Chapter 21: The Mercenary Club

Chapter 21: The Mercenary Club

The reception desk had three staff members, one of whom guided Hobert around the club without affecting the front desk's operations.

The staff member attending to Hobert was a young woman in her twenties, dressed smartly and looking very talkative.

She introduced herself, "You can call me Anas. Mr. Hobert, would you like to practice with a pistol or a rifle?"

Hobert replied, "Hello, Anas. I would like to practice with a revolver."

"Alright, sir. The pistol range is in the backyard," Anas explained. "You can first go to the weapon display room to choose a gun and collect ammunition.

"Each member has a monthly quota of 500 free rounds. If you have a 'gun license,' you can take these bullets outside, but without a 'gun license,' they can only be used at the range.

"Additionally, the club provides practice firearms for members, which can only be used at the range. If you want to buy a gun, you also need a 'gun license.' The firearms here are more comprehensive and cheaper than any weapon store."

As she spoke, Anas led Hobert to the weapon display room, which was filled with various pistols, shotguns, rifles, and even high-pressure steam rifles.

Anas introduced, "You can choose any type of gun here except for the high-pressure steam rifles and the new submachine guns."

Under Anas's guidance, Hobert saw the submachine guns. He had never seen this model before; it had a bulky body and a round magazine. The only familiar feature was the magazine inserted on top of the gun.

Hobert asked, "Can I also buy a machine gun?"

Carrying this thing out, in a head-on confrontation, no one below Sequence 7 would be a match!

"Sorry, sir, you are not eligible to purchase it," Anas explained with a smile. "Only mercenary teams that have been members of the club for more than three years or retired officers can buy it.

"After purchase, it is not allowed to be carried or used in the city, and every three months, the gun must be sent to the club for maintenance, and the usage of the gun in the past three months must be reported.

"Even if it is scrapped or severely damaged, the main parts must be brought back."

Hobert understood, "To prevent leaks!"

"Yes," Anas smiled. "The high-pressure steam rifles and submachine guns produced by the Ruen Kingdom are the most advanced firearms in the world, and even the military has not yet completed large-scale equipment."

Hobert marveled at the strong backing of this club!

He obediently went to choose a revolver. There were several types of revolvers, one with a very long barrel that looked very powerful, but it was too heavy and inconvenient to carry. The smaller ones didn't seem very intimidating. In the end, Hobert chose a revolver with a barrel as long as an adult's palm, which had an industrial aesthetic.

After choosing the gun, Hobert collected fifty rounds of ammunition and left the weapon display room.

Anas then introduced the locations of the restaurant and the washroom and informed him of the lunch time before taking Hobert to the shooting range.

On the way, Hobert asked, "I heard there are gatherings or information exchange sessions here?"

"Yes," Anas said. "There is an information wall in the second room on the left on the third floor, where you can write and post information for free. You just need to have the club's badge to enter.

"Valuable information can be written as a brief description or a few keywords, and you can leave your contact information with the staff. If there is a buyer, we will immediately contact the seller.

"Additionally, gatherings are held once a week in the first room on the left on the third floor, starting at 2:30 PM on Sunday afternoons. You just need to have the club's badge to participate."

Hobert nodded, thinking he could check it out today.

After leaving the building, the shooting range was right in front of him.

It looked like the backyard was originally a garden, with many ornamental trees and flowers around the range, but without dedicated care, the plants looked a bit wilted.

Hobert casually asked, "This club's grounds seem to have been a residence before?"

"Yes," Anas, leading the way, said. "This used to be one of Viscount Pound's properties."

Hobert was taken aback. Was it the "Pound" of Laft Pound?

He asked casually, "Pound? Why don't I have any impression of this viscount?"

Anas replied casually, "It's said that this lord became addicted to gambling and debauchery. More than ten years ago, Viscount Pound was demoted to a baron."

Hobert asked again, "How many members are left in the Pound family now?"

"I heard there's only one person left in the whole family," Anas shook her head. "I'm not very sure."

Hobert responded with an "oh" and didn't ask further.

When they arrived at the individual shooting range, Anas left, and Hobert didn't start practicing immediately. Instead, he thought about the Pound family.

From Hobert's observations over the past week, Laft's usual behavior was very much like a fallen noble. It was almost certain that Laft Pound was a member of the Pound family.

But the question was, why could Laft be seen in the stars before the "Iron Throne"?

If Elliott Balk's star was not there because of a curse but because he was a member of the "Lawyer" pathway extraordinary family, then could the Pound family also be an extraordinary family of the "Lawyer" pathway?

Thinking of this, Hobert shook his head. There was too little information now, and it was not good to investigate rashly. He could only observe for a while. He could ask "Miss Justice," who was also a noble, to help investigate the fallen nobles of Backlund. After obtaining enough information, he could use the status of the "Nation of Disorder" to bluff Laft and perhaps get more information.

Having made up his mind, Hobert decided to put this matter aside for now. Although having his own "believer" in Backlund would be convenient, he couldn't take risks.

Hobert began to focus on practicing shooting. After firing a few shots, he summarized while ejecting the shells and loading bullets: even with a revolver, the recoil was strong. Of course, it could also be because the gun he chose was more powerful than the average handgun.

He then tried shooting while activating his spiritual vision, as he would need to fight with his spiritual vision on in future confrontations.

After firing six rounds, Hobert found that his accuracy improved significantly with his spiritual vision activated.

This should be the effect of extraordinary traits, not only providing a way to discover the opponent's weaknesses but also enhancing the accuracy of attacking those weaknesses.

The only regret was that his body was not yet well adapted to using a handgun, so his accuracy was only slightly improved, far from "hitting the target every time."

After firing more than twenty rounds, Hobert's arm was a bit numb from the recoil. He rested for more than ten minutes before finishing the remaining bullets.

Next, Hobert planned to check out the information wall.

"P.S.: If you find any mistakes or incorrect names, please let me know."

(End of this chapter)