It didn’t take long before Illyan arrived at the outskirts of the town. Since the town was situated in the mountain pass between both Valas Peninsula mountain ranges, the town’s western and eastern sides gradually ascended up the slopes of the mountain.

Any building constructed there would offer a picturesque outlook of the entire town. Because of that, this domain was usually inhabited by affluent and wealthy individuals only. Nobles had their villas built here, while accomplished war veterans would retire here with their saved-up money.

Since every building had its own land, they were far from each other, making it easier for Illyan to search for the right one.

After some time of looking around, he finally found the right place.

He could see that it was quite a small building compared to the other residences in the vicinity, but its garden was splendid. To be honest, Illyan didn’t care about the luxury. As long as it had enough rooms for his work, then he would be happy.

Just as he approached the building, a man who was waiting at its doors noticed him and came to him with long strides.

Illyan frowned. He didn’t know the man. However, it wasn’t hard to guess what he was here for…

“Who might you be, sir?” Regardless, he still asked the man with a respectful tone. It didn’t cost him anything anyway, so there was no need for a confrontational stance.

“You must be Mr. Kaoran. My name is Itis, and I am a real estate agent sent here by the Merchant Guild to finalize all the procedures.”

A slightly plump man with missing eyebrows quickly approached Illyan and greeted him with a polite but insincere smile.

“Oh? I see, nice to meet you. What kind of procedures do you speak of?” Illyan asked tentatively. He wasn’t happy that there would be additional procedures, but he wasn’t surprised.

While there were no books about trades in the institute, he could just ask Garan, who worked in the merchant guild, to find out.

This allowed him to already anticipate this encounter.

“There is no need to worry. As the deal wasn’t facilitated through the Merchant Guild, we are just responsible for showing you the state of the residence and guaranteeing that the contract wasn’t a fraud… Let’s not waste our time in front of the door and come in!”

The enthusiastic merchant gestured to Illyan to open the door.

As he was the only one who had the key, he could only come to the door and insert it into the keyhole.

‘I will need to change the lock later on.’ For all he knew, Korin could have a spare key with himself. While he didn’t see the lock as a reliable way to stop intruders, he would still feel uncomfortable knowing that someone had easy access to his place.

With a click, he opened the door and entered. What welcomed him was the stale air and musky smell.

From the outside, the house didn’t look bad. It was the opposite, actually, as it was a building created for a minor noble. The only problem was that its interior was in a pitiful state.

The walls and roof stood tall against the trial of time since they were made out of bricks and other solid materials. However, the same couldn’t be said about the furniture. Some of the wooden furniture was already rotten while covered in a thick layer of dust.

The ground was covered by feces of some animals who managed to dig holes into the house, and the corners were covered in webs.

When Illyan saw this, he was stunned. He expected that the place wouldn’t be in good shape, but he didn’t know it would be this much!

Without being able to control himself, he showed a disgusted expression. His instincts were telling him to run from such a dirty place, as his hate towards this filth filled his mind.

Seeing his expression, Itis immediately smiled apologetically as he explained.

“Normally, if the deal was mediated through the Merchant Guild, there would be free cleanup of the place and also discounts for whatever reconstructions are needed or desired…”

Basically, he was saying that this wasn't the guild's fault. Not that Illyan planned to blame him.

“No problem. I will clean it up later myself.” He just shook his head as he took a deep breath and started to observe the interior in detail.

When he entered, he got into a big room where a person would spend most of his time. There were another two doors to other rooms and two stairs. Ones leading down and the other ones leading up.

Itis smiled as he started to explain the interior of the house.

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“The residence has five rooms overall. This big room is the main one while the other ones behind the doors are rooms with a bathtub and latrine. The bedroom is upstairs with a beautiful view of the entire town. The last room…”

He started to guide Illyan around while explaining each and every detail he knew about this house. Illyan didn’t care about that, so he just casually listened as he used his own eyes to look around.

Firstly, he didn’t find anything suspicious with his [Eyes of Truth]. That made him relieved, as he was worried if Korin tampered with the house somehow.

They also looked around the house at its courtyard and garden. It wasn’t very big, but it was definitely enough for him to grow a few herbs. The garden was also surrounded naturally by the slope of the mountain range, so there was no need to fear someone trying to barge in from that side. They would need to get through the residence into the garden…

Soon, they finished up the inspection except for the last room.

“As you surely noticed, I left out one of the rooms.” After they entered back into the main room, Itis smiled as he gestured towards the stairs leading down.

“But as someone who believes that the best should be kept last, I am confident that sir will be satisfied.”

He led Illyan down as he continued babbling on.

“This is the wine cellar! The original owner of this building loved good wines and loved collecting them even more, so he built this entire cellar underneath.”

