Winterworth looked at the Black Ebony.
"Its original owner gave the gun its name."
"He was the first person I partnered with when I became an Inspector. He’d been in the business a few years longer than me. I called him Old Kai."
Richard’s heart skipped a beat. ’That’s the name the other man shouted when the Unyielding Pit was overturned.’
"He said the hardwood on the grip was so dark it looked like black ebony, so he just called it that."
"After his sacrifice, I brought back this item he left behind.
Because no one in his family is involved in the Mysterious Side, I’ve kept it for him ever since."
Winterworth lifted the gun from the velvet.
"This gun was worked on by an old alchemist on Covent Street, in the Imperial Capital."
He turned the gun over, palm up, and offered the grip to Richard.
"Here, take it."
Richard took it.
The gun was nearly half again as heavy as his police-issue Webley.
The curve of the grip fit his palm perfectly, and the balance was exceptional.
When he aimed with one hand, he barely had to make an effort to steady the muzzle.
He activated his Spiritual Vision, scanning the entire gun.
Under his Spiritual Vision, a ring of silver thread around the six chambers of the Bullet Nest lit up.
The same type of impossibly fine Inscription ran along the inner wall of the barrel, from the breech all the way to the muzzle.
It took Richard a moment to identify the function of the small silver Nail at the base of the grip.
That silver Nail was the inlet for Ether to enter the gun.
"A Basic Enchantment," Winterworth explained.
He pointed to the small silver Nail at the end of the grip.
"The user pushes Ether in through here, where it’s stored in the cylinder."
"Once fully charged, the Inscription applies an Exorcism effect to the rounds."
"How strong is the effect?" Richard asked.
"About the same as a Single-Ring Enchanted Bullet."
Winterworth gave a small smile.
"It won’t do much against Middle Tier and higher Evil Beings, but it’s more than enough to handle a Fog Shadow infestation on the scale of yesterday’s."
Richard did some quick mental math.
Enchanted Bullets were consumables, and every shot was like burning through cash.
But with the Black Ebony, you could just reload the Silver Bullets and recharge the Enchantment.
Winterworth continued.
"I’m giving you the gun as a private transfer. That way, we don’t have to go through any official channels, and it avoids leaving an unnecessary paper trail."
Richard looked at the gun and didn’t bother with a false show of refusal.
For an enchanted cylinder handcrafted by an alchemist, the smithing fee alone would be dozens of pounds.
But the significance this gun carried went far beyond any monetary value.
"I’ll put it to good use."
He cradled the wooden case in his arms.
As he reached the office door, Winterworth called out to him again.
"Richard."
"Yes?"
Winterworth sat back down behind his desk.
He hung his head, looking exhausted.
"That gun never failed in Old Kai’s hands. In the end, I was the one who failed."
"...Don’t let it fail in yours, either."
"Mm."
Winterworth nodded.
He said nothing more, just lowered his head to look at the unapproved documents on his desk.
......
By the time he got home, it was already afternoon.
The bus pulled up to the stop at the East of Waste Rock Lane, and he stepped off.
The early spring Sun was pale. A few of the neighbors’ children were having a snowball fight in the street.
When he reached his front door, he first stomped the snow from his soles before straightening his coat.
He pushed the door open. Margaret was in the kitchen.
"You’re back?" She poked her head out from the kitchen.
"...I’m back."
Richard hung his coat on the rack by the door and set his shoulder bag down by the stairs.
’Mother never asked questions.
She only listened when I was ready to talk.’
Hearing the noise, Evelyn came running down from the second floor, her steps a loud THUMP, THUMP, THUMP on the stairs.
"Brother!"
She threw her arms around Richard’s arm.
"Where did you run off to? You didn’t come home to Sleep last night. Mom and I were waiting for you for ages."
"I was with my professor on a research trip."
Richard replied with the excuse he’d prepared earlier:
"We took a tour of the mining museum, studying the industrial history of the old mining shafts."
"Industrial history?" Evelyn pouted. "You’re totally lying to me again."
"I’m not. Look..."
Richard pulled an old receipt from his coat pocket—one he’d casually picked up at the Branch Office. "This is one of our records."
"..."
Evelyn took the receipt and looked it over, finding that it was, in fact, an exceedingly boring industrial record.
She handed it back to him, a little disappointed.
"Your kind of ’field research’ is so boring."
"It is pretty boring," Richard agreed with a serious nod. "But my professor said we’d get a stipend for it, so I went."
"How much was the stipend?"
"Three pounds."
Evelyn’s eyes immediately lit up.
"Three pounds!"
Lunch was simple. Margaret had made a pot of beef and potato stew, served with bread.
Richard ate a large portion. After the previous night’s exertion, the [Eating] ability was rapidly replenishing all sorts of nutritional signals.
As they ate, Evelyn told him what had happened at school the day before.
The chatty girl in her class was called on in front of everyone to recite the royal line of succession.
She ended up reciting it backward, and the teacher, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, gave her lines as punishment.
Also, the baker’s wife from downstairs was recently pregnant.
She was still in the shop today, kneading dough herself, which made the customers so nervous they were afraid to speak, worried they might startle her.
Listening to all this, the knot that had been sitting in Richard’s stomach since last night slowly began to unwind.
After dinner, he had tea with his Mother in the living room for a while.
Evelyn ran off to the kitchen to continue working on her new dessert.
Richard leaned closer to his Mother and lowered his voice.
"...Something happened over at the West Suburb Mine Area."
Margaret didn’t look up. She simply raised the teacup to her lips and blew on it gently.

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