Outside the inn, Shanks was waiting for Darius with Derek in tow. The group exchanged their greetings before Shanks led the way to the noble's district.
This time around, they took a high-quality carriage that had been prepared by Lord Spencely for Darius' use during the day. It was well decorated and quite spacious, so the party of four were not cramped inside.
Since the carriage had the insignia of the City Lord, all others on the road had to park and make way, like an ambulance or a government convoy passing through on Earth.
'Heh, it seems like no matter the world or the era, bureaucrats certainly love their privileges.' Darius already had the map of Listo in his head, so he didn't need to pay too much attention to where they were going, but rather to their destination.
The same could not be said for Derek and Gunner, who were taking in the blurring sights as the carriage moved swiftly along the road.
Eventually, they entered the noble's district which was gated off from the rest of the town and guarded quite heavily. Once the guards saw the insignia on the carriage, they allowed the carriage in without too strenuous a check.
Being cut off from the rest of the town, it was much more peaceful inside compared to the bustling areas, and everyone's residences were as big as luxury villas from Earth.
In fact, the deeper they went in, the more the villas started to resemble massive estates until Darius even saw a few small castles near the end!
What shocked Darius was that his plot was exactly near those castles, which showed that Nicholas Spencely was doing him a big favor! With such a large plot, he could also build a small castle for himself to build up his prestige and house his apprentices, official or unofficial.
It seemed like the Equality Faction was deadset on roping him in. Not only because of his talent and power, but more because of his presence and utility!
Every Adept was like a secret weapon of each faction. While their leaders would be Journeymen, their elites and officers were Amateurs and their footmen were normal unawakened people.
With Darius on their side, they would gain a severe deterrence against the Superiority Faction, which would be more than enough to buy them some time to strengthen themselves.
Darius was also betting that these nobles were already planning to send their children over to him for mage training. If they were lucky and Darius was fully willing to join their camp, he might even take them as Official Apprentices.
Darius and co dismounted the carriage once they reached his plot. Darius carefully inspected the land while Shanks removed the title deed and handed it over to the new owner for inspection.
When he read the terms, he was quite pleased with how vague and loose they were. Obviously, the City Lord of Listo wanted to convince Darius into choosing this town as his main base lest he leaves for the more developed cities in the future.
That was something Darius would definitely do since he would also need more bases in the Andrato Kingdom, but starting in Listo didn't seem too bad for his plans. For now, he stored the deed and had the carriage move towards the market square.
Next, the group checked on his commercial properties. Darius saw that the one in the market square was, as advertised, quite small.
However, he knew he had no right to complain when he saw the sheer patronage of all the stores in the area, especially since most of them were owned by full-fledged Counts.
Him, a mere Baron, getting this much was only due to favoritism. His plot was quite small, and there was already a building on it. It was a pre-owned liquor store that was now closed down and appeared quite worn, indicating that this property had not been re-assigned for quite a while.
Darius saw from this shop's deed that the previous owner had been convicted of smuggling contraband through this store as a front, and had his properties seized by the City Lord.
When Darius asked Shanks, the ex-Royal Guard laughed at him. "You'll definitely have trouble with this one."
Darius got curious by this remark. "Why so?"
Shanks patted Derek on the shoulder and explained. "Well, it's obvious enough that every plot in this square is a hotcake. This is where the majority of the town's traffic passes through and even the shittiest shop would have to go out of its way to make sales below the red line."
"With that in mind, every merchant and nobleman wants a plot here, no matter how small. It's basically assured income. So, as you can imagine, the bidding wars and prices for the land here have been outrageous."
Shanks scratched his chin idly. "You have to understand, most of the owners of the stores here don't actually own the land. Nobody would be stupid enough to sell such a thing. They're just renting the land from the owners for steep prices, yet their income is able to pay for that easily and more."
Shanks then gazed at Darius with a deep meaning. "Yet, this plot that was owned by Lord Spencely up until yesterday was fully granted to you at no cost. No one would believe it even if they were told to their faces, but I literally gave you the ownership deed just a second ago, so…"
Darius understood what Shanks was getting at. If the 'gift' of land at the noble's district was to facilitate Darius's willingness to stay and set up a base, then this one was to allow Darius to quickly accumulate wealth to kickstart his career.
This was an even bigger favor than the one before, so Shanks wanted Darius to acknowledge and appreciate it. As a businessman, Darius knew when to show kindness and when to show cruelty, and while he did not feel as indebted as they might have liked, he definitely could not show disregard.
As such, he noted that the Equality Faction was quite a generous group to Shanks and praised their methods for being truly inviting towards a foreigner like him. He also hinted towards repaying their kindness, yet without promising anything concrete.
Once Shanks heard this, he nodded with satisfaction. Even he felt pained by the magnanimity of the City Lord and his faction, so how could he possibly allow Darius to swallow all of this without saying thanks?
