Fairy Tail - Eyes of Ice

Chapter 38 - X791 Pt. 2

Erza slapped the paperwork down in front of Kai. Iggy distributed pens to the two of them as Erza sat down across from Kai, Requipping a pair of reading glasses.

"I think we've whittled it down to three options," Erza said.

Kai wriggled his nose. "What about—"

The fiery look she shot him told him not to bring up the place by the park. "Three. The problem is the pricing. Things have gotten quite drastic since I last looked for a home."

"You were house hunting before Tenrou?"

Erza shrugged. "I dabbled. I got curious. It's always good to keep a pulse on the market to see how things changed." She pursed her lips. "Suppose that wound up not being all that helpful."

"Thank you, Acnologia," Kai muttered.

"We should go here first," Erza said, pointing to a location on the southern end of town, just opposite the river. It had a nice backyard and balcony overlooking the canal that ran through the city. Each of the places they looked for also had plenty of room for Iggy, something that was a deal-breaker. The cat was pitching in twenty percent and thus demanded twenty percent of the space be dedicated to her.

Kai wondered if she was going to somehow write in a clause in their unspoken contract for when they managed to get her human form back to add in more space, but also figured that not bringing it to attention may help in their future proverbial court of law.

"Sounds good," Kai said. "When do you need to be back with Master and Mirajane?"

"Later this afternoon, but that won't take long." Erza smiled, quite cheekily, and stood up. She shuffled the papers around in her hand, no doubt to put them in the order she wanted to visit them.

They'd kept their money safely in Laki's hands. Mirajane and Lisanna were too irresponsible to hold all of that, Macao and Cana would spend it immediately, and they didn't want to burden Master with all of that as he caught up with the rest of the world and worked to officially reinstate himself as Guild Master. Lucy would have been their first option but she was still away with Natsu and Happy to see her father.

Iggy floated alongside Erza while the two went into town, taking the nice scenic route. The weather was immaculate this time of year. Erza was back in her armor while Kai was in some more appropriate clothes, still wearing his hoodie as always. He also left his sword behind, but he felt comfortable leaving it in Gray's hand in case he wanted to try out any neat tricks with it.

They arrived at their first location. Their hands were locked together. Iggy stopped and walked up to the door next to them, with the receptionist letting them in. They met with a pudgy little man with a long mustache wearing a fashion-forward suit and trousers.

"Splendid to have you back," he said. "I was hoping a nice young couple like yourselves would come back, we need more of it in the town. Too many young people renting nowadays, we're more than happy to give you a loan to buy."

"You have such a lovely lot," Erza said, not putting the charm on but more the kiss-ass attitude and expression. "One question we had was regarding the price."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Lovely as it is, we couldn't help noticing that it's a bit...expensive, compared to similar homes in the area."

Kai grinned as the fruits of Erza's research prepared to bloom, but he just chuckled and shook his head.

"I assure you, Ms. Scarlet, our prices are quite competitive, particularly for our area." He pursed his lips. "I'm wondering what numbers you're showing?"