Chapter 15: Buying a new house
Philip arranged a guest room for Sam and left. Sam took a nap for two hours and woke up. He washed up and came outside and started looking for Philip. After searching for a few minutes, he finally found Philip in the hall way of the Evergreen family. He is talking to a middle-aged man and when Sam came inside. They both of them saw him. Philip smiled at Sam and gestured him to come. Sam went towards and stood beside Philip.
"You must be Sam." The middle-aged man who seemed to be in his early forties said with a smile as he examined Sam from head to toe, with a sharp gaze. Sam felt like the middle-aged man in front of him can see through him entirely.
"Sam, this is my father, the head of the Evergreen pavilion. Marcus Evergreen." Philip introduced.
"Hello" Sam just nodded his head. Seeing this Marcus lifted his eyebrows a bit with surprise. No because he felt offended, but because it has been many years since someone has not bowed in front of him to suck up on every chance they get when they knew he was the head of the Evergreen pavilion. The young man before him has shown utter disregard for his position. "Interesting." He mumbled under his breath and spoke to Sam. "Philip said you have an amazing talent in cultivating and came to Starwood city to join in the Starwood academy. There are still two months for admissions. So, you can stay in the Evergreen house if you want until then."
"No need Mr. Marcus. I will stay outside. I am planning on buying a house. I like to stay alone most of the time. So, I won't implore on you. Anyway, thanks for the offer." Sam rejected immediately. Hearing this Marcus didn't say anything and looked at Sam again and said to Philip.
"Take Sam to have breakfast and show him around the city." Then he nodded towards Sam and then walked away.
"Let's go. Haley and Marvin will come any time. We should get ready to leave." Philip said as he dragged Sam towards the dining hall,
Marcus arrived at a meeting room to attend the morning meeting. The Evergreen pavilion is an auction house which houses auctions for various magical weapons, articrafts, Pills etc. These auctions will be held randomly for various occasions depending in the items they had in store. And very month there would be a grand auction, which will have more valuable and collectible treasures, and there will be even more grand auction in for every year. Today is a day which they chose to hold the monthly auction. The monthly auction will not be necessarily held on same day of every month. It may be held on any day of the latter half of the month depending on the availability of the items. That is the reason, they are having a meeting now to discuss, the plans for today. When Marcus arrived, every one in the room stood up and dipped into a bow.
"All of you take a seat." Marcus said as he took the head seat. Soon they started discussing the things about the auction. When meeting was about to end, one of the elders rose up and spoke.
"Pavilion head, I heard Philip brought along with him two mid-level level 2 beasts with him. The Blazing earth bulls of this level are hard to find. So, how about we auction them today."
"They don't belong to my son. Those belong to a friend of his." Marcus said as looked at the elder with a sharp gaze.
"I also heard that. His friend is only from a village, no? I also heard he has two cubs of panther type magical beasts, if we ask him to sell them to our auction house. I don't think he will refuse. After all he doesn't have the capability to refuse anyway. Even if we force him to do th.." Before he finished speaking, the elder felt an immense pressure bore down on him. Marcus is a peak stage Novice mage and the elder is only at 3rd novice mage. So, his face paled in horror.
"Don't talk about this anymore. Otherwise, I will kick you out of the family." Marcus said coldly. Elder nodded his head in agreement. Actually, the elder doesn't have any guts to ask these questions. But some senior elders who are at the late stage Novice mage has their eyes on the beast pets of Sam. So, they just wanted to test waters with this elder as scapegoat. Now that they learnt the attitude of Marcus. They immediately lost all the ideas on the pets. The Evergreen family is most united and clean family in the city and they all respected the Pavilion head a lot. So, they immediately left all the thoughts on the Beasts. Then the meeting ended and everyone left to do their works.
Meanwhile, Sam along with other four is already on the streets of the Starwood city. Sam left the cubs at Evergreen family and left Yanwu there to take care of them. Philip is taking Sam on a tour all over the city to show him various places. Sam suddenly asked.
