Chapter 121: Here to Do Some Business (2)


    ude tilted his head, looking puzzled at the lukewarm response.


    “Don’t you need to get friendly with the nobles to sell cosmetics?”


    “How many people would actually want to be close to a poor baron? And even if they are friendly, would the nobles really trust it just because of that? They’d probably throw it all away. You didn’t want to use it at first either, remember?”


    “Still, if we want to sell to nobles, we at least need to let them know that such products exist, don’t we?”


    Ghiin shook his head.


    “That’s true, but there’s no point in us going out of our way to promote it. We need to make sure the noblese to us on their own. First, let’s find a ce to stay. We can handle the advertisingter.”


    Although he still felt uneasy, ude nodded.


    “It might cost a bit, but how about buying a building near the royal pce… in the central district?”


    “The central district?”


    “Yes, a mansion would be nice. Actually, if we’re trying to sell high-end products to nobles, a fancy mansion might be even better.”


    Nobles would never visit a typical shop wheremoners came and went.


    If they needed something from such ces, they would send their servants to buy it.


    For expensive, quality goods, they would personally meet and negotiate, just as if attending a social gathering.


    “That’s right. Whether it’s a mansion or a shop, if we’re only dealing with nobles, it’s best to make it as extravagant as possible.”


    Belinda, standing nearby, chimed in.


    It was solid advice. However, Ghiin still seemed unimpressed.


    “To get a nice mansion in the central district around here, we’d probably have to spend about a year’s budget from our estate. Don’t you know how expensive everything is here?”


    ude pursed his lips in disappointment and replied, “That’s true, but… we need to set up a ce in the capital anyway.”


    “Of course, we need to find a spacious mansion with a garden. Somewhere where the staff can stay, and we can store carriages. The cheaper, the better. We’ll look around the outskirts.”


    “Then where are you nning to sell the goods?”


    “I’m telling you, we’ll buy a mansion. We can sell the goods there for the time being.”


    “That just seems too shabby for selling high-end items. Why would nobles trust to buy anything there?”


    Ghiin grinned and said, “That won’t matter at all. Soon enough, they’ll be flocking over with wads of cash, so don’t worry.”


    “Goodness, for someone with so much money, you sure are stingy when ites to things like this. Fine, let’s see if there are any properties avable. But if no customers show up, it’s not on me.”


    From the next day, ude began scouring the entire capital for a suitable mansion.


    The prices in the central area near the royal pce were astronomical, but there were hardly any properties avable in the first ce.


    Even so, ude couldn’t bring himself to give up and gradually expanded his search radius around the pce, until he finally found arge mansion on the outskirts.


    “Just as you wanted—cheap, spacious, with a garden, and a grand-looking mansion.”


    The broker smirked as he described the house before them.


    But as the group looked around, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease.


    It was certainly spacious. There was a garden, and the mansion itself was tall andrge. Most importantly, the price was cheap.


    The problem was… the whole mansion had an eerie, gloomy atmosphere, like a house where a vampire might live.


    The flowers in the garden seemed to have withered, drained of all life, turning a sickly gray. Even though it was broad daylight, the dense shadows cast by the surrounding trees seemed to seep with an unsettling energy.


    Belinda looked at the broker with a nk expression.


    “This is the best you have?”


    “This is the only spacious,rge, and cheap house in the capital.”


    “Why is the mansion in such a state?”


    “Haha, it’s probably because it hasn’t been maintained. There are some bad rumors about this ce, you see. But they’re just rumors. Nothing serious.”


    Apparently, there were stories about the vengeful spirits of those who had died unjustly lingering here.


    No wonder there wasn’t a single person in sight around such arge mansion.


    Belinda shouted as if there was nothing more to consider.


    “Young Master, let’s just look somewhere else! How could we possibly livefortably in a ce like this? It’ll just make you more tired!”


    As if responding to Belinda’s words, a flock of crows suddenly fluttered out from the mansion.


    Caw! Caw!


    “See? Even they agree with me!”


