Chapter 121
Chapter 121: Here to Make Some Trade (2)
Claude tilted his head at the awkward reaction.
“Aren’t we supposed to befriend the nobles to sell cosmetics?”
“How many people are going to befriend a poor baron? And just because we’re close, do you think nobles will trust and use our products? They’ll probably just throw it away. You didn’t want to use it at first either.”
“Still, if we want to sell to nobles, don’t we at least need to let them know we have something like this?”
Ghislaine shook her head.
“That’s true, but it’s pointless for us to announce it ourselves. Nobles should come to us on their own. First, let’s find a place to stay. We can promote afterward; it won’t be too late.”
Despite his discomfort, Claude nodded.
“It will cost some money, but how about buying a building near the royal castle… in the city center?”
“The city center?”
“Yes, a mansion would be nice. No, a lavish mansion would actually be better to sell high-end items to the nobles.”
Nobles never directly visit ordinary shops frequented by commoners.
If they need something from such a place, they send a servant to buy it for them.
Expensive and good items are traded in person, like at social gatherings.
“Right. Whether it’s a mansion or a shop, if we only deal with nobles, we should decorate it as lavishly as possible.”
Belinda chimed in next to them.
That was sound advice. Yet, Ghislaine’s reaction remained lukewarm.
“Finding a good mansion in the city center will cost nearly our territory’s entire annual budget, you know? Don’t you see how expensive the prices are here?”
Claude pouted as if he was disappointed.
“That’s true, but we need a space in the capital anyway.”
“Of course, we need to find a mansion with a garden and ample space. We’ll need to accommodate personnel and store wagons. If it’s cheap, that’s even better. We’ll look for a place on the outskirts.”
“Then where will you sell the items?”
“We’re buying a mansion. For the time being, we can sell the items there.”
“It looks too shabby for selling high-end goods. What would convince the nobles to buy?”
Ghislaine smiled slyly.
“That doesn’t matter. They’ll come flocking in with bundles of cash soon enough, so don’t worry.”
“Ugh, the rich can be so stingy in situations like this. Let’s check if there are any properties first. If customers don’t come later, it’s not my responsibility.”
Starting the next day, Claude began scouring the entire capital for a decent mansion.
The city center near the royal castle had astronomical prices, and there simply weren’t any properties available.
Still, unable to shake off his hopes, Claude gradually expanded his search around the royal castle and eventually found a large mansion on the outskirts.
“It’s cheap, spacious, and has a lovely garden, just as you wanted.”
The realtor chuckled while describing the house in front of them.
However, people couldn’t hide their unease as they looked around.
It was indeed spacious. There was a garden. The mansion was tall and grand. Most importantly, it was cheap.
The issue was that the entire mansion exuded an eerie aura, reminiscent of a vampire’s dwelling.
The flowers in the garden appeared to be sapped of all life, fading to a grayish shrivel. Even in broad daylight, a nasty vibe seemed to seep from the dense shadows of the surrounding trees.
Belinda stared at the realtor with a blank expression.
“This is the best you can do?”
“Yes, this is the only large, cheap house in the capital.”
“No, why is the mansion in this state?”
“Ha, it probably hasn’t seen human hands in some time. There are some rumors about the place being a bit… unfortunate. But they’re just rumors—nothing to worry about.”
There are whispers of the vengeful spirits of wrongly slain people lingering here.
No wonder such a large mansion had no sign of human presence around.
Belinda shouted without a second thought.
“Milord, let’s just look somewhere else! How can we live here with such a creepy atmosphere? Just look, it’ll only pile on the fatigue!”
Responding to Belinda’s words, a flock of crows took off from the mansion.
Caw! Caw!
“See? Even they agree with me!”
Ghislaine, unfazed by Belinda’s opposition, meticulously surveyed the surroundings before nodding to the realtor.
“Alright, let’s go with this house. What’s the price? You said it was cheap?”
“Milord! If you sleep here, you might end up drained of all your mana!”
“Is that so? What’s the worst that could happen? Maybe some undead might show up. I’ll just take care of them; what’s there to be afraid of?”
Ghislaine playfully nudged the realtor.
“Why aren’t you answering? How much is it?”
“Oh dear, that’s a stellar choice! This house would usually go for over a thousand gold when you include the land. But considering its current state, I’ll let it go for just 500 gold.”
The realtor wore a satisfied smile, feeling relieved at the prospect of finally selling this burden.
Taking into account the loud objections surrounding them, he boldly lowered the price, believing they wouldn’t be able to resist buying.
At this point, it was almost like giving it away, but at least… it would finally be sold.
However, what the realtor didn’t realize was just how outrageous Ghislaine could be.
“200 gold.”
“What?”
“200 gold, or I’m not buying.”
Ghislaine grinned maliciously.
The realtor’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“That’s impossible! For heaven’s sake, you want to buy this mansion for 200 gold? I’ve already cut it down to 500 gold!”
“What good is a big house if it’s not selling? Then you can sell it to someone else.”
“That’s… Well, to be frank, we’ve been too busy with other work to deal with it, but it can definitely be sold if we want. We can push it off if necessary. You don’t think we can?”
The seasoned realtor tried to stand his ground.
But it didn’t work on Ghislaine.
She scoffed, saying, “Who says we can’t sell? If we really wanted, we could. But there would be reasons for not doing it so far.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Once negative rumors spread about a mansion, it’s bound to cost more money to pay laborers to demolish it, isn’t it? Even if you did, would anyone want to buy land known for ghosts?”
