Mysterious, but Naruto

With Reed's explanation, Louis truly gained a more detailed understanding of this era.

Actually, when he passed by the shooting club and knew that anyone could shoot as long as they paid the membership fee, he really wanted the coachman to stop so he could get off and have some fun.

After all, before he transmigrated, he had only handled a gun once, during his university military training, so he was genuinely curious about it.

However, after learning from Reed that there was a shooting club in the West End, he immediately stopped rushing and planned to visit the club on his way home after finishing his work.

Along the way, Louis noticed that the air quality was getting worse and worse.

Especially after arriving in the East District, the pungent smell of industrial chemicals lingered for a long time.

Furthermore, the further east you go, the more serious the situation becomes.

This is the slums of Backlund, but to Louis's surprise, even though the environment here is so terrible, the sanitation is actually quite good.

Reed clearly saw Louis's doubt: "Sir, this is thanks to the King's benevolence."

I heard that this happened more than a hundred years ago, not in Backlund, but in Goldenwood, South Wales, where a plague broke out due to poor sanitation.

At that time, everyone in the town died, and because of the epidemic, the deaths were all extremely tragic.

From that time onward, the king decreed that the entire country must maintain overall cleanliness.

Louis nodded upon hearing this, not forgetting to maintain his identity: "As expected of Backlund, this order has been carried out so thoroughly that even the slums can be protected."

Sure enough, upon hearing Louis's words, Reed's initial doubts vanished completely. Moreover, he felt proud to be a member of Backlund.

"Reed, you're talking about Backlund, does that mean there will be fewer and fewer carriages in the future?"

"Oh sir, how could you have such a thought?"

I understand. You think the subway will take away the place of horse-drawn carriages.

In reality, Backlund's metro system has been in place for several years. Not only are private horse-drawn carriages unaffected, but the number of public horse-drawn carriages in the city hasn't decreased; in fact, it's increased.

Louis crossed his legs inside the carriage, his hands half-folded on his knees, his fingers tapping lightly: "You're right. Alright, that's all for now. We'll take one more turn around the factory area and then head back."

Reed immediately leaned out of the carriage and said to the coachman in front, "Wesley, the master said he wants to go to the factory area, and then we'll head back."

"No problem, Mr. Reed. Tell the gentleman to be seated in the carriage; we're about to make a turn."

With Louis's hearing, there was no need for anyone to relay the message to him, and besides, the coachman spoke too late.

Before Reed could return to deliver the message, Louis already sensed that the carriage was slowing down and veering sharply.

Reed, who had already been leaning out of the carriage, was somewhat unsteady, and with this sudden sway, he was about to fall off the carriage.

Louis reacted quickly, grabbing the other man's waist and pulling him back into the car.

"This carriage is too high, please be careful."

"Oh my goodness, Goddess of the Night, thank you so much, sir."

Louis didn't say anything, because he had already discovered that most of his servants were believers in the goddess of night, and other faiths were in the minority.

After calming his wildly beating heart, Reed refocused his attention on Louis.

"Sir, your skills are quite impressive. If you're interested, you could join one of the fighting clubs in the West End. One of them, Jonas Club, is quite famous in Backlund. Even the prince goes there from time to time."

Louis thought about it seriously for a moment: "That's a good suggestion, but I prefer gentlemen's clubs."

"Indeed, sir. If you wish to integrate into the upper echelons of Backlund, the Gentlemen's Club is indispensable."

But there's nothing we can do about it; it's all by invitation only, and we outsiders don't even know how much the annual membership fee is.

Louis was aware of this, so he didn't say anything, but just sighed.

By the time the carriage had actually circled Backlund and returned to the West End, it was already afternoon.

"Wesley, the gentleman said he's going to the Marxman club."

"Okay, please sit tight."

This Marxman Club was a shooting club that Louis selected based on Reed's account.

The reason for choosing this place, besides being more upscale and having higher membership and annual fees, is that it has steam rifles, unlike other shooting clubs in the West District!

"Welcome to Marxman, sir. You look unfamiliar. Are you here to register for membership?"

Louis wasn't surprised that the receptionist immediately recognized him as someone who hadn't been there before.

"That's right. I heard this is the best shooting club in the West District, but it seems the venue isn't very big."

The smile on the front desk remained unchanged. Instead, he walked up to Louis and bowed slightly again: "Yes, sir, our family owns the best shooting club in the West End."

The area you are looking at here is just our members' reception area in the city; the actual venue is in the western suburbs.

Our field in the suburbs not only offers pigeon shooting, but also polo with friends. While it may not be the largest shooting range in Backlund, it's definitely one of the best.

After the host's introduction, Louis had a better understanding of the place: "Alright, then I'll register for membership here first. The membership fee is 10 pounds 10 soles, and the annual fee is 5 pounds 5 soles, Reed."

With a servant by his side, he naturally didn't need to pay for it himself. Louis simply stood to the side and watched as his male servant stepped forward to pay.

Although he didn't say anything, Louis thought this feeling seemed pretty good.

Don't be fooled by the membership fee; it's not all there is to it. Louis also wanted to use a steam rifle, which required an additional fee of 1 gold pound.

In addition, the cost of ammunition for revolvers is 5 sulph for 100 training rounds and 5 sulph for 10 full-powder rounds.

Therefore, Louis simply had Reed pay 20 pounds, and the rest of the money was considered as an advance payment for ammunition, enough for him to fire 1300 training rounds or 130 full-charge rounds.

Actually, after Reed's introduction, Louis really didn't want to come to this high-end club if it weren't for the need to fit in. They were really ripping people off.

