The shop at the centre of the city wasn't the only place to get myself a gun. Of course, it was the best place, but not the only one. There was the Underworld, but I wasn't quite ready to go there just yet. I had three more options left, and two of them were right next to Mr. Douglas' shop, which I wanted to avoid for now.
No other choice, huh?
It was a shop owned by a relative of Clint. I would want to keep it a secret that I was buying a gun, but unfortunately, (well, unfortunate for me) you needed a proof of identity to buy a gun. It was…something, having a system in place was much better than not having one, and with how easy it was to forge documents in this age, a proof of identity was definitely better than a license, since they were harder to forge, but therein also was the problem that you didn't have to go through a test or an approval to wield a gun.
The bell rang as I pushed open the door.
'Welcome in,' said the person on the counter. Luckily, it wasn't Clint's relative that was there, but just a lady who worked there. 'Is he taking the day off?' I wondered as I approached.
'I need something to defend myself with. Preferably easy to carry.'
'Then perhaps you would like this.'
It was a flintlock made out of wood and metal.
'I'll take it,' I said. I didn't really put much thought into my choice, other than that it worked.
'Alright. Have you used a gun before, sir?'
'...No, I haven't.'
That was a lie.
'Understood.' She took out a form from her drawer. 'Sir, I would need you to fill this out. Additionally, I would require a proof of identity.'
I filled out all the necessary paperwork, before paying a sum of 3 pounds for the gun.
I'm sure that 3 pounds does not sound much to you, dear reader, but you must understand that the value of a pound here was very different from what it was in our world. If I had to translate, it would probably be around 260 to 300 pounds. So indeed, it was quite expensive still, but a lot cheaper than anything I would have gotten in the city square. Zoras personally never visited that shop, but from what he heard, you wouldn't find anything under five pounds there.
'Bye,' I waved as I left the shop, turning around when I bumped into a young girl who seemed to be in a hurry.
'I'm sorry,' she said as she hastily picked up the papers that fell.
'It's alright,' I said, helping her pick everything up.
'Thank you,' she said, bowing, before she ran hurriedly.
Long, Blonde hair, with eyes a shade of emerald, her skin: fair; she wore an emerald dress, one that looked quite expensive, more suited for a party or a meeting than running in the streets—'She's definitely a noble,' I thought, but for what reason was she here? There wasn't anyone important who lived here, as far as I knew, at least.
Probably shouldn't be prying much.
Things were unstable as they were already, I didn't want to get caught in something.
About three hours had gone by when I returned home, of which over an hour was spent simply signing and writing stuff down. Why must paperwork be annoying in every universe? I kept my new gun on the table as I sat down, wondering about what I should do next. I needed to figure out how Mr. Douglas was involved in this.
From his reaction, it didn't seem like I had left behind or borrowed an artifact from him. In that case…
There was one of two possibilities: either he was feigning innocence, or he was involved in some other way.
'Right, the letter.'
Now, here I was, about to do something that might have been incredibly stupid of me: I decided to show that letter to Zoras' sister. I wanted to confirm that I wasn't the only one who couldn't see anything. Of course, this was a very bad idea. If I wasn't, that would mean that she would get to know that I wasn't Zoras, and that could go in a lot of different ways. I hoped that, if it was the case, she might try to help me, but that was wishful thinking. After all, I would be telling her that her brother no longer exists in this world, and I couldn't even guarantee that, if I did somehow return, Zoras would come back. But the foolish me still went to her with that letter.
Thankfully, when she saw that letter, she looked up at me, confused, and said, 'It's a blank piece of paper. Are you hallucinating now? That's it, you're not leaving for the rest of the day. Go to your room and rest. Now.' She held my wrist and pulled me to my room, before looking at me with a face that practically screamed "I'll be watching you."
'Oh, and Brother Fjorcroft sent a letter. He will be returning next week.'
She left the room, leaving me alone to hallucinate letters on a piece of paper.
Am I hallucinating?
This all could very well be a dream, though I did find that unlikely. You see, I had pinched myself several times in hopes that I would wake up, but all that to no avail.
Perhaps if I go to sleep now, I'll wake up in my room. I didn't sleep at all last night.
I giggled slightly at the thought, before looking down at my fingers, though I wasn't really focusing on them. My mind simply wandered in the sea of thoughts.
How long will it take for me to return?
Does time flow differently here? How many years would go by then?
Will I even be returning to the same world that I left?
I have told this before, but back in our world, I had a family I could call home. My parents were old by now, but they still tried their best to take care of me, much to my disapproval. My father especially. He would often forget how old he was, and try to do stuff that his age simply wouldn't allow him to anymore, whether it be travelling from one city to another just to hand me a gift on my birthday, or staying up late at night when my wife wasn't home because I hadn't returned yet.
My wife, yes. I want to go back to her.
O what I would give up just to be with her! She was the most beautiful person I knew. The way she took care of everything when I wasn't there—she was kind and caring, yet stern at the same time. She would pay attention to the smallest of things, and somehow she could always tell how to lift my mood up, even in my darkest days, and even if she didn't do anything, just her presence was enough. That smile of hers—the way her lips would curl up subtly, or when she would lift her brows, only slightly, as her lips split…the way she always listened to what I had to say, no matter how random or useless it might be…
I'm sorry…I'll be home soon, I promise.
I couldn't stay here. I needed to get back to my world, as quickly as I could. It wasn't very manly of me to keep her waiting, after all.