TVRWS 6

[Chapter 6: Her Knight]

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"Father, Stepmother."

"Vivian."

I sat down on the dining table while the 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.

I didn't even realize she is 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 between 'Young' ladies these days."

Yet, I had to remind her that I am young and she is old just to diss the hag.

Father didn't even notice it.

"Vivian, I trust that you have met Knight Logan by now."

"Yes, Father I ran into him while getting down here. 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 do it." Father said.

"Of course. He is waiting at 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 newspapers that was affordable mostly to Nobles.

"The Son of Baron Hewes meets his demise to a Ghost Assassin. Dramatic title!" I said.

"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 wisest thing to do. If we want to ride it, 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."

"Your suggestion?"

"How about opening the employment door for the Third Academy students in our Management Department to solve the shortage of our employees?" I said.

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 egg.

"Employment? Commoners tend to love that word. Having a number of them in the management department will make us good propaganda in society. Is that all?"

"Barely. The Nobles from the Second Academy tend to belittle Commoners so picking a suitable environment for them to work is essential or it will backfire on us. We need a special department to manage the management employees. A Department made of a handful of trusted employees whose duty would be planning, recruitment process, posting job advertisement, evaluating the performance of employees, organizing job applications, scheduling interviews and assisting in the process and ensuring background checks. A Human Resources Department."

"Brilliant! More people to hire. It was great hearing your opinion, Vivian. I am pleased." Father said and left for work.

As it was me and Saskia now. I quickly finished my breakfast and fled the scene before she thinks of something to ruin my mood.

On the way out, I ran in a familiar face.

"Hey there, Old Theo."

"Vivian, you look lively. I saw the boy knight outside."

"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 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 is being 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 Young Lady here."

"Humph! 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 Harlishwoman like us.

"How about this? I'll buy you that back-rubbing medicine that everyone is talking about. It will make you run like a 20 years old."

"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?"

"Humph!" He snorted while walking away.

Tsk, grumpy old man!

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 for 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. World is expanding. 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? This undead is still around?"

"Go and see him yourself, he just extorted and threatened me."

"I am sure my duties don't include Old Theo."

"Hey, you are supposed to be my Knight."

"Anything but Old Theo, Princess."

"What a knight you are!"

"This man is here to haunt, I remember him saying that."

"Fine, let's talk about something fun, sir Knight."

"Whatever suits you, 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 block every thorn in your way."

"My oh my! How gallant of you, sir Knight."

"Master Julian orders."

"Hmph! Figures."

"What do you want with guns anyway? I am offended that you don't trust the Knight in your Service that much."

"It is not about you and you just said it yourself, you won't block 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 arrived, the Gun Range."

We finally arrived at a one-story building with big walls and almost no windows. The 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 muskets.

"Mr. Harry."

"Sir Knight, my Lady." An old short man faced us with narrowed eyes.

The one beside him seemed to be a girl in men's clothing, tan-skinned and taller than the man 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."

"Oh! 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, handguns are all muzzle-loaded and have three kinds of locks. The Matchlock whose trigger moves a lit match to fire the gunpowder but one can imagine the disadvantages and why it became an antique, the Flintlock that replaced the match with a flint 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.

The Flintlocks are the widely used 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.

One more thing to know is that the Gunpowder in this world is different than the one from Nadia's world. It is an orange-colored substance that was known as "Flame Salt" and originated from the Dwarves.

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 the girl to me.

"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 Mr. Harry is 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 teach his craft 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 like an apprentice.

"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 20 seconds." Jane added some safety advice then took out a pocket watch.

"Alrighty."

« New Quest added: {Score: Gun Loading} »

Not now, System!

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
• Score: Gun Loading
- Time: 20 Secs
- Reward: 100 SP + 20 SP for each seconds early
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

You've got my full attention, Sir System.

Score Quests are part of the Otome Game. For example, it would pop up when the Heroine plays a mini-game.

Okay, focus. I have reloaded antique guns before many times. My mentor had a lot of antique guns and would invite us 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 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 a secret."

"I can safely say that you are 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 to how you grip the gun thus you shouldn't put all your focus into aiming. If that's perfected, you can just point your gun and 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 are weak. I would be aiming at the head by 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 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 meters range to the 40 meters 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 none stop. My hands became soar with and my shoulders numbed from the recoil. I wasn't planning to stop until I see this message.

« The Doormat Record [Shooter] has reawakened. »