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Chapter 83: Settling In Here

The group arrived at the house the tavern keeper was renting out.

Inside it was a mess, piled high with all sorts of odds and ends, and it looked as though no one had lived here for quite some time.

The beast-eared girls began clearing the clutter in the house.

Reiner helped while listening to Junice explain.

“I’ve heard of this way of splitting money before; some small vendors can’t be bothered to calculate exchange rates, so they just slice the coins, and gradually the practice spread across Barnite.”

“But a gold coin can be cut into at most 8 pieces; anything smaller won’t circulate, and you have to ask a blacksmith to melt the fragments back into a single coin before using it again.”

Junice shook her purse, which was full of repeatedly sliced fragments of gold and silver coins.

Reiner sighed.

He still preferred coins that were whole.

“Do you want to share the rent with us?”

“Share what?”

“This house is spacious; even after we occupy every room there will still be one left, so stay with us and you’ll only have to pay a little.”

Junice planted her hands on her hips and gave a mischievous grin. “How much?”

“I rented it for half a year for half a gold coin, so how about you cover one quarter?”

“Deal.” Junice agreed readily, took a small shard of gold from her purse, and handed it to Reiner. “But I have one condition: I want to choose my room.”

“Fine.”

Junice looked around, then fixed her eyes on Reiner again. “Which room is yours?”

“First room on the left upstairs.”

Without hesitation Junice said, “Then I’ll take the room on the right just inside the front door.”

Curious whether the location mattered, Reiner asked, “Is there a reason for that?”

“Of course. Think about it: you and Nora share a room; if I were next door I’d hear everything, wouldn’t I? That’d be awkward.” Junice raised an eyebrow as if stifling a laugh.

She rarely showed such a cheeky expression, and it made Reiner a little embarrassed.

Nora was fine.

Martina, though, really screamed like a slaughtered pig.

He would have to find a way to gag her in the future.

“Then it’s settled; I’ll tidy my room… there isn’t even a bed…”

Just then Elyanna tugged lightly at Reiner’s sleeve and muttered, “Where do I stay?”

“Anywhere’s fine; pick one yourself.”

Elyanna blinked and walked straight into the kitchen.

“Maybe customs differ, but back home no one lives in the kitchen.” Reiner pulled her back out. “Pick another.”

This time Elyanna slipped into the room next to the kitchen. “Then I’ll live here.”

“Sure. Tidy it up yourself, and if there’s still time I’ll go find you a bed later.” Reiner brushed the dust from his hands.

“Mm-hmm.”

Watching her struggle to push the junk out, Reiner suddenly felt oddly sorry for her.

It made him look like a stepfather abusing his daughter.

“Forget it… I’ll help.” Reiner quickly shoved the clutter into the first-floor parlor and swept the dust from her room.

Elyanna obediently stood to the side hugging her staff.

When they finished cleaning, she whispered a timid thank-you.

Reiner looked her up and down and asked curiously, “How old are you anyway? You’re so small.”

“18.”

Reiner narrowed his eyes slightly and tried to use Appraisal on her.

[Appraisal complete. Current companion quality: Unknown]

[Name: Unknown | Age: Unknown | Sex: Unknown | Race: …]

Looking at the long string of “Unknown,” Reiner let out a long sigh.

As expected, the System’s attribute Appraisal was utterly useless on any race other than demi-humans.

He had tried to Appraise Junice before and had gotten a similar result.

It seemed that in this life his Appraisal ability would only ever work on demi-humans.

“The outside world isn’t quite what you imagined, is it?”

“It’s really different.” Elyanna nodded vigorously, and her voice wavered a little.

Reiner immediately leaned in. “Crying? Are you really crying?”

“I am not.” Elyanna widened her eyes, trying hard to prove it to Reiner.

“It’s fine… cry if you want; I’ll just tease you a little. I used to cry all the time as a kid too.” Reiner patted her shoulder and then left the room.

He planned to go upstairs and see how Nora was doing with her room.

As soon as he walked in, he saw her fiddling with a pile of broken boards, apparently trying to assemble a bed out of the junk.

“Stop messing with that; we’ll go to the market later to see if we can buy a wooden bed, and if not I’ll make a stone one with Earth Magic.”

For Reiner, shaping a blocky object out of rock was no longer difficult.

After thinking for a moment, Nora said, “Then let’s use a stone bed; better not waste money.”

(Master seems short on cash lately… we’d better save; a place to sleep is good enough.)

She was absolutely right.

After giving Junice that money and buying 3 horses, he really didn’t have much left.

Now that the escort was done, that damned System still hadn’t paid out the reward.

Reiner rubbed her cat ears and squinted. “Sleep on a stone bed too long and you’ll get rheumatism.”

Nora blinked, even more confused. “Rheu-what-ism? It’s fine, Master; we’ll just lay on a couple more quilts.”

“All right, we’ll make do for now and buy a bed when we have money.”

“Okay, I’ll go unpack; Master, take a break.” Nora dashed out of the room.

“Got it.”

Just then the System, which had been playing dead, finally stirred.

[Quest: Escort Junice to the city of Cannon

Current Status: Completed

Reward issued]

A gold coin appeared out of thin air in Reiner’s hand.

He tossed it into his purse.

[Quest Update: Assist the locals and repel an orc clan raid

Reward: 20 Barnite gold coins.]

Work came this quickly, so the next quests really would revolve around this region.

He figured they wouldn’t be returning to Melod anytime soon.

At that moment the door cracked open.

Martina poked half her head in and peeped at Reiner.

“Is your room all set?”

Martina shook her head, walked slowly over to Reiner, and cooed, “Darling… ”

That single word made Reiner’s bones melt.

“I know what you’re after, but you should at least bathe first.” Reiner edged away.

It was broad daylight; he couldn’t give in so easily.

“Nora’s bathing, and once she’s done I won’t get a chance.”

Reiner waved his hand. “Tomorrow, then.”

Martina’s little face fell, her lips puffed out, and she threatened, “Then you’re dead tomorrow night.”

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