“I’m looking for a sword.” Andrew had gone to the first weapon shop he could, he didn’t have time to shop around so he had to find one here...though he had to admit their selection wasn’t what he’d hoped for.
“Well this is the right place for that,” Said the owner of the weapons shop “Any particular style of sword officer?”
“Yes a ceremonial sword, its a gift for a subordinate who just got promoted.” Andrew hoped he could find one here, normally he could make one himself but he didn’t have the time to design one himself ‘Maybe her next promotion.’ He thought to himself
“In that case, how about this one?” The owner of the shop had shown Andrew over to a case and had taken a very intricate hilt, combinations of gold and red. “It may be a bit pricey but as you can see its worth it.”
“Hmm...well...” Andrew rubbed his chin “Shall we be honest with each other here?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m an alchemist, and I specialise in armour, swords and small arms. We both know that sword is actually made to look intricate but in actual fact to a trained eye it looks tacky. The hilt is chromed, not silver plated, the gold plating is actually a very thin and would looked worn within a month. Do you want me to guess about the blade itself? I’d guess it isn’t too strong and has too much flex to make it actually useful, this sword is made for people with a lot of money and no actual knowledge,” Andrew left it silent for a moment to settle “So unless you have any actually swords I must be on my way.”
“Phew...” The owner gave a sigh of what Andrew thought was relief “I’m glad to finally get a customer who knows his weapons.” So it was relief, Andrew felt relieved himself, the owner walked over to a door into a back room and opened it “Follow me.” He said before going in, and Andrew did.
The room was very small, compared to the shop front and there wasn’t many swords in here but Andrew could tell these were the real deal.
“See any you fancy?”
“Heh, if I’m honest all of them.”
“I can imagine, they are all beautiful weapons. How about you give me a few points and I’ll pick one, we’ll go from there.”
“Well that’s probably best. Ok, well blue mainly, to match the uniforms obviously. Tasteful use of gold along the hilt, and some laid into the hilt. Finally...I’m feeling that purple should be in there somewhere.” Andrew finished, he figured he was probably pushing it but if the guy had something even remotely like it then it would do.
“Hmm...” The owner was moving between the swords, and opening draws to reveal more, eventually he took a wooden box out and brought it over. “I believe this one suits your needs.” He said sliding open the wooden box to reveal the sword inside.
Andrew took the sword out of the box, the hilt was a deep blue with intricate gold markings down it, the rim was silver plated as was the guard, gold and blue spiralled down the handle which had a deep purple tassel on the end. He drew the blade out, it had a gold line running up each side to the tip other than that it was plain but strong.
“This is perfect!”
“Good, seeing as its a gift would you like any engraving?”
“No thanks I’m in a rush, I’ll add a message myself.”
“Very good I’ll throw in the best gift box. Seeing as its rare to sell one of these swords, and especially to someone who actually knows about them.” He put it into a dark blue wooden box, the inside of the box was deep purple velvet and made so the sword rested in the centre. Shortly after Andrew left the shop, some of his research money given to the shop’s owner but he thought it was worth it... Reyna could do with a gift considering he was about to lump all his responsibilities on her.
* * *
Andrew entered his office with the sword; Lynn was on the phone at his desk.
“So I got a sword, have you sorted out a new uniform?” Andrew was quite bouyed up with the sword, he felt that he’d made a good choice.
“Yes it should be here in half an hour at the most.” She looked up and saw how Andrew was holding the box “Fine put it on the desk lets see it.” Andrew didn’t really need telling twice.
“So what do you think?”
“That you actually do know a thing or two about swords. Is the blade engraved?”
“No not yet, I wasn’t sure what to have. Plus I can put one on myself. Can you think of anything?”
“Why not simply ‘Congratulations on your promotion’?”
“Come on Lynn that lacks any form of personalisation. Anyone can come up with something like that.”
“Well then what do you think?”
“Well I’m thinking something like ‘With rank comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes more paperwork.’”
“She won’t be able to confuse who the sword comes from with a message like that. Though saying that, it does suit you.”
“I’ll go with that then. Right, I can do it with the circle on my arm, seeing as its just manipulation.” With that Andrew motioned for Lynn to step aside as he touched the blade, there was a flash of silver light and words appeared on the blade.
‘With rank comes responsibility...’
“You’ve missed the rest.”
“Turn it over,” Lynn did and saw the rest of the inscription ‘...and with responsibility comes more paperwork.’ “I’m insulted that you’d think I’d make such a mistake!”
“Well someone has to keep checking up on you.”
“Yeah true, if it wasn’t for you I’d have brass on me every day and probably have been demoted down to Major. Right we’re just waiting on the uniform now.”
* * *
“She is in this room.” The nurse said as Andrew followed behind, she had just stopped by a door to one of the private rooms.
“Thank you.” Andrew had the sword box under one arm and a neatly folded dress uniform under the other; he figured he’d leave the sword outside, then he could spring it out after the uniform...it would make a good lead up to his and Lynn’s trip to West City...also it meant he could be vague about the details, something he needed.