    Despite Belinda’s objections, Ghiin carefully inspected the surroundings before nodding to the broker.


    “Alright, we’ll take this house. How much? You said it was cheap, right?”


    “Young Master! If you sleep in this house, you might get all your mana drained and die!”


    “That’s not going to happen. Even if something shows up, it’ll just be a few undead. We can just beat them down, so what’s there to be afraid of?”


    Ghiin casually patted the broker on the shoulder.


    “Why aren’t you answering? How much is it?”


    “A splendid choice, sir. This house… normally, with thend included, would easily go for over a thousand gold. But, considering theck of upkeep, I’ll offer it to you for just 500 gold.”


    The broker’s face lit up with a satisfied smile. He was relieved at the thought of finally selling off this troublesome property.


    He had even been bold enough to lower the price, taking into ount the loud objections from the side, so he thought there was no way they wouldn’t buy it.


    At this price, it was practically a giveaway, but… as long as it sold, that’s all that mattered.


    However, the broker had no idea just how unreasonable Ghiin could be.


    “200 gold.”


    “Excuse me?”


    “I won’t buy it for more than 200 gold.”


    Ghiin added with a sly grin.


    The broker iled his hands in shock.


    “No, that’s not possible! How could you expect to buy a mansion like this for 200 gold? Even 500 gold is a huge discount!”


    “What’s the point of a big mansion if it won’t sell? Go ahead and sell it to someone else then.”


    “Well, it’s not… It’s just that we’ve been too busy to handle it properly. We could sell it if we wanted to. We could even tear it down if we had to. Do you think we can’t?”


    The broker, a seasoned yer in the industry, decided to act tough.


    But, of course, it didn’t work on Ghiin.


    Ghiin smirked as he spoke.


    “Who said you can’t do it? Sure, you could if you wanted to. But there has to be a reason why you haven’t done it until now.”


    “That’s…!”


    “The mansion already has a bad reputation, so you’d have to pay the workers extra if you want to demolish it. Even if you manage to tear it all down, who would want to buynd rumored to be haunted?”


    “That’s…!”


    “No matter how you look at it, it’s not profitable. That’s why you’ve left it alone all this time, right?”


    “Well…!”


    The broker, having his intentionspletely seen through, could only dart his eyes around nervously, cold sweat running down his face.


    Ghiin patted him on the shoulder and whispered.


    “Ah, this guy’s not getting it. When it gets to this point, you need to start moving fast.”


    “Still, 200 gold is just…”


    “Hmm, you’re not desperate enough. Fine. Let’s go look somewhere else.”


    As Ghiin turned to leave, the rest of the group followed him without hesitation. No one tried to stop him.


    “W-Wait a moment! I’ll lower the price a bit more.”


    The broker shouted desperately.


    He regretted it the moment the words left his mouth, but it was already toote to take them back.


    Ghiin turned around slowly, with a calm expression, and warned him.


    “Think carefully before you speak. You only get one chance. If I don’t like what I hear, we’re really leaving this time.”


    “…”


    The broker, who was about to offer 300 gold, inwardly felt a pang of regret.


    He thought he might have caught a fool, but it turned out he was the one being yed.


    He had tried everything to get rid of this mansion.


    He had even attempted to hand it over to a noble for free, hoping for a favor in return, but had been politely yet firmly declined.


    He hadn’t been sleeping welltely, stressing over how to deal with this troublesome property.


    The recent widening of his forehead wasn’t just his imagination.


    ‘Just sell it. At least then I’ll be able to sleep peacefully at night!’


    After a brief moment of hesitation, the broker finally nodded weakly.


    “I’ll sell it for 200 gold.”


    “Smart choice.”


    Caw! Caw!


    As if weing their new master, the crows circled above the mansion, cawing loudly.


    * * *


    The contract waspleted in no time.


    It was the result of Ghiin’s desire to buy arge mansion cheaply and the broker’s eagerness to sell it off quickly.