"Where is Crimson flame family?" Philip was stunned for a second and asked.
"Why?"
"Ms. Freya gave me this token when we did business before. So, I just wanted to go and pay a visit to her since I am already in the city." Sam said as showed the token. Philip looked the token and said.
"Oh, Freya even gave you a guest token. Sam, do you perhaps like her or something?" Even Haley started listening attentively as she waited for answer. Even she herself doesn't know why she was concerned about. But all they saw is the cold face of Sam with a frown. Then Philip immediately waved his hand and started acting as if he never asked the question in the first place. They took another way and started walking towards Crimson flame family. Just as they were about to enter the Crimson flame family a young lady came out of the gate in an elegant dress. The lady has a red hair and oval face and Jade like skin is in complete contrast with her hair and dress which gave her charm an extra touch. Her long legs and voluptuous figure were greatly highlighted by the dress she wore. The overall look gave her a noble air which makes all the girls grit their teeth in envy and all the young men drool over her. She is none other than Freya and the dress she wore is precisely one of the dresses Sam had made. As she came outside everyone's attention on the streets was diverted towards her but her attention was diverted towards a group of five people. She hurriedly walked towards them as she greeted.
"Hey Philip, you guys came back already." Freya shouted in excitement as she neared them. Even before Philip answered, Freya walked towards Haley and spoke.
"Yo, Haley how is my new dress. This is also made by the same tailor. I already told you, if you request me cutely, I will definitely take you to the tailor." Freya bragged as she placed her hand around Haley's shoulder. Haley immediately pushed her hand and said coldly. "You don't have to worry about it anymore." Haley said as she pointed at Sam. At first Freya didn't notice Sam since he changed the way he dressed and his aura is also completely changed. But when Haley pointed at him, she immediately realized who the person as her expression became awkward for a second. Sam also didn't know what to say and only said after a while.
"Hello, Ms Freya. Nice to see you again."
"Haa, Sam it is really you." Freya immediately came out of her stupor and immediately looked from up and down and said slowly. "You can cultivate?"
Everyone was dumbstruck by the question. 'What do you mean you can cultivate? He is a monster.' This is the thought in everyone's mind. Then Freya immediately screamed in low voice as she asked another completely different thing.
"Sam, what are you wearing? It looks great. Did you make it yourself?" Freya asked as she examined the coat Sam wearing closely. Everyone was stunned as they looked at her sudden changes except for Haley, who shook her head for the antics of her friend and pulled her backwards. Freya shook of her hand and said frantically.
"Sam, you should make me a few dresses like that. I love that pattern more than the previous dresses you made. Don't worry, I won't ask for more. Just a dozen dresses will do."
"No way. Mr Sam already promised that he would take my request for dresses a priority. And what do you mean by dozen dresses? Do you know how much effort Mr Sam has to make, to create one dress like that? We all saw with our own eyes, he stayed up a whole night, to make that single cloth he is wearing right now." Haley said as she pointed at Sam's coat.
"What? You saw him make the dress? Sam this is clearly discriminating. I don't care. Since, you discriminated, you should take my request as priority." Freya said without any shame.
"Freya, how can you be so shameless?" Haley scolded from the side.
Watching this all the boys have wry smiles on their faces. They looked at the two goddesses of the city fighting over a tailor to make a dress. They even doubted their meaning of lives. 'Maybe the tailor is the greatest profession.' they thought as they looked at Sam. Sam then coughed dryly to grab the attention of the two maidens in an argument. When they turned towards him, he spoke.
"Ms Freya, I already made a few dresses for you. So, what Ms Haley said is right. And it is not really possible to make a dozen dresses like that. Even the feathers required will be hard to find. And I still have to find a place to live, before we talk about anything." Sam spoke with a straight face. Then only both the ladies stopped arguing but still sparks flew whenever their gazes met. They started their tour again, but this time they have Freya also tagging them. Philip took Sam several houses for sale, but Sam didn't like them at all. After looking till the noon, they stopped at an inn to have lunch.
