I shoved my keys in my pocket and checked that I had everything else I wanted from the office before striding over to the interview room. Some of the other officers had gone home and others were busy with work that was keeping their focus and attention, making this the perfect time to get my John Doe and take him to the hostel.

When I walked inside, I found him striding slowly across the back wall, his eyes down and a frown on his face. It took him a few turns to notice him.

"Sorry I had to keep you waiting around. Took a while to find you somewhere to sleep, but I can take you there now if you want. They'll give you breakfast and dinner tomorrow as well if you want." I smiled, hoping he'd take the gesture the way it was meant.

"Thank you, please lead the way to my sword and I shall be ready to leave with you."

A part of me had hoped that he would forget the sword and I could have it taken away from him entirely, but I had told him that he could keep it.

I waited for Arthur to get to his feet and motioned for him to follow me. As I opened the door, I got the feeling that this decision was going to stick with me for the rest of my life. Letting this guy go and taking his word for being safe with the sword was a seemingly insignificant decision but it came with a risk. If he cropped up tomorrow, or the day after threatening people with a sword as well, it would come back to me and I'd get a reprimand of some kind.

Still, I'd made my mind up and given him my word that I would let him go in return for his. If I had gotten it wrong, then I would face the consequences.

The sword was propped up against the wall outside the interview room, none of us seeing any point in taking it away when I'd already opted to give it back to him.

I lifted it and handed it to him. As he took it he paused, studying the sword in its sheath.

"This is something I promised myself I would take good care of. It means a lot to me and many others. Thank you for not taking it far or doing anything with it."

"No worries," I replied, surprised by the genuine gratitude in his tone.

"Anyway, we should get going. I have taken up a lot of your time. You say you have somewhere for me to go?"

I nodded and pointed to the exit door behind him. Although someone else could have driven him to the hostel I'd found, my desire to see this through and try and reassure myself that I was making the right choice in letting him go, meant I was doing it.

Arthur kept close to me, walking a couple of steps behind and to one side of me. The building was quiet at this time of night, but a police station never entirely slept so several other officers noticed that I was escorting a civilian out of the building.

Without a word, I led him through the car park toward my car. I pressed the button on the keys when we were still a few yards away, making the rear lights flash.

"What was that?" Arthur asked, visibly jumping.

"I unlocked it," I said, glancing his way. He was staring at the back of the car as if it was the most magical item he'd ever seen.

"Is this yours?" He moved closer to it, looking in the windows of my bright red roller skate car. It was nothing special, but it was mine and it didn't cost a fortune to run.

In a city like London, driving anywhere was a chore and a smaller car that had low emissions was often a needed cost saver.

I got into the driver's seat, hoping he wouldn't take too long in marveling over the car as if it was strange and, instead, get inside. Thankfully he appeared to know what he was doing and not only got into the car but strapped up. For someone who had been telling me that he wasn't from this time period, it was interesting to see what technology he was comfortable with.

"Thank you for this," he said as I pulled out of the car park and onto the busy London street. "I'm still getting used to these contraptions, but they do make distance a much smaller challenge. I am looking forward to exploring more in one of these. Where might I acquire a vehicle?"

"From any car sales court. Though they're going to set you back a bunch. Cars are not cheap. Do you have a source of income?" I waffled the information, shutting my mouth with a snap so I'd stop after the question.

"I have the gold and jewels that were left in my resting place with me. Enough that I have hired a car to bring me here and found others to be most helpful."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I frowned at this explanation. He hadn't been carrying any money when the lads had brought him in. How could he be carrying gold and jewels? Had he been taken advantage of? Was this just another delusion in his mentally ill state?

No sooner had I thought the latter when I remembered the magic he'd shown me. For better or worse, I had opted to believe this guy. There was no explaining his magic.

"Would you object to taking me somewhere so I can purchase one of these? A market, or whatever place constructs them?"

"I can't, it's too late. They're all shut." I didn't add that I was more than grateful they were. If he was paying with gold and jewels as he implied then I didn't want to be there to explain to him that money was mostly in fake coin and paper form now. Immediately I felt guilty. There was a good chance that he'd already been taken advantage of if he'd been handing over gold to people. Real gold was worth so much more than people realized these days.

