The trip from the shopping district to their new home took them about a tick and a wink. After finally arriving at the building, Kalin was able to immediately see some changes. Though subtle, the doors and windows had been replaced. They had previously been partially dry rotten and missing large chips of paint. Most of the glass panes were also broken. Now, however, the door was a solid hardwood, grey in color, several shades lighter than the stone bricks making the house the hardware of the door was made of a blackened brass, giving it a rustic feeling. The windows were all replaced with new one-way glass panes, making it seem more private than the previously frosted windows. Gone were any traces of being a store, as new shutters made it look homier.

While the outside looked much nicer, it couldn't compare to the changes made on the inside. Contrary to how it looked half a week ago, the interior was completely empty of garbage and filth. Most of the flooring, and the entire kitchen had been replaced, as the interior now matched the exterior. Though there wasn't any furniture yet, as a shipment would be arriving in another hour or so, the building looked much better already.

Mei, Liliana, and Kalin started to put away some of the things into the kitchen. The duller and more neutral colors of the architecture allowed each room to take on a warm or cool feeling depending on the colors of the decorations. It also allowed for a tiny slash of color to be able to immediately transform the mood of the entirety of the room.

As Lili started placing some decorations on the mantle of the colossal fireplace that had previously been hidden from view by the piles of rubble filling what had now become the living room. The room was now separated with walls, splitting the giant opening into a living room, a dining room, an entry way, and a hallway connecting them all to the kitchen. Although split into four different rooms now, that didn't mean that any of them were small. Contrarily, the rooms were still able to fit dozens of people, as it used to be a room big enough to be a large general store and dining area for an inn.

It didn't seem like long for a loud knocking noise came from the doorway. After leaving to answer the door, Liliana returned to the living room with a very muscular man following her. He claimed to have been sent by the furniture store to deliver and install the items that Lili and Mei had ordered. After setting the bag hanging from his shoulder onto the floor, after asking which items should be placed where in the room, he reached into the bag with two hands, pulling out large sofas, a coffee table, chairs, and various other pieces of furniture. Under the direction of Lili, he arranged the pieces into their intended locations of the room.

After washing, rinsing, and repeating in every room of the house, the man left after being given a generous tip. Although Lili loved money and had a tendency, that bordered on addiction, to collecting it and wrenching it from merchants, she was more than willing and strangely generous to laborers and whenever food is involved. Finishing up the basic furnishings by hanging up curtains and setting up sheets, the building finally finished its transformation from a store to a home, or maybe a mansion.

Sitting in the new living room, Mei asked, "So how do you like what was done with the place?"

Kalin's face seemed to have his crooked grin glued to his face. The whole house was clean and intriguing. While it was still relatively empty, there were so many rooms and places to see that it gave him an excitement due to the new environment. As the easily excitable person he was, and having never lived in a house so large, the childishness inside him caused him to exclaim, "Yeah, it's amazing!"

"So, have you picked which room you want yet, you only have around 30 options." Liliana teased Kalin. "Besides the last door on the left, which is mine, and the last room on the right, which is Mei's, you can choose any of the other rooms."

Fidgeting on the couch, he said, "I'll have to room next to you Lili!"

Hearing his words, Kalin's sister just smiled subtly, although her happiness could be seen by those that knew her well. She knew that Kalin was pretty attached to her, and it made her extremely happy. As Mei had caught onto over the past few years, although he was attached to Lili, she was definitely more attached to him. Sometimes Mei felt that the reason Kalin would only spend a week a month training with her was because Liliana would just dry up and die without seeing him for more than that. She even suspected that Kalin would be hard-pressed to go on long quests without having Liliana tag along to 'supervise' him. Though there was a large skill gap between him and the two girls, they probably would be partying together once he becomes a 3rd, maybe 4th tier adventurer at the very latest.

