Dawn- An age of Darkness

Lianne bargained on my behalf and the attendant settled for 91 silvers. She did take the old battered armor from us though. 

I had no idea what they were going to use it for, but at least I got some discount.

"Normally I'd charge more than 100 but I like you guys, so I'll keep it to 91."

The attendant had taken over the whole sale. The manager just looked from a distance and so did I. 

I'm pretty sure you say that to everyone and make them feel good when you sell them something. 

It was common business practice after all.

  But it does make me feel good though.

"So anything else?" The attendant gave me a glance and then turned to Lianne. 

I was just extra baggage, huh?

"I don't thi-"

Lianne didn't let me finish. It was like those times when your parents take you to a clothes shop but they don't let you choose. "A good quality crossbow would be nice."

Apparently, I didn't have a say in this.

So me trying, made me feel nothing more than just embarrassed.

But I did feel better knowing I wouldn't have to chew on my arrows every so often.

Lianne picked a bow among the stuff that was showcased. "What do you think of this?"

Is there even a point in asking me? 

I still held it and tried moving it around. It was lighter than Lianne's one and seemed kind of flimsy: but more importantly, I could use it with just a hand. "It seems a little light. Would I be able to fire long-range and multiple shots with this?"

I hadn't seen people use multiple shots in this world. The closest I saw was with Jowy. He shot consecutive shots like it was nothing.

"I think this would be the most suitable for you." 

And you're not going to answer me, are you?

I sighed and resigned. We bought the bow for three silvers and one hundred metal-tipped small arrows for another two silvers. These things weren't all that cheap considering that money in this place had ten times more value. 

I was tempted to buy a shield too, but then I realized, I didn't actually have a left arm.

The attendant had a nice smile on her face the entire time. She waved us out. People in this world wave a lot, huh?

"What now?" I wondered aloud. Everything was mostly done. 

"Well, let's see, how about you aim for that tree with this branch?" Lianne grabbed a small branch, tipped it so that it resembled something like an arrow. 

"Now, here?"

"I'm just assessing you, so don't worry."

"Alright." Even using the crossbow was hard with just one hand. I had to insert the arrow with my mouth, as usual. And here I thought my arrow kissing days were over. 

With a sigh, I took aim and fired. It was a lot better than using bows. And for once, I got into ten-centimeter radius of my aiming spot. 

My face lit up. I was proud of my achievement. 

Lianne sighed. "I guess it was my fault for believing, you'd miraculously get better." She sighed again.

"…"

***

I was getting pretty hungry. I hadn't had any meat in ages. The ages being two days. It felt more or less like an eternity though. 

And carrying all these bags around made me even hungrier.

"Want to dine out or at the inn?" Lianne sensed my hunger. I didn't know how she did it, but she was good when it came to perception. 

"The inn would be better." I liked street food but I didn't want to run into Dick.

I had a feeling he wouldn't be too happy to see me. 

"Okay."

We headed back but on the way, I spotted some skewered meat and bought them as appetizers. They were good enough.

***

"Those wings," I pointed at a shop. They had wings on display.

Ever since I came to this city, the thought of flying really made me excited. And I was going to buy them too. But the stuff from the guild and other shopping sessions made me forget about the wings altogether. 

"Yes. You can buy them and if you can manipulate mana you could even glide."

Just what I wanted to hear.

"Think I can manage?" I had to ask. Wasn't it mankind's long-lost dream to fly? 

"It would be a little difficult than just to reinforce your armor but I think you could if you practiced enough."

"Let's buy one!" I was pretty excited. I wanted to buy one right away. And fly too if possible. 

It'd be more like gliding though.

"No. they are too expensive. We could always buy from the second-hand shops tomorrow. But they'd pretty much be useless outside of this town."

She couldn't have said something more depressing. I almost cried.

***

The inn was busier than before. We saw a familiar face inside. He was too busy sulking and drinking while complaining to a cute bunny right next to him. Who'd have thought Biteria would act as a counselor to a drunken Dick?

We went close to his table and sat there. "Hic* hey guys how's it going?" He was having lots of hiccups. He wasn't used to drinking and that was clear. His bottle was barely empty. He probably didn't even have two glasses. And yet he was wasted.

"We're good. What happened to you?"

"They all ran away…" he paused. "The girls… all ran away…" He actually had tears in his eyes. Did he seriously believe that girls would just flock around him for no good reason other than his face? He had a good face so he probably did think that. 

But if one thing I learned in this world, strength, and fame mattered more than just looks. 

But then there was Gorgan, that damned enemy of all men.

Drinking in this world wasn't all that prohibited to anyone but wasn't he a minor? Shouldn't he have considered not drinking? I guess I had no right to say anything to him about it. 

"What about food, did you have any?"

"No." He looked so miserable when he answered. I almost felt bad.

Lianne promptly ordered food for us and we all made ourselves comfortable.

Dick was already too wasted to eat anything. He'd probably throw up. So it was only the three of us who ate. Yes, Biteria ate with us. Servesta wasn't here. 

The food was pretty good. It was fried rice with shrimps and meat soup. They had cream rolls for dessert. Not bad at all.

Dick squirmed as he spotted my armor. "You are a girl and she's a girl. So is that for me?" That was the first time he looked so innocent. I was holding the armor in a bag. It wasn't heavy so I had no problems carrying it around on my back. I looked kind of weird though. 

I wanted to pop it into the ring, but I couldn't avoid the eyes, so I kept it around.

"No. not really. I bought it for myself." 

I'm done telling lies. One lie would only birth more. 

Whoever came up with the phrase 'one lies begets a hundred' must have really been a genius or a heavenly saint. Either way, he was right. "You can have it though if you want it." Of course, I'd wring the money out of him in that case, but it didn't hurt to offer.

He was disappointed but he didn't say a word.

Dinner was over and we carried Dick back to his room. Servesta was there. 

"If he wakes up in the middle of the night feeling hungry, give him these." I'd saved some dessert for him. The poor guy had nothing to eat, and it was kind of my fault. It was the least I could do. 

Servesta just nodded.

This time we'd taken two doubles. They didn't have singles available. So me and Lianne ended up sharing the room.