Vanity

As I kept walking away from the direction of the burning mass I had created, everyone who looked at me had a worried expression to them. I tried my best to ignore them and continued walking away from them. I needed to get further from the house. I couldn’t stay close to it. I didn’t want to stay close to it.

Finally giving in, I checked my appearance to see what had been causing everyone to look at me. When I looked down to inspect myself, I realized I had been covered in blood. Allirea’s blood? No, it was probably the blood of everyone in that home. The sight of it made me inhale sharply and move faster.

I didn’t want to wear these clothes. They had evidence all over them. Besides, to parade around the blood of those I cared about like this was heartless. I needed to get different clothes. But, what’s the point? I had no reason to keep going now. I’ve failed. Because of my failure, Flint and Allirea are…

Anyways, there's no longer a point to live. The promise I made and all the hopes that had been placed on me have fallen and shattered on the ground. All of it was crushing me underneath. I didn’t even want to keep running anymore. The movement my body was doing had been done without my consent.

Instead, I would much rather stand in one place and let everything crush me under their weight. I wanted to just die and be over with it. After all, my survival had no value since I wasn’t the person anyone was looking for. Instead, those who were gone would have been better off living. At least then someone could be happy from this situation.

Why am I still alive? The question could only ring through my mind, causing my steps to waver for a moment. However, even after all this self analysis, my body kept moving for some reason. Anytime I tried to command it to stop, it ignored me and continued forward. There was nowhere to go so why was I still running? It would have been better to die in the fire.

Seeing the ring still attached to my finger caused me to feel a sharp pain in my chest. I swiftly took it off and readied myself to throw it away. As I raised my hand above my head, I stopped. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t throw it away. I slid it back onto my finger, feeling more pathetic than I had before.

I looked around, trying to look away from the remains of my former family that were plastered across my body. When I went to look away, I noticed a particular poster on the wall, obvious enough that anyone could see it. The poster must have just been placed there since the sight of it would have caused the guards to immediately destroy it.

In big letters, as if to mock the guards patrolling the area, it read “JOIN THE REBELLION!”. Seeing it had caused me to remember what the girl said, reminding me of where I could go if I wanted to join the rebellion.

The rebellion, huh? What would be the point? Flint and Allirea were in the rebellion right? If that’s so, then why are they dead and the people who posted these posters still alive? Making my way over to the poster, I tore it down myself, but got a better look at it in the process.

Whoever is in charge of this thing is still unknown. If they had just made themselves known then the attention would’ve been diverted away from their members and to them. That way Flint and Allirea wouldn’t have had to… Seriously, what's the point anymore?

Those two believed in a cause as half-assed as this? Damn it! These people were beyond incompetent. The sorry sight of the poster caused me to crush it in my hands with rage. If I was leader, I would have done it so much differently then they had. I wanted to burn everything down, including that stupid rebellion. That’s when a thought popped into my head, the kind that could only be created if revenge was thirsted for.

There was one thing from my world that could let me get my revenge. I could use my forging knowledge and make a gun! I could easily take out the Capital guards and the stupid royalty while I’m at it. If I was the leader, I would go about it in a way where Flint, Allirea, or any of the members wouldn’t have to die unless it was during combat. That way no one would have to be slaughtered in their home in such a disgraceful way.

What if I actually was the leader? Can I really only make this right by continuing with the cause those two followed? Is there really nothing else I can do to relieve this burden attached to me? But I didn’t want to be a simple grunt for them. I had already seen how well that went for Flint and Allirea.

Wait. That’s it! If I had some sort of leverage, I could take over the rebellion. The best thing I could think of for leverage, however, was creating a gun, but that would cause the ruin of this world in its entirety. But why would I care about something like that? For all I was concerned, I didn’t care if this world burned anymore. Honestly, maybe it was better if the entire thing burned.

Sorry Cordelia. I know this is different from what we agreed on, but I’ll need to borrow your ring for a bit longer. But I swear, as the last thing I’ll swear from today onwards, I’ll try my best to return it to you once I’m done. I’ve learned to not say absolutes anymore as all they do is make me sadder when I can’t follow through with them.

But how would I even create a gun in this world? With all my knowledge on weapon creation, I would only have a fair idea of how to create a rifle, if nothing else. I’d needed materials but thankfully I did have enough money to afford those, at least. The real issue would be that I would need a forge and tools, but the only place I knew that had those was currently burning with my family inside.

The thought caused me to recoil at what I was doing. Is this really what they would have wanted? I could always run away myself and see Cordelia on my own then. But what would be the point if I’ve failed like this? If I can at least do this, then hopefully Cordelia can forgive me then.

With this, I resolved myself to the idea once again. But even with resolve, it wouldn’t change the main issue that I had. Where was I going to find a place that I could use as a forge to work on this? But then a memory came to me as if Flint had triggered it himself for me.

