3. Buying a Mansion

I went into my room at the inn and decided to count the money.

I set the cloth bag on the table and dumped it out. Dobah.

Every coin was the same. Silver, stamped with the profile of a high-and-mighty king.

Ninety-nine.

The inn had taken one at the door. So one mountain ox was exactly one hundred.

「Clear enough. What is one of these actually worth.」

I pinched a silver coin, stared at it, then looked around the room.

Ordinary inn. A place to sleep.

If this were Japan now, five thousand to ten thousand yen a night.

So one silver was about that. One mountain ox, five hundred thousand to a million.

「If the premise is right… this is good. Even if it is not, one ox is a hundred nights. Still just plain good.」

I thought back to the hunt.

That much money for that little work. I should do more of it.

Hunt again tomorrow.

I went to sleep.

The next day I left town the same way and came to the grassland where the mountain ox lived.

The first one I found already had people on it. Mercenaries, or something like it. Same armor, same weapons, beating an ox into the dirt.

I watched a little. If they were as bad as yesterday, I would have moved on.

They were not.

About an hour. Two of them nicked. The group took the ox down.

I watched their backs as they hauled it toward town.

If one ox is a million, that is a hundred thousand a head.

Still in the “good money” range. Then you count the injuries. Minor, but the kind that wants a week of rest.

「Normal work. Fair pay.」

I wandered the grass. Wandered and hoped I would find one.

Thirty minutes later, I did.

The moment the mountain ox saw me, its eyes went red. It snorted.

Then it charged, as expected.

「Fuu!」

I did not dodge. I punched it on the way in.

Counter, right between the eyes. The ox went flying.

It rolled, twitched, jerked.

A few more twitches. Then it stopped.

「Let’s go.」

I carried it back to town and cashed it in.

Then back to the grass.

Find an ox. Drop it. Cash it in.

Walk. Look. Find another.

Drop it. Cash it in.

I meant to keep that loop going. I only got five that day.

Finding them and carrying them took far longer than killing them.

I said as much to the man at the shop.

「Most people only hunt one a day. I have never heard anyone complain.」

He looked half amused.

I was quietly satisfied.

If you might get hurt, or fail to kill it and have to run, you do not sit there timing the walk.

Not my problem.

Anyway. Five hundred and fifty silver for the day.

The shop man had added the promised ten percent.

With yesterday, six hundred and forty-nine.

At the generous conversion, six million four hundred and ninety thousand yen.

「There it is.」

Evening. I had a note in my hand.

I had told the mountain-ox man I wanted a house. He had pointed me here.

I opened the door and went in.

The shop was cleaner than I expected. A middle-aged man with a gut.

He stood when he saw me. Merchant smile.

「Welcome to the Salamus Trading Company. How may I help you.」

「I want to buy a house.」

Straight.

「We can do that. Residential? Or for business.」

「To live in…」

For a second my housing in Japan now flashed through my head.

I put the dream on the table.

「Big. With a garden.」

「I see. And the budget.」

「About this.」

I set the bag of silver on the table.

「Six hundred and fifty silver.」

One short, technically.

「I see.」

His face clouded.

Too little, then. Of course it was.

I had been thinking six and a half million yen. Last night’s math might be half that.

Three million.

If I were the salesman I would be thinking, what is this guy saying.

The cloud was only slight. Decent merchant, maybe.

「Impossible?」

「Depends on the size. An ordinary house is about two thousand silver.」

「Two thousand… twenty million… that tracks.」

「Bigger, with a garden, almost twice that. In this town.」

「Four thousand…」

Forty mountain ox. Doable. Time, though. And the thought of the pile of oxen all at once was a bit much.

Five a day is more than a week. Bad encounter rate, over a month.

Tiresome. Too much hassle.

I was about to loosen the conditions.

「Pardon me. Are you confident in your skill?」

「Skill. Strength? More or less. Why.」

「This bag. Excuse me.」

He turned the bag halfway on the table.

A mark I knew.

「The crest of the Andreu Trading Company. They handle mountain ox. From this, I take it you hunt them.」

「I see.」

Same mark as the sign on that shop. Andreu Trading Company.

The guess made sense. From now on people would look at this bag, and at whoever carried it, the same way.

「In that case. I cannot recommend it. But I do have one idea.」

「What kind.」

「A mansion in the southeast of town. If you live here, you already know the one. Nobody lives there. They call it the haunted mansion.」

Bitter face.

「Haunted mansion.」

「Yes. A magnate’s house, once. Now the rumor is that things come out. Nobody wants it. A few customers moved in. They all…」

「I see.」

「The building itself is excellent. The space is not the problem. Without that history it would be over five thousand silver.」

「So it is haunted, and nobody wants it.」

「More that nobody can live there.」

「Haunted mansion…」

I thought about it.

I am not afraid of ghosts. Horror films do nothing to me.

Cheap and “cursed” is fine, honestly.

What I mind is if things actually come out.

This is not Japan. And the way he said it.

Maybe they do.

If ghosts show up… can I put them down.

I was still turning that over. I asked anyway.

「Price.」

「Given the problems, we would let it go for a hundred silver.」

「I’ll buy it!」

Immediate.

Over five thousand, down to a hundred.

Ninety-eight percent off.

No reason not to.

「You are certain.」

「Yeah. If a ghost comes out, I will kick its ass.」

I got carried away.

「Yes, sir.」

He blinked, then put the merchant face back on.

That was how I got a house. A mansion.

If a ghost comes out, I kick its ass. That was the plan.