Arad walked inside the house, looking for any decent spot to sit, but everything had a handful of dust on it. “How could the forest floor look cleaner than this place?” He sighed.
“The place is dangerous. I doubt anyone would find it fun to come here and clean.” Aella said, stopping Arad from blowing the dust.
“Leave the cleaning to me. You will make a bigger mess.” Aella said, smiling.
“What can I do to help?” Arad asked.
“Move the heavy furniture out and find me some water. I will take the time to pull the small things out and find some towels.” Aella smiled, patting Arad’s back.
“Okay.” Arad replied and looked around, “I will go find some water as that might take some time.” He smiled, “I can dig after all,”
Arad walked outside the shed and stretched his arms, “Let’s see, where did that woman say the well was?”
[Walk ten meters to your left and walk five to the right. You will stand on it.] Move gave directing, and Arad walked directly toward it.
[Stop! One step to the left, and you will be standing on it.]
Arad smiled, marking the spot with his foot, “This is it. All I need to do now is dig straight down.”
[Wouldn’t recommend digging straight down, but there shouldn’t be anything dangerous around here.]
“Why?”
[In the past, your mother was digging straight down and fell into a lava pool. But can only be found in active areas like mountains and volcanic land.]
“I understand,” Arad nodded, transforming into his draconic form and digging. Soon he reached a level where the water started flowing out.
“Look, mom, water!” Arad pointed as the stream of muddied water gushed beneath his claws.
[I see it, but we need it to clear. The dirt from digging will take some time to settle.]
Using his claws, Arad climbed out, [You need to reinforce the walls with stones or logs. Ideally, we should use bricks, but we don’t have any.]
“Reiforce the walls?”
[the water would cause them to crumble without support.]
“I pulled a lot of stones from the hole, and there is a bunch around. Let’s use those.” Arad walked out and gathered every decent-sized boulder he could see.
“Arad! Are you done yet?” Aella called him.
“I got the water. I need to reinforce the well,” Arad replied.
“It won’t crumble from a few hours. Bring me a full bucket and help me move this giant cabinet,” Aella replied.
[She’s right. Help her for now.]
Arad stood and walked to the house, seeing Aella waiting for him beside a large cabinet. “I’m here. Where do you need to move it?” He asked.
“I just need to move it enough to clean behind it.” Aella smiled, lifting from one side and Arad from the other one.
The moment the cabinet moved, a gust of dust rushed from behind it, and spiders ran across the wall. A big one climbed Aella’s arm, causing her to scream, dropping the cabinet to the ground.
CRACK! The wood cracked, but it didn’t break. Aella immediately swatted the spider with her palm, “This place is full of bugs!”
“I guess we’re not sleeping here tonight. I will try and push that woman to give us a discount,” Arad smiled.
“She better do! We were supposed to sleep here and have a nice time, not clean.” Aella sighed, standing up and wiping the dust from her arm.
The hours passed, and the two cleaned and cleaned until they fell exhausted.
Aella and Arad walked to the bedroom, looking at the sun setting from the window.
Aella approached the bed, giving it a light tap. Puff! A cloud of dust rose to the sky, and she could see tiny black dots rushing to hide in the shadows.
“We’re getting back to the city,” she sighed.
“You’re right. There is no way we can clean this place today.” Arad smiled.
The two of them headed to the city and to the wooden roofs.
CREEK! Arad pushed the door open, and the receptionist was there. She looked at them, surprised, “Ara? You didn’t find it pleasant?”
Arad sat on a chair facing the woman, “If by pleasant you mean cleaning dust, digging wells, and fighting spiders. It was pleasant,” He stared at her with an angry smile. “I did expect it to be a bit dirty, but not like an abandoned house.”
The receptionist blinked twice, “That can’t be true, excuse me for a moment.” she stood and headed to the back room. Soon she returned with a paper in hand.
“That house was cleaned just five days ago, and here is the report. If you found it that dirty. It means he ripped us off.” She put the paper on the table.
Arad gave it a read, and it was a legitimate contract. This man named Breff got paid to clean the house. And he said the job was done.
“Everyone that we proposed the room to never returned. They just said it wasn’t for them. Could it be due to this?” The receptionist glared at the paper.
“From what I’ve seen. That house wasn’t cleaned in at least a year or two.” Arad sighed, “How long did he work for you?”
The receptionist sighed, “Six years. If he wasn’t cleaning, it’s a big deal.”
Arad tapped on the table, “That was a disappointment. Forget having a nice time. The place was a disgusting experience.”
The receptionist bowed down, “Sorry about this. I will find you a better house.”
“Hold your horses,” Arad stared at her, “I didn’t say I won’t take it.” He smiled, “Three gold coins a month, what do you say? I even came to tell you about it, unlike the others.”
The receptionist stared at him, “Forty percent discount? Sady, the max I can promise is twenty percent, but I can talk with the director about it.” She smiled, “Can you come tomorrow morning? I would have talked with the director.”
Aella smiled, “So it’s four gold coins now, and could get down to three. We’re counting on you.”
The receptionist smiled, “You’re helping us with the unsold house. I will do my best to get you a deal.” She then pulled a paper, “In the meantime, do you want to spend the night in another house? One that I’m sure is clean.”
Arad and Aella looked at Each other, “We talked about the on the way back. We want to wait till we get it.”
The receptionist nodded, “I understand. Please come tomorrow, as I said.”
***
The next morning Arad and Aella returned from the inn.
“You’re back. It’s quite early.” the receptionist smiled.
Arad sat on the chair with Aella beside him, “So, what did you get?”
The receptionist smiled, “The director was pissed. He said you could have the house for three gold coins a month. He would have that bastard Breff to pay for it.”
Aella nodded, “I hope you get your money back.”
“Don’t worry about that. Even if Breff can’t pay with money, we can put him to work as a slave.” The woman smiled.
Arad looked at her, “Three gold coins a month. I will pay through the guild. Is that okay?” 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎
“Of course. Take this paper to the guild so they can sign it.” She gave him a contract. It simply said that the guild would transfer three gold coins to them each month from Arad’s account.
Arad took the paper and stood, “Thank you, I will be back soon.”
***
Arad and Aella head to the guild immediately.
“Nina, can you sign this for me?” Arad handed the paper to her.
Nina smiled, “Of course, let me give it a look.” she started reading, then looked at Arad, smiling.
“Sorry, I can’t sign this. It’s for the guildmaster. And, the house is in a dangerous zone of the forest. So it will be rejected anyway.”
Arad stared at her with a stupid face, “Sign it.”
“I can’t,”
“Make him sign it.”
“I can’t,”
“What should I do?”
“Forget about it. It’s not like the guild doesn’t trust you to pay. They don’t want you to die to a monster attack at night. Even the most accomplished adventurers are vulnerable when sleeping.” Nina replied.
“Ara! Isn’t Arad?” A woman hugged Arad from the back, her chest squeezing on him.
Aella looked back, it was Merlin, the archmage. “You rejected my quest, how could you?” She looked at Arad with a sad face.
Aella grabbed Merlin by the cap and started pulling her away, but she didn’t budge. “What is this? You trying to buy a house?” She smiled.
“Why do you care?”
“I doubt the guild will accept this. But I could do something about it. If you accept my quest.” Merlin smiled.
All the adventurers stared at Arad, their eyes burning as they saw Merlin hug him from the back.
“The guild master can’t ignore her words as the archmage. She might be your only way to get this paper accepted.” Nina said with a smile.
“You heard her.” Merlin hugged him tighter, “You two are coming with me.” She smiled, “I will deal with the guildmaster,” Merlin smiled, dragging Arad and Aella with her.