Chapter 179: Mukouda Rents a House

Translated by Zzonkedd

Edited by Gumihou

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We followed the directions to the Merchant’s Guild with no problem.

The problem was that Fer and the rest of my companions were attracting a lot of attention, which was never a good thing. Let’s finish the matter quickly.

I headed straight for the teller counter window and showed them the letter of introduction from Yoran-san.

“Please wait a moment.” The receptionist took the letter and left her seat.

A short while later, a man in his mid-40s with a short moustache and wide physique came.

“Mukouda-sama, a pleasure to meet you. My name is Domenico and I am the Assistant Guild Master of Neihoff’s Merchant’s Guild. Thank you for coming to visit us. The Guild Master himself would have come to meet you, but unfortunately, he is not here at the moment and has left me in charge.”

Yoran-san’s letter of introduction must be very powerful. It even brought the Assistant Guild Master out. Moreover, the guy was really polite and ready to be helpful too.

“Thank you for your kindness, I would appreciate it if you could assist me in this matter as soon as possible…”

“You wish to rent a large estate where you can stay with your Contract Demons, right?”

“That’s right, I would like to rent it about a week to 10 days, I don’t mind if the price is a bit high.”

Assistant Guild Master Domenico-san took out some documents from the back and looked through them before spreading fishing a few out from the stack.

“There are about three properties that fits your needs.”

Three, that’s quite a few.

Domenico-san then explained the properties in detail.

The first one was a 7LDK [1] estate highly recommended by Domenico-san. It was owned by a workshop operator and was relatively close to the centre of the city. The building was also relatively close to the Adventurer’s Guild too.

Compared to the other two properties, it was slightly smaller, though still large enough to accommodate a Contract Demon of Fer’s size. Due to its good location, the rental for this property was 60 gold coins per week.

Hold on, just what did he mean by a ‘small’ 7LDK estate?

I was still pondering over this oxymoron when Domenico-san introduced the two other, even more amazing, estates.

The second property was a bit farther away from the city centre. It was a 13LDK mansion was once a nobleman’s villa. Its main feature was a spacious garden and the rooms were all very spacious and gorgeously decorated since it was once owned by aristocracy.

Despite all its gorgeous features and generous spaces, the rent was only 63 gold coins per week due to its distance from the city centre.

As for the third property. It was a large 10LDK mansion once owned by a merchant. Since the property was rather old and furthest away from the city centre, the rent was only 45 gold per week.

Of the three properties, the first one seemed best suited for my group. The fact that it was close to the city centre and the Adventurer’s Guild was good enough recommendation for me.

Though Domenico-san had called the property ‘small’, a 7LDK property was still a huge deal for me [2].

Anyway, I asked Domenico-san to show me the first property with the most features that matched what I needed and highly recommended by the Assistant Guild Master himself. If I happened to like it, I would take it.

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“This way, please”

With Domenico-san as the guide, I was brought to see the first property.

When the gate was thrown open, my senses were immediately shocked by how wide the garden was. There was no mention of a garden when you recommend this place to me Domenico-san. However, after blinking several times, the garden with its red, yellow and pink flowers was still there. There was even a small fountain!

“The garden is a little small, but it’s well managed.”

Eh, this is a small garden?

It was about the size of two tennis courts, so I’d say that’s plenty big for me.

“Well then, shall we go inside?”

The building itself looked quite amazing with its western-style brick walls and slanted roofing. It was the very image of a dream mansion from my point of view. Nothing like the Japanese ‘mansion’ which was in reality, a fancy name for condo with more than 2 rooms.

The entrance to the house was an arch-shaped double door, large enough for Fer to pass through easily. I tried to imagine Fer trying to squeeze into my humble apartment in my other life and-

Anyway, everyone followed Domenco-san into the mansion. A real mansion!

I stepped inside and was surprised again by the size of the entrance hall. Was this the ‘L’ in the 7LDK? It certainly was bigger than any estate I had ever been to before. The hall was designed in the open atrium-style, large enough for everyone to sleep in it comfortably.

“Not bad, not bad at all.”

