At the backside of Carran Town was Fluorescent Peak, it was a mountain famous for a particular type of grass growing on it that absorbs then emits light in the darkness, the small village in the lower region of the mountain was the village managing the vegetables and fruits cultivation fields on most of its open region.
Going further, there was an abandoned mansion on top of the mountain. The building was covered in wild vines and fungi growing over its walls, there were visible cracks on the bottom walls, the place had a natural camouflage cover to it, looking from afar it might go unnoticed, there was also a mini well in the lawn but even it was broken. Overall, it looked less like a mansion and more like a horror house.
Kale looked at the mansion then at Francis, from his expression one could tell what he was thinking.
You call this a house?
Francis coughed a few times in embarrassment then said "It just needs a little repairing, and it's far better from inside than outside,"
He said as he walked forward and removed the lock on the main door.
'It's quiet here, as long as I don't do any high-level ritual it should be fine,' Kale inwardly thought as he looked all around the place, the environment around wasn't bad for him, he even likes it to some extent.
Fynn only observed Kale then followed behind.
Once he went in, Kale saw that the inside of the place was indeed better compared to outside, the floor, stairs, doors, and all the other furniture, were all made of wood, although there were some broken planks, it was mostly fine.
From the model of the house, Kale could tell that it was very old, Francis had told him about the story behind the mansion.
The mansion was built by a rich noble merchant in the past, the old merchant had made it as his retirement enjoyment place, he used to live here with his wife and a loyal servant, but some robbers had their eyes on his wealth. They threatened and enticed the servant with wealth, under a little persuasion the servant thought for a while then gave in.
According to him, the old couple was going to die in a few years, then he was most likely going to lose his job, so rather than keeping loyalty gaining some wealth was a better option for him. At one night, he let the robbers sneak in, the robbers killed the old couple while they were sleeping and collected their wealth, later when the servant asked about his part, the robbers laughed at his words and brutally killed him.
At that time, no one knew about the incident, but apparently, the escaped robbers soon caught a mysterious disease that drove them crazy, they started to get mad, and die one by one, before dying the last two robbers confessed everything to the city guards and surrendered hoping to survive but one of them died the same night while other mysteriously disappeared.
After that, this house got auctioned and someone else bought it, but soon they sold it, their reason was that they heard the voices of agony at night that steers them crazy, some other buyers got the house and sold it again for the same reason.
Francis didn't hide anything from Kale for fear of offending him, or the rich family behind him to be precise, moreover, Francis was sure that Kale would know the story once he gets into contact with the villagers around the mountain.
Kale inwardly chuckled at his words, he didn't believe in this ghost story told by him he knew more about such stuff that's why he inferred that even if the old couple somehow both became ghosts they can't actually leave the house to follow all the robbers and kill them one by one.
And if they can leave the house, they won't come back. There were two reasons behind this. Firstly, a soul becoming a ghost wasn't easy, especially two at once, the old couple that was killed in sleep don't have any resentment towards the robbers.
Secondly, simple ghosts aren't intelligent enough to pull off such a stunt of chasing down the enemies and killing them. Ghost has an attachment to a physical entity and can't leave it, this was true even for his ghosts who reside in «Ghost Beads».
Meaning, someone else pulled the strings and used the story to hide their deeds.
In Francis's story, there was no mention of looted money being found out, so the preparator of all these probably did it for money, was what Kale thought, he even guessed that the one who did it was probably the robber that mysteriously disappeared, no one saw it with their own eyes so how hard would it be to bribe the guard into acting as he disappeared after killing his companions while acting like he had gone mad.
Kale wasn't interested in unravelling the decade-old story, he simply acted a little surprised and sad after Francis finished telling the story.
Francis took him to different places in the mansion, giving him a short tour, when they arrived at the bedroom that had its furniture covered in clothes, Francis was silent for a moment, it was the bedroom where the old couple died.
Francis noticed the slight frown on Kale's face and thought that he understood, but Kale was frowning at something else.
'Dense negative energy? Looks like there is indeed a ghost,' Kale thought, he gently patted his pocket.
Suddenly, several vague silhouettes dashed from the red pearls inside it, followed by the Ghost Lady and spread in the mansion.
Francis explained briefly before showing him the bathroom and finishing the tour "As you can see, this bath has the old yet usable mechanism to produce hot water for the bath, that can still work. Sir, have you thought about it? Do you like this place? If not, I can go check other properties to get you more options, but it might take a few days,"
Kale shook his head "No need for that, this one meets my requirement, as for the price... Although I am not afraid of ghosts, this friend of mine is quite vary of supernatural stuff, I hope you consider the facts before deciding on the price,"
Francis's lips slightly twitched as he listened to Kale saying that with a serious expression. He said "I won't be unreasonable, the price of this house and land is already low because of the bad reputation, it is 1700 silvers,"
Kale was slightly surprised by the price, although the mansion was not too big and only had two floors, from the price it seemed like he was only buying the wildland and not the mansion.
The price was way cheaper compared to the money he needed to travel to Carran Town from Imperial City but it wasn't a surprise as he was accompanied by high-rank adventurers and advanced caravans that guaranteed his safety and comfort.
