Chapter 11: Preparation IV - House Seeking
Annabelle hummed as she carefully placed a stack of books into a metal box. At the top of the stack was the latest issue of her favorite mech periodical, the New Mech Times. After giving it another thought, she took out the book and put it to the side.
She wasn’t done reading it and while she had access to it on her comms, it just wasn’t the same.
With the click of a button, the inside of the box began to shrink, a strange material blowing up until all the books were securely held in place, ensuring they wouldn’t slide around when Annabelle moved it.
That box joined four other boxes that contained her clothes and other belongings that would fit, such as her mobile VR module.
Despite having filled up so many boxes that were half a meter long in every direction, she wasn’t nearly done. As she stepped back and surveyed the room, trying to figure out what to tackle next, she saw that all that remained were her dolls.
Dolls and plushies sitting lined up on her bed, on the floor, on the shelves... everywhere.
For the first time that she could remember, Annabelle wondered if it was possible that she had too many dolls. But she couldn’t get rid of any of them since many of them were Belevere’s presents to her.
Her musing was interrupted by Belevere sticking her head into her room.
“Anne, do we really have to pack up so soon?” Belevere asked, with the tiniest hint of a whine in her voice.
Annabelle didn’t even turn around. “Yes. It doesn’t feel real until we have a house together, so I want to buy one as soon as possible. Besides, the sooner we’re out, the sooner you can get away from those gnats still staying here.”
Belevere didn’t say anything as she thought about her words for a bit. “That makes sense.”
The gnats referred to their neighbors.
As soon as they came back to the dorms, a bunch of their neighboring students of the same graduating year had come bearing gifts, most or all of them seeking to be acquainted with the new knight. A few came just to see what was going on.
For many, it would be their first and last time speaking directly with nobility.
At first, Annabelle had patiently greeted them, accepted whatever they bought or didn’t, and then talked with them a bit. After getting to know them for a bit, she’d either turn them away or exchanged contact information with them so they could get in touch later if they were curious about the faction.
Then after nearly an hour of answering the door, Annabelle finally hung a do-not-disturb sign and began to pack up, ordering Belevere to do so too.
Belevere had obeyed reluctantly for a bit, but now she was bugging Annabelle again.
“We still haven’t found a house yet, though,” Belevere pointed out. “Shouldn’t we wait until after we do all that?”
“You’re right.” Annabelle nodded as she turned around, only to almost jump back in surprise. Belevere was closer than she’d thought!
Her friend was leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed. She had put her long black hair in a ponytail, but a few strands that slipped Belevere’s attention now hung down in a silky loop, lying on her shoulder. She had switched from her uniform into a loose t-shirt that hung down just far enough to reveal a hint of collarbone. Over it all was a denim jacket.
Annabelle’s heart skipped a bit and she spun around to face away from Belevere before she realized what she was doing.
As she calmed herself down, she coughed to hide her blunder. “Okay, so considering how much we have, we can afford basically anything as long as it’s not too luxurious. We have a lot to choose from.”
Their combined budget was nearly three hundred and forty thousand marges, mostly owing to the performance in the AMI Knighting Tournament.
The AMI Knighting Tournament was an event sponsored by the Arvent House directly. Naturally, the rewards for participating were quite lucrative at all levels. Considering the Arvent House that ruled this planet controlled a not-insignificant fraction of the Tamsel III’s total economy, forking out a load of money to participants of their annual tournament was no big deal.
All participants received twenty thousand marges for each battle they won in the first tournament, deposited directly into their student accounts. Annabelle, losing in her third third battle, received forty thousand marges.
Since Belevere won all five of her matches, she received a hundred thousand. She dropped out of the tournament on her own right after in protest for the disregard shown for Annabelle.
Although Annabelle was happy Belevere cared for her so much, money was money and Belevere probably could have rolled over her competition in the final tournament. When she found out that Belevere passed over such an easy win, she gave Belevere such an earful.
