"Hm? What?

" the girls blinked in surprise.

"What'cha starin' at me for? I'm askin' ya. What kind of gun do ya guys want?

" the man repeated, reiterating what he just said.

"Er...you mean to say, you'll give us all a gun from your shop?

" I asked.

The man shorted.

"Yer in a gun shop, kid. If I ain't givin' ya guns, what the hell am I gonna give ya?

"

"Wait, for free?

" Xiang Peng asked, eyes shining in excitement.

"Hm...yes, but actually no,

" the man replied cryptically.

"Lemme explain.

"

He placed his two elbows on the countertop and rested his chin on his hands. Dropping his tone, he continued.

"If ya guys can eradicate the nest of a certain gang 'round here for me...I'll let ya have the weapons fer free. Ya can choose to pay normally as well...but lemme just say this right now. The money ya got from the outside...won't work inside The Fortress. We don't do coins and bills 'round here. We do material trade. Information exchange. That kinda stuff.

"

"...We'll accept the deal,

" I said after a slight pause.

"W-Wha, hey! S-Shouldn't we, like, talk about it first?

" Feng Mian protested. Lan Xiao Su nodded in agreement.

"No, he's right,

" Yu An Yan said.

"There's not much else we can do here. If we don't accept the deal, we have nothing to exchange for the guns here. And if we can't get a gun...our magic would be rendered useless against these firearms that everyone else possesses.

"

"Yeah yeah! Let's do this!

" Qing Yue exclaimed happily, jumping up and down.

"As expected,

" the man said with a chuckle.

"You are a wise one, boy.

"

"I said we would accept, but under our own conditions,

" I said, cutting him off.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?

"

"You give us the weapons first. Then we'll go blow up this nest or whatever,

" I said.

"We can't accomplish the task without the guns.

"

"...And how can I trust that you'll come back?

" the man replied. A valid argument.

After some mental debate, I answered.

"I'll get one of us to stay behind with you while we go do this mission. She can be your hostage, in case we try and run with the guns. Sound good?

"

The man scratched his beard.

"Oh...how interestin'. Fine! I like it! Who'll be staying behind?

"

I pointed at Flaria, who had been exempt from the conversation all this time.

"H-Huh? Me? What? What about me?

" she looked around, confused.

"Hmph. Put simply, Xuan Kai here is using you as a bargaining chip,

" Obsidia said truthfully.

Well...that's not wrong, but why do you have to make it sound so evil? This is just to convince the guy...it's not like we're actually going to just take the guns and run. This girl right here is a genuine phoenix, despite how she acts. A couple of rifles aren't going to make me give her up.

"W-W-W-What?! H-Hey! Master! Tell me she's lying!

" Flaria exclaimed, turning to me and pulling on my sleeve.

I sighed, then bent down and patted her head gently.

"Look, I just need you to stay here with this kind old man for a little while we go kick some gangster ass, okay? Very simple.

"

"W-Wait, she wasn't lying?!

" Flaria looked around, desperate for help. The other girls all averted their gazes, feeling too guilty to say anything. Looking at it from an objective standpoint, it was the best decision to sacrifice Flaria here while keeping everyone else for this mission. Reason being, Flaria still wasn't a fully grown phoenix yet. Her power was still really weak compared to the other members of our group. Taking her along would just be a burden, put bluntly.

"Alright...now that that's settled, let's pick out some guns for ya, yeah?

" the man said, spreading his arms.

"Let's start with ya, boy. What kind of gun do ya want?

"

"Hm...preferably something that's a little bit of everything. Hits hard, decent range, manageable recoil...but most importantly, doesn't hinder my movement in anyway. So nothing big like a machine gun or sniper.

"

"Heh. Quite the picky one, huh? Oh well...the gun type that will suit you is probably hand cannons then.

"

"Hand cannons...?

"

"Yeah. Take a look to yer left,

" the man said, and I complied. On the left wall lay many handgun-style weapons, from revolvers to pistols.

"Aren't these just handguns?

" I asked.

The man shook his head, and walked out from behind the counter.

"The proper term for these is 'hand cannon'. And they are everything ya asked for - hard hitting, good range...well, the only bad thing about them is the recoil. These babies kick strong. Can ya handle it?

"

He took off a black and red hand cannon from the many that lay on the wall.

