"This was originally a castle belonging to an Italian count. However, after World War II, with the fall of the Italian royal family and the transition of the Kingdom of Italy to the Italian Republic, the count followed the king into exile. Naturally, the castle was abandoned."
Vice President John of the Rosicrucians explained the history of the property to Liang En, mentioning that he had bought the estate for only 2.1 million euros back then.
"We acquired these in a charity auction. The reason we bought it was because the castle had some mysterious symbols and sculptures carved inside."
Real estate taxes in Europe are notoriously troublesome, especially for large properties like this one. The annual property tax is a significant amount.
For most of the current impoverished aristocrats, it’s almost impossible to afford the property tax to maintain their estates, often leading to the only solution of selling their ancestral properties.
As a result, one can often find properties of the rich or aristocrats being auctioned off, although most people can’t afford them.
To be precise, the money needed to buy these properties might not be much, but maintaining them is another story, something most people in the world cannot manage.
"Oh, that sounds interesting. Did you find anything inside?" Liang En's interest was piqued after hearing about the property's history and peculiarities from John, as such abnormalities often indicated extraordinary discoveries.
"Nothing at all. The castle, though authentic, was probably just a military fort of a minor noble, so we didn't find anything valuable inside." John shook his head helplessly.
To be honest, if there had been any important discoveries, he would have kept the castle instead of offering it as compensation.
The castle’s floor area was only a little over 600 square meters, with a two-story main building connected to the main tower. However, the long ramp and irregularly shaped stone walls indicated that it was indeed a medieval military fortress.
Such military fortresses are numerous throughout Italy, given that wars never ceased on this land from the late Western Roman Empire until Italy's unification in the 19th century.
However, these wars were generally small-scale village skirmishes, so castles like this, which looked more like watchtowers to Liang En, were quite common in Italy.
From a purely military perspective, this castle was just a simple armed outpost with little value. But for Liang En now, a small castle had its advantages.
The biggest advantage was the lower property tax and the manageable size, making it suitable for residence with few occupants.
Compared to large castles, smaller castles like this were more popular in the current market and had a higher occupancy rate.
Most news about the revival of ancient castles often featured these relatively inconspicuous small castles.
Unfortunately, from the interior decor in the photos, it was clear that the rooms hadn't undergone any major renovations, making the interior appear quite primitive.
Of course, this primitiveness could be described artistically, but whether it was the old toilets with white tiles or the uneven, merely plastered walls, Liang En knew the place would require significant renovation to be livable.
Besides the castle itself, the property also included over 67 hectares of forested land, though the land's use couldn't be changed.
While the income from such forest land wasn’t high, the benefit was the low tax, making the overall investment in the castle not entirely unprofitable.
At least the castle was only about 20 kilometers from Naples, situated on an island in a well-known lake, even featuring a small dock, providing a decent foundation for developing tourism.
However, due to the abundance of such ancient buildings around Naples, even if the previous nobleman developed tourism, he could only break even at best.
For an ordinary working-class person, owning such a castle for livelihood might be great, but for a count, earning just 60,000 euros a year through hard work was quite unprofitable.
This was why the count chose to sell his ancestral property, realizing he could earn more by investing his efforts elsewhere.
"This castle and the associated land are indeed nice. Perhaps I might find something interesting there." After reviewing the list of compensatory items, Liang En nodded at John.
Upon checking the compensation list, he found many valuable items, such as stocks, gold, and antiques, but the castle appealed to him the most.
Liang En didn't disregard his intuition, as his growing supernatural powers gave him special insights. If his intuition suggested the castle was important, he would focus on it, knowing that even a wrong choice wouldn't result in significant loss.
"Rest assured, we'll handle all legal and tax matters for you." After hearing Liang En's choice, President John visibly relaxed.
This was mainly because, after nearly causing the death of a core member of the Golden Dawn due to their leak, they had prepared for significant compensation, even anticipating a financial hit.
Therefore, when Liang En presented a reasonable compensation demand, they visibly relaxed, relieved by the manageable request.
However, their concerns were self-inflicted, as this compensation was not just for an individual but involved matters between two organizations.
This meant the compensation had to match the losses, and being stingy could lead to greater losses. Thus, Liang En chose a moderate compensation, leveraging the information asymmetry.
Although the Rosicrucians were less balanced compared to the Golden Dawn and had lower average personnel quality, their large numbers still made them a formidable organization.
Considering the century-long relationship between the two organizations, reasonable compensation was crucial, something Liang En understood well.
Liang En's approach perfectly adhered to these principles, resolving the issues caused by the Rosicrucians' mistake flawlessly.
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