by Aneko Yusagi
The old guy disappeared into the back of the shop and then returned with a single katana in hand. The design looked rather crude. The base of the blade near the guard still looked like a chunk of unprocessed siderite. I wondered if he’d shaped it that way on purpose. The old guy noticed where I was looking and started to explain.
“This is to guide the power of the siderite up into the blade. I know it looks strange, but there’s nothing I can really do about that.”
“I thought that might be the case.”
It just looked like a poorly made katana to me.
“It’d been a long time since I last made a katana. Just like I suspected, I’m still far from the master’s level.”
“It looks like a pretty impressive blade to me,” Raphtalia whispered.
She was squinting at the blade. Did it really look impressive? I tried using my appraisal skill.
Siderite Katana: quality: excellent
The quality was higher than it had been for the shield.
“I’m sure our master would have been able to make something much more impressive,” said the old guy.
Oh? Regardless, I never felt like the old guy’s work was lacking, so it was hard to imagine that being true.
“I’m not interested in wasting time wishing for the impossible. And even if your master were here, I still would have come to you.”
“Thanks, kid. You’re right. Crafting a variety of things is good for me.”
“I’m not going to let you leave me behind, so I guess I should get to work too. I’m getting some good ideas here,” Imiya’s uncle interjected.
“Oh? I won’t let you catch up!”
The old guy and Imiya’s uncle started glaring at each other. I’m sure I was only imagining the backdrop of flames that appeared behind them. They were good friends, but they were obviously rivals too.
“Can you sense anything about this katana, Atla?”
Being blind made Atla sensitive to life force, which allowed her to sense the presence of people. I had been curious whether she could sense other things as well, so I decided to ask what she thought.
“You mean that blade, I assume. I can feel power emanating from it. It seems to be slightly different than the usual equipment.”
It seemed like she could sense something. Then again, she always made her way around the village effortlessly, so I figured that might be the case.
“It seems to be an excellent piece of equipment. Giving it to Raphtalia would be a waste,” she added.
“You’re really something,” Raphtalia replied.
She seemed to realize that saying anything more than that would just cause trouble and decided not to engage Atla.
“Alright, let’s have Raphtalia try holding it, then,” I said.
“Righto! But don’t be firing off any skills in my shop!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He was referring to the time I used Shooting Star Shield in the shop. I’d just wanted to show it to the old guy, but it ended up making a bit of a mess. I guess he was still upset about that.
Raphtalia held the katana and her weapon copy activated.
“It worked. I was able to copy the weapon.”
“Oh yeah? Did you get any new skills?” I asked.
“I did. Let’s see. The skill is called . . .”
It was probably Shooting Star Katana. Ren was the Sword Hero and he got his Shooting Star Sword skill when he copied the Siderite Sword. The other heroes and I had also gotten skills that were a combination of “Shooting Star” and our weapon names.
“Stardust Blade.”
“Huh?”
It was “Stardust” instead of “Shooting Star.” They both had to do with stars, but that still wasn’t quite the same thing. I guess if a shooting star fell to the earth, it could be considered stardust. The weapon had come from siderite, so it wasn’t a completely unrelated concept.
Also, the name wasn’t being translated into Japanese by my shield. It was giving me a transliteration of the English instead. That reminded me that Raphtalia’s vassal weapon had come from Kizuna’s world. That must have meant that different rules applied, and it would give different skills too. That was kind of disappointing.
“The skill name is a bit different,” she said.
Now that I thought about it, I had no idea how skill names were even decided. The skills that Kizuna, Glass, and L’Arc used had all been translated into Japanese by my shield. And yet, here in this world, Raphtalia’s katana had given her a skill that sounded foreign.
“I thought it would be named ‘Shooting Star.’ That’s disappointing,” I said.
“Why is that disappointing?” she asked.
I thought I would be able to say she had joined the shooting star idiots. And that we were shooting star buddies.
“You’re always letting Mr. Naofumi down, aren’t you?” said Atla.
“Why are you blaming it on me?! The katana chose the name on its own!”
“Atla, you’re overdoing it with comments like that. Watch yourself,” I said.
“Understood!”
Did she really understand? Raphtalia gave the Siderite Katana back to the old guy, since she had finished copying it.
“Crafting this was good practice, anyway. Let me know if you need anything else,” he said.
“Will do. And you give me a call if you get stuck too. There could be some kind of trick to working with those Spirit Tortoise materials that I could help figure out.”
“Yeah, that’s a possibility. Got it. I’m sure you want to try that new weapon out, right? Go give it a swing or two.”
“Yeah. Alright, we’ll be back. I’ll bring some of that ore you wanted next time.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
And so we hurried back to the village. As for Stardust Blade, the name of the skill might have been different, but it was basically the same as Ren’s Shooting Star Sword skill. The required SP and the cool down time were both reasonable, and Raphtalia said it should be quite useful.
