The New City

The wooden city walls opened up to reveal a smaller town filled with people of various types. Guards clad in thick steel and heavy chains guided the covered wagon through the gate as Tunir and Mary looked around themselves in awe. This is the city of Niris. This will be their new home for the foreseeable future.

"Foooo…" Tunir let out a long, deep exhale as he released the stress and exhaustion of his travel from the city of Renevault from his shoulders.

"Well… What do we do now?" Mary asked as she nudged Tunir out of his momentary release.

"Oh, well now we just need to find a place to stay for a while. Are there any houses for sale nearby?"

"I don't know…" Mary looked around nervously.

Tunir looked over to a nearby guard.

"Excuse me, are there any homes that are for sale right now? Preferably with two stories." He asked the guard.

"Huh? U-Um… I think that there is one over in the residential district. There should be a sign out front with a for sale sign." The guard explained.

"Alright. Thank you!" Tunir whipped the horses and the covered wagon began to move once more. Tunir was now heading towards the residential district. He knew exactly what he needed to do.

"Tunir, what are you planning to do?" Mary nudged him and asked.

"Oh, trust me, this is gonna be great!" He looked back towards Mary and gave a large toothy smile.

A few minutes passed by as the carriage wheeled on towards the residential district. People were running around the city. Children were playing, people were buying groceries, and life was going on as it should be. This sight put a bit of relief in Tunir's heart. Seeing normal life was something that he appreciated more than anything else right now.

After a bit of time, the wagon had arrived at the residential district. Tunir looked around for a moment for anyone nearby and saw a woman that was carrying a basket of apples.

"Excuse me, Ma'am!" Tunir shouted towards the woman. She held a surprised expression on her face, but eventually walked up to the covered wagon.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked.

"I am looking for a home nearby that is for sale. Can you help me with this?" Tunir asked her.

"Oh! Yes. That place is just down the road and to the right." The woman explained.

"Thank you!" Tunir shouted as he put the wagon back into motion. He followed the guidance of the woman and soon came across a tall wooden home that had a sign in front of it that read out "for sale" on it.

"Great! This is it!" Tunir shouted out as he hopped down from the wagon.

"What do you mean? This isn't our place, Tunir!" Mary shouted in surprise.

"Yet is the key word here, Mary!" Tunir declared as he walked up to a neighboring house and knocked on the door.

After a few moments, an older man opened the door.

"Excuse me sir, I'm sorry to disturb you but I wanted to ask you who I would talk to about purchasing this home."

"H-Huh? Oh, that would be the mayor. He's in city hall. It's not too far from here. Down the road really." The man pointed to the right.

"Thank you!" Tunir turned away from the building and waved.

The man watched Tunir as he walked down the road. His confusion quickly left him as he decided to just let him be.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked Tunir.

"City hall!" Tunir replied. "Wait here for a bit please!"

"O-Okay!" Mary shouted in response.

Tunir walked down the street for a little while. The paved road was a nice change from the dirt path that he had been on for the past day. This city was well made. The residential district had a warm and old styled feeling.

After a bit of time, Tunir arrived at a large stone building with 2 large wooden doors on either side in the center.

Tunir walked up the steps and pushed open the front door to the city hall. The interior was built out of smoothed stone. The furnishings were well made and were obviously of high expense. In the center of the room, a single woman sat behind a desk. She was writing notes in a ledger.

"Ahem… Excuse me, but I need to purchase a house." Tunir approached the counter and declared.

"You need to, what?" The woman asked.

"Buy a house. There's a house that I want." Tunir replied.

"I um… Okay. I'll call the mayor over. Give me just a moment please. You can sit on the sofa over there if you'd like." The woman stood up and motioned towards what appeared to be a waiting room.

Tunir entered the waiting room and sat down on the black sofa. The room smelled pleasant, as if it had just recently been cleaned. To dispel the silence, Tunir decided to whistle a simple tune for a little while. This was the same tune that he used when he was heading towards his new years date with Mary.

After a few minutes of waiting, a very plump man in a dark suit came into the room.

"Ah, you must be the man that wishes to buy a house! My name is Emil! I am the mayor of this city!" He declared as he held his hand out to shake.

Tunir reciprocated the handshake. "Yes! My name is Tunir!" He declared.

"Well Tunir, you must have some deep pockets if you plan to just come into town and buy a house outright! Haha." Emil slapped his knees.

"You have no idea!"

"O-Okay, well the only house we have for sale right now is-"

"The double story wooden one! I know. My wagon is parked outside of it right now!" Tunir interrupted.

"Y-Yeah. Well, since you've already seen it I suppose I don't need to give you a walk through."

"Nope! What's the price?" Tunir was getting straight to the point.

"2 million gold." Emil looked mischievously at Tunir as he said this. It seemed like he wanted to put Tunir into his place by saying this.

"Okay!" Tunir replied as he dug into his back pocket and pulled out an incredibly heavy pouch.

"W-What?" The secretary shouted in surprise.

The sack of money slammed onto the ground and revealed its contents. An incredibly large mound of gold was inside of it.

"W-Who are you?" The mayor asked.

"Oh, I was just a REALLY popular guy for a while." Tunir cheekily answered.