Tenkomori: The Homecoming Club Conquers Another World

Chapter 49. The Abandoned Tavern

Selene is the home and birthplace of the Magic Guild.

There had been Magics' guilds or Mutual Aid Societies before that time. But the secretive wizards seldom sought help from others. The most they could do was to cooperate with their teachers and apprentices, which, combined with their small numbers, had rendered the mutual aid societies relatively unknown.

Then along came the ever-familiar Alphas Cartilard.

After announcing his retirement, he has reached a point even a genius can't understand. There are no secrets to protect now. The hero of "Multiple Chanting," Rapunas, is probably in a similar boat.

Incidentally, Alphas, whom Rapunas could not beat no matter how many times he challenged him, is the possessor of a very rare skill called "Essence of Magic". According to what he told us, everything related to magic is made more efficient. Perhaps it is the correction of power, activation speed, success probability, and magical power consumption, but if it can compete with "Multiple Chanting," it must be a powerful skill. It's a skill that could destroy a city if people have a conflict with such a thing. The aristocrats of the time must have been very concerned.

The Mutual Aid Society was reborn as a Magic Guild by these insane people. Those people imparted knowledge without hesitation, and in particular, the organization and systematization of attributes were a great help in speeding up the understanding for later mages. Selene, which was influenced by this, is now called Academic City, but it would be more appropriate to call it Magic City or a City of Magical Studies. Even the academy, which is supposed to be an educational institution for the nobility, teaches magic, and many private schools specialize in it.

And now I'm entering a branch road from the main street.

I'm heading to the Cartilard Academy of Advanced Studies, a corner of such a magical city.

I passed a carriage with a coat of arms several times.

They're probably nobles going through the admission procedures.

Mixed in with the hustle and bustle, I could also see a few current and new students. However, no one is walking around bare-chested like me. I felt a little bit out of place, but it would be pointless to mend my appearance now. In any case, I will be walking around town as I please in the future.

It seems that the procedure is done at the school building.

I lined up at the reception desk and handed in my proof of payment.

The clerk checks to make sure there are no problems, and after that, the clerk begins to explain the procedure for enrolling in the school.

The conversation was about the date, time, required items, and entering the dormitory, but I interrupted the clerk with one word.

"What–no fire?"

"Yes, sir."

The clerk seemed a little displeased to be interrupted, but that was not the point.

What do you mean by the dormitory being fire-prohibited?

"What about mixing the ingredients? And, General Tea!?, I can't even cook a meal, can I?"

"Please prepare your meals in the school building. There is a cafeteria, so there is no need to cook for yourself."

"The school building is ……. Oh, I see! You can use it 24 hours a day!"

"Haha, no way."

The clerk laughed it off lightly.

The dormitory was banned long ago due to frequent small fires and disturbances. Moreover, the school building closes at 18:00 because there will be no lecturers.

That means fire magic is out too, right? What's that? It's the knee-jerk reaction of the Magic Guild. Are they going to nurture students? What's my position now that I call it a magic city or something?

What should I do?

That's not good. If they find out, I'll get kicked out. If I do it in the garden, it won't catch fire, but it will rain and people will see me. I might as well build a hideout somewhere on the property. Or dig a basement. That would be bad. I'll be expelled from school.

Worst case scenario, I'd be restricted from working out at night. My parents' house also kept the fire attribute to a minimum. The problem is Mixing. I use healing potions casually because I make them myself, but if I buy them, I'll go broke soon.

Should I give up–give up on the dorms already?

That might be a good idea, but most lodgings are also fire-prohibited. Plus, the cost of lodging would be too much, so I'd be broke anyway. Well, there is cheap accommodation on the way to the institute. It might be for students who can't stay in the dormitory. Then, it would be cheaper than the inn, and we might be able to mix it up.

"By the way, if I withdraw from the dormitory, will I get a refund?"

"We are sorry. No refunds will be made. I'm sure that was stated on the paperwork during the enrollment process."

