Chapter 23:

Burden

The Wind Calls the Flowers


Each step I took seemed to drain more and more energy from me. One of my legs dragged behind the other. This once useful downwards path, which was useful for saving energy by using my momentum, had now turned into a nightmare. I had to use all my strength to stop myself from falling down the hill.

I looked over the list of groceries, being familiar with every item on the list. Some were named the same as those in my old world, take celery for example. However, some items on this list were uniquely named even though the item was the same as the ones I knew of before. An example of this is carrto, which is just a carrot. Lastly, there were items on this list which were entirely different from anything I had known of. Garvit, standing out to me the most.

I had tried it a few times before in Flint’s home. It had a sweet taste like honey, but it was followed by a bitter taste as if I had eaten dark chocolate. The texture of the vegetable itself made it look as though it was a potato, but it had a slimy inside which made it look more akin to natto.

This oddity continued for other things as well. It was present in animals, meats, and even some weapons. However, after learning about all types of weapons from Flint, I was able to confirm that no matter the different names it could have been listed under, a gun did not exist. Not even simple rifles. Cannons did exist, they even lined the walls of the capital. They were named “Falanons”.

I had wondered why cannons were named that so I naturally asked Flint. He gave me the simplest answer I could have ever asked for. It was the name of the person who invented them, Jerald Falanon. As irony would have it however, apparently he was killed by a falanon. His body wasn’t even able to be recovered due to the excessive force of the falanon. This caused some people to theorize that he was still alive and just faked his death.

The pain from my dragging foot had finally caught up to me and snapped me out of my thoughts with a burst of pain. The pain was intense enough to make me stop from moving. I bent down to try and put a little pressure onto the foot to lessen the pain. After minutes of this process, I was finally able to continue limping to the stand with the vegetables.

It’s not that Flint wanted to send me for this job, but with the store being so overrun lately, he had no choice but to send me. While I had gotten far better at creating weapons, so much so that Flint had to improve more to stay ahead of me, there was absolutely no doubt that he was still far better at it than I was. It was for this reason that I volunteered to go shopping. At least then I could still serve some use.

I had become far more adjusted to the capital after all these months. I knew where most of the paths would take me and memorized the fastest routes. I even began remembering which guards were nicer and tactics to avoid or get away from the more brutal ones. I finally arrive at the stand and give the woman the order. Having recognized me from my multiple visits, we made small talk while she got the order ready.

“The flowers are so beautiful this time of year.” She started.

“Yeah, but there’s so much around here it’s almost too much, I think.” I responded.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. All the bees come here because of the flowers as well.”

“Yeah. Those bees are really annoying Flint and his family since they keep distracting or scaring them.”

“So how’s your leg doing?”

“About the same. It still hurts and the limp still hasn’t gone away yet, but I think it should soon.” I answered while smiling softly.

The comment I had just made caused an awkward silence between the two of us. The silence felt deafening and started causing my heart to beat faster and faster. The idle chatter of people around us had started becoming so loud in my ears, it was almost as if they were screaming at me. Sweat began to form on my face at the excessive heat which had built up from inside me.

“Here you are. This time the vegetables were far easier to find.” The woman laughed, breaking the silence which was causing me to lose my mind.

“Thank you.” I responded, grateful for what she had done.

I took the bag she had carefully prepared for me and handed her the money Flint had lent me. I began walking away. Flint had mentioned that I could take some time while I was out, so I decided to take him up on that offer.

Walking through the bustling marketplace of people was an interesting experience. Some were perusing the jewelry, clothing, or carpet stores, things that would show off their status, wealth, and power. Others were like me, grabbing ingredients for dinner or food from street vendors. It was during my people-watching that I was able to make out a familiar cart.

The withering cart held in its usual place, with mountains of coal stacked as high as they could go without falling. The man at the cart looked desperate. He was trying to sell coal in any way he could. He kept trying to bring customers to him. He pleaded with them, he begged them, he even tried to bargain with them. All the desperation he had only started to cause the people around him to start whispering and laughing at him. This had caused a depressed look to appear on his face.

Feeling bad for him, I tried approaching his cart to build up his confidence, hopefully driving the vultures away as well. While I had started walking towards the cart, the people laughing at him had started to go away after seeing someone stepping up. The vendor had looked over to me and upon seeing me approach, quickly ran over to meet me halfway. He most likely thought I would change my mind and turn from him, or that I would go to the cart next to him.

“Come right this way sir!” The thinned cart owner guided me, even after clearly seeing my clothing.

“What are you selling?” I asked, trying to make some conversation with the stranger.

“This is coal!”

“What do you do with it?”

“It burns, so you can easily use it for heating. It even burns longer than wood.”

“Why don’t more people use it if it does that then?”

“I’ll be honest with ya’. It’s the stench.”

“The stench?”

“Well ya’ see, a lot of people around ‘ere try to copy the nobles. Any time they make a trend or start something new, well it’s bound that the commoners’ll copy ‘em. Even if they know that coal is far cheaper and better than wood, they still wouldn’t bother with buyin’ my wares. They’ll complain about the stench just like the nobles do, ya see.” He whispered to me.

I had noticed the trend he mentioned. Flint even showed me a prime example of it with silver. The nobles seemed to easily control the common people's perceptions on what they wanted. I guess somehow they must be profiting quite a bit from it, they basically influence market control on items. With that power they could simply charge a premium on the resources everyone is buying.

“Well, are you convinced to buy some coal?” The man asked gleefully.

