The town hall was crowded. The usual receptionist was not around and was replaced by a middleaged woman. As soon as Peter entered her line of sight, she pointed at him signalling him to follow her.

Without a word she turned around and headed straight toward the door around the corner. Pausing for a second she held the door open for Peter.

"Lady Alder will see you now", she said gesturing him to head inside.

As Peter entered the room, the now beautiful women Alder was sitting across legged sipping on a blood-red liquid.

"At least you aren't late now. Sit down."

Peter sat down obediently. "What do you need me for?".

"Sorry about before. I had to follow the script. Either way, congratulations you earned the right to become a knight. As long as you are interested. It's your reward for helping me out."

"I didn't do anything."

"No, you didn't. But wasn't how the quest was supposed to go either. See I'm kind of busy and didn't have the time to babysit you through the whole thing. So, suck it up."

"Ok. Thank you."

"So pay upfront, it's 10,000 gold for the deposit. You will get two retainers and a house in the high-end neighbourhood. Also a 50% discount on all purchases through the town for anything under a value of 5000 gold. If you have any issues you will report to me."

"Ok, sounds good."

Alder scorned her eyes at Peter.

"The money? You got it on you now?"

"What money?"

"10,000 gold deposit."

"I thought I was getting paid?"

"You don't have it? I checked the market. You can afford it. Don't try to screw with me. You know the knight is a noble title. You can get many more privileges." She kept staring at Peter.

"I don't have any money now. Sorry."

"Fine. Get money. Then come over. Now, get out." She turned around and walked towards a bar to take a refill not interested in talking anymore.

*****

"Hey, didn't see you get out. What happened?" Peter got out of the cabin to get some food and met Sicily in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I got killed and got a bit frustrated." Sicily started pacing around and soon the other two girls entered the room.

"They got you too?"

"Yeah. Oh, it's almost like they were waiting for us. How did they know where to find us?"

"Others might have tipped them off. Why did you log out?"

"I got offered to become a knight. Just wanted to ask about your opinions. It costs a lot of money. So, what now?"

"Knight? Wow, brother just became one. You need a lot of commendations to become noble. I say go for it."

"You should. With a knight in our guild, it would make things a lot easier."

"I was planning to. I just don't have that much money on me right now. It cost 10,000 gold."

"Costly. But it's worth it. You should take it." Anya pitched in.

"Also, how's the money coming from the stuff you sold."

"Got two million dollars in my account. So what do you want to do?"

"No idea. Any advice?"

"You should ask Angelou, she works for sis but she could introduce you to someone else too." Mary was ever so sweet.

"Can't I just use her?"

"No, she is a family accountant. You don't want her. You should always try and get someone new. Clean. If you don't have a good background getting experienced ones can become trouble faster."

"You don't trust your accountant?"

"I do, but unless you have more than a billion she can't take you as a client. It's the law. I was just helping."

"So, can I meet her? I just converted mine and got a few in my account as well. I want to try and buy a house."

"You want to move out? Don't tell me you don't like us around." Anya pretended to get angry.

"No, I thought it would be good real estate."

"Wait, I get it. You are into men. I should have known. You kept telling me you wanted, what was that guy's name," Anya peeked at Sicily, "Sam?"

"Stop it, Anya." Sicily eyed Anya and pulled Peter away to the front hall.

*****

"You must be Peter. Sicily mentioned I need to find you an accountant."

Angelou was a someone in her late thirties but she gave out a strong aura around her.

"Just need someone to help me manage some of my funds."

"I need to know what you prefer. Men, women, short, tall, blonde, white, black, anything in particular?"

"Don't care. They should be capable. I don't know how to handle money. So it's better if they knew how to do it."

"Everyone I know knows how to handle money. You got that covered. I will give you Eric Tyson. He is average but committed to the numbers. And he is also one of the better amongst the rookies. Any problem?"

"None. Thank you."

Angelou picked up a cellphone and called over to her assistant to send Eric in. In a few minutes, Eric presented himself at the front of Angelou s office.

"Tyson, meet Peter. you will be working for him from now on."

"Thank you, ma'am." Tyson turned around to meet Peter. "It's a pleasure to do business with you."

Angelou interjected, "Mr Peter, Tyson requires an annual pay of 200,000 bucks and you need to put one year's extra on deposit. So it will cost you 400k to hire him. But I assure you, he is good for the money."

"I will trust your judgment. Thank you again."

Angelou showed both of them out busy to get back to her pile of papers.

*****

"So, do you have a plan? Everyone needs a plan." Eric was driving the car with Peter. The two spent the entire afternoon looking for an office rental in the outer districts.

"I don't know yet. I'm still looking for a house and a place to play. You know I made my money through the game right? Didn't Angelou say that? "

"Yeah, I don't play that much. I have an account but I can't spend that much time."

"Well, it's quite easy to make money there..."

Eric interjected saying, "But just wait for the ballers to come in and all that balance will be soon lost. I hope you exchanged all the coin to bucks by now."

"Yeah, I did. Sicily told me to."

"You like her?"

