Hastur casually made up an excuse, hiding his Barbarian physique.
In the end, to avoid drawing attention, he only trained for an hour before moving on to firearms practice.
----------------------------------------
If he could score 90 points in combat class, then in firearms class, he couldn't even get the passing score of 60.
After half an hour of theory lessons, he tried shooting at the target.
Unfortunately, out of ten shots, five missed completely, not to mention how many rings he actually hit.
Clearly, he was aiming very seriously, but his results were not optimistic.
"Relax a little, be casual, don't focus too much. The more you focus, the more likely your hand will shake slightly at the moment you pull the trigger."
Instructor Heyman looked with some pity at the empty shells on the ground. If this were on the battlefield, he would wish to break one bullet into ten just to fire.
"Be casual, isn't that just leaving it to fate?"
Hastur muttered inwardly, casually aimed, and pulled the trigger.
The bullet shot out in a straight line, not a miss, but an eight-ring hit.
"..." Hastur fell silent.
"This is how it should be. Your arm posture is very steady. What you lack is just the right mindset."
Instructor Heyman was very satisfied with this result and signaled Hastur to continue practicing.
This time, Hastur once again aimed casually, "roughly good enough," then pulled the trigger, hitting the target again, this time seven rings.
"..." Instructor Heyman grew more satisfied, while Hastur grew more silent.
After repeated trials, he came to a conclusion: his gun sense was very good, and he didn't need to aim carefully.
In fact, he was simply very suited for "fate-shooting." As long as he didn't deliberately aim, his results weren't too bad.
Once he aimed seriously, the chance of missing was high.
On this, Instructor Heyman's advice was: relax, don't be nervous, be casual, and practice more.
By noon, Hastur stayed at the club to eat lunch.
The dishes were plentiful and tasted pretty good. Not as good as his family's chef, but at least above the passing line.
The key point was, lunch was free.
After lunch, with one hour's rest, Hastur practiced another hour of combat and another hour of firearms before leaving the club and taking a carriage to the law office.
Lecturer Fron's efficiency was very high, the law office had just recruited three new assistants, two men and one woman, all looking very young.
Upon asking, he learned that the three assistants were all students from Backlund University.
Fortunately, Lecturer Fron paid them decent weekly wages. Otherwise, Hastur would have felt it looked exactly like a mentor forcing students to work overtime for free.
In the time that followed, Hastur shadowed Lecturer Fron, learning how to be a lawyer capable of independently handling various matters.
For example, when a case was entrusted to the firm, what steps had to be taken first, then next… rather than just going directly to court.
Court trials were the result, the important part was the effort in between.
Understanding the ins and outs of the case, down to details like what time and what minute meals were eaten, finding effective legal grounds to stand firm in court, and sometimes even digging up obscure laws to find key points that could win unexpectedly.
Troublesome, yes, but very good training.
Just half an afternoon, and Hastur gained a lot.
Near dinnertime, Hastur personally paid for a lavish dinner for all the law office members.
No alcohol, seven people in total, costing 13 gold pounds, less than 2 pounds per person.
...
After three days of waiting, Audrey finally sent a visiting card.
At a little past three in the afternoon, the Hall family's carriage slowly arrived at Hastur's doorstep.
From the distance between their two houses, the carriage ride was only about twenty minutes, not far.
Audrey stepped down from the carriage. Susie hadn't come along today. At her side was her personal maid, sticking close with a stern expression, her small eyes full of vigilance.Was she afraid he would abduct Audrey?
Hastur read her gaze, it was exactly like a father guarding his daughter from a suitor.
And indeed, recently, his interactions with Audrey had been quite frequent.
Audrey as the pearl of Backlund was pure and kind. It was normal for others to fear he might "steal her away."
After all, he was young, handsome, unmarried, with a good reputation, and well-acquainted with Glaint and Hibbert.
Thinking carefully, in the eyes of outsiders, he and Audrey really did seem a good match.