“Uh, sorry, but I don’t have money.” I replied to him.

“Well that’s a darn shame.”

“I’ll come back when I do get money.”

“Please do. Ma kids really need somethin’ to eat.”

Exiting the conversation and waving goodbye to the man, I had started to feel terrible. The aching of my leg had gotten worse, but this new feeling was a pain in my stomach. I had lied to the poor soul. Flint had been paying me, even if only tiny amounts. I really wanted to help the merchant. It seemed he really meant what he said about his kids. But I need to save this money to use it at the capital's library.

If I can get access to the library, I can find out even more about this world. Maybe I can even work out an advantage from it. I need to find something. It seems like the king keeps getting Flint to make more weapons for free. If it keeps going on like this without any relief, Flint won’t be able to keep going.

Deciding that was a good enough break, I began shuffling back towards my home. The uphill journey had felt far more difficult when compared to the downhill. However, the sight of flowers still blooming and trees bringing forth blossoms was enough for me to relax and not think of the difficulties of the journey.

Finally reaching the store, I could see a line up that was far out the front. Each person in line had someone suited in armour with a nasty grin plastered across their face. It was almost as if someone had painted them on and they were permanently attached. The sight of it made me want to splash the canvas down with water, removing the awful paint which had chosen to attach itself there.

Knowing better than to try messing with the guards, I stumbled past them in an attempt to enter the store. They had been blocking the way for me, doing their best to make it look like it was on purpose, even turning their grins towards me. I pushed past them, trying to get through and brushing off their annoying attitude.

“How’s the hobbling going?” One of the shiny men questioned, mockingly.

Choosing not to respond to save Flint the trouble it would cause, I continued making my way through until I was about to enter the store.

“Hold it! You think a filthy creature like you can simply enter the store before me?” A different man asked me, blocking the path.

“I need to get through.” I responded coldly.

“Now you dare take that tone with me? I think someone may need another limp. That way your legs would be matching.”

“Fine, what do you want me to do to get through?”

“Go on your hands and knees and beg me to let you enter.”

Seeing as I had no other choice, I began to do as he said. At the sight of it, he began laughing.

“You’re actually doing it? I swear, you slaves have no pride.” He taunted.

“Please let me go through.” I complied, being on my hands and knees.

“You need to be far better at begging.” He shouted, pushing my head down with his foot.

“Oi, do you still want me to keep making you weapons or not?” Flint stepped in, giving the man an intense glare.

“You have no choice but to make them.” He responded loudly as if to copy Flint’s confidence, but I don’t think he was convincing anyone.

“Let’s go Hibiki.” Flint reached his hand out to me.

“Okay.” I grabbed his hand.

I stepped into the store and quickly made my way to the kitchen. Waiting in the doorway for me was Cordelia who had seen the entire display. Her look when first I saw her from afar was of disdain, but as I came into her view, her face quickly changed to one of happiness.

“Welcome back Hibiki!” She greeted me warmly.

“Sorry Cordelia, but could you take these vegetables and put them where they’re supposed to go.” I apologized to Cordelia for making her do the work which would normally be mine.

“You’ve got it.” She replied, grabbing the bag from my arms and making her way to the kitchen.

Seeing as she was taking care of it, I decided to make my way to my forge and start helping Flint on the orders he was rushing through. I may not be as fast as Flint, or even as skilled, but I had finally become good enough to make weapons that would have rivaled Flint when I had first met him. I was finally able to be less of a burden for him. Now the only thing stopping me from being an asset for him was this injured leg.

We worked until the sun had set and the beasts had gone out to play. We cleared as much of the line as we could but managed to only make a slight dent in the orders we were given. I swiftly ate my dinner and made my way upstairs so I could get some sleep after the tiring day I had just had. Cordelia joined me in retreating upstairs. She had also become tired and it was approaching her bed time.

“Goodnight.” Cordelia and I waved to Flint and Allirea.

“Goodnight.” They responded to the both of us with warmth.

“Goodnight, Cordelia.” I spoke to her as we went off into our individual rooms.

“Goodnight, Hibiki.” She responded giving the same warmth her parents had.

Getting myself ready to lie down and sleep, I could make out a conversation coming from downstairs. It seems tonight Flint and Allirea are talking about something. I peeked open my door to listen in on what they had been saying.

“We’re going to go bankrupt if things keep going this way.” Flint spoke to Allirea.

“Have you gave any thought to what we had discussed before?” Allirea responded to Flint’s concerns.

“You mean joining the revolution? There’s no way we can do that!”

“It seems like it’s the only way out of this stupid mess.”

“But if they lose, then we’ll lose everything!”

“We’ll lose everything anyways! They have a fairly large force. It may be our best shot.”

“They may have a large force, but they’re also very uncoordinated. It’s a rag-tag group of misfits.”

“That can be fixed. They’re still recruiting. If we join now, we can get a fairly high position and help them with their strategies. Flint, we can fix the coordination problem.”

“What about Cordelia?”

“We’ll send her to Lores until things settle down.”

“How?”

“We’ll just say she’s gonna get an education.”

“And Hibiki?”

“It’s up to you if you want to include him in it or not.”

“What’ll he do if we don’t include him?”

“We’ll have to set him free so as to not involve him.”

“I’m not sure if I could.”

“Please Flint, at least think about it some more. We can't keep going.” Her last words caused her to break into tears.

Flint began embracing Allirea as to calm her down. Deciding to give them some space, I closed the door gently so as to not make my presence known. I laid down in my bedding and could only fear what fate had in store for me.