Chapter 10

Gun

"You should get proper armor before you leave the capitol, too," Yorin says after I complain about the chilly night air drafting up my leg. "If your class has special armor requirements, you're more likely to find something here than anywhere else. I'll introduce you to my favorite at opening bell tomorrow. If he can't take care of you, he'll know who can."

I look over at the woman who seems to think she's taken personal charge of me even as I'm still rubbing the goosebumps on my arms. I remember how quick she was to flit away when I first showed up. Maybe this is more her comfort zone?

Of course, there's a bigger problem with what she seems to be planning.

"Where is the money for proper armor coming from?" I ask. "At least where I come from, special is another way of saying expensive, and all I have to my name is an unknown plot of land as far away from the capitol as they can put me." I look ahead again. "Of course, I'd settle for some decent stockings right now."

She gives me an apologetic smile. "Were that I had any, I would give them to you, but temple robes render them redundant. Tell me, do most Gunslingers eschew pants?"

I shake my head. "Mobility is definitely more valued than just about anything else." I think of the tendency for hats and sunglasses. "Except for maybe keeping bright light out of your eyes. Tassim has an Agility-based class and she was able to wear them fine, but they all just bothered me to no end for some reason. And the full robes were even worse. I felt like I was wrapped in concrete."

Yorin has a thoughtful expression for a bit. "It could be cultural. Tassim has spent her life in similar clothes. How different is our clothing from what you are accustomed to?"

I think to skirts and slacks and jeans. Of buttoned blouses, elastic t-shirts and factory-produced shoes.

"Very," I conclude. "Everything fits better for one, and we use different materials that give the fabric different qualities. They could look like they were more confining but actually allow much more movement. And I can't wait to get back into a proper pair of shoes. These sandals rub the inside of my toes weird."

"I'll add a cobbler to the agenda tomorrow, as well."

I almost turn to give her another look, but before I do, something else in the direction we're going catches my attention. I know she's seen it too the moment I do look toward her, because her smile is spreading across her face again.

"... Yorin ..."

"Remmi," she answers without a shred of expressed guilt.

The path we're on is taking us back to the massive courtyard from the Reviews, and standing there waiting for us, underneath the moonlight and the glow of magic lamps, is the Empress, herself. At her side is her son, who notices us first and pulls her attention to us.

"Remmi Lee, Sacred Yorin," she calls to us as we finish our approach. "How lovely of you to join us. Miss Lee, I hope you don't mind Feng coming along. He was with tutors all day and missed seeing the Heroes during the review."

I look down to the boy and smile. He smiles back and I notice he's missing a tooth. Must've been one of his first baby teeth to go.

I turn my attention back to his mother. "I don't mind at all. And thank you, Your Highness, for confirming that this was a set-up."

She gives a bemused smile, and I find her much more expressive outside of official court. "If you spend much time with Sacred Yorin, young Hero, you'll find that everything is a set-up when she is involved."

Well, that's a whole can of worms to sort through. Was this the priestess's doing? I have a hard time imagining half the empire's ruling family being subservient to her, but at the very least, she was certainly in on the plan. I decide to go with something a bit more obvious, however.

"Your husband stripped me of that title," I remind her.

It doesn't even budge her smile.

"I won't be so trite as to bring up your status," she replies. "I'm certain Yorin has beaten me to it, anyway. Instead, I'll remind you that you were only forbidden from using it, yourself. I can call you Hero as much as I please."

As if following with another thought, there's a breath before she adds, "Oh, and it's only the big H, to be clear. You go save some village or another, and you can go around calling yourself, 'hero of,' all you like. And beyond that, just because the Imperial Throne has declared something at one point, that doesn't mean it doesn't reserve the right to change its mind at another."

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My mind hangs on those last words as Yorin moves to stand beside the empress like she belongs there. She even bends down and ruffles Feng's hair on the way over.

"That's why we're all here, isn't it?" Empress or no, if they're going to act so casual about yanking me around, they can deal with me crossing my arms in distrust. "You want something from me, and you're holding a reversal over me if I do it."

Yorin gets a smile that looks like an attempt to be reassuring while also being caught doing something it shouldn't, and she blushes the way she did when I complained about showing up nude. "Well, yes, technically, that's true, but when you phrase it like that, misunderstandings are liable to occur."

Oh, gosh, how did I never realize how fake and cliche that act was?

"Hey," I scold the priestess as I narrow my eyes at her, "don't you think it's a little late to be acting all cutesy now?"

