Koval Estate Improvement I [Job/Solo]

Job:

Being a lecturer must be a very difficult thing... not only they have to talk to unresponsive students... they also have to make sure the students understand the material they delivered. But what to do if it was such a good day with nice weather? Some students were getting drowsy from the warmth emitting from the summer sky, even some wind that entered through the multi colored windows helped the students to feel more drowsy. Noir was one of the students, not only did she only get the effect of summer warmth, she also stayed up almost all night long to finish this book about the country's folklore. As a result, she had these black bags under her eyes and she also had to fight her heavy eyelids and stay awake.

As the lecturer saw the condition of his class, he let out a heavy sigh and a mental tear, cursing his own future and his own capability as a lecturer. The poor man would prepare both of his hands ready, with palms facing each other. The students who were awake and focused on the lecture tilted their head, curious on what the lecturer was doing. Then suddenly a clap sounded like a roaring thunder can be heard, all the drowsy students and even the sleeping students jumped from their seats. As if nothing happened, the lecturer casually asked the students with a smile, "Do you know about this trading post located at Magnostadt's eastern horizon?" He paused to hear the student’s answers, “Apparently they have some kind of an inn and a marketplace, I’ve visited the trading post a while ago and it was pretty fun. If you have free time, feel free to visit the trading post.”

‘Trading post…? But the eastern side should be Zion’s place…’ Noir tapped her lips with a pencil lightly, maybe she should go to give a check… just in case. After giving some intermezzo into his lecture, the lecturer continued to lecture until the bell rang, happy that the students were more focused until the end.

After paying a visit to this older magician at the inn she was staying, fortunately Shousui was willing to go together with Noir. They would use flying carpet to go to the trading post and as they got closer to the destination, the girl would notice that the stone tower was still there. There were some new buildings there though, perhaps it was the inn and the marketplace the lecturer mentioned before. “Why do you want to come to this place though, little Noir?” Shousui asked before she smoked her pipe. “This is supposed to be my friend’s home, just curious that it became a marketplace.” Noir answered as she maneuvered her flying carpet to reach the ground slowly and stopped feeding magoi after they safely landed.


There were not a lot of people in the outpost and Noir could see that the people behind the tent were not really passionate about selling their goods. Not only that, the products they were selling were not in a good quality either if the girl looked at it slightly. ‘Did Zion really make it like this…?’ The magician wondered as she walked towards the inn, looking at the sleeping man at the receptionist table. “Excuse me, dear Sire.” Shousui leaned against the table and tapping the desk’s bell with her finger, startling the sleeping man as he jumped from his seat. What a deja vu…

“Y-yes ma’am, can I help you?” He said as he wiped the non existent sweat on his forehead, forcing a smile because he was still surprised that someone entered the inn.

“Do you know Zion Koval?” Noir asked as she tilted her head slightly.

The man nodded nervously, wasn't sure why the girl was asking about the founder of the outpost. “O-of course! Mr. Koval built this inn and the marketplace, we uuh, used to have a lot of customers but there was some problem and...yeah… I mean if you are here because there's a problem with this place or something...uhh… you better go to find the manager, Mr. Jericho.”

As if it was fated, a man entered the inn with a frown on his face. With a gasp, the receptionist called him by his name, “O-oh! Mr. Jericho.” he would pause himself before shifting his gaze to Noir and Shousui, before focusing his gaze to the man again, “These ladies are looking for Mr. Koval.”

As Noir took a step forward towards the man, she would quickly clear things up, “Oh… yes. We are looking for him, but I can assure you I didn't mean anything. I helped him build a wall for the stone tower before… I just heard about this place and was curious, that is all.” She would study the man’s expression before saying more, “Is there any problem with the place? And where is Zion?”

With a sign, the man would ask both Noir and Shousui to follow him to this meeting room before asking the receptionist to make some tea to accompany them. “I don't know where he is at the moment, Miss. Not only that, we have been having trouble with the water system since the beginning of the year… we tried to fix it, but it seemed futile…” He would massage his forehead before continuing, “I dont know Im telling you this… but I guess I don't know how to manage this outpost anymore… As you can see, our produce’s quality was not good, there’s no visitors due to the bad water outage as well. All of this happened under my watch and I think I was the one responsible for this… I was so confident in my skill...but I’ve failed him...”
Both Noir and Shousui were taken aback by the man’s sudden reaction, they didn’t expect that… like at all. “I might be able to help you with the water system.” Shousui offered her help, which was a rare thing and Noir could only look towards the older woman with disbelief. “Is there any other problem though? Like beside the water problem.” The older woman cleared her throat and proceeded to ask Jericho, she was surprised that she could offer help easily like that as well.

After sharing about several problems that happened, it was concluded that there was lack of attraction for the visitors. Even the nomads were hesitant to spend time there because basically… they didn't know what to do there besides enjoying the inn and visiting the market place.

“People like animals...  I think, so we can make that as a tourist attraction. Also we can try making a public library so people can go read books and study together. This way the visitors of the inn can easily interact with the nomads too…” Noir suggested some ideas together with Shousui and as they looked into Jericho’s expression, he seemed excited to start doing the improvements. Thus began Noir’s new chapter...to improve the Koval Estate!

WC: 1168/1000