Anton woke up the next day in his bed, not knowing how he had gotten there, with a raging headache. He couldn’t believe how painful it was and didn’t know how people could drink till they were in a drunken stupor if they knew that the next day they would experience a hangover that would result in such a tremendous headache.

He immediately equipped the Cleansing Aura to remove all the toxins remaining in his body and switched to the Prayer Aura to heal himself and the Vigor Aura to restore his stamina. Since he smelled worse than death, he also cleaned everything that he owned in the room with his Cleaning spell.

Not satisfied with he cleaning spell, Anton went to the bathroom, filled the bathtub with mana water, heated it with one of his fire spells, and soaked himself until all traces of the smell of vomit were gone. Once he was done bathing, Anton heard a knock on his door.

“Anton, there’s a messenger from the Mage Guild. It’s a letter for you,” Ronia said through the door.

Anton immediately opened the bedroom door and received the letter from Ronia after thanking her. His butler then asked if he would like to eat breakfast, and he nodded. After Ronia left, he immediately read the letter. It was from his father informing him that he would arrive in the kingdom of Ormunda in a month, and not to send letters anymore, because starting the next day, they would be on the road.

Anders would be bringing with him Selena’s younger sister, who was 14 years old, her younger brother, who was 7 years old, and a very old man who was the remaining retainer who stayed with Selena’s family to take care of her younger siblings. Anton’s father was also going to be bringing with him Norma’s parents and Belue’s aunt and her maid servant, who were their remaining family.

Anton was surprised to read that his assumption about his father was correct, about forming a group to delve into dungeons. Anders told him through the letters that he would be forming a mercenary group, and he already had three members with him.

Since his father was arriving in a month, he wanted to make sure that Anders and the family members that he would be bringing with him would arrive in a well-established house so they could begin their rest from the rigors of the road. That meant that he wouldn’t wait for his father before buying a manor. He would go ahead and purchase one and make sure that everything would be ready even before his father and the others arrived.

“Ronia! Torbin! Come with me to the property agent. I’ll be buying a manor today since my father will arrive in a month, together with our family members. I want my father and my relatives to have a home to rest when they arrive.”

Ronia and Torbin met him in the living room. They looked a little startled at what Anton had said.

“I thought that you’d wait until your father arrived?” Torbin asked.

“I realized that just like me, my father doesn’t know enough about Ormunda to be able to choose the best home for us here, and would probably rely on agents to select the best one, so I might as well do it myself. At least, by the time they arrived, they could just relax and focus on other business.”

Torban, Mary, and the other guard that Anton had forgotten the name of would remain in the house. At the very least, this time, it would be Ronia who would be dealing with Ormunda’s property agent, and he would just be there to check out the manor and give the payment.

“Is your budget still around 200,000 gold coins?” Ronia asked while they were walking.

“More or less, but we don’t really need to purchase something that would cost us that much. As long as it's big enough for my whole family and retainers and comfortable enough, I will be fine with that. Also, let’s try to find the safest location in the kingdom.”

“The safest location in Ormunda is somewhere near the center, but the cost of mansions there would be astronomical,” Torbin said.

When they arrived at the real estate company, Ronia and Torbin were the ones who spoke with the agents there. When Ronia said that their budget was around 100,000 gold coins, a senior agent was assigned to them.

The senior agent then led them to the first property. It was half an hour away by carriage from the real estate company. Anton declined the manor because it was near some factories that produced leather goods. He had read somewhere that those kinds of factories would produce an awful stink sometimes.

Then they were led nearer the center of the city. The mansion was smaller than the first one, but the fact that the nearest neighbor was a little farther away, making the area quieter, and the fact that the other residents seemed to be important citizens of the kingdom, would make the area safer. The mansion was four stories high, surrounded by a large garden. Anton was enamored of the beauty of the mansion. Unfortunately, there was no furniture inside, but he could imagine himself and his family living there comfortably. He decided on the mansion even though the price was astronomical at 180,000 gold coins. Not only that, it has a yearly tax of 10,000 gold coins. If that was what it would take to make the area safer, then Anton was willing to pay that amount.

Anton whispered to Ronia that he liked the mansion and would like to purchase it. He almost laughed when he saw that Ronia’s expression had become serious, as if she was girding her loins for battle.

Ronia told the agent that she was interested in purchasing the property then the battle for supremacy started. Anton's jaw dropped at what came out of the mouth of his butler and the agent. He thought he knew a lot about haggling since he had seen them in movies and shows, but it appeared that he was ignorant. The vile things that came out of the mouth of Ronia were so dreadful, but the surprising part was that the agent wasn’t someone who couldn’t fight that sort of specialized battle. The agent, too, was a master.

The funny part was that both Anton and Torbin looked at Ronia and the agents' negotiation with wide eyes, as if they were children looking at something so unbelievable that they didn’t know if they were allowed to witness something so out of their league.

Anton didn’t know who won, but Ronia managed to bring down the price of the mansion to 150,000 gold coins and the annual property tax to 8000 gold coins. The negotiation between Anton’s butler and the property agent lasted for an exhausting three hours.

While they were on the way back to the real estate company to settle the payments and the paperwork, Ronia whispered to Anton that she had lost that fight. She told him that it was expected that she would lose since she wasn’t an expert negotiator. To be honest, Anton was impressed that she managed to bring down the price because if he were the one dealing with the agent, he was sure that, instead of paying less, more than likely, he would be paying more in the guise of additional hidden fees or something.