Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 1

by Yuu Tanaka

  Hey, so about Skill Taker—

  I explained the gist of how it worked.

  “Sounds good.”

  You think so?

  “It’s an Extra Skill. That makes it extra powerful.”

  Okay. I’ll level it up.

  I followed her lead and got it up to Level 2.

  Skill Taker 2: Choose a Level 2 skill with Rarity 2 or lower to steal. Has a 60% chance of success. Can only be used once per target. Cooldown: 2 days. Effective range is skill level in meters.

  Sixty percent at Level 2? Well, let’s see how far we can take this, Skill Taker! It took 3 EP for every level of Extra Skill. I was down to 16 EP, but I had no regrets.

  Skill Taker 10: Choose a Level 10 skill with Rarity 10 or lower to steal. Has a 100% chance of success. Can only be used once per target. Cooldown: 18 days. Effective range is skill level in meters.

  I had to wait eighteen days between each Skill Taker use. I needed to think about how I was going to make it viable. We had two attempts between Fran and me, so I supposed we could afford to be more lenient about using it. The only thing left to do was to look up the Rarity 10 skills. Would they show up on Identify if I leveled it up? This skill would be broken if it could actually take Extra and Unique Skills.

  I couldn’t wait to use it. Not now though, since I was surrounded by my guildsmen. Maybe bandits would come and assault us; not that there were bandits stupid enough to attack so many adventurers at once.

  The trip back to the guild was uneventful, but the guild itself was filled with cheer. The adventurers’ faces were lit up with the joy of victory and getting paid.

  “Come with me, little lady.”

  “’Kay.”

  Donadrond led Fran to the Guildmaster’s office. The adventurers we passed by weren’t surprised to see this; they knew she had contributed the most during the raid. There were rumors regarding Fran’s ability floating about the guild, but now there was hard evidence to convert even the most doubtful of skeptics.

  “Nice. She must be getting a bonus.”

  “She did turn things around for us. Couldn’t believe it at first.”

  “She saved my life!”

  “How is she so strong at that age?”

  “She’s a monster. An absolute monster.”

  “Wonder if she’ll join our party.”

  “God, Fran’s so cute.”

  Fifty percent were thankful, forty percent were jealous, ten percent were scared. That last guy though? He creeped me out.

  “Hello, Fran. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Hey.”

  “First, you have my thanks. You averted what could’ve been a disaster for the city. And to think there was a Daemon in that dungeon… It would’ve killed more of our members if we had carried out our original plan.” The GM gave us a businesslike smile. Unlike Donadrond, we couldn’t let our guard down around him. He seemed to suspect us of foul play.

  “It was reckless of you to charge ahead like you did. However, it did end up saving us, so I will let it slide this time.”

  He’d decided not to take disciplinary action against her after weighing out multiple factors.

  “I’ve taken a look at the Daemon corpse you brought in.”

  Donadrond must’ve shown him.

  “It was a B-Rank monster. Did you really kill that thing by yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  “If so, that would make you an A-Rank adventurer.”

  I was happy for the compliment, but A-Rank quests were notorious for being dangerous.

  “I got lucky.”

  “How do you mean?”

  We wanted to defer our promotion for the moment. So, we told him the truth.

  “I see. So you distracted it by attacking the Dungeon Master and killed the Daemon while its guard was down…”

  “The Dungeon Master was dumb.”

  “I still find it odd that it didn’t die instantly. But, moving on to the matter of the Daemon’s carcass…”

  “Yeah?”

  “We’ve determined the cause of death to be a sword through the chest. Now, how many people do you think can penetrate a demon’s mana barrier?”

  “I dunno.”

  “Of course you don’t… No matter. Now, my real question.” The GM sighed before looking right at her. “What happened to the Daemon’s crystal core?”

  “It’s gone.”

  “You must understand…that demon cores are of extremely high value. Even the government wants them.”

  “Right.”

  “You really don’t have it?”

