Dusk was settling in, fine snow drifting past the windows.
The inside of Leon's home was bright with light, the flames dancing in the fireplace laying a layer of warmth over the whole house, driving out the bitter winter cold seeping in from outside.
Having walked home alongside Leon after wrapping up their daily Dungeon exploration, the first thing every one of the ladies thought about the moment they got back was a hot shower.
Margaret included, on her very first exploration, no exception.
Rose, having stripped off the heavy armor marked with the signs of battle and now wearing only her form-fitting combat suit, walked over to Leon, her delicate face unusually serious.
"Leon, I think it's about time we saved up some money and bought a base that's truly our own. It doesn't have to be big, but it absolutely has to be somewhere quiet."
She paused for a moment, her tone firm.
"And the most important thing is, I want all of us to have a say in how the place is designed."
Leon met her gaze in silence, until he finally caved under that stubborn stare of hers, and could only tug at the corner of his mouth helplessly.
"My dear Miss Rose, would you stop beating around the bush? Just say it. What's the real goal here?"
Seeing Leon give in, Rose smiled gently.
"Everything I just said was the honest truth, you know~~. The Familia really does need a base of its own. After all, our numbers stopped being the small-time operation they were a year ago a long while back."
She winked playfully and lowered her voice.
"But still... the key thing is, we really do need a bathhouse comfortable enough to soak away the mental and physical exhaustion after a fight. What do you think? My dear Mr. Leon?"
Leon: "..."
He had to admit, Rose's proposal really was rather constructive.
Leon was tempted.
It wasn't that this manor of Goddess Demeter's, with its little courtyard, was bad. But for just a handful of people, while it couldn't compare to those elegant, understatedly luxurious estates over in the First District, for Leon and his group it counted as upper-middle-tier housing.
At least it did by Orario's standards.
Still, good as the house was, its capacity was now near its limit thanks to the Familia's numbers swelling once again. If the Familia wanted to keep growing while maintaining, or even improving, everyone's quality of life, then relocating their base ranked fairly high on the priority list.
The only problem was, the moment he thought of those lunatics from Evilus, and that evil god about to stir up an enormous upheaval in Orario, Leon felt that buying land and building now seemed a bit premature.
After all, the event coming before long, that turmoil engulfing the entire city and even the regions around it, might not have blown all of Orario sky-high, but it would leave the place pretty much in ruins.
If he just waited a while, until the city's post-war reconstruction, when the Guild rewarded the Familias that had taken part in the war according to merit... wouldn't it be wonderful to apply for a well-located plot then and plan out a base of their own?
Not only would it save a huge sum on buying land, the location would even be his to pick when the time came. A good deal like that came around just once in a long while!
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Leon lifted his eyes and met Rose's gaze.
"Right, I get it. Let me think this over. How about I give you all an answer after a while?"
"Mm-hmm, but you can't go deciding everything on your own, you know. When the time comes, you have to talk it through with us."
Leon neither agreed nor disagreed, only nodded lightly.
"Okay."
While Rose and the others went off to bathe, Leon had already changed into loose everyday clothes and sat alone on the couch in the sitting room. Watching the snow swirling outside, he sipped thoughtfully at the tea in his cup.
Except, in a field of view no one else could see, a transparent panel visible only to him quietly displayed itself before his eyes.
...
[Assets]: Reserve Fund: 3.62 million | Cash: 2.2514
[Excelia]: 111 (points)
...
The experience points could be set aside for now. After all, ever since the Expedition, Leon had been busy with all sorts of odds and ends, plus studying alchemy and tailoring, and hadn't set foot in the Dungeon even once.
These hundred-some experience points had been farmed in passing while Rose led the others in training.
As for why it had only gone up by this little over the past month or so, that brought up the mechanic of experience decay.
Leon was Lv. 4 now. Defeating and killing monsters below this level, the experience he gained came to only a tenth of the original amount, that is, 0.1 points.
In other words, Rose and the others had killed quite a lot of monsters exploring the Dungeon during this stretch. The real count had long passed 1,000, which was why Leon had been able to reap this hundred-plus experience.
As for the funds.
Just as the panel showed.
The money was down a hefty chunk.
The 17 sets of second-class adventurer equipment, weapons and armor, that he'd previously custom-ordered at a premium from the Hephaestus Familia, plus the equipment loadouts added afterward for Iri and Margaret, the single expense of upgrading the gear for every member of the Familia had burned through a terrifying sum of nearly 180 million Valis.
Their original savings had come to roughly 280 million, 277.47 million to be exact, and adding the nearly 80 million in returns brought back from the Expedition, the total had climbed to 357.47 million at one point.
Subtract the 180 million spent procuring equipment from that figure, and what remained came out to exactly 174.74 million.
Add in the scattered income over this recent period, plus the 50.4 million in profit from three major clients' orders this month, and the Familia's total funds had recovered to 225.14 million Valis.
...
"Sigh, here I was thinking that with a few hundred million in assets in hand, I'd finally be able to coast for a while..."
"Turns out... I never saw it coming! The smiths of the Hephaestus Familia taught me a solid lesson."
"Damn, the gear everyone got custom-made this time only counts as entry-level among second-class equipment, and even so the unit price barely scraped past the ten-million threshold. If it weren't for my connection with Tsubaki and her pulling some strings to give us a little extra care on performance, this procurement bill probably wouldn't have stopped at even 200 million!"
"I don't even dare imagine... once the whole Familia gets promoted to Lv. 5 and needs to switch over to first-class equipment, how much it'll cost to refresh a full set of gear..."
The moment he thought of how, down the line, any random weapon or set of armor would run hundreds of millions, and his own Familia's demand for that kind of gear ran to dozens of pieces, the mere thought filled him with dread.
That enormous number, just imagining it was almost enough to suffocate him.
"Make money! I have to make money like hell!"
"Goddammit, base construction, equipment upgrades, leveling up Deep Blue, learning sub-professions... money's needed everywhere!"
"Right, and there's the PR costs for keeping up relations with all the various Familias too, argh!"
He was wrecked!
"Big sis Jeanne, big sis Jeanne! Quick, look!"
"Mr. Leon's expression keeps going dark, then pale, then flushed red!"
"This face-changing is so much fun!"
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