"Is there an easy way for me to get there tomorrow?" he asked, his voice smaller than it had been so far. I glanced his way, noticing the expression on his face. It spoke of the difficulty of the day and I tried to imagine what he must be going through. Assuming he was telling the truth, he had woken alone and in a very strange world.

No wonder he had gravitated toward the one thing he properly knew. His seat of power. I had no doubt that he'd hoped to find allies there, someone expecting him to return to help the world. Someone who might explain everything to him.

Instead, Arthur had been arrested, interrogated and then told that he had to lie low, his kingdom was gone and the world worked very differently. I knew if it was me who had ended up in this situation, then I would want a friend.

"I'll help you sort yourself out tomorrow if you're struggling, okay?" I suggested, not sure how I'd do so yet, but knowing there was plenty of time to think about it before I dropped him off.

Thankfully, this late at night, traffic wasn't as terrible as it could have been, and I drove through it with relative ease. While we traveled, I showed him the radio and he swiftly worked out how to switch between the different stations. If nothing else had convinced me that this man wasn't from our time, seeing his reaction to the various forms of music, having never heard almost any of it sealed my belief.

No one was a masterful enough actor to fake every emotion and reaction he went through as he listened to everything from jazz and pop, to rock and roll, heavy metal and classical radio stations.

Although I listened to a relative broad mix of songs, his joy and delight in exploring all the various genres brought more of them to my attention than I would have expected.

I began thinking about songs I wanted to play him before I realised that I wasn't going to get the chance. We were almost at the hostel and I wasn't likely to see this guy again.

As I pulled up outside it, I tilted my head to the side and the guilt increased. It was a dive. The plaster was peeling off the brickwork, the front garden was overgrown and in major need of weeding. The front door looked as if one good yank could pull it off its hinges and several of the windows were growing mold, or something else around them.

Not sure what to say, I got out of the car and encouraged him to come with me.

"You might want to hold the sword very inconspicuously," I said.

"Oh, do you think it will scare people? I don't see anyone else wearing them."

"No, people don't normally go around wearing swords. Not any more." I tried not to laugh at having to explain this. If Arthur was faking this then he was doing such a good job that it was helping me buy the whole act.

"If the world is so peaceful that swords are no longer needed then what am I doing here?"

I shrugged. "You tell me?"

"You said the world wasn't in a great state?" he asked as I led him inside.

"No, it's not, but it feels like it never truly has been. Some things are definitely getting worse though."

Arthur nodded along as I spoke, but he didn't reply and instead he looked around the hostel as we went inside. It wasn't much better on the inside than it had been on the outside, cracks in the plaster, the paint so old it had chipped on corners and the whole place had an unwashed people and musty smell to it.

I tried not to show my concern on the face as I looked for the reception desk. It was near the back of an atrium that looked as if it had once been the front sitting room of a large house. A woman sat behind it and looked more bored than a teenager forced to take their kid brother to the park on a Saturday night.

"I booked a room for my friend earlier," I explained as I went up to her.

"Name?" she asked, her voice not matching the woman who had answered the phone earlier in the day.

I gave her the name and details I had used for him, keeping his real name out of it and using one I'd made up.

"Okay. He's in with the lads in the dorm on floor-"

"No, that can't be right." I felt my stomach sink as I interrupted her. "I booked him a single room. The woman I spoke to earlier said that you had single rooms left."

"Well, she booked him into the dorm and I don't have any left any more."

I opened my mouth and shut it a couple of times, not sure how to respond.

"I'm sure I can share this #dorm# room." Arthur smiled as if it solved all the problems. It was sweet of him but he didn't know what he was letting himself in for. Not in this part of London.

"Can I see it and check he's going to be okay in it first?" I looked at the woman and almost dared her to say no, grateful I was still wearing my cop uniform.

"He's not a criminal is he?" She side-eyed him, not daring to look at him directly, but inadvertently making it more obvious that she wasn't comfortable.

"No. I just need to get him a decent bed for the night. Can't leave a fellow man on the streets when he's done a good deed." It was a complete lie, but it seemed to satisfy her. She grabbed a bundle of keys off the desk beside her and got up.

"All right. I'll show you the room and if you want to, you can stay."