Seeing Alice come out wearing a cloak and her dress, she said.

“Sorry for making you wait; I haven’t done my makeup on my own before; I had to ask for help.”

“It’s fine.”

Putting on her hood, we began walking to a certain shop where I asked Iris to recommend me using Alice as a reason since she was still in hiding, specifically one that could keep their mouth shut.

On the way, Alice asked me what I wanted her to say when we met the jeweler and what I was planning to sell away.

“Well, like how much they are worth and other basic questions I would ask, and that you want to sell off your jewelry to buy a house since you are a noble and don’t want to live in an inn for a while, noble’s sensibility and all.”

“Noble sensibility?”

“Yeah, you know how much different a noble’s lifestyle is compared to a commoner's, especially when it comes to money? It’s the best reason I could come up with since this jeweler already interacted with nobles before and knows how most of us would act.”

“I see.”

Alice mulled over my words, which I kind of made up on the spot because, in reality, I had barely any idea of how nobles tend to act toward commoners because my family is powerful—no, make that formerly powerful right now, where I very rarely have to talk to commoners outside of my family manner since they always come to me instead of the other way around.

I’m just basing this on my perceptions of nobles in my past life, where they don’t have the common sense like commoners, like with money. From Alice’s reaction, I’m not really too off the mark since her family, though less powerful than my own before I ran away, does interact with commoners more than I would, especially since she is from a renowned military family.

“Is there anything specific you want me to say?”

After mulling over my answer, Alice asked that, so I said.

“Ask them to melt the metal down and repurpose the gems so nobody can track me down.”

“I understand, but can I see the jewelry you’re planning to sell?”

Alice gave me a curious look, wanting to see, so I said sure.

I took out one of my pouches, being careful so nobody snatched it, and opened it so nobody could see them other than Alice.

They were a gold ring with an emerald gem, a pair of earrings with blue magic gemstones, and a silver necklace with a large teardrop diamond.

Alice was quite surprised to see them and said.

“These are beautiful; they are going to be worth quite a lot. Are you sure they would have the money ready to buy all of them?”

“I don’t know, but if they don’t, sell them whatever they can afford or ask them to set up another date so they could have the money ready.”

“Got it.”

We talked to each other until we reached the shop we were going to, which was in the wealthier part of the city where there were fewer adventurers and more townspeople.

This place has a lot of high-end shops and is cleaner overall than most of the city. I saw a lot of open glass windows that showed what they were offering.

Most surprisingly, we didn’t really stand out in this place with our hoods covering our faces because other people did the same thing, which I’m guessing are well-known people who want to hide their identity.

The front of the shop had a sign reading Perkcan’s Jewelry Shop.

It was a clean and nice-looking shop, but not the fanciest one I had ever been to, but a good-looking shop, nothing less.

Going inside, a female clerk greeted us.

“Hello, how may I serve you?”

“I’m here to meet with the owner of this shop.”

Pulling down her hood, Alice shows her face with all the dignity of a noble being shown to the store clerk.

Surprise, she immediately composed herself and bowed, saying.

“I apologized, lady Alice; forgive me for not recognizing my lady sooner, please, this way.”

Hmm... the worker seemed to know who Alice was; did Iris inform them that we were coming?

Leading us upstairs and opening the door to an office, she politely asks us to sit on one of the couches and to wait for her boss to arrive.

I didn’t sit with Alice on one of the couches but stood behind her, acting like her guard, because we already made up a story that I was her acquaintance whom she met while being chased by the Palning black knights and helped her run, making me trustworthy, which honestly wasn’t too off the mark on how we met.

After a couple of minutes, we heard footsteps coming from the stairs, and as the doors opened, it revealed a middle-aged man with a beard, wearing some decently expensive clothing and a pair of glasses.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you; I am Tamsin. I do apologize for making my lady wait, Lady Alice.”

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He greeted us with a polite bow, a hand on his chest, and a smile that I could tell was fake, which was him just being cordial since Alice was a noble.

He then turns to me and asks.

“May I ask who you might be? Please.”

Alice answered for me and said.

“He is an acquaintance of mine and my guard.”

“I see.”

Sitting on the opposite couch, he then said.

“What brought my lady here to my humble shop?”

“I’ve come here to sell my spare jewelry.”

“Ah, I understand, given your situation. It would be a great pleasure to do business with you, my lady.”

Alice had a mask of surprise since that kind of information would be kept a secret, but knowing the merchant and that Iris recommended him to me, it was par for the course.

He definitely has an intelligence network throughout the city and should know what was happening in this city.

I’m guessing he is making a jab to know why we were here; however, Alice and I already figured out what he was doing.

“Yes, I’m currently in need of funds to make more suitable living arrangements, and if it would be possible, could you recycle the metal and repurpose the gems to make sure no one can trace it down to me?”

He seems surprised by Alice's direct answer, which we can tell by the slightest rise of his eyebrow and the movement of his mouth. He is good at masking his expressions, but to us, it was somewhat obvious.

