Chapter 831 – Bay Leaf Avenue

The City of Chaos was famous for its “chaos,” and with no stable city administration, the environment in most areas was truly dire.

Mo Lan followed Mama Shanna to inspect several properties.

From the sturdy stone houses on Spark Alley, to the street-facing shops by the marketplace, to the open-view apartments near Warrior Square.

If it wasn’t the clanging of hammers and the unbearable stench of metal and coal, then it was the nauseating smell of cheap alcohol and unidentifiable creature droppings permeating the air, or else the deafening shouts, beast roars, and faint wafts of blood and sweat that made one shake their head.

After viewing several places in a row, Mo Lan’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. She felt her sensitive sense of smell was about to go on strike.

“Mom, isn’t there… somewhere a little quieter and cleaner?” Mo Lan couldn’t help rubbing her temples. “At least… with decent greenery and breathable air?”

Shana looked at her daughter’s pale, queasy face and couldn’t help laughing. “Alright, alright. When you first arrive in the City of Chaos, it really does take some getting used to. Come with me—there’s one more place you might approve of.”

She led Mo Lan around the corner onto Bay Leaf Avenue, which ran adjacent to Lava Avenue.

The moment they stepped onto this street, the atmosphere was noticeably different.

Though still within the City of Chaos, the noise here had dropped by several decibels.

Tall bay leaf trees lined both sides of the road, their leaves releasing a faint, refreshing fragrance that repelled insects and cleared the mind, effectively purifying the air.

The street was also relatively clean and tidy. Along the roadside stood rows of residential buildings—no rowdy taverns, no sweltering blacksmith forges, and no characters ready to brawl at the drop of a hat.

“Most of the residents here are spellcasters who value quality of life, along with some successful merchants,” Shana explained. “The environment really is much better. It’s also the only street in the entire city with dedicated staff for cleaning and security, and there’s even a gardener specifically for trimming the trees. The only downside is that it’s expensive—on top of the property price, you also have to pay additional cleaning fees and security fees.”

Shana brought her to a standalone two-story building in the middle section of Bay Leaf Avenue. The building came with a backyard, had soft light-gray exterior walls, and large, bright windows.

“This should be the only house still for sale on Bay Leaf Avenue right now.”

Once on this street, Mo Lan could finally breathe freely. After a quick look from the outside, she made her decision almost instantly. “This is it!”

The front door of this house was quite sturdy and imposing—it would be perfectly suitable for linking with the door to the Witch’s home mirror space.

Shana was also very pleased with Mo Lan’s choice, since it was close to her healing house and convenient to visit. “Then let’s go to the Bay Leaf Mercenary Corps headquarters at the end of the street to handle the paperwork. Most of the properties on this street belong to the Bay Leaf Mercenary Corps. They’re essentially the ‘landlords’ and administrators of this area—buying, selling, and leasing usually goes directly through them.”

Mo Lan followed Mama Shanna along the peaceful Bay Leaf Avenue toward the end of the street, where a building of a rather rugged style stood. A banner embroidered with the pattern of a golden bay leaf hung by the entrance—the insignia of the Bay Leaf Mercenary Corps.

Inside the mercenary corps headquarters, a sharp and capable half-Elf steward received her.

Mo Lan didn’t haggle. She paid the full price for the two-story building at 11 Bay Leaf Avenue outright, and prepaid a generous sum sufficient to cover the cleaning and security management fees in perpetuity.

All procedures were swiftly completed under the witness of a magical contract, and 11 Bay Leaf Avenue was forever hers.

On the way back, Mo Lan quietly activated the space core within her mental sea, silently opening a stable teleportation passage between the sturdy, imposing wooden door of 11 Bay Leaf Avenue and the entrance to her Witch’s home.

Arriving at her newly purchased building, Mo Lan took out the key and inserted it into the lock.

With a soft click, the lock opened. She turned to Mama Shanna beside her and said, “Would you like to… come visit my Witch’s home right now?”

Shana nodded without hesitation. “Of course! I can’t wait!”

Mo Lan smiled and slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Behind the door was not the expected empty space waiting to be furnished, but a warmly and comfortably decorated sitting room. Most crucially, through the window beside them, one could see green mossy lawns outside, with forests and mountains in the distance.

That was absolutely not a view one could see within the City of Chaos!

“Welcome to my Witch’s home, Mom,” Mo Lan said with a smile, making an inviting gesture.

Shana stepped through the door and looked around curiously. “This is amazing, Moira!”

Mo Lan took out her broomstick. “Come on, let me give you a tour of the ‘yard’!”

When she closed the door and opened it again, the view outside had transformed into an entirely different landscape.

Shana took out her own broomstick, mounted it and rose into the air. Looking out at the snow-capped mountains in the distance, the shimmering bay, the dense forests and open meadows, she couldn’t help exclaiming, “Good heavens… this is practically a miniature world! Don’t tell me this is a demiplane like the Witch Academy’s!”

She had attended the Witch Academy herself, so she naturally knew how precious a self-contained demiplane was.

“More or less!” Mo Lan flew her broom over to her mother’s side. “Though it’s not quite as large. My mirror space is probably about half the size of the Witch Academy’s demiplane.”

“That’s already incredibly impressive!” Shana praised sincerely, her gaze sweeping across this realm.

It was safe, private, spacious, and beautifully scenic. One could raise livestock and grow crops here, and more importantly, getting in and out was wonderfully convenient. It was the perfect home that every Witch dreamed of!

Shana couldn’t help feeling tempted. “Could this kind of mirror space be made into a card for sale?”

“It’s possible,” Mo Lan nodded, but then gave a wry smile. “However, the production cost is just too high.”

As she spoke, she used Mana to trace a clear number in the air. “It costs roughly this much. I don’t even have the resources to make a second one.”

Shana looked at that long string of numbers and immediately felt her scalp tingle.

“Now I finally understand why everyone says you’re the wealthiest Sorceress in the world of Valen… They weren’t exaggerating one bit!”

She shook her head with emotion. “That much disposable Mana—looking across all of Valen, aside from you, it would be hard to find more than a handful of people who could produce such an amount.”

Though Shana was already a Peak Witch, she wouldn’t dare dream of accumulating that much disposable Mana.

After all, preserving disposable Mana came with its own costs.

Mo Lan flew slowly alongside Mama Shanna, gliding over ponds and across meadows, introducing her to the magical plants and mirror beasts from the Three Thousand Mirror Ruins that inhabited the mirror space.