Lodging

-----Nameless Commoner-----

What a beautiful day for lazing at home, buying this house was a smart choice if i may say so myself, the wife and kids love it and the neighbours are nice.

The people i work with are great and i couldn't be happier. I am truly living the golden time of my life.

Knock Knock.

'Who could it be at this time, it is much too early in the morning for any friendly visits' Might as well go and see, they better be quiet, the kids are still sleeping.

Knock Knock.

''I'm coming already!'' Oops, should keep quiet.

Opening the door i can't help but look up in surprise, a bearded man stands there, at least a head taller than me and wearing a black cap adorned with white feathers with red dots on them. 'What animal do those come from? The red almost looks like blood'

The unknown man makes a wide smile showing me his beautiful white teeth, never seen any so white before.

''Greetings sir, i have come to make you an offer, would you happen to be interested in making some fast coin?'' What?

''Do i know you sir? I do not believe we ever met, and I am not willing to talk business with an unknown man''. Go away you hooligan.

''Listen to me first sir, i wish to purchase this house, how about 600 coins for it?'' 600 coins! It was barely worth 500 new, there is no way he is speaking the truth.

''Nice try, who would believe that, go away or i will call my neighbors and make you get out!'' Take this and scram, young people these days, scammers all of them.

''Your neighbors? And where would they happen to live?'' What do you mean where they live, can't you see how this place is built. Four houses are placed together forming a square, there is a space in the middle that we all share as a common area, it is not paved so our children always play over there.

''Go away, i ain't selling, you young folk get more rude every year''. I prepared to smash the door in his face when a hand stopped me, the man did not move and yet an arm as thick as my thigh with palms as big as a large plate held onto the door.

I freeze while watching the man enter my house with the same wide smile on his face.

''I forgot to introduce myself, I am your new and only neighbour, Caspian Season, merchant by profession''.

-----Caspian-----

And that's the last one, by far the easiest, I should have done the same with the first one, if I knew that the giants would be such an amazing ''negotiation'' tool I could've finished earlier.

It's been 3 days since my encounter with the king's merchant and everything has been going forward beautifully, my bodyguards did not disappoint me and protected me well, i could go nowhere without at least one following me, not like i have anywhere to go without them of course.

I also found the perfect place to set up my headquarters at, it is a series of buildings, made of orange brick with a colorful roof. I chose this place for several reasons, first being its size, at first I wanted to buy a mansion but most are owned by people much richer than me and they aren't selling.

You see, this place was built by giants so it stands a bit taller than the surrounding building due to the ceilings being higher to accommodate giant living, that is a positive.

Another big thing is its location, almost on the main street going to the port, it is surrounded on all 4 sides by medium sized streets, not big enough for more than 3 small carriages to go by at once.

And the last and most important point is the shape of this place, it is essentially one building built like a perfectly square mansion. The sides themselves are rectangular, that is they are rather long and less wide which allows for there to be an inner courtyard.

Those are the positives, great location, great size, great look and willing sellers.

Now come the negatives, the structure has been separated using internal walls in order to create separate living areas, or houses. In other words this big unified building has had walls built on the inside therefore separating it in 4 pieces, each with a family living inside.

My idea, well not mine but Vuns idea was to break down the walls and make the building whole again, I agreed. As for how Vun knows of the building structure it is because he built it and many like it, they seem to be quite common, I just like this one the most. Goold old Vun became a builder after retiring from being a soldier.

Another negative was the people living in the houses, they were normal families, all of the normal humans that just do random jobs in the city, one worked as an apprentice even though he was well in his 30s, another worked at a stable taking care of the horses and so on and so forth.

I had to convince these people to sell me their house, for no reason whatsoever. The first one was the hardest, he was the old apprentice, I managed to find him at home and tried to hold a conversation with him, but it did not work well. I even offered him up to 800 coins which is twice the value of his house yet he would not budge.

Not until we went outside, the man guided me to his door and opened it in order for me to leave, and guess what was waiting for me outside, two giants flanking the sides of the door as if statues.

The owner instantly got spooked and walked backwards, realization then hit me, if they don't like the good guy approach lets go for the mafioso one.

It all became much simpler and I managed to purchase the house for 500 coins, a bit above the market value of about 400 coins or so. Houses are not that expensive, furniture is. As proof of that all four houses I bought were empty, most only had a table and some chairs together with some beds, all bad quality.

Using the same tactic I became a bit more generous and bought the second and third houses for 500 coins each. I then gave them until tomorrow night to move out.

Another problem arose then, the fourth house was empty, the other owners told me that the man that lives there is barely at home so i decided to stalk it out, fortunately enough i found him the very next morning and easily purchased the house.

I also happened to be in a good mood this morning so I offered him 600 coins, and about 12 hours to get off my new property.

I am now heading to the Giants Fist tavern in order to get some workers to remodel the house, i'm not wasting my time breaking the walls and filling in the doors by myself.

Today was quite fruitful, spent 2000 coins for what could be considered a central mansion, it is smaller than the actual mansions in the city, it also lacks a garden and wall, but it will do nicely for now.

Let's hope the ex-owners leave by tonight and I can start living there soon.