"Sam, why don't you come to my Crimson flame family and stay there. I will arrange a shop for you and you can do the business whenever you are free even after you joined the academy." Freya said while eating. Sam didn't answer and just shook his head. Then Philip spoke.
"In what price range are you looking for?" Philip asked.
"As long as the place is nice, price is not an issue." Sam spoke flatly. Freya was a bit surprised as she knew that Sam, she knew doesn't have much money, but when she saw other four people doesn't seem surprised, she just stayed silent.
"Then, I have a place in mind. But the place is not a normal house, but a small mansion. At least it is same size of your village head's mansion. Do you want to take a look?" Philip asked.
"Brother, do you mean 'that' place?" Paul asked from the side slowly. Philip just nodded and waited for Sam's reply.
"Sure." Sam replied and all of them finished their lunch quickly and left the inn. After walking for an hour, they arrived at the mansion that Philip mentioned. "This mansion belongs to our Evergreen family. We recently built it and are auctioning it today evening." Philip said as he showed the mansion. The mansion is at the bank of a river which is flowing through the city. The mansion has a big compound around it. It has a large space big enough to host any even in its backyard. The spiritual energy in this place is very high. It is very beneficial for mages and warriors who are yet to enter the novice stage. When the Evergreen Pavilion discovered this place, they immediately applied for the rights to develop this place and now they are selling this in auction. Fifty percent of the profit will go to city and fifty percent belongs to Evergreen Pavilion. There are many people who were looking at the mansion. Most of them are the young nobles in the city. When Sam and the others are looking at the Mansion, a young man came towards them and spoke to Freya.
"Hello, Freya. You look as beautiful as always." He said ignoring all the other people in the group.
"I know." Freya said indifferently. The young man who spoke earlier didn't know how to reply as he stared awkwardly. Then he looked at Philip and greeted him.
"Hello Philip, I heard you came with a big haul from this hunt. I heard you got back with two level 2 Magical beasts as your ride." The Young man said to Philip, a bit envious.
"They are not mine Raymond. They belong to my friend who is right here." Philip said as he pointed towards Sam. The man named Raymond, looked at Sam and looked at him from head to toe. Sam didn't even bother to take a look back and just kept on looking towards the mansion.
"Who might you be?" Raymond asked haughtily. His tone filled with arrogance. But Sam didn't reply.
"I already told you. He is my friend Sam. He is from lava rock village." Philip said as he looked at Sam.
"Oh, just a country bumpkin." Raymond said condescendingly. "Then, it would be easy. Name a price for both your beasts. And don't you dare be unreasonable."
Sam then looked at Raymond with a cold look and didn't reply. He really didn't like this guy. Sam then turned towards Philip and spoke. "Let's go." And then turned around to leave. Raymond immediately lost his cool. He is a young noble of Starwood city. He is also a genius of Starwood academy who is at second level mage acolyte at sixteen years of age and now a country bumpkin is daring enough to ignore him. "You little piece of shit. Come and stand here right now and apologize. Otherwise don't even dream of having a good time in the city." Raymond shouted on top of his lungs, then all the people around looked towards him. A young man whose features are similar to Raymond came forward and walked towards Raymond. Philip and his group also stopped. Sam looked at Philip and others and said. "We don't have to care about every dog that barks on the street." As he said that, he turned around and started walking. Philip didn't seem that surprised. When he turned around and was about walk, he heard another voice.
"Philip, your friend doesn't seem to know manners. Just, a country bumpkin at first stage acolyte and is still so arrogant. Haley you should keep your distance away from them and hang around with people of a higher standard." His voice was not loud. But everyone can hear it clearly. Haley didn't bother to reply and stared at him coldly. Sam turned around to take a look and saw a young man who resembled Raymond slightly and standing near Raymond.
