The residential area was very peaceful, there was still people wandering about in every street. But the sheer amount decreased greatly. The streets were more calm and there wasn't as much noise as the other central areas of the enormous city of Stronghold. The houses here all looked very fancy as well.
The biggest ones went as tall as having five floors, while the smallest had two floors. We took a three-floor house with a front yard and backyard for Erika who said she wanted an area to plant her herbs and other things, I couldn't help but agree with her, planting herbs and other things is essential for our production-based classes as well.
The yards were immensely bigger than we expected, and it felt like we were living in a fancy noble's house all my ourselves. The front garden was even decorated with flowers already, and there was a small fountain too.
"This is the place I already reserved, three floor houses are usually the norm for most students, and I think it has a nice price too." Evelyn said. "We'll split the price together. I could easily pay it for you guys, but the rules say I cannot simply maintain you with all your necessities. The rules even state that students must look for each other and their expenses.
Don't worry, there are many ways to earn money as well, primarily the dungeon, the adventurer guild's quests, and selling products you make."
"So how much's the price for this big house?" Wondered Eric, half-nervously.
"Oh, it is around three million Telis a month." Said Evelyn with a smile.
Everyone except me and Elfriedden reacted the same. I was surprised even Alberta cried a bit, seeing how she was a princess of the dwarven country. Maybe she didn't brought as many funds.
"The actual price is five million a month but we've received a great discount as a full elite party. don't worry, if we divide it by all nine of us, then we have to pay around… 333333 Telis." Said Evelyn. "…I think. I am not good at math."
"Even five million would be easy to afford." Sighed Elfriedden. "I am surprised by your reaction, did you thought these fancy looking houses in the middle of one of the most prestigious cities in this continent would be any cheaper?
Well, students that don't have money to afford houses usually take the academy dormitories, although they're not very spacious and you need to share them with usually three more people."
"Ugh, no way…" Erika sighed. "Even 300k Telis is a lot for me… How many gold coins is that…?"
"Erika I've got most of your funds because you told me you couldn't hold them. We've made a lot of money in these last years by selling valuable spirit tree branches and potions, so you've got a few millions already." I told her.
"Eh?! I do?!" She asked in surprise.
"Yes… In fact you have around three hundred million?" I sighed.
Some years ago, Erika asked me to become her personal bank. Since then, I've been storing her money for her. I had some the idea of slowly taking some interests from her, but I never really did it.
"EEEH?! So much?" She asked.
"You've been selling incredibly valuable things." I sighed. "Of course you do!"
I also had my own capital mixed in there. But more importantly, even if I mixed everyone's capital, we still had less than five hundred million. It wasn't enough to buy a house, a house costs between five hundred or six hundred million Telis, up to a billion if its in this residence.
That we only have to pay around 3 million a month is already God-given, and its obvious they're greatly reducing the actual prices of monthly rent because we are students of the academy. Normal people would get all their money drained.
The money we have is certainly enough to gear ourselves up with some more preparations, but it'll go away in less than a few months if we don't earn anything or make more money in the meantime. We won't even be able to survive until the end of the year with it. We need to make more money, tons of it.
The dungeon and also selling mass produced items through my Alchemy Recipe Book is the key in here. As long as we can manage to do this much, we'll be able to survive and even more, prosper and make more and more money for the future prospects of my plans.
"I can see you've got a good capital." Evelyn nodded. "I am surprised you've made so much for coming from a commoner beginnings, you must be a genius at making money."
Well, she doesn't know we grew all those Yggdrasil Trees and also mass produced expensive medicinal herbs and the like using Erika's Dryad powers with Eric and Elizabeth's magic combined into the equation alongside my own Skills and variety of Magic Spells and Rune Inscription…
"Y-Yeah, we worked hard…" Erika said while grinning.
"It was indeed hard, actually." Said Elizabeth. "I had to use so much Mana…"
"Anyways, are all the papers done for?" I asked.
"Yeah mostly everything." Evelyn nodded. "For the moment, you kids should get used to your new house. I'll collect the rent's payment at the end of the week so you better get your money ready."
"We'll do so." I said with a nod.
We entered the house without further ado, being greeted by the smell of wood permeating the entire home. Its entire design was indeed fancy, a spiraling staircase led to the second and then the third floor. There was a large kitchen, two bathrooms in the second and third floor, and over ten medium-sized rooms.
"You guys can have a room for yourselves in here easily." Said Evelyn. "I'll go find my own room, so for now bring your things and pick your rooms."