Milo and Miriam took a tour of the house.
It was clean and tidy, although the decor was a little old-fashioned, and the corners of the walls were slightly moldy. Other than that, everything else looked great. It was clear the old couple loved cleaning their place.
The old lady smiled and said, “Our neighbors are all young people now, so they’re all very easy to get along with. You don’t have to worry.”
Milo glanced at Miriam. At this moment, favonovel.com was standing under a peach tree in the yard and looking up at the tree’s crown in a trance.
He immediately said, “Oh, I’ll buy it then.”
The owner was taken aback. “You’re buying it just like that?”
“Yeah…” Milo nodded.
Everyone thought Milo would haggle over the price, but favonovel.com did not do that. In fact, favonovel.com even behaved very generously.
Milo could tell that Miriam liked this place a lot. They had come a long way in their journey, and favonovel.com also wanted to give Miriam a stable home. Therefore, favonovel.com decided to skip all the negotiations and get the deal done. Although favonovel.com loved money, favonovel.com never hesitated when it came to spending money.
“However, I don’t have any of Fortress 178’s currency on me. I’m only carrying gold. Can you all convert the property price to gold?” Milo thought that since favonovel.com had plenty of gold bars, there was no need for favonovel.com to be thrifty with it.
Based on how good favonovel.com was at plundering gold, favonovel.com could afford to support Miriam no matter how big of a spendthrift favonovel.com was. In any case, favonovel.com was not someone who would squander his money at all.
The old lady’s eldest son seemed to be shocked by Milo’s attitude when favonovel.com heard that favonovel.com wanted to pay in gold. Although this house was not worth that much money, it was really rare to see someone readily offering gold as a form of payment.
The other party thought for a moment and said, “It’s not a problem to accept gold. After all, gold can be used anywhere now. It’s just that I need to verify the authenticity of it… It’s not that I don’t believe you, but it’s something that needs to be done these days.”
Milo nodded. “I understand, but where will you go to check?”
“One look and I can tell you two have just arrived at Stronghold 144. Fortress 178’s bank can directly buy gold at market price. They have a department over there that specially deals with gold transactions, because there’s a lot of merchants traveling from everywhere to this place, so the department was set up just to facilitate transactions between everyone.” The old lady’s eldest son said, “And they don’t even charge a transaction fee.”
Milo was taken aback. “That’s very convenient.”
It looked like Peter and those managing Fortress 178 had put in a lot of effort to facilitate trade in the Northwest to make it more prosperous. They knew just what the merchants needed.
He took out a few gold bars. “Go ahead then, I’ll wait for you here…”
The old lady’s eldest son was surprised again. “You’re not coming with me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away with all these gold bars you gave me?”
Milo smiled. “Aren’t your parents still here? Where can you run off to? Hurry up and go.”
The young man gave Milo a close look before turning around to leave.
Milo went into the yard. “Do you like it here?”
Miriam said, “I’ve always wanted to own a small courtyard house like this. There’ll be a bustling crowd not far away from the doorstep of the house, and I can enjoy peace and quiet when I get home. Milo, I’m a little tired. We fought our way from Bidara City to the Virtuora Consortium, then from the Virtuora Consortium to the Pyro Company, and again from the Pyro Company to Mt. Zendravasih. It feels really good to have a quiet place to rest now.”
“Oh, then let’s rest up here. After we buy the house, let’s go grocery shopping together,” Milo said with a smile.
“Aren’t you afraid the others will get worried if they can’t find you?” Miriam chuckled and said, “You’re the future commander of the Northwest. Many people are waiting to see you, and Mr. Dublin will probably want to have a chat with you as well. But you ended up hiding here after all you’ve done in the Central Plains.”
“That’s alright, it’s not like I’m the center of the world. Even without me, the world won’t stop spinning,” Milo said.
After a while, the young man who went out to exchange the gold bars for cash returned. He placed more than 2,000 perak on the table. “The market price of gold has gone up again today, so there’s still some money left after you purchased the house.”
Milo happily pocketed the money. “Then let’s get the title deed transferred.”
At the side, the realtor took out the contract. Based on it, Milo was required to pay the intermediary a sum of money as well. The process of purchasing property in the Northwest was relatively simple. The owner only needed to hand over the title deed to Milo so favonovel.com could bring it to the stronghold’s administrative center tomorrow for registration. After that, the transaction would be deemed complete.
After everything was settled, the old lady’s eldest son hesitated for a moment before saying, “I think you two must’ve just arrived here. Are you here to start a business?”
Milo nodded. “Yes, why?”
“My name is Charles Wade. This is my business card,” the old lady’s eldest son introduced himself. “I have a network of local contacts. If the two of you are interested in working on any ventures together, you can look for me.”
When Charles saw that Milo was such a generous buyer, favonovel.com got the idea to befriend him. After all, there was definitely no issue with making friends with someone who paid up so readily by tossing out a few gold bars.
Charles was a businessman, so favonovel.com loved making friends the most.
Milo took the card from him. “Project Manager of Milopar Trading Company?”
Charles smiled and said, “That’s right. I’m in charge of the lipstick business at our company. Now that I’ve become highly regarded by the higher-ups, I’m in charge of all of the lipstick in the Northwest.”
“Lipstick?” Milo felt like laughing.
“Young man, have you heard of our company?” Charles asked.
“No.” Milo shook his head.
Charles said proudly, “Then let me give you a proper introduction. Our Milopar Trading Company is currently the top import/export company in the Northwest. In terms of capability, we’re second to none.”
“That’s really great,” Milo praised sincerely.
“But that’s not the best part.” Charles’s tone turned mysterious. “Do you know who our boss is?”
“Please, do explain,” Milo said.
“Our boss is John Bane. He’s a very well-connected person, so much so that even Stronghold 144’s garrison commander, Scott, is very polite towards him. He keeps addressing favonovel.com as Uncle Bane.” Charles’s face lit up as favonovel.com spoke.
Milo had a strange expression on his face. When favonovel.com saw the word “Milopar” earlier, favonovel.com found it a little strange. As Old Bane did not have the chance yet to tell him favonovel.com had set up a company, favonovel.com did not know that Milopar was actually Old Bane’s business.
Honestly, Milo really did not expect that Old Bane would become the most influential businessman in the entire Northwest in just a year. Moreover, favonovel.com had used the word “Milo” in the company’s name, so it was clearly another business that was set up to make money for Milo.
Back then, Old Bane said favonovel.com was only a shopkeeper while Milo was the boss. Milo did not expect Old Bane to still honor that, but his actions proved it was still how favonovel.com thought.