  “It no longer exists in this world.”

  Because I absorbed it.

  “Oh, fine. I believe you.”

  We weren’t technically lying so I guess we were in the clear…

  …or so I thought.

  “Hold on! Are you really going to let her get away with that?!”

  The door slammed open as an intruder barged into the Guildmaster’s office. The intruder was a fat, unhealthy-looking man who somehow still managed to fit into his silver armor.

  Who was this? I’d never seen him before. I barely registered his presence, though he had his equipment to thank for that.

  Name: August Allsand

  Age: 29

  Race: Human

  Class: Fighter

  Status: Normal

  LV: 30

  HP: 108; Magic: 99; Strength: 52; Agility: 45

  Skills: Acting 1; Singing 1; Riding 1; Deception 1; Royal Etiquette 4; Sword Mastery 1; Calculation 1; Sociable 2; Poison Resistance 1; Poison Knowledge 2; Herbology 2

  Unique Skill: Essence of Falsehood 5

  Title: Viscount; Lieutenant of the Knight Brigade

  Equipment: Mithril Longsword; Silver Plate Mail; Red Lion Cloak; Ring of Presence Concealment

  The fat man was all over the place. He was Level 30, but his stats were as low as an E-Rank. His skill collection was just pitiful. He probably got Sociable through being a noble. And his Sword Mastery was at Level 1? He was supposed to be the Lieutenant of Knights!

  “Let her get away with what, Sir August?”

  “You said it yourself. A Daemon’s crystal? You’re going to let that girl walk out of here with a demon crystal?!”

  “I see. You must understand that the guild allows adventurers to keep the materials of whatever they could gather for themselves. If there were a crystal left for the girl to keep, then it is well within her rights. Further, she could have picked the Daemon clean of materials by the time Donadrond found her, yet she chose to share her spoils with the Guild. She has been very gracious.”

  “Hogwash. She could keep all the hobgoblin materials for all I care. But high-rank Daemon materials are a different matter entirely. She cannot have them!”

  The materials were worth much more than I thought. Was he going to try and take them back now?

  “That girl committed an act of insubordination by abandoning her post and acting on her own! She broke the chain of command! Do you think she still has the right to claim her reward after such a crime?!”

  “Goodness. If we took disciplinary action for the slightest deviation from a spoken command, we’d have to flog the entire guild. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an adventurer who didn’t ‘act on his own’ in such a situation. If you happen to know one, I’d love to shake his hand.”

  “I guess that’s the most I can expect out of the lower classes.”

  “I’m afraid our rough-and-tumble members are in a different class from you dainty knights.” The GM was smiling, but he wasn’t entertained. I was afraid he’d begin chanting a kill spell any second now. The tub of lard seemed oblivious, and I wondered how thick his skin must have been to not notice such clear, murderous intent.

  “Hmph. Let me do you a favor. I’ll have you know that that girl is lying to you.”

  Yikes. Was this his Unique Skill?

  Essence of Falsehood: See through a target’s lies. Makes it difficult for others to see
through User’s lies. Makes it easier for others to believe in User’s lies.

  The perfect skill for the conman, dictator, and cult leader. The skill was powerful, but somehow this regional knight lieutenant was the one who possessed it. I lamented the waste of its potential. Either way, a skill was only as powerful as its user, and he seemed determined to find us out. His next statement however, made me befuddled.

  “She said she destroyed the crystal earlier, but that’s a lie! She’s definitely hiding it somewhere.”

  Uh, no, that part was true. We really did destroy it.

  “Even if that were true, she still has the rights to it.”

  “Well, she should have her rights revoked for bearing false witness! Who knows what else she’s hiding.”

  “It really got destroyed.”

  “She’s lying again.”

  What the hell was this guy saying? He had Essence of Falsehood, so he should know she was telling the truth. Wait… That was it. The man was infamous for having Essence of Falsehood, and for overusing it. So, when he accused someone of lying at this point, people thought it was mere slander.