With a cold face, the clerk apologized.

You have to read these things carefully.

I continued my question, feeling a little tearful.

"So if I only enter the dormitory and don't return, will I have any problems?"

"No, not particularly. The academy is a place to learn. And we don't get involved in anything else."

It's more difficult to bind the nobles rather than the commoners.

The people who play around seem to throw parties and such.

I had no choice but to ask the clerk for the location of the dormitory and leave the school building.

Whatever I do, I should take a look at least once. I paid a lot of money for it. Well, my father did.

The men's dormitory was on the right side of the school building, and I picked up the key from the office on the first floor.

The room was on the fourth floor, and upon entering, I found it as spacious as a room in my parents' house and furnished with all the necessary furniture.

The view is good and I like the atmosphere, but I don't think I'll be returning to this place.

There was no contact information from the academy, so I locked the door again and left the dormitory.

◇◇◇◇

As I walk through the front door, Samini notices me and approaches me.

He glanced around, probably looking for Roland.

"This is Alter-sama, what is it?"

He spoke, his expression is slightly clouded.

It's just yesterday. The first thing that comes to mind is the incomplete paperwork.

"It's a personal matter, but there's been a little problem."

"I will come to you. Please come this way."

I explained the situation to him as he led me to the reception set the other day.

And suddenly, Samini bowed his head.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you that fire is strictly prohibited."

"No, that's not the job of a commercial guild. The academy should have notified the prospective residents to check with them."

"And yet, they don't enter the dormitories because they can't make the concoctions? I have been in this role for several years now, and this is the first time. Excuse me, Alter-sama, do you have "Mixing" skills?"

"Of course."

I take out a healing potion from the leather bag on my waist.

Receiving it from me, Samini checks the color and aroma. Roland did something similar before. By the way, this is standard quality. The good quality one step higher is all that I gave to Roland. I rarely made it.

Samini asked, "If it is standard quality?" I nodded my head in affirmation.

Then I looked at the potion again and gave a small groan.

"So much for your age. No wonder you refuse to enter the dormitory because of "Mixing"."

"You can already tell by the way it's going. I'm looking for a room where I can compound. Is there anywhere affordable?"

Samini raises his eyebrows a little and crosses his fingers.

"That may be difficult. There are several rooms available for academy students, but most of the rooms are not self-catering. The landlord would be responsible if you started a fire. A few rooms are available, but they are all occupied at this time of year."

"Well, …… this is a problem."

"So here's my suggestion…"

Samini cuts me off.

"Why don't you rent a house?"

"A house?"

"If it's your home, there are no restrictions on the use of fire. If you are going to prepare the mixture, you will be dealing with a large number of materials. I doubt that a single room would fit them all."

"That's too much to think of. But a whole house? How much would it cost to rent?"

"I'll go check."

Samini got up and disappeared into the back.

A house. The money I have earned in the last two years is about thirty gold coins. If I include the rest of the money I sent home, I have 66 gold coins. I think that's enough.

After a while, Samini returned, but her expression was not good.

"I am sorry. We proposed, but all rooms are rented all over the place."

"I wouldn't mind paying a little more."

No, the more expensive they are, the more quickly they fill up.

So the nobles are renting.

Dormitories don't allow servants, and nobles who are left can't survive without someone helping them.

Hmm, that means–isn't there any room downstairs?

Samini affirms my question, but his expression doesn't change.

"Of course there is, but it is not a house where the son of a nobleman would live."

"Depends on the degree. A large, sturdy house of brick or stone. Anything else, I don't care."

He still balked, but in the end, he agreed to show me around.

And so Samini and I took the commercial guild's carriage up the main street to the north gate. And then down a side street to the end of the street.

Gradually, I began to understand why he was reluctant.

As the carriage proceeded, the atmosphere around us began to change.

We were now in the northeastern part of Selene.

 In most towns, land prices soar the closer you get to the main street or the city center. Conversely, the further away from the gate, the cheaper it becomes and in some cases, it becomes a slum. This is the case here.

