Sara suddenly felt a surge of magical power flow through her body. Quincy’s eyes stared intently, not out of lust, but out of curiosity. He was expecting something to happen-
Then the notifications came.
[Magical class temporarily added. [Knight] transformed into [Magical Knight-maid] while wearing this maid outfit.]
[You gain an outfit-linked class [Magical Knight-Maid] - Level 1. This class will gain levels independent of your main class]
[All skills linked will only be active or usable while wearing this maid outfit]
[New skill learned : Magical Maid’s finesse]
“What happened?” Quincy asked.
“I gained a temporary class." Sara's mind buzzed. She heard of items that granted one or two extra skills, or spell books that stored huge amounts of spells, but she wasn't aware of items that granted temporary classes. But it didn’t seem out of the world for it to happen. "Did you know this would happen?"
"Yeah. Kind of." Quincy said, the power to add classes is frankly amazing. “Can I ask you to keep it a secret?”
Sara nodded, it wasn't surprising that someone from the Great Houses would be aware of some secrets around classes unknown to mere commoners like herself.
"How do you feel?"
The maid-knight stretched and felt invigorated. The Madam wasn’t lying when she said these maid outfits are incredibly comfy. “Good, actually.”
“How good?” It was late at night, and Quincy then remembered that there should be an indoor practice room somewhere. “Well, actually, let’s go test it out.”
Once they were at the dusty practice room, Sara stretched and picked up one of the old wooden practice swords that was still there, left untouched over the ages. It seemed to have aged quite well despite all the years it's been through.
She stretched a bit, and then did some basic footwork. Then faster, and faster-
This was when Quincy, well aware of his own limits, noticed the shifts in her speed and reaction. He picked up small wooden balls and threw one towards her.
She dodged it easily. He threw a few more, and she dodged them too.
“You seem more aware.”
“I am.” Sara answered, feeling less exhausted than she normally would be. “This is rather- strange.”
Quincy then picked up a practice sword. “Let’s go for a few swings.”
Sara smirked. “Milord-” She zoomed ahead with such speed that Quincy didn’t even see her, and the practice sword was already on his neck. “-you’re not a match.”
Quincy felt his heart skip a beat, and then smiled. “You could’ve killed me.”
He stepped closer to her, the wooden sword touched his neck. His next step took him so close that she could feel his breath on her skin.
“Would you do it?”
She flushed, Quincy was well within range, and then, she leapt three steps back. “Milord, you’re getting too close.”
“I don’t think so.” The [Lord] smirked, he did enjoy teasing the cute knight. “Anyway, I’ll go back and rest. You should, too. See you tomorrow.”
The [knight] felt relieved as she watched her Lord leave the room. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if Quincy approached her and did things to her. Her face flushed red at her thoughts.
“I’m a knight- I’m a knight. I’m a protector-”
***
Quincy walked back to his own chambers, and reviewed the notifications he saw from his new magical maid core.
[Magical Maid Core Mission 1 - Transform a servant into a maid by having them wear any of the linked maid outfits - COMPLETED]
[Magical Maid Core Ability unlocked - Protective Shield Level 1. While in the vicinity of the mansion, you can summon a protective shield to protect yourself or any individual of your choice. Range increases with level.]
Two additional missions unlocked.
[Magical Maid Core Mission 2 - Command the linked maid to clean all the rooms while wearing the maid outfit.]
[Magical Maid Core Mission 3 - Increase the number of maids under your control to five. Maids need not be in the mansion.]
Expanding Core’s maid detection range to the entirety of Bridgehill.
Total maids under your control or employ : 1
He needed to increase the number of maids, and then his mind turned to the restaurant that operated with maids.
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He had known from his secret learnings about magical cores. They were a secret weapon of the Great Houses and temples. Magical cores, due to their origin as dungeon cores, had an inherent link to the world's system and power. These warped magical cores all had a theme, an effect.
Quincy needed to figure out what’s the best way to use his [magical maid core]. The best way to increase the maids under his rule.
“I need to buy a business.”
****
“Sara, do you mind cleaning the rooms while wearing the maid uniform?” Quincy asked as they met for breakfast the next day.
“I’m a [Knight], not a [Maid], Lord Quinn.” Sara responded, she wasn’t dressed in her armor or her uniform, but instead just her civilian wear. After what happened yesterday, she was a little afraid of getting dressed in the [maid] outfit. She wasn’t sure she wanted to move to that stage with her master and employer.
“Please. It might level up your ability. If I’m not wrong, such temporary classes are linked to actions related to that class, and maid classes are linked to cleaning. If you feel uncomfortable, I’ll leave you at home while you clean it, since the system doesn’t need me to be present to work.”
Sara thought for a while, and realized that seemed to make sense. “Oh. If that’s the case, very well.”
“Thanks, Sara. I know it’s not what you’re used to wearing, but the additional levels probably will help our total combat strength, if we ever get attacked.”
She nodded.
