"What type of house would the guest like to rent? I can help introduce the right person to you," the innkeeper said.
Herag pondered for a moment and said, "Preferably a larger yard, in a quieter area, not too noisy."
The innkeeper thought for a moment, "Got it, I’ll contact someone for you, and I should be able to take you to see it tomorrow."
"Thank you." Herag placed five silver coins on the table.
The innkeeper smiled as he collected them, "No need to be so polite."
Dinner was quickly served, with a pot of stewed meat. Herag didn’t recognize the side dish; it was a type of leafy green vegetable he hadn’t seen before.
There was also a plate of pumpkin pancakes, still warm, indicating they were freshly made.
In the middle of the night, Herag noticed that the city of Ryan didn’t have a curfew. Even at such a late hour, people were still walking around on the streets, and a few drunkards were making loud noises. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel⟡fire.net
The next morning, Herag opened his eyes.
He sensed that the innkeeper had received someone, who appeared to be the person regarding the house rental.
But since Herag wasn’t up yet, the guest waited downstairs.
When Herag came upstairs, the innkeeper immediately approached and introduced, "This is Mr. Jelant, looking to rent a quiet yard here. This is Colun, who has many properties in the western part of the city and can show you around."
Colun wore a headscarf, had a round face, and a large belly, probably weighing nearly three hundred pounds.
When he smiled, his eyes narrowed to slits. To Herag, he said, "Mr. Jelant, I have properties ranging from ten silver coins to ten gold coins per month. Which price range are you looking for?"
"Ten gold coins a month? That’s quite expensive," Herag hadn’t expected properties to be so costly.
After considering, he said, "Within one gold coin, preferably quiet."
Colun’s small eyes darted around, "I understand; I think Mr. Jelant might place."
His carriage was waiting outside, and Herag got on to head west.
The carriage passed through several streets and a market area, crossed two main roads, and finally arrived at the destination.
This was a residential district, but the houses had larger yards, and the distances between the yards were relatively far.
Colun explained, "This is the wealthy district. You won’t see any vagrants here, and soldiers guard the entrance. Soldiers patrol daily, so you won’t have to worry about drunkards barging into your home unexpectedly."
"It’s very quiet here. This yard’s monthly rent is one gold coin. Although it’s somewhat expensive, it perfectly fits Mr. Jelant’s requirements. What do you think?"
Herag observed the surroundings; indeed, it was very quiet, with little foot traffic.
He entered the yard to take a look. This yard had three houses, which were clean inside, indicating they were regularly cleaned.
Herag inspected each place and found no issues, so he said, "We’ll take this one, rent it for three months first."
Since subsequent arrangements were uncertain, he rented for three months first and would assess later.
Colun didn’t expect him to decide so readily, and his eyes crinkled with laughter, "Okay, no problem. Would Mr. Jelant need a maid to do laundry and cook? I can arrange that for just ten silver coins a month."
"Sure, please handle it for me," Herag didn’t want to spend time on such matters, so he left it to Colun to manage.
It was just spending some money, and he didn’t mind Colun earning a bit more since time was more important to him.
By that afternoon, Herag had completed the paperwork and moved into the yard.
Colun worked quickly, and a woman in her thirties named Judy soon reported for duty. She was from the Ryan slums.
Though not young and pretty, she was skilled at managing household chores.
Herag specifically requested this because he was wary of Colun sending a young, attractive but ineffective woman.
Colun understood immediately and selected Judy, a competent worker, grasping Herag’s core needs.
After moving in, Herag designated the largest house as his living quarters.
The other two slightly smaller houses, he assigned the left one to Ed and Judy for their living use; it had four rooms, sufficient for them.
The small right house was marked as off-limits for Ed and Judy, as it was Herag’s magic potion experimentation space.
Life quickly settled into a routine. Judy handled the purchasing of supplies Herag needed, while Ed drove the carriage to transport supplies, also tending to the horses daily.
Herag stood in one of the small house’s rooms, where magic potion equipment was neatly organized.
As he did in Moonlight Forest, he divided the room into sections for different stages of magic potion refining.
He meticulously followed the experimental protocols taught by Larry, strictly adhering to those standards to date, and having Shenlan likewise rigorously monitor himself.
"100 milliliters of pure water, 30 milliliters of Mist Tree Man juice, 10 grams of Dragon’s Tooth Grass powder, 3 drops of Poisonous Violet juice, 5 drops of Mandala juice."
This was a magic potion formula inferred by Shenlan, designed to accelerate Herag’s meditation speed, a custom formula tailored based on Herag’s constitution and meditation method.
Herag checked the formula, "These are all basic magic potion materials, and I have them."
Before leaving, his space ring contained an assortment of basic magic potion materials from Larry, ensuring no shortage for practice afterward.
Herag prepared the corresponding materials according to the formula.
"30 milliliters of Mist Tree Man juice..."
He retrieved a branch from the space ring, taken from the Mist Tree Man.
To extract the juice, Herag needed to utilize magic power to draw it out.
He picked up a test tube, then began channeling a stream of magic power into the branch to ’pull’ the juice from it.
The pale yellow juice quickly seeped from the branch, drop by drop, into the test tube.
Watching the measurement, Herag stopped drawing when it reached just over 30 milliliters and placed the branch back.
"10 grams of Dragon’s Tooth Grass powder."
Herag took out a delicate balance scale and a stalk of Dragon’s Tooth Grass from the space ring.
Processing Dragon’s Tooth Grass powder was a bit tricky. It needed to be thoroughly dried and then ground to powder.
During roasting, the temperature couldn’t be too high, or it would deactivate key components of the Dragon’s Tooth Grass; too low, and moisture wouldn’t be effectively removed.
This issue was easily solved by Herag, who could now manipulate fire energy particles.
He set up a beaker over asbestos mesh, then used magic power to gather fire energy particles to ignite a small flame.
With Shenlan’s assistance, he could precisely control the temperature, slowly roasting the Dragon’s Tooth Grass.