Chương 21: Chapter 20 - Estate Shopping

When they arrived in Easton, they found a list of houses for sale. They were listed on a public notice board in the city offices, with directions on how to find them. They picked one of the listings on the public notice board at random, and went to see it. It was a small, single level house at the edge of the city. The building materials were old, the floorboards squeaked, and the doors were poorly fit. Pretty standard, from Kiara's point of view. The house she'd grown up in was smaller, but certainly cleaner.

She figured that was probably due to it being lived in, though. The house they were looking at was vacant, and hadn't been kept up. Glancing over at Dustin, she could see the evident disapproval on his face.

"Not to your liking?" she asked. He took a moment to respond as he looked around. Although they were alone in the house, he spoke softly, as if to avoid being overheard.

"It's a fine house, Lady Yountal. But I think it misses the mark."

"And which mark is that?" He shrugged.

"I suppose that's up to you." Kiara looked around at the house.

"It seems fine to me. What's it missing? Should we look at a few more on the list?" Dustin gave her a look of incredulity.

"I can't tell if you're pulling my leg. You think this house is fitting for someone of your standing?" She rolled her eyes.

"My 'standing' isn't what you think it is, Dustin." He nodded slowly.

"Well, even if you wish to maintain that ruse, I think it may be time to adjust it slightly. If we are to receive an invite from Lord Grivalt to visit his estate, we will need to present an imposing image. A financially affluent house, someone he simply cannot overlook. This residence is… not that."

"So, on to the next?" she asked innocently. He glanced sideways at her, then a small smile formed on his lips.

"You really are pulling my leg!" She wasn't. He continued, "I think we should check private listings, rather than the ones on the city notice boards." He breathed in deeply.

"There are firms that specialize in this sort of thing. They can show us a few options, and give us a tour as well. I'm sure we can find one to your liking."

"Or to your liking," she muttered under her breath.

"Pardon?" he asked, turning to her. She just shook her head.

"Lead the way," she said with a smile. And why not? It wasn't like she was hurting for coin. Might as well see what the best of Easton had to offer. They found one of the firms Dustin had mentioned rather quickly. She wasn't sure how he found it so quickly, seeing as he'd never been to Easton before, but he seemed to have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. As they walked in, the clerk looked them up and down with a frown.

Kiara was wearing one of the new outfits she had purchased a few weeks back, but she hadn't had any time or space to wash her clothes during the trip, so they were dirty. Dustin's attire wasn't much better. Dustin's confident bearing spoke volumes though as he walked up to the counter.

"We would like a tour of the estates available for sale in Easton," he said without preamble. * Jensen had been a real estate clerk for long enough to know when he was being messed with. His uncle owned the firm, and so Jensen had been helping around the shop for over a decade, despite his young age. It wasn't often, but also not unheard of, for a poor couple looking for a spark of fun to come in and request a tour of the larger estates around Easton.

The problem was, giving tours took up valuable time, and if they broke anything on the estate during the tour, then his uncle's firm would be liable. That being said, it wasn't wise to draw final conclusions simply from a first glance. He narrowed his eyes at the young couple in front of him.

"Certainly, a tour can be arranged. And what, pray tell, is the price range that you're looking for?" These kinds of questions were generally a good way to weed out the fake customers. The poor class didn't always realize just how expensive an estate was, and their uninformed answers were a dead giveaway that they weren't actually here to purchase anything. The young man glanced at the young woman, and Jensen adjusted his view of things.

If these did turn out to be serious customers, then clearly the young woman was the purse, not the young man.

"Um…," the young woman began.

"I'm actually not that familiar with how much an estate would be." She looked at the young man for guidance. Yep, just as Jensen had expected. These weren't real customers. Before he could say anything, the young man spoke up in reply to the young woman.

"Well, a modest estate might be a few hundred ruby coins, whereas a larger one could be anywhere from a few diamond coins to dozens of diamond coins. It all depends on what you're looking for, my lady." Ok, so the young man had done his research. Jensen had to give him props for that. He had even had the sense to refer to the young woman as 'my lady'. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The young woman nodded eagerly.

"Ah! In that case, assume that we don't have an upper limit on price." A smart ruse, Jensen had to admit. By not claiming an upper price, they were hoping to tour the most expensive homes. Unfortunately for them, his uncle's firm had a policy that would prevent it. He almost smiled in anticipation of their soon-to-be crestfallen faces as he replied.

"Very good. We simply need a security deposit of ten percent of your upper limit, to pay for any accidents that occur during the tour, I'm sure you understand. After the tour, the deposit can be returned, or applied to the purchase of one of the homes, if you wish. The most expensive home we have a listing for at present is 42 diamond coins, so a deposit of 42 ruby coins would be needed before a tour can be arranged."

For a wealthier client, the safety deposit was actually only one percent, but Jensen's uncle had told him he could require up to ten percent if needed, in order to dissuade fake customers from wasting his valuable time. To Jensen's surprise, and apparently the young man's surprise as well, seeing as his eyes widened slightly, the young lady promptly pulled 42 ruby coins from her storage ring and placed them on the counter. She didn't even bat an eye.