  Right now, though, it looked like he was trying to entrap Fran.

  “Huh?”

  Fran, just stay quiet for a while.

  “Okay.”

  Your move, big guy.

  “We are not in a court of law. I was only talking to her privately. Is it a violation of the law when guild members share a joke with each other?”

  The GM was defiant. He hated August so much that he actually covered for us. I love you, GM. Go for it!

  “She lied to a nobleman. That is a crime in and of itself.”

  “I repeat, she made a good-natured jest. I haven’t been informed of this new law against jests.”

  “Regardless! I don’t trust her. Where is she from? Have you asked her that? What if she’s a spy from another kingdom? I motion for her belongings to be confiscated! Do so, and I’ll overlook this slight against my name!”

  What was he talking about? Confiscate her belongings? I’d like to see you try, Pork Roast!

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You adventurers neglected to contact the Knight Brigade and went on the raid by yourselves. You must’ve wanted to keep all the goodies to yourselves. Dirty adventurers! Give us the Daemon materials and I shall forgive you.”

  “Excuse me. We made sure to contact the Brigade before the raid. We even contacted the Knight Brigade on the very day of the raid.”

  “Hmph! More lies! In any case, give us half of today’s rewards, all the Daemon materials, and that girl’s belongings.”

  “Half of the rewards and all of the Daemon materials? The Knight Brigade has no right to any of it when you didn’t even partake in the battle.”

  “You didn’t contact us! I know how greedy you adventurers get. When you were out raiding the goblin’s nest for treasure, we were protecting the city!”

  “Heh. Big talk for ignoring our request to join the raid.”

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  So that was it. The knights had conveniently ignored the guild’s plea for help because they were afraid of the hobgoblins. Now they wanted the prize knowing the disaster had been averted. He was as dirty as they got.

  “I’ll start by taking your sword. Did you steal that too? Give it here.”

  The fat bastard approached us.

  “Should I cut him?”

  Wait, let’s see how this works out.

  I was itching to let loose on the guy myself.

  “The Knight Brigade has no authority over the Guild. You expect us to hand over half the rewards our guildsmen risked their lives for?”

  “I’m only taking what’s rightfully mine.”

  My God, this guy was full of it. Even the GM was oozing murderous intent at this point. He put on a mild-mannered smile and I wondered how he refrained from just killing the man. It was very impressive.

  “Sign this contract. You just need to put your signature here and we can begin collecting our materials.”

  “Has the rest of the Brigade been informed? Does the Captain know about this?”

  “Of… Of course.”

  “Then you wouldn’t mind if I scheduled a meeting.”

  “Uh, there’s no need for that…”

  “That’s for us to decide.”

  The wind was blowing a different direction now.

  “Do you have any objections to a civil conference?”

  “How dare you insinuate that I’m lying? Th-this is unacceptable! I’m leaving!”

  Bullseye. The fat noble’s stammering betrayed his sham. He was trying to embezzle large amounts of materials by coming here without telling the Knight Captain.

  Let’s try it.

  What, you ask? Skill Taker, of course. He had an interesting Unique Skill, so the time was right.

  I’ll try it first.

  I targeted the Unique Skill. This skill would be impossible to use without Identify. Not even the Daemon himself had Identify, now that I thought about it. The Dungeon Master said he got lucky; was that why he had such an odd skillset? Starter skills were randomized, sure, but did the Dungeon Master forgot to give the Daemon Identify? That was a possibility.

  “This isn’t over!”

  Oh, couldn’t let my mark get away.

  Here we go—Skill Taker!

  It worked, though I still hated the fact that there was no indication of the skill working. I filched Essence of Falsehood 5 right off him. Now I understood the real terror of the skill. It took all levels of a skill right off a target. You could become immediately powerful if you took a high-level skill. However, it was registered under my own skills, which meant I couldn’t share it with Fran. The opposite was true as well, so we’d have to coordinate next time.

