Demigod Mage in America

Boom!

As soon as Ryan came out of the bathroom, he heard a knock on the door.

To be honest, American plumbing and electricity are just so convenient. You can't cut corners on these things; it's a shared cost across the whole community, so why bother saving? Just enjoy a good shower. Before, he'd get nagged if he took a full-hour shower, but now, if he didn't, he'd feel guilty. He finally understood why Americans in his previous life loved taking baths in movies; he'd do it too.

A servant stood at the bathroom door holding up clothes. Renn looked at the doorway and clicked his tongue. He hadn't intended to use magic, but since guests had arrived, he had to make an exception.

Snapped!

He snapped his fingers, and the clothes that the servant was holding seemed to come alive, automatically flying onto Renn, who was walking towards the door.

The door opened, and standing before him was Catherine, wearing a white striped shirt, a dark blue denim maxi skirt, and white sneakers. Her long white hair was tied back in a ponytail with a red hair tie, and she exuded a refreshing aura.

"Hi."

"Something wrong?" Ryan asked, puzzled. He was planning to go out and look for a shop after his shower, but the policewoman just walked right into his life.

"Thank you for what you did earlier." After the initial excitement subsided, the policewoman belatedly realized that she should thank him, her savior.

"You've already thanked me." With that, he turned to close the door.

"Hey! Wait!" Catherine quickly reached out to stop him, but did not step into the room.

"What is it?"

"That guy is a wanted criminal. He's linked to multiple shootings of police officers, gang fights... and he's also involved in tax evasion."

Ryan hadn't reacted much to the first part, but upon hearing the last point, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh wow!" It's common knowledge that in America, you can owe anyone, but you absolutely cannot owe the IRS.

"A week ago, I was on patrol when I discovered a gang that had been attacked by someone, and I found contraband on them. I was commended for this, and my colleagues suspect it was an act of revenge."

Raine raised an eyebrow. A week ago, contraband, gangs... why does that sound so familiar?

"Then you'd better be careful."

Catherine hummed in agreement, then pulled a bundle from her waist and handed it to him: "This is my bonus; I wanted to thank you."

Ryan glanced at it and saw a thick wad of cash, worth at least ten thousand. This policewoman was quite generous; he had assumed she had forgotten about it since she hadn't even said thank you.

"Okay." He didn't stand on ceremony, reached out and took it, counted it and found there were 30,000 dollars, which was quite a lot.

"Well... I'll be going now."

"Don't rush."

Catherine turned around and watched as Ryan counted the money and handed it to her: "Consider this my rent for the next year." His monthly rent, including gas, was about $2500, excluding utilities and internet.

Pay once and you won't be chased for debt for the next year.

Moreover, he had heard that prices in the United States were extremely volatile, so he thought it best to pay off the debt in one go before prices went up.

Catherine accepted the prize money, her mouth slightly agape.

In America, paying rent in full upfront is not a common practice.

Are there any shops available for rent around here?

"What are you planning to do?"

Ryan stroked his chin: "Let's open a firm."

He was serious, but Catherine seemed to have misunderstood. She raised her hand with an "I knew it" look on her face: "Oh, I get it. You Stand users must have some kind of secret mission, right? Is it involving vampires?"

Rein rolled his eyes. He was still using Stands and slandering others. If he were to fight Platinum or The World now, he would just stand there and let them beat him up. If they could even dent his skin, he would consider it a loss.

"Just take it as that."

Catherine thought about it seriously for a long time: "I do know a place, but I don't know if it can meet your requirements."

"Oh? Then wait a moment." Ryan turned around and snapped his fingers. Something seemed to happen in the air, but nothing actually did.

Catherine looked around for a while but found nothing: "Are you giving commands to your Stand?"

I guess so.

From Renn's perspective, a phantom Caucasian Shepherd Dog—a magical guard dog—had appeared in his room. This dog was only visible to Renn; to everyone else, it was invisible and immune to physical attacks—it would survive even if thrown into the epicenter of a nuclear explosion. Mages liked to use these to guard their homes, and he was no exception. However, while other mages could only keep their guard dogs near them, Renn could make the dog appear anywhere in the world if he wanted. He used to frequently use it to guard less important areas that he didn't want to be invaded.

In Catherine's view, it was simply that Ryan snapped his fingers, then closed the door and went out with her.

Catherine's car was a yellow Volkswagen Beetle; before coming, Ryan had thought it would be a Tesla or something.

"Does your Stand need me to open the door for it? Um, is it a bit offensive of me to refer to it as 'it'?"

"Let's go, miss."

Feeling rejected, Catherine pouted and started the car by pressing the accelerator.

As the scenery on both sides receded, it transformed from a place that wasn't exactly clean but was still pleasing to the eye into dilapidated houses and an increasing number of gangs and homeless people. This was also why Renn didn't want to use magic—it was a beautiful landscape. Besides, he was practically retired now, and retirement meant living a slower life; there was no need to rush around for anything.

However, there's really very little greenery in America; everywhere you look there's steel and concrete, which he finds a bit hard to adjust to. Don't their eyes get dry?

With this thought in mind, he began to lean against the windowsill, lost in thought.

By the time he came to his senses, the car was already parked smoothly in the parking space.

"We're here!" Catherine said as she got out of the car, pointing to the shop in front of Ryan.

When he got out of the car, he found that it was only two blocks away from the apartment, although it required crossing Central Park and going from West 96th Street to East Street. A block is an area surrounded by streets, and a block in Manhattan is actually just two intersections, about a 5-minute walk away.

Raine focused her gaze on the building she was pointing to. The shop was a series of three interconnected storefronts. Unlike the surrounding red-brick and brownstone buildings, this shop had a solid wood facade, and the windows displayed dusty objects that appeared to be antiques found in both the East and West. Raine then realized—wasn't this the kind of 18th-century decor? All that was missing was a gentleman in a tailcoat and top hat standing at the entrance.

"There used to be rumors that this place was haunted, so it's never been rented out. If you want to open an agency, this should be the cheapest option." Clearly, in Catherine's eyes, Ryan was just a poor guy like herself, and even if he were to choose a shop, he wouldn't go for something so expensive.

"Haunted?" Renn looked around for a while. Having lost his divine power, he couldn't pass through walls, but judging from the outside, even if there were ghosts inside, they weren't very powerful.

"May I come in and take a look?"

"If you need, I can contact the landlord."