It was a big room with a few old wine racks standing in rows. They were obviously empty…

“Later on, Mr. Korin planned to renovate this cellar into his study, but as you already know, he had to abandon the idea as His Excellency called him to the Capital…”

Illyan was silent. While he wasn’t picky, he didn’t expect that this place would have so much space. Ten gold coins was a lot. But that was only in the eyes of commoners. For nobles, paying for houses that cost even a hundred gold coins would be acceptable if the quality was matching the price.

While it didn’t look that spacious, as long as he got rid of the wine racks, the room would be even bigger than the main room.

At first, Illyan considered whether he should build his lab in the main room, but that thought was gone once he entered the cellar.

This place was perfect!

Seeing the satisfied expression on his face, Itis started enthusiastically talking about some other minor things before taking out another document for Illyan to sign. Fortunately, this one wasn’t sketchy and was only confirmation that the deal went smoothly.

“Hehe, it was my pleasure to work with you, Mr. Kaoran. If you are interested in any renovations, please use my name in the guild. I will give you a discount. The same goes if you someday consider selling the property. The residences are constantly rising in prices, so one good decision can secure your life savings for the rest of your life…”

Illyan was just nodding, letting everything come in one ear and out of the other. He had just bought the property with great risk, and the guy already wanted him to sell it back to them. The urge to roll his eyes at this audacious little merchant filled him up, but he endured it as he waited until he finally left.

Then, alone in the residence, he started to ponder what to do next. However, one look around was enough to know that the place was currently uninhabitable.

“Sigh… This will take a long time…”

……..

After Itis left, Illyan got down to work immediately. He left the house to go buy some tools and returned soon after. Then he threw away all the rotting furniture, swept away all webs and other disgusting stuff until the house was completely clean.

Then, he went to the cellar and checked on the wine racks.

Seeing they were made from good wood, he didn’t throw them away and instead dismantled them. Since he still didn’t have a stable income, he didn’t want to waste money on new furniture and planned to rebuild them himself.

For that reason, he bought a small hammer with lots of nails and other stuff. At first, he was a little clumsy, but soon he got the knack for it and created everything from scratch. When some parts didn’t fit, he could carve them a little with a knife, as he was used to.

His bed was also crafted from wood, but he draped several furs over it that he collected in Blood Crow Forest to make it more comfortable.

It was shabby compared to normal furniture, but he didn’t care.

All of this took him around six hours. Satisfied with himself, Illyan looked at the cleaned-up interior of the house.

When he didn’t notice anything wrong, he decided to visit Vael. He remembered that the old man wanted something from him…

As he already knew the way, it didn’t take him even a quarter of the time when he was looking for the residence in the morning, and soon he found his way to Vael’s office.

Knock Knock

“You may enter.” A feeble voice answered Illyan’s knocking, and so he entered the room.

The room looked similar

to that of Korin. However, instead of parchments covered with difficult formulas, this room was filled with all kinds of jars with human body parts and all kinds of liquids sealed in test tubes.

When Vael noticed it was Illyan, he smiled kindly.

“Hoho~ You came earlier than I expected. I was pretty sure you didn’t move yet.” After saying that, he started to cough heavily while holding onto a white cloth. However, the cloth soon took on a red shade as Vael coughed up blood.

“Are you alright, Mr. Vael?!” Illyan, who didn’t know what happened, acted worried as he planned to check on this old man but was stopped with a wave of his arm.

“Don’t come closer. The disease I have is contagious. You should keep your distance.”

Seeing the old man wheezing for air, Illyan frowned.

“What kind of disease is this?” To be honest, while Illyan read all the books, he was still more specialized in healing and treating wounds from physical harm rather than diseases. Those were most often in the north, after all.

He was too young to see all the diseases out there.

“It is called tuberculosis… It is a bacterial infection primarily affecting the lungs. Not a fun way to go, I tell you, heh…” Vael still didn’t lose his humor despite all that blood, so Illyan could guess it was nothing new for the old man.

“I have heard of it. Isn’t that treatable?” Illyan read about it in the book.

“Yes, it is in normal circumstances. But the one I have is a mutated one, and the treatment doesn’t work.” Vael shook his head.

“You still didn’t answer my question.” Vael changed the topic, as he didn’t want to talk about this.

Illyan took his hint and stopped asking as he answered.

“I got the key yesterday right after I finished the examination and moved in today. I would have come sooner, but I had to clean the mess up.”

“Hehe, that’s good. As a physician, you should always keep your place as clean as possible.” Vael nodded as he stood up.

“Since you have already moved, then let’s go. Like I said, I have a surprise for you.”

With that, he left the office with Illyan through the side doors in the room. Beyond the doors was a room twice as big as the office, full of all kinds of tools.

“Welcome to my laboratory! This is where I create potions and research all kinds of cures for the population.”

Vael showed a proud expression as he gestured with his hands wide open.