Ryuji awoke and got into his freshly cleaned clothes smelling the fabric with a smile. The previous day he had returned to the inn and washed all his dirty clothing in the rain and hung it up in his room to dry. He had then spent the evening reading until it was getting dark. Then he donned his bathing poncho and met with the old cat’s family again as they had planned. He told them which buildings were for sale and said he would meet with them sometime around lunch to look at the buildings with them.
Once he was done with his morning routine, he headed to the wizard shop. When he got close, he spotted a note on the door and walked up to look at it. The note was to him. It simply said Ryuji, I got sick and don’t feel like opening the store today. Study on your own.
Ryuji was a little worried about Dorn but he wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. He dashed back to the market as quickly as he could. In just a few minutes he was standing at the old cat’s stall catching his breath. “Oh, lord Ryuji! What brings you here this morning? I thought we were going to go out at midday.”
“That was the plan but I found myself free this whole day so I figured if I had the time we could all just go looking together. Where would everyone else be?”
“Oh, splendid! Everyone is at the house packing up our stuff. The boys even took off work to help my daughters with the packing so they’re all there.”
“Ah, good! Hey, I know. Point to where your home is on the map here. I’ll run to your house and get everyone to come here and you close up the store. Or even better, you close up the store and go to your house. I’ll go there and help pack until you get there.”
“Oh, no milord! We couldn’t possibly have you laboring on our behalf. You’ve already done so much for us it just wouldn’t be right. We’ll pack our stuff. It shouldn’t take me but a few moments to close the shop then I’ll meet you and them in the center plaza here like you suggested before. Our house is here,” he said, pointing to a small building near the back of the slums.
“Oh, ok. If you really think everyone would feel that way then I’ll just go get them and meet you. Later!” Ryuji ran off with the old cat staring after him with a warm grin on his face.
When Ryuji arrived at their house the door was open and there was a lot of commotion inside. Just as he had been told, the men had stayed home to help their wives pack and even the children were busy rummaging through things and putting them in wooden crates. Everyone paused and stared in shock and bewilderment as he entered the front door.
After they got over their initial shock at being seen in such a state of disarray, it only took them a few minutes to get ready and set out. They met Gato in the central square a few minutes later. Finally, it was time to begin looking at properties in earnest.
After more than an hour of looking it wasn’t going too well. The cat beastfolk were all too timid to speak up about the places they went to look at. When they did speak it was to say that the places that they were being shown were too nice for the like of them. It was honestly getting a little annoying. The only ones that were being honest with their opinions were the children.
At one place one of the young girls had grabbed her nose and protested that the place reeked of dead things. Ryuji could only catch a trace of the smell but he suspected that any beastfolk would be horrified by the stench. The girl’s mother was equally horrified but Ryuji just laughed and said, got it, not this one then!
Later at one of the larger but oddly cheaper buildings, the boy looked at the place and declared in a voice of contempt. “I could push this moldy building over by myself. This place stinks of mold and wood-bugs.” Again the parents were aghast but Ryuji took what the boy said to heart. He suspected that wood-bugs might be termites and any place that smelled of mold and termites was a definite no-go.
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They had visited a number of the cheapest places and were only left with the places that were more expensive. Ryuji was a little concerned about having enough to foot the bill if they picked a place that was too expensive. He decided he would just have to go to the moneychanger with another satchel full of copper coins. After looking over one of the more expensive places they went to look at another that had a huge floor space and a very nice layout.
The price tag on this one was a little more than what he had on him at the moment but he decided that if they would just settle on this one, he would be happy enough. He was just worrying about them rejecting this one in favor of a more expensive one when one of the young cat women shattered his expectations.
She looked almost afraid to speak but Ryuji encouraged her to speak up. “Milord, are there perhaps any places available in the northern district? We couldn’t possibly move into any of the places you’ve shown us so far. They were all far too nice for the likes of us. We don’t need anything really fancy so you needn’t waste money on our account. I know that you and father spoke about us moving into a new store but it can’t be alright for us to move into a building like one of these. We wouldn’t want your reputation with people to fall because of associating with us.”
Ryuji was dumbfounded for a moment. She had blindsided him with her scathing self-critique and it finally all came into perspective. He couldn’t let this stand. “Ah, but you are wrong! You see, as a noble, I have to show off a bit if I want to make others recognize my name. Most nobles would settle for just having a fancy storefront that obviously spoke of how much money was poured into it. I however intend to go further. I will have those that come to my store see that not only do I spend my money to have a nice storefront but that I would spend that much even on the likes of you, as you put it.”
“Besides the bakery that I put Lizbet up in is half again this size even if it is a little more run down. The work crews are making short work of the repairs though and soon enough even those few flaws will be good as new. I could put you all in a place like that you know. That would certainly force you to adapt to being the center of attention.”
After his little speech, the adults huddled together and began whispering furiously with one-another. Shortly thereafter, one of the guys spoke to Ryuji, even though the women looked obviously nervous about whatever their decision had been. “Milord, we wish to apologize. We had no idea that you intended to use us to build your reputation in that way. It might be a bit outside our way of thinking but I must admit what you say makes sense. Perhaps you would be willing to let us look at a couple of the ones from before? Maybe the ones from the northwestern part of the business district?”
After that things went pretty quickly. They settled on one of the medium-sized buildings that was perhaps a little old but fairly nice all the same. They all looked uncomfortable with the idea of being doted on this way but Ryuji was determined to help them even if he had to do so against their wishes at first. Soon enough they were off to the tax office to make the final purchase.
When they arrived at the tax office, the beastfolk all refused to go inside. They said things like, “This is no place for the likes of us and we can’t embarrass you in front of other’s milord.” It was all a bit frustrating to Ryuji but he refused to let it get to him. For a boy raised in Japan, where cooperation with foreigners was compulsory, the intolerance was a little baffling. However, he wasn’t going to push the issue because he could tell there was a grain of truth to what they said.
Ryuji walked into the tax collector’s office after knocking and there was Aleen sitting in her armchair as before. When she looked up and saw it was him, she practically started beaming. He wondered if she had a thing for him and decided she might have a point. In this life he was tall, handsome, and, most of all, he was rich. He decided to put that line of uncomfortable reasoning aside as Aleen got to her feet.
The butler at her side seemed to catch some visual cue since he bowed and turned to leave. Was this it? Was this the scene where Aleen began aggressively coming onto him? Just as Ryuji’s mind began forming excuses, he realized she was heading for her desk and realized he was being childish.