And so, Sunday arrived. The meeting with Luvia and Iluna was scheduled for the afternoon, so Xia De went out after washing his clothes in the morning. Following the business card Priest Augustus had given him, he found a renovation team capable of maintaining the house to inspect the specific damage to his third floor.
Since the stairs were broken, they had to use a telescopic metal ladder to move between the second and third floors.
In recent months, only Mia had gone to the third floor. Today was Xia De’s first time entering his own third floor. After the workers climbed the metal ladder, what they saw was a dark corridor. The entire structure of the third floor was almost identical to the second floor, with two rooms beside the corridor.
The entire floor was dilapidated and damp, with a layer of dust on the floor, leaving footprints when stepped on, and mold spots everywhere on the ceiling and walls. But at least the church had cleaned it very thoroughly many years ago before cutting off the third-floor stairs.
Although he could see some bloodstains with Blood Echo, there was at least no trash here, so there were no rats. In fact, similar to the basement, first floor, and second floor, there were no spiders or spiderwebs in the long-abandoned space on the third floor. Xia De opened the two rotten doors on the third floor and even ascended to the attic with the help of the workers. The attic roof had some leaks, but there was no trace of any insects.
This was quite novel.
Many previous owners of this house had died here, and as far as Xia De knew, many famous incidents had also occurred on the third floor. The renovation team that came to inspect the damage to the house knew that someone had once gone missing on the third floor of Saint Delan Square Six.
Neither living nor dead bodies were found; that incident had once become a popular topic in Tobesk tabloids many years ago.
After the preliminary inspection, they returned to the second floor to discuss matters. The construction team manager, who looked very experienced and had somewhat dark red skin, gave his opinion:
“The building itself is quite severely damaged. Besides minor issues like the floor, walls, and windows, the serious problem is the roof. We need to redo the waterproofing layer for the roof and floor. Additionally, if you need to connect steam pipes and gas pipes, you’ll need to contact the gas company and steam company for the internal wall piping installation. I just saw cracks in the third-floor corridor wall; that also needs to be inspected and reinforced.”
This sounded very troublesome.
“Can you help with contacting the gas and steam pipe companies?”
Xia De asked.
“Of course.”
“Besides the third-floor maintenance, please also include painting the basement, the adjacent room on the second floor, and the entire first floor walls, as well as the maintenance of the exterior walls of the house, and the renovation of the chimney and fireplace. Please give me a detailed quote and then tell me the construction period.”
The middle-aged man in work pants thought for a moment:
“During the third-floor repair, it’s best not to live on the second floor. If the first floor also needs painting, we suggest you choose one room not to paint temporarily, and you can stay there. Otherwise, you definitely won’t be able to stand the smell of paint. If you want it done as soon as possible, we can start tomorrow, but shortening the construction period will cost you extra.”
This request was reasonable, and Xia De thought for a moment while holding the cat:
“For the floor and paint, use the best materials. I’ll be living here for a long time... What if I request completion within one week?”
The professional manager of the construction team took out a notebook and calculated, then got up and went outside, asking the workers inspecting the third floor to go to the first floor and basement to measure the wall areas.
This professionalism made Xia De feel good.
Finally, the two returned to the second floor and calculated the specific cost in the study:
“You were introduced by Priest Augustus, so we’ll charge you the lowest fee. This includes material costs, construction fees, gas and steam pipe installation fees, and the application fee for the City Center House Repair Permit, which is not cheap. You can directly see Yodel Palace from here, and construction in nearby blocks requires an application... A total of 200 pounds.”
Although Xia De could afford this amount, he still frowned:
“Sir, this amount is enough to buy a house with a garden in a more remote part of the City.”
“I know it’s a lot, but there’s also a lot of work to be done. The cost of maintaining a house not only includes construction fees but also an additional charge based on the specific value of the house.”
The manager patiently explained:
“Mr. Hamilton, you yourself know the normal appraised value of houses in this neighborhood. I’ve already helped you get it down to the lowest price within a reasonable range. We also wanted to remove the additional charge based on the house’s value, but the industry association wouldn’t agree.”
“Industry association?”
Xia De asked again, puzzled. The middle-aged manager then continued to explain, seemingly not very satisfied himself:
“It’s the Federation of the Construction Industry. Its main responsibility is to introduce business, but it also supervises the quotes for every business deal within the City to prevent fluctuations in industry pricing standards caused by malicious price increases and decreases. The original intention of this organization was good, but it also means that our pricing level cannot be too much lower than our peers, otherwise we will be ostracized by them later.”
Xia De’s mouth hung open for a moment before he nodded, surprised that such a thing existed:
“Then, may I ask, how much of that 200 pounds is the result of the markup?”
