Chapter 21

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Work is good, of course, but there's something about leaving the dacha on a Monday afternoon. Friends had already left, the guard of the local dacha community had stopped by to check on me, and I was still getting ready, looking around, and stretching. The disastrous lack of coffee forced me to hit the road home. Sometimes small inconveniences are much more effective than big ones' troubles.

On the way, I stopped at the store that had sold me the modules earlier, and spent a long time looking through bows and crossbows. The salesman, smelling a profit, tried hard to sell me a two-meter-long pole, a spear module, pointing out that it could be used both as a spear and as a two-handed sword or axe. I imagined myself swinging that thing around in my not-too-small, but still not huge apartment, so I decided against it and opted for a relatively small crossbow. Relatively, because there were some giants on sale, more suitable for mounting on castle walls. As the seller explained - for games like "The Glory of Rome" or the "Shield at the Gates" series, which were popular with HEMA fans. It was supposed to charge these monsters in pairs.

The choice of the crossbow was not an accident. First, I couldn't figure out where to put the bow after using it. Secondly, I still remembered the experience of clearing a dungeon three times in one day, which made it clear that I should seriously consider minimizing my movements. The crossbow could be loaded, hung behind my back, and pulled out only for use. The bowstring was indeed tighter than that of the bow, but I could hold it with one hand.

Secondly, when I got stuck in traffic at the crossing and went to the CoDs auction on my tablet, I found a very good secondhand crossbow for cheap, with 14/14 durability and, more importantly, the ability to enchant with magical essences. It was stupid to pass up the chance, so I bought it. Crossbows aren't good for fighting or getting hit, so durability is secondary, it'll only drop when I die, but the extra damage, or even better, slowing down your opponent's movements, will be very useful. I wish I could find a thief in my group with some poison, too... yeah. I'd have to find a group first.

The third factor that affected the choice of throwing weapons was the reliance on strength rather than dexterity, as with the bow. Anyone who has shot a normal bow with a hundred-pound tension would laugh at this distribution, but the game developers decided that archers should be dexterous, not strong.

After thinking about it, I stopped at the gun store, where the bored salesman, after half an hour of talk and comparisons (what a keen personality!) picked up my module belt and harness, and, to my surprise, quite professionally disassembled the advantages and disadvantages of weapons. Not enough work for him, he also happens to be a part-time arms smith at the CoDs.

At home, with some hesitation, I put on all my "combat gear". Glove, bracelets, shield, sword in the scabbard (I decided that it would be necessary to try a more rigid attachment of the scabbard to the belt), helmet, and a harness that holds a crossbow behind my back. Now, with all this stuff, let's try to do something.

"Comp, the launch of the Creators of Destiny!"

A barracks room. There were voices outside the windows, the clanking of weapons, the sound of blows on mannequins. The crossbow I'd bought was in the closet. Now that I had my own room, it would be the only place where I could carry and retrieve my purchases.

"Import an external settings file."

The config that the young archer had given me along with the general ones came in handy. And it would have been a sin not to use it when I got the scheme worked out. Now I'm going to be a paladin archer. Paladin-archer-drawer... what else could I add to the mix? Witchcraft or demonology?

"Decided to get a throwing weapon? Isn't the good old sword working for you anymore?" The martial arts instructor greeted me with a skeptical look.

"No, mentor. Sometimes it's better for the enemy to come to you already wounded. And not every enemy you let get to you. And you can't get to them all."

"I don't know. I've always fought with the sword, leaving the arrows to the archers. And it would be hard for you to learn how to use a crossbow seriously in combat."

The program politely hints that paladins have no shooting skills. Well, well.

"Nevertheless, I'll give it a try. Do you mind if I test my marksmanship?"

"Of course not. Let the other guards take a look. Think about it. They'll laugh..." And with a smirk, the instructor turned to the approaching newcomer, clearly a player.

Let them laugh. Just as long as it works.

And it didn't. No, the crossbow itself was wonderful - the arrows appeared in the holder every time I clicked the lock, and then flew obediently in the direction of the target, more or less where I was aiming. It wouldn't work for accurate shooting, but it wouldn't be hard to put an arrow in your opponent's knee from ten paces, and thirty paces weren't much of a distance on a tall target. The problem was with the "take-out-shot-charged-put it back" cycle in the "charged-put it back" part. I had to disconnect the virt and hastily sew a hook to the harness to hold the two-kilogram module behind my back. A flick or two showed the unreliability of such a solution: if the loop of the belt were to slip from the hook, the module would slide under my armed arm. Plus it wasn't easy to charge the bowstring because of the straps tangling under my arms. All right, it's getting late tonight, I'm going to walk this way, and tomorrow morning I'll check the forums; if there's a solution, it should be there.

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Brother Storekeeper greeted me with a smile, to which I immediately responded with a bow and greeting.

When I reached the reputation of fifty points, the temple treasury became available to me, and I hinted that I did not mind paying ten percent of what I sold, which earned me ten reputations and two extra boxes for goods. The temple treasury gave all the same as the Khramm's trading house, but in addition could provide credit, relatively small, for the purchase of equipment. A way for newcomers wishing to go out into the world with more than a training sword and armor fished out of the sewers. There are enough messengers and recurring household tasks in town to gain the necessary reputation and take credit of five, or even ten, if you choose the right tasks, gold.

