Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 78: Paperwork

“No luck?” the guard asked with a wry smile as Chance and Bella stepped out from the streets after having retraced their steps.

“No, we got all of them as far as we could tell,” Chance replied. “I hope we weren’t supposed to collect the bodies or anything, though. There were a few too many to carry.”

The guards eyebrows twitched upward in mild surprise. “Seriously? That was pretty fast. You’re sure you got them all? The job won’t pay out if you missed any, and you might be fined for reporting a job finished when it isn’t.”

“We’re certain,” Bella said firmly. “No more Windchuckers were in the area when we were finished fighting, and we killed the one you mentioned with the red feathers.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the guard said, shaking his head slowly. “In that case, good job. We’ll send someone in to make sure the area is cleared out properly, and I’ll report that you’ve completed the job. The contribution points will be assigned to your name, and you can use them as you see fit. If the job is found to be incomplete, they will be removed from your account or you will be put into debt if you have already spent them.”

“Sounds good,” Chance said. He held the thin wood token that the guard had given him up. “Thanks for the tips. We can just break this, then?”

“You can. I have to ask, how old are you two? You look young enough to be my kids, but if you managed to handle the birds that easily, you’ve got to be at least Rank Two.”

“Around twenty,” Chance replied with a grin. “And we’ve just been practicing for a while, you know?”

The guard grunted. “Making me feel like I’m slacking off. Best of luck to you both.”

Chance and Bella thanked him again, then broke their badges. As soon as the wood snapped, energy swirled around the two and they vanished, sucked through space by the Essence stored within the badges.

They both reappeared outside the guard house with a pair of subtle pops. Chance blinked, as a small wave of disorientation washed over him. A man stepped out of the guardhouse and strode past them, shaking Chance out of his momentary trance.

“That’s a bit weird,” Chance said. “Still better than flying around on a giant sewer grate with Joe, though. That was terrifying.”

“I kind of liked it,” Bella admitted with a sheepish grin. “It was fun to fly around that fast. I’m looking forward to being able to do it myself.”

Chance wrinkled his nose in distaste. “I hope you fly better than Joe does. He was a psychopath.”

“No promises.” Bella laughed. A man stepped past them and entered the guard house, giving them a small frown as he passed.

“I think we’re a little bit in the way of traffic,” Chance said. He and Bella stepped away from the center of the road and walked over to an empty bench alongside it.

The crowds in the city had grown a little busier since they’d arrived, but they were still far thinner than anything that Gleam had to offer. Part of Chance had expected less variation in the people outside of Gleam, since larger cities tended to be more diverse, but he was surprised to find that just as many people here had tails, wings, or other bodily modifications.

“Shall we get to finding out about housing?” Bella asked.

Chance nodded. “Yeah. Sorry, I just got a little distracted.”

“No problem. I’ll ask the guards where we should head really quick. Give me a second.” Bella headed back inside the guardhouse. She returned a minute later and gave Chance a grin. “Follow me.”

They headed through the city, weaving through the crowds and making their way toward its center. Chance had to keep himself from getting too badly distracted by the merchants or buildings as they passed, and several times he nearly ended up veering away from Bella before he jogged to catch back up with her.

After a little under half an hour of walking and an unintentional tour of the city, the two of them arrived at a group of streets full of tightly packed square buildings. They towered over the surrounding structures like a cluster of spears sticking out from the city.

There was little difference between each of them, and while they weren’t exactly ugly to look at, they were far from beautiful. They reminded Chance of many high rise apartments he’d seen back on Earth, except these didn’t have balconies.

“I think there’s an office around here somewhere,” Bella said as they came to a stop to study the area.

“Is it that?” Chance asked, pointing at a squat, square building near the base of one of the taller ones. Its stone doors hung open, and the windows along it were slightly larger than the ones of the structures around it.

Through the windows, Chance could see what looked like a fairly basic waiting room and several bored looking men and women sitting at a counter. Bella’s eyes lit up and she nodded, crossing the street to head over to it.

Chance followed her inside. The faint scent of roses and what he could only describe as the scent of vague disappointment greeted him as his feet fell on old wooden floor. They headed over to the nearest worker at the counter, a middle aged woman with greying hair wearing large spectacles. Her desk was completely covered with papers and trash, to the point where she had to strain slightly to see above it. She hid a yawn behind her hand Chance and Bella approached her.

“Welcome to the housing office. I’m Barbara. What can I do for you today?” she asked through her yawn.

“We just joined the Dancing Cloud sect and are looking to get housing. We were told this was the area to check.”

Barbara gave them a slow nod. “You’re in the right place. What kind of housing are you looking for? And have you completed any jobs for the sect yet? We do not currently offer any housing opportunities for gold, but I can get set you up on a payment plan if you need–”

“We’ve already done a job,” Chance said, gently interrupting what he suspected was about to turn into a long, incredibly boring speech. “We’ve got five contribution points, as far as I know. A cultivator told us that five would be enough.”

“We’ve got some smaller rooms for five points,” Barbara said, yawning again. “There are two models that will fit your current budget. The first is a single bed with a kitchen, and the second is a double bed without one.”

“I think we’ll go with the double bed,” Chance said. “I don’t exactly understand how the contribution points work yet, though. We weren’t actually given anything, are they just tied to our name or something?”

“They are,” Barbara said, shuffling through some papers on her desk in search of something. “I’ll just have to reference your names and confirm that you have the funds you claim, and then you’ll be all set after a little paperwork.”

A minute of uncomfortable silence passed as she continued ruffling through her desk before she finally let out a satisfied grunt, finally pulling out a wooden hexagon the size of a plate from what Chance strongly suspected was a trash can. She pushed the pile of paper out of the way and set the plate down with a small thud.

“There we go. What are your names?”

“Chance.”

“Bella.”

She muttered something under her breath, then pushed the plate toward them. “Please place your hands on the wood.”

They both obliged. A faint trickle of Essence tickled Chance’s palm before several runes lit up along its edges. They took their hands off and Bertha took the plate back. She gave it a quick glance, then tossed it back into the pile of papers sticking out of the trash can.

“You’re confirmed. You have 5 contribution points between the two of you, although they job they’re from hasn’t been verified yet. Would you like to utilize them to purchase housing for one month?”

Chance and Bella nodded.

“Very well,” Barbara said. She rooted around her papers for a few more minutes, gathering several sheets and sweeping the rest off her desk and onto the ground by her feet. She reached into her dress and pulled out a small, rune covered quill.

Barbara pushed several papers across the table toward them and handed Bella the quill. “Just sign a few forms and you’ll be all set.”

Bella read through the papers, then took the quill and started to sign. While she worked, Barbara ducked under her desk. A few minutes later, Bella pushed the papers back over to Chance and gave him the quill.

He scanned through them. Even though he didn’t have much to reference, they seemed standard enough. There were far too many clauses to count about taking care of the property and not damaging anything as well as a multitude of common sense requirements and rules. There wasn’t anything that set off any alarms, so he signed his name next to Bella’s on all the blank lines.

“We’re finished,” Bella said once Chance put the quill down.

“Oh, just a few more,” Barbara said, straightening back up with a one foot tall stack of papers in her arms. She slammed it to the desk with a grunt on top of the ones they’d just signed and pushed it back over to them.

Chance and Bella stared at them in disbelief. Barbara yawned and sat back in her chair, closing her eyes. “Wake me up when you’ve finished or if you need anything explained. Actually, just wake me up when you’re done. Forget the explaining part, I don’t know what’s in them either. Have fun.”