The Merchant's Guild was an impressive building. Inside, there was a spacious hall with two receptionists sitting at the front desk. Apart from them, only a few others were in the hall—though we couldn't tell if they were guild staff or customers.
We greeted one of the receptionists, who then asked us, "How may I assist you?" giving us a scrutinizing look.
"We heard this is where we can find rental properties," I replied.
"Ah, rentals. Please wait in Room 5; someone will be with you shortly," said the receptionist, as the other one ran off to fetch someone. Probably to call the relevant person. If only they had phones, but you work with what you've got.
The hall had doors lining both sides. Based on my language skills, the "Room 5" I heard would likely match the sign on the door.
With that thought in mind, I walked along the row of doors and easily found Room 5, which was numbered sequentially starting from Room 1.
When we entered the room, it looked like a conference room with a large table in the middle and about ten chairs lined up. I figured they had led us to a spacious room to accommodate our group.
We sat down with me in the center and the kids on either side, two each, making five of us on one side of the table. We waited for someone to arrive, and after about five minutes, the door opened. In came a woman who looked like a business professional, carrying what seemed to be a big ledger.
Naturally, she sat across from us. If she had sat next to us, things would have gotten awkward.
"Are you looking for a rental house?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Could you tell me your preferred location and size?"
"We need a place for the four kids here and myself, so five people in total. We're thinking of hiring a cook or buying someone suitable from the slave market, so we'll need six bedrooms. Plus, a living room, kitchen, dining area, and a storage room would be great."
"How about a reception room?"
"We don't expect any visitors, so a reception room isn't necessary. Oh, by the way, is there a bath?"
"There are options available, but maintenance costs can be quite high. Also, properties with baths are typically considered mansions, which means they come with a reception room. The rent for such properties is considerably higher as well."
"Can you give me an idea of how much it would cost?"
"The rent is based on an annual contract, ranging from 200 to 300 gold coins per year. Additionally, for the first year only, there's a 20% commission fee that we charge."
Checking the item box, I still have about 400 gold coins. Even if the property costs 300 or 360 gold coins, I'm covered.
"In that case, I'd like to request a mansion."
"O-Okay. Do you have any preferences for the location?"
"I'd appreciate it if it's close to the Alchemists' Guild and the Adventurers' Guild."
"Just a moment, please."
The lady started flipping through her ledger.
"I found one. It's a smaller property, but because of its location, it's a bit pricey. This one will cost 250 gold coins. The layout includes eight bedrooms, two reception rooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, three storage rooms, and a servants' attic. There's also a shed in the yard."
"It sounds a bit spacious, but I prefer that over being cramped, so that should be fine."
"In that case, I'll take you there right away. It's not too far from here. Please wait outside for the carriage."
They're even providing a carriage. Now that's what I call real estate service.
After stepping out of the entrance, a two-horse carriage arrived. The lady got down from the carriage and said,
"It's a bit tight, but everyone please get in."
Following her words, I led the way into the carriage, followed by the children, with the lady getting in last. The four kids sat across from me, which left the lady sitting next to me.
The property was located one street back from the main road, in a quiet residential area. Surrounded by a fence about two meters high, it felt like a mansion to me, a native Japanese. The gate was locked with a chain and padlock, so the attendant lady unlocked it with a key, removed the padlock, and I helped open the gate. Once we entered the grounds, there was a garden leading up to the front entrance, but the plants were unkempt, and the grass was overgrown with weeds.
"The maintenance of the garden and the cleaning inside and outside the house will be handled responsibly by the guild after the deal is finalized, so please rest assured."
Indeed, it's hard to keep an empty house ready for immediate occupancy when you don't know when someone will move in.
When we opened the front door, we found a spacious foyer stretching up to the second floor, with a staircase straight ahead leading to the second level. The first floor had a living room, reception room, dining room, kitchen, and bath, while the second floor housed the bedrooms. There was also a ladder in the attic for access between floors. After checking everything out,
"What do you think, kids? How about this house?"
I asked the children who had been trailing behind the attendant lady with their mouths half-open.
"Master, this is such an impressive mansion; I'm amazed," said Eva.
"If I can live in a place like this, I can die content," said Olivia.
Don't die just yet.
"I feel like a princess. As expected, Master!" exclaimed Kilia.
And then there was Iona, who simply said, "..."
This place will do.
"Ssure, here is fine," I said to the guild representative.
"Understood. Please allow four days for move-in. During this time, we'll complete all maintenance and cleaning, and we'll also furnish the place, including the garden, so rest assured."
"Really? You'll furnish it too?"
