CH13 (143), House Hunting

We spent the weekend just exploring the city and spending time as a family. I noticed that there were quite a lot of fighting-type Pokemon walking alongside the people and was wondering if it was something limited to South Rota or if the other districts were like that as well.

My guess was that it was different, but we only had enough time to go around South Rota and visit the public region of Cameron Castle. I was impressed with what I got to see. The castle looked like one straight out of a fairy tale but still gave the impression of history.

It seemed to scream "I am awesome and I have witnessed a lot". Anyway, we went around a bit to enjoy the sights a bit before we were too busy with house hunting.

Another reason was that my father had arranged an appointment with a real estate agent on Arcday, which Aaron had recommended to me, hence the decision to enjoy ourselves before that since we would have a busy schedule starting Arcday.

I had called Aaron on Dialday with my PokePhone which is short for pocket phone not Pokemon phone, by the way, to tell him I was/we were visiting Rota. Since I was using my personal phone instead of a phone booth we only talked about stuff that was publicly known. Moody would be proud of me.

Aaron found my worries a bit paranoid, but he respected my wish either way. Anyway, he told me that he was away on business for the next three weeks, but he promised to help me settle down and show me around when I came to live in Rota a week before the term began.

When I asked him if he could tell me what he was doing, he said it was confidential, and I did not bug him after hearing that. Still, he did send me the number of a family friend that worked as a real estate agent.

He told me that we should mention that he gave us the number so that the agent took extra good care of us. Aaron also recommended only searching for a place in South Rota since Aaron Academy was there. He added that it was better for academy students.

Another point he mentioned was that it was better to look for apartments close to the academy and houses closer to the outer part of the city, price-wise.

Now, the outer parts being cheaper I understood, but I asked why the apartments were cheaper when the academy and thus they as well were smack-dab in the center part of the district/city.

He said that some places offered special rates to students and aura users. We had a bit more small talk before we hung up. I obviously told my parents as much which was why they were telling our requirements to the real estate agent right now.

The guy who had introduced himself as Rian Kneeson was fiddling with the tablet he brought along probably entering our requirements in the system the agency used.

"Alright, I put in your requests and we still have quite a few places that fit your wishes. So, I'm sure one of them is perfect for you." He said in a joyous tone before his tone got more serious and he continued.

"No matter where it is, I will find it (for you), and I will show it (to you)." After which he returned to his joyous tone and asked us to follow him to his car.

We went around the apartments first and they were all pretty nice as well as cheap due to Rian showing us the ones with the special rate. The rent ranged from 200 to 450 Poke depending on closeness to the academy, amenities close by, and size.

However, none of them really fit the bill due to one reason or another, size being the problem most of the time. Which made sense with them being prepared/made with one person and 1-3 small to medium-sized Pokemon in mind.

We had expected as much, but we agreed beforehand to check out some of all options first to get a complete picture before making a final decision. By the end of the day we had visited around 30 apartments, which was possible thanks to a few of them being close to each other, but it became apparent that it was better to switch targets.

Still, we did keep two of them in mind both being two-room apartments that cost 400 and 450 Poke respectively per month. None of the special rate apartments were for sale, so that option was not available.

"That's everything for today I guess. I'll send you to your hotel and we'll continue tomorrow at 9 a.m if that's okay with you?" Rian said and I made eye contact with my parents giving them a signal that I was going to use telepathy.

'Mom, dad. I think we have seen enough apartments that fall under the special rate. How about we look at the regular apartments tomorrow.' I asked telepathically and they agreed.

"Thank you, Rian. Could we change our target to regular apartments near the academy? I mean without the special rate. We'd like to take a look at those as well." My father answered Rian after our mental exchange.

"Sure, sure. That's no problem at all." Rian replied and we went back to the hotel.

The next day we went around looking at apartments as well, and this time they were mostly 3-4 room ones with a few 2 room ones as well. The difference was quite apparent compared to the special rate ones, size and price-wise.

The cheapest one had a rent of 700 Poke, while the most expensive one cost 2000 Poke. The buying price, at least the ones that could be bought, was ranging from 280.000 to 650.000 Poke.

These step prices were due to the proximity, thus safety, to the Academy. Well, that and the fact that housing in central city areas was expensive in general. I mean after we began looking for houses on the outer parts on Giratiday we found quite a few that were cheaper than those apartments.

We checked 24 houses throughout Giratiday as well Palkiday, and after we did, all of us unanimously decided to choose a house instead of an apartment.

