With a towel in one hand and a bottle of shampoo in the other, Alice walked down the short hallway of the second floor.
In that mont, she felt a slight breeze coming from under the door of Kael's room and ca to a hasty stop.
"Kael…?"
She imdiately swung the door open, for the first ti in weeks, and saw the sa old dark room without anyone inside.
It made her disappointed for a second, but then she saw the open window and went there to close it.
"Mom probably wanted to let so fresh air in…"
She said, pushed the window down, and locked it before heading out of the room, closing the door behind her.
The room turned dark once again.
…
Whitesky, Kornacis, early on a Sunday morning.
It was a cold, smoggy morning, like most of Kornacis's mornings. The streets were quiet, with only a few early risers bustling about.
The factories on the outskirts of town were already starting to churn out their daily pollution, adding to the thick layer of smog that hung over the city.
In the Temptation Avenue, with a pair of silver cross earrings dangling from the ears, Kael, with a high-collared coat, opened a tal gate and stepped into the yard.
The yard had a stone path, with two overgrown lawns on either side, and on the right-sided lawn, there was a small fountain with small statues of the Ten Main Gods on the edges.
"The wandering sovereign of chains unbound, She who dances upon lawless stars. The Lady of the Disorder, the Virgin of the Unlawful Lands…"
Kael touched a steel cross necklace, kissing the cool tal, and bowed in the direction of the Outlaw Goddess statue.
In that mont, the front door opened, and with a simple wooden cane in hand, a blind-eyed old woman stepped out.
"…Hello? Is soone here?"
She asked as she happened to hear the prayer inside and ca outside to look, as she wouldn't go out otherwise in the mornings.
The smog and coldness were at their worst during the mornings, so she usually waited for the sun to go higher in the sky before leaving for the day.
"Hello, madam. I heard you're looking for tenants."
Kael took off his hat, pressed it against his chest, and looked at the old woman, whose blind eyes were all over the place.
They weren't looking at him directly.
'Blind…'
"Oh… Yes. My nephew… do you know Little Jake? He is a good boy, and he suggested that since I am retired and all… I should try renting out a place in my house, since there is plenty of space.
"He said it is a good revenue stream… Yes, that's a good boy, and I've let him take care of all of my finances."
The blind-eyed woman said as she shuffled her feet along the stone path, moving the walking stick in front of her, and then happened to tap Kael in the leg.
"Oh, there you are… I have a few rooms ready to be rented, if you'd like to take a look!"
"That would be wonderful. Do you need a hand, perhaps, so you can show the rooms?"
Kael asked, took her arm, and helped her to shuffle back to the house.
"Oh, thank you, young man. What a nice boy you are."
The blind old woman said, and then Kael helped her to go over the threshold, holding her arm securely.
"Upstairs… Oh, these stairs have been so difficult for lately. My knees don't work like they used to."
"The first step is right in front of you…"
Kael said, holding her arm as she lifted her knee to step onto the first step, and then slowly, but at an even pace, he helped her to go over all ten steps.
"That right there…"
She moved the walking stick in the direction of several rooms, which were all with closed doors, and said.
"All of them are for rent… I sleep downstairs these days, as taking these stairs is too hard for alone."
"You don't have a caretaker?"
Kael asked.
"Little Jake sotis… And sotis my daughter cos around, but I don't want to bother her too much."
She said, and Kael led her inside one of the rooms before helping her to sit on one of the chairs while he took a good look around.
'A good-sized room. I don't need anything special. A roof over my head is enough for .'
Kael nodded with a nod, stepped out of the room to check out the other rooms, but then saw a thin rope hanging from the ceiling in the corner.
"You have an attic here?"
Kael asked.
However, he was pretty sure that when he looked at the building from outside, he happened to see the triangle window of the attic.
"Ah yes, but I haven't gone there for years. It's probably dusty and full of spiders with their webs. It's not sothing I ever bothered to clean, as I can't make the ladder…"
She said while trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"Are you renting it?"
Kael asked.
"…No, why are you asking? There are good rooms here; why would you like to rent that dusty place?"
The blind old woman asked in wonder.
"…Can I take a look? I might be interested in cleaning that place and renting it."
Kael asked.
"Oh, well, if you want… Just yank on the rope, and the ladder will co down. There is a small square hatch in the ceiling that you can climb up through."
The blind woman said.
With a yank of the rope, the ladder ca down, and Kael climbed up before opening the small square hatch in the ceiling.
As he arrived in the attic, it was indeed very dusty with boxes piled up high to the ceiling and so broken furniture scattered all around the attic.
There weren't spiderwebs, like the old woman expected, but it definitely needed plenty of cleaning.
It was about three tis the size of the second-floor rooms, and Kael, honestly, loved it, as it was very spacious, and the ceiling was high enough for him to stand fully upright without bumping his head.
"Yeah… This is it."
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