"Here's my Signal Talisman, make sure to give me a buzz." She said with a giggle, sliding the talisman down his shirt.
Thanking her awkwardly, Minos quickly pulled back, greeting Gidon one more time before quickly running out.
After leaving the room, Minos gave the signed papers one more inspection before tucking them in his spatial ring and letting out a long sigh.
Today was incredibly successful, everything having gone exactly according to plan, even better than imagined.
While he expected to get an initial investment, 350,000 was out of his calculations, but with such an amount, the future would be much easier.
Walking out of the building under the waiter's guide, Minos tossed him a few more Nux Stones before looking at the setting sun and heading off back home.
All he had to do now was to wait to receive the money, and after that, it was time to get the wheel rolling!
…
The Guild Master's were very efficient with their work, so after only a night, Minos was greeted with a shipment the next morning.
Taking the spatial ring that had been specially delivered, Minos took a quick glance inside, nearly falling back as he saw the massive internal space filled to the brim with milky-white stones.
From the size of this space, it was likely this spatial ring alone was worth tens of thousands of Nux Stones, yet here it was only acting as a delivery method.
If he wanted to, Minos could just escape right now, using this massive amount to live the rest of his life in luxury, of course he wouldn't do that, after all, compared to what he was truly after, what was 350,000 worth?
After doing a quick count to make sure nothing was missing, Minos tucked the ring securely onto his body before heading out.
Now that he had the money, it was time to buy, the first thing he had in mind being a factory to produce Rovo's in.
If it was before the realm, Minos would have likely been forced to recruit some workers, or spend a couple months in the lab creating his own production line.
But with Luka's memory on hand, neither of those were necessary, and he already had exactly what he needed.
Luka could be considered the heart and soul of the Lukalu people, and all the technology they had, he had thoroughly mastered.
Among these were naturally specialized puppets that were incredibly efficient laborers, far better than humans.
On top of that, these 'laborers' would cost a fraction of what normal humans did, wouldn't need any rest or sleep, and they would never demand better conditions.
While Minos was running through the creation of his Labor-Puppets, he finally arrived at a large real-estate agency.
"How can I help you Sir?" A beautiful young lady said with a big smile, quickly running up beside him as he entered the building.
"I'm looking for a large building, ideally in an isolated part of the city, far away from the noise and traffic." Minos replied
"Hmm, a large building away from everything? Let me just look through my files Sir." The young lady said, before quickly running off and getting to work.
"There's this one, the rent is only 1,250 a month, and its location is quite remote, exactly as you've described."
"Do you have anything further off?" Minos asked, still feeling this building was too close to the core.
"Well… We actually have a few in the Abandoned District, but I wouldn't recommend going there, after all, it isn't named that for no reason." The young lady said after some internal struggle, clearly ordered to not mention this place.
"Abandoned District? What happened there?" Minos asked, curious as to why such a prosperous city even has such an area.
"Well you must know that all places have their own piece of darkness, and the Abandoned District is exactly that place for our Aleph City."
"It's not exactly that it's abandoned, in fact many people live there, but it's more like it's been abandoned by the royal family, the ongoings within it seemingly of no concern to them."
"Because of that, all sorts of illicit activities and crimes take place within that area, and the safety is next to nothing, which is exactly why I wouldn't recommend it."
"Interesting, to think even an empire as grand as this one would have such things." Minos said, slightly fascinated.
"Well Sir, what do you think?"
"How much is the rent?" Minos asked, seemingly not at all concerned about the danger.
"Huh, rent? You still want to go after all I've told you… Well if you insist, this building over here is only 300 a month, and its size is about three times as large as the one I showed you previously."
"300? What a deal." Minos laughed, causing the girl to roll her eyes.
"This deal doesn't come for free. Those buildings have long since been occupied by all sorts of vagrants, and we don't offer removal services, so if you want to get rid of them, it's up to you."
"That's fine, just let me know what the biggest building you have in this district is." Minos said, still not worried.
"If you insist… This is our largest building, twice as large as the one I showed you previously and six times as large as the 1,250 one."
"It has a total of six-floors, not including the basement, and each floor covers a space of about 150 meters lengthwise, and 50 meters widthwise. As for the rent, it's 500 a month."
"And if I wanted to purchase it?"
"Purchase? Well it depends, you can either do payments of 1,000 a month for a duration of 50 months, until you pay it off fully. Or you can do a one-time payment, which will cost you less, at only 40,000 Nux Stones total."
"40,000? How long have you been holding onto this building?" Minos asked, clearly not willing to pay so much for something that was realistically worthless to most people.
"That's confidential information, Sir." The girl said, clearly not wanting to strengthen Minos's position.
She earned a 1% commission based on the final sale-price, so she naturally wasn't interested in lowering the price anymore.
"Even if you don't tell me, I can still find out." Minos said with a smirk, his eyes suddenly beginning to shine a subtle-blue.
"Then go ahead, Sir." She said stubbornly, her chest puffed out, ready to fight.
"Twelve years, six months, and twenty six days. How's that sound?" Minos suddenly said, his smirk getting wider.
"H-How'd you know that!"
"I've done my research. I also know that you earn a 1% commission, meaning you'd get 400 off this sale, but tell you what, as long as you work with me, I'll directly give you 500." Minos smiled, his voice filled with temptation.
"S-Sir, that's against protocol, I'm afraid I can't do that."
"Who would ever know? Besides, don't you want to get ahead in life, you know you can never do that by playing by the rules." Minos said, his words striking her directly in the heart.
"Ahum, well… Let me think about it." The girl said, quickly looking around the empty room before making a decision in her heart.
"H-how much were you thinking?"
"I'm just an amateur in this regard, so what do you think is appropriate?" Minos said, pushing the choice back to her.
"Well, 30,000 would be reasonable…"
"Come on now, I know you can do better than that. Tell you what, I know you have no power here, so go talk to your manager, the lower you can get the price for me, the more I'll make it worth your time." Minos smiled, his abyss-like black eyes peering directly into hers.
"Uhh, I'll try my best." The young lady said, gulping before running off to her manager's office.
It only took a few minutes for a short fat man to come out behind her, his slitted eyes filled with conniving, clearly not the type to take advantage of.
"Welcome Sir! I hear that you're interested in one of our buildings, but my subordinate here says the price of 40,000 isn't to your liking, but I can assure you it's the fairest price you could ever get." The man said with a big smile.
"Let's not play any games here, 20,000 is the highest I'm willing to go." Minos said directly, avoiding the games.
"20,000! Impossible! 20,000 wouldn't even cover these years of maintenance!"
"Who are you trying to fool? We both know that the building hasn't been maintained for years, which is just another price I'll have to pay out of pocket." Minos retorted.
"W-Well, even so, 20,000 is too low." The fat man said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Too low? I haven't even mentioned the vagrants that I'll have to get rid of, not to mention all the other problems. 20,000 is the best I can do." Minos said, insistent on his price.
"Boss, I think we should agree. We've already been holding onto this building for more than a decade, and it's clear by now that it isn't going anywhere. We might as well just sell it now before its price drops even more." The young lady whispered into his ear.
Hearing her words, the fat man could only rub his chin in deep thought before finally giving in, realizing 20,000 was likely the best he'd ever get.