"Of course! We'll provide a bed, dresser, living room table and sofa, kitchen cabinets, dining table and chairs, and more. As you know, please arrange bedding, dishes, and kitchenware on your own."
"Got it. And the payment, here?"
"We'll head back to the guild for that."
We returned to the guild in the carriage and settled the payment.
"Please come back to the guild five days from now in the morning. We'll escort you to the location and hand over the keys."
Over the next four days, I continued delivering healing potions to the alchemists' and adventurers' guilds, eagerly anticipating the day I'd receive the house. On the fourth day, I went around with the kids to collect payments.
As a result, I ended up with well over 1,300 gold coins. While the money was great, I realized it wasn't wise to have the kids handling expensive potions. It worked out fine this time, but thinking about it, I reflected that I had been a bit too relaxed.
Well, hiring bodyguards would be overkill, and having me follow them everywhere would defeat the purpose, so I told the kids, "If anyone tries to snatch your stuff, just drop it and run for it!"
When I was collecting payment at the Alchemists' Guild, someone subtly pointed out that I've been selling Healing Potions to the Adventurers' Guild at the same old price. But when I simply said, "So what?" they didn't push it further. The Adventurers' Guild might be one of the Alchemists' Guild's big clients, but losing me would hurt more. Plus, there's been no trouble from the Temple since then, so it seems our little show of force worked—phew.
On the day of the handover, I checked out of the inn with the kids and dropped by the Merchant's Guild. I stashed their belongings in my item box.
The assigned person showed up right away, took us to the place in a carriage, handed over the keys, and gave us a quick tour of the house.
"Looking forward to working with you," they said as they climbed back into the carriage and left.
Over the past four days, I bought kitchen supplies, dishes, brooms, buckets, and bedding for potential extra people, all stored in my item box.
I took the kids around the house again, picked the room right at the top of the stairs as my own, and then turned to them,
"Hey, I'll give each of you your own room."
"Master, we're fine sharing one room." "That's fine with us."
"Well, if that's the case, you can stay in the room next to mine then."
Of course, there was only one bed in each room, so I took some unused beds and dressers from other rooms and put them in my item box. Then, I moved them into the room next to mine. The four of them ended up pushing the four beds together to make a makeshift sitting area.
Eh, whatever floats their boat. I set out bedding for all four of them and told them, "Clean up the room before lunch," then left them to it.
As for me, after setting up my own bedding, I grabbed cleaning supplies and went to the kitchen to organize things like kitchen tools and dishes from my item box.
While I was sorting through the kitchen stuff, I realized I didn't have any dish towels or rags. Buying them would be a hassle, and by the time I got back, it would be past noon. Man, I wish I had some sort of teleportation ability, but that's just wishful thinking...
Then, *ding!*
What's that? It's been a while since I heard that ding.
"Do you want to spend 10 skill points to learn Teleportation Level 1? Yes / No"
"Ten points is a bit steep, but I'll go with 'yes' anyway.
'You have spent 10 skill points to learn Transfer Magic Level 1. With this, you can now teleport within your perception range. Additionally, you can move objects within your perception range to another location within that range.
Remaining skill points: 73.'
'You can choose the profession of Transfer Mage.
You can swap your current profession with one of the following:'
'0. Don't choose now.
1. Martial Artist (Staff Technique)
2. Transfer Mage
Please select a number from 0 to 2.'
While the Transfer Mage profession does catch my eye, I don't want to give up my current Alchemist profession, so I was about to pick 0, when I got the prompt:
'Do you want to spend 1 skill point to unlock the Second Profession Selection skill? Yes or No?'
Oh, there's such a thing? Of course, 'yes.'
'You have spent 1 skill point to unlock the Second Profession Selection skill. Remaining skill points: 72. You can now choose an additional profession:'
'0. Don't choose now.
1. Martial Artist (Staff Technique)
2. Transfer Mage
Please select a number from 0 to 2.'
I'll go with 2.
Now I have two professions. Not bad for me!
'Do you want to spend 20 skill points to learn Transfer Magic Level 2? Yes or No?'
Level 2 Transfer Magic, huh? 20 points is a lot, but it should be worth it.
'You have spent 20 skill points to learn Transfer Magic Level 2.'"
---
This allows the user to teleport to any location stored in their memory. Additionally, they can teleport objects within their perception range to locations stored in their memory. There are no distance limitations.
Remaining skill points: 52.
The existence of Level 2 means there's more as expected.
"Would you like to spend 30 skill points to learn Teleportation Lvl Max? Yes or No?"
Level 3 was the max. Phew, that's a relief. Naturally, I choose "Yes."
30 skill points spent to learn Teleportation Lvl Max.