Chương 17: 17
Jace made his way to the in realising that he had actually just decided to provide a home for a woman and a child he didn't really know. He couldn't help himself, it felt like the right thing to do so he would just go with it. He glanced towards Aziva who was walking between him and Sarai as they headed towards the inn. He looked at her smiling face as she looked around at the things around her with a new found sense of curiosity and the feeling settled in him. This was the right thing to do, impulsive as it was. He shook his head to himself, he always did have sudden impulses. But this was a pretty big one.
He stood in front of the inn and glanced at Sarai, he could see the question in her eyes. She had left her home, ramshackle shack that it was, he couldn't blame her for being nervous. The few possessions they had, mostly clothing, they had taken with them. This was a huge leap of faith for her, he smiled slightly to himself. An impulsive person like himself he supposed. "I'm gonna have to introduce you to my team, we'll also need a place for you to stay till I get you a proper house. We're gonna need to find a lot of stuff before I can get you settled properly."
She nodded to him but kept her silence, she squared her shoulders. A determined glint in her eyes. He smiled at her and rubbed Aziva over her short head, he stepped into the inn, the two women on his heels.
----- Sarai POV -----
Sarai stared at the broad shoulders of the man in front of her as he stepped through the well maintained doors of the inn in front of her. The place was of a pretty high quality, it was clean and smelled pleasant. A completely different inn compared to those in the district she lived in. She wondered why she was here, she barely knew the man. This was a huge risk, what if he was not who he said he was. What if he had other things planned for her, she glanced down at Aziva, her beautiful daughter. As she glanced around the spacious main room of the inn, eyes wide in amazement. She stomped on her doubts, her little girl was the reason she was doing this. It was a risk, but the promise of something better, the chance at a future out of the dumps. She had to take it.
She pulled Aziva along by the hand as she followed Jace towards a table. She looked at the people he was joining and was surprised by how young most of them were. She was pretty sure all of them were younger than her. But they were competent she could feel it, it was not as prominent as it was on Jace. The man oozed a subtle sense of danger as he walked, she noticed that although several thugs had eyed him as a target they had refrained from making a move. They could sense he was dangerous, he wore it like a cloak. The blond woman who he was addressing was muscular, a well maintained halberd leaned against her shoulder as she eyed Jace and then swept her eyes to Sarai and Aziva, she shrugged and scooted a little on the bench and patted it.
Sarai paused for a moment before she sat down next to the woman, she nodded politely. Sarai focused her attention on the conversation Jace was having. A young man with dark hair was looking at him with wide eyes. "So you just went and married this woman and adopted her child?"
"Well nooo? I decided to give them a place and a chance to improve their life, If our relationship progresses further than that, all the better." Jace looked at the others as he spoke, gauging their reaction.
To her surprise they looked at him for a moment then collectively shrugged. "Well it's your money, plus it's not the weirdest thing you've done. Atl east these people look decent and would probably profit from it."
Sarai decided she really needed to speak up and ask a question. "What do you mean it is not the weirdest thing he has done. Even I myself still have not come to terms that this is actually happening."
A young girl with purple hair smiled at her, "Jace here has a tendency to do truly odd things. One of the things he did for instance was he gathered a whole lot of exotic ingredients and took them to Mili, she's the chef of this inn, and told her to experiment with it and make some more yummy food for him. Which she was really happy to do by the way."
The others nodded and a huge young man with curly hair was the next to speak up. "Or that time he spoke with that gnome and they got to know each other and Jace decided to invest a good bit of money in setting up a fruit brewery. We all thought it was a scam but he ignored us."
Jace stroked his beard and spoke up, "I'll have you know that it was a good investment, the brewery is picking up speed and has been doing well, I earn a good bit of money off it."
The curly haired giant shook his head, "We are all still amazed that it actually was exactly as he told you. Despite your impulsive actions they somehow almost always pack out okay, it's like you have a talent for these things. I bet you'd make a decent merchant."
The others nodded and exchanged a few jokes, Sarai stared around at the group, seeing how ease they were with each other. The blond woman hadn't spoken yet but she made a few gestures here and there which the rest seemed to pick up easily. Jace suddenly sat up and looked at Weira, "How would I even go about buying a house, do I just find someone willing to sell?"
"You don't know how to purchase a house yet?" Sarai asked slightly alarmed, Jace turned to her and shrugged.
"Figured I could find out later, I can just rent a room at the inn for you and Aziva till I get it figured out. The food here is great and the rooms are clean, the beds soft. It's nice here." Jace said in an attempt to placate her.