It's worth noting that in other districts of Backlund, there are civilian shooting clubs and defense shooting clubs.

One club is privately owned, while the other is funded by the state.

Although the latter has a certain suspicion of training civilian shooting skills for the military compared to the former, they both have the same thing: no membership fees.

That's right, both of these shooting clubs almost never charge a membership fee, or if they do, it's just a symbolic fee of a few pence.

In addition, if you want to practice shooting inside, you only need to pay for ammunition and a small range fee.

Once you calculate it this way, the cost-effectiveness immediately becomes apparent.

Knowing the differences between these clubs gave Louis the idea to open his own aristocratic shooting club, which was just too much of a money-making scheme.

But now that the money has been paid, and they won't refund it even if he feels cheated, Louis gestured for Reed to follow him to the rest area to have some dessert and drinks.

After resting for a while, Louis handed over his coat, tie, top hat, cane, and other belongings to Reed, asking him to wait for him in the waiting area.

As for Louis himself, he wanted to go and shoot to his heart's content.

bang bang bang...

The moment Louis got his hands on the revolver, his body subconsciously adapted to its feel. When he finally aimed at the target, every shot after that hit the bullseye, except for the first one which was slightly off.

"Tsk—"

Despite his excellent marksmanship, Louis was a little annoyed, since it wasn't his true skill level but rather the result of being modified by "Wedge".

But no one else knew about Louis's displeasure.

"Hello, I'm Earl Sawyer, the owner of Vanster Textiles. I come here often, but you look unfamiliar."

Seeing the hand reaching out from the side, Louis first put his revolver down to ensure it was safe before shaking hands with the other person.

"Hello Mr. Sawyer, I am Louis Helmet. It's perfectly normal that you haven't seen me before; I just joined today."

"Oh? Mr. Helmet, I see you have excellent marksmanship. Which club did you practice at before? Heringham or Chalgens?"

The two names the other party mentioned were both well-known shooting clubs in Backlund, which he had heard about from Reed before.

Louis smiled and shook his head, then left the fixed firing range with the other party.

"No, I used to live in East Chester, and I just bought a property in the West End the day before yesterday."

I heard today that this shooting club is the best in the West End. Although I haven't seen the outdoor range yet, it looks quite impressive from here.

"Hahaha, Mr. Helmet, you've made the right choice. I love shooting, and I've joined shooting clubs in Queens, North Side, Joewood, and West Side."

After comparing them, it turned out that although Marxman's suburban site wasn't the largest, it had the most complete range of moving targets.

Pigeons, geese, rabbits, deer, and more—you'll see for yourself when you get there; choosing this place will definitely be the right decision.

Louis had already learned about this from the waiter, so he began to talk to the person in front of him.

The two simply left the shooting area and went straight to the rest area, where they ate, drank, and chatted.

"Oh, me? I found a patent back in my hometown, and I immediately thought it could make money."

However, although our family has some assets, the town we live in is not wealthy, so even if we have good ideas, we can't make money.

So I thought, why not just come to Backlund?

This morning I spent some time looking around the factory area and finally settled on a general location, which gave me the energy to come to the club and relax.

"Is that so? Then I wonder which direction you're planning to develop in? Although Backlund is a commercially developed region, it's also full of competition."

Louis knew the other party was deliberately trying to find out, so he decided not to hide anything.

"To be honest, the industry I'm planning to enter does have some connection with you, Mr. Sawyer. But don't worry, we're not competitors, but partners."

I have several patents that can improve the comfort of carriages, including lowering their height and making them more stable. Once my carriage factory is up and running, I'll need a lot of cloth and leather.

"Oh? Really? That's wonderful! To be honest, I've had enough of these carriages. They're so bumpy and inconvenient. They're okay on straight roads, but when you have to turn, it's a nightmare..."

As Louis chatted with Earl Sawyer, other club members gathered around to join in the conversation.

After chatting for a while, Louis got to know quite a few people, including cloth merchants, leather merchants, timber merchants, steel merchants, and so on.

There are quite a few more. Once he really gets the carriage factory up and running, he won't have to worry about raw materials just by making good use of these people.

Oh, by the way, there's also a newspaper editor here, so his job as a groom for the opening of his carriage factory will be sorted out.

However, Louis could only believe two-tenths of what these people said, while those people probably didn't trust him at all.

After all, those people had known each other for a while, while Louis was a complete newcomer, an outsider who had only been in Backlund for less than a week.

It's unlikely that these people would have much faith in Louis's words before his carriage factory was actually established.

But that doesn't matter, it's enough for Louis now.

He has already established connections with people in the local business community, which gives him more options for future actions.

To be fair, the annual membership fee of over £5 wasn't wasted; the afternoon tea was quite delicious.

The savory section offers Braisburg pork pie, steak and snail sandwiches, and mini beef burgers;

The bread section offers plain scones with butter and corn muffins with bacon sauce;

The dessert section offers chocolate brownies, syrup tarts, and fruitcakes;

The tea area offers Lagavulin whiskey cocktails, champagne, malt spirits, and black tea.

After eating this meal, Louis felt that if he had bought it from outside, it would have cost at least a few sous.

The annual membership fee of £5.50 seems to be not really for making money; it's probably just enough for a cup of tea.

As for whether he would lose money, Louis wasn't too worried.

After all, these wealthy people don't always go to the same club; they often go to four or five different clubs a week.

Sometimes, they might only go to the club once a month.

Even Louis was no exception. After seeing the shooting club today, his interest had actually waned considerably. He planned to try out a steam rifle later before heading home.