"Watch your step."
"It’s really cold today."
...
After a night’s rest, the group, their physical strength fully restored, stepped onto the street.
Autumn had quietly set in; the chilly breeze felt like a sharp knife scraping against their red cheeks, making them shiver.
Gauss strode down the street.
As he walked, he observed the city scenery.
"Sir, want some oranges? They’re very sweet."
"Then I’ll take a basket."
Gauss glanced over, confirmed the price was fair, and then packed the whole basket away.
Oranges are quite a good fruit.
They are juicy, can replenish essential trace elements for the human body, and are relatively easy to store.
After giving a smile to the street vendor, whose eyes curved with joy at the early chance to go home and rest, Gauss inquired about the precise location of the Adventurer’s Guild, and the group continued on.
After a while.
They entered a stone building.
The temperature inside was noticeably higher than outside.
In the guild hall, the enormous fireplace at the side was crackling with burning logs.
The Adventurer’s Guild hall was crowded with adventurers from various races.
Apart from the humans, who were the majority, there were also dwarves, halflings, half-beastmen, gnomes, and tieflings. Gauss even saw a half-dragon.
The diversity of a big city was indeed quite different from that of a typical small town.
Gauss’s arrival attracted quite a few glances.
"Hello, sir."
"Is there anything we can assist you with?"
"I’d like to inquire about the Golden Eagle family’s local office."
Upon hearing his inquiry, the counter staff gave him a once-over before informing Gauss of the location.
Before leaving, Gauss also picked up a stack of home-sale listings.
York and Abby, the father and daughter, planned to settle in Flute Castle.
As for the funds to purchase a home, Gauss need not worry.
After Gauss’s hint, the village head of Herb Village and other villagers, out of guilt, raised together 20 gold coins for the York family before they left, with the head and a few other prominent villagers contributing the most.
This amount was astonishing for a typical village, but Herb Village was affluent, and since the chief had long been in contact with the witch Megan, the small tokens she carelessly left behind accumulated into a decent sum, so gathering this fund was not difficult.
Of course, 20 gold coins would barely suffice for buying property in Flute Castle.
Considering they still needed to reserve some funds for living, the choice of location was limited.
Gauss glanced and thought settling down in some average residential area should not be a problem, but it’d be best to assess the environment beforehand, a task that fell to York.
After all, their stay in Flute Castle would be brief; they would ultimately need to rely on themselves to live in this city.
"Shall we first head to the Golden Eagle family’s city office?"
Gauss’s gaze turned to a distant, secluded tower, one of their targets lay there.
Mounting his steed, he merged into the traffic.
The tower seemed nearby, but the actual ride took some time.
Fortunately, the closer they got to the city center, the more sparse the vehicles and pedestrians became.
"Halt!"
Gauss reined in his horse before the magnificent white tower.
The guard in bright silver armor glanced over Gauss and his group, then withdrew his gaze, his voice steady and clear, speaking quite politely.
"Gentlemen, this is an administrative area of the city, not a place for sightseeing. If you have no official business or appointment, please refrain from entering."
Gauss presented a certificate provided by Mage Lyman, and it bore the seal of the Golden Eagle family.
"We need access to the office of the Golden Eagle family here; I wonder if this document can serve as a credential."
The guard gave it a brief inspection, then instructed other guards to go upstairs and report.
Not long after.
A blond man came out of the tower.
"Are you Mr. Gauss?"
"Mage Lyman informed us about you via letter crows."
"Yes, I am Gauss."
"Please come in."
Gauss followed the leading blond man into the tower.
As he passed through the tower’s entrance, he distinctly felt a peculiar energy sweep over him.
At the entrance of the first floor hall, numerous magic circles engraved on the walls simultaneously lit up.
Gauss felt as though he were being firmly locked in by countless eyes.
"Honored guests have arrived, all arrays... cease."
As the blond man chanted slowly and calmly, the invisible pressure in the air suddenly relaxed.
The glow from the numerous magical runes quickly dimmed and receded.
"Please do not be alarmed. The tower houses offices for many important institutions and guilds in the city, so security always comes first. Please follow me."
"By the way, I have yet to introduce myself. I am Adrian, the reception steward of this office."
Gauss stepped onto a central platform resembling an elevator, and as the blond man pressed his palm, the circular platform quickly ascended.
The platform ascended for quite a while before gradually stopping.
"We’ve arrived."
As Gauss stepped out of the "elevator," he was greeted with a magnificent hall.
Banners with the Golden Eagle family’s emblem hung everywhere.
The people walking around wore combat cloaks; most of them appeared to be combat personnel, with few clerks.
The blond man led Gauss to an office to discuss the specific details of the commission.
After verifying the credentials Gauss provided.
The blond man straightforwardly ordered someone to fetch the remaining 400 gold coins of the commission from the cash reserve.
"As for the wilderness wolf you mentioned..." the blond man lifted his head from the files, pushing a few yellowed parchments and a somewhat rough hand-drawn map toward Gauss, his expression growing more serious.