Sarai stared at him for a moment, "Wouldn't that be extremely costly?"
Jace shrugged and looked at the blond woman. "How much money do I have, could I buy a house?"
She nodded and made a few signs, Sarai saw Jace's eyes widen. "Huh I have a lot more money than I thought, it's a good thing you keep track of it and save it for me. Where do you even keep it?"
More signs and an exasperated eyebrow raise. "Really? I have a bank account? Huh, go figure." Sarai shook her head to herself as she followed the exchange.
"Well according to Weira, I have enough money to keep you in the inn for the next ten yours should it be necessary."
Sarai shook her head and sagged a little. "Don't you already have a girlfriend, why is she taking care of your finances. Isn't it bad that you took me in?" She started rubbing her hands, she felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter around in anxiety.
Jace tapped her on the shoulder, he grinned at her. "Relax Sarai, she's my sister. I suck with money and tend to spend it as soon as I receive it, so Weira takes half of what I earn and saves it for me. She also makes sure I don't spend it on stupid things."
Sarai felt her heart unclench, his sister huh. The two did not look even remotely alike, but she started to feel more comfortable. All of these people seemed decent, she was sure they weren't slavers or something equally scary. They were too silly to be. She started to smiled and Aziva was sitting on the lap of the tall blond girl Weira, she had clambered on while she wasn't paying attention. The muscular girl was smiling and feeding her bits of the sausage. Which Aziva was eating with gusto, her heart fluttered one last time. Perhaps things really were on the up and up.
----- End Sarai POV-----
Jace smiled as he saw that Sarai was finally relaxing, he ordered a plate for and called over to Frank, the innkeeper, that he would need another room for two for the foreseeable future. The man waved at him and told him he would put it on the tab. Jace and his group could be considered trustworthy customers, they'd stayed in the inn for over three months now. They always paid on time and treated him and his employees with respect. Anyone associated with them was more than welcome in his inn.
The next day after some poking around Jace found out that he had to go to the Residents Hall to buy a house. He headed over there with Weira, Sarai and Aziva. It was a tall white marble building. Near the center of the city, it was a humongous piece of stone. It was about the size of the famous colosseum back home. He entered, along with at least a dozen other people and headed towards one of the shorter lines that led up to a counter. It took a half hour of waiting before they reached the counter. They walked up to receptionist and told her he wanted to buy a house, the woman nodded and told him that he should go up to the second floor where someone would be waiting for him and would help him.
He went up to the next floor and a young woman not much older than Weira guided him to a room that was well furnished and comfortable. She motioned for them to take a seat and then took her own across from them. "So I hear you are looking for a building, first I will have to ask a few questions if that is alright with you?"
Jace nodded, "Go ahead."
"We would like to ask for your class, level or highest rank skill. It helps us figure out who we are dealing with and what we can expect from the people looking for a building. You can choose any of the three but we need at least one. Otherwise we ask for a fee upfront, for doing risky business."
Jace's eyebrows raised, then he shrugged. "Well it doesn't bother me but I suppose I'll have to go with highest skill then. My shield mastery is currently at expert rank two."
The young receptionist's eyebrow raised ever so slightly. He could tell that Sarai next to him was also surprised by his statement. The receptionist sat up a little straighter. "Do you mind if I ask for confirmation?"
"Not at all." Jace tapped his sheet and pushed the information towards her. She nodded and smiled at him, "Thanks for coöperating, may I know what your budget is?"
Jace turned to Weira who made a sign to him, "Does that keep in mind that we can pay for expenses for a year orso?"
Weira nodded. Jace turned back to the receptionist, "It seems I have a budget of around eight thousand gold pieces." The receptionist didn't even blink at the amount and nodded her head. "Any preferences that I should know about. How many people will be staying in the house?"
"Two maybe three later on, it would be nice if we could have a place near the Goofy Geese. That is where my team is based out of at the moment." The receptionist nodded and summoned a few illusions that showed the various houses available for purchase. She also showed him on a map she summoned where they stood and how far from the inn. In the end he bought a two story house that looked nice, that stood in the same street as the inn. Sarai was watching everything quietly but with a small nervous smile on her face. Once the purchase was over they said their goodbyes to the realtor and headed back towards the city.
Jace turned around and grinned at the girls, "Well it seems like it's time for a woman's favourite past time, lets go shopping!"
Sarai stared at him in confusion, "Why are we going shopping, aren't you low on cash right now?"
Jace shook his head, nah that was only the money in my bank, I still have a decent amount on me. Also we need furniture, clothing and other such things. Lets go explore the shops!"
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