Chapter 10: The Musician’s a.s.sociation
Recalling all kinds of ways to make money in countless traveling novel, Lucien sadly realized that his understanding of the world was not enough for him to test any of those ways. Also no matter what he was gonna do, the first bucket of gold was needed——and he only had seven Copper Fier currently.
Thus, when the nine a.m. sun shined at the Market area, Lucien already started to carry the cargos on his back and moved toward the city gate. Survival is the first priority of all time.
Sweats dropped from his face, into his collar and soaked the linen clothes. The sun, which was not so hot yet, shimmered at Lucien, doubling his pain of carrying the heavy boxes. At the same time, Lucien needed to endure the endless talking from Fatty Gutch, the person standing by.
“Dammit, who finds a kid to do the work? Hey, you, walk carefully, don’t drop my stuff!”
Looking at Gutch, who sweated because of his questioning non-stop, Lucien silently answered him. You are the one who is too stingy to hire another person.
Well, because of that, Lucien was paid with four Copper Fiers instead of three.
Finally reached the City gate, Lucien placed the cargo on the carriage.
Gutch reluctantly took out four Copper Fiers from his pocket and pa.s.sed it to Lucien, “You’re paid, boy. You are stronger than I thought, I will find you if there are other works for you to do.”
Lucien was in fact not as strong as his peers, but he’s cheaper and did the jobs of two all by himself. That’s why the stingy Gutch praised him, and completely forgot how he was p.i.s.sed about that.
Not long after he got the payment, Lucien saw two fierce-looking men in linen clothes walking towards him.
“I’m Andre, under Boss Aaron.” The man in brown hair said, there’s a blunt scar on his face.
Lucien already knew what they’re coming for. Not planning to be special, he took out a Copper Fier and gave it to Andre.
Another tall, big man glared at him, “Two Copper Fiers!”
“I thought it’s one?” Lucien was penniless and Fiers-less now, therefore he tried to argue even though he knew that he cannot act against the gang members.
“If you were not showing-off your muscle, which you don’t have any, Gutch would be hiring two people and we’ll get one from each of them. Now, are you saying that we should take the loss?” Andre smiled like an ordinary businessman.
One Copper Fier was not hurting Lucien’s bottom line, it only took him one second to hesitate between one Copper Fier and getting beaten badly by the gang. He took out another Copper Fier and gave it to the big man who walked back and forth, boasting his muscle.
“Nice job, boy, you do know the rule. In the past there’s often those bold kids challenging us, however, you saw that we’re still there, but they are now at the bottom of River Beleń. Anyways, Magg, there’s someone coming over there.” Andre threatened for a while like he usually did, and walked away with Magg.
Staring at their back, Lucien felt slight anger and grievance. Even he had predicted the gang’s exploitation, he still couldn’t control his mind when actually facing it.
Lucien knew that if he wanted to escape such circ.u.mstance, he needed either more personal strength or higher social status.
Well, in that world, the two were often a.s.sociated with each other.
“Is there potions that can increase physical strength in the sorcery notes?” Lucien couldn’t control himself to think about magic even he knew it’s dangerous.
………………
The musician’s a.s.sociation, next to the Administrative District and the Hall of Chant, was famous for its unique architecture in Alto. Therefore it’s fairly easy for Lucien, who rent a wheeled carriage with him, to found that building call “Sparkling Flame”
The five-floored building employed a ma.s.sive amount of vertical lines, sharp steeples, colorful glazes and flame-shaped window lattices, which gave out an exaggerated, asymmetrical aesthetic beauty, complex and relaxed.
Caught the sight of Lucien, a thin man with long goatee hurried down the stairs, “Why are you so late? Look at the Bell of the Golden Cathedral, it’s almost one!”
Cohen had already taken Lucien to see that man when he takes the work, whose name was George, he had some relationships inside the a.s.sociation.
“George, there’s still ten more minutes.” Lucien pointed at the tall, majestic Golden cathedral that seems able to control the entire city, there was still a distance between the minute hand and the top.
George complained, “The servants finished early, come in and they’ll hand over you the stuff. The musician won’t be happy to see that ‘mountain of garbage’.”
Lucien was pretty curious about Joel’s dream, the musicians. Didn’t argue much with George, he left the carriage outside and walked into the building.
Once he opened the door decorated with colored gla.s.ses, Lucien saw the grandiose, bright and magnificent hall.
There are soft, thick carpets on the floor, preventing the sound of footsteps, plus there were not many people walking, the hall sounded really quiet.
Following George, Lucien walked to a tall wooden desk in the middle of the hall.
Behind the table, there sat a beautiful girl with brown hair and green eyes. She had a nice-looking smile and refreshing sound, “Uncle George, so this is your man?”
While she’s talking, she pa.s.sed a full bag of coins to Gorge, Lucien looked at it and predicted that there were at least forty Copper Fiers in it. He complained in his mind. I can only get eight Copper Fier!