“Ho~ It certainly is quite spacious.”

“Wee!”

Fer glanced about the room but did not have anything bad to say about it. From the way Dora-chan was zipping around, he seemed to like it too.

Sui was happily bouncing around.

Just past the large entrance hall was a spiral staircase.

I’d only ever seen houses with a spiral staircase on TV.

“Please, allow me to guide you.”

We followed Domenico-san into what was the real ‘L’ of the 7LDK. The actual living room was 30 tatami mats wide, with sofas, tables and other assorted furniture to indicate that it was, you know, a living room.

The one we had passed through just now was just the entrance hall or receiving hall.

Beyond the living room was a large dining room with a dining table large enough to seat 10 people. All the furniture inside the house gave off a very high-class feeling. The design was not ostentatious but everything was very finely crafted and high end in the demure muted style of the very, very rich and classy.

Our next destination was the kitchen. Instead of a little cottage style kitchen, the size and type of equipment here were closer to restaurant-grade than a private kitchen.

“Both Magic Stove and Magic Fridge are fully functional.”

The Magic Stove here had four stoves, just like mine. Very cutting edge design. As for the Magic Fridge, it was probably more appropriate to call it a Magic Cold Room. The whole thing was about 3 tatami mats wide, as though someone had decided to turn a small room into a huge refrigerator.

The mansion was really quite amazing

It looked like something a celebrity would live in.

After that, we were guided upstairs to the second floor. The master bedroom was 20 tatami mats wide and thickly carpeted. I felt my foot sink into the plush carpet and had to wonder just how expensive is this carpet?

There was even a canopied, king size bed in it.

The rest of the rooms were not quite as large as the master bedroom, but all were laid with the same plush carpets and equipped with a canopied queen-sized bed.

Naturally, a luxurious house such as this would not be complete without a bathroom. A fine bathroom with a bathtub that was 1.5 times bigger than mine and had a flowered pattern on it.

If I was not mistaken, bathtubs with patterns were more expensive than ordinary-looking ones

Domenico-san appeared very proud to see my surprise, he went on to say, “It’s not easy to find such a nicely patterned bathtub of this size, but we are a town that specializes in pottery making after all.”

Apparently, this was where those ridiculously expensive and magical bathtubs were made.

As expected of a pottery town, they really were incredible.

Since Fer, Dora-chan and Sui all seemed to like the house as well, I certainly have no objection about renting it.

It was pretty much a house anyone would dream about. Spacious, luxurious, and a great kitchen with all the dreamy appliances any cooks could wish for. With the bonus of being close to the city centre and the Adventurer’s Guild, what more could we want?

I don’t have a single complaint about this property.

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I immediately signed the contract to rent the place for one week.

“The rent for one week is 60 gold.”

I gladly handed the gold over to Domenico-san.

“Yes, I have received the exact amount. Please accept the key to this house. If you wish to extend your stay, please drop by at the Merchant’s Guild. We shall be very happy to serve you.”

Domenico-san handed me the key and headed back to the guild.

For one week, this place will be our base of operations.

Somehow, just by standing here, I felt like I’ve transformed into a celebrity.

Aah, that’s right. It’s nearly time for dinner so let’s put that great kitchen to use right away.

What should I make…

… Aah, I should make that!

I’ve restrained myself from making it since it has a particularly powerful odour. Since this was a detached house, a real mansion, it should be fine since the neighbours were some distance away.

Just thinking about it makes me want to eat it so badly.

Yes, I absolutely must make it today.

[Gumihou: Uuuhhh, I’m jealous of the fine, fine kitchen ~ ~]

[1] 7LDK – 7 rooms + Living Room + Dining Room + Kitchen

[2] Just a little fun fact, a 3LDK is already considered a ‘mansion’ in Japan. The ‘mansion’ in question was really a condo, but they like to call it ‘mansion’ for some reason. Imagine my surprise to see all the ‘mansions’ for rent when I first went to Japan. As a poor student, I considered it a great luxury to have a room and a toilet to myself, having to share the kitchen and shower with 8 other estates.

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