Most of the buildings were wooden and all of them were old.

It was similar to the area where Nerio lived, but I felt the atmosphere was not as good.

It was a slum or at least one step closer to a slum.

The carriage moves forward until it's as close as the outer wall and finally

stops.

"This way, sir."

Samini shows us a two-story stone building.

It was old and had several large cracks running through it. It was in pretty bad shape, but the building was larger than I had imagined.

Samini opened the double doors and invited me inside.

Right after passing through the front door, I'm inside a large room.

The ceilings were higher than those of a normal house.

"It's suddenly so big. Could it have been a commercial building?"

"You guessed it. Decades ago, this was a tavern."

So that's why the arches are decorated.

I move my gaze from the pillars to the arches to the ceiling.

The decoration is pretty simple. They didn't spend a lot of money on it.

Maybe they didn't have any good land, or they were trying to sell to the poor.

Either way, it was a reckless move. No one but the neighbors would notice a place like this. Or was that their goal? A bar is known only to those in the know. Not bad, but as long as it was closed, it probably didn't work out.

After a quick survey of the large room, I check out the spacious kitchen and the water.

"Is the drainage working?"

"It's fine. There is a shared well nearby. The only problem, however, is upstairs."

I went upstairs and agreed.

"I see, I can't recommend this."

Looking up, I saw a beautiful blue sky and spring clouds drifting gracefully.

The roof and some of the walls had collapsed, and fallen leaves had accumulated.

There is no security or anything. You can get in all you want.

"There was a plan to repair it, but they use the cheap stone, and it turned out to be cheaper to rebuild than to fix it halfway. Moreover, the location is so bad that it is unprofitable, so we are leaving it unattended."

As I listen to the story, I tap my foot on the second floor.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to collapse that easily. The stone is strong, even if it's cheap. Besides, of the two rooms on the second floor, only one of them has a view of the sky, so it's only a matter of not using it temporarily.

Any other problems?"

"That's all. The rest of the house has a basement and a backyard."

The basement was a warehouse and somewhat cooler.

There's nothing out of the ordinary, so I went out the back door of the water plant.

"So this is the backyard. It's surprisingly spacious."

"It seems to have been used as a place to park horses and to store luggage."

The backyard was overgrown with weeds.

The backyard's an area that is separated by an alley. And all the buildings face the other side.

It looks like they don't have to worry about being seen.

I stepped on the weeds as I looked around.

"It looks a little like our yard, doesn't it?"

Samini tilts her head.

"We have a training ground in our yard. I dared to leave it in disrepair. My grandfather says there is no such thing as a good battlefield."

Along with Samini, who was impressed, I looked at the backyard.

It hadn't even been half a month.

And yet, the feel of the dirt on my feet was somehow nostalgic.

I gave a small nod.

"Okay, let's do it here."

"Uh–wait a minute."

I came to myself and Samini stopped me.

"Give me a few days and I'll find you a better place. We have a lot of repairs to do here, and we don't expect to get a tenant anytime soon. You don't have to make a decision now, do you?"

"No problem. How much is the rent?"

Still, he reminded me again and again.

I could see his point, but I didn't want to start my time at the academy in a precarious position. Besides, the place was not as bad as Samini said. The location is bad, and there is a problem with the view of the sky from the second floor.

Samini tried to get me to back off, but I finally gave up when I realized I wasn't going to withdraw.

"This is an annual contract, and the price is 30 gold coins, including land tax."

It's almost all of the money left over from the money I sent him.

I'll have to live on what I have for the time being.

"Okay, I'll take care of it. The amount of money I have on deposit will be enough.

"Yes, I will take care of it. Also, this backyard is included in the lease, so please feel free to use it. You are not required to return the property to its original condition unless it is in a very bad state."

"Restore it to this–what condition is it in?"

"Oh, that's right."

We looked at the backyard again and laughed quietly.