Chapter 64 - Another Month, Another Sixty Saved
"Hurry up, woman."
"Sweetie. If you nag me just one more time..."
"You'll whut."
"You'll be sleeping in a barn for the next week."
"Ehn... slept in worse places."
"Not the point."
"Well... whatever." Zen spins around on her heel to allow her moody wife some space to pack the rest of her things, and withdraws from their shared room to poke her head into one a few doors down. "You girls ready?"
"For the fifth time, yes."
"Sixth. She yelled through the wall once."
"Ah. Right." Jessie slides a wry grin from her gorgeous puppy to the impatient feline. "What's takin' Jo so long?"
The small Scout issues a snort of annoyance. "Gods know. You say good-bye to everyone?"
"That party last night wasn't decent enough?"
Zen innocently blinks twice, then leaves the silly witches behind in order to give another fare-well to the girls on duty in the kitchens.
Naturally, a few of the teens shed tears, though it's unkown if it was joy or sorrow, since the past three weeks had been extremely rough for them, and just after she gives them all hugs, kisses, and ensures they promise to keep up the rigorous training-regimen they'd been following, Joanne shows up to drag her away.
It's just a short walk down the frozen-mud road to the teleportation business, and the pair of space-time mages there tele-magic them to their latest destination.
Of course, the pair of Beastkin take a moment to ensure their assets are still the same as ever, then the quartet of founders move out into snow-storm racking the town of Galtaire. "What is this shite?!"
"Sweetie... it's winter. What'd you expect?"
"Tch. Whatever. Let's get to the damned Merchant Guild before I freeze my bloody tail off."
Mishone, unlike the other three femmes, actually loosens her scarf to let in a little more of the wonderful, blustery wind. "This isn't bad at all."
"S-seriously?!"
The white-furred Husky-kin looks to her very bundled wife and offers a shrug of her shoulders. "It's a lot colder in your parents' territory, though."
"I-I don't remember it... being this bad."
"You used to have a little more padding, though."
"D-don't remind me."
"I miss the old Jessie..."
"Mish!"
"What? It's true." Mishone flashes a teasing grin towards her lover's barely-visible eyes, then links an arm in one of her mate's own in order to help guide her through the calf-high snow drifts. "But I guess this means we'll have to cuddle more, just to keep you warm."
"Ever the newly-weds." Joanne offers a musical giggle through her muffler as she grips the teenaged human's other arm in an effort to keep the poor girl upright. "Mind the ice, dear."
"W-why don't we just... o-open a couple of h-hotels in Zeitstad, instead?"
"'Cause it stinks of goats, there. Obviously." Zen issues a snort of annoyance at the thought of the un-bearable stench as she trudges out onto the main street, then briefly pauses to look from one end of the empty road to the other. Not very surprising that they were the only fools to be outside. "Jo? Which spots did we buy?"
"Never heard, sweetie."
"Hmph. Better be good ones. Budgeted half again as much as the ones in Kileah." The small Scout starts in motion once more, grumbling the entire way over to the Merchant Guild, then she yanks open the door and motions her troop inside before following suit.
"Close the bloody door!"
"Yeah, yeah. Keep yer panties on." After tugging the portal securely back into the frame, Zen un-wraps her thick scarf and flips back her hood before looking to the paunched, older human man glaring at them from behind his reception-desk. "We're here to see Bubbles."
"Who?"
"Bubbles. About the hotels we're makin'."
The chubby male offers the little Beastkin a frown at her attempt at humour. "Mister Boo-bley."
"Like I said."
"Mister Buble is currently occupied."
The small Cat-woman stores her muffler and hood into her hip-pouch, then paces over to set an elbow atop the detestable receptionist's desk. "Now, look, here. We've had a standing appointment for nearly a month. And we didn't drop nearly forty thousand gold just to get blown off."
"O-oh. You're... so you're... Mrs. Brahms associates."
"The ones looking to destroy two blocks of real-estate and build some rather fine hotels, yes."
"T-then I apologize for my rudeness. And, please, come with me."
Zen offers the idiot an un-seen frown as he scrambles to lead the way through a pair of double-doors behind his desk, but still bites her tongue to refrain from causing even more of a scene.
In short order, they're brought through the accounting-section, up a flight of stairs, then all the way towards the front of the building before being shown into an office that was the exact same as Alyssa's in Kileah.
At least in size. The furnishings, however, were extremely crude in comparison to her extremely-refined tastes.
Here, the theme was clearly wood-craft, as everywhere you cared to look, nothing but varnished grain could be seen. No cushions, no rugs, no art-work. Just wood...
And a huge man seated behind his desk.
"Mister Buble. These are Mrs. Brahms associates."
"Hm? Oh. We've been expecting you." The mountainous human slowly rises up to his full height, which would easily surpass Clara's two-and-a-bit metres, and even the Bear-kin wasn't half again as wide with toned muscle.
"My Gods. Did they drag you out of the Dungeons?"
"Mizuki!"
"Whut? I haven't seen something that big since I killed a Titan!"
The Merchant Guild's branch-head lets out a booming laugh that causes everything in the area to quake in response. "Compared to an S-ranked monster! I love it!"
"Don't eat me." Zen half-feigns a terrified expression as the male soundlessly glides over to offer his hand for a shake apiece. "What d' I gotta eat to grow that large?"
