Volya Portar is in the middle of cleaning his new home in the city of Ironforge. The house is given by Albert to him as gratitude for helping them catching Felipe, together with giving him citizenship at Haegia.

He stops for a while and observes the lively street in front of his house. A lot of children are running on the street, with their parents talking with each other. There are also some knights that patrol around Ironforge and greet everyone that they meet.

After that, Volya looks at the room that he occupied. The room is quite spacious with one wardrobe to put all of his clothing, one chest to put his book, a study desk, one chair, mirror, and one bedroom where his ferret is sleeping peacefully. Even with those items of furniture already in place, there still a lot of space there.

He then sits down on the chair and tries to remember the specification of the house given by Albert. The house has two floors with three rooms on the first floor and another two rooms on the second floor. It has two bathrooms, one kitchen, one dining room, and a living room. Also, it has a lot of furniture inside it. With that kind of facility, it is too much only for him.

And then there is another problem. When he got the key from Albert, he also knew that it is free for rent for the first six months. But, after that six months passed, he needs to pay the rent there like the other citizens at Ironforge. After remembering the number that he saw, he immediately shouts once more at his room,

"I MUST FIND A WAY TO GET THAT MONEY BEFORE SIX MONTHS! AND LEGALLY"

Because he suddenly shouted out loud, the ferret startled and looked at Volya. It sighs, walks towards Volya, and pats his head crying on the table. Suddenly, they could hear someone knocking on the door and asks him,

"Hey, Volya! Are you alright? Why are you suddenly shouting like that?"

"I'm sorry... I am really frustrated with my current situation."

"Really frustrated," says the voice one more.

"Haaa... I will talk about it when I have already finished cleaning my room. Did you already do your work, Romain?"

"Yes, I am. But, I'm still confused where I should put my armor and weapon at... Maybe you have some suggestions?" asked Romain.

"There are only two people here... Why don't you use one of the empty rooms on the first floor. That should suffice, right?"

"You are right! Thank you for reminding me of that!"

After that, Volya could hear Romain going to the first floor. Volya then sighs and then plays with his ferret for a while. At least, he isn't alone at the house. But, the problem is Romain Ambros, the knight that always follows him when he visits Ironforge last time, becomes his housemate there.

He then mumbles,

"Did he become my housemate because Sir Villias or Sir Albert orders him? I wonder about that..."

The ferret then looks at Volya and tells him that at least someone could help him pay a little bit for the rent later. Volya sighs and nods as if he agrees with what the ferret just said. He then stands up and leaves the room to meet Romain, who is waiting at the dining room on the first floor.

When he arrived there, he could see Romain wearing a brown leather shirt with dark blue trousers there. He has already finished drinking tea and notices Volya there. He then says,

"Hey there, Volya!"

"Haaa... I can't believe it... You become my housemate," protest Volya

"Rather than living alone, right?" jokes Romain.

"Well, you are right about that."

Volya then sits across Romain and asks him,

"Then, why are you staying with me? I believe your family house should be at Ironforge, right?"

"Yes. But, I believe if I stay with you... I will get an unforgettable experience that could help me become stronger," answer Romain

"What if nothing happens when you stay with me?"

"Well, I doubt it will never happen... Especially knowing that every time I meet you always together with an interesting event."

"Really?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then... Why did your family let you do this?"

"I am already old enough to live alone, Volya. I'm not their spoiled child anymore. After all, this is my own decision and they support my decision."

Volya sighs quite hard to show his defeat, while Romain chuckles a little bit. He then takes out his sword and starts to clean it a little bit. At the same time, Volya's ferret looked around the first floor and could see the kitchen really clean and looked really satisfied with it before coming back to join the lads at the dining room.

Meanwhile, Volya looks at the ceiling and thinks about what he needs to do to gain the money. He then tries to get every possible thing that he could offer to get money.

The first one is becoming the fortune teller at Belcrest. He is used to reading a lot of people's fortune, but it depends on the number of people that visit Belcrest. And there is a possibility that he already looks at every person at Haegia and the number of the customers will decrease.

The second one is a storyteller for children. It's a viable job, but he doesn't know what is a good story for children because most of his father's stories are not suitable for children. And also he doesn't know how the children at Ironforge will behave when he tells them some stories.

And the last one as a merchant. He knows which one is a better item between two items. The problem is that a lot of people already trick him when he tries to bid on an item and from there he knows that he isn't good enough to become a merchant.

He tried to find another way to get the money until Romain noticed him. Romain then sheath his sword and asks him,

"What's inside your mind, Volya?"

"Ah... Well..."

"Just tell me what it is... I could help you a little bit," says Romain

"A... Alright..."

