Chapter 7: Her Knight
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"Father, Stepmother."
"Vivian."
I sat down on the dining table while a maid poured me a cup of tea. The white bread and the fresh spiced cheese early in the morning are some delicacies I enjoyed in both lives.
"What is that you are wearing, Vivian? It looks a bit… shabby." Saskia spoke while pointing at my super comfy out-of-the-world clothes.
I didn't even realize she was trying to insult me for a moment there but I just decided to make it pass.
"Just something comfortable to walk in, Stepmother. Quite popular among… young… ladies these days."
Yet, I had to remind her that I am young and she is old just to piss off the hag.
Father didn't even notice it despite the look on Saskia's face and spoke about another matter entirely.
"Vivian, I trust that you have met Knight Logan by now."
"Yes, Father, I ran into him while I was getting down. We had a long catching up for old times' sake."
"Great. Knight Logan is a trustworthy young man who was raised in this House. He will do his duty as I trust him to." Father said.
"Of course. He is waiting in the garden to accompany me to the gun range."
"Perfect. By the way, here." Father passed a few papers to me.
This was the Daily Gazette. An early form of newspaper that was affordable mostly to Nobles.
"The Son of Baron Hewes meets his demise to a Ghostly Assassin. Dramatic title!" I read the title and gave my opinion.
"What else?" Father looked at me with keen eyes.
He is testing me again, isn't he?
"Well, this piece of news is making the headlines of the daily. Someone is desperately pulling the strings to point fingers towards us judging that my name was mentioned three times and our house seven times."
"Good." Father seemed satisfied, "And how do we avoid more trouble?"
"Two ways. We either avoid the spotlight or jump right into it."
"Go on."
"Avoiding the Spotlight is the safest play. If we want to ride the tide, however, we must have a big card to play. Say, another large shipment to Avalon or a groundbreaking success. Something that makes us the idols of the public."
"Charity?"
"People tend to forget it."
"A Clinic?"
"Prince Liam and Matilda have opened a ton of those lately."
"What do you suggest?"
"How about opening the employment door for the Third Academy students in our Management Department to solve the shortage of staff?" I said.
"Commoners? In the management department?" Saskia seemed dismissive of my suggestion.
My father didn't even heed her obvious disapproval. He looked at me meaningfully as if he was expecting something else but I just shrugged with a cool smile.
The Third Academy is the Academy of Commoners. It produces tons of unused talents and rough gems every year that mostly go wasted because of the Second Academy that the untalented nobles, who take jobs by connections, graduate from.
All the Elite Nobles are in our First Academy so the Second Academy barely produces any good eggs.
"Well, commoners tend to love the 'employment' word. Having a number of them in the management department will make us good propaganda in lower castes of society. Is that all?" He asked.
"Barely. The nobles from the second academy tend to belittle commoners so picking a suitable environment for them to work in is essential or it will backfire on us. We need a special department to manage the management of employees. A Department made up of a handful of trusted employees, whose duty would be planning, recruitment process, posting job advertisements, evaluating the performance of employees, organizing job applications, scheduling interviews, assisting in the process, and finally ensuring background checks. I'd take the liberty of calling it the Human Resources department."
"Brilliant!" Father's eyes finally lit up as if he had found something interesting at last, "More people to hire and promote the good management employees to the Human Resources department! It was great hearing your opinion, Vivian. I am pleased."
With those words, Father finished his breakfast and rushed out of the mansion in order to meet with his assistants to plan for the new department and the employment campaign.
As it was me and Saskia now. I quickly finished my breakfast and fled the scene before she thought of something to ruin my mood.
On the way out, I ran into a familiar face.
"Hey there, Old Theo." I greeted the elderly butler, who is, without a doubt, long past his age of retirement.
"Vivian, you look lively. I saw the boy knight outside." He replied with a tone colder than that of Saskia.
"Yes, remember Logan? He is back."
"Well then… glad to see you happy, young miss."
Old Theo is the butler, he is like family to us as he has served since the days of my Grandfather. This man is the oldest being around this place. Even the building was rebuilt once during his service.
