The Night Rose - Chapter 29

“Oh well, you didn’t listen to the voice of reason and declared yourself as a murderer. I guess I might as well do this in an easy way,” Arwin said as she dropped rapier and pulled out the already loaded pistol before she shot Vincent in point-blank range.

Vincent suddenly collapsed. There was now a bleeding spot in his jeans as the bullet had penetrated his right leg.

“Can someone go and get the guards here? They need to confirm things as I just shot a man that declared himself as a murder,” Arwin asked loudly. Only then, they had started to realize what just happened.

As it all had happened so fast, and no one expected Arwin, to just shoot the man without even checking the facts.

“So, are you all just going to stare? Someone go and bring the city guard already! If not, this guy here might as well walk away.” Arwin said, annoyed by the onlookers’ reactions. It did not take long for someone to start running out of the bar, while calling for the guards continuously.

“Oh well, let me patch that up then, before you die and get me in trouble. This might hurt,” Arwin said to Vincent. She took out her dagger and then cut a piece of her clothes as a makeshift bandage.

However, when he got near Vincent, the man just winched from pain but still tried to take his dagger and defend himself.

“Jenn, can you calm him down, please? It’s quite hard to treat him when he’s aggressive, like a mad dog. Oh, let’s not do that as well. He might kill you. Let’s do it in the hard way then.” Arwin suddenly changed her mind and took the pistol from its barrel before hitting Vincent straight to the head with the handle.

Vincent collapsed to the ground once again, and Arwin then happily started to bandage the wound to stop the bleeding for now.

“There. This will keep you alive for a whole to talk.” Arwin murmured to herself with satisfaction.

Suddenly the door was kicked open at the same time; the city guards surrounded the place.

Fenton walked in, and when he looked first at Arwin and then Vincent, who was still unconscious laying on the floor.

“You! Young master in red, if you don’t give me a good explanation of why you shot a man suddenly, I will make sure you have a nice time in jail. I don’t like that my sleep is disturbed.” Fenton said, warningly.

“I do have witnesses around me that can prove whatever I will say is true. So let me begin. I was drinking here all alone before this lovely lady joined my company.” Arwin said while pointing out at Jenn.

“We talked for a moment, and suddenly this man on the floor, I guess with the name Vincent, barged in and started to threaten me and keep saying he will also kill himself and Jenn after. So I draw my sword out as he charged towards the lady and stopped him and tried to talk with him and asking for the reason.” Arwin explained as she moved around her hands, trying to emphasize what happened.

“He then started to howl something about his love towards this lady and that he had killed ten people before because they dared to touch her. He also declared that he was the phantom murderer. So I was slightly tipsy and felt that my life was threatened. There was also too much evidence against him, so to defend myself and everyone’s life here, I shot him.” Arwin sheepishly smiled out to Fenton.

“The phantom killer! Even if he was the phantom killer, you are still in a drunken state and has shot another man without confirming the facts in our city. So for at least this night, you have a unique chance to explore our city cell and clear your head. After we have confirmed the things you said, regarding the phantom killer, we will judge based on that, so you better wish that he really was really a serial killer or you will be in trouble. For now, give all of your weapons to mister Smith here.” Fenton said dismissively while clearly still annoyed by his sudden wake-up.

“Of course! I wouldn’t want to trouble you more this. Let me just first pay my bill to the bartender,” Arwin said before paying the amount she owned to the bartender. After that, she collected her weapons and giving them to Smith unhappily.

“Mister Smith, can you please escort him safely to the jails while we finish the things here,” Fenton asked while being happy about the fact that Arwin was actually listening and not causing any trouble. The more cooperative offenders are, the easier for their work to finish, then he could go back to sleep.

“Young master if you would be so kind as to follow me,” Smith said happily. For him, it was really good to get an easy case like this time, that wouldn’t need any dragging or fighting in this case.

“For the rest of you, gather everyone up and ask what happened here! You know the basics! Do it quickly as I want to go back to sleep,” Fenton ordered the rest of the guards.