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Volume 2 Chapter Chapter 3-1: My Home is a Hot Springs 

「Even so I was shocked. This is the first time I’ve seen such a large magic stone.」

After finishing the sales agreement with Anoke-san, he took the basketball (child’s head) sized pure magic stone in his hand with an ecstatic look.

『Magic Stone (nil) Rank: S』

This was the result we had achieved after risking our lives in this exploration. This was the magic stone dropped by the variant Dracomantis that had dropped from the upper floors. Though it was without an attribute it could be retrofitted with one through the efforts of an 『Endowment Artisan』. For that reason the stone could even be said to be more valuable because of both its large size and null attribute.

By the way, if the magic stone was smaller the price of the Endowment would be greater than the price of the stone itself, so smaller stones would be worth less if they were null attributed. It was a saving grace that we could still sell them in Reitoku. The reason for that was that the price for Endowing them with an attribute was much cheaper if you gathered a large amount of smaller stones together and conducted the Endowment all at once rather than on a case by case basis.

「Will-san told me it was an irregular drop probably because it was both a variant species and a higher floor boss.」

「Is that so…well I suppose I cannot ignore Wilmark’s excellent results after all this time. You’ve done well Wilmark. I believe that we can conclude your peddler training with this event.」

「F-Father! Thank you very much!」

「Once you calm down I think I’ll be assigning you to run a branch office, but first of all I will have you help with Fujinomiya-sama’s request without delay. Our Base Company will be helping support Fujinomiya-sama’s party in the future, so be polite.」

「As expected of Father! Please leave it to me.」

Oooi, don’t just get fired up by yourselves~

It seems like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…Well for now I’m just grateful that they’ll help us with all their might. It should be fine if I think of them as a place that we can rely on a bit if worst comes to worst.

「By the way Fujinomiya-sama…」

「Yes?」

「It is a bit embarrassing to say as a merchant…but I spoke up about the buying price without thinking too much and find myself short of the funds necessary to pay you immediately. If you’re alright with it, I can give you an advance payment now and send the rest of the funds on a later date?」

Anoke-san’s words were quite reasonable. It wasn’t his fault that he had bought for such a high price that he couldn’t afford to pay immediately. We had used Negotiation Arts to immediately bargain for the highest price he was willing to pay for our magic stone so this much was natural.

「We don’t mind in particular. However, we do have some particular requests regarding the actual payment so I would appreciate if you could subtract the costs of that from our payment.」

「I see…If I remember correctly you were thinking of buying a home in this City right?」

Anoke-san seemed to realize and nodded as he grabbed a bell from the table and rang it.

「Did you call?」

「Bring the prepared items here.」

「Understood.」

The smiling secretary continued smiling and nodded. She left the room and immediately re-entered carrying documents and a rolled-up parchment that she handed to Anoke-san.

Anoke-san handed the documents to Will-san and unrolled the parchment on top of the table.

「This is…」

「Yes it’s a map of Fresberg and its surroundings. Fresberg has many stores and homes that change so every few hundred days we update our maps. They are not completely accurate, but all the main streets and facilities remain the same so this can be useful when choosing a location to live.」

I saw Fresberg drawn from a bird’s eye view with great detail. The transfer circle, Lord’s Manor, Base Company, Inns, smiths, etc. main facilities and major shops were all present.

Just by roughly looking at the map it was clear how chaotic the roads were. Moreover there were many people living here, so if we were to stay here shopping would be easy enough, but there was a good chance of getting lost.

If I were able to get a copy of this map with such a detailed image it would be greatly helpful in figuring out where to go and preventing us from getting lost. I really want it.

「It’s a really nice map. Is it possible to get one?」

「I’m sorry to say but this map is one-of-a-kind so I cannot give you it. However, if you were to request an older version we can certainly provide you with one and mark some of the changes upon it.」

I see, for such a map it must take considerable time and effort to make since there aren’t printing presses. Even just making a copy of it would take much time, money, and effort.

It was mostly for getting a proper idea of the town so I didn’t really mind taking the older version.

「Then I would like that please.」

「Well then, the first property here. This is the floor plan. It’s a little out of the city center, but it’s close to the commercial area, it’s a two-story building with a small garden, and the price is about 3 million mars and we can furnish it.」

「I think this floor plan is a little small for us. Plus the kitchen area seems too small. We might get more party members as well so I was hoping for a bit larger…」

「That’s right ja. The garden looks a little small to hold training sessions in and there’s also the risk of our techniques being stolen ja.」

「Sakura wants a big garden too~」

「I see. Then this…no how about this one?」

「Oh? Two floors but it also has a roof area…certainly it’s out of the public eye…but I’m worried about the strength of the roof ja.」

「I have also heard that roofs like this have issues with water leaks.」

「Actually, Sakura also wants an attic!」

Once choosing houses started at some point my position and the girls had swapped.

The Base father and son were now getting fired up and talking with my three wives about our home. Well, I do have the money and as long as everyone can agree on everything they need I don’t have an issue with it. It’s not like I’m being treated like a side-dish…

Hm? I spotted some 10 folders colored red sitting to the side.

Why were they left out? Well since everyone was talking I could have a peek.

As I flipped through it I understood. These places were removed because of ongoing investigation. It was more that each place had peculiar circumstances.

Like this one…

『Northeastern Fresberg, 2 stories, 6 rooms, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, garden. 2 million』

Although the home was wonderful and cheap, there was a special note attached. 『Site of a burglary-homicide, later tenants report the presence of ghosts and several incidents. *Attention Required』 was written.

I was getting used to monsters, but I’d like to be spared from ghosts and spirits. Things that I couldn’t cut with my sword were absolutely No Good.

There are also ones with problematic environments like being next to a bar or a brothel. There was even one right next to this Base Company. It appears that it has issues with receiving natural sunlight. As expected being 5 stories tall caused some issues with the neighbors. In this world without laws that protected your ‘right to sunshine’ all you could do was lament your misfortune.

Next was…Ohhhh! This property is huuuge! It’s a bit far from the city, but the plot of land was big too. The price was pretty high at 4.75 million but considering a small 2 story home in the city cost 3 million I could say this residence was amazing for the price.

What kind of issue would cause such a dip in price? The note says…

「Hotaru-san this one!」

「Hm? What’s wrong Soujirou?」

「Look! You think this could be…」

I pulled on Hotaru-san’s sleeve to get her attention and showed her the property quietly.

「………」

After looking over the property in question Hotaru-san raised her head, looked at me and gave a satisfied smile.

「Will-san could you please let us look at this property!!」