"Hey, Old Theo. I was wondering about my allowance."
"Your allowance? Isn't the Lady in charge of that?"
"I know but she has been forgetful those past few months. The money of the house is monitored by you and Father takes your advice seriously. It would be rude to talk about Saskia with him so I want you to mention that my money should be outside of Saskia's control. I know you will find an excuse."
"Hmmm… what's in it for me?" He asked.
"Old man! I am the house's young lady here."
"Hmph! If you have nothing to offer in a deal under the table, then…"
"Fine, fine."
This old man has a stingy personality even with my Father. He is a hundred years old already and keeps having his way with things. Not really an ally but he hates Saskia because she is not Elgardish.
"How about this? I'll buy you that back-rubbing medicine that everyone is talking about these days. It will make you run like a 20-year-old chap."
"Oh! That thing… fine, I'll see to it but if you break your word, you won't see a benny in this house."
"This is my father's house, you know that, right?"
"Hmph!" He snorted while walking away.
What a grumpy old fart!
Well, let's be positive now, Logan is out there waiting.
I walked out in a cheerful mood and met the said man at the fountain across the entrance to the mansion.
"Princess, may I accompany you to the Gun Range"
"Oh, please do, Sir Knight." I dramatically offered my hand to Logan who started cringing.
"I've never seen a woman willing to fire a gun before. Are you sure about it? It can be dangerous, you know."
"Oh please, don't be a worrywart. Noble ladies have all sorts of hobbies. You can't even imagine how many ladies there are among the Nobles that can use magic."
"Eh! They use magic now?"
"Days are changing and the world is getting bigger. You can't be an old man you know. Even Old Theo is getting up to date with the trends."
"Blast me dead, Old Theo? That ghost still lives?"
"Go and see him yourself, he just extorted me."
"I am sure my duties don't include Old Theo."
"Hey, you're supposed to be my Knight."
"Anything but Old Theo, Princess."
"What a knight you are, Sir!"
"This man is here to haunt, I remember him saying that."
"Fine, let's talk about something fun, Knight."
"Whatever you wish, Princess."
"Guns."
"Oh, please!"
"What?"
"Just don't blame me when you twist your wrist. I'm here to protect you from dangerous things but I won't pluck every thorn on your way."
"My oh my! How gallant of you!"
"Master Julian orders."
"Hmph! Figures."
"What do you want with guns anyway? I am offended that you don't trust the knights in your service that much."
"You just said it yourself, Logan, you won't pluck every thorn in my way."
"I'm hoping you are not planning on shooting every problem at this rate then."
"You know what? That's actually an excellent plan."
"Something is telling me I'll enjoy where this is going. Ah! Here we are, the gun range."
We finally arrived at a one-story building with big walls and almost no windows. The gunpowder scent beyond its iron doors made the inner Nadia feel just like home.
"Mr. Harry. Lady Vivian is here to see you." Logan called.
Inside there, I could see a line of flintlock muskets and two people standing beside them polishing and working on some of the beautiful vintage firearms.
"Sir Knight, my Lady." An old short man walked out for us.
The one beside him seemed to be a girl in men's clothing, tan-skinned and taller than the man but with some resemblance.
"This is Lady Vivian Moore and she has requested a gun for her personal safety." Logan said.
The old man eyed me up and down.
"I apologize, my Lady, but when the Lord left a word for me, I said I have no promises. If the Lady can't handle a gun properly then I am sorry, I won't be giving her any." The man said.
"Fair enough." I agreed.
"Fine, you can use this." He held out a gun, "You know what that is, my Lady?"
"A Matchlock? This thing must be an antique."
"The Lady knows her guns." The old man took the old gun back and gave me a Flintlock Pistol this time.
In this day and age, firearms are all muzzle-loaded and have three kinds of locks. The Matchlock whose trigger moves a lit match to fire gunpowder but one can imagine the disadvantages and why it became an antique, the Flintlock replaced the match with a flint stone and became the most common gun, then there is the Wheelock which works by an inner ignition mechanism that is very complicated and difficult to maintain.
