Starting with the sentries on the frontier

Over the next two days, Zag, with his cat and dog, looked at several more houses, including a few that he could afford, which he had specifically inquired about from the monks at the temple in Meretra.

But no matter how many places he looked at, they were either in terrible condition, had noisy neighbors, or had strange people coming and going up and down the stairs, making it difficult for Zag to make a decision.

In fact, even in the 21st century, renting a house is something that requires several days of comparison and observation, and it can't be rushed. However, Mrs. Marsh was quite hostile to hotel room rates and insisted that Zag rent a decent place to stay first, and then carefully find a place he liked later.

In short, we can't waste money in hotels!

This attitude actually made Zha Ge feel a little sour, so he decided to settle on one of the options he had already looked at.

After leaving the last high-priced detached house in the West End that was shortlisted, Zag sat on a bench by the roadside with Helford and Snowball, looking worried.

"If the apartment in the West District hadn't been inhabited by cultists before, and it had just been a ghost, it would have been easy to deal with. In that case, its cost-effectiveness would have been the game-winner."

Snowball suggested, "Maybe we can go in and take a look? If we don't find anything amiss, we can get a freebie!"

Helford immediately shook his head: "I object! There are ghosts in there!"

Snowball meowed dismissively, "Stupid dog! That's just a ghost! What are you afraid of?"

Zag spoke up for Herford, saying, "Well... while from a mystical perspective, ghosts are more afraid of the living, emotionally speaking, it's indeed difficult for the living not to be afraid of ghosts."

"He's not human! You're a werewolf! The original werewolf!"

"I used to be a human being too!"

"Not now!"

"Werewolves are human too!"

"You're a dog now! A stupid dog!"

"I can turn into a werewolf anytime!"

"But you're a dog now!"

The pointless argument gave Zag a headache, but soon, when he saw a carriage appear at the end of the quiet street, he quickly reached out and grabbed Herford's mouth, manually muting him.

It would be terrible if people found out that a dog can talk!

"Oh, what a good dog!"

As the carriage passed by, a gentleman wearing a top hat, with a large belly, sat inside, and the buttons on his shirt looked like they were about to pop off.

But he stared at Herford for a while before looking at him as the carriage was about to pass Zag, smiling politely and offering a word of praise.

Zag smiled and nodded in response, then led the cat and dog away.

There are few people in this place, but it is still outdoors, full of uncertainty. Who knows if someone will discover that Helford can talk?

"Let's go take a look at that house on the outskirts of the South District. I think it's pretty good. Although the location isn't great and it's a bit dilapidated, it has a sunken garden that we can use to grow some magical materials to supplement our household income."

This was inspired by David's wife, Lily. Anyway, with Snowball, who is like an encyclopedia, guiding him, it's hard to say about the difficult ones, but he can definitely grow some cheap ones and make a little money.

Helford had just had his muzzle pinched and knew he couldn't talk nonsense, so he could only bark twice in agreement—this was a way of barking that he had barely learned, and it even sounded a bit like a wolf's howl, but at least it wasn't human speech. Even if others heard it, they would only think that it was a rather strange dog.

Snowball, unfazed, meowed in response: "Anyway, renting any building is much better than your previous sentry post!"

This is the truth. The conditions in the sentry post were comparable to those of a college dormitory. There was no hot water available for a shower, and they had to fetch their own water from the well in town. It made Zag feel like a caveman living in the Industrial Revolution era.

It takes a full half hour to walk from the affluent area around the city hall to the South District, and the house that Zag mentioned is located at the far east end of the South District, just two streets away from the infamous Hungry Rat Street, so its location is really not good.

However, it wasn't far from the temple of Meretra. Even walking through the alley next to the temple, it only took about ten minutes to reach Mrs. Weyland's aromatherapy shop where Zag worked, which saved him a lot of commuting time.

However, the house is indeed dilapidated.

"Brother Peter, what's that on the roof?"

The person who brought Zag to see the house was a monk from the Temple of Meretra, also named Peter…

Well, by no means conservative estimates, since his transmigration, Zag has encountered ten Peters, five Davids, four Rosas, and two Georges. And this is just the number of people with the same name in a small town of a few thousand and a city of tens of thousands.

In short, this Peter of the Temple of Meretra was an old man with a thick white beard, whose appearance was even good enough to be Santa Claus—although there is no Santa Claus in this world.

"Oh dear, that is proof of Meredra's kindness, a gift of love and nature, and I think we should be truly delighted and grateful for it!"

Peter the Whitebeard answered.

Zag looked blank. "You mean this bird's nest? I should be grateful for it?"

A huge bird's nest on the roof was quite eye-catching, but what Zag couldn't accept was that when he went up to the second floor of the house, he could clearly hear a rather heavy creature "elbowing" the roof.

More importantly, due to years of disrepair, there may be some holes in the beams or walls, causing the sound to echo in the house like 3D surround sound. If it weren't for seeing the bird's nest and the birds inside, Zag would have thought the house was haunted.

Peter continued spouting lines that left everyone speechless: "We should be grateful for all life, oh, what a beautiful existence it is, and for Meredra's mercy!"

Snowball clearly scoffed at Peter's statement, meowing incessantly, "Bullshit! He should say that to the bugs that get eaten!"

Although Peter's words were offensive, he was a man of his word, and he showed genuine concern for Snowball: "Oh, what's wrong with the little guy? Is he hungry? And why are you leashing him? He's just a kitten; you can't treat him like this!"

“Brother Peter, sometimes you have to understand, every cat that’s chained up has a reason. Of course, if you insist, I can untie the rope.” Zag said, untying the rope from Snowball’s collar. As Snowball shot out of the window like an arrow, Zag said gleefully, “Snowball, go!”

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[Snowball's Popular Science Theater]: The tax system of the Eternal High Kingdom is very complicated. Since the six major territories became independent, the High King has been unable to collect taxes from each territory. However, some loyal territories will still offer some "special products" to the High King, usually high-value magical materials, or simply gold and silver, which can be regarded as another form of tax payment.

However, this does not mean that the Supreme King cannot squeeze any profits out of his independent territories. The Golden Palace Mage Research Institute, which he directly controls, levies anomaly security fees on areas protected by the Golden Palace and the Anomaly Handling Association it manages. In the name of the kingdom, it also collects "magical business tax" and "magical product transaction tax" from all magic-related industries. In most cases, these two taxes are combined, with the former at 10% and the latter at 30%, totaling as much as 40%. This is the main source of income for the Golden Palace Mage Research Institute and the Supreme King's own slush fund.

Of course, these high taxes directly led to the prosperity of the black market in the magical realm, with almost every town of any size having its own black market.