"Who? Sicily, no. She is a good friend."

"So which neighbourhood do you want, any picks yet. We need to head to the bank soon before it closes. You need to get a business permit to start an office even if it's just a solo one."

"Can't we just do it at home for now?"

"You should register a company first, even if you don't want to do business. You don't want someone to rush into your house for work stuff. Besides, it would give you a better image."

"I have around 2 million I can use for the place. But it has to be closer to the crowd. I plan to recruit a few for the game as helpers. It will be better if it's near residential areas."

"Ok, I will figure something out."

*****

Fracture Elite Sword(U)

Item level: 20

Strength: 250

Passive

Fracture on crit hit.

50% bonus damage to fractured enemies.

Fracture sword blueprint.

Difficulty: S

Item level: 20

Soulbound: Vision

Cannot be mass-produced.

'A blueprint and a sword.'

The fracture sword requires a few drops from the boss to craft apart from the regular iron bars.

'I got enough materials for 2. I will try making one later.'

Peter was already back in the crafting area making a bunch more of those armours and swords. This time he chose to make some generic ones instead of the soldier ones. The market demand for the armour and weapons were still rising as most crafters couldn't keep up with the demand. Whenever Peter put in the items for sale, they disappeared instantly.

The gold required for the knighthood was pressing on Peter. So far the sales had already brought in a decent 5.6k gold. Peter had introduced Eric to Sicily. Eric took over the exchange between the large guilds and was allowed to stay at the workshop still Peter fixed a deal on the office buildings.

After a few more hours of making swords and running off to the auction house to sell them, Peter finally made enough money to pay for the knighthood.

"Peter, more people have reached the tier 2 class mark. We can't continue to sell of soldier armour anymore. It has become weaker."

"How many did you sell so far?"

"About 3000. We can still sell it for at least 10 more days but with the current market, the prices must be lowered to around 3k."

"I can make another 3000 by then. Try and sell as much as you can. We will flush the rest out through the auction houses. I have enough money. I am in more need of gold now."

"Ok, I will let the guilds know."

*****

The guilds stopped purchasing the armour. This helped Peter push a few out into the open market. Making him rake in a much larger profit. The average Joe had crossed the tier 2 border creating a massive demand for the level 20 items. Either way, the soldier armour was still a success in the market making Blackbeak's fame spread amongst the players.

Sicily and Eric were able to sell off a massive 4800 armour, making Peter one of the richest players in the game. With the auction house sales hitting almost 3 gold per item, Peter was already at a solid financial state.

Eric had informed Peter about a building towards the outskirts of the business district closer to the residential area. After receiving peters approval, Eric put down the deposit and requested for filing paperwork.

Peter reached level 18 in blacksmithing becoming the highest level blacksmith in Garesian Country leaderboard.

*****

"So, you came back. What is it? Have you made enough money yet?"

"Yes. I have the 10,000 gold you requested."

"Good."

Alder walked past him and closed the door showing everyone out.

"You have the ability to make money. That's good. Being a noble means you should be able to handle money properly. Usually, knighthood is rewarded based on merits. We have too many muscle head nobles now and I am forced to handle all the money stuff myself. Sorry, I wish to request some help. I was wondering if you would like to take over the head of finances position in the town."

"I can't. I am too busy with my crafting."

"It's ok. I wasn't expecting you to do it. Just had to try. Either way, you are now a noble. So, do you want anything specific done? You get one request granted a month as long as it doesn't hinder the work of others."

"Yes, I wanted to open a shop but the price is still too high for me."

"You would make an amazing merchant. Unfortunately, the properties all belong to the royal family and I'm unable to hand them over to you. If you were my finance minister, then maybe I can figure something out."

"No, sorry. I don't think I can manage the finances."

"I'm afraid I can't do anything for you then."

"Ok then. Can I leave now?"

"Sure. You are a pretty good blacksmith so you shouldn't have a lot of trouble making gold. I was wondering if you would be interested in alchemy as well. I do have to warn you, alchemy cost a lot of money and unless you can make good recipes, they are useless."

"I couldn't find a master alchemist in the town. I was planning to take it up as well."

"That's 'cause I'm the master alchemist in town. I will accept you as a student but you need to first find the herbalist Ionna in Summerbrook. Buy a copy of herb diary from her first."

"I was planning to head towards Summerbrook for my blacksmith class change."

"Blacksmith class? Then you should talk with Flemil. I saw him near the place last time I visited. Be careful, his crafting methods usually puts the place in flames."

Alder gave Peter an Alchemist Badge before sending him out.

*****

Profile

Name: Peter

Title: Creative Artisan(R), Knight

LVL: 24

Gold: 3,845

Credit: 55,833,120

Available points: 9

STR: 25

VIT: 20

AGI: 10

AP: 2750

DF: 2600

HP: 200

Swordsman (C): T2 L14 (2855/7000)

Miner: T1 L10

Blacksmith: T2 L18 (2294/14,250)

Alchemist: T1 L0 (0/0)

World fame: 110

Blacksmith fame: 40

Swordsman fame: 10