Chapter 128: The Price of a House

From the demonstration I gave in the Kingdom of Holtland and the battle in Blange, anyone aiming for the Kingdom of Holtland would naturally think they should get rid of me first.

Even if the Kingdom of Sutherland is safe for now, there’s no guarantee it will stay that way.

In a middle-class neighborhood, suspicious people stand out, and it’s not the kind of place adventurers would wander into.

Count Arclight has been ordered by His Majesty the King and the Chancellor to pay special attention to the safety of me and my family.

So, although I think we should live somewhere safer, I can’t ignore my family’s opinions.

We don’t need a huge house, but we decided to pick a day to go look at the building. The problem was that the three of them had trouble matching their schedules.

In the end, I decided to go as our representative, check the property myself, and guide each of them separately later.

When I went with the Commercial Guild staff member to see the building again, there was a thick partition wall standing right in the middle.

On either side of it were stairs going to the second floor, and once you went up, there was an entrance hall.

Next to it was a reception room, and beyond the hallway were the kitchen, dining room, and servant’s waiting room. I was told the third and fourth floors were family living space.

The first floor seemed too large if I were to open an apothecary, but the space next to the stairs looked usable. The storefront could take up the full width, and two meters behind the counter would be enough. The rest could be a servant’s waiting room, workroom, or my sister’s break room.

The two rooms next to that could be joined by opening a hole in the wall, so if my mother wanted to start a business, she could use that space for a shop.

If unnecessary, we could leave it empty, and I was confident it was secure enough.

The market was only two buildings away, which also made the place very convenient.

Since I liked it, I told them I wanted to show my parents and sister, and I took the key.

I hired a street carriage according to their days off to show them the place. My father and eldest brother Morris were shocked speechless, but eventually said. 

“You’ll be the one living here, so do as you like.”

My mother loved the spacious kitchen, but seemed constantly worried about the price.

If I told her the real amount, she would definitely object, so I only told her that I’d still have money left even after paying for it.

My sister’s eyes sparkled the moment she saw the space next to the stairs, so she clearly liked it, but she still seemed worried about how much it would cost me.

It’s an ideal place if she wants her own shop someday, but she was reluctant because it would strain my finances.

I dressed in adventurer gear, hired a street carriage, and headed for the Arclight estate.

At the service gate, I presented the ID from Duke Berlant and asked to meet the butler, Eugene-san.

Since I’d visited several times, they recognized me immediately and let me into the waiting room for contractors. A maid was sent to notify Eugene.

“Leon-dono, if you have business with us, please come through the main gate…”

“I actually have something to ask you, Eugene-san. I apologize for dropping in unannounced.”

“To me?”

“Yes. It’s about the Olivetan Hotel on Olivetan Street. I hear it’s for sale.”

“…That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Is something the matter?”

“Guildmaster Raymond of the Commercial Guild once approached me, asking if I wanted to buy the Olivetan Hotel for 673,000,000 dara. Separate from that, I’d asked the Guild to look for a good house for me. They recently told me they found one. I don’t know how many rooms the hotel has, but the house they showed me is a four-story building made from two connected houses, with the entire first floor as shops—eighteen rooms in total. The price is 325,600,000 dara.”

“Hm. So almost half the price of the hotel. I’m not familiar with the market value for hotels or mid-class houses, but since the land belongs to the local lord, that would be the price of the building alone.”

“Count Arclight owns it, then?”

“Yes. The Count was granted the Olivetan territory by His Majesty. Ownership of the land lies with him, and taxes are collected as usage rights. Buildings standing on it can be privately owned and bought or sold.”

Oh, so that’s how it works.
I’d heard about resident taxes, but as an adventurer… the Guild had been deducting them properly from me.

“The price you quoted was for only the left half of the two connected houses. Together, they’d be close to the hotel’s value.”

“That does sound suspiciously priced. I will look into it.”

Indeed, buying the hotel and running it could eventually pay for itself—whether profitable or not. But buying a house is pure expense. Honestly, I know nothing about this world’s economy.

All I know is: hunt beasts, sell them, make money.

When I returned home at dusk, an impressive carriage was parked out front, with neighbors staring from afar.

There was no crest on it, so it wasn’t the Count’s carriage. As I tilted my head and approached the house, someone called, “Lord Leon!”

