Chapter 70 – Spring cleaning.

“Here you go, Mr. Wayland. Due to the lack of information, you will have to start off as a bronze ranked adventurer. You shouldn’t worry, with your current level you should be able to rank up in no time!”

Roland was standing in the busy adventurer’s guild wearing his armor. He was looking at his adventurer card. It had his new persona’s name on it and also it had a small bronze symbol in the corner. It looked like a small sword and shield that were placed over one another with the sword in front.

If an adventurer leveled up further this card would be updated. Its color would be changed to the corresponding metal. The card had other indications besides the color, the rank was written out as well as the date of this card’s creation. For all intents and purposes, this would be his first adventurer card, he would take it as a clean start.

He wasn’t sure if the adventurer’s guild would mark down that he had lost his previous card and this was a replacement. He was hoping that they wouldn’t bother with it, not like they cared not even when someone had a thief class did it matter.

As long as there were no outgoing warrants it was fine. Even if an adventurer had prior run-ins with the law if they had done their time they were free to work. This guild cared more about earning money than people’s backgrounds. This was also why this lady didn’t ask too many questions.

“I understand.”

He placed the card in a secure specially crafted locket and kept it around his neck. Keeping it in a back pocket was just asking to have it stolen or it getting lost during combat.

While waiting for this card to be processed Roland did some digging. He asked around the adventurer guild for information about the dungeon. He could see the volcano that was gently giving out a smoke trail. This would be his destination and place of work for the coming future.

The dungeon wasn’t mapped out fully yet and entering it was all on the adventurers. The guild would not pay for any injuries or deaths, nor would they stop people from going in. It was a free for all down there and something Roland expected.

Even with the bronze grade adventurer card, he was free to roam the dungeon. Probably after a few months, maybe a year the dungeon would start to get managed by this guild more throughout. They might put restrictions on the adventurers at that time.

‘Next stop, the town hall.’

He opened up the swinging doors that looked like they would fit a western type saloon. It was time to sign the deed to his new home. He wouldn’t be getting anything special but it was better than staying at an inn. The people that were running those were already having problems with accommodating people.

Some of the adventurers that didn’t have much money on them even had to spend the nights at the stables. He himself had to overpay to get a tiny room for the night. Some of them were even forced to camp outside the city in tents while waiting for the new hotels and taverns to be established.

There were many of them being constructed even now. While passing through the main street he could see the busy workers running back and forth. He would also need their help soon. His own home needed some renovation and he wasn’t that good with carpentry. He could probably replace some hinges here and there but nothing too drastic.

Soon he visited the small town hall lady that helped him with his home search. This time around he was here to sign some papers. He tried bartering the price down but it was no use. The town was booming and they would probably find someone for that plot of land sooner or later.

There was a possibility of the town expanding even over to his new home. If that happened this piece of land could go up in worth. He could also leave if it got too bothersome there, selling runic equipment at an auction house would probably earn him enough money to do that.

“Please sign here and here, the card number goes here…”

The adventurer card was one of the rare items with which you could use as identification. Without it, he would need to prove his origin, or apply for citizenship which could take months or years to resolve. Thanks to this small piece of paper and over 100 small gold coins he was now the proud owner of a run-down farm.

Roland paid slightly less for it as he didn’t really want the extensive farmlands that came with it. They were just unfertile fields that he couldn’t use. There was more than enough space to place a big workshop where the farm building and the shack were located. He could also dig into the ground or go vertically if he needed. This still left him with slightly below half an acre of land to fence up.

The biggest reason for not getting it was that the price was tripled if he wanted to get all of the land around it. The people from Albrook probably were thinking with the future in mind. This land’s worth could increase with time so they didn’t want to give it away for free. There was nothing there for now but the sheer size was immense.

The whole transaction went quite fast, Roland had an idea why. With so many new people buying and selling land, there wasn’t that much time to go through lengthy procedures. One quick contract was enough, doing a background check would just take too long.

He walked out with the contract that was now in a spatial pouch. It was time to go to his new house, he was given a key and was sent on his way. After walking all the way there again he could see his new possession.

The house wasn’t that large, the roof was a hip roof and the building had a small attic. He walked inside, the doors almost fell out of their hinges which caused his face to twitch slightly.

He examined everything again. There was a porch on the outside onto which you walked on by ascending wooden steps. The house opened up into a small foyer, if he wanted people to take off their shoes then this was the right spot.

Past it was a large room, there was an old wooden table there along with a couple of chairs. An old fireplace that connected to a chimney was also present. To the side was the kitchen area along with a small pantry. This was all to the west side of the main room while to the east was a bedroom along with the bathroom.

The bathroom had a very rusted tub, which looked more like a container of some sort. There was no running water in this place but there was a well not far in the back. It was in working order as he had checked it out beforehand.

The well wasn’t that necessary as he had the knowledge of water creating runes. But if he needed to save up on mana it would prove useful. It would be a good backup, he was also planning to have a water tower built-in. The water from the well could be rerouted into it, in one way or another. With a water tower present, he could get himself some running water. Making a shower and a working toilet wouldn’t be far fetched.

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He checked out the attic upstairs, he could get to it with a shaky ladder that was badly nailed together. Roland didn’t trust the structural integrity of the floorboards on this level so he only took a peek. He could see a lot of rats running around, the walls were chewed up with holes and the rodent droppings were everywhere.

‘Wish those workers could get here sooner…’

He had asked around for help but there just weren’t enough craftsmen around the city. Others had been here first so he would need to wait for the companies to be done with the other houses first. He had already made an appointment with one firm but he would need to wait at least three weeks or more.

After moving down from the ladder he moved downstairs. There was a large cellar that he could go to through a set of narrow stairs. It was quite large and spacious, the ceiling reached to about three meters.