"Brother Paladin, I am pleased to report that all your scrolls are sold again. Three Blessings of the fourth rank and three Ice Arrows. The total amount is just over four gold pieces."

Temple merchants are not dwarves: scrolls did not increase in price but were sold for the price assigned by me. But they didn't charge for storage, either.

"I'm surprised, Brother Storekeeper. I don't understand why people buy Ice Arrows. It's not cheap, but it doesn't do much good."

The monk shrugged his shoulders. This NPC had a surprisingly expressive face.

"Who knows? Times are such that everyone is trying to increase their chances of winning. And an Ice Arrow of this level is an uncommon commodity in our parts. Maybe there's not much interest in it anytime soon ... we should think of another commodity."

A tutorial for beginners? Is it a prognosis of AI? Or a scripted phrase? How many times have I not been able to figure out what is what here? It's a good game, well thought out. They say that even in the absence of players are some processes, something changes, and something appears. And something disappears.

"So far I do not need coins. These three scrolls I would like to put it up for sale."

When I marked three of my five remaining Blessing scrolls on the trade menu, I waited for the exchange menu to blink, then bowed and left.

I kept turning my head on the way to Khramm House. The time in this city was synchronized with Central European time, so it was the middle of the day, and life was in full swing. I saluted the guards, bowed to the townsfolk, and bought a pie from a stall, barely able to keep from pulling back the visor of my helmet and trying to take a bite. I stared at the back of a big man about three meters tall and wondered at the scaly tail that flashed under the hem of the dress of a townswoman who was gambling for a chicken. There was a lot to see in this town!

Again some thieving NPC tried to take my wallet, dodged a slap, and ran away, kicking the props of the fruit counter as he went. The vendor nonchalantly pulled out some rotten fruit from behind his back and aptly launched it at the fleeing kid, and then climbed under the counter and restored what appeared to be decorative support - the counter was suspended on chains.

The market greeted me with the hum of a trading chat. Loyne wasn't there, so I bought a sharpening from another player. Judging by the invitation to come back tomorrow, he'd heard me and Loyne talking.

I stopped at one of the two counters, decorated with a flag depicting tongues of flame.

"What do you want?"

So rude. And it's a player, not an NPC.

"Do they put guilty people on the trade?"

"What do you want? Don't block the counter."

With a shrug, I made my way to the second one.

"Good afternoon, what can I do for you?"

But this is a local merchant who was hired.

"Good trade to you, too. I'm on business, one of the guilders, a half-elf, said I could contact you about a map."

The merchant leaned over the counter, examined my scabbard, and smiled happily: "Just a minute! I'll call the right person right away!"

"Hey! Are you a paladin with a flower?" The vendor-player immediately responded. Apparently, the program linked with the closest member of the guild. "Come here."

I thought for a moment about screwing him but decided not to mess with him.

"I'm ready to copy it."

"Yeah. You're supposed to get the one gold. Come see me tomorrow, I'll be here."

One gold for me, and how much in his pocket?

"I'll take the merchandise." The merchant shrugged, and a list of goods popped up in front of me. "Here are these essences, six of them. And three vials."

"That's three gold pieces. You owe me two."

"I owe you the map and nothing else."

"You think you got your chance and everybody owes you one?"

"Everybody or not, but your Guild owes much more than gold a day. And it seems to me that you decided to squeeze the spread."

"If it seems, it means you should be baptized!"

"I serve Amala, the cross is a different story."

"If you talk too much, you'll get on the guild's Kill List!"

"If you're rude, I'll sell the map to the first person I see, and I'll tell the half-elf why I did it, and your name will go right after mine."

The brute sniffed.

"Screw it. Six slowing essences and three healing potions. Give me the map."

"I'm ready. By the way, tomorrow I'll find out how much your chief ordered to give me."

The trade menu blinked. The list of things to pass on to me was expanded with two golds.

"You've really insolent, paladin. You'll regret it once."

"Those who are not insolent stay in the sewers and beat elementals for three coppers apiece. Exchange."

"Exchange."

That's it. The slowing essences are needed for the crossbow. For an hour each shot will reduce the movement speed of monsters, which for me, in the virt gear, will be much more useful than any damage buffs.

"Hey, paladin! Buff me, like for a change. I'm about to change and go to the instance, and we don't have anyone with an Amal buff right now.

I thought for a second, and then I answered.

"No. The book says that Amala didn't like cheaters."

There was swearing in the back. Restrained, censored messages and bans were still in place. He's not a nice guy, and given the situation, he could make trouble by selling the map to the side and blaming me.

"Dear sir, can you contact someone from the Guild leadership?" The NPC trader at the next counter nodded eagerly. "Then tell him that the paladin of Amala handed a copy of the map to a guild member in the marketplace at three o'clock this afternoon in fulfillment of his agreement."

"Of course...I already did. This mental connection of light strangers is a miracle!"

"Yes, very useful thing. May the blessing of the Healer be with you!"

I turned away from the smiling NPC and the player, who exploded with new curses, and went to the exit of the market.

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