"Woah.. an impressive building.." Said Daniel with a surprised look on his face.
As Reila was about to boast about her capabilities, the double door swung open. From behind it, a serious looking old man came out.
This old man had a head full of grey thick brushed back hair, and a well kept full beard. The old signs of age on the man's face betrayed his real age, which approached his mid seventies, but made him look like a man in his mid fifties. His back, differently from most people of his age, was straight as an arrow. The look on his face was serious and dignified, almost as if he didn't appreciate the intrusion. His eyes were sharp as swords, and of a deep indistinguishable color, with shades spanning from light grey and dark green. Ironically, the old man's eye color betrayed his age more than his skin or hair color did.
Every single detail on this old man made the three guess that, when he was younger, he had been an extremely handsome man.
Reila was the first to talk "Good afternoon Sir, we are back.." She said with a smile on her face.
The old man didn't respond, he simply looked at the two girls and then his eyes stopped on Daniel. His sharp eyes narrowed slightly, and after a few moments, he finally said "..Very well.. follow me to pick your rooms.." He then turned around and moved back inside the building.
The three followed him, and as they entered, Mea and Reila kept an eye on Daniel's reaction. And for a good reason.
As expected, Daniel's jaw dropped when he saw the insides of the building. The place didn't look like a dismissed hotel, it actually looked like a fully working one.
The entire hall was enlightened by the large chandeliers, with lights of various sizes that flooded the room with a bright sunlight of magic nature. Various sets of refined yet comfortable couches surrounded just as many coffee tables, from which small planters had been carved in the middle. These carved planters contained clean dirt partially covered in grass, and a few different types of flowers. Each table had different combinations of unique looking flowers which made every booth different from the other.
Before heading straight to the rooms, the old man patiently showed the three to the lobby, the kitchen, the training grounds, cultivation rooms, and utilities.
After the three picked their rooms, the old man left the three without saying a word.
"Reila, did you pay him already?" Asked Daniel.
Reila looked at him and responded "Not yet, want to do the honors?" She said before throwing the small bag of coins back at Daniel "When we came the first time, he said that it was 1 gold coin each per month" she added befire going back into unpacking her belongings.
The low prices of their rooms had slightly surprised Daniel. Provided that this was the commoner's section of the working district, the place was oddly refined. Daniel had guessed that the building hadn't been in this condition before the old man bought it.
After unpacking his belongings, Daniel left his room and started looking for the old man.
A little more than three hours had passed since the old man had left the three alone, and Daniel had decided to look for the old man in the lobby, as that was the most likely place to find him. When he reached the lobby, what he found wasn't the old man, but a group of young looking people.
Each one of these young men and women looked to be in their early twenties, and all of their attires looked refined, yet different. They were sitting on the couches and chatting.
Some of them had greatswords strapped on their back, while others had sheathed longswords, rapiers and daggers hanging from their belts, a couple of girls who were wearing the same outfit were holding two heavy looking folding fans, one held hers closed within her folded arms, while the other kept it opened and used it to fan her face slowly, while some of the people in the group were even unarmed.
The dynamics of this group of young men were unclear to Daniel. Some of these people were cordially talking to eachother, some looked to be on the verge of starting a fight, and there were even some men pestering young women and viceversa.
One thing that all of these people had in common, was a clear pride that grew a few meters taller than their heads.
Daniel curiously looked at the top of their heads and noticed that most of them had a neutral or slightly negative karma. He had guessed that these young men and women were the proud children of powerful organizations and by being nurtured by their groups, they didn't have enough chances to do anything that would grant them a good karma.
"..we've been here for half an hour already.."
"Exactly, just half an hour!.. why can't you just be patient?.."
...
"..he was fired! Why is he acting so high and mighty anyway?"
"Idiot, why don't you ask him in person?.. we'll drag your decapitated body back to that shit hole you call a school! He he he"
"HOW DARE YOU! You bitch!"
...
"..and we could be together.. if you accepted my sect's marriage proposal.."
"And why the hell should his family mix with your sect? We've known eachother much longer.. he should accept ours instead"
...
A loud buzz of conversation was filling the lobby.
As Daniel was still wondering what this loud group of people might be doing here, he was noticed by a young man at the edge of the crowd.
This young man had a clean buzz cut and a faint scar which appeared parallel to his left eyebrow. His clothes were of a simple kind, but of a high quality. On his chest he wore a thin leather armor, marked with the beautiful carving of a tree on the right side of his chest. Underneath the leather armor he wore a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of vambraces covered his forearms. His long pants were tucked inside of a pair of boots of the same color as the leather armor.
