Chapter XXVII: At Algazie
After a little bit in the park with my friends, it was time to get down to business. It was nice not having to carry the game around with me anymore, now I just had to keep track of my account card. What safer place was there than my wallet?
I inserted the gold and black beta account card into the Neural Sphere. When I logged back into Dynasty, I appeared back in the inn room. In a flash of blue, the rest of my friends joined me in the other world.
As soon as we had appeared, there was a knock on the door. "Excuse me, do you wish to stay longer?" One of the NPC innkeepers asked.
A screen appeared. I paid another 70 lyre for a week.
"We need to get our own place," Kanade said.
"Do you know how much property in this city costs? There's no way we can afford a place right now. It would bankrupt us a thousand times over." I understood the sentiment though. The room might only run us ten lyre a day, but I was getting tired of paying for it.
I opened my menu and scrolled down my friend list. There was Attea's name, lit up in gold. She was online then. 'Where are you' I messaged.
A few seconds later: 'In the northern district. Look for the old Algazie shop.'
"Algazie?" Euphie asked, peering over my shoulder. "What's that?"
"The name of her shop in the beta," I said, changing my menu back to where only I could see it. "I wonder if she got the old building back."
"Why can she afford a building and not us?"
"There's a fund for the support classes. Merchants, blacksmiths, crafters, and the like can apply for a loan from the city treasury."
"Why don't we do that?"
"That would leave us in debt and without a steady flow of lyre to pay it back. If we default on that debt, we lose everything we have and we're banished from this city."
"Wait, seriously? Some people play this game to be crafters and blacksmiths?"
"Yes, Sage, there are. Take guilds for example. The bigger ones will need a lot of support staff. Merchants buy and sell what they need or don't need. Blacksmiths make weapons and crafters make items. It's a whole ecosystem and in the beta, the big guilds paid with support staff well. In-game, anyway."
Even now, less than a month after the official launch, Dynasty was the biggest game in the world. Advertisers were starting to pay to advertise and that was only one flow of money. According to Athena, Dynasty would become the biggest game in the history of the world. Once the money started flowing, I was sure talented support characters would be able to make some real dollars. Or euros, in this case.
"It's not just the guilds. Unaffiliated players need support too. Attea was the most talented crafter in the beta, the biggest guilds all tried to hire her as a personal crafter, but she refused. She opened her store and by the time the beta finished, she was making a huge profit. In just two months, she had already opened a second, larger store."
She said it was in the Northern District. That was where she had her first store and I still remembered the way. Sure enough, that small, two-story shop bore the name ALGAZIE emblazoned atop.
"So if we wanted to get a loan," Amos started. "What would we have to do?"
"Level a support skill to ten and present ourselves at the treasury. Oh, and be part of a guild that meets a certain size."
"Seriously? It's that easy? Why doesn't everyone just take advantage of that?"
"As I said, you don't pay back the installments, you lose everything you have. That means everything the guild has. You miss payment one time and that's what happens."
"I guess it's a good thing someone beat the guild quest. When are we going to start our guild?" Euphie asked.
"We were not using an inn as our base of operations." Which wouldn't be for a while. "Since we don't have someone to establish a guild hall, it's a little more advantageous for us to stay a party."
Algazie wasn't even opened when we arrived. There were plenty of NPCs setting up the shop. She already hired NPCs to work here? Damn, Attea moved quickly.
"Chevalier Phénix? Is that you?" a familiar voice asked from atop the staircase.
"Of course it is. How else would it be?"
Attea's avatar looked the same as it did in the beta, an extremely gorgeous twenty-something. She was wearing a red dress with a blue rose over her heart. Always the free spirit, Attea didn't walk down her staircase, she slid down on the rails.
"It's so good to see you! I see you imported your avatar over, Chevalier Phénix."
"I wasn't going to pay for a customized one."
"Fair. So, who are these? You should introduce us."
"Guys, this is Attea. One of the best crafters in Dynasty. Attea, this is my party and future guild."
"Oh! Future guild? What happened to being a solo player?"
A goddess told me that I needed friends to win a team tournament to decide the fate of the universe. "I thought I'd change it up. I played solo for the whole beta, so I wanted to try something new."
"I approve!"
"I'm glad you do. So, how much did these NPCs cost to hire."
"... More than you want to know. Let's just say I had to spend a lot of money on materials so I could work my ass off for products. I'm counting on my fellow beta players to tell everyone of my extraordinary talent, by the way. Seriously, I need people in here as soon as we open. I'm in debt."
No kidding. "What about your guild?"
"A bunch of kids who didn't want to fight, so I took them under my wing."
"Don't you have to pay them?"
"I'm paying them in training right now. And food, so their characters don't starve. I'm going to need a talented staff when things start to heat up, but enough about my monetary woes. Why are you here?"
"To comment on the dress. Serious? That isn't your style, is it?"
She laughed. "No, it's not, but I haven't had time to make myself anything. I'm working my butt off teaching and making products. I don't have time for myself yet. Trust me, when I have some lyre to my name, I'll change that. For now, we all have to make do with what we got. Isn't that why you're wearing that?"
She pointed at me. I looked down at my outfit. "It isn't that bad, is it?"
"I guess not. This is the first stage of the game, so I guess it's okay, but I liked that cloak I made you. I think it looked good on you, and it was some of my best work if I do say so myself."
"I thought so too. That's why I'm here. I want you to make me another cloak."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I'm not against it, but you don't have dragon scales or material to make dragon leather. It's way too early for that."
"It is, but I think we can hold off on the dragon cloak for now. I'll take something a little less than perfect."
"Oh? What do you have for me?"
"Some Frenzied wolf pelts. A Dire Wolf Pelt and a few other things I'd like added. I can trade you everything now if you like."
Attea held up her hand. "I told you, I need lyre. Yesterday. So before we do anything, we're going to need to discuss payment."
"How does five thousand lyre sound?"
Attea blinked. "Holy... For one cloak?"
"Of course not. We've been grinding our asses off. We have a lot of material. I'd like you to make something for each of us."
Attea looked past me at my friends. "You know... That seems reasonable. I think we can work something else, but you might need to pony up a few more lyre-"
"Don't try and scam me. I'm already overpaying because you're a friend."
"I'm the best crafter on the France part of the European Server and you want to stay in my good books," she countered.
"That too."
"A little more lyre would certainly put you in my good books."
"You can't be too greedy, Attea. Three thousand is more than enough since we're supplying materials. I expect time and effort out of this deal."
She stuck her tongue out. "Fine. So do you have any preferences?"
"I want a cloak, but I trust your judgment for the rest."
"You better trust my judgment. I'm the best."
"For now," I shot back.
She wouldn't be done in time to help us with the boss, but that was something we'd have to live with.
***
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