Chapter 88: Commander Barton Becomes Famous!

Following the sound, Andy looked over and nearly saw a replica of himself: a stall displaying the same elegantly packaged manuals, a recording box placed at the front just like his own—though with a slightly different design. Yet, the voice drifting out was identical, filled with the same cadence and anguish as that of Sir Alan the Knight.

Amid the echoing shouts of “Give me back my hard-earned money!”, Andy approached the stall. The vendor, appearing to be in his thirties and exuding the shrewdness typical of a merchant, immediately began to extol his manuals with persuasive eloquence the moment Andy drew near.

Others gathered around as well. Taking advantage of their distraction while they examined the manuals, Andy glanced over the contents. As expected, they matched exactly those he had sold just days before. Moreover, he clearly saw the “anti-copying rune” he had inscribed atop the manuals.

It became clear to Andy that his manuals had been pirated and were now being sold at a lower price. He checked other markets in the capital, and in three out of the five remaining marketplaces, the cry of “Give me back my hard-earned money!” could be heard—each selling manuals for eighty magic stones.

Carefully observing, Andy discovered the vendors’ sales pitches were curiously uniform—it was obvious they were all part of the same group. This reminded him of the wealthy man who had bought out all his manuals. Yet, Andy couldn’t figure out how they had obtained his recordings.

The manuals he had produced this time all bore anti-copying runes. Choosing a market where pirated copies had not yet appeared, Andy set up his stall. Nevertheless, sales were sluggish; only by dusk did he manage to sell out his stock.

Andy knew the impact would only grow. If he didn’t slash his prices, he would be squeezed out of the market by the cheap bootlegs; if he joined the price war, the market for lower-end manuals would only deteriorate further.

He had never intended to do this for long anyway. His goal was to make a quick profit and leave; he had no intention of battling merchants over market share. So he decided to take a different route: instead of selling basic manuals, he would now offer supplementary books.

These auxiliary books included “Training Insights from Renowned Knights,” “Detailed Drills for Certain Combat Techniques,” and “Key Considerations for Knights in Battles Against Sorcerers.” If the manuals were textbooks, these were the workbooks and study guides.

Upon consulting the magic mirror, Andy found these supplementary books cost even less to register than the manuals. Still, he kept the price at one hundred magic stones apiece for tomorrow’s sale.

With the influx of cheap manuals, the market was now lacking in supporting materials. After Andy switched to selling supplementary books, his business improved once more. Of course, each was inscribed with the anti-copying rune he had purchased, rumored to be one of the classic runes: simple to use, difficult to break.

Business thriving again lifted Andy’s spirits. Let the pirates sell all they want—if anything, their success only increased the demand for his supplementary books, making his own trade easier. It was a pity to lose the low-end manual market, but there was nothing more he could do. At worst, if he ever saw that wealthy fat man again, he’d have Catherine teach him a lesson.

Having quickly sold out his stock, Andy wandered through the various marketplaces. He noticed that the number of manual vendors had increased by three compared to the day before. He also discovered a stall not affiliated with the original group of pirates—it had no recording box, only the vendor shouting his own sales pitch.

By the next day, that vendor, too, had a recording box. Andy found that not only manual sellers but other merchants were now using recording boxes as well. The melodious, impassioned voice of Sir Alan drifted from these devices, albeit with slightly altered content.

Andy was deeply curious where all these recording boxes were coming from, especially since he was certain the source audio was his own.

Thinking back on previous days, Andy recalled a tall, thin man who had often loitered near his stall, always covering something with his sleeve—now Andy realized he had been making illicit recordings.

He inquired with a vendor selling rune-engraved armor about the origin of the recording boxes, but the merchant was evasive. After Andy claimed he simply wanted a box to play music and bought a half-plate soft armor from the stall, the vendor, now more trusting, confided that the devices were crafted by Jack, an alchemist at Grimm Academy.

Jack had recently found himself in high demand. Though only an ordinary student at the academy’s outer court, he had some talent for alchemy and worked hard, making him reasonably skilled—though nothing special by the academy’s standards.

Jack’s passion, however, was music. He adored recording boxes and would frequent all the theaters in the capital, capturing performances of the masters, then returning to his dorm to edit out background noise and fine-tune the recordings. This way, he could listen to his favorite pieces whenever he wished.

Sometimes, that wasn’t enough; he would proudly share his recordings with friends. Over time, his reputation for recording (and improving) music outpaced his reputation as an alchemist. His skill in making and editing recording boxes grew ever more sophisticated.

A few days ago, he received a commission to edit a recording, changing the price in the audio from one hundred magic stones to eighty. This was child’s play for Jack, and had the client not ordered several recording boxes, Jack wouldn’t have bothered.

To his surprise, more clients came the next day, specifying the audio they wanted stored—the same one he’d edited the day before. Since he still had the source, fulfilling their requests was easy.

On the third day, even more people sought his services, some with new requirements: not just the price, but the forms of payment—armor, weapons, bags—had to be changed as well.

Before long, Jack was thrilled to discover he’d become a sensation. Every day, merchants from the capital’s markets sought him out for recording boxes and audio editing. Even doubling his prices didn’t deter them.

Just as famous now was “Barton, Leader of the Jiangnan Adventurers,” whose name echoed throughout the city’s trading markets. Everywhere, cries could be heard denouncing Barton for withholding wages and demanding their hard-earned money.

Sir Alan had originally planned to shop for extraordinary items in the capital’s markets a few days earlier, but old friends, having heard of his return and impending ennoblement, had kept him busy. At last, he found time and, incognito, entered one of the capital’s trading markets.

The moment he stepped inside, Sir Alan was utterly bewildered. What on earth was going on here?