Volya then explains it to Romain about the payment that he needs to pay after six months. He then tells,

"After six month, I need to pay 100 silver coins each week."

"Huh? Only 100 silver coins?" says Romain with a puzzled face

"Why were you really surprised like that? Oh yeah... You are also part of the noble..." says Volya as he sighs

"No... No... What I mean is... The cost is really cheap for a house like this and at this strategic location."

"Eh?"

"The usual rent cost at this location around 250 - 500 silver coins a week. There must be a reason for them giving you a really cheap rent cost like this."

"Huh?"

"Last time someone who helped Sir Albert also got a house and the rent also around 250 - 300 silver coins. Why do you suddenly get this house really cheap like that?"

"Ummm... Is there any connection between the cheap rent with the scared face that some townsfolk when they saw me entered this house yesterday?"

"This house? Scared face? Ah..."

Romain suddenly realizes something, walks towards his room, and takes out Ironforge's map. He then asks Volya to points out the house location and after he points it out, Romain then says,

"Now that makes sense."

"Make sense?" asks Volya with a puzzled face

"Some say that this house is cursed..."

"Cursed?! Why did you say that?" says Volya as he panicked a little bit.

"I'm not quite sure, but the legend of this house is quite bad... Especially with three murder case that happens at this house. Even this house once burned down completely before someone said to rebuild this house again. After we rebuilt this house again and tried to rent it to other people, no one dares to stay here."

"Three murder case?!"

Volya then falls on his knee and realizes how dreadful the house is. He just realizes that Albert gives this house for him only because he is a mage. He probably thinks that it will be fine because he has a lot of magic things at his disposal.

He then shouts full of frustration,

"So that's the reason!"

"Well... That's the possible reason though. A bad name will make the rent plummeted." answer Romain

"I must agree with that..."

Volya suddenly looks at Romain, or behind Romain to be more precise. Romain really surprised and asks him,

"Ummm... Volya... Why are you really focused like that?"

"So... That's the reason why there are two people staring at us..."

"Staring? With ill intent or..."

"They look really angry... With that empty white eye and black shadowy body...they point their finger to you."

"Hey... Hey... You must be kidding right?!"

Romain then immediately cowers in fear and not long after that he could hear Volya laugh really hard. Romain then points his finger at Volya and shouts,

"You!"

"Ahahahahaha... Look at your face. It's really hilarious!" says Volya as he laughs really hard

"Urgh... You will pay for it later!"

"Ahahahahaha... Sorry... Sorry..."

Both of them continue talking about the incident that happened at the house in the past until they notice Volya's ferret looking at one of the rooms intensely.

Volya and Romain look at each other and Romain says,

"Don't say... There is indeed a ghost at this house!"

"You know... I'm joking right?" says Volya as he looks at Romain again

"Please... Please..."

The ferret continues to look at the door, then looks at the two-man at the room, and smirks at them. Knowing the ferret tricks both of them, Romain then stands up, takes out a knife, and says,

"I will skin you alive, you annoying white fur!"

"Calm down, Romain... Calm down," says Volya as he tried to hold Romain down

The ferret looks really satisfied and leaves them alone in the dining room. After the ferret leaves, Volya then tells Romain that his ferret loves to play some pranks and then promises him that the ferret will behave in the future. Romain takes a deep breath and then says,

"If you say so..."

"Again... I'm sorry about that," says Volya apologetically

"That's alright... That's alright... Rather, I forget what we were talking about before." says Romain

"About the rent of this house..."

"Ah yes, now I remember."

"You say about the history of this house that made this house really cheap."

"Yep... And now I remember that you are wondering how to pay it, right?"

"Yes. Especially after six months have already passed."

"Hmmm... I could pay for everything if you want to."

"No... No... I don't want to owe you a lot of money."

"Well, I could pay half of it, is that fine?"

"Yes... we could split it,"

"Then, you are still wondering what kind of job that meets your specification that pays you more than 50 silver coins, right?"

"Yes."

Volya then tells him every possible job in his mind, and Romain agrees with the positive and negative side of the jobs that Volya told him about. Volya then sighs and continues to think about what the job that he needs to take in order to survive at Ironforge, something that he never thinks about when he still lives with his father.

Romain tries to help Volya and then looks outside. He could see a lot of people walking around, and could see several mercenaries that just come back from their mission. He then stands up and says,

"I think I know one..."

"Huh?"

"I will lend you some money to buy the form."

"Eh? Huh?" says Volya, who is really puzzled.

"If you follow me, you will understand what the jobs are..."

"Where are we going?"

"Let's go to Belcrest!"

And with that Romain pulled Volya to Belcrest.