Darius left the bookstore and entered a blacksmith's shop. The small shop had a lot of weapons hung around the place, from battle-axes to poleaxes, naginatas, halberds, swords, swordbreakers, bows, recurve bows, and even daggers as well as stilettos.
Darius inspected them one by one and found that none of them were better than his current steel spear. Since that was the case, Darius lost most of his interest in the items here and only purchased a pair of lightweight battle boots as well as heavy metal gauntlets.
It only cost him 12 Bronze Ando coins, and he placed them in his inventory as well. He planned to make them into something better for Gunner since the fellow seemed to prefer unarmed combat.
After the blacksmith, Darius entered an Alchemists shop. It was a simple store with cabinets that were lined with potions of different colors and uses. Darius, upon inspection, found that the uses were truly varied!
Some could increase Strength, some Stamina, some could work as love potions, while other increased other stats. The most expensive of them were the ones that could give artificial Sparks.
Some could awaken a spatial talent like space blades while some could even the user control over electricity. One should note that this was not the same as magic, but just elemental based fighting abilities.
Some also created unique mutations like allowing the user to use their bones to fight, or giving the user the ability to create blades from the iron in their blood, etc.
Darius rubbed his chin and found these things interesting. He decided to purchase almost everything he found useful here, which cost him about a gold coin.
The owner of the shop even escorted Darius to the door and waved him goodbye with the happiest smile on his face. Darius chuckled at this but didn't stop his shopping spree.
He went to different shops in the town and bought out anything he found useful, storing what he could in his inventory. He spent the equivalent of 43 gold coins by the time the sunset, which had already formed a buzz in the town.
Once he returned to The Great Escape inn, he saw Shanks and Derek waiting for them. Walking up to the duo, he saw Shanks giving him a strange look.
"Lord Darius, you have only been in Listo for one day and have already become famous. Everyone is talking about the rich noble scion who went on a spending spree." Shanks commented with a raised eyebrow.
Darius simply chuckled. "I need all these things for research. I need to understand the standard of goods in Andrato compared to Westerlier, in case I don't overdo it when I begin production."
Shanks and Derek felt like a lightbulb lit above their heads. If that was the case, then it made some sense.
After all, Westerlier was a more developed civilization with higher quality... everything, so if Darius were to stick to his old ideas, he might create things that were beyond the level of Andrato.
Reaching this conclusion, Shanks chuckled and asked. "So what do you plan to do from here, Lord Darius?"
Darius turned to face the inn and replied slowly. "I plan to rent a suite in this inn for about a month while the noble's residence and the various other properties I have been allocated are built upon."
Darius smiled lightly. "Until they are done, I will spend time exploring the dungeon of this town as well as the various guilds in order to hone my servant's fighting skill. In my downtime, I shall be creating a stockpile of items for my shop to sell!"
Shanks clapped his hands with a look of respect on his face. "An excellent plan. Derek and I plan to spend the night and return to the homestead tomorrow, so I'll make sure to get your official documents, titles and deeds ready so you can handle the rest."
Darius thanked Shanks for his kindness and entered the inn with the older man and his son as well as his Branded Servant. They went to the front reception for the inn and found that it was a large lounge where many well-dressed people chatted and dined.
It was quite loud and crowded, but the place smelled really good thanks to the assortment of food, perfumes, and air fresheners.
Darius wasn't sure if it was the fact that this establishment was high-end was why it was so clean, or that all establishments were like this and modern depictions of the medieval era on earth were a bit skewed.
Maybe a bit of both?
In fact, Darius had expected the place to be smelly, full of rough men and skimpily dressed barmaids who were continuously sexually harassed.
The whole reason why he hadn't rented a room earlier and rather went to roam around was because he feared that someone might start a proverbial bar fight.
If something like that happened, Gunner would likely end up killing them all brutally before he could even stop him. Darius didn't want his first day to end with trouble, so he was glad the stereotypes were wrong in this case.
After meeting with the barkeep, Darius and Gunner paid out 35 silver for a 1-month stay in a top-level suite. It came with breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as many other perks like evening entertainment from select waitress - or waiters if that was your fancy - with a little extra cost.
Darius found himself interested in this and realized he had forgotten to look around for a brothel when he was exploring earlier in the day. After all, just because he had rejected Portia didn't mean he rejected sexual intercourse.
After suffering from andropause for over 10 years in the latter parts of his past life and then been thrust into a fertile pubescent body, Darius had possessed some difficulties controlling himself at the homestead.
If not for his maturity and his values, he might have given in. Especially if he had been a younger man when he died. Now that he had the option to, Darius made it a priority to satisfy his urges so he could have a clear and healthy mind.
