Chapter 408: Looking For Land

For once, the salesmanship wasn’t entirely dishonest.

The building was beautiful: a five-story stone structure surrounding a private courtyard, with offices, meeting halls, storage rooms and enough frontage on a busy avenue that thousands of people would pass it daily.

A merchant consortium had previously used it as an administrative headquarters, and almost everything remained in excellent condition.

Boren walked through the main entrance and looked around approvingly. "I like this one. Wecould move in tomorrow. There’s even a courtyard, and the broker said there’s a restaurant two streets away."

"The restaurant is not part of the property," Sage said.

"Still nearby."

Sage walked through the courtyard, looked at the neighboring buildings rising beyond every wall, then asked Jorren whether any adjoining properties were available.

The broker’s enthusiasm weakened. One belonged to a bank. Another belonged to a merchant family that had owned it for eighty years.

The buildings behind them belonged to three separate owners, none currently selling. Sage asked about the total land area, listened to the answer and immediately knew it wouldn’t work.

"It’s too small."

Jorren blinked. "Too small? Guildmaster, this is one of the largest private commercial properties currently available in this part of the district."

"For what exists today," Sage replied. "I’m buying for what the Guild will need ten years from now."

They left.

The second property initially looked far more promising. It sat farther north and consistedof a large estate previously owned by a noble family whose main household had relocated closer to the inner districts.

There was enough land for the Guild Hall, training grounds and several facilities, with gardens that could easily be cleared for additional construction.

Even Pax seemed interested when they arrived. The problem became obvious once Sage asked who owned the surrounding properties.

Great Houses.

Every direction. One estate belonged directly to a Great Noble House. Another belonged to a cadet branch of a different House.

A third had been leased for several decades to an organization backed by yet another noble family. The road itself passed through an area where neighboring households possessed old privileges over expansion and construction.

Boren scratched his chin. "It is big."

"Today," Sage said.

"We could fit plenty here."

"Today."

Boren understood what he meant and sighed. If the Guild expanded, every additional piece of land would require negotiations with powerful families who would know exactly how badly Sage needed it.

Worse, any political conflict could turn expansion into leverage against him.

Sage didn’t need to think about it for long.

"No."

The broker looked genuinely surprised. "Guildmaster, estates of this size rarely enter the market."

"Then someone else will be very happy to buy it."

The third property was where Sage’s patience began deteriorating.

It was nearly perfect. The location sat between two major roads, not too far from the Central Trade District and close enough to the Warrior District that adventurers could reach it easily.

The property consisted of several old warehouses and open yards owned by a wealthy trading family preparing to move most of its storage operations closer to the eastern gates.

It wasn’t large enough for Sage’s ultimate plans, but neighboring commercial properties offered at least some possibility of future acquisition. The initial asking price was thirty-eight million gold coins.

Expensive.But reasonable enough that Sage was willing to negotiate.

Then the owner arrived. The man recognized the Adventurer Guild’s name, asked several questions about Evergreen, disappeared into another room with his representatives and returned twenty minutes later with a new price.

"Fifty-five million," the merchant said.

Sage stared at him. "Your broker said thirty-eight."

"That valuation was based on ordinary commercial use. Establishing a major organizational headquarters changes the property’s strategic value."

Boren slowly turned his head toward Sage.

Sage remained remarkably calm. "The buildings haven’t changed."

"No."

"The roads haven’t changed."

"No."

"The land hasn’t grown."

The merchant smiled politely. "The intended buyer has changed."

Sage stood up immediately to leave.

The merchant’s smile faltered. "Guildmaster, surely there’s room to negotiate."

"There was. At thirty-eight million."

Sage walked out. Boren hurried after him, fighting a grin. Mina was considerably less restrained and started laughing the moment they reached the street.

Pax followed last, glancing back once toward the property before joining them. "He’ll probably send another offer."

"He can send it to someone else," Sage replied.

The fourth property took them most of the afternoon to reach and demonstrated why cheap land remained cheap even inside the Royal Capital.

It was enormous, larger than everything they’d seen that day combined, and the asking price was only twenty-seven million gold coins. For approximately thirty seconds, Boren thought they’d found a miracle.

Then they looked at the roads. The property sat in an awkward southwestern section separated from the main commercial routes by dense residential streets and an old canal.

Only two roads could comfortably support heavy wagon traffic, and both became congested during working hours.

There was nonearby major avenue, the closest gate was inconvenient for merchants, and reaching the Warrior District required crossing several crowded neighborhoods.

Sage stood beside the carriage and watched a wagon struggle around a narrow turn.

"No."

Boren groaned. "You haven’t even looked at the buildings."

"I don’t need the buildings. I need the location."

"We could buy this place and several smaller properties elsewhere," Boren suggested. "Guild Hall here, warehouses somewhere cheaper, restaurants in another district, maybe the training grounds outside the walls. We don’t need everything sitting beside everything else."

"For branches, maybe. Not Headquarters." Sage turned toward him and gestured at the surrounding streets. "Eventually Regional Headquarters across the Kingdom will send people, reports, materials and supplies here. Adventurers need to reach us easily. Merchants need access. Wagons need access. If we build five major facilities in five different districts , we’re creating transportation problems inside our own organization before we’ve even opened."

Boren looked toward Pax for support.

Pax shook his head. "He’s right."

"Of course he is. Nobody ever supports the cheaper idea."

By the time they returned to their hotel, the sun had already begun setting over the Capital.

Sage sat beside the window with the property documents spread across the desk while Mina ate the remainder of the pastries she’d bought that morning and Boren continued mourning prices that weren’t coming out of his personal pocket.

Four properties. Four failures, each for a completely different reason. One was too small. One trapped them between noble estates. One became twenty-seven million gold coins more expensive the moment its owner smelled opportunity.

The last had enough land but was so badly connected that Sage would spend years regretting the purchase.

And those were among the better options .

The problem was becoming obvious. The Royal Capital hadn’t been waiting for Sage.

Every valuable district had already been divided between people and institutions that had been here long before the Adventurer Guild existed.

Large connected properties belonged to the Crown, Great Noble Houses, the military, churches or hereditary estates that rarely sold anything.

Whatever remained was either already occupied, absurdly expensive or undesirable for reasons that became obvious the moment Sage inspected it.

Sage leaned back and rubbed his forehead.

He had come to the Royal Capital expecting the difficult part to begin once construction started.

Instead, he was beginning to suspect that finding somewhere to build the Kingdom Headquarters might be harder than building the Headquarters itself.