We were all gathered for breakfast on the morning of another beautiful day… It was raining outside.
"We should buy an umbrella," Sterling said.
"Don't we have umbrellas?" I asked Garth.
"No, master. I'll go buy some today."
"Good." I nodded and cut up my sausage.
"Master, I got the contracts from Virginia. Since you didn't come to dinner last night, they're in my room." Garth said.
"Oh, she already completed them. Why didn't you come to my room and give it to me."
"Ah, I'm sorry." He bowed.
"Okay, I'll get it after breakfast."
I had eaten my lunch late and wasn't hungry at dinner, so I'd stayed in my room and trained using [energy understanding]. Using it was almost like being in a meditative trance where I felt connected to the unlimited energies of the universe. A feeling of one with all. Meditating for a few hours using [energy understanding] made me feel like all my spells had heightened in efficiency and coalesced more into a cohesive whole. My spells were becoming more and more a part of me.
"Were the knights here when you guys came for dinner?" I asked.
"Knights?" Terrie asked.
I looked at the reactions around the table and said, "Oh, you guys didn't even know."
"Were there knights in the restaurant during dinner?" Woodie asked Dixon.
He shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention."
You didn't need to pay attention. If they were here, you'd notice. "Nevermind," I said.
After breakfast, I went up to Nikola's room to get the contracts. I stood at their door while Garth got the envelope.
"Here it is, master." Garth handed me an envelope filled with 6 contracts.
"She finished the 6th one too," I said as I pulled the top half of the contracts out of the envelope to check them out.
And as I put them back in and closed the envelope's flap, I heard a familiar voice say, "Good, you're here."
I turned around and spotted Steffi, the realtor. She'd just finished climbing the stairs. Her shoes and the bottom end of her pants were wet. In her hand, she held a dripping and folded umbrella. "Oh, Steffi." I smiled.
As I walked closer to her, she said, "It's raining cats and dogs out there."
"Yeah, it looked bad." I looked her up and down. "So, what happened with the house?"
She smiled. "That's what I'm here to tell you. It's good news. I negotiated them down; they're willing to settle for 287 platinum."
"Oh." I was happy to hear it. "That's good news." I can breathe a little easier if that's the case. I needed to hire staff, renovate the mansion, buy materials for the lab, etc. All of which needed money.
"I've already arranged an Advocate, the papers are already done, you just need to sign them, and we can go through with the transfer." She said. The Advocate mentioned was a regular lawyer and not a magic lawmaker. Law magicians aren't used for most agreements for many reasons. The government does a fine job of taking care of most things. For example, only the 6th contract I made was something that needed to be done by a Law magician because the queendom wouldn't uphold it. The other 5 contracts were simple non-disclosure agreements which most alchemists would be okay with the government handling it. I made a Law magician write it up because I didn't want to patent my formulas with the queendom.
"You've been busy." I looked at the envelope in my hand and said, "Let me put on a coat, and we'll go out."
"Good. Good." She was happy to hear it. "Right, I should ask, but I assume everything with the bank went well?" She asked as we walked back to my room.
"Yeah, I'll give you the papers." I nodded and opened my door.
We walked in together and saw Sterling and Otto making out on the bed.
"Hm, Hm." I cleared my throat.
Otto looked up, saw Steffi, and immediately broke their embrace. He moved away from Sterling and sat on the edge of the bed. Sterling pulled the bedsheet over his body even though he was perfectly clothed.
"No, keep doing what you were doing. Don't let me stop you." She smiled. "You guys look cute together."
Sterling blushed, and Otto clenched his jaw and gave her a poisonous smile. But she smiled back at him cheerfully.
"Stop fooling around," I told her and put the envelope in the expansion bag. And took out the paperwork from the bank.
Then I quickly took off my stained pants and put on a cleaner pair of pants. It was a small stain, but Garth will have to clean it later… Steffi didn't watch me while I changed but ogled my boys instead. Finally, I pulled out a clean blazer from the closet and said, "Alright, let's go."
"Alright." She said, and we stepped out of the room. "The carriage is waiting for us at the front."
"That's good because I don't have an umbrella."
"We can use mine." She said.
We squeezed under her umbrella and stepped out into the rain and quickly into the carriage. The driver had it the worst since there was only a small awning over her head. But she didn't complain and took us to the Advocate.
As we stepped out of the carriage, Steffi said, "Don't mention her height. She's insecure about it. And don't look at her feet."
"What? Why would I mention her height." I asked.
"Just don't." She said as we walked into the building.
Steffi and the receptionist had a friendly chat at the receptionist's desk as we waited to see the Advocate. And before I knew it, I was sitting in front of the apparently short woman. Since she was behind the desk, I couldn't really tell. I shrugged off what Steffi said and signed the documents she wanted me to sign.
She gave me a short explanation of everything in the documents, but it wasn't anything interesting. A lot of what she said went in one ear and out the other. But I paid enough attention to know everything sounded… right. She talked about various fees and blended in her own fee as well, and I nodded. Then she told me about the date of the last day I could cancel the contract and still get my money back. Then about various things, Steffi and the seller had agreed upon. Again, I nodded along. It seemed the seller had agreed to paint some of the walls and do some of the repairs. Steffi had negotiated better than I initially thought.