Around a week passed, and things were strangely peaceful. I continued my Hengen Muso style training by sparring with Atla daily. When I had a bit of spare time, I took the lumos out to the mines and had them mine ore, which I delivered to the old guy afterward. Just as I had expected, the lumos really seemed to enjoy their time digging in the mines. They looked exactly like moles when they were digging around in the dirt with their claws. The look of joy on the old guy’s face when he got the ore was unforgettable.
Wyndia and Rat had been keeping a regular growth log for the baby dragon, Gaelion. He had been growing really quickly since he’d been going out and leveling with the slaves. Sadeena had helped out, and he’d reached level 38 in just one week. He looked much bigger too.
It was morning, and I was already sighing. This again?
Atla had made a habit of showing up in my bed lately. Her advances had been overt to start out with, but recently she was bordering on outright aggressive. The fact that she was able to sneak into my bed without me noticing meant that she had some real skill. I wondered if she’d been practicing moving around silently or something. Maybe that was her way of dealing with my tendency to be sensitive to the presence of others.
I had a talk with Fohl every time it happened, but Atla still always managed to get away from him. In the beginning, Fohl had mistakenly assumed she was sleeping. Last night, he had apparently gotten sleepy and conked out. Atla had made him a snack before that, and I was guessing that she had mixed some kind of sleeping drug in it. Maybe she’d gotten her hands on something from Gaelion. I’d heard that he’d gained an ability called Sleep Breath.
Before that, she’d put Fohl to sleep . . . physically. I wondered what had happened this time.
“Sorry, Mr. Naofumi! I fell asleep with the children last night, which is why I didn’t come back.”
The door swung open suddenly, and Raphtalia, of all people, came barging in with the worst possible timing. Her expression changed to one of puzzleme
nt.
“Umm . . . Nothing happened between you two, right?”
“What the hell would happen?”
Atla showing up in my bed like this sure was troublesome. Being puritanical, Raphtalia was probably upset now. But come on, did she really think I would do something like that? Sadeena was the one that actually scared me. She showed up every now and then too. She’d get drunk and come to “hang out.” I woke up early, so I was always tired at night. Didn’t she know that?
Raphtalia sighed.
“You’re right. You’re not that kind of person,” she said.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Anyway, get Fohl over here. He’s the one we should really be worried about.”
This time he’d been on the floor, wrapped up in a bamboo mat. He’d been back at the house lying on his stomach and struggling, unable to move.
“Mr. Naofumi? Why don’t you stop her?” asked Raphtalia.
“I told her to leave and chased her out once. She ended up sleeping outside in front of the house. Before that, I set her slave curse to punish her if she got into my bed and she still showed up.”
“Is she some kind of monster?!”
I chased her out and she went and slept in front of my house. I tried to use the slave curse to punish her, but apparently it was ineffective. She had gotten used to being in pain from head to toe when she was sick. She just kept sleeping like nothing had happened. So this is what it meant to make good on one’s word. Fohl had gotten really pissed off, but what was I supposed to do?
“That’s right. You’re not that kind of person.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that today, so I’m going to repeat myself too. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hmm? What’s the matter, Mr. Naofumi?”
Atla woke up. She was acting like she was completely innocent. Did she not realize we were trying to figure out what to do about her?
“Do you really not know?” I asked.
“Does sleeping together really bother you that much?”
“Honestly, it’s a problem. I’m sure you’re in pain too.”
“Rather than feel any pain, it makes me feel warm inside. Why can’t we sleep together?”
“Your brother will make a fuss about it.”
“Atla! Why do you keep trying to go sleep with a jerk like that?!”
“See what I mean?”
“Don’t worry about it, Brother. I’m simply fond of Mr. Naofumi is all.”
Well, damn it. I guess Atla was just going to be a troublemaker. Her personality was completely different than when she had been sick. I could only think of one possibility.
“Raphtalia. Fohl.”
“Yes?”
“What?!”
“I think this might be a side effect of the Elixir of Yggdrasil.”
“Huh?”
Yeah. I couldn’t imagine it being anything else.
“Look at the old lady. She calls me ‘Saint’ and acts fond of me too. The Elixir of Yggdrasil must make the recipient infatuated with whoever gives it to them. Maybe that’s why even the slave curse can’t stop Atla.”
It was the single weakness of the otherwise almighty medicine. That had to be it. The side effect must have been stronger in Atla’s case since the medicine had been so effective for her. Setting the slave curse settings to be any more restrictive could be dangerous. Worst case, Atla could die.
“We’ll just have to be extra careful until the side effects wear off,” I said.
“I see. Understood!”
“Huh?!”
Raphtalia seemed to be persuaded by my theory, but Fohl sounded unconvinced.
“Is something wrong?” I asked him.
“Oh, uh, no! You’re right! It has to be a side effect! The medicine was powerful enough to completely heal Atla, after all. There’s no doubt it’s just a side effect!”
“You’re wrong, Mr. Naofumi! I am truly fond of you, Mr. Naofumi!” Atla argued.
“Come on, Atla! We’re going leveling again, today!” shouted Fohl.
“But, Mr. Naofumi!” Atla called out.
