In the end, after marking a few more rooms she was interested in, Ava got dragged to sleep on the third floor by Lily, as there were two rooms that used to be one very large room that had a wall put up between the two that happened to have a door.
The rooms were still in rather good condition, likely because it was the most recent refurbishment the building had received. Seeing that the rooms were in decent condition and there was enough space for a large bed, Ava didn't think about it too much and agreed. Anyways, although it was a bedroom, it wasn't like she would be there all the time. As long it was comfortable enough and wasn't prone to collapsing, everything was fine.
In the end, Haley chose a room on the second floor that she was a fan of, while Ahri ended up choosing the single half-decent room on the first floor, with the explanation that the room that was next to it also happened to have a hearth, so it'd be more convenient for her to cook and dry certain medications there. Of course, no one had any objections. Ahri… had her own stash of money and was a rather responsible and contentious person who didn't often vie for much. If she wanted an extra room for her medicines, that was for the benefit of everyone.
After choosing rooms came the hard part. Grabbing a couple of raggedy brooms and clothes, they got to the fun job of dusting and cleaning. While the girls got started, Ava walked over to the pond in the back and brought back two buckets of water to wash off the rags and tools.
After refilling the water three times because it got too black, the five rooms were finally somewhat properly cleaned. Although they didn't look pristine, at the very least, it didn't feel like a duststorm was happening every time they stepped on a floorboard. Finishing these chores, Haley and Lily stayed behind to clean up the hallways a bit more while Ava and Ahri went into town to go talk to Greg, who made goose-down beds in town. They had ordered the mattresses quite a while back and were only waiting to finalize the purchase before moving things around.
When they showed up, Greg was sitting behind the counter, wrinkling his brows as he examined a cut of cloth and shook his head. Waving her hand, Ahri spoke up first and said, "Hey Greg, we're here to get the beds."
Looking up, Greg thought for a moment before saying, "Of course, is it alright if we take two trips? One to set up the frames and then one for the mattresses? We can do one, but it won't be much faster, really."
Ahri smiled, "Of course. Do you need any help?"
"Nah, my boys are good." Rummaging through his desk, Greg pulled out a small stack of pages and fliped through them before finding what he wanted and handing it to Ahri, "Head out back and hand this to Mason. He's the one with dark curly hair, and tell them you're the fifth lot. They'll do the rest."
"Alright, thank you, Greg."
"No problem."
Heading out back, Ava followed behind Ahri with a slightly wary gaze as they entered the back of the shop, which was a rather large courtyard that had pieces of wood out in the open and in various stages of processing. Looking around, they quickly saw Mason, who was talking to another man who was topless.
Waiting a moment for a lull to appear in the conversation, Ahri spoke up and said, "Mason? Greg told us to find you for our order."
"Ah, one moment." Turning back to the topless man, Mason said a few more words before turning over to look at Ahri. Seeing her appearance, Mason couldn't help but swallow a gulp of saliva but quickly blushed and turned his face away before letting out two coughs and turning back, "Er, um, this lady, do you have the um."
Chuckling, Ahri gave Mason the slip, "Are you looking for this?"
Recoiling slightly at the touch of Ahri's fingers, Mason took the slip from Ahri and glanced over it to confirm it was correct, "Yes, yes. Give me a minute to put everything in the wagon."
Nodding with a smile, Ahri watched Mason scurry off and leaned over and whispered into Ava's ear, "Aren't men such cuties?"
Rolling her eyes, Ava didn't say a word. She knew better than most that although Ahri always kept up an even facade, she was still a virgin through and through who had hardly kissed, much less played around. But, as a doctor, Ahri had learned and seen enough of the male anatomy that she gained a somewhat indifferent and playful tone towards bashful young men who didn't know what to do about their natural reactions.
Poking Ahri in the back, Ava joked and said, "If you think he's a cutie, you can try him out after he sets up your bed. We can wait."
Raising her eyebrows, Ahri let out a small smile before turning away.
At this moment, Mason came back with a wagon that was being pulled by a somewhat elderly mule and nodded at the girls while doing his best to avoid eye contact, "Alright, you can lead the way. I got the things."
Rolling her eyes, Ava exited the alleyway, and Ahri smiled and followed after while waving at Mason, "Alright, let us know if we're going too fast."
After a somewhat silent walk, only interrupted by the occasional snort from Daisy, the mule, they arrived back on the edge of town where the three girls had set camp.
Arriving, Mason couldn't help but look at the dilapidated building with some confusion. Although the building was big, wasn't it a little bit… too broken down? He was pretty sure if he looked carefully, he could see the edge of a room peeking out of the side of the building. Having seen the way that Ava and Ahri dressed, although he hadn't expected to go to a castle or anything, he had at least expected a nice residence in the inner circle of town.