"He is Leonard from Greyhound family. He is elder brother of Raymond and is a fifth stage acolyte mage." Marvin said to Sam afraid he would do something rash.
"You, country bumpkin. Come and apologize right now. And we will let it go." Leonard continued.
Sam looked at Philip and said. "I already told you. There is no need to mind every dog that barks." Then he turned around again. Philip let out a chuckle and also turned around. Freya looked at Leonard gloatingly as she started walking back. Leonard just stood there stupefied. He looked at all the people who are whispering and looking at him. He gritted his teeth as he felt like he lost a great deal of face. All he wanted was to just bash the head of that guy, but he refrained himself from doing, as it will only embarrass himself more. Both the brothers left the place with shame.
Meanwhile
"Sam, you changed a lot. I didn't know you are this cool. That look on Leonard's face is priceless. Hahaha." Freya laughed as she spoke. Rest of the group didn't seem surprised at all. As they already saw how Sam will behave first hand. All of them went to the Evergreen family house and stayed there. Sam immediately went to his room to check on the two cubs. Yanwu immediately flew onto his shoulder. Philip and others came inside the room. The two cubs who were asleep until a minute ago opened their eyes as they looked at Sam and others. This is the first time they opened their eyes and Sam felt happy as he looked at the two cute cubs with sparkling eyes. The two cubs slowly stood up and walked towards him. Sam looked at them and picked them up. They snuggled into his warm embrace and looking at them Sam gave a warm smile. All the other people looked at the scene which looked like it came from a painting. Both the girls in the room felt their heart beat quickening. Sam looked so handsome now with a smile, they doubted if they were really the same person. they came out of their daze and looked at each other and blushed as they became embarrassed. Freya then looked at the Black panther cubs which looked like cute cats and went over.
"OH, Sam they look so cute. How about you give them to me? I will take good care of them?" Freya said as she reached out her arm and tried to pat the heads of the cubs. But both of them ducked their heads to avoid her hand. Looking at the scene everyone burst into laughter. Even Haley let out a low chuckle. She also liked the cubs. But they are fire type and her attribute will be repelled by them. So, she didn't try. Freya pouted her lips unhappily and looked at Sam. "Sam your cubs embarrassed me. So, you better make up to it by making my dress earlier." She said shamelessly. Sam just shook his head and just started sharing his fire type spiritual energy to the cubs. Yanwu just rested on Sam's shoulder. All of them chatted as they waited for the evening.
Sam along with Philip and others came to the Evergreen Pavilion in the city centre. The Evergreen Pavilion is bustling with people as there are so many who came to the monthly auction. Sam and Philip went inside and sat in a private room. There are a total of 10 private rooms which are all filled. Soon the auction started.
"Everyone, I am your host today. I first want to thank you all for your patronage and showing your support for our Evergreen Pavilion." The host is beautiful woman in her early twenties.
"She is my big sister Eva." Philip said to Sam from the side. Sam indifferently nodded. He really didn't care who the host was.
"The first item for today's auction is a sword. This is sword is obtained from the Pavilion head with much difficulty. This is made by the famous rank 2 Artisan Sylvester. This is a grade 2 sword which has a sharpness inscription of rank 2 and is made of Fire steel. This is really suitable for Acolyte and Novice warrior mages." The host introduced the sword and the crowd started discussing immediately. "the starting bid is 100 spirit stones and with at least 10 stones in increment." Host finished the increment and soon the bidding started
"100"
"110"
"130"
"140"
"200" Suddenly everyone became silent. Everyone turned towards a private room. The room belonged to the Crimson flame family. As soon as the bid was heard everyone became silent.
"200 spirit stones once, twice and sold." The host confirmed the bid and proceeded next item.
"Freya, seems like you have a new sword." Marvin said to Freya from the side. Freya merely smiled. Even though there are other people from the same generation as her in the family. She is the most talented of all. So, the sword will naturally belong to her. She is third stage Acolyte Warrior mage with fire attribute. So, the sword is naturally suitable to her. Meanwhile, the auction started again. Sam didn't seem to be interested in anything.
