Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Shattered

“I need advice.”

“With what?”

“...Courting a girl.”

“...”

I went silent, staring at Vetsmon across the table.

We were in a nice cafe, and honestly, I expected him to have called me here with something a bit more serious in mind. But the topic was as flowery as the cafe around us.

The big man needed some relationship advice. It was a bit comical, but I didn’t give him anything more than a smile.

“Alright. You have someone in mind? Who is she?”

“...I’m not sure if I want to say.”

“Spit it out, you big lug. I can’t really help you otherwise.”

“Fine. It’s Tana.”

“...”

I was stunned into silence once more, staring at him incredulously before covering my mouth.

“He… Hahaha…”

“Don’t laugh!”

“Hehe…I-I’m sorry. Ahem! Alright, I suppose Tana is one of the good ones. But I gotta ask. What changed? Something happen at the nightclub?”

“N-Nothing happened. I’ve just finally noticed her womanly charm…”

“Charm? I guess that’s a nice way of putting it.”

I chuckled a bit more. Whatever charm Vetsmon saw, I was apparently oblivious to.

But it wasn’t like Tana wasn't pretty, and she at least had her good points. Any bad points were merely preference issues. All in all, she was a good pick. There were definitely far worse out there.

There was only one issue though.

“Tana has no idea you like her, huh?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“That’s what I thought. And she’s the densest girl I’ve ever met, so you’ve got your work cut out for you buddy. Anything less than slapping her in the face with a very clear confession probably won’t get it through her thick skull, but that might also scare her.”

“So what do I do?”

“Hm…”

I scratched my head while lounging back into my seat. This was indeed a tough nut to crack.

After a bit of thinking though, I flicked my finger and pointed at him.

“You’re gonna have to wear her down. Bit by bit you need to grind through that thick shell until she realizes that you guys like each other.”

“Is that what you did with Umara?”

“Haha, hell no. Umara had been a bit flirty with me until one night she just came and confessed. The rest is history.”

“...Wow. You’re lucky.”

“Maybe a little. You’re the one who picked Tana though.”

I just smirked a bit while taking out a cigar.

Vetsmon sat there, brooding as I took a few puffs.

“Hey, don’t be so serious. You’re a good guy and Tana is lucky to have you interested in her. Sure you’ll have to work for it, but I have no doubt that once she manages to actually conceive of the concept, she’ll fall right for you.”

“...Thanks. But how do I, you know, grind her down?”

“Well, I’m not sure what the difference is between what I would do and what courting is. You tell me, what usually happens when a man wants to date a girl?”

“I don’t know much, but I suppose the man would appeal to her before asking her on a date.”

“That sounds good, so do that.”

I told him simply. At the same time, a waitress came and brought us some drinks.

I took a sip as he thought about it with a frown, not so much as touching his drink.

The sight made me smirk.

“Alright, don’t fry your brain trying to think about this.”

“I’m just trying to think about how to go about it.”

“Well you have time. You’ve got the entire year at the Magisterium to flirt and ask her out. But you need to be pretty straight forward with it. You can’t beat around the bush with Tana. I can also do something though. Maybe I’ll get Umara to talk to her. Plant the seeds, you know?”

“I would appreciate it.”

“Sure. Haha, I’ll have helped two of my friends get a girl. How fun.”

I chuckled while taking a sip of my drink. Then, Vetsmon asked.

“What do you do that might be different from normal courting? With Umara, I mean.”

“Me? Well, since we both like each other, it’s easy to push our relationship forward. And I’d say she’s been pretty responsive.”

“Yea, she’s all over you whenever you two are together. She even left the party with you last night. It’s obvious that she likes you a lot.”

“I wouldn’t say it's a matter of liking. Look, I have my own standards and I’m going to do what I do regardless of what anybody says. Take last night for example. I put Umara on the spot by making a scene at a noble party. I may have just ruined my own reputation along with her and her mother’s. You would think that if I liked her a lot, I would have just let them trample on me for the sake of keeping the peace and not embarrassing her.”

“...I guess.”

Vetsmon agreed with a frown, still looking a bit confused.

I shrugged.

“Hey, all I’m saying is that I pursue Umara the way I feel like doing so, and I don’t worry about trying to be perfect. And neither should you. The biggest hurdle is actually doing something, so don’t make the mistake of sitting back and waiting. Have some faith in yourself, you know?”

“Yea. Alright. I’ll think of something the next time I see her.”

Vetsmon smiled, looking encouraged by my words.

And I smiled with him. After that we continued to talk for a bit longer.

“So, what are your plans now that you’re suspended?”

“Eh, just waiting and…”

“...And?”

Vetsmon looked at me weird when I went quiet.

Frowning, I sat there for a few seconds as my Aura picked up some nefarious intent.

Someone was looking at me, and they weren’t friendly.

I could barely tell their direction, so when the feeling sharpened, I looked outside the cafe through its glass front.

And in the street outside, I could see a man standing there with a bow on his back.

He noticed my gaze quickly, and without hesitation, he equipped the bow and knocked an arrow.

I suddenly communed with a Springfield rifle as he pulled his string back, feeling it appear in my hands before taking aim.

And I fired just as the bowman did.

*BOOM*

“Ahh!!”

There were screams when the explosion went off. I saw as my bullet shattered the glass window and sailed straight into the abdomen of the bowman.