Fohl dragged Atla out of the house. Then again, I’d be training with her after breakfast, but whatever. I closed the door. As soon as I did, I heard a knock.
“Yes?”
Raphtalia responded and opened the door. But there was no one there.
“Huh?”
Raphtalia looked all around. Confused, she closed the door.
“There was no one there,” she said.
“Yeah. Over the past few days, someone in the village has been playing pranks, it seems.”
Morning and night, one of the slaves had been knocking on my door and then running away whenever I was at home. It had been happening especially often whenever I was the only one there. The fact that it had happened while Raphtalia was there was unexpected.
“I thought that maybe the door was just making noises at first, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
I had one of the soldiers who fixed up the houses take a look at it, but he told me that it wasn’t crooked or anything. I tried standing by the door and waiting for whoever it was the other day. I opened the door the instant there was a knock. It had been Keel. I tried the same thing once early in the morning, and it had been Atla showing up at her usual time. When it was Keel, she had shown up with some of the other slaves to ask what we were having for breakfast, so I was pretty sure she wasn’t the culprit.
“Maybe I’ll try interrogating the villagers at breakfast time.”
“Do you really think any of the children would do something like that to you?”
“One of them is doing it, whether I think so or not.”
“I guess so . . .”
Raphtalia wanted to believe in the villagers. I could understand how she felt. But it was a fact that one of them was misbehaving, and that meant that whoever it was needed to be punished.
“But whatever. It’s about time for me to make my usual visit to the monster stable. You want to come with me?”
“Umm, sure.”
And so I went about finishing up my usual morning routine before making preparations for breakfast.
Chapter Five: Knock and Run
At breakfast, once all of the slaves had gathered, I made a quick adjustment to the slave seal settings and then addressed them.
“I want whoever has been causing mischief lately, when I’m at home, to come forward now.”
Nobody responded. On top of that, none of the slave seals activated. Did that mean it wasn’t one of the slaves? In that case . . . I glared at Ren and the soldiers that were stationed at the village. They all shook their heads in denial. Who the hell was it, then?
“Hmm . . .”
“What’s wrooong, Master?”
“Rafu?”
Filo was eating breakfast with us today. Raph-chan was sitting on top of her head, like usual. What was so great about her head, anyway?
“Someone has been knocking on my door and then running away whenever I’m at home alone.”
Whoever it was would be gone by the time I could open the door, which meant that the person had to be really fast. That was true even if they were hiding somewhere. I could try having Atla or Raphtalia keep watch, but the culprit seemed to have really sharp intuition and didn’t show up when someone was standing guard. The worst part was that they came in the middle of the night too.
“Oh? Should I stand guard?” asked Filo.
“Rafu?”
“The person doesn’t come when someone is standing guard. I’ll just have to lure them out. I’m going to catch them no matter what.”
Filo didn’t give a reaction to my show of determination, which meant that she wasn’t the culprit either.
“Okaaay!”
“Listen up, Raphtalia and Atla. I’m going to catch the culprit this afternoon, so I want you to stay away from my place after lunch.”
“Understood. I’ve been wanting to ask the master about using life fo
rce, so I’ll go do that,” said Raphtalia.
“But, Mr. Naofumi, I want to be with you,” Atla replied.
“Didn’t you just hear me say I was going to lure the culprit out? That goes for all of you. Don’t come knocking on my door today, no matter what.”
“Okay!” shouted the slaves.
Of course, if the culprit didn’t show up, that would make all of them suspects. Either way, after I finished my late morning training, I headed back to my house to lure the culprit out and waited for a knock.
Knock, knock.
I warned everyone to stay away from my place that morning. That had to be the culprit. I wasn’t going to let them get away today. Even if it wasn’t the culprit, I was going to catch whoever just knocked!
“Shield Prison!”
I trapped whoever had knocked on the door in a cage of shields and then opened the door to see who the prankster was. The prison was shaking as someone crashed around inside. The trap had been a success.
“What’s going on, Count?”
“Oh hey, Rat. What are you doing here at a time like this?”
“I’m just taking a walk for a change of pace. What’s going on here?”
“I mentioned that some prankster had been knocking on my door and running away this morning, right?”
“I guess you did. So the prankster is in there? I wonder who it is.”
We waited for the prison’s effect to wear off so that we could see who was inside.
“Kwaaaa!”
I’m pretty sure Rat and I both had the same look of bewilderment on our faces. I guess it did make sense to suspect the monsters if the culprit wasn’t a slave. But I never imagined that one of the monsters would be doing something like knocking on doors and running away. Gaelion the Knock and Run Dragon flew away as soon as he was free from the cage of shields. Without hesitation, I brought up the monster seal settings and delivered him a punishing jolt.
“Kwaaaaaa?!”
Gaelion fell out of the sky and writhed about on the ground.
Including his tail, Gaelion was around two meters in length now. He looked pretty much like what someone might expect a dragon to look like. I guess his tail was a bit on the fat side though. He had big eyes and still looked cute. He seemed a bit overweight too. His growth had finally started to level off to a certain extent. He hadn’t gotten as big as I imagined he would.