After watching her best friend, with knowing eyes, Lili had a strange feeling that somebody was belittling her. Turning toward Mei, she just made eye contact for several moments while frowning. This only stopped when a spark of inspiration seemed to flash in her eyes as a devious smirk filled her face, informing Mei that she had thought up a scheme to 'punish' her. Mei just sighed in resignation before ignoring Lili.

Kalin, deciding to explore the house one more time, excused himself from the living room and made his way to his new bedroom. This was the first time in his life that he had a room to call his own. At the cabin, the entire family shared a single bed, and the living area consisted of a single room (sans bathroom), and when he lived at Mei's house, he shared a room with her and sometimes Lili. It thrilled him to know that he would be having his private area.

Previously one of the few suites back when the building used to be a 'hotel', the room was positioned as far away from the stairs and dining room as possible. As this was where high-paying clients would stay, the owner didn't want them to have to deal with the sounds of drunks at the bar or traffic in front of the door or on the stairs. Entering his room, the first thing Kalin saw was a giant bed. The frame was rather basic and unassuming, and the mattress, covered with a single sheet, was larger than the bed he used to sleep on with his family of 4. There was no closet in the room, only a single wardrobe and a dresser sitting on the left side of the bed. Instead, on the wall adjacent to the wardrobe, sat the only other door in the room that lead to a full bathroom that and a bath seemingly designed to fit several people, obviously for no reason in particular. On the wall next to the door were three standing mirrors that would allow him to see all angles of his outfit with ease.

On the opposite side of the bed, there was a wooden desk. Like the rest of the furniture in the room, it had a very minimalistic design, allowing it to be practical while still showing the quality of workmanship required to build it. There were a few drawers on either side of the desk, including a center drawer with room to keep stationaries and writing materials. On the wall opposite to the bed, where Kalin entered the room, there were a couple empty book shelves, as well as a small sofa and matching lounging chair. The cushions looked so soft that they seemed as siren, tempting passers-by to enter their embrace, never for them to escape. Between the two comfy pieces of furniture was a small side table with a lamp on it.

Even though there were no traces of anything else being in the room, Kalin still opened the wardrobe and all the drawers in the room several times, as well as looked underneath the bed. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw, he gave a small nod to nobody in particular before throwing himself onto the bed. Landing on the thick layer of clouds, he felt his body slightly sink into the cushion that was threateningly soft and warm. It almost felt like he was being cuddled back by his bed, a feeling he quite enjoyed.

After a while, he started to get bored just lying there. After shifting his weight, he noticed the mattress resist his movements, pushing against him as he wiggled around. Noticing this, he gave it a small bounce.. and then another.. and another. Before long, he found himself bouncing on his bed with a giant grin on his face. As much as he liked the feeling of the softness of the bed, the springiness was undoubtably more fun.

Finishing up his observations of the bed, he decided to put store his clothes in the room. Pulling them out of his magic satchel, he put away all his clothes, save a couple pairs for emergencies which he kept stored on his person. Although he had thought he had several books, he noticed that the entire collection he had in his bag didn't even fill a single shelf. Seeing the rows of empty shelves made him wonder how long it would take him to read enough books to fill each of them.

Deciding to check the basement, he ran through the hall, down the stairs into the living room, through the corner of the hall into the kitchen, and down into the basement. Though it had been somewhat hidden previously, the entrance to the basement was in the open, leading into a mostly empty room. Although the jury was still out on what they were going to do with the basement, Lili was adamant about keeping a bar. Although it was renovated, replacing the old bar with one that didn't have large gouges and scuff marks all over the body, the majority of the room didn't change much. Besides the removal of the garbage, beds, and goods, much of the layout remained the same. For now, the room that had previously been living quarters for the prostitutes that lived here was going to be a storage area. With three people in such a large house, it was actually quite hard for them to find uses for all the space. Besides the main living areas, and basics for the bedrooms, the rest of the house remained relatively empty.

Though there wasn't much to see in the basement, Kalin returned upstairs to find Liliana bugging Mei as she was cooking their first dinner together in this new home, with a huge smile on his face, looking forward to the time they would spend together.