Chapter 24

The old apartment building has four floors, with the first floor serving as a space for shops or a simple workshop, and the second to fourth floors containing a total of nine living spaces.

If one were to build a property like this in the capital, a commercial guild official informed me that it would require over 10 million S, including the cost of the land and the building. That's about 100 million yen in Japan...

"Wow, this is quite bad, isn't it?"

"..."

The official said that even the land alone, without the 180-year-old building, could be sold for over 5 million S.

The term "renovation" was mentioned by the commercial guild official, but the building's condition makes it seem like it would be cheaper to tear it down and rebuild. However, the estimate for demolition alone is 1.5 million S, and the removal and disposal of the debris would cost another 1 million S. Building a similar apartment would cost over 5 million S... and if we get extorted by the nobles... the money just keeps flying away.

But if it were me, I have the backing to fight back even if the nobles try to cause trouble, and I have a trick up my sleeve for the building, so it should work out.

"Alright, I'll buy it for 1.5 million S. Can you discuss it with the seller?"

Sure, I checked to see if I could get a better deal. If not, I can pay 2 million S.

"Understood, I'll arrange to get a response by today."

"Thank you."

After seeing the other two properties, I returned to the store by noon.

As usual, the store was bustling. The slaves, though not accustomed to serving customers, were managing to handle them with some effort. Among them, Prieetta, the former café employee, was experienced in customer service and was a valuable asset.

"Hey, Clump, Beckner, Benesetta~"

"What is it?"

The three of them immediately came to me, and Benesetta, speaking on their behalf, asked why I had called them.

"Can you go to the nearby Soramame-tei restaurant and buy 30 boxed lunches?"

"Thirty?"

There are 18 of us: me, Filia, 11 slaves, one soldier we hired for security, and four of my guards. But since a few of us eat a lot, I ordered 30.

"There are 18 of us, including my guards, but you guys eat a lot. We should be able to finish even if there's a bit extra, right?"

Benesetta nodded in understanding, while Clump and Beckner were happy about the prospect of eating a lot.

"I'll leave the shopping to you, but try to get a variety of boxed lunches."

"Understood!"

I gave Benesetta five large silver coins and sent the three of them to buy the lunches. The reason I sent those three is that they don't look like they fit in with customer service. That's all.

Fortunately, it was still before noon, and the three of them returned with a large number of boxed lunches without taking too much time. When we distributed the 30 boxed lunches, 12 were left over. I gave two lunches to each of the three tough guys, the four guards, and the one soldier, a total of 8 people. There were still 4 left over, so I asked the non-tough guys, and the former hunter Benes and the dwarf magician Jamon took the extra servings. The remaining 2 were happily taken by the three tough guys to share. Hey, don't fight over the side dishes... you guys eat a lot.

After lunch, I first went to a weapon shop to buy equipment for the three tough guys. They were originally front-line fighters wearing metal armor, but I imagined how hot it would be with three of them in metal armor in the store, so I bought them stylish leather armor and long coats.

I gave them one-handed swords, but also bought spears and great axes for them to use in emergencies, though they wouldn't wear them all the time. I also bought shields. In the store, they would only wear the one-handed swords, but in case of an emergency, they could use the spears and great axes.

With the new equipment in hand, we returned and I immediately started reinforcing it. I called the four magicians to watch and learn from my work.

"What is this magic array?!"

The magic item enthusiasts, Rock and Jamon, were surprised by my magic array. My magic array has evolved since I saw the stone tablet in the grand temple. In other words, I now use Japanese characters in my magic array.

For me, using Japanese, my native language, makes it easier to convey clear meanings, and using kanji means I can use fewer characters than the ancient Balms language commonly used in magic arrays, which is very useful. By the way, the language used in the central continent where we live is Hecato Common, which is different from the ancient Balms language used in magic arrays. The characters and culture change with the times.

"The characters I showed you in the magic array are not ancient Balms. These are special characters, so please don't tell anyone else!"

"Understood!"

Magic requires a magic array, and while the ancient Balms language is generally used to give meaning to the array, there's no need to stick to it as long as the characters have clear meanings. This has already been discovered and is not particularly rare, but the ancient Balms language is convenient, so it is generally used. In other words, as long as the characters have clear meanings, any language can be used to activate magic. In the past, there were people who created their own magical languages.