Chapter 237 - Buying A Manor!
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As Frank spoke with Henrietta, he decided to ask her what exactly happened to her and why would her brother kill her… he really did not believe that he would do such a thing simply out of envy, there should be some other kind of hidden motive.
"So why exactly did he kill you? And what is the deal with your brother? What's is he planning?" asked Frank.
"He killed me because he was envious of me! As the next heir that my father preferred, I would soon receive a territory for myself, but he seemed to be envious of such a thing, so he killed me!" said Henrietta.
"(Of course that's not true… If he is really a Rank 4 Magus, I don't think his reason would be as feeble…)" thought Frank.
Frank felt that this was kind of awkward… He knew that such a feeble reason was not really the truth, but as Henrietta was just a young woman that seemed rather ignorant about the true intentions of her brother, this was the best she could come out with as a reason for what he did.
"Do you know anything other than that? Like… was your brother planning something? Did you see him doing something weird? Also, what's his name?" asked Frank through telepathy to Henrietta's soul.
"Oh! I saw him the other day doing some weird witchcraft! But I really did not pay much attention to it… I mean, he is a Magus, so Magus does magic stuff, right? Also, there was this weird lady who seemed kind of mysterious! I think she is a demon or something," said Henrietta.
Frank furrowed his eyebrows as he heard Henrietta speak.
Her brother was indeed doing something shady, he was practicing "some weird witchcraft" and was hanging around with a Demoness. Although Frank did not have any bad impression of demons due to the first he had ever meet being Vheslia, who was a sweet little woman, he still found it weird.
As this country was filled with beast-kin, seeing other races was still a rare occurrence, even more one of such races being at the side of a man that belonged to such a family as Eastgrande.
"A demon… what's your brother's name?" asked Frank.
"Oh, he's Gustav Eastgrande!" sad Henrietta.
"Can you tell me more about the witchcraft? And what is the appearance of the woman?" asked Frank.
"I don't really know what he was really doing… He was like, doing some kind of magic circles around a large area of the underground dungeon while offering what seemed to be a lot of people's bones, blood, and… erm, I think I also saw a pile of Mana Cores," said Henrietta.
"That's definitely shady. But I did not know that in this world there were such things… (So even the memory of Gods is useless if these guys had simply been enclosed in their Divine Realms… They just don't know anything about the world…)" sighed Frank.
"Me neither! Maybe he is an evil person? Well, of course, he is evil! He killed me!" said Henrietta.
Frank felt like it was rather hard to speak with Henrietta, she was kind of stupid.
"And the appearance? Hmm… I do not… Well, she had red skin and glowing crimson eyes…" said Henrietta.
"Red skin and glowing crimson eyes… Well, what else-"
"Frank, I brought you some, I have never tasted something like this before… I guess a lot of advancements in sweets have happened since I stopped living in the big city," said Gwendolyn, walking towards Frank and sitting at his side, giving him a pot of ice cream, it resembled those of earth.
But it did not seem too far-fetched for a world similar to earth but with magic to develop things such as ice cream.
Frank decided to leave Henrietta for later, enjoying the ice cream with Gwendolyn and then finally reaching the area where they would be buying the manor.
It was a large, yellow-colored building where many rich-looking people entered and left, there were paved stairs that led into the building, and there were a few people in carts around the building, selling even more food.
"This place is the real estate of the Vargrand Family, I know an old man here that will sell us a manor. I already got everything ready, so let's get inside!" said Vheslia, leading the party.
Even as a Demon, Vheslia was well-known within some areas of the capital due to being an ex-soldier and a very talented alchemist, now that she was a Rank 4 Magus, she was perhaps even more respected…
As Frank and the rest of his party entered, most of the people there that ranged from Rank 1 to 3 were surprised by the mana they exuded.
Their power alone seemed to make these rich people intimidated…
Especially Frank, who was someone of Rank 5.
Vheslia led the party, walking towards the front desk, where a young raccoon-kin girl attended them.
"H-Hello, is there something you might… need?" she asked shyly.
"We come to meet Gabriel, tell him that it's Vheslia! He'll know!" said Vheslia.
"A-Alright then…" said the girl, as she hurriedly ran upstairs.
After a few minutes, she came running back, panting.
"Hahh… Lord Gabriel has called you to his office, please follow me…" she sighed.
As they walked upstairs and reached the office of the man Vheslia called "Gabriel", they were greeted by what seemed to be a man of a similar subspecies than Grandwing, a Bird-kin man of the crane-kin.
"Oh, welcome, welcome! But if it is not Vheslia! Been a month since we last saw, and you are… Already Rank 4?!" asked the man in surprise.
"Well, that's how things are. Anyways, Gabriel, we have come to buy the manor now!" said Vheslia.
Gabriel was part of the Vargrand Family, which had a monopoly over several properties and lands that they sold for hefty prices.
He was a rather gentle young man that knew Vheslia from some time, as he had requested her help to teach his children magic, alongside a bit of alchemy.
After such first interactions, the man grew fond of the demon woman and her talent, so he employed her several times to craft him materials and potions, even makings several deals with her, buying potions and other magic items in batches.
"Oh, that one… you finally got the money, I assume? I have been saving it for a few years already… Well, good thing no one buys it because a lot of people died there…" laughed Gabriel, he had short white hair and golden eyes, alongside a slender complexion, based on his aura, he seemed to be Rank 2 Upper Stage, which was considered strong in Terra's society.
"We got it! Here," said Vheslia, as she grabbed a large leather bag of gold coins.
"Y-You really got it… one hundred gold coins… W-Well, the manor is yours then. I don't want to ask how you got so much money because all of your party is Rank 4 and that young man there is Rank 5… I think. I bet you fought some big monster and got tons of money, didn't you?" asked Grabiel.
"Well…" said Frank, recalling having fought the powerful Abyssal Horror, three Gods, and then an army of Miasma Spawns…
"Something like that…" said Frank.
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