The accommodation we booked was quite ordinary. Yes, the first floor was the reception and dining room/bar, at the back was the living area for the proprietor's family, and the second and third floors were the guest rooms. The living area for the owner's family seemed small, but if you think about it, they could use the kitchen, toilet, and other facilities for guests, so maybe it's okay for the family section to be small.
This time, we didn't prioritize safety and choose a nice inn like usual, because we wanted to check the situation at a normal inn, or rather the public order or the level of civility of this town. We didn't want to live in a town with a bad reputation or problems. A town ruled by criminal organizations, run by thugs, or run by a villainous lord— So, instead of an inn where only those with money could stay, we chose a normal place.
...As expected, two girls wouldn't be so bold as to stay at a low-class inn. Even if we could manage it with my potion-making skills and Reiko's magic, if someone else were to see us, we'd have to flee the country immediately. I didn't want any trouble.
So I booked a very ordinary double room at a very ordinary inn. The room was on the third floor. The only toilet was on the first floor, so it was a pain to go up and down every time, but I guessed they were considerate enough to give us a room on the third floor because the first floor was also used as a bar and it was noisy at night, so I didn't complain. We didn't go to the toilet that often anyway.
"Well, let's go around for a week and see what the town is like and find some potential places to live."
"Yeah. And that will help with our work too."
Well, actually, we hadn’t decided what kind of job we were going to do yet. We had put that on hold because we wanted to do work that was suited to the city and location we lived in, that we could do, and that would be useful to people. Of course, I didn't want to do heavy labor or be tied down by time. Even though I was not short of money, I didn't want to be tied down to work and waste my life. Ah, we had "a lot of luxury" when it came to time in our lives, but that didn't mean we could live a life we were not happy with.
I didn't like working in a store because I was tied down by time while working there. I also didn't like the hassle of having to do advance preparations. I would pass on attracting the attention of the rich, the powerful, and others. I hated being busy and hectic, and having to deal with troublesome human relationships with business partners and so on. While I had the chance, I might as well use my cheat ability to make some easy money— No, I want to be useful to others. Well, that's why whether we settled down in this city and how we lived would depend on the results of the information we gathered from now on. As the saying goes, whoever controls the information controls the world.
And then, six days later.
"I've pretty much finished researching..." (Kaoru)
"Yes. It's something that an outsider commoner could easily investigate, but I think I've obtained enough information to judge the town's atmosphere, the level of public safety, the morals of the residents, and the policies of its rulers." (Reiko)
Reiko replied affirmatively to my words. And—
"Passed!!" (Both)
Yes, the Count, who was the lord of this area, seemed to be a decent person who not only knew his rights as a noble, but also his duties. Therefore, the town was well-maintained.
...To the end, that's just the kind of world we live in, anyway. The king seems to be a decent person as well...or rather, since the king is a decent person, maybe decent nobles are running the territory?
Well, anyway, the country, its lord, and the town were all decent. Even if we went to another city or country, we might find something just as good as this one, but the chances of finding something much better than this one were slim to none. So there was no point in continuing to travel and risking a huge disappointment.
"Okay, let's live in this town!"
"I agree. If it's a miss, we can just move at that point, right?"
And so we decided to live in this port town, Tarvolas.
We bought a house in the suburbs—Well, that was a bit sudden—The town center was densely packed with buildings, each of which was used for shops, workshops and residences. Of course, there were some vacant spaces, but they were for rent, and the size, facilities, location or price might not be suitable, or the real estate agent might chase us away as soon as they saw us. Well, with the way we looked, it was inevitable that people would think we were teasing them or just playing a childish prank. When I bought it, I took out a leather pouch full of gold coins from my bag, so it wasn't a problem.
Start from the beginning? What's the point of taking out a bag full of gold coins without even looking at the property, when you don't even know if you'll buy it or if the other party is a legitimate merchant...? That will only serve as an invitation to scammers and criminals. Come to think of it, Roland was there when I rented the store for "Layette's Atelier" and "Bell Convenient Store" before. I guess Roland was of some use to me... Now we are two young girls who appear to be minors.
Anyway, at first I went around to real estate agencies to try and get some properties introduced to me, but that was unsuccessful. The next thing we did was to find a vacant property that we liked, check the market price in the area, and then find out which real estate agency was dealing in that property and go and talk to them.
So, we went around the city looking for information, but—
First of all, the path was too narrow. Although we were not particularly short of money, I didn't like the idea of not being able to maintain privacy, even if we were best friends. And the property had to have good plumbing facilities (kitchen, bathroom, toilet, drainage, etc.). The inside of the room could be seen from outside. There must be no noise, bad odors, or anything that could cause public safety issues nearby. No, places like blacksmith shops and bars were likely to be noisy from early in the morning until late at night. Lack of sleep and irritability were bad for your skin, yeah.
And most importantly, "secrets will be kept." I couldn't live in an area where it's normal for the lady next door to just come in without knocking and say, "I've got some leftover stew, so I'm sharing it with you." I was planning on installing a lot of convenient things in the house...
And this was the property we found.
Formerly, an orphanage.
Currently, a vacant house.
It was a single-story building built on a cliff by the sea, just 20 meters above sea level, and it wasn't particularly dilapidated. Even though it was a single-story house, it was still quite spacious. There was plenty of land in this location, so there was no reason to build it as a two-story house, which requires skill and was quite dangerous to repair the roof. The residents probably repaired leaks themselves— Moreover, since it was originally an orphanage, it would be logical to make it a one-story building to reduce the chances of accidents occurring if a large number of unruly children were to live there.
This property had a large number of rooms of various sizes, so I thought it would be interesting because each room could be used for a different purpose. That's right, there was no way a place the size of an ordinary residential house could serve as our headquarters. And the real value of the base was not what's above ground, but what was underground. That was why it was convenient to have a single-story house in the suburbs with a large lot. It was a bit unreasonable to build a secret basement in the basement of a 100m2 house in the city— Also, the price was very cheap. Of course, no one would want to buy a former orphanage with such a unique structure located on the edge of a seaside cliff a little way from the city center...
That was why we made the purchase with cash. With this, I'll hire a contractor to do the repairs, and then I'll build a basement and start the magical transformation. How to build a basement? With the item box and Reiko's magic, we'll be able to do something about it!
Author's Note
Yesterday (December 4th), the fifth volume of the comics for this work, "I Shall Survive using Potions!" and "Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement" were released.
Thank you very much. (^^)/
And there are only 3 episodes left of the anime series "Didn't I say to make my abilities average in the next life?"
This is where Kodansha comes in handy!
We bought the commercial slots for the remaining three episodes of the anime and will be able to advertise "Potion" and "Roukin"!! (^^)/ (Tokyo MX only)
In addition, the word "Roukin" will be featured on advertising stickers that will be affixed to the doors of Tokyo Metro trains throughout December! (One of the four works selected)
If you have the opportunity, please take a look.