Since no one was currently living in Castle Xeneon, I would be able to move in as soon as everything was finalized with the seller and the bank. Which would take around a week.
It took an hour, but finally, all the documents were signed. The Advocate got out of her seat and came around the desk to shake my hand. That's when I noticed how short she was. Around 4'11'', which I thought a good amount of women were. But as we shook hands, my eyes drifted to her feet, and I noticed she was wearing 2-inch heels. That meant she was actually 4'9''. Which was kind of short… But what surprised me more were the heels. Heels were gender-neutral in this world, but no one wore them unless… they were insecure about their… I immediately took my eyes away from her feet and smiled. She kept her emotionless face and paid me no mind.
"Alright, thanks for everything, Jo," Steffi said to the Advocate.
"It was my pleasure. Let's work together again." She said.
"Yeah, sure," Steffi said as she pushed me out of the room.
When we were out of the building and in the rain again, she said, "I told you not to look at her feet."
"What. I couldn't help it." I said. She shook her head, and we ran into the carriage. I changed the topic. "You said you knew people that could renovate the mansion, right?"
"Yeah, my sister-in-law's an interior designer." She said. "Has her own company. She can do the whole mansion for you if you want."
"How much does she charge?" I asked.
"Hm. It depends on the house. She'll have to look at it before she can give you an estimate. I can arrange a date for you if you want."
"Please do. I also need her to put down tiles on the… you know, the outside building. I need to turn it into a lab."
"She'll know more about it than me. You can talk to her. She'll know what to do. She does everything."
"Alright."
"We can go together after the Advocate sends me the keys."
"Right, when do I get the keys?"
"Weren't you listening? Tomorrow."
"I was listening. I remember. Nevermind." I shook my head for asking a question I already knew the answer to. My brain decided not to think for a second there. "So you're coming to my hotel tomorrow too?"
"That's fine right?"
"Yeah."
"I'll bring over my sister-in-law, and we can go to the castle together."
"Okay." I nodded.
It felt like my plans were constantly changing. After it began to rain, I thought I'd be spending the entire day inside, but now that I'm out, I want to check up on the custom clothes I ordered. Until the house was renovated and we could move in, there was nothing else to do but fuck around. Or should I say I need to fuck around more? "Hey, instead of dropping me off at my hotel, can you drop me off at…" I gave her the address of the custom clothes shop.
Steffi had to go out of her way, but she was kind enough to do it for me.
The carriage stopped in front of the custom clothes shop.
"Here," she said, pointing the umbrella handle at me, "take this."
"You don't need it?" I asked.
She shook her head. "I'll get it from you tomorrow. I have a carriage. You don't."
She was right. After I'm finished with the shop, I'll have to face the rain alone. So, I accepted the umbrella. "Okay, thanks."
"You're welcome."
I opened the carriage door, and the wind blew the rain into the carriage. I opened the umbrella and jumped out, and quickly shut the door. Then I ran to the front of the carriage, put my hand in my front pocket, grabbed 5 copper coins, and put it in the driver's hand. She was cocooned in a water-resistant slime-skin raincoat.
"Thanks for the hard work," I said.
She smiled and took the money. "You're welcome, madam."
I smiled back before running into the shop.
After I got inside, I folded the umbrella and went to the clerk.
"What can I do for you today?" He asked.
"I already placed an order. I want to check on its progress." I said.
"What's your name?"
"Sherrie. Sherrie Hooper."
He looked through a book and found my name. "Oh, yes. Ms. Sherrie Hopper. Hm. It says here, it's incomplete. I'll go check in the back."
"Please do," I said.
He went to the back, and I looked around at the wonderful store. The mannequins, the variety of clothes, the strange costumes, etc.
He came back after a few minutes and said, "Yes, Ms. Hopper. The tailor has completed 3 of the outfits you wanted, but the other 7 are still in progress."
"Oh, which 3 are completed."
"Ah… I'll go check." He ran to the back again. Since today was a rainy day, business was slow. There wasn't anyone else in the shop. He came back with the 3 that were completed. "These are the 3 that are finished." He put the plumber outfit, Internal Patrol Surveyor uniform, and the Priestess outfit in front of me.
"Can I take these 3 then?"
"Yes, you already paid."
"Yes." I nodded.
"I'll package them up for you." He said.
"Can you put them in a water-resistant bag?"
"We don't have… water-resistant bags." He said.
"Oh… Ah…"
"Should I leave it for another day?" He asked. "I can put it back in your box, and you can get them with the others."
I shook my head. I can't afford to spend time idly. I have to start gaining experience points again. I had planned to visit a certain priest today before it started raining, and Steffi showed up. "No. Package them up. I'll go get a carriage."
"Okay." He said.
As the clerk began to pack up my clothes, I left the counter.
I opened Steffi's umbrella as I stepped out into the windy rain. The umbrella's fabric shook as the wind blew, and the rain fell diagonally across the street.
I looked out at the empty street and wondered, "Where does Garth find carriages." The rickshaws weren't operating because of the rain; they're cheaper and usually easier to find. "Ah, fuck." So I picked a direction and ran forward, hoping I'd run into a carriage for hire.