11. A New Home (1)

The guard on the gate just waved him through since he was so easy to recognize. The crowd was staring at him again as he rode through the village with another dead wolf. A man was standing on the top step and sneered when he saw Novum riding up. He never though the man would make it back to town let alone with the second wolf.

"Good evening I am here to collect my payment for the wolf your Master requested me kill."

"I have no recollection of this agreement. You will have to take it up with my lord in about a week. when he returns from the journey he is leaving on tomorrow."

"Listen piss ant I am not going to put up with your shit. I did the work that your boss wanted done and now you are telling me to drop it. Go get him or my money, either one if fine with me. But if you are only going to bring me the money then I don't need him. And I see that look, don't try intentionally blocking him hoping the time will make me give up. You just said he was going on a journey and I can wait by the gate."

"Sir I am a noble man there is no reason to fear me. It must be your feeling guilty about something."

"Nope , no guilt and no fear. I just want to be paid for my work as agreed upon and I know that you are only trying to annoy me since I didn't let you have your perverted fantasy." Novum lowered his voice a little with that last sentence. "Now I could say that a lot louder and make you call for a duel to defend yourself but we both know how that would turn out. Now go get my money." He raised his voice again. "And please let your Master know that there were no living pups. It appears that Chris managed to kill them all before before dad showed back up and ended him."

"I will relay the message to the mayor at once. Please wait here." The man went into the building and a few minutes later the mayor came out instead of him.

"He is not very happy with you, what happened?"

"He tried to say he didn't remember the agreement between me and you and that I would have to discuss it with you when you got back from your journey that starts tomorrow. Typical petty attempt to try and abuse his authority."

The mayor shook his head. "He is starting to become more trouble than he is worth and that is saying something since he is brilliant with numbers. And none of the candidates I suggested seemed to be smart enough to do the basic math that is needed."

"Who is setting the standard?"

"He is, why?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way but imagine you are a dirty, weak, perverted man who knows that people would kill him for the things he tries to do. Now imagine that you have knowledge that makes you important to the village and gives him just enough power to do part of what he wants without any consequences and then the man that has been unknowingly protecting you tells you he wants to hire someone to help you with your job. In other words train your replacement. So if he has someone that can replace him and someone complains he no longer has the protection he once enjoyed. Would you ever allow someone to be qualified to be trained under you?"

"I well, I mean, holy shit. I see what you are saying." The mayor moved closer and spoke a little quieter. "By the way the man that I fired yesterday has been out since this morning and he never leaves the city unless he is escorting. I think he went after you and got lost. So keep your eyes open."

Novum never changed his expression. "Thank you mayor that is good to know. Oh before I forget who owns the rundown homestead to the north?"

The mayor thought about it for a minute. "You know I think the moneylender took possession of it a few years ago when the owner disappeared and the city also put a hold on it since the taxes were not paid."

"Will the wolf mother cover the taxes?"

"No, but I am not sure of the final number. This will be a good start. We only covered the first year and the lender has been covering since then. With this 10 it will cost another 40 to pay it and I will wave the penalty fee since you were not responsible. Is that what you want me to do?"

"Let me talk to the lender and see if he is willing to sell without removing one of my organs."

"Well then I will hold onto this until you come see me. And from now on just come on in and see me."

"Thank you mayor I appreciate it. Where can I find the money lender?"

The mayor looked over his shoulder and raised his voice, "Simon come out here." A boy or maybe eight came running out and stood in front of the mayor. "Simon I need you to show this man to the lender. Novum this is easier since the lender was here a long time before the city got this big."

"Thank you mayor. Simon lean the way." The boy nodded and started making his way through the twists and turns of a city to that built as it grew with no plan in place. 'System please use my appraise skill to determine a price for the property with out the value of the mine.' Just as he reached the lender the notification dinged and a window popped up. It had taken so long because the system broke everything down to include the value of the house versus the cost to repair it. 'Thank you system."

The boy stopped and pointed to the second biggest building in the village. Novum pulled out a silver piece and handed it to him. "Thank you Simon." The boy looked at the silver piece and crammed it deep into his pocket and ran back to the mayor office as quick as he could. He tied up Noctis and walked into the building.

A small woman sitting at the desk gulped in fear. "Welcome sir, how can I help you this evening?" She did not stutter but he could hear a tremor in her voice.

"Good evening I was inquiring about a piece of property and was told that this money lender held the title when the buyer disappeared. Given its condition I assumed you would want to be rid of it."

Before she could reply an old man with a cane capped in gold came from the back. "You talking about the place up north a distance?"

"Yes sir I am."

"Well come on back and we will look at the property lines on what he bought and then we will talk about what he owed, taxes and what it is going to cost you."

Novum followed the old man back to his office. He grabbed a folder sitting off by itself and brought it over to the desk. The old man passed him the title which had the exact locations for the four corners of the property marked. Novum did some quick math and realized this property was a lot bigger than he thought.

"The man came in with a pocket full of gold and then asked me for more and while I was a little nervous, he already had that much so why not. I assumed he was from a wealthy family and simply needed something to place hold what he was short until he got the rest from daddy." He pulled out another sheet of paper. "This is the original loan amount and here is what he paid." He added a few more sheets. "These are the taxes that I have paid the last four years since he disappeared."

Novum looked over the numbers and saw that the number was well under what his appraise was telling him it was worth. The man only owed 300 gold on it in the first place and he had actually paid it down to 200 but the taxes were as much as he owed on it. It was crazy but given the size of the land it made more sense to him than before.

"So what are you willing to sell it to me for?"

"Law states that as a lender I can add no more than ten percent to what is owed plus any fees or fines. So that would bring the total to 420 gold."

'System please covert 400 of my gold into gold bars worth 100 gold each and 100 gold into silver bars worth 10 gold each. He head a ping and knew that it was done. Novum reached into his pouch and pulled out four gold bars and five silver bars and out them on the desk in front of the old man. "Here you are sir 420 gold for the property and an additional 30 gold for your valuable time."

"You are an interesting one young man and I am damn happy to have this money pit off my hands. I even offered it for cost to a few gentleman from the city just to hunt but they turned it down."

"There loss is my gain sir."

"Indeed it is." The man picked up a fine quill and wrote his information on his part of the document and then passed it to Novum for him to do his part. Novum filled out his part and the man pulled out what looked like a coin and a small dagger. "I will need a drop of your blood to link you to the property. This coin will lead you to the corners of the property that the previous owner had set by magic. And it will also notify you if a person comes onto your property. So keep it with you."

Novum reached out his hand and the man quickly cut the end of his finger and rubbed it all over the coin. He felt a warm sensation all over his body and realized it was a magical link. The man wiped the dagger and out it away and handed everything to Novum. "You will need to take this to the mayor's office and take care if their fees as well."

Novum gathered up the paperwork and stuck the coin in his pouch. He extended his hand to the bold man who took it gladly. If he had known the real value of the land he would already be kicking himself.

'System please convert one more gold bar please.' It pinged before he was out of the building. Novum made his way back to the mayor's office but it was closed for the evening. He would just have to come back in the morning before he headed out to his property in the morning. He took the wolf to the leather shop and gave him a better price since it was not complete and undamaged but it more than paid for his dinner.