“I understand; no need to worry, lady Alice; that is my intention to do just that. Now if my lady would please, may I appraise the items?”

Alice looked at me, and I took out my jewelry from one of my pouches, then approached him to hand over the jewelry.

Taking a circular monocle thing out of one of his shirt pockets, he began to look at the jewelry I had brought with me closely. He looked at them one by one, and once he was done, Alice asked how much he would give.

He shook his head, and with a disappointed expression, he said.

“I’m afraid I currently do not have the coins available to buy all these stunningly beautiful pieces of jewelry my lady has brought me.”

“I see, what can you buy with the coins you have right now?”

He began rubbing his chin in thought and said.

“These beautiful pair of earrings for 20 large platinum coins, and please rest assured that selling these would be more than enough to buy any lavish house in Acton.”

Hearing his answer, I was surprised that my earrings would be worth that much, and they were the cheapest ones.

I know, since he is a merchant, his offer for the earrings is worth less than they actually are, but I trust that Iris recommended him to me, and it doesn’t really matter because I just need money for a house right now and I don’t see a need to bargain with him.

Alice looked at me like she wanted to get my opinion, to which I nodded yes.

“Then it is a deal.”

“Yes, thank you for doing business with my humble shop, Lady Alice.”

He had a smile, but I could tell he was showing some confusion that I barely noticed and almost missed.

“Please excuse me; I will fetch the coins now.”

Tamsin got up from the couch and left the room. After a few minutes, he came back with a pouch filled with coins jingling around.

“I apologize for making my lady wait, but here are the coins as promised.”

He politely handed the pouch to Alice, and Alice gave it to me for safekeeping.

As Alice was about to declare that we were going to take our leave, Tamsin stopped us by saying.

“Before my lady leaves, may I recommend a real estate company?”

“Yes?”

“I would suggest my lady do business with the Earla real estate company. I have personal connections with the company; please use my name as my lady wishes.”

“I see. I thank you for the recommendation. we will be taking our leave now.”

Tamsin and the female clerk politely said goodbye to us as we left out the door and once we were sufficiently away from the shop and in a safe place to look at the coins we received.

I opened the pouch and was surprised to see the coins inside; they were quite big and shiny, with one being around the size of my hand.

After looking at the pouch, Alice asks.

“So where are we going next?”

“The real estate company Tamsin told us since it is closer to the one I originally planned on going.”

“Okay, let's head there.”

At the real estate company, Tamsin recommended to us, it was a relatively high-end building with an ornate exterior, and going inside the building, the lobby was also as ornate as the outside, where they even managed to have a chandelier on the ceiling.

We went to the reception counter, and Alice told the receptionist that she was looking for a house.

We did what we did in Tamsin's shop, where Alice took off her hood and revealed her noble self, but this time we also mentioned Tamsin's name, which for some reason they gave us priority and immediately took us to a room.

Once Alice had settled in on a couch, a real estate agent came in and introduced himself. Alice introduced herself and me, then explained that she was looking for a house.

The agent then took out some papers with drawings and blueprints of different houses to show us.

He presented all of them and suggested the best houses to buy, telling us that they’re fully furnished and they guarantee the quality of these houses so we don’t have to tour them later, which I was surprised to hear. Additionally, he also said they would prepare a carriage for us to go look at the houses if Alice still wanted to see them for herself.

Hearing all that, Alice turned to me and said.

“Nyx, could you come sit with us because I want you to decide, please?”

She said that because we had come up with that on the way here, which was to give a reason for me to sign the contract instead of her.

The real estate agent looked confused, so Alice said to him.

“I’m only going to stay here for a short while, and once I leave, I don’t need a house anymore. I’m giving it to my friend Nyx to repay him, who helped me greatly for the last 2 weeks.”

Now sitting on the couch, the real estate agent nodded and turned to me, asking what types of houses I wanted.

I told him I was looking for the ones in decent areas not too far from the guild, and the real estate agent found 3 that I liked.

Surprisingly, Tamsin was right when we had more than enough money to buy most of the houses presented to us, with the average cost for the houses being on average around 77 platinum coins.

Choosing the 1 of the 3 houses presented, it was a two-story house for 90 platinum or 18 large platinum coins.

It was in a generally uncrowded and safe area, close to the adventurer guild, and surprisingly close to Mila’s bookstore. But the most important thing of all, the reason it cost more than the other houses present was, and the main reason I chose this house was because there was a bathroom with plumbing and a bathtub.

Once I had picked the house I wanted, the agent brought a contract, and Alice told me to sign it after reading it.

I signed my name, and the agent gave me the keys to the house after paying him with the large platinum coins I had gotten today from selling my jewelry, which the real estate agent was surprised to see.

Once we were out of the building, Alice excitedly smiled and suggested going to the house I just bought.

I said yeah, also excited by her suggestion.