I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

There’s an Idiot in Every World

What was this…? My mind and body felt like they were floating in thin air. It felt like I was asleep. Was I dreaming?

There was no sound. The scenery before me seemed to have a sepia filter over it—the ground, the sky, the people, everything. Not that I could make the shapes out for sure. The ones that looked like people were standing around me. It was a cloudless day and I didn’t see any plant life around me. It was an odd sight to behold.

The sepia filter prevented me from seeing the hair colors of the three women surrounding me, but their facial features were otherworldly, as was their style of dress. They wore long robes that covered their bodies from their necks all the way down to their feet, decorated with various jewels and ornaments. As if that weren’t fantastical enough, they also wore crowns on their heads. They looked like the Shinto priests and shrine maidens I saw in my old fantasy novels. The moment felt solemn.

They surrounded me as I lay there. They pointed at me from time to time, though I couldn’t hear their conversation. I guessed I was the subject of their discussion.

Which raised the question: Where was I?

I don’t think I’ve met these people before…

They seemed too vivid to be a mere dream.

Was I imagining them? But their faces and clothing were so detailed. I never had much of an imagination, so I doubted I could have made them up so clearly in my head.

As I watched the three women with curiosity, one of them suddenly peeked into my face. I still couldn’t hear her. I thought of shaking my head but it wouldn’t move. Moreover, it seemed that I had lost control over my body. I raised my arm and squeezed the woman’s hand in return. My body kept moving of its own accord. It seemed to be dreaming of its past and all I could do was watch. Eventually it brought me to a pedestal where a lone sword was lying on an intricate velvet cloth.

Where had I seen this sword before…?

Again, the sepia filter prevented me from knowing its actual colors, but the hilt and blade seemed awfully familiar.

Then I knew: this sword was me. At least, that’s what I thought.

The braiding on the string attached to the hilt. The three lines running straight down the blade. The sword was a spitting image of me.

That was, until I noticed the sword’s guard. My guard had the dashing image of a wolf. The guard on this sword had the image of four women with their eyes closed. Four wings connected each sculpture to the other. Was it some kind of four-faced angel, or were they four separate women? I couldn’t tell.

One of the women pulled my arm to bid me to stand. She led me to the sword and made me touch it. And then— 

Bwuh!

What was that? Was I dreaming? I, who lacked the capability of sleep?

Let’s see. I was at the inn, lying next to Fran as she slept. I was looking at the moon when—when what? I couldn’t remember. Where did that dream come from? It was my first dream since I reincarnated here. Or maybe it was just my imagination. But then…

I don’t get it.

“Mm…”

Oh, I shouldn’t be making such a ruckus. Don’t wanna wake Fran up.

I was talking to myself again. Was it because I was human again in my dream? Did I long to be human again? The thought had never crossed my mind the entire time I’d been a sword. In fact, I had been grateful that I was a sword, especially after meeting Fran.

I wondered why. People reincarnated as objects should probably long to return to their human bodies. Was I more adaptable than most?

Well, no use thinking about it now. Longing to become human again would be quite a nuisance. I had Fran to take care of. She was my User. We were fighting together. That was the important thing. Besides, how was I supposed to become the strongest sword in all the land if I went back to being human? Now was not the time.

Yeah, that’s it!

“Hm…”

Whoops, what was I doing? I almost woke Fran up.

Fran?

Fran didn’t answer.

Phew! It was going to take a million more strikes before I became the strongest sword.

A week had gone by since the great Goblin extermination. It was late and we were using the kitchen at the inn to cook up all the ingredients we had gathered. Materials stored in the Pocket Dimension didn’t rot, so by that same token, Fran could have hot delicious meals any time she wanted, so long as I had cooked and stored them in advance.

We were in the kitchen since I wanted to cook in bulk for the next time we headed out. Fran was with me since an autonomous floating sword would cause quite a commotion. If we sensed anyone come close, I would immediately place my handle in Fran’s hand. A little girl swinging around a sword in a kitchen was an odd sight, but it was easier to explain than a floating sword.

