Pops's warning

As soon as we enter Pops's store, Kaelin rushes over to him, jumping for joy. "Pops! Leon hired me to be on his crew!"

"Huh?... Wow, congratulations! That means you can finally get away from this place!"

"Yeah, I will miss you so much, and if I get the chance, I will try and come back to visit you!"

"That's great! Kaelin, why don't you go check out the guns over on the rack, me and your new captain are gonna have a little chat."

Kaelin, with huge smile and wagging tail, practically skips over the wall with all of the guns, and starts taking a look.

Pops beckons me over with a crooked finger.

"Is it true? Did you invite her to be on your crew?"

"Yeah, she is an apprentice gunner on my ship now."

"I see. That girl has been through too much already, so let me warn you..."

As he lowers the tone of his voice, I can feel the intensity in his words. It's quite obvious that he means to menace me right now, but I fight the urge to flee.

"... if this is some kind of game where you leave port without her as a form of torment, or if you do something to make her cry, I will end you the moment I catch you!"

"I understand! We already signed a blood contract with the skyfarer's guild. Everything is official and legal. She will have a good life on my ship, I promise you that!"

He nods at me, dropping his menacing aura, and then stares at me like a combatant sizing up his opponent, before finally offering me his hand to shake. 

I shake his hand, and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the spatial storage ring I reserved yesterday, placing it on the counter.

"As discussed, the ring is available for you now."

"Thanks, I also want to upgrade all of Kaelin's combat equipment. I trust you to help her choose the right stuff, so don't worry about the budget, and just recommend what you think will be best."

He calls Kaelin back over and starts placing some items on the countertop for her to see.

"First, I think you should upgrade from ordinary rounds to mana rounds. You will never need to reload your guns, and when the time comes, you should be able to evolve into the arcane gunslinger class, as opposed to a normal gunslinger."

The rounds look like shell casings covered in glowing runes. He explains that the runes allow the shooter to direct mana into the chamber and fire it like a bullet, the same way that a mana cannon compresses and fires aether.

"Second, those revolvers of yours are good, but if you are upgrading, there is also a set of mana steel revolvers with runic enchants."

He places a set of 2 revolvers on the counter. They appear to be typical six-shot revolvers, the same kind that Kaelin already uses, however, I notice some differences from what I have previously seen in westerns.

The handles are made of some kind of stained wood, and they contain the typical revolver chamber mechanism with a rear hammer. The main difference is that these revolvers are gunmetal grey, with small multicoloured glowing runes running along all of the exposed metal. (picture)

Kaelin's eyes light up with glee as she takes one of the revolvers into her hands. She turns it slowly, observing every minute detail, allowing her to fully appreciate the beauty of the weapons.

"Finally, for armour, I recommend a basic upgrade to enchanted leather; anything too cumbersome will make it difficult for her, and any future classes with firearms penalise anything above leather armour. I have a set on the mannequin there, it has adaptive sizing too."

I turn to look at the mannequin and see a set of women's leather armour, which has been stamped with an ornate edging pattern. The pattern on the edges gives off a very faint shimmer, confirming his words about the armour being enchanted. (picture)

"Excellent, we will take it. How much is the total?'"

"The ring is 45000, the guns are 2000, the bullets are 500 each and the armour is 1000. The total for everything will be 54,000 gp."

I take out the cash from my pockets and quickly hand it over to him. Kaelin thanks me by blowing a kiss and winking, then takes her new armour and guns into a changing area, and immediately starts switching into her new gear.

I put the storage ring on my right middle finger and ask Pops for some instructions.

'"t's pretty easy. Now that you are wearing the ring, just hold something you want to put into the ring, and will it to enter. It should do it automatically.

Everything that enters and leaves the ring will end up on your hands or the floor, so don't think you can suddenly summon the armour to fit onto your body or something like that."

I pull out the rest of the coins I am carrying around and do as he says. It really is as simple as willing 'store coins', and they disappear from my hands. Taking them back out is just as simple. As soon as I return home, I will put all of my coins into small coin bags and store them in my new ring.

Kaelin returns in her new combat gear, and I take her old revolvers and store them inside my ring. She is truly fascinated by the process and asks me to repeat it a couple of times so that she can observe. Every time it happens, her ears perk up and her tail swishes a little from side to side.

We say our goodbyes to Pops and promise to visit again before leaving port. His warning fresh in mind, I reinforce the notion in my head that my crew will rely on me as much as I rely on them, so I had better get strong enough to protect them fast.