The first buyers were the Gillman siblings. Rona spent one Black Crystal, worth about 160 Gold Coins, on a detached house near the Coast.
Mr. Fast also paid for his tavern: 220 Gold Coins. Faster had only 20, so Evelyn put up the remaining 200. The Mage Tower's Fall had changed her life. The gifts she received just for attending banquets held by Nobles and the wealthy were worth hundreds of Gold Coins.
Lindy paid for Mr. Victor, Copperbeard contributed generously, Andrew Luna gave Star-Moon Bay its second tavern, and Michael paid while grumbling the whole time. Of the 500 Gold Narls he had earned from alchemy, barely a few dozen remained his, yet buying a house meant he had to pay Annan on top of that.
Houses costing a hundred Gold Coins or more rivaled prices in Breeze City's wealthy district. But it was less that the buyers loved Star-Moon Bay than that they saw its potential. Even the Royal Capital of Reekan did not lavishly use Water Elementals to flush public toilets, let alone large ones.
Those prices were far beyond what the Subjects could afford, though, so Annan had to do something before their enthusiasm wore off.
Francois said some Subjects had grown lazy. Once they realized that doing more or less work got them the same food and lodging, they began to slack off. But they could not be punished: they were still working, just carrying a few fewer logs or one less piece of Limestone.
Annan's solution was to have Ingrid and Francois select the ten hardest-working Subjects of the past few days and give them a townhouse. He then promised that every Subject who contributed to Star-Moon Bay would be rewarded.
Dazed by their good fortune, the ten Subjects moved into their elegant, spacious