章 35: Watch
The two were invited to the watchmaker's shop and also his home at 4 Silver Street.
Along the way, Kyle realized that this town might not be as bustling as Melthorn City, but there are still plenty of people from all walks of life.
Aside from the various shops like pubs, bakeries, tailors, cobblers, or barbers shop, there are also gambling houses and even brothels, according to Felix.
Kyle looked at the house at 4 Silver Street… It looks quite similar to other houses with high-pitched roofs, ornate gable trim, bay windows, and decorative red brickwork.
If Kyle didn't know that the person here is renting with other people, he would think that this watchmaker is quite rich.
'I wonder how much the rent is…' Kyle thought as he recalled Felix's words.
Felix had briefly introduced the man before coming here.
The watchmaker's name was Gerard Widrick, and he was actually specially recruited to work in this town by the Academy's officials since the place previously lacked some watchmakers. That happened eight years ago.
According to Felix, since the Treaty of Keslore had only occurred over ten years ago, developing a town wasn't easy. To solve this, the Dark Arts Faction brought several people to build this town and hopefully make this place normal by inviting normal people. This is composed of various professionals who had difficulty earning a living in large cities, some unfortunate refugees, various children in numerous orphanages, businessmen who wanted to find opportunities, and some volunteers.
Of course, many of them are also people who had been connected to the Dark Arts. Either through their family members, accidents, or curiosity.
Gerard is one of those recruited professionals to work in this small town.
"Sir Gerard… I have a customer for you. He's my friend and also works at the factory. You have to give him a discount." Felix introduced as the door opened.
From the entrance, Kyle saw a workbench used by the old watchmaker. It is filled with various tools and devices for tinkering. There are also various watches on a small shelf beside this table. Based on their intricate designs that differ from each other, Kyle can tell that these are Gerard's own creations.
He wasn't simply an artisan that repaired watches but he also made them.
"Come in… I didn't think that a customer would still come at this time. Can I see your watch?"
A man in his fifties welcomed the two as he gestured for them to enter. Because he's at home and it's already late, he wasn't expecting a customer to come in and was already in his simple shirt and trousers.
"Good evening, Sir Gerard. I'm Kyle Marshall… I'm sorry for coming this late." Kyle introduced himself as he handed over the gold-plated pocket watch.
"Mhmm…" Gerard acknowledged Kyle's introduction as he took the pocket watch from him. It didn't take long before he confirmed the problem. It was indeed broken like it was burned from the inside.
Some parts have even melted.
This isn't a normally broken pocket watch that he would often encounter.
"What happened to this thing?" Gerard couldn't help but ask.
Although he already had plans on how to fix it, he couldn't think of how it was severely damaged like this.
Of course, Kyle had already thought of a reason that wouldn't make things complicated.
"It was already like this when it was given to me… It has some sentimental value so I can't just throw it away. I hope you can fix it."
Hearing this, Gerard did not pursue the matter as he suggested. "Since it's already broken like this, I'll have to change everything except for the external parts. It will look the same from the outside but the inside would be completely new. That will be a 160 zen..."
"Ah? It's almost similar to the price of a new one." Felix commented after hearing the price. The newest pocketwatch would mostly be priced at 185 zen and above, depending on its design and style.
One hundred sixty zen is already above his monthly salary in the workshop. He was only earning 35 zen per week and an additional 10 nolls per day as a form of meal.
Of course, Kyle also felt that it was quite pricey, but he didn't really mind it.
Then, Gerard explained why his price was like that.
"It's already a discounted price, Felix. I will not disassemble another pocket watch and transfer its internal gears to this one. I will be assembling a new one or even making use of the broken ones here and turning them into a new part of the watch."
Kyle didn't mind this so he immediately agreed.
"That's fine. If you can still use the internal parts, that's even better. Do I have to pay the downpayment?" Kyle asked as he had already pulled out his wallet.
He has already earned a lot of money after rummaging through the belongings of the dead.
He has a total of 2,100 zens with mostly 1, 10, and 20 denominations and a pouch filled with coins. He already counted those coins, and there were 213 of them. Since each coin was 10 noll, that would be equal to 2,130 noll or 42.6 zen since a 50 noll is equal to 1 zen.
With this amount of money, Kyle didn't mind spending 160 zens on fixing the pocket watch.
"It's easy to talk with you. Just 50 zen of downpayment will be enough. You can return here after four days."
"Four days… That's fine."
With that said, Kyle gave him five 10 zen notes as they chatted for a while since he was also curious about the origin of the gold pocketwatch.
Unfortunately, Gerard can only vaguely guess that his pocketwatch is actually for a lady because of its smaller size compared to the normal ones used by men. As for the artisan who made it, Gerard didn't find any marks that were left behind, so it was hard to guess.
After this, Felix and Kyle separated as he returned home after filling his stomach with skewers that were sold in the streets.
On the next day, Kyle nervously went to the laboratory to consume his third and last potion that would complete his uniqueness and essentially start the new branch of the Dark Arts.
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