious.

"Typically, they’re about the size of a thumbnail, and even then, one would cost at least ten gold coins. Naturally, the larger they are, the more valuable they become—exponentially so, in fact."

A thumbnail-sized crystal costs ten gold coins... Damien glanced at the chandelier.

Even from a distance, the orbs looked larger than fists.

And the central piece?

The one that looked as big as a human head?

Yeah, no.

Damien decided not to count or think about it further.

"But... but magic replenishes quickly, doesn’t it? So what’s the harm?" Elyon said, brushing it off.

"Teacher, that’s not the issue here," Theo replied, exasperated.

The people who are surrounded by rare items all the time clearly had a skewed sense of value, Damien thought.

"Um... big brother..."

"Hm? What is it, Augusto?"

Augusto, who had been clinging to Damien’s arm since they were in the back of the mansion, tugged at it nervously.

"Why is... why is no one touching that?" Augusto asked timidly.

Oh no, he said it.

Everyone had been desperately avoiding the topic, but Augusto had gone and pointed it out.

Yor, who was holding Augusto’s other hand, also looked up at Damien with a puzzled expression.

Such honest kids, Damien thought.

Sweet, adorable, but...

"Well, Augusto, you see..." Damien began, sighing. "Everyone’s just trying to avoid reality right now."

Having resigned himself, Damien finally allowed his gaze to settle on the small figure hiding behind one of the pillars, peeking out at them.

It was clearly not human-sized.

...

Once Damien noticed them, he couldn’t just ignore them.

...Or could he?

He glanced at the tiny, palm-sized figures peeking out from behind the pillar.

They were so small and far away that he couldn’t make out their age, gender, or facial features, but they all wore triangular hats.

They looked just like fairies straight out of a storybook.

And... there were many of them.

Even at a glance, there seemed to be about ten.

Judging by the way they darted from shadow to shadow, there were likely even more.

Elyon wasn’t saying anything.

Maybe if Damien pretended not to see them, it would be fine... right?

As he mulled over the idea, one of the tiny figures met his gaze.

It immediately ducked back behind the pillar, as if embarrassed.

...Guess he couldn’t ignore them after all.

"Uh, Elyon... who are those little ones?"

Reluctant but resigned, Damien asked the person most likely to have an explanation.

"Shh... try not to stare at them too much," Elyon replied. "They’re shy and easily frightened. If you keep looking at them, they’ll disappear."

Oh, so that’s how it was?

It made sense, considering the little one that had met Damien’s eyes had hidden right away.

Maybe everyone else wasn’t ignoring them out of disinterest but rather to avoid scaring them off.