After breakfast, Will left the house into the chill morning misty light. He wore a light brown coat, to warm him. Passing through the Mage Academy gate, Will saw street workers hanging red lanterns on a street post. As Will talked through the central square down the Guidon Promenade, he saw red lanterns, red decorations in people's homes, and red ornaments adorning promenade's trees. Seeing the lanterns, decorations, and ornaments reminded him of the winter celebrations back on Earth. Between December and January, several cultures celebrated the religious or new year and red seemed the dominant color back on Earth. Seeing red being used here made him feel nostalgic for Earth.

Will's favorite part of holidays was seeing his family open presents or gather around a family meal. Knowing his family was healthy and smiling, gave him a good feeling. Better yet, his deceased wife loved holidays, and her excitement was always a sense of warmth and laughter for him. Will had a wonderful life, and he wondered if his wife reincarnated too, or was he just lucky.

Fermion's location in the center of Terra provided a mild climate and Guidon was no exception. From Will's experience in the baron, the temperature ranged from 5 to 25 degrees Celsius. Guidon was in the southern center of Fermion and the temperature today felt like a balmy 8 degrees. While the wind chill made it feel slightly colder, Will also enjoyed the cold weather. He enjoyed the feel of cool wind on his face, it made him feel alive and his vigor burst with excitement.

Will was so excited he whistled. Today, after 13 years he was finally accomplishing a big part of his plans. As he walked his thoughts turned to his products, where would he begin. Will had no inventory, he had no good, he would need to build his stock. But, with no storefront or warehouse, and no space of his own where could he keep his supplies. Will had to think strategically he has 10,030 gold. He had the 100 grand gold coins from his master, 12 gold coins from his business with the guild, and 18 gold left from his allowance. Will knew he had to purchase a store, possibly a warehouse, salesclerks, remodeling, and contracts with local merchants and traders. Property, personnel are the biggest cost for shop owners, followed by utilities. If he wanted to cheat, he could fraudulently use the Guardian Guild contract prices for his business, but he was afraid of consequences this early. Once he was a mogul he could squeeze merchants, but not now, now he had to play by the rules.

The Guidon Promenade led to the Guidon administrative office, and the closer he got to the administrative offices the larger the houses became. He saw two- and three-story houses, with lawns in the front and back, gated with guards in the front. He noticed the cobblestone street was smother. Today Will walked, but in the future, he'd have his carriage. Maybe a stable of horses. After all, he was a young man, he could dream. He laughed at the idea of calling himself a young man.

Finally, the Guidon Administration Building was insight. It was an oppressive building. Standing three stories high and spanned almost a city block in width. The building had impressive Doric columns. Red ribbon wrapped around the columns, and red flowers adorned each windowsill. The tower of a building looked opulent and was the jewel of Guidon. The closer Will walked towards the entrance the taller the building seemed to grow. Like a towering sequoia tree, the building only grew more impressive as Will walked closer to the giant double door entrance. The doors themselves looked like they were meant for half-giants to enter and exit. Such giant doors served no purpose except to make guests feel small and insignificant.

Looking up at the door, Will almost missed the soldiers standing guard at the entrance.

"STOP, state your name and your business," said the guard indifferently.

"William vont Ballard, proprietor of the Silver Phoenix here to visit the Land Office," Will replied

Noticing Will's age, he raised an eyebrow not sure if this was a joke. But he was a noble, and soldier knew better than to get on the wrong side of a noble.

"Through the doors, take a left, three doors on your right," said the guard dispassionately.

Will thanked the guard with a small bow and walked through the door. Only after Will bowed, did the guard notice Will's white cadet uniform with various pins. The guard heaved a sigh of relief, he remembered where he heard the name and knew what those pins represented. He had made the correct choice not raising a fuss. Returning the bow, he relaxed as Will left.

Walking through the doors, Will stepped onto a marble floor with gold enlaced. The atrium was gigantic, and the dome-covered top was depicted with murals of Fermion history. Four Doric columns were also inside separating the atrium from four separate hallways. Following the guard's directions, Will spun left and walked down the left hallway. The first office Will passed was the tax collectors, followed by the claim, stopping in front of the door that read Land Office.

