BXBX NOVEL Chapter 73 Like In Fast Food...
A few moments before, Samiel was about to exit the Citadel of the Zephystrand; suddenly, he heard the meowing of his Familiar, which was running toward him at lightning speed as he exited the Citadel.
'Hooman, hooman, wait for me; I want to go on a trip.'
She ran toward him energetically; she probably now woke up and was looking for someone to play with. Nefertari always liked to do this; she would sleep most of the day and then wake up and demand his immediate and undivided attention.
'Then come.'
Samiel stated as she flapped her little wings, flying a bit around Samiel, before she landed on his right shoulder, putting her head on it while closing her eyes a bit, pretending to sleep.
After exiting the Citadel, they went through a few bridges leading to the main paths that connected the Citadel with the rest of Zephystrand City. In fact, these were the only paths that connected the Citadel with the rest of Zephystrand City, which is located in the middle of Zephystrand City on the biggest Tree of Life.
They arrived at the Zephystrand's Merchant District about half an hour later. Samiel looked around, a little surprised by the number of people running here and there, buying or selling merchandise, as they could see that it was a very busy day at Zephystrand's Merchant District.
Samiel went to part of the district where Dwarves had their forges, shops, and other things. Although Zephystrand is an Elven city, it is surprising to see dwarves' forges, stores, and other things in the Zephystrand district. It is also surprising to see that despite the fact that Zephystrand is an Elven city, there is still a relatively high dwarven presence there.
In addition to maintaining the Mana Cannons and other Magetech Weaponry, they also ran their own business and were in charge of their own maintenance department. Zephystrnad was technically one of the first cities that the Climbers would pass these days, with others being on the 3rd Floor, which meant there was a huge amount of money that could be made here from the Forge Cities or Fortress Cities selling weapons and armors.
Dwarves and their Forge Cities and Fortress Cities loved to make money off the people who started climbing the Tower, so they sold weapons, armors, and gadgets to them as they started climbing the Tower.
The first thing Samiel did was search through a plethora of smithies in the city's Merchant District. The majority of Dwarven shops were actually smithies that were making personalized weapons and armors for their clients; most of the Dwarves operated in this way.
"So, it would be best to search for some Chamber of Commerce."
Taking out the booklet that Cardinal Karliana had given him when he officially entered the Hall of Kadath, Samiel looked through a few pages and finally found one that wrote about the affiliated factions or allies that the Hall of Kadath had. He grumbled as he continued reading because there were many affiliated organizations, and it was a hard thing to find the one he was looking for.
"And here it is... GMA, Goldstone Manufacturing Armory."
It is important to note that Goldstone Manufacturing Armory (GMA), a dwarven company that specializes in mass-producing weapons, armors, and other types of equipment, was among the most reliable companies available on the market today. The quality of their mass-production equipment is one of the best in the Cosmos, and their prices are also very reasonable.
A lot of money had been invested in the GMA by the Hall of Kadath, and many stocks were owned by the Hall of Kadath, so it was obvious that the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory was the best place for any member of the Hall. The Hall of Kadath was one of the major shareholders of the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, and they owned more than 40% of all stocks.
Even though Samiel knew he would have to pay for everything, he could at least get a nice discount on the goods he ordered since he had official status in the Hall of Kadath, not to mention the way the Holy Son so that the price would be even better.
It didn't take him more than ten minutes to find the local Branch of the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, which fortunately had branches on almost every Floor of the Tower, as well as in a good number of Higher Worlds and Principal Worlds.
People who were watching Samiel walk through the streets made way for him as many looked warily at him, especially as he was accompanied by the enormous Death Knight that was walking behind him and watching everyone menacingly, as the blue fire in his eyes, which shone through the openings in his helmet, ignited a spark of fear in the hearts of all those around him.
Shopkeepers in the Zephystrand's Merchant District mostly ignored him because they were used to him; he frequently came to the Merchant District to purchase some magic supplies, so the people selling things here were pretty used to him.
Or he went with Yvraine to some restaurants and cafes. Samiel was a big fan of good food and coffee, so he was regular in those places, and after the initial fear, many of the people learned not to overly fear him, despite the Undead Death Knight following him.
In terms of design, the Branch building of the GMA was of typical Dwarven design. Like the bulk of the buildings the Dwarves built, it had the simplicity of ordinary stone but with some golden linings to indicate the status of the owners of the building.
Basically, they were subtly letting everyone know that they were better than any of their competitors. Of course, their results also spoke for themselves because, among the similar companies, the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory had one of the biggest revenues.
Several heavy-armored Steel-Tier Dwarves guarded the entrance to the GMA at the time of Samiel's observation. They were keeping watch over the entrance to the Branch of the GMA, and there were even some Magetech gadgets and weapons at their disposal, from what Samiel could see.
The moment he stepped into the Branch of the GMA, Samiel was greeted immediately by the Branch Manager, who was at present in the main lobby of the branch, taking care of some things right now.
There was a relatively average-looking dwarf who ran the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory in Zephystrand City. He had long brown hair, and a long beard, and he was dressed in a luxuriously looking outfit that, even though it was modest, still boasted of his high social position while still being relatively unassuming.
"Greetings, Manager Ironbeard."
Samiel greeted the Manager of the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory Branch, Arden Ironbeard. The Branch Manager, Arden Iron Beard, was a peak Bronze-Tier Professional and also a member of the Ironbeard Clan, one of the more prominent Dwarven Clans. So his standing in the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory was very high, whether through his position or his origin.
"OH, Mr. Zentaur, it is a pleasure to have you back."