As for his arrow, I barely managed to shift my body utilizing the time dilating effects of my jacket’s power, preventing it from piercing the center of my chest and instead making contact with the jacket around my shoulder.

But the force behind that arrow was shocking, and although it didn’t pierce through, it threw my body back like I was kicked by a horse.

“Agh!”

“John!”

Vetsmon jumped out of his seat, barely realizing what happened as I landed against some furniture.

“I’m fine! Help me up!”

“Alright!”

He reached out, grabbing my outstretched arm and pulling me back onto solid ground.

I felt a few bruises, especially on my shoulder, but nothing that serious.

I immediately looked out the window again, the bowman nowhere to be seen. But there was in fact some blood, so I went and sprinted out.

“Vetsmon, go down that alley and find a bowman!”

“Alright!”

He answered quickly, his powerful legs launching him like a cannon as he dashed ahead of me.

I followed as fast as I could, following a faint trail of blood. And several seconds later, I heard a yell.

“Got him! Over here!”

“Coming!”

I answered back and followed the sound, taking a few turns before arriving in a secluded alley.

Vetsmon had the bowman pinned to the floor. All bowmen were Knights, so they were strong, but apparently this one wasn’t as strong as my squad’s tank.

I walked over, nodding to Vetsmon.

“Thanks.”

“Eh, he wasn’t fast enough. And the blood was easy to sniff out anyway.”

“...Are you a hound?”

I chuckled a bit while squatting down toward the bowman.

“Did someone send you? Or are you looking for the pitiful bounty?”

“Fuck you!”

“Well, you don’t reek of drugs, so you’re not from the trenches. Clockwork? Actually, they wouldn’t hire a weakling like you to kill me. Whatever.”

I stood and took out a shotgun, pointing it at his head.

“W-Wait! You’re going to kill him?”

Vetsmon suddenly stopped me, causing my brows to raise.

Right, he’s only ever fought the Scourge. Definitely never killed a fellow man.

I took out my cigar and blew out a bit of smoke. In the distance, I was starting to hear a commotion. Definitely the city guard.

So I made a decision and pulled the trigger.

*BOOM*

“...”

Vetsmon was shocked as the man died underneath him, standing with some blood splatter on his white clothes.

Leaning down, I took the man’s spatial sack before grabbing Vetsmon’s arm and walking off.

“Walk with me, before the guard comes.”

He was silent as he followed. And after making our way to another street and hailing a carriage, we boarded and set our destination to the Magisterium.

As we rolled, I took a puff of my cigar.

“Surprised?”

“...You killed a man in an alleyway.”

“Yes. He’s what’s known as a Hunter. They kill people for the bounties on their head, collecting money once the job is done. I happen to have a recently increased bounty on my head, so Hunters will occasionally try to kill me. And believe me, letting them go only causes more trouble down the road.”

“You have a bounty on your head? Why?”

He lifted his head and asked. He didn’t look angry, but he did look like I had shattered his view of me.

I let out a sigh of smoke.

“If you haven’t guessed already, I work in the black markets. I’ve made some enemies there, and since they haven’t been able to kill me the conventional way, they pay a price to get others to do it for them. As you can guess, it hasn’t worked so far.”

“...How many people have you killed like that?”

“Does it matter?”

I looked him in the eye with that question. I suppose this was a question of morals, and as far as I knew, Vetsmon was a man of principle.

It was easy to fight against the Scourge. You could do so blindly because they were such an easy enemy. But killing other humans would test your own principles.

I didn’t care because for me, it was a matter of survival. It was simply the world I lived in, and I was already in too deep to avoid it. Not that I wouldn’t make the same decisions again anyway. Still, it also wasn’t like I killed anyone who didn’t try to kill me.

Regardless of if they deserved it, they tried to kill me, so I killed them. If I didn’t, they would keep trying to kill me until eventually, they would succeed. I had no illusions that I was invincible, so I did what I needed to do to keep my life. 

After Vetsmon remained silent for a while, I spoke again.

“Vetsmon, what kind of person do you think I am? I mean from your perspective about 5 minutes ago.”

“...You’re a courageous man who I would entrust my life to.”

“Yea, well, I’ve been doing this for a long time now, long before I even came to the Magisterium. It’s only now that you’ve seen it. I can tell you now that I’ve never killed anyone who hasn’t tried to kill me first. And for the most part, nobody who has died under the barrel of my gun was a good person. Believe me when I say that I’m not some secret underworld criminal. I’m just a guy trying to make his way in this place, and If you trusted me back then, you can still trust me now.”

“...”

He was silent, brooding over my words.

Then, he asked.

“Does Umara know about this?”

“Oh, yea. I told her about all this a couple weeks ago.”

“R-Really? I see.”

He leaned back, seemingly comforted by the fact that Umara knew about it and was okay with it.

Not long after, we arrived at the gates of the Magisterium.

“Alright, go clean up your clothes. Try not to be conspicuous. Since I’m suspended I probably won’t see you guys for a while unless we find some time to hang out. Still, remember what you said and do something with Tana. I’ll be checking in with Umara to make sure you aren’t being shy.”

“I’ll be fine. And… keep yourself safe.”

“I will. Oh, and try to keep this little event a secret for me. I don’t need more infamy than I already have.”

I said that while shutting the door to the carriage, letting Vetsmon go.

After that, I set my destination for the Black Spider Hotel. There were 10 days before the next trip, exactly how many days my suspension was, so I buckled in for a nice vacation.