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Ciel looked slightly annoyed at Karin, who was still somewhat hesitant and nervous. The governor watched them with a strained smile before he moved to different topics of conversation. He began talking of our performance in the earlier battle, then asked where we learned and trained our skills, how the three of us met, what our current goals were, and other stuff of the like.

His eyes seemed to almost pop out of surprise when he heard I was living in the mountains, but then he burst out laughing to the point of tears forming in his eyes when he heard how I met Karin and why she was there.

We took sips of black tea to moisten our throats, the sweet scent brushing against our noses and letting us relax from all the built-up stress from earlier. The sweets prepared for us were meant for girls, as they leaned heavily on the sweeter side. I had been able to try a varied assortment of dishes at the celebration party, but this was my first time having this kind of sweets, so it was a new and fun experience.

“By the way, is there any reason why you’re working both as receptionist and instructor, Lapis? Just one job sounds stressful enough.”

“Well… I was thinking of moving into my own place.”

“Ohh, you want to move? Is there any place in particular you like?”

“I don’t really have any preference. I just thought finding a place I could rent safely with my current income would be enough.”

“…I see. I might be able to help you then. I’ll introduce you to an acquaintance of mine at a later time, you should be able to consult with him on these matters.”

“Thank you very much. I don’t know anyone in that business so that would be helpful.”

“I’m just glad I could help. Anyway, let’s talk about the main topic of today.”

The governor turned to look at one of the maids, who nodded knowingly and walked into the room before returning with a tray holding three bags. She placed the bags, one in front of each one of us, on the table. From the heavy thump they produced, I could confidently guess their contents.

“This is a special reward for your exceptional performance. There are thirty gold coins for Karin and Ciel, and a hundred for Lapis.”

“Hundred?!”

“So many…!”

“And thirty for both of us?! Th-thank you very much!”

Working as a receptionist at the guild was said to have a high salary, but even there I only made around one silver coin every day. A hundred gold coins were easily the lumped salary of at least a few years. I was also happy for Ciel and Karin, thirty gold coins would take many difficult requests to earn.

“You should easily be able to rent your own place with that money, and probably even more than that… But well, if I may suggest something I learned throughout my years, it’s best to invest in something that will bring you worthwhile returns. Now that that’s settled, I’m sorry but I’ll have to excuse myself, duty calls. I’d love having another chat over tea if we get a chance.”

“Thank you for your time!”

“You have my gratitude, governor!”

“Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it.”

He waved his hand as he left the room with a smile. There were probably more pressing issues related to the territory he had to take care of, which was more important than talking with us. Or maybe he had a granular schedule divided to the minute he had to follow.

The three of us were in high spirits after being invited to drink some tasty tea and receiving an unexpected reward. Our meeting lasted around half an hour, so it was still a little past noon when we were back outside. The streets were crowded with people going back to their workplaces from lunch break, so it made us anxious to walk around so many people while carrying a lot of money.

“We finally made it back…”

“I’m tireddd! I feel many times more exhausted than usual!”

“We were walking around with so much money after all. We also didn’t have all our weapons like usual.”

The three of us heaved deep sighs of relief when we returned to Ciel’s home. Karin and I plopped on chairs, while Ciel threw herself on her bed, completely drained of energy. We stayed like that for a few minutes, in complete silence without saying a word. We had gotten really exhausted mentally.

“Those sweets were really good.”

“The tea too. I’m jealous of the governor, he can drink that every day.”

Karin’s body leaned over the table, lying there lazily and looking like a smashed slime. Ciel’s shoes dangled from her toe tips, half taken off. Walking around with a large sum of money after meeting an important person was really mentally tiring.

“Either way, what do you two want to use that money for?”

I asked them while I prepared tea for all of us to lighten the mood a bit. They stood up for a moment, then sat down on chairs again.

“Hmmm… I’ll probably get new armor? I’ve been using mine for so long now that it’s getting to its limit so I want to get rid of it.”
“I was thinking of making a new staff. Mine hasn’t been feeling right ever since I got beaten by the Lich.”

Karin’s leather armor did look pretty worn out already, like it wouldn’t do much a job protecting her. Ciel’s staff was a very average staff used by any magician. Magic was normally cast by just chanting, so a tool for that was unneeded, but there were many staffs that had magic amplification properties, or would hasten chanting speed, and many other useful effects.

Most staffs were made from one tree called the Origin Tree, so they could not be mass-produced and could be quite expensive. The money she had just earned would probably only afford one staff.

“And Lapis, what will you do? Will you move out after all?”

“Well… probably yeah.”

“It’ll get lonely around here once you leave…”

The mood became a bit more serious. Ciel and Karin live near each other and can visit each other with just a few minutes of walking, so if I end up moving I would be the only one living far from them. It would be nice if I found a place somewhere near here too, but unfortunately, this district is rather popular so as soon as one place is free, it gets taken.

That is because it is not too far from the center of the city, and this is one of the few places that regularly rent to tenants with unstable income like adventurers. The prospects of me finding a place to rent here looked rather grim, so I was most probably going to live far from them.

“I’ll decide what I do after meeting that person the governor mentioned. I’ll take my time without rushing things.”

“That sounds good. And either way, you’ll still be working at the guild so we’ll see each other often.”
“When you go check the rooms, invite us. I’m curious about what place you’ll choose.”

We were still tired for the rest of the day. Since we had more money than usual, we had a slightly more expensive dinner at the Golden Wheat Pavilion before calling it a day.

A week later, I heard a knock on the door while I was still loitering around at Ciel’s place. I carelessly opened the door and saw a middle-aged man with a timid appearance there. His eyes opened wide in surprise when he saw me, but he quickly cleared his throat and smiled friendly.

“Excuse me. Is Lapis home?”

“That would be me…”

“Ohh so it’s you. Excuse my late introduction. I’m Betts, a real estate agent. The governor asked me to show you some unoccupied places…”

“Ahh! The person he mentioned! Wait a bit, I’ll get ready to go out.”

I quickly returned to the room and began changing into my outdoor clothes while I told the other two girls about it. They had mentioned they wanted to come with me when this happened after all.

“Sorry for the wait!”

“Don’t worry about it. Your two friends are also coming with us, correct? Let’s head out then.”

It was still some time before noon when we headed out. The shopkeepers and staff in the different stores along the street wore excited looks, probably thinking of the quickly approaching lunch break. As we walked, I went through the documents Betts had given me when I stared in shock at one of the listings.

“Wait, these… They’re not for rent but being sold, and the prices are really cheap.”
“What?!”

“Really? Show me!”