"Anything and everything! And, please, call me Arthur."
"Joanne Thatcher."
"Jessie Porraine. Pleasure."
"Mishone Inujin. Obviously, she's Mizuki Nekoyama."
"Of course. Please, have a seat over here."
"Too cheap to buy cushions, huh? You really are a Merchant." The small Scout issues a snort of amusement as she heads over to a corner festooned with bare wooden recliners. Though she wasn't about to admit it out loud, she actually appreciated the style.
"Sorry, but this' my hobby. I've always been interested in wood-craft, but I've got a better head for numbers."
"Must rip the damned trees out of the ground by hand, then." Zen neatly flops onto the deceptively-comfortable seat, then spends a few moments wriggling around to test the fit.
"Ehn... not bad."
"That means she likes it."
The short Cat-woman sends a brief glare towards her wife before returning her attention to the branch-head. "So. I take it that everything's ready on your end?"
"Yup. We've been fully stocked for a couple of weeks, now." Arthur leans a little to the side, accesses an enchanted his-pouch to withdraw a rather thick folder, then flips it open on his lap to consult the neatly-written pages within. "Let's see. Tons of hinges, latches, locks, fixtures. Tables, chairs, benches. Rugs, art-works, draperies. Lots of delicious wines and spirits, regular orders of food-stuffs are ready to go. Lamps, lanterns, cook-ware. Jugs, cups, dishes-"
"Yeah, yeah. Same as always. Tell me about the girls."
The massive human briefly glances up from the parchments, but then returns his attention to the folder in order to flip ahead by another two-dozen pages. "If I remember correctly, there were thirty human girls, and as many Beastkin... here. Six each from Hasselbeck, Fraumin, Rumitown, Lamen, Shelt, Dusselman, and Karville. So, all to the north-west."
"Good. Just like we'd wanted."
"Alright. Looks like they're all between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Former... personal attendants."
"Sex-slaves. Go ahead and call them that, male oppressor."
Arthur sends a displeased frown across the seating-area to the challenging glare of the little feline. "I have four daughters."
"Then you should be doing more to help."
"I don't have the resources to free so many girls from-"
"Spare me. Where are they?"
The huge Guild-Head needs a few moments of silence in order to clamp down on his frustrations, but finally just lets out a steadying breath as he slips into his well-practiced business role. "A third of the girls have been staying in each of three hotels. I also ensured to have associates from the Adventurers Guild on hand to provide security. Though I hear they haven't ventured out into town much, if at all."
"Gee, wonder why." Zen rolls her eyes at the thought of the bloody snow-storm, as well as the fact that each of her new Sisters had been held captive for Gods knew how many years, already. "So what spots were we able to purchase?"
After quickly averting his gaze, Arthur then softly clears his throat as a prelude for divulging some news that was not going to be well-received. "We... were only able to negotiate the sale of a single plot along the main avenue."
"Whut."
The mountainous male allows a heavy sigh to float away. "In order to stick with the budget that we were given-"
"I specified-"
"I know what you requested, and we're extremely sorry that we couldn't fullfil our promises. It's just that all of the businesses on the main street have been established for generations, already. Most would not allow us to enter into negotiations. And those that did were demanding twenty times the going rate."
"Fecking opportunists."
"Mizuki... we're the opportunists."
Zen twice glances towards the wry smile trapped on her wife's lips, then issues a snort of annoyance before dropping the matter. "So what did we get?"
"The entire second block. On the east side."
The small Scout's left eyebrow twitches in response to news. The good news. The blocks here were effectively twice the size as in Kileah, which meant that they could have just one, single, massive complex instead of two separate ones.
"If you can't tell, Mizuki's actually rather happy."
"Shut it, woman!"
"I, uh... could kinda tell." Arthur looks from the thin woman's twitching ears to her fluttering, shaggy tail, and expertly manages to conceal a grin. "In addition, we were able to come well under the allotted budget."
"How much under?"
"Thirteen hundred and sixty-three gold."
"That's it?"
"Sweetie."
"Whut. I was expecting more. Single plot. Well, whatever. Good job, I guess."
Joanne snickers at the sight of her happy kitten fidgeting atop her seat, then turns her attention to their host. "We'll have to alter our lay-out from what we've established. Do you mind holding off on the installations until tomorrow morning?"
"That's no problem. I told our workers to be ready for just that sort of thing."
"Wonderful." The red-headed healer looks to the others in her party and raises her brows in expectation. "So? Shall we find a nice, warm restaurant to work out the details in?"
"Alright."
"Sure. I could eat."
"Zen, an hour ago you ate enough for three people."
The small Cat-woman innocently blinks twice towards the grinning puppy, then dismisses the silly Dog in favour of addressing the branch-head. "We'll just be a couple hours. To decide the new layout of the stables."
"Sweetie... what about the hotel?"
"Huh? Well, whatever. Do what you want."
Joanne slowly shakes her head at the thought of her wife being so utterly devoted to the care of the equines, and yet so loathe to admit her love for them. "You know you're helping us, this time."
"Obviously? Guess which part I'm doing."
"Good. Then by the time you've completed half of the stables, we'll have the rest of the hotel finished."
"Go nuts. C'mon. I'm hungry."