Aleen seemed terribly shocked by the request for a map for a moment but then her features returned to normal before she replied. “I suppose that would be possible but it would be costly to have a scribe pen a map of the city. That by itself will likely be a small gold and a few small silvers. I might mention that my fee for my services will be a small gold per title. I could also arrange to have any building cleaned up for no more than a couple large silver.” After rattling off her prices she just sat smiling like she expected him to refute her or something.
After quickly doing the math in his head, Ryuji pulled out his leather pouch and rummaged through it. At first, he thought that he didn’t have enough money to cover it without another trip to the money changer. He was about to close his pouch when he noticed an anomaly among the coins. One of the gold coins was a little thicker and just a bit wider, it was a large gold coin mixed in with the rest. He scolded himself for not checking his money sooner then pulled that one out first and set it aside. He then produced six small gold and six large silver. The woman looked a tad surprised but only mildly.
Ryuji separated the coins into stacks and slid them over as he spoke. “I would like to purchase the bakery and have it cleaned up as you offered. Your fee for the proceedings is here and this is for the scribe’s fee for the map.”
Remembering he quickly pulled out another large silver. “I almost forgot, your fee for getting the list of properties for sale and arranging for the scribe. I guess I wouldn’t mind having the residences listed on it also if this will cover that too.”
The woman smiled charmingly at him and thanked him for his business, telling him that his title would be ready the next day and the map she said she could have ready the day after. Ryuji told her that he would just come by and get them both at once. He went back to the magic shop with a big smile on his face. It faded quickly when he remembered the dreary task of translating that he had ahead of him that evening.
When he finally finished the fourth page that he had set about reading his head was throbbing but he was definitely getting faster. He looked up from the book at the window. It was only just starting to get darker but he had toiled to the breaking point to get the pages down. It turned out to be an account of the life and times of one of this world’s great wizards. He was kind of getting into it but the translation process was still arduous. It was only his second day working on it though so he figured he was doing pretty well.
He called to Dorn that he was leaving a tad early and headed for the plaza. Thinking about it he actually had to pass by two other market plazas to get to the one he always shopped at but he had no intention of changing that right now. He had spoken to Dorn about it briefly but apparently, the wares from the plaza he frequented were a bit higher quality due to the plaza being so near the southern nobles’ district. He was told that if a store was likely to succeed in getting into a storefront, that was the most likely place it would come from.
It went perfectly with his plans. He chuckled to himself as he ran over the bridge spanning the river and into the southern part of the city. The ever-familiar sight of the mercenary’s guild brought him a smile as he passed it. Ryuji was astounded to find out from Karen that the guild building was the largest and oldest building in all of Lyrill. It was a solitary fort before there was a city here. The city apparently grew around it.
Three buildings after the imposing mercenary’s guild and he reached the back entrance to the plaza he was after. The plaza was surrounded on all three sides by buildings but it was still plenty light out. He headed straight to the bakery stall of Lizbet. She looked like she had bad news so he let her speak first after a brief greeting. “Good evening young lady, how does the day find you?”
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“Oh, a good evening, is it? Well, I don’t know about that youngin. My younger daughter found the perfect place for sale but then she got moved aside by some guys going in to clean it out. Place even used to be a bakery she says, but we were just a little too late. Somebody already bought it. Guess we’ll just have’ta keep lookin. Why are you grinning youngin?”
Ryuji was trying hard to keep from bursting with laughter as he responded. “Th-that’s terrible news. Or at least it would be. If I weren’t the one who bought it, that is.”
The puzzled look on Lizbet’s face turned to one of astonishment. Then she got the biggest grin on her face. “Well, you’re just full of surprises ain’t’cha. And to think how depressed my girl was. This oughta cheer her right up! I can’t wait to go tell ‘er.”
“Well, the tax office isn’t very far off. I’ll go see if the key is available. Now, we definitely don’t want to get in the way of the cleaning crew but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind us looking around a bit. I’ll be right back.”
With that, Ryuji went over to the tax office. The building or house of the tax collector was only one street over, right at the edge of the nobles’ district. The outside of the building was the same drab stones that looked melted together as the others around it but the building was a bit large and was three stories tall. Its only really distinguishing feature was the gaudy blue and red doors and shutters.
Ryuji walked up the steps and knocked. From the other side of the door, he heard a bit of ruckus, and shortly a familiar woman’s voice called out for him to enter. As he stepped inside, he noticed the man and woman from earlier but there was an unfamiliar pair also in the parlor.
The new pair consisted of an older man and a young boy. As he stepped inside and his eyes adjusted to the low lighting, he realized that the one he took for a boy was actually another sun elf like himself. As he made eye contact the other seemed to flinch slightly then shook his head as if he had seen a ghost.
The woman almost jumped to her feet upon seeing him. “Oh, what great timing my lord. Let me introduce you to the scribe and cartographer, the esteemed Seres Windyriver. Sir Seres was kind enough to rush over and begin immediately on the map you ordered. So, what brings you back so soon?”
With a slight bow to both Ryuji turned back to the lady tax collector whom he only then realized he had never introduced himself to. “I spoke with my business associate and told her I would ask if the key to the building were available. She’s so excited to be moving into a proper storefront that she’s practically bouncing! Also, I fear I was terribly rude earlier. I never introduced myself. I was in such a rush to get things underway that I was rude to you. You have my humble apologies.”
After another deeper bow, he went on. “My name is Ryuji and you are?”
She tittered behind her hand in a show of false modesty before replying. “Oh stop. I already told you that I’m no noble. My name is Aleen, Aleen Trust. My great Grandfather was the first trust in the history of this city and our family has enjoyed the benefits since. That’s the only reason I have the position of tax collector so you really needn’t treat me as if I were one of the nobility.”
Ryuji didn’t want to seem ignorant but he had no idea what a trust referred to. He guessed that it just meant a person that the nobility trusted. Thankfully, Aleen went on without noticing the confusion on his face. “Now as to the key. I’m afraid I only had a pair to the property and I entrusted both to the cleaners. They will most likely be working well into the night for the next eightday to fix up everything. You can just go by there and have a look if you like. I’ll pen you a note to hand to them so they know that you’re the new owner.”
The sun elf, Seres, was staring hard and it made Ryuji nervous so he took the note and bowed to them all again before hurrying out of the office. He made his way back over to Lizbet and told her what Ms. Trust had said and showed her the note. Lizbet was so excited to go see the store that she gave Ryuji the rest of the baked goods to take by the Sleeping Tree Inn before they made their way to the new storefront.
When she heard the news Teresa was shocked. “You say he bought you a bakery? *She turned a stunned look on Ryuji* You bought it? Like, You own the bakery now?”
Ryuji shrugged. “What can I say, I really like her bread and thought it deserved a better location. Not that she has to stop using the stand but I figured that having a better place to bake her bread couldn’t hurt. Right? So, I just loaned them some money to get started and they can pay me back over a few decades. I don’t want to make much. I just want to have money coming in steadily. Besides, this means I will always be able to go to one spot and get my favorite bread. We both win, see?”