The owner of the inn had allowed us to use the kitchen after closing hours. We went to the market earlier and bought a ton of ingredients and seasonings. I might have gotten a little carried away by the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. I went with my instincts and bought anything that looked usable. I purchased jugs of sauces and big bags of spices. I also went ahead and bought several pots and pans.

In total, I ended up spending around 100,000G. All in the name of cooking delicious food for Fran, of course. Besides, our coin pouch was filled to bursting, thanks to the Goblin raid. We got 30,000G from selling Hobgoblin horns and their equipment, as well as the Beetle Army remains. Not bad for selling trash mobs. There were also some weak magical items which turned out to fetch quite the price.

Add to that the reward money for participating in the raid. Participants originally got a flat 30,000G, but it was increased to 40,000G because of bonuses. Fran got an extra bonus which amounted to 300,000G. Selling our materials earned us a total of a cool 400,000G. That said, we did treat the Guild to a round of drinks, which cost us 100,000G. The other adventurers thanked us the next day. They must’ve gotten respectable bonuses, too.

We spent the last week taking on various quests to gain experience and raise our Adventurer Rank. We went to a poisonous marsh to exterminate some fish monsters, and we gathered some rare medicinal herbs. We hatched a plan to drain the swamp with the Pocket Dimension to make our fishing easier. The fish monsters were as large as sharks and hid in the vast marshlands, but they were helpless after all the water was gone. The Pocket Dimension was a useful tool, indeed. The fish monsters looked tasty but their crystals didn’t amount to much. We didn’t run into any other monsters this week, so my crystal count only went up by 7. It highlighted how special of an event the Goblin Stampede was.

“Teacher, what’s wrong?”

It’s nothing. Let’s get cooking.

Right, I had to focus now.

Dundundundun…

“Dundun?”

Dunununuh!

“Huh?”

Hello, and welcome to the Restaurant to Another World.

“Ooh?”

Fran didn’t seem like she understood the reference but she clapped anyway.

For our first course we have…

“Meat?”

Correct. We have thirty kilograms of Rock Bison and Crash Boar mince.

I also had some vegetables which looked like spring onions, golden chicken eggs, and a variety of spices.

If you would knead those for me, Fran.

“Sure.”

Let’s just make as much as we can while we’re at it.

“Now I can eat your cooking every day.”

You have the Master Chef title, too, Fran. You should be pretty good at cooking by now.

“I can’t cook what I don’t know.”

True.

Fran wanted to eat Earth cooking, after all, and I was the only one who knew the recipes. This world might have some close equivalents but they were bound to differ in the finer details.

I proceeded to dice the spring onions with Aura Blade. I usually cleaned my cooking through boiling and Cleansing Magic. I had Poison Fang and the blood of countless monsters on my blade, which worried me. Fran had never raised any complaints so far but I wanted to stay on the safe side of cooking hygiene.

With the spring onions diced, I then sautéed them in a frying pan.

To your mince we’ll add the spring onions, along with the spices. Now you can mix it again.

“Got it.”

I stirred the remaining mixture with Telekinesis. We ended up making sixty kilograms of burger mixture. It seemed a little much, but there was no risk of it rotting once I stored it away in the Pocket Dimension.

Now we’re going to cook the patties.

“Uh-huh.”

We wouldn’t be able to cook all of it in one go, even with the gigantic oven. This was going to take some time.

Let’s move on to the next step while we wait. We’re going to cut our vegetables and toss them into a pot.

“’Kay.”

To the pot we’ll add water, spices, and wine.

I used magic to add more heat to the fire and used Telekinesis to make a puree out of the vegetables. When we were done, we had a pot of demi-glace sauce. The fragrance must have been amazing; I suddenly missed my sense of smell. I then taught Fran how to make tomato sauce, consommé soup, and chicken bouillon.

We spent the next day cooking, too. I took our freshly-killed fish monster and made various dishes out of it like stew, salt grill, and tempura. French cuisine is nice, but nothing beats traditional Japanese cooking! Not that I was able to eat it myself.

