The walk back to the main gate was a bit shorter than before, mainly because I didn't stop to ogle the buildings and people. Actually, I went a little out of my way to avoid the auction house. I could probably lose most of my day spending my meager supply of gil.
Rashid was standing in the same place as the last time I saw him. It actually looked like he hadn't moved a single step in the entire time I was gone. This time, miraculously, there wasn't even a line of people waiting to see him.
"Hail, future citizen," Rashid intoned flatly as I approached. "Your housing application has been processed..almost an hour ago." He held his hand up, offering a shiny object toward me. "Here is your new housekey. The scrap of paper with it has the location of your room. Replacement keys will cost two hundred gil apiece, so be careful with this one."
I nodded, taking the large key from his hand. "Thank you," I said, nodding my head slightly.
"It's my job," he stated, finally cracking a smile. "By the way, did you make any decisions on your military service? I heard through the command chain that they are licensing inexperienced adventurers at this time." He shrugged, adding, "Might be worth your while, that's all."
"Thank you," I said again, nodding my head. "I'll keep that in mind." I wondered how many other people he had told the same lead, and what my chances were of being chosen.
"Not a problem," he replied with another elusive smile. "Always happy to help out someone in need. I'm storing up some karma." He smirked, then turned away as a dark-haired Hume stepped up to his post, presumably another registrant for housing.
I turned east toward the residential district, which took me right past the large pens for the riding chocobos. So that was the wonderful smell hovering around the main gate. I guess we do learn something new every day.
Luckily, the residential district was situated far enough away from the pens to reduce the smell significantly. I didn't think it would be a problem when I got to my new home, which was still a short ways away according to the directions. I shrugged my shoulders, and kept walking.
The residential district was surprisingly clean, with well-kept houses lining both sides of the cobbled road. There wasn't much in the way of plantlife, which can be expected in the dry terrain Bastok was in, but there were a few scrubby-looking short trees between houses. It was an effort, anyways.
I found my new residence with little trouble. You have to expect some when most of the houses look alike. Obviously this was one of the mass housing booms after the crystal wars, which meant the housing was about twenty years old. For stone houses, that shouldn't be too bad.
I found the matching house number to the one on the paper, and stepped up to the front door. The house didn't look as well-kept as its neighbors, but I guess that's to be expected when a house sits unoccupied. I made a mental note to try and do some basic repairs, then slid the key into the lock, twisting it gently to unlock the door.
Before I could push the door open, it was pulled open from the inside, nearly pulling me off balance with it.
"Welcome home, Kupo!" came the voice from inside the dim room.
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