Well, putting that aside, after giving myself a makeover, I decided that instead of going alone, I'll also make some escorts.
The fastest way would be to use [Intermediate Summoning: Fishman]. However, even though there are species of Gillman that live primarily on land, I'll pass that idea this time since such species are exceedingly rare.
Thus, I also made a coat with a black skeleton generated using [Lesser Summoning: Undead]. Usually I'd end it here, but this time I also spent some additional time tailoring the transformation.
Thus, the old butler with eye-catching white hair was born.
While he has a upright appearance and posture, and a proper suit, he gives off the atmosphere of a twisted, nefarious fellow.
But after trying to get this guy to follow me around, I decided that I had the right idea about this.
Riding an ordinary horse-drawn carriage instead of a Skeleton Centipede, we headed straight for the Chamber of Commerce.
The building is a very large 3-story structure, built with marble and wood probably harvested from the dungeon.
A simple glance around the interior would allow anyone to easily deduce that it cost a lot of money to decorate the property. This reflected the financial power and authority of the Chamber of Commerce.
You can easily spot a cowering, little merchant clad in livery at the reception. I wonder what's gotten him so shaken up?
Well, it doesn't matter. After talking with the clerk about my requirements for the plot, I was taken to the back room.
There was a cozy little sofa among some fine things, as well as tea and confectionery that was almost on par with some of the finest products the Tomboy Princess brought.
While I helped myself to the snacks, my negotiation partner came into the room.
He was a young man with round glasses, and he always has a smile stuck on his face.
Honest, but also suspicious, we proceeded to talk *Munch Munch.
ED Note:サクサク. If anyone has a better interpretation, be my guest. I tried searching, but it's either a chewing sound effect, or it means "crispy". My guess is that he was still eating sweets during the negotiation. Ok, new update: サクサク also means skillfully proceeding/doing something, found that out when i was working on 235, so yea, another possible interpretation for this line. so it could also mean we smoothly began the negotiation.
I asked about the condition of the store.
It seems like there are a total of 3 dungeons that are roughly the same distance away from the Labyrinth City.
There are 2 stores, and of course the larger one is preferred.
When the 3 dungeons are connected with a line, it almost forms an equilateral triangle. So I hoped that there was some property at the center of this triangle. However, the location is a popular place, and there is a variety of facilities such as accommodation facilities and cash exchange offices.
There are almost no good properties left, but there are some left overs. The left over property was a problematic one though, or so I was told.
When I asked for details, it seems like there was a famous structure that had a lot of drop items and funds invested into its construction.
It's almost located at the dead center of the triangle, however if someone were to classify the structure, it would be building with an industrial type basement with some ground stories.
A 5 meter tall and 50 centimeter thick wall surrounds the house, making the square with walls 80 meter long on each side. This property will be suitable to double as a base, which is one of our original purposes.
ED Note: In case anyone is confused by my wording, the total size of the property is 80m x 80m, with the walls surrounding it at the perimeter. Ed Zak: added some words, which should make it less confusing. Also on the note, Minokichi will be showing his horns over the wall, and he will be picking over it when he rides his bear. lol.
All we need to do is to submit the exact portion of the property we want as well as to pay the transaction fees to the headquarters located in the capital, and the property will be ours. In addition to a store, the property is perfect for our purposes.
However, a few months ago a large group of people took residence in the structure illegally.
If they were just thugs or homeless folks the problem would have been easily solved. However, it seems they aren't the well-behaved kind. They were adventurers who specialized in illegal transactions and businesses hidden from the public.
ED Note:Took me a bit to identify what the original term "裏稼業" meant. It seems it means businesses in the parallel market that are usually hidden from public. aka: black market.
The company tried to get them to leave of course, several times now. However, it seems like all of their attempts failed. Since there was an influential person mixed in the bunch, it made the whole issue even more troublesome.