Fortunately, owing to Belevere’s status as an expert candidate, Baron Arvent treated her as if she had won the tournament and rewarded her another copy of the final prize, as well as knighting her alongside the real winner of the tournament: Matt Haines.
Altogether, Belevere got almost three hundred thousand marges out of the tournament.
Even though they had over three hundred thousand marges, Annabelle was reluctant to spend them.
“Anne. Be reasonable. Why do we have to buy a condominium if we can afford an actual detached house?” Belevere asked.
Annabelle stubbornly stayed on the page displaying the list of condominiums without replying.
“Anne? Answer me, or I’ll pick a house and buy it myself. Then we’ll have to live apart.” With that threat, Belevere stepped aside and opened her own comms, about to navigate to a house listing site.
Annabelle quickly dropped her sulking. “Wait, don’t!” she said, grabbed Belevere’s hand, pulling it away so she couldn’t navigate her comms.
Belevere looked at her with her eyebrows raised expectantly.
Annabelle stared at the ground, embarrassed. She couldn’t bear to face Belevere as she gave her reason. “Well... I promised that I’d be the one to win and buy the house. So I kind of still wanted to stick to that promise by contributing as much as I could,” she muttered.
“A condominium is pretty much the most cost effective thing we can buy.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, ready for Belevere to point out her childishness. She hated it when people called her a child, but this time she deserved it. Instead, she felt a hand reach into her view and cold fingers touch her chin. Belevere gently lifted her face, forcing her to look at Belevere directly.
Unsure what to do, she froze. After Belevere studied her for a bit more, she found herself immobilized by an embrace. She gasped in surprise when Belevere suddenly hugged her.
“W-what is it?”
“Anne, you’re so foolish,” Belevere chided. “Some promises should be kept, while others really can’t be helped. That promise was of the latter kind.”
She ran her hand through Annabelle’s hair, smoothing it again.
“Let’s look at a house together. It has to be one we both agree on, okay?”
Annabelle nodded, letting Belevere take the lead. She held the hand that her comms were on forward and between the two of them so Belevere could easily see too. She reluctantly greyed out all the condominiums, expanding the search to more expensive options.
You get what you paid for, so the houses they looked through were all much nicer than the condominiums she had been looking at earlier. Much bigger, a lot more privacy, and admittedly, much more suitable for a knight.
Annabelle hung her head, thoroughly admonished as Belevere continued to filter through the massive list. Suddenly, her comms vibrated. Annabelle looked up. Who could be calling her at this time?
She hesitated. Should she pick up or not? Belevere was currently using her comms. Finally, after seeing her indecisiveness, Belevere nudged her. “Pick up. It could be important.”
“Okay.” Annabelle opened the communication application to see who it was and paled at the name. She began to tremble.
Vesmelda Florent, her mother.
About the author comment.
In an sci-fi roleplaying game one of the differences in purchasing power was explained as follows:
With enough technology you can produce a kilogram of Wagyu beef for a cent. The trip from the vats to the restaurant ten cents for the automated transport. And 5 cents for the kitchen to grill it to perfection. The waiter bringing it to you still gets 15 dollars/hour.
So building a house would also be cheaper on materials and transporting them, just the people supervising/doing the actual building still cost.
The problem is, to purchase an wagyu beef or equivalent food or house at another resturant or company, the waiter no longer needs to earn 15/hr anymore. That price drops because he doesn't need that much money anymore to afford a luxurious life.
she wasn’t nearly done
that makes no sense,
maybe something like:
"she wasn't completely done" ?
assuming you mean she wasn't done, but almost there
I'm pretty sure that's a valid way of saying "not even close to done," at least where I am. Like "I'm not nearly done with homework yet, so stop bothering me" when you have a lot of homework.
@TypeAxiom yeah, but after that, you wrote that only her dolls were left. so I thought in a whole different direction.
if you meant that she wasn't close to being done, then that works...
but how many dolls does she have if it's such a significant part of her belongings?
@42Sins ... A lot of dolls.