  “Skill Taker.”

  Fran took her turn as the fat man stormed off, and it worked as well. She took the highest of his remaining skills, which was Royal Etiquette 4. Hehehe. If only I could see the look on his face when he noticed he was missing his two best skills!

  “Teacher, we did it.”

  Yep. We got the good stuff too.

  “Can I cut him now?”

  Why do you wanna cut him so much?

  “I hate him.”

  My little girl was becoming more and more dangerous by the day. I doubted Royal Etiquette would help with her manners.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  “Who was that?”

  “The Lieutenant of the Knight Brigade of Alessa, who is also the son of a nobleman. A brute, really. He’s only stationed there because of his family’s money, which makes him difficult to deal with. He was promoted last year, and he’s been throwing his weight around ever since. The entire city hates him. I will say this is the first time he’s attempted something this preposterous with the guild though.”

  “We should file a complaint.”

  “To the Brigade? I’m afraid it won’t work. They’re under his family’s thumb. Not surprised, considering how terribly they brought up their son. He also has a skill called Essence of Falsehood which allows him to see through people’s lies, but it’s absolutely wasted on him.”

  “He’s weak, but he made Lieutenant. Is money all you need?”

  “Take it up with the government. He may be weak, but he’s at a pretty decent level. Apparently, the nobles form parties with hired knights who then kill monsters for them. That way they can level up without ever lifting a finger.”

  Literal power leveling. That explained his lack of combat skills. He was a Level 30 knight with zero combat experience.

  “I’ll kill him next time.”

  “Please don’t. And don’t worry, the Lieutenant may be a brute but the Captain himself is a decent person. I’ll talk to him about this.”

  “All right.”

  “Thank you. You see, if you did anything to the man, the Guild would be blamed for it.”

  A bit self
ish, but it was fair enough. I didn’t think we would ever be good friends with the Guildmaster, but a transactional relationship worked just as well.

  “Again, thank you for the Daemon materials. You’ve done the Guild an immense service.”

  “No problem.”

  “So, are you sure you don’t have the crystal with you?”

  Oh, come on, GM!

  “I jest.”

  “That was close.”

  “Why?”

  “I was about to cut you.”

  “Heh, that’s why I’m terrified of you… Take care if you run into that man again. He’s been known to defraud people with his skills.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Well, if you say so.”

  “Can I go now?”

  “Yes. Thank you for your time. Oh, and one last thing.”

  “Hm?”

  “Go to the receptionist for your Rank Up.”

  “Again?”

  “Yes. You took on and killed a Daemon all by yourself. It would be silly to keep you at F-Rank. You’ll be promoted to D-Rank next.”

  “Not E?”

  “You’d be at C-Rank if it were up to me. The other branches didn’t approve of it though.”

  Of course. A rookie adventurer killing a B-Rank Daemon all on her own? What kind of adventure novel was this? Being promoted to D-Rank was more than enough.

  “Okay. I’ll go to the reception.”

  “Please do. You can take your reward money while you’re at it. With your bonus, too.”

  “Sure.”

  The other adventurers buzzed with excitement when they heard of Fran’s promotion. It was the fastest promotion in the history of the guild, from newbie to D-Rank in just three days. They were betting on whether she would get a promotion, bonus points if she skipped a rank entirely. The crowd roared when she did.

  “Haha! You made me double rich, little lady!”

  “Damn it! I lost!”

  “Wahahaha!”

  “How’s about a drink?”

  “She’s underage, moron!”

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Yeah? That’s great!”

  “We’ll treat ya to some apple juice to start!”

  Fran was officially D-Rank, a solid intermediate adventurer. I wondered if I should reveal myself to the adventurers. We might run into a situation like this in the future, and it wouldn’t be out of place for a D-Rank to have a magic sword. She could tell them I was an enchanted sword which got stronger by absorbing crystals. It’d make things a lot easier for her.