Broke

Sunday.

Lynch woke up bright and early.

Even though he had stayed up late last night, he had no intention of sleeping in today.

At this moment, he was itching to head straight to the agency to move into Daffodil Street; the private bathroom was practically beckoning to him.

Klein was even more prepared, dressed in new clothes and waiting in the living room with a newspaper, looking as if he were about to rush into Benson's room, drag him out, and head straight to look at houses.

However, Benson and Melissa were clearly not in such a rush. While a hint of excitement could be seen on Melissa, Benson's face remained calm. Combined with his slightly aged features and receding hairline, he looked quite like a father figure to Lynch and the others.

"Eat breakfast before we go. You definitely don't want to buy food over there. After all, you need to save money to buy suits and other clothes. Dressing well for that kind of company is one of the reasons people will respect you."

Benson put on his clothes with an amused smile and explained a few things to them.

Lynch and the others had no choice but to reheat the leftovers from last night, and only after finishing their meal could they truly set out from home.

"Wendell Street is the best—detached houses with balconies, gardens, two stories, and two acres of private lawn. That is our goal for the future... Alright, let's go look at the townhouses. I hope we can settle this today."

Benson gave them a brief rundown of the houses currently for rent, then headed straight for the Tingen Housing Improvement Company.

They were greeted by a young man named Skate, whose face lit up with a smile the moment he saw them.

"We need a townhouse."

Skate nodded and introduced the current situation to them.

The Tingen Housing Improvement Association primarily provided projects for honest folk who had seven or eight, or even a dozen people living in a single room, so the kind of townhouses Lynch and the others wanted were rare. Currently, there was one in the East District and one in the North District, and the rest was the one on Daffodil Street.

Lynch smiled with a hint of relief.

He had previously thought there were many houses on Daffodil Street, so he had only considered renting one near Klein's home.

Now that he thought about it, he was grateful for Benson's suggestion; otherwise, his rental would surely have been far away from Klein.

The choice of house was no different from the original story.

2 Daffodil Street.

Commissioner Skate led them straight to their destination.

It was a house without a lawn, a garden, or a porch, but compared to the place on Iron Cross Street, it looked very good.

Furthermore, there was a living room upon entering, which could also be used as a parlor.

There was a bay window here where they could dry their laundry; it was truly excellent.

What satisfied everyone the most was that this house had a bathroom and a guest room on the first floor, and two bathrooms and four bedrooms on the second floor.

Lynch almost immediately chose the master bedroom on the left; this room was slightly larger than the others, enough to fit an extra bookshelf.

As for the bathroom, he didn't care which one, as long as he could have one to himself—he was truly overjoyed.

As for Melissa, who was standing nearby, she couldn't take her eyes off the separate bathrooms. She looked at them again and again, her desire practically written all over her face.

But even so, she held back and didn't say a word, unwilling to interfere with her brothers' opinions.

However, Lynch felt she didn't need to be like that, because Benson had already started haggling with Skate.

Lynch and Klein stood to the side like mascots, occasionally exchanging glances, both filled with admiration for Benson.

It just went to show that some things really required a professional.

In short, after Benson's war of words, the rent was successfully lowered from 13 Sule to 12 Sule, the five-penny furniture usage fee was reduced to three pennies, and the deposit was lowered from two pounds and twelve Sule to exactly two pounds.

Once the price was settled, Lynch took out his share.

He didn't calculate the deposit based on a one-third split; he simply took out one pound. As for the rent, he paid four Sule per week, while Klein covered eight Sule.

Thinking about his salary of three pounds, after paying four Sule in rent and adding one pound for food expenses, it instantly shrank to one pound and sixteen Sule.

If he only spent the remainder—that is, sixteen Sule—he might be able to save one pound a month.

And that wasn't even counting illness, treating others to meals, or social obligations; just thinking about it, he realized he would be broke every month.

But fortunately, once he became an official member, his salary would increase. He just didn't know when he would become an official member; at the very least, he had to become a Beyonder first.

And if he wanted to become a Beyonder, he had to generate a pathway suitable for him.

But he currently had no spare energy at all.

Previously, because he had listened to Dunn tell him and Klein the myths and legends of this world, his energy had been completely exhausted, leaving only a tiny bit to shield him from gazes. He didn't dare to open any other processes.

Once he had enough energy, he must have the Stone of Myriad Phenomena generate the pathway as soon as possible, or his salary would never be enough to cover his expenses.

Luckily, tomorrow was Monday. As long as he stuck close to Klein, he would definitely be able to siphon some energy from Sefirah Castle.

And what he needed to do now was return to Iron Cross Street and move all their things out.

Benson was responsible for talking to their landlord about terminating the lease early, while Lynch and the others had to carry their belongings to Daffodil Street, trip after trip.

Klein did suggest hiring a carriage, but he was rejected by both Lynch and Melissa simultaneously.

They stated it was too expensive, they didn't want to spend the money, and since the items weren't heavy, it wasn't tiring at all.

In short, with these sentiments, when they finally had a moment of leisure and were truly sitting in their room on Daffodil Street, they all wore expressions of complete satisfaction.

Afterward, they hurriedly rushed into the washroom to take a shower, then immediately got dressed and headed to a clothing store to buy outfits for Lynch and Klein.

Their clothes were all old, and they didn't even have walking sticks.

However, they didn't end up buying any walking sticks in the end.

This was because a full suit, including a shirt, top hat, vest, trousers, and leather boots, cost a total of eight pounds.

After spending those eight pounds, Lynch refused to buy anything else. Of the twelve pounds in cash that Dunn had withdrawn, nine pounds and four sule had already been spent. Oh right, they had also spent one sule on a carriage ride and five sule to have a banner custom-made, totaling nine pounds and ten sule.

Currently, he only had three pounds and ten sule left in his hand, and he still had to shell out ten sule to give to Melissa so she could repay the doctor for the medical expenses.

As for the remaining three pounds, Lynch planned to save them for a rainy day. As for those walking sticks, he would just see if anyone stopped using theirs in the future and borrow one to play with.

It would have been great if Klein had bought a walking stick.

Once that guy got killed, he could have bought it from Melissa at a low price in the name of commemorating a dear friend.

But unfortunately, when Klein saw that he wasn't buying one, he didn't buy a walking stick either, which almost made Lynch sigh all the way home.

However, once he got home, his spirits soared once again.

The setting sun shone through the window like raging flames, casting a red glow that landed right on the table beside his bed. As he walked, he didn't even have to hear the sounds of others arguing, spitting, or snoring.

This life was simply unimaginably wonderful.

Of course, if Klein hadn't knocked on his bedroom door before going to sleep that night to gloat and ask for his one-pound food allowance for the coming week, the day would have been absolutely perfect.