    Throughout the signing of the contract, Belinda and ude stood behind Ghiin, sighing and grumbling.


    “Why on earth are you buying a ce like this? We should’ve bought a smaller but morefortable house.”


    “Who’s going toe to a ce like this to buy anything?”


    Ignoring theirints, Ghiin beamed with a bright smile.


    “Don’t worry. All that talk about ghosts is just superstition and nonsense. Do you think you’d ever find a mansion this big and spacious for this price? We need to be frugal.”


    “Oh, who could ever stop you when you’ve made up your mind, Young Master?”


    “Alright, let’s head inside.”


    Ghiin energetically pushed open the door.


    Creeeeaak!


    The door emitted a sound like a scream, causing ude to shrink back. Even the creaking of the doors in this creepy mansion was unnerving.


    Ghiin nced around and nodded approvingly.


    “Wow, it’s really spacious, isn’t it? Just needs a bit of cleaning and some repairs. If we decorate it properly, it could be really nice—”


    “Aaaah! What is that? It’s a monster!”


    “Kyaaa! Attack! Attack!”


    Suddenly, Belinda and ude screamed and staggered backward.


    “Damn it! What now?” Ghiin snapped, irritated, as ude pointed frantically at one corner of the lobby.


    Something with long, flowing hair was standing in the shadows.


    Ghiin instinctively ced his hand on the hilt of his sword, but after a closer look, he let out a hollowugh.


    “What the… it’s just a suit of armor.”


    An old suit of armor had a dust mop draped over it, and in the dark corner, it had perfectly resembled a person.


    Now that they realized the “monster’s” true identity, the rest of the group let out embarrassedughs, relieved.


    “Alright, now that we have a ce to stay, let’s start with cleaning and repairs. We’ll also hire some workers. And get rid of all those damn crows inside.”


    Caw?


    At Ghiin’smand, everyone sighed and started moving.


    A whileter, a few mercenaries who had gone out to find workers returned with troubled expressions.


    “It’s not easy to findborers.”


    The rumors about the mansion being haunted were so widespread that even with extra pay, no one was willing toe.


    Unless someone was truly desperate for money, they all just shook their heads and refused.


    Left with no other option, they had to buy the materials themselves and have the mercenaries and the staff do the repairs.


    Fortunately, thanks to the number of people who hade along with Ghiin, the mansion repairs werepleted within three days.


    Of course, it wasn’t as shy and elegant as other noble mansions.


    They just stocked up on essentials and did a thorough cleaning so that they could live there for the time being.


    Still, it felt much less gloomy than when they first arrived.


    If they couldpletely redo the garden, which had turned into dull gray, the mansion’s reputation as a haunted house might finally disappear, but garden maintenance wasn’t something that could be done in a short period.


    “We’ll fix up the gardenter. We can deal with those guys then, too. For now, we’ll have to live with them.”


    Caw! Caw!


    Unfortunately, they couldn’tpletely chase away the crows.


    After getting rid of the ones inside and installing new windows, no more crows entered the mansion.


    However, the evicted birds had simply settled in the garden, refusing to leave.


    “Anyway, now that we’ve made the ce somewhat livable, let’s start promoting the cosmetics. We need to sell them quickly.”


    “And how exactly are you nning to do that? You said you weren’t attending any social events.”


    “We’ll send gifts to every noble mansion in the capital.”


    “…Cosmetics?”


    “Yup.”


    ude barely managed to hold back a shout, taking a deep breath instead.


    “So… you’re saying that just giving them out as gifts will work as advertising?”


    “Exactly.”


    ude couldn’t hold it in any longer and finally burst out.


    “Are you kidding? Even if you begged them to use it, they’d still hesitate, and you think they’ll use it just because it’s a gift? They’ll just throw it away because it’s too suspicious!”


    “Of course the nobles would.”


    “And yet you’re still going to do it!”


    Ghiin stroked his chin and shed a sly grin.


    “We’re not sending them to the nobles. We’ll give them to the staff working under the nobles.”