Once he paid the 150 gold coins fee, the upgrade system was activated. A notification was heard inside the restaurant that renovation would start in five minutes and would take two days to complete.
'Two days? So, higher upgrade requires a longer time to complete,' Jack pondered.
Once the five minutes was up, the entire restaurant was covered by the same opaque cloth that appeared the last time he upgraded Amy's Bakery. Now, all he needed to do was wait. He gave some gold coins to Ellie for her to hire extra workers or for any other things that might be needed once the restaurant was done renovating, just in case if he was not available.
He then took a rest in Amy's Bakery. The girl bombarded her with questions once he showed up. He had been absent for three weeks after all. Entertaining the girl, he told her about his adventure during the expedition. He omitted the part about the scary encounter with the God of Fear though, lest she would just worry about him.
He told the girl and her mother, much to their joy, that he would upgrade the bakery tomorrow morning. He didn't do it immediately tonight as he wanted to spend a good night's rest in his room first.
He also took the profit that had been saved up in the bakery since he went on the expedition. The total amount was 41 gold coins.
The next morning, he was admiring the two buildings side by side being covered by opaque cloth. His wallet had taken a deep dip, but he didn't mind. He believed the eventual return was worth these investments.
Before he went out to do his survey around the bandit outpost again, he took the time going to the noble district. He visited the Magic Association shop and saw that the inflation had also affected this store. The Disruptive Bomb was now 3 gold coins each. He still had a number of the bombs in his storage so he did not buy any extra. He might need the coins for something else later. But he bought one Reset Potion which now cost 5 gold coins.
He went to commander Quintus' tower afterward. An officer was manning the commander's desk. He reported his two kingdom faction's quests, Expedition to Temple of Divine Squall and Escorting Prince Alonzo. When he gave his Themisphere nobility faction badge for the officer to check, the officer frowned at him and asked, "where are the prince and the duke?"
Uh-oh. "They are safe and are on their way back as we speak," Jack answered. He could roughly predict what's going to happen next.
After the officer checked the quest report within the badge, Jack received some coins and experiences for them, as for the merit points, he received a standard reward of 150 merit points for the Expedition quest and 100 merit points for the Escorting quest. As for the variables.
Obtain the All-curse Expulsion Potion: 500 merit points
Assist in repelling invading force during the expedition: 200 merit points
Complete the objective of the expedition in less than one month: 300 merit points
Leaving the expedition before its return to the capital: deduct 100 merit points
Save the prince during precarious situation: 600 merit points
Keep the prince safe during the latter half of the war with invading force: 100 points
Using the prince as bait during the war with invading force: deduct 100 points
Not by the prince's side most of the time: deduct 100 merit points
Leaving the prince before his return to the capital: deduct 300 merit points
A multitude of curse words was flashing in Jack's mind. But after a deep breath and a calm consideration, he did acknowledge that he was not the ideal bodyguard model. He should act like Bailey at least to be an acceptable standard of a bodyguard. So, it was correct to say that he did not perform well for the Escorting Prince Alonzo quest. His only solace was that he had managed to save the prince from certain death. Otherwise, this quest would have been totally minus points for him.
The officer returned his badge, Jack checked and saw that his total merit points were 1870 points. He was 130 points left from becoming Viscount. Just a little bit more, he lamented. He had no time for doing a faction quest now, he still had many things he needed to take care of. But out of curiosity, he asked the officer if there were any nobility faction quests available.
The officer informed him there were three.
'Typical f*ckery,' Jack cursed in his mind. When he was looking for one, there was none. Now that he had no time to do the quest, there were even three of them available. The officer showed him the quests. He just browsed through them absent-mindedly as he did not intend to take the quest. They would just tantalize him.
But as he pulled his gaze away, he suddenly turned it back again. One of the quests captured his attention.
Deliver a parcel to Knight-Captain Matias
'Isn't that the captain of…' Jack grinned. Perhaps he could become a Viscount while not disrupting his current task after all. He proceeded to request for that quest. He was given a medium-sized package. When he tried to put it into his inventory, he was unable to. Perhaps this was like one of those trade items that Dylan mentioned could not be inserted into their storage bag.
He took a rope and tied the parcel to his back. He then went out and hailed a carriage to take him to the city gate, before summoning his steed and went off into the wilderness.
He went to the area near the bandit outpost like yesterday and roamed around like yesterday, killing some monsters in the process. During his roaming, he found the Knight Captain Matias who were leading patrolling troops safeguarding the region around the capital. Such patrolling troops were the reason that not many high-level monsters were present in the vicinity of the city.
After delivering the parcel, Jack continued his roaming until late afternoon before returning to the capital after sunset. He went back to Commander Quintus' tower at once to report the quest. He received 50 merit points as a standard reward, with a small sum of coins and experience. For completing the quest within the same day as when he received the quest, he was awarded additional 100 merit points. There was no minus point this time, luckily.
The total points he received were 150 merit points. A small sum, but considering it was a simple delivery quest, such a number made sense. Of course, it was only simple because he had actually seen that knight captain when he was roaming the area a day before. For anyone else, they might need to waste several days to find out about the captain's location. Not to mention due to the parcel could not be stored inside the storage bag, there would be a risk of it getting damaged. The longer one holding onto it, the bigger such risk happening. Jack surmised that minus points would be awarded if the parcel was damaged or if he took too many days to deliver the parcel.
Despite the small amount, the merit points awarded were just enough to elevate him into Viscount rank. He didn't get any perk for becoming a Viscount. However, he was now allowed to exchange his merit points. Perhaps this could be considered a perk as well.
He asked for the exchange list. The officer showed the list but informed him that this was the list available to Viscount rank. As his rank increased, there would be more items added to the list. Jack thanked him as he started to review the exchange list.
Standard Training Ground = 20 merit / 2 hours
Use bronze mining cave = 20 merit / 3 hours
Use training cave (level 1-20) = 30 merit / 5 hours
Use training cave (level 20-30) = 50 merit / 5 hours
It was a short list. So this was what they meant by the merit points were not to be exchanged for items. They were to be exchanged for the right to use kingdom-owned facilities. He had experienced the training ground. His points were better used in Commander Quintus' training ground in this regard.
During his kingdom faction's initiation quest, he had gone into a mining quest with the cadets. Bailey had told him that he needed permission if he wanted to mine inside those caves. He guessed that permission was by using his merit points.
As for the training caves, he had also gone to one with Lindsey when he was staying at commander Quintus' residences. So he more or less was already familiar with the facilities provided in this exchange list.
"When you said you have a good place for me to gain exp, did you mean this level 20-30 training cave?" Jack asked Peniel who was floating by his side.
"Nope," Peniel replied. "I suggest you don't use your merit points yet. You will need them later."
"Oh? I can use them for other things? Or do you mean when I become the next rank, Earl?"
"Later," Peniel simply replied.
Jack didn't push further. He gave his gratitude and left. He headed for his next destination. Time to ask Gruff for some compensation.