After two hours the finale of the auction came. "Now, the most awaited finale of the auction came. It is the River side Mansion. It has a cultivation environment most suitable for Acolytes and the scenery of the house is also great. The house is specially designed by our architect and carefully supervised by our Evergreen pavilion." The host introduced as a painting with the house is brought on to the stage. There is a scroll which is the deed of land which was also brought on to the stage. The host continued. "The starting bid of the mansion is 3000 spirit stones and each bid should be of 100 increment in minimum." As soon as she finished the bidding started.
"3000"
"3200"
"3500"
"3800"
"4000"
The bidding is going on like that. Meanwhile Sam is silent the whole time. Philip others worried a little as Sam stayed silent. They thought that Sam stayed silent because he doesn't have enough.
"Sam, you can take the spirit stones you gave us before and buy the house. You can return later." Philip said. Sam didn't reply and just smiled.
"8000" suddenly a voice came and everyone became silent. The voice came from the Greyhound private room. Even the voice is familiar to Sam. It is none other than Raymond who bid.
"Real bidding starts now." Sam muttered in low voice. Philip and other felt a little surprised. Then another voice came.
"9000" This time it is Crimson flame family. Now only Philip and others realized what Sam meant. These noble families are waiting to bid and didn't even bother to fight with the small fries. Even though the noble families have a good enough cultivation environment in their houses. They can't provide it to all younger generation. So, if they have another place like this mansion, it will increase their strength. That is the reason they are all bidding. Philip and others only realized it now.
"10000" Another bid came. This is Heart field family. Which is another noble family in the city.
"11000"
"12000"
"15000"
Each noble family is trying to outbid each other.
"18000" This time even noble families surrendered. This is from the Greyhound family. They seem to be determined to obtained the mansion. Just as everyone thought the bid is done another voice came.
"20000" Sam bid in a leisurely voice. Everyone in the auction room was dumbstruck. Even Philip and others in the room are also stunned. They didn't expect Sam to bid such high amount. Everyone turned to the private room which has no label. This is actually a spare room, but it seemed to be opened today. Everyone thought. Meanwhile in greyhound family room Leonard's expression turned unsightly. He clearly remembered the voice. Then he came to his senses and raised the bid.
"21000"
"25000" Sam raised the bid again and with a large margin. This time Leonard gritted his teeth and said loudly. "Don't push your luck."
"Bid or Shut the f.u.c.k up." Sam said in a cold voice. Everyone was dumbstruck and inwardly thought. 'You got balls. Alright.' Very few people in the city would dare to say shut the f.u.c.k up to Leonard. And it seemed that one who bid is just that person.
"26000" Leonard raised the bid again.
"30000" Sam didn't back down at all. This time even Leonard stayed silent.
"Once, twice, Sold." Host finally confirmed the bid and auction was over. Those people who bid for the items went to collect the items and left while some stayed behind. They are curious to see who the person who cursed at Leonard. And they seem interested. Sam finally came when most of the people left. He slowly walked to the table and took a large bag full of spirit stones out of thin air. This time he didn't have to care about showing a spatial treasure because Philip gave him a spatial ring this morning, saying that this is for the excess spirit stones he gave as compensation. So, he accepted. He placed the leather bag on the table and asked the manager. "What is the exchange rate for fire spirit stones? Everyone was dumfounded after hearing that. Even Freya as surprised. Fire spirit stones are hot in demand in this area. That is the reason the Starwood city went to great lengths to obtain the Lava rock village. But they weren't able to find a single fire spirit stone. The manager came out of his stupor and said "1:6" The manager said as he stared at the bag while gulping hard.
Sam opened the bag and quickly started separating, he then poured more than half of the bag on the table and kept the rest of them. There are 5000 stones in total on table and Sam felt quite reluctant. But he still needed to get the house. Under surprised expressions of all the people Sam took the deed of the house and left with Philip and others.