The empress sighs, but the way her shoulders slump when she does it, it sounds more like one of relief. "Finally, someone who will just speak directly," I think I hear her mumble.

When she raises herself up again, I'm not looking at an empress anymore. Oh, it's still the same woman, still in those violet robes, still with that golden belt, still with that web-like crown of gold braid and jade. It's the presence that is different, like a veil fell away, and now she is just a woman dressed like an empress.

"I will be to the point, then. Hero Remmi Lee, we wish for you to take the Review again."

A bit late, I find myself glancing over to where the scarecrows came out earlier this same day, and notice the shapes of perhaps two dozen of the things lined up under the shadow of the courtyard wall. Turned off, if the lack of glowing red eyeballs is any indication.

"It has been Master Yorin's very strongly expressed opinion that you can do much better than you performed at today's ceremony."

I don't miss the change in title the empress uses for the priest, but when I glance over, she's just giving me that motherly smile again.

"Defeating three Level 25 opponents as a Level 1 with poor equipment is very impressive, Remmi," the elf says as if compelled to reassure me. "You move with natural instincts and your base stats are absurdly high. If we were looking only for powerful adventurers full of promise, you would not have in any way fallen short. Guilds across the empire would be fighting each other to claim you as a member."

She raises a finger as her expression turns stern. "But defeating only three Level 25 opponents as a Hero is extremely disappointing. The expectations placed upon you are completely different from those of a normal mortal."

The empress seems to have taken issue with something Yorin said from the way she's frowning, but it's not what I'm expecting. "Since when are the two of you on a first name basis?"

The priestess's face folds back up into a bright smile. "Group baths are a magical thing for forming bonds."

I'm ignoring that, I promptly decide.

"Hold on, aren't we losing sight of something?" I ask instead. "You're all so obsessed with levels. Did you forget that the other Heroes were all a higher level than your scarecrows?"

"Hero Seina Bibe was actually Level 24," the empress corrects me, "but I understand your point. However, you are overestimating the difference a few levels can make. If a Level 20 fought a Level 30, we would, of course, expect the Level 30 to win, all other things being equal, but it isn't impossible for the Level 20 to cause an upset. And unless it was a complete rout, the Level 30 would not emerge unscathed."

She focuses her gaze on me to emphasize her point. "Mind you, that is one opponent, ten levels lower."

My mind returns to the battle earlier in the day, to the end of it, with Leuke coming out unharmed against over thirty scarecrows. I'm starting to grasp the emphasis they're placing on being a Hero. It wasn't their stats that their victory was being credited to.

"I get the message," I confirm, "but did you guys forget I'm unarmed again? My weapon was smashed to pieces during the review."

"Yes, that was actually Master Yorin's greatest argument in your favor," the empress noted with a sage nod. "That ... noodle spitter, as she put it, was not your weapon."

Noodle Spitter. Apt. I'm distracted enough by the mental image of that being the relic name the dandy had to call out for it that I almost don't catch the empress turning away before she comes back with a small object wrapped in rich silks.

It's big enough to cross the width of both of her hands, and my eyes are already nearly popping out of my head at the outline suggested by the silk laying atop it.

"If we are not both completely, woefully mistaken," she continues uninterrupted, and then peels back the silk cover, revealing brushed steel chrome with punched lettering that catches even the dim light like a beacon.

"... This is."

I'm on it before I even fully process my own intentions, snatching it up from her hands and holding it up in the air before my eyes. "My gun!"

And it is my gun. It's not just a gun that they actually had after all. It's the exact pistol that I keep in my nightstand. The very one I was thinking of when I was in the sky, answering the System's questions. I even recognize its few blemishes.

"So it's true," she notes, though she doesn't seem surprised. "The Heavens did make an exception for you. But then, I suppose it had to. This artifact has no true parallel in all of the empire. If this is what you were intended to use, there is no possible way we could have armed you effectively. Anything that might have been close would have left you crippled in one way or another."

Yorin elbows her in the side with a grin, which the empress seems determined to ignore. "Standing there all sage-like as if you aren't repeating the very things I told you, Xuhi."

Instead, the empress focuses her attention on me again, and that imperial air returns to her.

"Hero Remmi Lee, heed my words. The Furinshao Empire considers that weapon a Heavenly Artifact, far more valuable, and potentially powerful, than the treasures given freely to the other Heroes. It cannot be allowed to leave this place in the hands of anything less than an exceptional Hero. A Hero that, at Level 1, can rival the performance of any of the other four.

"If you cannot prove to be that Hero, right here, tonight, your title will remain stripped from you. The artifact will be taken from you, and you will never see it again."