Flintlocks are the most common ones and are actually quite easy. The Wheelocks are mostly used by Knights and Nobles because they are the only ones who can afford them and their maintenance.
Mr. Harry began explaining how the Flintlock Gun works. Put the gunpowder through the muzzle, add the bullet and stuff it well, add gunpowder to the ignition pod, seal the pod. Now the gun is ready.
"Easy? If you master the loading technique quickly, I'll consider making you a suitable gun." Mr. Harry said.
"Thank you. I'll start training right away."
"Jane, keep company of the Lady here, see if she can have a better use of you… hopefully." Mr. Harry spoke to the girl beside him and went back to his work.
He seemed a bit stern with her for some reason.
"This way, my lady, sir." The girl called Jane led me and Logan to a place far from Mr. Harry's workshop.
"You're Mr. Harry's daughter?"
"You can call me Jane, my lady."
"It is strange having an assistant girl… or is Mr. Harry an open-minded man?" Logan asked.
"Heh!" A mocking laugh came out of Jane but she soon apologized. "He has no heir other than me… no heir willing to assist I mean." She said.
"I see."
So it is like Mr. Harry has no one but his daughter to pass his craft on because his sons are not willing to work with their father. This is an era when people inherit jobs rather than be hired by ability. Of course in Jane's case, her father will wed her to the man deemed worthy to inherit his job.
"So, here you go my lady. You will practice on flintlocks until you do it without a hitch. Your target time to load a gun is 30 seconds." Jane added some safety advice and then took out a pocket watch.
"Very well."
« New Quest added: {Score: Gun Loading} »
Not now, Sir System!
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Score: Gun Loading
— Time: 20 Secs
— Reward: 100 SP + 20 SP for each second early
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You've got my full attention, Sir System.
Score Quests were part of the game. For example, it would pop up when the Heroine plays a mini-game and grants rewards based on performance.
Okay, focus. Nadia has reloaded antique guns many times before. Her mentor had a lot of antique guns and would invite her to shoot with them for fun.
Gunpowder in the muzzle, then a bullet, jam the bullet, Gunpowder in the pod, seal it.
Go!
1 second, 2, 3, 4…. 14, 15
"Done!"
"Wow!" Jane was gratified.
"Amazing!" Logan exclaimed.
« 200 SP have been awarded! »
Fufufu! Praise me more, let me hear it; Jane, Logan, and you too, Sir System.
Jane took the gun, opened the pod, and fired it.
*Bang*
"Exceptional. You have handled guns before, my Lady?" She asked
"A few times but… that's between you and me."
"I can safely say that you are a natural, my lady. Firing four rounds per minute won't be a problem for you at this rate."
If she knew about the guns that fire hundreds of rounds per minute, she would faint.
After doing the reloading again and again with different types of guns, it was finally time for the shooting practice.
"Do you know how to shoot, my Lady?"
"The trick is in how you grip the gun thus you shouldn't put all your focus on aiming. If that's perfected, you can just point your gun and the aiming will be some sort of a… sixth sense." I said while aiming at the nearest Target.
*Bang*
"A hit!" Jane exclaimed.
"Already?" Logan raised his brows.
"Only at the edge of the shoulder." I wasn't really doing my best.
The recoil was nasty and my hands were weak. I would be aiming at the head out of habit but I can't go public with my skills right now.
"Can I try more?" I asked Jane.
"Practically, we are in House Moore's property and everything here is owned by House Moore. You can shoot all day long while I monitor you but I need to assist my father." Jane said.
"Fine, I'll borrow you for some time then, won't be long."
I really needed to shoot some bullets. The old Vivian's frustration was still there and I was imagining many people as I was shooting the poor straw dummies.
From the 10-meter range to the 40-meter range, I didn't miss a single bullet. The Flintlocks had a nasty accuracy so even with my experience, shooting further than that was a struggle.
30 minutes passed as I shot bullets non-stop. My hands became sore and my shoulders numbed from the recoil. I wasn't planning to stop until I saw this message.
« The Doormat Record [Shooter] has reawakened. »
« [Novice Shooter?] has been registered. »
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