Chapter 87 - 87. Learning From The Books.

"Hiya Bruce, hey you go. Assassin's compact crossbow. One-handed pistol grip sure-fire 180km/h self-loading unlimited bolt. Hah hah..." I greeted him as I went inside his store. There were a few customers waiting for the order and was inquiring when those new crossbows would come.

I found from those late-night adventurers that they were getting ripped off by Quentin and Romulus since their prices were almost double at what's being sold at Bruce's.

"I'm glad you came, my brethren. Ah... Fellow adventurers, here are the crossbows that you had been looking for. Just 5k credits and the damage rating is +30. It's being crafted by Yours Truly here." Bruce mentioned to the adventurers and it quickly being snapped up as each of them bought two to arm themselves with both hands at the same time.

"Aawww... That's what I wanted to do too..." I said to myself. Fancy hitting those trolls with these two instead of relying on a single crossbow. *pcheeww pcheeww pcheeww* I made those sounds of bolts coming out of the crossbows in my mind as I was thinking how lucky these adventurers were. With money, they could get anything they wished. Must be from some rich bastards. Hah hah hah...

"Sorry to keep you waiting, guys. Thank you for your business, please do tell your fellow Assassins and Rangers to get their crossbows here." Bruce thanked his customers and they quickly left after making the purchases. Bruce finally sat behind the counter and took out a flask and poured two shot glasses and offered one for me.

"I had been keeping this for a very long time. Here you go, brethren... To our health...!!" he said as he raised his shot glass at me and clinked my glass. I soon down the contents and felt the warm feeling of scotch entering my stomach. It was a fine feeling, my dear readers, for being treated as such. Hah hah.

"Thank you for the shot, brother. I am here asking about how things are going and wondered if you would be upgrading your ranged weapons or not." I asked as I looked around his store and he had only added a single collection to his ranged weapons.

"I am not sure what you are getting at brethren, may I ask what's on your mind?" Bruce raised his flask and wanted to offer me another shot which I politely declined. "You see, I am upgrading the range of weapons for Blake's and I thought I would do the same to you."

"Do you have any books on weapon designs that you had no time to produce them? I could add a few flintlock pistols as well as a few blunderbusses if you want to. At least with these ranged weapons, who knows, you might open another class on its own?"

I explained and he told me to wait a while as he went to his backroom and produced three books on Archery, pistols and riles. These books were pretty well-thumbed and he simply said, "Keep these book for your reference, brethren. I have not much use for them at this moment as Blake and I were totally dependent on you."

"You had done a great job, brethren. You had saved us from closing this business and we really are indebted to House of Keating. Yes, I would like to have the idea of acquiring some new ranged weapons from you. My gratitude from the bottom of my soles, my dear brethren."

As I took the book, some announcements rang in my head which means there are some designs which I had not known yet and they would prove to be useful in the long run in the business. Furthermore, it is unheard of for adventurers to take up as Gunslinger and no House would be able to accommodate them.

"Well, if there are any adventurers who come by and ask for membership or anything like that, you can direct them to the House of Keating. We are breeding a new batch of adventurers ourselves and adding a gunslinger class would be a good idea."

"Our House of Keating is a versatile and flexible class for adventurers, even a warrior or berserker could even join us, provided they have the interest. Furthermore, we might be expanding into the unknown and may be involved in getting a few new classes of adventurers in time to come."

I explained as I had the vision of getting memberships from adventurers who are looking for a modest start. "By the way, do these House charge for the membership as well? I mean do they train these adventurers and charge them for credits?"

"Of course they do, my brethren, for example, the House of Grundy who trains a Ranger or Assassin, they charge 5000 credits per level up with an increment of 500 credits per level."

"For example, if you are a Level 1 and wishes to upgrade to Level 2, you would pay 5000 credits, then Level 3 would be 5500 and Level 4 would be 6000 and so on and so forth."

"Each adventurer has 1000 levels and so they make a profit. That's how the members of the House survived and also gained credits. It's a real cutthroat business but I'm not sure how is the arrangement like, right now. Maybe they have 'introduce-a-friend' scheme and get some discounts... I don't know."

Brice shrugged his shoulders since he does not know more about how these Houses operate but one thing for sure, the Houses don't have any other business except recruitment and this is the only way these Houses could support themselves.

I have to remind the children not to get enticed by these methods of Leveling Up because it would make their old folks go bald faster. Based on my one base level, it was based on 100k and so far I had reached only a measly 5.68% but if I based on my attributes, no one would be able to top that.

"Before I leave, do you sell any unsocketed amulets, rings or accessories to increase Wisdom, Dexterity, Strength, Constitution and Damage?" I asked and Bruce produces 4 sets of amulets and 4 sets of rings. "These are the ones made in bronze and their prices are the same across the board. It's +3 for all and their prices are only 200 credits. Don't tell me you are going to churn them to be Level 4 Iron amulets and rings?"

Bruce asked as his eyes were filled with a twinkle of hope. "You would soon find out, brethren, you would soon find out..." I replied and I stored the items in my storage bag as announcements rang in my head, making me a bit dizzy from all these.

I excused myself as I made my way back home as I thought the kind of knowledge I will gain from all the books.

....

"Hi honey, I'm back. Sorry, I had to send those weapons to Blake and Bruce and gotten several books and some amulets and rings. I think the children and I won't be going out for these few days as I need to do some study first."

"You won't mind, do you? I may have some other plans in mind but I think I'd better set it aside first for the moment. But these books need to be attended first and it been so long since I've cooked for ourselves."

"It's good to have you around some days, Audemars. Now get some sleep, it's almost close to midnight... I miss you so much."

"I miss you too, honey..." and soon in the middle of the night, soft sounds of slapping can be heard. *Piak! Piak! Piak! Piak! Piak!* "Damn these blood-sucking mosquitoes, you did let the window open again, honey? Haiyoo... Those kids have the luxury of having an air-conditioner in their rooms while their parents were suffering from mosquitoes buzzing nonstop at our ears..."

I got up and closed the window while I burnt chamomile essence on a candle and diffused it while keeping those pesky mosquitoes at bay. Sheesh... If it is not the buzzing mosquitoes, it's those crickets who would be serenading at our windows or the cats that would leap into our kitchen through the louvres to chase away the roaches and rodents away.

Well... This is the life in medieval Irish/Celtic/Gaelic era. Who would have thought that hidden technology would exist in this world, right?