As soon as I finish my breakfast, I leave the dining room and come to the living room.

　Then I put my feet into the kotatsu, which is placed in the center of the room.

''Oh, it's warm...''

　I let out a squeal of relief as the warm air envelops my lower body.

　The inside of the kotatsu is warm because I've poured out the magic properly before breakfast.

　Because there's no more empty time than putting your feet inside the kotatsu and waiting for it to warm up.

'There's no one else around and you should go inside the kotatsu.

　After warming my hands and feet, I flip the covers over and climb into the kotatsu.

　If I were an adult, I'd be too big to do it, or my legs would stick out, but I'm too small to do it now.

　My whole body is completely inside the kotatsu.

　The inside of the kotatsu had a slight light source due to the fire magic tools glowing red.

　It was a little hot in the completely enclosed space, so I played with the fire magic tool to lower the heat level.

　This is perfect.

　Ah, my whole body is warm. I feel as if I'm a fetus now.

　I want to become one with the kotatsu as it is. I have a lover, my bed, and it's so great that I can't help but think about it.

　I think I'll just sleep twice in the kotatsu like this.

'--I've found it,'

　As I was meditating and stumbling around with my eyes, the futon was suddenly rolled up with a bang and Saara peeked out.

　Saara's neat face and the suddenness of the event made me nervous.

'There you really are!

It's just as Sarra predicted.

"Monk is a cat.

　When I only looked up, I saw Meena with a surprised look on her face and Mel and Bartolo with a dumbfounded look on their faces.

''Eh?　What?

Hey, kid, you got a minute?

No. I'm too busy getting warm under the kotatsu.

　I reject Bartolo at the first hint of trouble and I retreat into the kotatsu.

　If it's just Bartolo, we've got Saara, Mina, and even Mel. It's going to be a hassle.

　It's not a smiling errand to try to cook.

"You're going to have to do something about that.

Wow!

　As I retreat into the kotatsu, Bartolo flips the covers over and puts just his face in.

　It's tough in many ways when Bartolo's strong face appears in front of me.

''Alfried-sama, please!

I'm not asking for trouble.

　I shifted my posture and turned my face away, and from the other side I saw Meena's dumb face.

　From next to it was Mel's languid-looking face.

　And in the first place was Saara's neat face.

　It was surrounded by faces in all four directions.

　If there had been a third party here, we would have seen the surreal sight of four large adults with only their heads in the kotatsu.

'Don't cover your face with your face for a minute. Or rather, everyone is too desperate.

'Whether Mr. Alfried is willing to help us or not makes a big difference in how busy we are!

All right. I'll listen to what you have to say. Just pull your face away.

Okay, okay.

　Okay, the moment Meena and the others pull their faces back, we'll use a psychic to secure the kotatsu and close the bedding tightly shut.

　If we lock ourselves in like that, the four of them will give up.

'No, we can't do that. Because if we pull back here, Alfried-sama might use his magic to withdraw.

'Yes, that's right!　I'm going to stay like this until you listen to me carefully!

　Hearing Saara's words, Meena, who had been caught off guard, turned her head back.

　Maybe it's because she usually comes to wake me up, but it seems that Saara can see through my thoughts.

　d*mn, that's sharp.

I'll listen to you. I'll listen to you.

　Giving up, I pushed Meena's face away and decided to get out of the kotatsu.

　As I expected, it's impossible to relax with four people sticking their faces in me.

　Besides, the heat in the kotatsu has completely evaporated, probably because the futon is rolled up.

"So what's going on with everyone?

'Actually, I'm going to do a bit of a cleanup. I need the boy to help me with that.

Yeah, I'm gonna clean up?

'That said, what I want Monk to do is to magically lift the furniture. The sofas, chairs, tables, and cupboards in the living room could easily be lifted by Monk's magic, right?

Oh, I see.

　The Sowlett family has quite a few servants.

　The usual duties work well because each of them are excellent and we don't do unnecessary chores, but when this kind of heavy lifting is needed, there's nothing we can do about it.

　Even the one couch in the living room is moderately heavy. Bartolo could probably lift it, but it would take a lot of time for him to do it alone.

　I don't have the luxury of using my psychic to help him float the furniture, but I want to stay warm in the kotatsu today.

　I decided earlier that I'm going to sleep twice. When I'm in that mood, it's hard to get in the mood to do anything else.

Does it have to be now?

It's a good thing everyone's out of town today. It's a chance to clean out the house.

　When I implied that I wasn't in the mood for it now, Mel gave me a reason why it had to be now.

'What?　Really?　Is there anyone in the mansion now?

'Lady Elinora has gone for vigilante training. Lady Nord, Lady Erna, and Lady Silvio have gone to inspect the village.

　I thought it was oddly quiet in the house, but I was alone.

'You mentioned it at breakfast, didn't you?

I didn't hear it.

　Meena tells me with a nod of her head, but I must have slipped my ears because all I could think about at the time was getting into the kotatsu, I guess.

'So that's why boy, help me!

　Bartolo asks me to put my hands together and worship him.

　It's especially inevitable for Bartolo because it's the most taxing part of the cleaning process.

"As a thank you, you can have your dinner menu for a while and do whatever you want with it, kid.

No, that would only make Meena happy.

So that's it.

What do you think I'm doing, making fun of you?

So what can we do to help you?

　All of them go through Meena, who reveals her astonishment, and Bartolo asks with sincere eyes.

''How about................................How about taking a break from my sword training once, like this time?

　Even in the cold winter months, sword practice continues outside.

　No matter how much I insist that I don't want to do it because of the cold, Nord Dad won't listen to me, so the plan is to get him to skip it by citing Bartolo and the others.

'Hmm, let's take a break from Nord's practice.......okay. Let's do it!

　After a moment's hesitation, Bartolo nodded clearly.

'Can you do it?'

　It's not easy for me to ask you to do this, but it's not easy for me to miss my father's training.

　It's a good idea to have a good time with your friends and family.

　And among my sisters and brothers, they tend to be especially strict about my judgment.

'Yeah, there are a few jobs that would benefit from having a few monks around. I'll take you out at random for that.

Oh, that's great, Bartolo. I'm counting on you.

　Bartolo looked like a refreshing prince as he freed himself from the chains of practice.

'Good luck with that, Mr. Bartolo!

Nice to meet you.

I'm counting on you.

No, you guys are going to have to help me.

　As soon as I saw the maids trying to defend themselves and Bartolo rushing into it, I was a little worried.