“I’ll be headed to town. Alone.”
“Will you be alright, Lord Quinn?”
“I think so. I’ll be back before it gets dark.”
The shadow war is still in the shadows, and for now, no party has done anything super drastic yet. The princes and their allied forces are sizing each other up, and poking each other with proxies.
He still felt fairly safe, even if the level of crime in Bridgehill was not the best.
The first place he wanted to go was the merchant’s guild. If he needed to grow his number of maids, the best thing he could do was get a business, and make all of them dress in maid uniforms.
He checked his pocket, his [daily stipend] generated another 3 silver coins. He should have about another 25 gold coins and 70 silvers stored with the Han bank, which will be his acquisition funds.
The merchant guild of Bridgehill was fairly large, and there were multiple different merchant guilds and associations. He approached the receptionist, a tall lady in a fairly ordinary dress, and asked.
“I’m Quinn Londen, and I’m new to this city. I’m looking to buy a business, preferably from someone who’s getting too old to run their existing business. I’d prefer retail businesses, such as restaurants or shops.”
The lady nodded. “Well, we do have this list of businesses that are looking for successors. Let me look for it here. Do you want a copy? Or you can just take one of these and have a look, and return it when you’re done?”
“I’ll just look at it here.” Quincy nodded as he took one of the many directories and started reading. Some of them were marked for sale, or looking for apprentices. Each also listed their wares, and their general location.
He had some idea what sort of business he wanted, but as he perused through the directory, it popped out to him immediately.
“Miss. I’m curious, is there a major bank in Bridgehill?”
She thought for a moment, and shook her head. “Bridgehill is dominated by the four large family banks. The Han Bank, the Western Bank, The Bridge Bank and the High Park Bank. There’s also six to eight smaller family banks.”
“None of the Capitol banks came here?”
“The local banks have tie ups with the Capitol banks.” It suddenly made sense why the Capitol Bank gave him a Han Bank slip, instead of one from the Capitol Bank.
Quincy felt dizzy for a moment. “Ah. Thanks.”
This was a revelation to him. His father and family emphasized on how important it was to control the banking system. Bankers essentially financed wars between the noble families, and financing was one of the key levers of funding a war.
If there were no big banks, and what’s left are smaller banks, it only meant the banks of Bridgehill were more vulnerable to attacks, and their ability to withstand losses would be similarly impacted.
In terms of business, there was a gap, and an opportunity to merge or acquire all these small family banks to form a dominant Bridgehill regional bank.
But founding a bank would require quite a bit of capital, and starting a bank without controlling any other types of businesses was risky. It was fairly common for banks to emerge from a conglomerate of trading businesses, the banks originally were just treasury departments handling funds for a group of companies.
It was also unlikely that the existing banks would let him exist as a standalone bank. They’ll crush him before he could even get his foot through the door.
So, he needed to have some kind of business that generated huge amounts of cash, that he could then use to provide the cash flow a bank needed.
So, his mind darted to the regular trading businesses.
He thought back to the restaurant, and he browsed to the Restaurant section. There were indeed many restaurants in the city, at least a hundred. Everyone needs to eat, as the saying goes, but making money is entirely about volume.
He also didn’t intend to start a restaurant from scratch. That was too slow, and he had a decent amount of money stored in the bank.
He could also open an inn with an attached eatery, or any similar hospitality institutions. It’ll use maids. The other thing that people needed in this world was medical help. There were mages, and magic for spells, but often those healers cost a bomb, and their services are primarily engaged by adventurers who could afford their fees. For most commoners, they’d use public clinics and hospitals, where they relied on mass produced herbs.
The next option was a farm, but a farm usually involved buying land. He wasn’t keen on buying land, not with his current sum of money. Farms needed scale, and usually, the services of an experienced [Farm Manager]. It’ll be hard to make any substantial profit without it.
He could also do a trading, or shop business, but he figured a restaurant or an inn was the best way to get to know a city, and what the customers of this city loved.
Curiously enough, that restaurant with maids was for sale. He decided to ask the receptionist, since they were already in maid uniform.
“Oh, Robert’s? The owner got into debt after trying to pay some adventurers to collect some super expensive medical herb for the wife. So now the shop’s on sale. Think they wanted somewhere around 8 gold for it. I was told they generated 2 gold coins of profit per year.”
Four times profit. That seemed quite fair, especially since it’s a distressed sale.
“Could you put me in touch with the owner?”
“Sure Mister Londen. Do you want us to handle the sales and purchase agreement? If you do, we’ll waive your membership fee for the guild. You’ll only need to pay the drafting, documentation and records costs of 5 silver. Where’s your money currently held?”
Quincy thought for a moment, and nodded. The market price outside was probably around 3 silver for such services, but it’ll get him into the good graces of the guild as a merchant that used guild business.
“Certainly. My money’s with the Han Bank.”
“Alright. We’ll talk to them. Need your signatures here and here to authorise us to make the necessary documents.”