Since he was finished with his shopping, it was time to return to the Tamers’ Guild to see what properties were on offer.
“It needs to be a proper estate with enough room for me to relax as I like,” said Luke.
“Let’s try to be reasonable with our requirements.” Taichi had no idea what kind of place Luke was envisioning, but purely based off the usage of the word “estate,” it was probably safe to assume he wanted the sort of mansion royalty or nobility would live in. “Just who do you think would have to keep it clean?” Taichi muttered under his breath as they headed for the Tamers’ Guild’s reception desk.
“Good morning,” Taichi said as he approached.
“Taichi! Good morning!” Chartelle chirped.
As usual, the reception hall was deserted. Fine by me. I prefer empty over crowded.
“Were you able to find any promising places?” Taichi asked.
“I was!” Chartelle produced three sheets of paper and slid them across the counter to him. The documents listed the layout and price of each respective property.
“Thank you!” Taichi immediately started shuffling through them. All of them could work for his café.
“Personally,” Chartelle piped in, “I recommend this one. It’s the one most closely located near our guild.”
The one she pointed to was located in the middle of the city. It was a two-story building, and the first floor was available for rent. There were various eateries and stores in the area, giving it a large amount of foot traffic.
There’s nothing wrong with this option. It could definitely work as a café. But... Taichi planned to increase the number of monsters in his repertoire, and more importantly, if he set up in the middle of the city, his café might become so popular that he wouldn’t be able to take it as easy as he wanted. He’d heard enough stories about overworked restaurant owners.
“I’d rather have my café somewhere a little more calm and tranquil,” said Taichi.
“Really?” Chartelle chewed on her lip. “Then you’d probably be better off with the one right outside the wall or the one on the outskirts.”
There was one property she’d presented that was outside the city proper, and it was sufficiently large. One room could serve as the café, and another in the back could be repurposed into a break room. The second floor had three bedrooms as well.
The last candidate was on the outskirts. It was about the same size as the second property, but it had one significant difference.
“This one has a garden!” Taichi exclaimed with delight.
“Yep, a rear garden. You can use it to train your monsters. It’s also got a well back there.”
“You know, I was thinking I’d need a spot for the monsters to exercise,” said Taichi. “This is perfect!”
“It does have that,” said Chartelle, “but since it’s on the outskirts of the outer wall, you’ll be exposed to monster attacks. We have a lot of guards and adventurers, of course, so the chances are slim. Just keep in mind that the possibility exists.”
“Monsters...”
Fortunately, Taichi had Luke, who was perfectly capable of taking down a dragon on his own. Whatever might appear on the outskirts would probably be weak, like slimes or something. They’d pose no danger to Luke.
Yeah. I think that settles it.
“I think I’ll be fine with Luke around,” said Taichi. “Could I ask you to guide me out there so I can see it for myself?”
“Yes, of course!” Chartelle quickly led him out to the property he’d chosen, which was about a ten minute walk from the city gate.
The place was an inviting two-story structure made of wood, with vines climbing along the sides. It gave the place more of a fantasy feel, which Taichi liked. There were large windows on the front, which made it easy for anyone outside the building to peer in. Yes, he was confident this place would work for his café.
Taichi gave a vigorous nod. It’s perfect!
Luke loped to the rear garden. “I suppose it will work,” he said, looking more pleased with the place than he let on.
“Let me show you the interior,” said Chartelle.
“Oh, right!”
The spacious front room came equipped with a fireplace. It would be the perfect, cozy spot during the winter. Taichi could already picture his adorable fluffy animals curled up near it. Cats especially loved warm places. Yes, this just gets better and better!
Chartelle cracked open a door deeper in, leading them to a kitchen. It was connected to a smaller room, which looked perfect for storage. “A long time ago, this place was used as a dining hall. The owner was a Tamer who would cook together with his monsters.”
“Really? From the layout, it seemed perfect for my café, so I wondered if it had been a restaurant of some kind originally.” Taichi appreciated having a kitchen already in place. He didn’t plan to offer entire meals for people, but ideally, he wanted to provide light snacks on his menu. While he nodded to himself, pleased with everything he was seeing, Luke scrutinized the room.
“Hmph. It’s cramped. You expect a proud Fenrir such as I to live in a place like this?”
“You’ll be all right,” Taichi told him. “We’ve got a saying back where I come from: Home is wherever you make it. I think you’ll learn to like this place.”
Luke huffed and turned away. “Hmph! Being around you day and night will only exhaust me!” For all his hostility, his tail had turned into a propeller.
You’re always so hot-and-cold! Taichi thought to himself and then paused. Cold-and-cold may be more accurate, since you only seem to have one mode. Whatever the case, Luke was adorable and fluffy, which made it easy to forgive his antics.
“Taichi,” Chartelle said, interrupting his thoughts, “the living space is upstairs.” With her in the lead, they took the stairs in the kitchen up to the second floor. It came equipped with a living room, a simple kitchen, and three bedrooms. One bedroom was about five tatami mats in size, while the other two were six. According to Chartelle, the kitchen here was kept simple, since the previous owner did their major cooking downstairs.
Some of it is a bit dated, but it’ll do.
Chartelle explained, “Since you’re a guild member, rent will be a hundred thousand Chel a month. You can also purchase it outright if you prefer, but you’ll need to become at least a D-Rank member within the guild first.”
“I don’t mind renting, so can I go with that option?”
“Of course.”
Even if he held the appropriate rank to purchase the property, this was only his second day in this world. One day, he may decide he didn’t like this area anymore and move, so it was preferable not to immediately put his roots down. This does seem to be a pretty good city, from what I saw yesterday. Rellim was the second largest in the kingdom, according to Luke. Taichi quite liked it, since it seemed like a safe and peaceful place to settle down. He preferred it over the capital, where royalty and nobility probably lived. He wanted to avoid the upper crust.
“Then, let’s head back and fill out the paperwork,” Chartelle suggested.
“Yes, please.”
He had the property he needed for the café, which meant he was yet another step closer to his dream. I’ll have to increase the number of fluffy animals I own too! There was still a laundry list of things he needed to do.