While we still had a few houses we were going to visit on Dialday, we each had 1 that we liked the most so far. All of them were obviously detached. I took a liking to a 1 story house with 5 rooms and a medium-sized garden/property.

The house was a bit less than 300 m² and the total property size was about 900 m². It also had a regular fence around the property. There was enough room for me and my Pokemon (as well as my parents whenever they came by).

It would also be easier to keep clean than a two-story building. The rent was 1300 Poke and the owner was willing to sell it for 500.000 Poke. My father took a liking to a 1 story house with 4 rooms and a medium-sized garden/property.

The house was also a bit less than 300 m² big and the total property size was about 800 m². The rent was 1500 Poke and the owner was willing to sell it for 700.000 Poke.

The reason my father liked that one despite its smaller size property-wise and the higher prize was that it had a freaking wall around the property. We are talking about 4 meters tall and 0.5 meters thick, and durable enough to resist bronze stage attacks for a while.

While that was not too great or anything, it would prevent one from getting swarmed. It also hid what was happening inside from the outside, at least not without looking over it.

Now, one would ask why not just climb over it? That's possible but walls like these got treated with an irritant that caused pretty bad itching. Anyway, the one my mother liked was a two-story house that had the best amenities in its surrounding among our picks.

It had 7 rooms, each floor was 300 m² big, and the property was 750 m² in size. The rent was 1900 Poke and the buy-out price was 990.000 Poke.

The higher price was because it was the closest to the inner area among the houses and many places like shops/markets were close by.

All of us were pretty sure that we were going to choose one of them and simply had to persuade the other than the one we liked was the better one.

Well, my father changed his tune as soon as we saw the sixth house we visited on Dialday. Why? Obviously, because it had an even better wall. The thing was 5 meters high, had an additional 0.5 m in the form of metal spikes on it.

It was nearly 1 meter wide and all I could think when I saw was "did the owner prepare for a siege or what?" The property was 1800 m² in size and had a 300 m² (~4000 m³) pond, which made me change my tune as well.

It had a two-story building with 7 rooms and each floor was 400 m². Additionally, due to there being a guard post a bit more than 2 km from the house, there were decent amenities as well, which made my mother change her tune.

Actually, that guard post thing doubled my father's interest. The damn thing targeted all of our individual wants and fulfilled all of them as if it was designed just for us. Quite suspicious if Rian didn't say it used to belong to an Aura Guardian and his family.

The Guardian, may Arceus and Mew bless his soul, died on a mission Protecting a village on his lonesome. He succeeded but succumbed to his injuries. His family was moving to the city center since it was safer there and they were selling the house.

My parents and I looked each other in the eyes and we could see that we had practically all decided on the house so we asked for the price.

"The family does not plan to rent it off, and it can only be bought. As you've seen it is the most secure and biggest of the ones we have visited until now. It also has pretty decent amenities around. So, it is not cheap. The price is 2.000.000 Poke." Rian answered before going through what seemed to be quite the internal struggle.

"I normally would not offer this due to the circumstances of the family, but you have Aaron's referral and he even gave me a personal call for you, so I am willing to negotiate with them if you want to lower the price by a bit." He finally offered after finishing his internal struggle.

I shook my head at my parents and they seemed to think the same. 2.000.000 Poke was no problem for us at all. Furthermore, the family's story did kind of resonate with my parents, and with our financial situation, there was no reason to haggle with the family of a deceased hero.

Not to mention that it was actually pretty cheap everything considered. I was sure the wall alone was worth more than 400.000 Poke, so they could have even sold it for 3.000.000 Poke or more if they were willing to wait.

Besides, 2.000.000 was only about a quarter of the money my parents set aside for me from all the money we earned by selling Pokemon before we stopped.

"Thank you for the offer Rian we appreciate it, but there is no need for that. We are willing to buy it for 2.000.000 Poke." My father told him and Rian practically sagged in relief at that.

"That's great. Thank you, you're great people. To be honest even our agency does not plan to take a share of the sales from them." Rian replied with relief audible in his voice.

After that, we went to the agency and settled everything. My parents also directly paid the full price for the house. Obviously, the house would have been empty when I arrived there, but know the agency offered a few furniture sets to its customers.

We looked through the catalog and paid an extra 50.000 Poke for some of the standard furniture sets the agency offered. They would take care of the kitchen, living room, as well as two bedrooms for us and by the time I came to live there, everything would be ready.

I'd only have to visit the agency for the keys which I would do dragging Aaron along with me. With all that done, we still got the whole weekend to enjoy Rota. Oh, and my parents decided to drop the bomb that they were planning to resume their journey after my term began on me as well.

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