Entering the door, Will saw a small reception area with a receptionist. Will had arrived early in the morning at the start of business. The woman looked up from her stack of papers at Will. She looked at him with comforting eyes and a sweet smile, Will knew she was used to dealing with wealthy men and thus kindness was a key aspect of her job.

"Are you lost, young man? Shall I send in a guard to help you?" she asked sweetly.

"No, I'm here to purchase a property. I wish to speak with an agent." Will said returning the kindness.

"Oh, hum, in that case. Are you aware, that you must first register with the Merchant's Guild, and second please know there is limited property? Guidon is the second-largest city in Fermion, so the cost of property is quite expensive," she informed Will.

"Yes, I am aware thank you. I am a member of the Merchant Guild," Will replied.

"Please take a seat, I will see if there is an agent available," she said sadly, that this boy's hope was going to get crushed.

She left and went behind the partition. Will took a seat. He could hear the receptionist talking to a group of men about Will. After a minute, the receptionist returned and asked Will for his name before returning behind the partition. Shortly after the receptionist left and a man came out and welcomed Will.

"Good day, sir. I am Harry Wallace an agent with the Land Office. I would be happy to accommodate you," said Harry.

As they walked to Harry's office, he continued addressing Will, "You know I saw your Knight and Mage Academy finals, and you sir, were brilliant. If you had practiced as much as Alice vont Ellis before you arrived at the academy you could have beaten here," he continued speaking about Will's fights and duels even after they sat down and were tea by the receptionist. After about 30 minutes of discussing Will's last fight with Mark, including reacting to his favorite moments, they finally moved on to discussing available property.

"I'm sorry sir, there is not much shop property available and the property we do have is terribly expensive," he said with disappointment.

"That's fine, please tell me the property you do have available," said Will worried that the property left would be unappealing.

Harry unrolled two maps of Guidon. The first was a four-star-shaped city map that looked primitive, it was hand-drawn and not to scale. Will saw x's, and written notes, erasure marks, and smudges. The x's represented the available property. The least detailed area was the south where the poor lived and the west to the military. The second map focused solely on the north merchant area and the east the crafter center. There were more available shops in the eastern district, but they were close to blacksmiths, tanners. The trouble with having a shop near a blacksmith was the constant banging of metal, and the trouble with tanners was the smell.

In the north and eastern districts, there were not many available properties left. Will immediately noticed three locations that piqued his interest. Will pointed to a location in the crafter's district, and Harry told him it was a building that was vacated three years ago due to the death of a merchant. The building was small but had a great location near the entrance of the crafter's district and was priced below market value at 8,000 gold. According to Harry, the property was vacated due to a family dispute. The deceased merchant did not leave a will, and the children fought over whether to sell the property and how much. The current price was set by the oldest son. Will liked the property but knew better to get in a family dispute. There was a chance that if he purchased the property the other siblings might litigate the purchase. It had already been three years, if Will bought that property who knew how long it would be before he owned it, and the price could change during that time. Will passed on the property, even though he like the location.

The second was a large, burned building tucked into a cul-de-sac in the north end. The building caught fire, last year and burned down the encircled area. Will imagined the building could easily double as a warehouse and shop. The problem was the location. The building stood down an alley off the Guidon Promenade. The great news was the seller was motivated to unload the property fast. In Fermion property taxes were due to winter, after the Solstice Festival. Will chuckled, he guessed property taxes due at the end of the year even on different planets. The problem was the owner wanted 12,000 for his shop. The warehouse was large, but the cost was exaggerated because of the location, damage, and lack of demand. Property is a scarce resource and demand for property drives up the cost. But in Guidon, there was a high cost to entry and that drove demand down.

The last shop was also in the eastern merchant district. According to the records, the shop was a popular general store, but the merchant and his wife were old and wanted to retire. The merchant was from Albania and told people he and his wife wanted to see the ocean again before they died. The store was almost as large as the warehouse, and the purchase price included the goods being sold. The owners wanted 50,000 gold, which was outside Will's price range. If there was a bank, Will would certainly attempt to get alone. But there were no banks in this medieval kingdom. Will decided to add that to his list of businesses he would own.