“It’d be better if that stubborn old man just outside of the capital sold his home and smithing store to us.” Flint echoed in my mind.

That’s right! He did mention there being a person who still had a blacksmith store outside the Capital. If I was outside the Capital, it would also let me test out the rifle ahead of time to be sure it was actually working. But he did mention he was stubborn, so would I even be able to get him to sell to me? Well it was still worth an attempt, anyways.

How would I get out of the Capital though? I was, for lack of a better term, covered in blood. I would have to buy new clothes, but if anyone saw me, I was bound to get in trouble. On second thought, that wasn’t true at all. I was in the oh-so grand capital of Milarch where anything is fine with enough money.

While paying five-hundred thousand copper for new clothes wasn’t what I thought would be the best thing to spend so much on, it would at least stop the owner from saying anything and I would finally have some pretty comfortable clothes. I quickly travelled to one of the clothing stores on the expensive street next to the jeweler from which people had bought magic crystals from.

As I entered the store, the store owner saw me and was getting ready to yell for help and shoo me away, but before he could even get a word out, I showed him the five hundred thousand copper coin and held a finger over my mouth. With this incentive, he quickly began showing me around for clothes I could buy. He even offered to get rid of my old clothes afterwards.

This rotten Capital is finally paying off for me then. I chose to buy a wardrobe which was covered from head to toe in black. I bought black pants, a black shirt and a black cloak to help me move around in the night. While it wasn’t exactly the least conspicuous thing I’ve ever seen, it was the cheapest and most comfortable.

This was not to mention that it would also help me with my movements at night. With this I would be able to quickly meet with the rebels when the time was right. But for now, I needed to get out of here quickly. The more time I wasted, the lower chance I had of getting out of the Capital. The sun had already started to come up and this wardrobe would be best for escaping now.

I gave the man the money I promised him and also my old set of clothes for disposal. Thanking me for my patronage, he hoped I would come back sometime to buy more clothes. While the feeling of being thanked for bribing him didn’t sit right with me, I didn’t have time to be concerned about it either.

I made my way to the gate, my new clothes had allowed me to avoid detection from most people. Perfectly at the gate, it seemed the guard on duty had fallen asleep. This was quite usual for them. They were really only there to collect entry fees from new people visiting. But I didn’t have time to laugh at the guard. I had to get going. I could already see the light coming from the sun.

Making my way through the gate, I started heading to the blacksmith’s home. I wasn’t exactly sure where to go, but thanks to all the money I gave the clothing store owner, he was able to answer which direction I was supposed to go to see what I was looking for.

I made my way leftwards from the gate, walking around the wall so that I wouldn’t get too lost. After sneaking around for a few minutes, the sunlight had come into full view, illuminating the sights in front of me. There it was! I couldn’t see it before, but the sun had finally brought it into view.

It looked a little worn down, but it should be able to accomplish my goal. I quickly made my way to the door and prepared myself to talk to the owner. I knocked on the door, ready to convince him to give me his store.

“What do you want?” He slammed the door open with an annoyed tone.

“I would like to buy your home and store.” I replied kindly to him, hoping it would give me the edge.

“Ha, can you even afford it!”

“How much is it?”

“One hundred silver.”

Oh. It wasn’t that he was stubborn about leaving this place, but instead he was stubborn about the price. I understood where Flint was coming from. Looking at the place I realized it was so worn down that the price was an obvious rip off. However, I didn’t really have time to care about the scam in front of me. I needed this place. Not to mention if the rebels win, the currency of this place will be destroyed anyways, so it doesn't really matter.

“Alright, I’ll pay then.” I responded to his obvious malicious intent.

“Can you even?”

“Sure.” I handed him the one hundred silver he requested.

At the sight of this, he immediately rushed inside and handed me the deed. He packed up everything he could and made a break for it before I could even think to reconsider. With all the stuff he was carrying, it was as though he was ready to run whenever some sucker bought this place.

“Thanks for this kid! I’m gonna make a great life in the Capital now!” He called out while leaving.

I didn’t say it, but I wanted to tell him that his dream was stupid, but that didn’t really matter to me anyways. Any person as ill-intentioned as that should just wait and see what was going to happen.

I entered the place which was now mine and looked for the forge. There was indeed a forge here. It hadn’t been the best kept but with a little cleaning it would work for everything I needed it for. Now I just needed to get the materials, but to make a simple gun was going to be a challenge. The ones I’m going to make might not even stand up to the other weapons here.

I remembered another thing from my time working with those I cared about. Sometimes Flint would put magic crystals on his weapons. While at first I assumed it was just for an aesthetic, with new knowledge, now I could at least guess at what they did. They must have given the weapon the power of the crystals.

If they work with things like swords and bows, then they should easily work with a gun. It’s time I experiment around so that I’m fully prepared to meet with the rebels and take over as their leader. With this, it shouldn’t even be a contest to instate me for such a position. I was going to have my revenge.