“Uh…!”
“Doesn’t it add up that it’s all unprofitable, so it’s been left as is?”
“Exactly that…!”
The realtor, having all his intentions laid bare, could only roll his eyes while sweating profusely.
Ghislaine patted him on the shoulder and whispered.
“Oh, it seems this guy doesn’t understand well enough. After saying all that, you should be moving quickly.”
“But, 200 gold is….”
“Hmmm, you seem less desperate. Alright, we’ll go look elsewhere.”
As Ghislaine turned, the group followed without a hint of regret. No one tried to stop them.
“Wait! I’ll lower the price a bit more!”
The realtor urgently shouted.
Once the words escaped his lips, he realized it was too late.
Turning back leisurely, Ghislaine warned him.
“Think carefully about what you say. This is a one-off opportunity. If it doesn’t satisfy me, I really will leave this time.”
“…”
The realtor, who had been about to ask for 300 gold, was internally shedding tears of frustration.
He thought he could catch a simpleton, but instead, he was falling into a trap.
The realtor had tried everything to sell this mansion, even offering it for free, hoping to get some favor from the nobles, but he was politely yet firmly rejected.
Lately, he had been losing sleep thinking about how to deal with this troublesome property.
The fact that his forehead was looking wider than usual probably wasn’t just in his head.
“Just sell it. That way I can at least sleep peacefully at night!”
After a brief hesitation, the realtor finally nodded weakly.
“I’ll sell it for 200 gold.”
“Well thought out.”
Caw! Caw!
Crows circled the mansion, cawing as if welcoming their new owner.
*
The contract proceeded swiftly.
This was the mutual desire between Ghislaine, who wanted to purchase a spacious mansion cheaply, and the realtor, who wanted to offload it quickly.
Belinda and Claude sighed and grumbled from behind Ghislaine as they wrote the contract.
“Why on earth are we buying this house! We should rather buy a smaller, more comfortable one.”
“Who would come to buy something from this place?”
Ghislaine smiled brightly, ignoring the grumbles of the crowd.
“It’s fine. All such things are superstitions and mere rumors. Do you think we can buy such a large and spacious mansion at this price? We’ll just have to live frugally.”
“Ugh, who can change Milord’s mind?”
“Now, let’s go inside.”
With enthusiasm, Ghislaine flung open the door.
Creeeeeeak!
With a scream-like sound, Claude flinched.
Even the sound of the door opening sent chills down his spine.
Ghislaine looked around and nodded.
“Wow, it’s really spacious! Just need to clean up and repair a bit, and it’ll be perfect…”
“Ewww! What’s that! What is it? A monster!”
“Ahhh! Attack! Attack!”
Suddenly, Belinda and Claude screamed, backing away.
“Ugh! What the! What is it?”
Ghislaine, annoyed, followed Claude’s pointing finger toward the corner of the lobby, where something with long hair was standing in the shadows.
Instinctively, Ghislaine reached for her sword hilt and examined it closely, letting out a breath of relief.
“What? It’s just armor.”
An old suit of armor was coated in a thick layer of dust, making it look eerily humanoid in the dark corner.
Finally realizing the monster’s identity, the other companions also breathed a sigh of relief, chuckling awkwardly.
“Okay, we have a place to stay now, so let’s start with cleaning and repairs. We also need to find laborers. Let’s kick the baby crows outside too.”
Caw?
At Ghislaine’s command, the people began to move with exhausted sighs.
After a while, a few mercenaries returned with distressed expressions after trying to find laborers.
“It’s proving quite difficult to find workers.”
With rumors of ghosts circulating widely, no amount of extra pay could entice workers to come.
Unless someone was truly desperate for money, everyone shook their heads.
Reluctantly, they had to buy materials and make the mercenaries and servants do the repairs themselves.
Fortunately, there were many who had come along with Ghislaine, and the mansion repair was completed in just three days.
Of course, it wasn’t decorated splendidly like other noble mansions.
They merely filled it with essentials to make it livable and cleaned it up thoroughly.
Still, the gloomy atmosphere was much less intense than before.
If they completely revamped the gray, dying garden, the haunted mansion image would vanish, but garden maintenance wasn’t something that could be resolved quickly.
“Let’s handle the garden later. We can manage it together then. For the time being, it seems we’ll have to live with these creatures.”
Caw! Caw!
Unfortunately, they couldn’t chase all the crows away.
After driving out those living inside and installing new windows, the mansion wouldn’t let any more crows in.
However, the expelled ones took up residence in the garden and showed no signs of leaving.
“Well, now that it’s somewhat suitable for living, let’s start promoting cosmetics. We need to sell quickly.”
“What’s your plan? You said you wouldn’t even attend any feasts.”
“We’ll distribute gifts to every noble mansion in the capital.”
“Wait… we’re giving away cosmetics as gifts?”
“Yep.”
“Ah…”
Claude almost yelled in frustration but managed to bite it back and exhale deeply.
“So… you’re saying just giving them away will count as promotion?”
“Exactly.”
Claude could no longer contain himself, bursting out.
“No! Even if we plead for them to use it, will they really? They’ll find it so cringe-worthy they’d rather throw it away!”
“Nobles will definitely feel that way.”
“And you know this?!”
Ghislaine grinned, stroking her chin.
“Not the nobles, but the servants working under them will be the ones to receive it.”