Kale knew all that, but he still retorted "1700 silvers for this house? If the repairing cost included I wouldn't mind, but after buying it I also have to spend money on repairing, moreover I would have to climb up and down the mountain when travelling to the town, I think 1300 silvers in fine,"
Francis was tongue-tied due to the change in attitude then politely retorted "I have decided on this price after considering all that, the property is still precious, I can only give you a little discount if you need..."
But Kale retorted again, Francis replied thereafter, a battle of negotiation broke out.
Francis soon realized that the young naive looking child was actually overpowering him in terms of negotiation, he felt like he was talking to an old crafty merchant rather than a teenager.
During the negotiation, there was even a time, when Kale almost dashed out of the mansion threatening to cancel the deal, but eventually, Francis lowered his price to put a halt to his steps.
After haggling for several minutes, the price decided on was 1450 silver on the condition that Francis would send out his men to help them transport their luggage.
Kale took out a pouch filled with gold coins, he gave out 15 coins then asked for the change.
Francis looked at the gold coins in his hands than at him, he had the sudden urge to punch Kale in the face.
One gold coin is equal to 100 silver coins, but even so, normal people still use silver, only rich merchants and nobles often used gold coins during the exchange.
From the way Kale talked earlier, he almost looked like he lacked money, Francis even thought that the bag filled with the silver coin from earlier was only one he had so he decreased his demands but now after seeing the pouch filled with gold coins, he again realized the cruelty of the world.
After exchange and completion of documents, he quietly left the mansion with a dejected expression, not willing to stay anymore.
Once he left, Kale took out a pouch filled with silver coins and a list then gave it to Fynn "Go buy the things on the list from the town market and bring them back to the mansion together with the luggage from the inn, with Francis's help. There will still be half money left in the pouch after you finish running the errand, use them on yourself, buy whatever you want, do whatever you like, enjoy yourself for today but be sure to be back by tomorrow afternoon,"
Fynn was taken aback by his words, he looked at Kale with a doubtful expression.
He knew he would be a fool if he thought that Kale was having mercy on him or he actually had a kind side, after all, he had seen how this same boy gave out the order of killing all the bandits without a single thought and still leisurely sleep at night.
As expected, Kale's next words cleared his doubt.
"Today is your last day to have fun and live the way you like, from tomorrow onwards I will put that body of yours into the shape I want, who knows if you die during the first week? So go fulfil your wishes, now hurry before I change my mind," Kale impatiently waved his hand as he spoke.
Fynn nodded and hurriedly left.
Kale looked at his back for a second, then went to look for the ghosts he sent out earlier.
In truth, he didn't give Fynn money because of mercy or anything, instead, it was his first test to check his qualification.
The way he spends the money would show his way of thinking.
For instance, if given a chance, a normal mercenary would spend money mostly on two things booze and women, meaning at bar and brothel.
Kale told him to come back by tomorrow afternoon, it was a hint for him to show the option to go to the brothel, and if he really did that, then it would show his bad self-control on his urges.
And if that really happened, Kale might consider refining him into a Corpse Puppet, instead of training him into a soldier.
If he saves money, it would show he lacks decision making and risk-taking abilities, he could only be a servant or a disposable pawn.
Needless to say, if he tried to defy the contract, resist backlash or try to reveal the events at bandit hideout to others, he would die.
The right solution would be to spend the money on potions, equipment and techniques to strengthen himself for surviving the harsh training up ahead.
Kale walked up the stairs, he moved to the room at the end of the corridor.
Inside the room, he saw that various ghost of different sizes and shapes, under his command, were encircling a vaguely humanoid silhouette.
It was a ghost of a man, the man's ghost was screeching at the other ghosts surrounding him but didn't dare to make a move.
Kale observed him for a second then chuckled 'So that's how it was, the one who became the ghosts weren't the old couple but the servant who betrayed them, the anger for getting betrayed by the robbers and the guilt of betraying the old couple driven him to the limit, due to this location having high concertation of yin energy all around let him survive this long,'
Kale waved his hand, on his command all ghosts attacked him at the same times, not giving him any chance to escape and ripped him into shreds, the ghost turned into energy that was then absorbed by its destroyers.
At this time, the Ghost Lady came flying from outside the room, she passed through the wall and stopped in front of Kale, just then, Kale got a surprising message from her and his eyes brightened.
He quickly went back to the bedroom and started inspecting everything all around the room.
Just now, the Ghost Lady told him that she found a secret underground place below the house, and the entrance is under the bedroom, that's why he was trying to find the mechanism to open it.
Kale was only surprised by this discovery and not shocked, many people especially those who build their houses in the wild region or low-security regions often build such undergrounds places or tunnel to hide or escape in case of danger, like if a beast attack their house in a frenzy or a bandit invasion happens, the purpose is to either hide and wait for help or escape if it is a tunnel.
After he knew about the secret place, he felt that the old couple was quite unfortunate, as they were killed while sleeping because of the betrayal from their servant or they could have survived by hiding in the secret place.
Kale pushed the bed to the side, remove the covering on the floor, and finally saw a square door on the floor. He used the iron ring handle to open it and the stone stairs leading underground became visible.
He entered the passage and walked down the stairs without hesitation, Ghost Lady had already checked it so he didn't need to worry about unexpected traps.