Samiel had been here before he was drafted into the Hall of Kadath to order Armor and Weapons for his Undeads in order for them to be appropriately armed, so he was not visiting for the first time. During those days, he became acquainted with the Branch Manager Ardem Ironbeard and came to realize that arming his Undead was not as unusual as he initially thought.
In addition to being helpful and making a good deal with him, Branch Manager Ardem Ironbeard also recommended which weapon and armor would be the best for the Undead when it came to weapons and armor for the Undeads.
Immediately after greeting Samiel, there was one thing that froze Branch Manager Arden Ironbeard in his tracks when he saw the symbol on Samiel's left earring immediately after greeting him. He started at the earing in shock, and it took several seconds to completely recover, as he remembered that the last time Samiel visited, he didn't have it.
Because it was a symbol of the Hall of Kadath, Branch Manager Arden understood that high-ranking people within the Hall of Kadath were only permitted to wear these symbols in public as someone who was well informed about these matters.
It looked like an ordinary cross earring, just with pointy ends and a small transparent white gem in the middle of the earring that had an engraved small symbol on it, with the words "Kadath" and "Holy". It was so small that the average person wouldn't even be able to see it with his eyes.
This combination of words, together with this earring, would seem like a coincidence to an average person. Just a random bunch of words and coincidences. Still, to someone with a prestigious background such as Arden Ironbeard, it is something much more significant.
"I see that you had a pleasant last year, My Lord."
In response, the Branch Manager immediately changed even the title by which he was calling Samiel, as well as the tone of his voice, which went from being jovial to a more polite and formal tone of voice.
As soon as Arden Ironbeard realized that the young man before him had gained a great deal of influence in the Hall of Kadath, he dropped all sense of familiarity and instantly switched to the most polite tone and appearance that he could muster.
"Please, follow me to the VIP Logue."
Stated Branch Manager Arden Irobeard; he then mentioned Samiel to follow after him as they went to Private VIP Logue.
This was a relatively small, cozy room, filled with a few unique artifacts, some leather chairs made of the finest dragon leather, and of course, the best liquor that could be found throughout the Cosmos. Dwarves were known to be heavy drinkers, and they liked good liquor.
The stronger, the better.
"Now, I will need 510 sets of Normal-Grade Armors and the same amount of weapons, the standard set of Shield and One-Handed Sword."
When Samiel was deciding how much he would like to spend, he gave out his order, and it reminded him of ordering food from McDonald's or other fast foods on Earth. While Arden was calculating the price, he wrote something down on some type of Magetech tablet device that looked like a tablet.
"Altogether, it should be 500 gold coins per set of Armor and 300 gold coins per combo of Sword and Shield. So, for the Armor, it would be together 255,000 gold coins, and for weapons and shields, it would be 153,000 gold coins. In total, 408,000 Gold Coins, with the discount, we can lower it to 380,000 Gold Coins."
A summary of Arden, Samiel's opinion on the price was that it was fairly good; a discount of 28,000 gold coins was a decent deal. Even so, he knew that, if he were in the Middle World or the High World, for example, the same armor could be purchased for 250 gold coins, or perhaps even less, depending on the world itself.
The buying power of gold coins was way lower in the Tower; therefore, he was technically overpaying for the gold coins due to their lower purchasing power. Though in the end, there was nothing he could do about it unless he preferred to pay with Mana Crystals.
"Good. When will it be ready?"
Samiel then asked as he sensed Nefertari wake up from the nap time she had on his shoulder.
'Hooman, I am thirsty.'
Nefertari sounded really cute when she asked for a portion of food or something to drink.
"Branch Manager Arden, can I ask you if you could get a drink for my familiar to drink? My familiar just woke up and now she is getting grumpy because she is thirsty."
Samiel said immediately; while he scratched her behind her ear, just the way she liked, then the Branch Manager Arden said something to a servant that was present to bring Nefertari some milk from Silver-Tier or Gold-Tier Magical Beast.
If the VIP required something extra, the dwarf servant who was there for these kinds of situations immediately hurried to get a flask of milk that the Branch Manager ordered him to get, together with the bowl for the Nefertari to drink some milk.
After three minutes, exactly the three minutes servant came back as he put down the bowl and poured the milk from a Silver-Tier Magical Beast into it; Nefertari flapped her wings, flew onto the table, and started drinking the milk.
"Now, back to the topic, your order would be prepared within three days; we don't have the concrete design you wish for."
As Samiel nodded in agreement as he agreed that the agreement was satisfactory, he just nodded in agreement. Samiel continued his conversation with the Branch Manager about possible future endeavors after Nefertari finished drinking all the milk, or during that time, because he had plans to equip entire armies with armor and weapons from Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, so having a good relationship with the corporation was a huge advantage.
"I will return after the three days to get my things."
In response, Samiel took out a small bank card from his wallet. The card was pitch black in color, and on it were simple words inscribed in the form of Vaultbank, together with his name, Samiel Zentaur.
The Vaultbank was the only bank in the entire Cosmos that had branches in every part of it and was backed up practically by all the Transcendental Factions and 13 Gates; however, there were other banks as well; while many of them existed, the Vaultbank was the only one with branches everywhere. It was the only bank with such strong backing.
All those people who mattered in the Cosmos used the Vaultbank as their means of payment because it was the most secure bank in the Cosmos and offered great benefits to their clients. As the Holy Son of Kadath, Samiel was immediately provided with a Black-Grade VIP Account in the Vaultbank in recognition of his position as the Holy Son of Kadath.
In the end, Samiel paid for the goods with his credit card, took Nefertari into his arms, and then exited the store while he was petting her, followed by his loyal bodyguard Frost Death Knight Ashimer, who had been accompanying him.