Recalling Hibbert's attitude earlier, perhaps he even had the intention of letting them grow closer.
'What am I thinking, there's a Spectator standing right here!'
Hastur quickly pushed away those messy thoughts and led Audrey upstairs to the study.
This time, the personal maid didn't wait outside the door, but stood behind Audrey, occasionally glancing at Hastur.
They chatted briefly, then shifted the topic to Roselle's diary.
To show his sincerity, Hastur pulled out the top three sheets from the pile in the drawer, one of which he had deliberately forged.
"This is the knowledge left by Emperor Roselle. It has survived the passage of time. Just touching it feels like sensing the pulse of that era."
Audrey tried to use praise to express her fondness for Roselle.
While staring intently at the three diary pages, she silently memorized everything written on them.
Hastur did not interrupt, letting her take advantage.
He believed that with Miss Audrey's generosity, she wouldn't freeload forever.
Once she had memorized all three pages, Audrey raised her head and said apologetically: "I got a bit too absorbed for a while."
"Many people say the originals left by Emperor Roselle have a magical charm, making people unable to stop studying them." Hastur offered her a way out.
Audrey smiled: "Yes, I feel the same. I can't understand them, but I just want to figure out the meaning of every single symbol."
"This is also why I pursue this work."
"That's wonderful. I'd like to try deciphering these mysterious words too."
Audrey paused, then asked: "Do you have other Roselle diaries? Could I buy a few to take back and study?"
"..."
Hastur didn't answer right away, only looked at Audrey, filled with mixed feelings.
'Miss Audrey, are you planning to freeload those first three diary pages?'
'You've gone bad! You're so wealthy, why not just smash me with gold pounds?'
"Was my request too much?" Audrey's eyes wavered slightly, looking a bit guilty.
"No, I'm just happy to have found a like-minded companion."
Hastur chose to compromise. After all, he couldn't refuse to sell her the diaries.
"So that's it."
Audrey let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, Mr. Hastur hadn't realized how much she'd already taken advantage of him.
"I don't have many of Emperor Roselle's originals here. I can only sell you two pages for study. When I collect more later, we can research them together."
This time, Hastur dared not pretend to be generous and say he'd give them to her.
If Audrey really accepted, that would mean losing hundreds of gold pounds.
Audrey smiled: "I can offer 100 gold pounds per page."
100 pounds each, that was the price she considered fair. After all, Mr. Hastur had bought them from Fors and Miss Xio for only 50 per page.
With a simple resale, he'd double the profit, a decent sum for financially struggling Mr. Hastur.
Hastur sighed: "I've always held great respect for Emperor Roselle. Even a single sheet he left behind has extraordinary meaning for me."
"..."
Audrey froze for a moment, then understood the hidden meaning in his words.
The diaries were precious to him, with extraordinary significance.
He would sell, but at a higher price.
Was Mr. Hastur's financial situation really that severe? How pitiful.
"I understand how you feel. I'm also a worshipper of Emperor Roselle, always wishing to collect what he left behind, even a single sheet."
As she spoke, Audrey doubled her offer: 200 pounds per page.
"In that case, I'll entrust these two pages to Miss Audrey."
Hastur agreed without raising the price further. To show generosity, he also gave Audrey the other three pages he had originally shown.
"...Thank you."
Audrey didn't feel happy at all, instead, she puffed up a little in frustration.
Had she known those three pages would be given to her for free, she wouldn't have worked so hard memorizing them.
Memorizing those symbols was exhausting, and she'd memorized three whole pages!
'Honesty truly is such a beautiful virtue.' Audrey sighed sincerely in her heart.
The transaction ended, Hastur gained 400 pounds, Audrey gained five diary pages. On the surface, both seemed satisfied.
They chatted a while longer, then Audrey rose to leave.
Staying too long in an unmarried baron's house could easily spark rumors.
As someone always under attention, Audrey knew this very well.
This was also why she had waited three days before visiting Hastur.
Those idle noble ladies loved nothing more than gossiping behind people's backs.