I turned toward the familiar voice, and there was Raymond, face plump and shiny, practically tumbling out of the carriage.

Before he could open his mouth, I ushered him inside.

It felt like trouble, but luckily my mother and the others weren’t home yet.

As I offered him a seat, he suddenly bowed deeply and said.

“I must apologize! The price I quoted for the house was incorrect!”

“The price… was wrong?”

“Yes. Someone in the real-estate division had appraised another mansion, and accidentally reported that price to you.”

He explained while sweating buckets. It must’ve been related to what Eugene said about investigating it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t come personally to my house to apologize.

“So what’s the correct price?”

“It is around 276,000,000 dara, but as an apology for the trouble, how about 266,000,000?”

Oh, a full ten-million discount… though if it were 10% off, it would be 248,400,000, so it’s not that much. But cheaper is always welcome.

Besides, I’d been told apothecary shops run anywhere from 50,000,000 to 300,000,000 dara, so this was within expectations.

“In that case, I’ll buy it. Please reserve it for me. Can you also arrange the interior work?”

“Of course! I will introduce you to an excellent, honest contractor.”

I sent Raymond off, telling him I’d visit the Guild soon. If he ran into my mother and the others, things would get noisy.

Raymond rode his carriage home, relieved that he’d apologized and secured Leon’s purchase. He thought back to the moment Eugene visited him.

When the butler of the Arclight household arrived, Raymond received him in the reception room.

Eugen nodded politely at his greeting and then said.

“I hear you’re trying to sell a house for half the price of the hotel. Is that true?”

Raymond stiffened.

“You’re looking for a house as well, Eugene-sama…?”

He replied vaguely, wondering how Eugene knew any of this. “As far as I know—” he paused, but the cold stare he received made his spine freeze.

He understood exactly who Eugene meant, but why was the Count’s household getting involved?

“He may not have the Count’s identification, but he DOES possess documents personally issued by Duke Berlant and Chancellor Brighton.”

He had been distracted by the size of the young man’s bank deposits, but now he remembered:
Leon received commissions from both the Kingdom of Sutherland and the Kingdom of Holtland, and even Duke Berlant had paid him for work.

Forgetting the sweat pouring down his face, he said quickly.

“Thank you for the warning. I will investigate the matter thoroughly.”

“Good. Excessive greed leads to ruin. Be careful.”

The conversation lasted only as long as it took to drink a single cup of tea. After seeing Eugene off, Raymond nearly collapsed, his strength leaving him.

He thought: dangerous, too dangerous. “Avoid unnecessary greed” surely meant “don’t pry into him.”

When he rushed to apologize to Leon and saw that Leon didn’t mention any of it, he wondered how someone entrusted with the identification of high nobles and kingdoms could look so ordinary.

I went to the Commercial Guild to pay for the house and hired earth-magic users to reinforce the walls and floors.

After that, I instructed them to replace beams and floorboards with hard, thick lumber.

Raymond insisted on handling me personally—or rather, stood there relaying everything I said to the real-estate workers, which was annoying.

The renovation would take two months, so I decided to go hunting with Mintz and the others in the meantime.

The sky looked like it could start pouring any moment, and thunder rumbled in the distance, so Mintz and Scott took the day off.

I went alone through the west gate and headed toward Steve and the others’ campsite.

Under the barrier dome, the four of them looked up at the sky, then turned in surprise when they saw me.

“Leon, what are you doing here?”

“Are you heading somewhere again?”

“I don’t get missions that often. The weather’s bad, so I figured today was perfect.”

I took the four of them to an open area, then pulled a cheap throwing spear from my Rings—something I bought at the adventurer supply shop.

I leaped onto a tree, wrapped the top in a whirlwind, blew off its leaves and thin branches, and tied the short spear to it.

When I came down, Steve and the others were staring at me weirdly.

“What are you doing?”

“Leon, sometimes you do things we really don’t understand.”

“But it must have some purpose, right?”

“More or less. Let’s make a dome a bit farther away and have tea.”

Just as I said that, raindrops fell, so we moved to a small rise and made a large dome.

“Gale’s magic is really convenient.”

“We can camp safely, stay dry, and keep warm. It’s a lifesaver.”