Chapter 488 – Apprentice Lane

Chapter 488 – Apprentice Lane

“Lady Lilith, turn right at the intersection up ahead—that’s where Apprentice Lane begins!” Jenny called back toward the carriage.

“Apprentice Lane is the district with the most mages in the entire city, and it’s the most convenient area for getting to the Mage Tower. Mages who hold respectable positions in the city, or those studying at the Mage Tower, mostly choose to live here.

We should head to the Red House on Apprentice Lane. It’s on the main route from Apprentice Lane to the Mage Tower, and there’s a government bulletin board there.

Whenever the Administrative Hall has new announcements, they always post them on that board first. Even street vendors like setting up shop there. If we go, we’ll definitely find rental listings too.”

Lena said with certainty.

Their employer’s requirement was simple: help them rent a satisfactory house by the end of the day, and they’d earn a commission of fifty silver coins!

The two of them had thought of this place almost immediately.

Vasida steered the carriage around the turn as they directed, entering a quiet street.

Green trees lined both sides, their canopies providing ample shade, and standalone houses with small courtyards sat neatly along the road.

Out on the main streets, ordinary people far outnumbered mages. But once they entered this street, most of the pedestrians were mages wearing mage robes.

Past this residential area lay the northwest corner of Lance City.

At that corner stood a small three-story red brick building—the Red House that Lena had mentioned.

Beside the Red House was a street sign for Apprentice Lane, and beyond that lay a small circular plaza called Apprentice Square.

Surrounding Apprentice Square were many shops.

General stores, bookshops, magical materials shops, magical goods stores—everything one could need.

Judging by the customers going in and out, though, these were only low-end magical supply shops.

On the northwest side of the square was a small city gate, with only mages passing through it. From here, a road led directly to the Mage Tower.

There were also some mages with stalls set up around the square.

The government bulletin board was right there in this little square.

Lilith parked the carriage at the edge of the square and followed Lena and Jenny to check the government bulletin board.

Posted on the board were the Administrative Hall’s ennoblement examination notice and the Mage Tower’s next enrollment announcement.

The two notices occupied the entire board, one on the left and one on the right, with all the remaining space empty. There was no rental information whatsoever.

“My lady! Over here!” Lena came running from behind the bulletin board, holding a rental advertisement.

Lilith followed her around to look—and sure enough, the entire back side was covered in all sorts of small ads.

Massive sales on magical materials, lectures by genius mages from the Mage Tower, job postings, grand opening promotions—you name it, it was there!

Rental advertisements also made up a sizable portion. Jenny and Lena were already sifting through them for the better options.

“No. 287 Apprentice Lane—this one won’t do. It’s too remote. Our ladies prefer somewhere livelier, ideally close to the little square.”

“This one’s no good either. Thirty gold coins a month—that’s expensive for Apprentice Lane! Our ladies said they want better value for money.”

“And this one—I’ve heard the landlord is difficult to deal with and constantly gets into disputes with tenants!”

“Skip this one too. The previous tenant accidentally blew off half the house. Instead of tearing it down and rebuilding, they just patched it up. There might be safety issues!”

…

The two children chattered back and forth as they screened the rental listings, and before long, the pile of advertisements large and small had been whittled down to just a handful of decent options.

Standing on tiptoe, they tore off the address strips from these remaining ads, arranged them by location, and quickly worked out the optimal house-viewing route.

“Lady Lilith! Let’s go look at the houses! We’ll head that way—it’s closer!” Jenny said.

“Lady Lilith! You can’t trust everything these ads say. Let’s visit each house in person, compare the surroundings and prices, and the ones we pick should be pretty solid,” Lena said.

Lilith felt deeply that this money was well spent. These two little girls had arranged everything perfectly for them—she didn’t have to worry about a thing.

The magic carriage soon set off again.

Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph wanted to experience life among humans, so they hoped to live somewhere bustling.

Mo Lan, considering the Dawn Society’s development and their cover identities, requested a place with many mages that was also reasonably priced.

Houses that met their requirements and showed no obvious drawbacks from the rental listings totaled seven.

Lena and Jenny led them to visit each one in turn.

By the time it was nearly noon, they had returned to Apprentice Square.

“Let’s eat at a nearby restaurant and discuss it over the meal,” Mo Lan said.

She could already hear the two children’s stomachs growling.

Lena and Jenny were thoroughly embarrassed, but unable to refuse, they recommended a restaurant that was both tasty and affordable.

“The Little Daisy Restaurant?”

“Yes! I’ve heard it’s the most affordable restaurant in all of Apprentice Square, and the food is quite good too. A lot of apprentice-level mages like to eat here.”

The main draw, really, was that it was cheap.

The group entered the Little Daisy Restaurant.

From the décor alone, it was clearly several grades below the Gold Globe Flower Inn’s restaurant—roughly on par with the Silver Globe Flower Inn.

Business was indeed booming. The restaurant was already at eighty percent capacity.

This time, Mo Lan was much more cautious when ordering.

While waiting for the food, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph began discussing the houses they had just seen.

“I like No. 12 Apprentice Lane the best! It’s the closest to Apprentice Square!” Lilith said.

“I prefer No. 21. That house has the biggest courtyard, and it’s not far from Apprentice Square either,” Sylph said.

“I think they’re all quite nice.” After looking at them all, Vasida felt they were more or less the same.

“No. 18 is actually pretty good too—it has the best interior décor,” Lilith said.

…

Mo Lan listened to the apprentices’ discussion first. When the first dish arrived, she synthesized their opinions and made the final call:

“Let’s go with No. 21. It’s convenient to Apprentice Square without being too noisy, and the price is right.”

The moment she spoke, Lilith, Sylph, and Vasida all quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

They had started out earnestly voicing their opinions, but the longer they talked, the less they had to say.

If Mo Lan hadn’t made a decision soon, they were afraid the awkward silence would have turned into a performance disaster.

In truth, for them, it made little difference where they lived. Any of these houses was suitable for their current identities.

But none of them truly matched their personal tastes.

This was merely a temporary residence for playing the role of apprentices. When it came to serious Sorceress business, they would still retreat to their own Spatial Tents.

An Instructor’s opinion was something apprentices had to take seriously.

Once Mo Lan decided, the matter was settled.

As it happened, the food had all been served by then too.

The moment she picked up her chopsticks, Mo Lan was immensely grateful for the strategy she’d employed when ordering.