Jensen, on the other hand, batted his eyes more than once, blinking rapidly. He gulped, then his legs shook slightly at the small fortune on the counter in front of him. He thanked his good fortune that he hadn't done anything overly offensive toward these customers due to his poor judgement. It took him a few seconds to gather his wits, then he stuttered out.

"Ah… V-Very well, my lady. A tour can certainly be arranged at your earliest convenience."

"How about right now?" she asked politely. Jense simply nodded vigorously and placed the ruby coins into his storage ring.

"Certainly, certainly. Please, take a seat!" He gestured to some comfortable chairs by the wall.

"I will go inform my uncle at once." He hurried to the back, where a flight of stairs took him to the upper offices. His uncle employed a few tour guides to help the wealthy clientele, but Jensen was pretty sure his uncle would want to hear about this young lady personally. It wasn't often that someone was actually able to afford the more expensive estate listings. He knocked on the door of his uncle's office, and a deep "come in" was the reply. As he opened the door, a thick wall of smoke billowed out from within.

Inside, his uncle Rennor reclined on a luxurious couch, smoking a large cigar. Two other gentlemen sat nearby, also smoking. He recognized one of them as an influential advisor to Baron Norshod, the ruler of Easton. Jensen coughed as the smoke hit his lungs, then said, "There is a young lady downstairs who is asking to tour our most expensive estate listings." Rennor waved his hand dismissively.

"Mention the safety deposit to scare them off." Jensen nodded eagerly.

"I did uncle, and they had the coin available." He pulled the ruby coins from his storage ring and placed them on the table in front of his uncle. Rennor's eyes narrowed as he saw the coins. He sat up slowly and inspected one of the coins to verify its authenticity. Then he inspected another, then a third.

"She's young?" Rennor asked with a hint of curiosity. Jensen nodded.

"Yes sir, she looks to be in her early twenties. Probably." Rennor pursed his lips.

"What's her family name?" Is it someone we know?" Jensen paled.

"I… forgot to ask, uncle." Rennor glared at him, then stood, extinguishing his cigar on the table in front of him leaving a black mark on the wood finish. Depositing the coins in his own storage ring, Rennor moved toward the door.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, I'll be back in a moment." The other two men in the room dipped their heads in response. * Kiara waited patiently for the clerk to return. A few minutes later, he made his way back into the store lobby, accompanied by two other people. Dustin stood, and Kiara followed his lead. As they approached, one of them stretched out a hand to introduce himself, "Hello, I'm Rennor, the owner of this fine establishment. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

Kiara took his hand, and scrunched her face at the pungent smell of smoke that hit her as he got near.

"Shian," she said.

"Shian Yountal." Rennor nodded in response, then turned to Dustin.

"And yourself?"

"Dustin," Dustin replied, bowing slightly at the waist. Kiara wondered if she should have bowed. She wasn't sure how these types of things worked normally.

"Very good," Rennor continued smoothly.

"I haven't heard of House Yountal before, are you moving here from somewhere far away? Or buying a remote base of operations for a new venture in this area, perhaps?" Kiara let Dustin handle this part of the conversation, as he had a better handle on the type of image they wanted to present.

"Perhaps a bit of both," Dustin replied.

"The length of our stay is undetermined, as of yet, and our primary residence in this area may end up being anywhere between here and Portish, depending on what we can find." Rennor seemed distraught at the thought of them buying anywhere that his firm couldn't arrange the purchase.

"Oh, I can assure you that you'll find something you like nearby. If not, I'd be happy to arrange tours in other cities as well. Whatever you need, we'd be happy to accommodate clients such as yourselves." Dustin bowed slightly again. Rennor turned to the man who hadn't been introduced yet, a thin man with glasses and perfectly manicured hair. He wore a suit, and stood perfectly straight. His face displayed not a hint of true emotion, only a perfectly practiced business smile.

"This is Andrew, he'll be your tour guide for the day. And if you need anything at all, please feel free to stop by and ask for me directly." Rennor and Andrew both bowed this time, lower than Dustin had, then Rennor excused himself. Jensen went back to his place behind the counter, and seemed to be avoiding looking at them at all costs. Kiara wondered why. Andrew led the way outside, then took them on a tour of the nicest houses Kiara had ever stepped foot in. And that included Lord Grivalt's estate.

It simply could not compare to some of the estates that Andrew showed them around. The estate grounds were large enough that the tours consisted mainly of a cursory view of the actual residence, followed by what felt like a sales pitch of the amenities offered at the estate. Things like "This one has a barracks that houses thirty troops", or "This one has over twenty acres of pristine gardens". Honestly, Kiara was way out of her depth. She didn't know the first thing about what they were looking for.

All of the estates they visited were so nice she felt a little out of place even standing in them. She grimaced when she saw they had tracked mud inside the foyer of one of them, but Andrew gave them every assurance not to worry about it, and that the cleaning staff would handle the mess. His assurances made her wonder what the safety deposit was for. Not that it really mattered, she could quite literally lose forty ruby coins and not even realize it.

She had tens of thousands of them stashed safely in her soul storage. The estates were large enough, and far enough apart, that each tour took roughly an hour, including travel time. By the end of the fourth one, Kiara was tired and hungry. Dustin, noticing this, thanked Andrew for his time, and assured him that they would stop by after dinner to talk shop. They found a restaurant nearby and talked while they waited for their food to be brought out.