The young man had fairly good looks and was one of the few who wasn't carrying a weapon.
"Hey! There is someone there!"
The entire crowd quietened and looked towards Daniel.
The first to talk was one of the two women that were holding a folding fan. Unfolding her arms, she pointed her closed folding fan towards Daniel "Servant, come here" She said in a domineering tone.
Daniel's face didn't change in the slightest. He simply turned around and started heading back from the way he came, when.. "Hey! How dare you ignore me!!" She shouted angrily.
"..there she goes again.."
"We should stop, shouldn't we?"
"Nah, if she want to waste her chances because of her bad attitude.. so be it."
The buzz of conversation started once more as the young woman got up from her seat, and started heading towards Daniel with a face filled with anger.
It didn't take long for the girl to approach Daniel, and after lifting her hand, she swung it down towards Daniel's face.
What the girl didn't expect, unfortunately, was that this servant would avoid the slap, making her miss completely.
"Hahahaha! LOOK! It's the legendary tecnique of the Folding Crane School! Fly Swatting Slap! Hahaha!" Said a young woman in the crowd, who's group apparently didn't have a good relationship with the Folding Crane School.
Some of the group of young men and women laughed at the girl's derisive remark, while other had an embarassed look on their faces.
The faces of the two girls holding folding fans turned as red as apples. "How dare you embarass me in front of everybody! I'll cut your head for this!" Said the girl that had previously missed Daniel.
She then unfolded her fan and as she was about to attack Daniel with it, the young man in leather armor held her by her wrist and said "Alright alright.. calm down.. do I need to remind you where we are?"
The girl was truly enraged, and being stopped by someone when trying to regain face for her school had made her even agrier. "Let go of me!.." She shouted while trying time after time to free herself from the man's hand, but that was all for naught. The young man was an experienced martial artist, and all the young woman's hits had been easily parried or evaded.
After no less than two minutes of failed attempts, the young woman finally calmed down.
Noticing the changes in the young woman's temperament, the young man in leather armor let go of her hand. The girl then threw a deadly glare at Daniel and walked back towards her group, sitting back to her place.
The young man in leather armor turned towards Daniel and said "Forgive her for her rude words, can you tell us where your master is?"
Daniel didn't have a problem with talking with this group of people, but he didn't want to be treated as a servant. Considering the much more polite demeanor of the young man, Daniel decided to answer him.
"I am nobody's servant, and I don't know who you mean by master." Said Daniel.
The answer caught the young man and the rest of the group by surprise. "Aren't you a servant working for the old man who owns this building?" Said a burly looking young man with a greatsword strapped to his back.
"I am not, I have just rented three rooms, and i'll be staying here with my sisters." Responded Daniel.
The faces of everyone present twisted in confusion. Various small groups formed as the buzz of conversation started once more.
"Do you know where the old man is?" Asked a tall and handsome young man with long hair, who had previously been pestered by various girls into accepting the marriage proposal advanced from their groups.
"No idea." Answered Daniel to the handsome looking man.
The man in the leather armor looked at the group and shrugged his shoulders while saying "Let's just wait."
"There is no need" Said a powerful voice resounded through the entire lobby.
Its origin couldn't be distinguished, but all people present felt a shiver run down their spine when they heard it. Daniel had recognized it as the voice of the old man, owner of the building.
"Sir, our groups have heard that you have taken in disciples recently. We were wondering if you would consider us.." Said the handsome young man while bowing his head.
There was no answer.
Minutes passed one after the other, and as the handsome looking young man was about to talk again, the one with the leather armor stopped him. After the handsome looking young man noticed who had stopped him, he quietly turned towards the young man wearing the leather armor. One could guess that the two crearly had a good relationship.
The young man in leather armor looked at the handsome looking man and said "I don't think he has taken in any disciples.. All of our forces received the news that three teenagers had entered the building about three hours ago.. My guess is that this little guy and his sisters are the three teenagers.. And that they are here as.. well.. new tenants."
The hadsome young man's eyes opened wide "You are telling me that the previous Master at Arms of Karalis, after retirement, simply bought a building in the commoner's section and is looking for tenants!?!" He asked with clear disbelief in his tone.
Every other conversation stopped as everyone within the large group looked at the pair of young men. Their eyes growing bigger by the second. Disbelief plastered on their faces. A very few members of the group weren't as surprised, as they had had the same guess as the young man in leather armor.
After a few minutes, the looks of surprise turned into pensive expressions.. and as most of them seemed to be in the midst of taking a decision within their minds, the young man in leather armor said in a low voice "Sir.. is it possible to rent a room?"