"You bet. See, didn't I tell you that you'd still get interesting information out of this chat? So, can Alto buy the house or not?" (Mizuki)
After several minutes of gazing at me emptily, Dargo nods his head in a daze.
"Uh…yes, I suppose so. If it's just the house itself, I think a fair price would be five platinum coins." (Dargo)
"Great, can you show us the house's location on a map? Alto and I will go look at it really quick, then teleport back here in the next hour or so to finalize a purchase." (Mizuki)
Some of the color has returned to Dargo's face, and he nods approvingly. He walks over to one of the shelves in his office, and he grabs a large piece of paper. Then, he goes to another area and pulls a key out of a box before returning to his desk. He hands the key to me.
"Here, this is the key to the mansion. It works on every inside and outside door." (Dargo)
I give my thanks to Dargo and toss the key in my item box. Then, Dargo outlines directions for us on the map, making sure to highlight any landmarks that might aid us on the journey.
"Alright, thanks Dargo! We'll be back soon. Alto, are you…" (Mizuki)
I turn to ask Alto if she's ready, but I can see her already staring at me greedily. I sigh deeply. Yeah, she's ready.
I nod at her, and she instantly latches onto me. Dargo raises his eyebrow at me curiously, but I just shrug.
I apply a concealment spell to us, and teleport outside Avalon. Then, I launch us into the air and begin flying northwest, towards the mansion. As we speed off towards our destination, Alto squeals in delight as she looks down below.
Jeez…she's such a flight junkie.
I fly slower than usual, and course correct us a few times based on landmarks, but the house eventually comes into view after ten or fifteen minutes. It's situated in the middle of a forest clearing and doesn't have any adjacent buildings. I set us down in front of it.
The mansion is three stories tall, and probably fifty meters wide by thirty meters deep. The frame is made of a tan-colored stone, and there are huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows lining the front of the house on all levels. In the front center of the mansion, a stone porch leads up to double doors made of solid looking wood.
Alto and I walk over to unlock the front doors, then step inside. It's dim, but I notice several magic-powered chandeliers and other light sources around me.
I will my magic to spill out and envelop the house, then seep into those devices. After a few moments, the mansion starts lighting up all around us, and I can take in our surroundings appropriately for the first time.
We're standing at the front of a huge reception hall. A staircase starts near the back wall, then splits into two staircases that curve away towards opposing walls, up to the second floor. Furniture covered in sheets can be seen all over the reception hall and visible parts of the second floor, and I can't see any dust or structural damage. The place has obviously been well cared for and left pre-furnished.
Alto and I begin exploring the mansion floor-by-floor. The first floor houses the reception hall, a kitchen, a dining room, and a couple of small guest rooms.
The second floor has six large bedrooms, a private library, a conference room, and a cozy family room with a nice fireplace. There is also a large bathing room, with a raised stone bath the size of a pool that has enchantments for water dispensing, draining, and heating.
The third floor is essentially just one large open space, lined with windows. There's high ceilings and no obvious furnishings, so I think this may have been a ballroom or sparring room.
After our self-guided tour, we return outside the front of the house, and I lock the doors behind us. I turn to Alto with a questioning gaze.
"So, Alto, what do you think?" (Mizuki)
Alto smirks back at me, but I can tell she's excited.
"It definitely looks like something I'd own. I guess I can tolerate a few cumbersome guests here, too." (Alto)
"Fufufufu…how lucky we are, to have such a generous lady of the house. Well then, I guess I should get Dargo's money ready." (Mizuki)
I pull Alara's platinum coin from my item box, then I sit down on the ground to work. I focus on using my alchemy spell to covert the earth below us into a block of pure platinum. I've gotten quite proficient with this spell over time, to the point that I can form a full softball sized ball of gold out of earth almost instantaneously.
I've also noticed that the time it takes for me to do the spell increases with the complexity of what I'm synthesizing. Pure elements are by far the easiest, and the smaller the atomic structure, the better. Once I start trying to synthesize molecules, it becomes very difficult very quickly.
So far, molecules with more than ten atoms, I can't synthesize at all – visualizing covalent bonds at the subatomic level is difficult. Even synthesizing water is slow.
Filling my canteen through alchemy takes almost a full minute, while just pulling it from the air takes a few seconds. Meanwhile, the damn people in Azura are filling bathtubs with the stuff. I really plan to grill Azazel about where the hell that water comes from when I next see him.
Synthesizing a platinum ingot the size of a tv remote ends up taking me about ten seconds this first try. After, I get to work on breaking the ingot into coin-sized fragments and molding them in the image of my reference coin. After about twenty minutes of work, I have around thirty platinum coins.
I don't really want those loose in my coin purse, so I synthesize a small iron box to store them in. I put six platinum coins in my purse, the rest in the iron box, and then toss both back in my item box. I stand up and dust myself off, then look at Alto to see her giving me a disapproving look.
"I rationally accept the points you made about why you obtain money this way, but it still feels very wrong to me." (Alto)
I shrug at her and smirk.
"I could always just threaten to destroy cities for extortion money, so you let me know if you'd prefer that instead! I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable with how we fund all our charity work, after all." (Mizuki)
Alto becomes annoyed, and she responds with heavy sarcasm.
"Charity work, huh? When was that? I must have missed any that happened after you freed us." (Alto)
I raise my eyebrows at her.
"Off the top of my head? Getting Alara out of power, and now helping her with the development of her territory. I also found the wife and son of one of the men who died on your outreach trip to the wolf-kin tribe, saved the boy from being killed in the street, and then left them enough money to live comfortably for the next thirty years. Finally, there's the S-rank promotion." (Mizuki)
Alto's eyes go wide at the mention of Kara and Cera, and all signs of her joking disappear.
"You didn't tell me about that! What…were their names?" (Alto)
"Kara is the mother, Cera is the kid, and he's about eight. Both have dark brown hair and eyes. Know them?" (Mizuki)
Alto shakes her head, but I see tears welling up in her eyes.
"No…not by name at least. Still, they could be the family of someone who traveled with me. Thank you, Mizuki." (Alto)
She leans over and hugs me tightly for a few minutes, and I hug her back. Eventually, she lets go and wipes her eyes, then her characteristic smirk returns.
"I don't know what this nonsense about your S-rank promotion being charity work is though." (Alto)
I give her a condescending smile.
"Oh, no? Tell me, what do you think is going to happen when the human countries learn that there is a human with access to the Elven Kingdom?" (Mizuki)
Alto gives me a puzzled look.
"Obviously every lowlife who'd like to exploit my people will come harass…" (Alto)
Alto's eyes go wide part of the way through her statement, and she looks to me expectantly.
"So, when you told Gerard you were counting on the attention that promotion would bring from the human countries, you meant…" (Alto)
I nod her way with a menacing smile.
"That's right, Alto. Every rat that wants to traffic in kidnapped elves that I find, I'm going to use to learn as much as I can about the underground slave trade. Then, I'm going to raze that entire industry. I'm going to leave legends of their destruction so terrifying, that nobody will ever think about kidnapping non-humans again. I don't plan to let the legal slave trade get away with it either, but this comes first." (Mizuki)
Alto looks at me with a mix of anticipation and gratitude, then she gives me a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
"Good…they won't find any sympathy from me. You have my full support, Mizuki. Anything you need, you just have to ask." (Alto)
I nod at her appreciatively, then we let an eerie silence envelop the area. Neither of us is troubled by the task ahead – after all, the blood of kidnappers and slavers washes off easier than most.