"Here. Try this one. It matches your eye color, a deadly crimson.

"

I took the gun from his hands, and inspected it. I decided not to reveal the fact that I had another gun in my back pocket - the one I stole from that guy I injured.

"Hm...the grip feels nice, but I can't test the recoil without actually shooting it...and, well, there's no ammo in this thing,

" I said, twirling the gun around my finger.

"I'll get ya the MPC for this gun...just lemme find it...

" the man went back around the counter, and pulled open the cabinet below.

"C'mon...where is it...ah, found it.

"

He pulled out a cardboard box and placed it on the counter. Opening it with ease, he revealed what looked like a...syringe? He then passed the syringe-like device over to me.

"Stab that thing anywhere on yer body,

" he instructed.

"Uh...won't I bleed to death?

" I asked carefully.

"Hell no. Stop bein' so overdramatic. This thing is a MPC, and these devices are customized so that they don't draw blood when they are stabbed into yer body - only mana,

" the man replied with a scoff.

"Huh...I see,

" I murmured, before stabbing the sharp end of the syringe into my wrist. For some reason, it didn't hurt at all. In fact, there was no blood coming out. I did feel like mana was getting sucked out of my body, however.

"Alright, now push down on the other end,

" the man ordered.

I did as told, and when I pushed down, the syringe revealed something inside - a projectile. A single bullet. It fell out onto the counter, and I stopped applying pressure onto the syringe.

"All that...for a single bullet?

" I murmured. The whole process took about 5 seconds, give or take. Sounds short, but depending on how much ammo you want for reserves, this could become hella tedious, real damn quick.

The man shrugged.

"Mhm. If ya don't like doin' this, ya can also buy ammo packs made from other people's mana. But that'll cost ya extra.

"

"Nah, I'm good, thanks...hand cannons don't need that much ammo anyway, I'm assuming?

" I asked.

"Yep. The model ya got there can fit 9 bullets in the chamber at a time.

"

"9...so if I wanted 20 mags worth of reserves, that would be 180 bullets in total,

" I muttered.

"Assuming it takes 5 seconds to make one bullet...multiply by 180...900 seconds is equivalent to 15 minutes. That's not that bad...but what about machine gun users and stuff?

"

"Those guys usually buy ammo packs,

" the man explained.

"But machine guns aren't that popular in the first place. People who use machine guns can easily be taken out by a sniper before they even have a chance to use their weapon. Because of how heavy their gun is, they got no mobility, making them a hella easy target for snipers.

"

"That's fair, I suppose,

" I replied, before picking up the single bullet I had created.

"So...uh, how do you...put this thing in?

"

"It's easy,

" the man replied.

"Just delatch the chamber by giving it a good push and a swing.

"

I did as told, swinging the gun from right to left. The chamber popped out from the force, and I inserted my single bullet into one of the nine holes. I then swung the gun from left to right, before giving it a firm push just to make sure the chamber was latched on again. Then, I took aim at the target dummy placed in the corner of the room, and shot, under the watchful gazes of the curious girls.

I expected noise...but none came. But I did see smoke coming out of the gun's muzzle, so I was sure the bullet had shot. That, and the dummy's head was smoking too. But where was the loud noise I had expected?

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell ya. This baby's a silenced hand cannon. Doesn't make a sound,

" the man said with a wink.

I blinked.

"Huh...

"

"But that aside...how's the recoil? Can ya handle it...actually, never mind. Seeing as how you hit the poor dummy's head despite this bein' the first time you've ever touched a gun, it's clear you can manage the recoil.

"

"Yeah...this is perfect,

" I replied, inspecting the gun closely. It was mainly black with red designs, and had a little red icon etched on the side of the chamber - a diamond shape with two chevrons on the left and right of it. It looked simple, but cool. The same icon appeared again on the grip of the hand cannon - but this time, instead of being full red, only the outline was. The shape was otherwise black - the same color as the background.1

"Awesome,

" the man said, before turning to the other girls.

"Now then, ladies, it's yer turn. I know you've been living in shelter and stuff in the past, but now yer in The Fortress. This ain't no mansion. This is a battleground...and in order to survive in it, ya gotta learn to kill. And the first step to doin' that? Findin' yerself a damn good weapon.

"