Published at 21st of February 2024 11:04 pm

Chapter 43 Weakened Pawnbroker

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Elmer had taken himself to the apartment of which its address had been written in the agreement paper, following his intuition that based on Lev’s current situation he’d most likely be at where he had penned down than at the pawnshop.

He waited for a moment on the last step of the three-stepped stairs flanked by brass banisters while he peered through his glasses at the medium terraced building of well polished bricks that rose before him.

There was little surprise beholding him at the sight of how well made the apartments stretching out in this street were in contrast to where he lived, partially because he was so tired he could sleep for two days straight, and partially because he had expected it.

The first time he had come to the North-East borough for the sole reason of committing a heinous crime against the Church through Hanky, he had noticed how neat and organized the ambience of this whole area was. It was still far behind the beauty of the Foreign District, no doubt, but it was well ahead the rowdiness of the Merchant’s District, and of course the Backwaters.

The silence here was of a different sort. It was peaceful and calm, and the hushed conversations of the genteel figures of men and ladies, and children as well, did little to rip through that silence.

To Elmer, this was a good place to live, but no one had to tell him that it was expensive. He could see well from the grand designs, the touch of nature in the sense of little gardens added to the front yards of a few houses, and the decorum of the people that shuffled against the cobblestone walkway, that this was not a place for those of his societal class.

This was a wealthier neighborhood than his, one seemingly bequeathed to those of the mid-societal class.

Elmer was not equally amazed that Lev lived here, after all, someone who could afford a thousand mint notes was definitely not a person who should be lumped in with those of the low societal class. But it somewhat baffled him that a pawnbroker could afford such an amount.

Was the job really paying that much?

Maybe when he too made enough from his hunting jobs he could move up the societal class and give Mabel a more conducive environment to live in. And at the same time employ a working maidservant to look after her while he sought out the knowledge that would bless him with a method to help her. That way she wouldn’t go hungry or miss her bath even if he was not home.

It was plausible. Though, he would have to do a thorough screening for whom he would employ, since he could not just bring any person to be with his sister, especially alone.

He wished he could do it all himself, but he knew that it was only going to get harder and harder for him to have the time to juggle taking care of her basic necessities and doing what he had to do for her sake.

Still…

Societal classes, huh…? Elmer heaved out an exhale. Hierarchies are really the most stupid things to ever grace this world… Besides the God of Souls, of course…

Elmer walked up the remainder of the stoop stairs and pushed open the door, which was crowned by the number twelve elaborately engraved above its wooden frame.

The floorboards made out of straightforward wooden planks creaked under Elmer’s feet following the shut of the door behind him as he stepped into the narrow hall featuring the interior of the apartment.

From the half-curtained window beside the entrance door spilled in rays of light that exuded a warm and cozy feeling, and put before Elmer’s eyes the rose-colored floral patterns which were painted on the blue walls that ran the length of the hall to a plain door at its end.

The designs were pretty and well done, but they still did not dare match the brilliance of the ones he had seen on the wallpapers at the mansion he and Patsy had snuck into.

Elmer turned his head to his left and took his time to study the door that stood closed there. He saw no carvings of the number two on it, but to confirm, he neared it and pushed it open, revealing a neatly designed bathroom graced with a well polished bathtub, sink, and water closet seat, all made out of porcelain.

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The water closet imbued him with jealousy. To relieve himself at the slums, he’d had to head out to the privy shed built behind the apartment and do his business on a toilet made of a wooden structure.

The orphanage’s hadn’t been much better in the toilet instance, and he was glad that they both had had no problems in the plumbing technicality, but still, he had been expecting something a bit better when he had arrived in a city. Something like the porcelain water closet he was gazing at now.

He had not been expecting living at an orphanage to be far better than living in a city. Well, it was his part of the city in truth. His way of living was not the same for everyone.

Elmer closed the door with a slightly sullen sigh and turned away.

He allowed himself a quick glance at the other door on the far end of the hall, but he shook his head as he guessed that it would probably lead to a kitchen, seeing as the one he just withdrew from was the bathroom.

Then he took his eyes through the newel stairs that led up to another floor, and shifted his gaze toward the cubic mini-pendant lamp framed by brass, dropping a tad from the wooden ceiling that made up the floorboards of the upper floor.

Upstairs it is…

Elmer went through the stairs to the upper floor and found himself in a space designed the same as the hall downstairs, only this one had no stairs to slim its narrowness even further.

Down the corridor was carved a single window into the wall which allowed light to pour in through it, giving Elmer the leeway to make out the numbers that were carved onto the two doors flanking him where he stood just a few steps farther from the stairs he had come up from.

The door to his right had the number one inscribed onto it in the middle of the ring-like cast-brass door knocker that graced its upper center.

Lev had penned down room number two, so Elmer instinctively shuffled away from the door he was facing and leaned toward the one to his left before he had even confirmed that it was the number two which was carved in the center of its door knocker.

Elmer had little to no doubt for that, after all, there were only two doors in this upper floor.

He closed in on the door, tightened his knuckles, and knocked three times.

It took a few seconds before a voice, which had once been giddy to Elmer, but now seemingly drowning in a deep sea of exhaustion, echoed out of the room that made up the other side from his current position, saying, “Who’s there?”

He cleared his throat before answering, “It’s Elmer.”

It all went silent for a moment, then the voice said, this time closer, “Elmer?” It sounded a bit skeptical.

But as Elmer was about to respond to that skeptic tone, he heard a click from the door and he shuffled a step backward as it pushed open and revealed Lev’s face, a worn-out visage with narrow eyes of amber painted underneath their lids by small traces of shadows that spelled fatigue accumulated for at least a few weeks.

Even as weary as Elmer was, he knew his tiredness held not a single candle to that of the pretty pawnbroker before him. The young man needed his sleep, or his body might be forced to take it from him in some other manner—one that would be anything but pleasant.

Lev grunted as he slid his fingers beneath his disheveled hair and scratched it in a fairly weak way. “Glasses? What are you doing here?” He washed his eyes over Elmer, forgetting that he had agreed to drop that nickname. “And how did you find out where I live?” Lev ceased his scratches and yawned. Elmer sighed at that as his body almost instantaneously reacted with a yawn as well. “Ah, pardon me,” Lev said. “I’m just so tired. So, how did you—”

“I took on your job,” Elmer cut through Lev’s lengthy talk. He did not have the time to waste.

Lev immediately had a dazed look take over his face, though it was a weak one. “I-I don’t think I follow. Mind…” He trailed off with another yawn. “Sorry. Mind elaborating?” he asked as he scratched his eyes.

Elmer licked his lips with a sniffle. “The Glowing Eye bureau,” he mentioned and Lev’s eyes twitched in response as his brows pulled in. Elmer nodded at that. “Yes. I’m the bounty hunter who took on your job.”

Lev eyed Elmer in silence for a moment, the expression leaking out of his weary countenance telling Elmer that the pawnbroker was unsure of what to say.

You don’t like me as the bounty hunter, huh, Lev…?

“So Hank got that seal forged, I see.” After his talk, Lev pinched his eyes and shook his head, following his sudden stagger which had prompted him to lean on the frame of his door. “Ugh. I could fall here. Come inside, glasses. I want to sit down.”

There’s no need… I don’t have the time…

Those were the words Elmer had wanted to let loose from his lips, but as he watched Lev push the door open for him and turn around to wobble heavily back into a closer vicinity of his room, he kept his mouth shut.

He could as well let his legs rest for even a moment. After all, he had strained them quite a lot today.

Elmer took himself past the line that marked the boundary between Lev’s room and the corridor, and pulled the door close following his completed entrance.

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