George took the money and smiled, Lucien could even see his yellowish teeth with that smile, “Elena, you can lead Lucian to the backyard. He’s young and thin but still pretty strong.”
He then talked to Lucian, “I’ll give your money to Andre at the City gate, go take those after you are finished.”
Lucien nodded, he was not worried about George pocketing the money. Although Aaron’s gang was greedy at charging money, they had a good aspect in this aspect. According to Cohen, there was someone trying refusing to pay the hired workers, but they were forced to pay in double prices at the end.
Before Elena got a chance to call the servants to take Lucien to the backyard, she saw a middle-aged man in red, loose coat walking in. She immediately stood up and slightly bowed, “Good afternoon, Mr. Victor.”
The man’s dressing was simple but not lacking elegance. He had a mustache and short, black, curly hair, his eyes, of a pale bluish green color like the sea, gave an emotion of blues. “Good afternoon, Elena, would you please give me a copy of The Music Review?”
Lucien was surprised when he saw Elena taking a brand new piece of newspapers from under the desk. Alto has already developed newspapers? Especially of special types?
Considering the conditions in Adrien District, Lucien thought, The distribution of wealth is severely polarized in that world, but I guess there’s still not many literates, what’s the price of that newspaper for it to recover its costs?
Mr. Victor held The Music Review, brief flipped through the newspaper and gave Elena ten Copper Fiers. He then turned to Lucien and George, nodded politely, grabbed the newspaper, and walked up the stairs next to the hall.
That Mr. Victor’s demeanor is pretty polite. Lucien gave a positive comment in his mind.
After Victor walked upstairs, Lucien asks curiously, “The Music Review is only ten Copper Fiers?”
Knowing that Lucien, like she was before, was unable to get in touch with the upper-cla.s.s society, Elena couldn’t stop herself from flaunting her knowledge from the a.s.sociation, “Year 426 of the Gregorian Calendar, Cardinal Adélaïde invented a far simpler and better papermaking techniques, and significantly lower the price of papers. Although now a pile of paper only costs several Copper Fiers, only the member of the Musician’s a.s.sociation can buy The Music Review with only ten Copper Fiers. Otherwise, even if you are one of the aristocrats, the prices is always one Silver Niar.”
“Not only The Music Review but also The Symphony Herald, are the two most authoritative newspapers in the Continental music area. They represent the direction of future music development, every single music notation and article on them are the gems of intellect and wisdom. This month’s The Music Review even includes the critical commentaries from Sire Archduke and Princess Natasha, on the philharmonic orchestra in the Hall of Chant last week.”
Well, Elena had to admit that other than a young lady’s vanity, Lucien’s black eyes, black hairs, and other fine-looking features, also contributed to her enthusiasm in introducing the Musician’s a.s.sociation to him.
“One Silver Niar?” Lucien suddenly desired to rob those newspapers. With only five of them, everything he was struggling with can be dealt with easily. But he then realized that even he did that, he won’t be finding many customers.
Lucien’s “cooperation” satisfied Elena’s pet.i.te vanity, and she looked pretty pleased now, “Haha, don’t complain about that. Do you know that in cities like Tirolo, Antéfleur, Ifèl, Tireses and Anhatur, those two newspapers are the most popular goods, sometimes as expensive as a Gold Tolar? Aristocrats from those countries value the music trends in Alto so much that they’re willing to buy the newspapers from months before.”
Lucien looked at the remaining newspapers again and tried to prevent himself from stealing it. He also gained some extra information from Elena’s words: “There is a consistent currency con this continent. Based on the price disparities among each city, there probably isn’t things like Teleportation Circles. Even if there is, it must be excessively expensive. Only that can explain why all those aristocrats aren’t getting access to the newspapers despite their demands.”
Lucien was absorbing information and common knowledge, which he lacked the most, from his conversation with Elena, until about ten minutes later. Elena soon sent someone to lead Lucian to the backyard.
“Lucien, make sure you are keeping quiet, don’t speak loudly, and don’t make too much noise when you are moving the trash. Three months later, Mr. Victor is going to have a concert in the Hall of Chant for the first time in his life, he is pretty stressed for now and um, pretty sensitive.” Elena kindly reminded Lucien.
Lucien nodded back gratefully and walked toward the backyard.
So, as we can see, the author had made up a lot of western names of cities that I can’t even find in western language, I tried my best to make up some words that have the closest p.r.o.nunciation in western language, pls try getting used to it since there’s gonna be much later.
And by the way, since in Chapter 10 we already know the three major currencies in the novel, I ‘ll explain them: 100 Copper Fier=1 Silver Niar; 100 Silver Niar=1 Gold Tolar. The “Fier” and “Niar” is made up by the author. For “Tolar”, it references to a European currency “Thaler”, that had been used for about 400 years. “Tolar” is the Czech way to say “Thaler”. The author did that because later we’ll see the symbol of Duchy Varolit is a lion, and Czechs were the first one to put a lion on their Thaler. So, pretty cool.