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then poured water from his teacup onto the coffee table and wrote a few numbers with his hand. Thinking about it, Xia De’s markup was actually only about thirty percent. He hadn’t expected that renovating a house alone would be so expensive, even without furnishing it yet.
The manager continued to explain to Xia De:
“Repairing a house, after all, can increase the overall value of the building. Therefore, construction on different houses brings different increases in wealth to the house owner, which is also a reasonable explanation for the markup based on the house’s value... How about this: you pay us 200 pounds, and after the Federation inspects this transaction, we will refund a portion of it to you. But not the full amount, five percent, that’s the limit.”
This discount was likely offered out of respect for Priest Augustus.
“But in that case, can the accounting issues be handled?”
Xia De asked again, and the middle-aged man finally smiled:
“You don’t have to worry about that; the accounting firm we outsource to is very professional. However, if we start work tomorrow, I suggest you arrange a place to stay on the first floor as soon as possible and lock the second-floor doors to prevent your property from being affected during construction. Oh, Monday will mainly be for reassessing the overall damage to the building and marking out the construction, so you just need to move to the first floor before Tuesday.”
This was a very reasonable suggestion, after all, Xia De and the cat couldn't just sleep on the first floor.
“But why not? Is there a difference between sleeping on the floor and sleeping on a bed?”
Xia De asked himself in his mind, then felt the cat’s small paw clawing at him. He looked down, and the cat was looking at him with dissatisfied eyes:
“Alright, I’ll make sure you sleep on the bed.”
The orange cat Mia had very high standards for quality of life.
When Xia De met Luvia and Iluna in the afternoon, he told them about his plans to repair the third floor of his house and complained about the high cost of house maintenance.
Iluna was surprised that Xia De was so wealthy, while Luvia looked up:
“In that case, all the rooms at No. 6 will be open.”
“That’s right.”
“What do you plan to do with so much space? After the third floor is repaired, you’ll have two more empty rooms and an attic, plus your still-empty first floor and the Room No. 2 on the second floor. Most of the space in your house is currently idle.”
“I plan to seal the windows of the room near the stairs upstairs and renovate it into a darkroom for daily Miracle and spell practice, and to have an empty space available when rituals need to be set up. As for the other rooms... they’ll remain empty for now; there will be opportunities to use them eventually.”
Luvia smiled, not commenting on Xia De’s idea. Iluna seemed to want to say something, but she looked at the cat lying on Xia De’s lap and ultimately said nothing.
“Xia De, why do you look so much paler?”
Iluna brought up a new topic:
“Your skin seems to have improved a lot. Are you using any cosmetics recently? I remember you mentioned you have a friend who is good at concocting potions.”
“Then let me tell you the story that happened in Coldwater Port.”
Xia De said with a smile, stretching his arms back and yawning, whereupon the cat, which had been lying on his lap, also stood up, lowered its upper body, and stretched with its rear end in the air.
The summer sun pierced through the City’s fog, shining into the room from outside the window. Xia De was ready to tell his story:
“This story might be a bit long.”
“It’s alright, we have time.”
The seventeen-year-old girl in a dress said, then looked at the female Diviner:
“Start now.”
Xia De nodded, comforting the orange cat, and began to recount the terrifying events that occurred in the port City; Luvia leaned back slightly on the sofa, holding a teacup, with a smile on her face; Iluna touched her chin with her hand, the seventeen-year-old girl intently watching Xia De’s face.
The afternoon sun, filtered through the thin fog over Tobesk, shone on their faces, making everyone’s face seem to glow. But the brightest was actually Mia’s orange fur; the orange-and-white cat was napping on Xia De’s lap, its fur shimmering in the sunlight.
The Coldwater Port incident was temporarily over, and Darkness would not arrive in Tobesk for another half a month. The remaining half of Flourishing Flower Month was truly a leisurely time for Xia De.
His story truly lasted an entire afternoon. Most of a whole pot of black tea was consumed by Xia De, and the girls also sampled the small biscuits Xia De brought out, occasionally asking questions about details.
And Xia De, aside from not mentioning the secret of Miss Aurora the Witch, Dorothy, and Leia, told almost everything. He did not admit to Miss Jialinna that he was a Summoner, but he did not hide it from the two brown-haired girls.
In Iluna’s eyes, the previous half-month was just a brief, leisurely summer period after she returned to Tobesk from the Holy See. She had not expected Xia De to have experienced such a complex and exciting adventure story during this time.
“This is just like those legendary tales, where the brave one is on an adventure while for ordinary people, it’s just ordinary time... Xia De, compared to you, I don’t seem like a Chosen One at all.”
This should be considered the seventeen-year-old girl praising Xia De.