We also caused a bit of a ruckus after draining the poison swamp. People were telling ghost stories of the disappearing marsh. I think Nell had a feeling that we had something to do with it, but she kept quiet about it. Draining an entire ecosystem might have been a step too far…

I used the fish stock to make a Chinese-style soup and stir-fried vegetables. I had to make sure that Fran’s diet was perfectly balanced. She was still growing, after all. It had been bothering me for a while after seeing the other kids in town. Fran was comparatively thinner than most of her peers. She’d need all the food she could get.

I had various staples prepared too, of course. I wasn’t expecting to find rice in Alessa so I was pleasantly surprised when they sold it in the marketplace. The city was located at the intersection of the North-South trade route, which was why her citizens ate both wheat and rice products. It had udon, bread, naan, and noodles, to name a few.

Rice and naan called for one specific kind of food.

Alright, we’re going to cook up a very special dish.

“Special dish?”

Fran’s eyes glowed with wonder. Don’t look at me like that, Fran. You’ll make me work extra hard.

“What is it?”

It’s a super, hyper, special dish! It’s called curry!

“Curry? I’ve never heard of that before!”

Heheh. Just you wait.

Curry had always been one of my favorites. I couldn’t eat in my current form, and I had zero appetite to boot, but I wanted Fran to enjoy the wonderful taste of curry!

So you crush all these spices and mix it all together.

“So fancy.”

Spices weren’t as valuable as gold, but they were still expensive. This made curry an upscale dish because of all the spices it used.

This is how you make delicious curry.

“And you stir-fry it?”

That’s right. You need to keep the pan moving to get it evenly cooked.

“Right.”

An hour later, we had three industrial-sized pots filled with delicious curry.

We started out making them in a normal-sized pot, but once Fran got a taste of it, she devoured the entire pot in no time. After that, I used all the spices we had to make a huge amount of curry to meet Fran’s demands.

Each pot was made differently. One was sweet, one was mild, and one was spicy. I changed up the meats and vegetables I used in each pot, too. They were my finest dishes yet. If I brought these back to Japan, I could start my own restaurant.

“I was born to eat this dish.”

That good?

“Thanks, Teacher.”

I think this is the most sincere thanks you’ve ever given me.

I had to be careful so Fran wouldn’t become a curryvore.

The food we had cooked over the past two days would be good for about two thousand servings. Theoretically it should be enough for a year. However, Fran had an extremely fast metabolism and a voracious appetite, so we might run out of food before then. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about food for a while.

“Anyway, I’ll have one more plate of curry.”

You just had some.

“Please.”

… Oh, fine. Just one more.

“Yeah!”

Fran was an active girl, so one more wouldn’t hurt.

We stopped by Garrus’s shop since we had time between jobs. As usual, jealous merchants glared at us as they circled the smithy.

“Hey.”

“Oh, if it isn’t the little lady and her teacher! It’s been a while! To what do I owe you the honor?”

How’s the armor coming along?

“Gahaha! Perfectly! It’ll knock you off your feet when you see it.”

“Can’t wait.”

“That all you here for?”

Well, there was one other thing I wanted to ask you.

I explained how I got stronger by absorbing monster crystals. Garrus was the only one other than Fran who knew I was an Intelligent Weapon. He was the only one I trusted enough to ask.

“I see… Didn’t know you had such a feature. So you’re wondering if it’s okay to let other people know about it?”

Yeah. What do you think?

“I don’t think you should.”

“Are swords like Teacher that rare?”

“Very. Hell, I never knew magic weapons could do that.”

The preeminent blacksmith of the land never heard of such a thing? Not even in legends or rumors?

“I knew Teacher was amazing.”

“A little too amazing. Being an Intelligent Weapon is shocking enough, but getting stronger by absorbing crystals… That makes me think of a Divine Sword.”

Divine Swords. Legendary weapons which were the pinnacle of enchanted armaments. They were superweapons that were magnitudes beyond my dull blade.

“The Divine Swords keep the nations of the world in check.”

They’re that strong?

“That’s right. I only know of five in existence, and each comes with its own terrible tale. First is Alpha, the first of the Divine Swords. The Mad Sword, Berserk, which destroyed an entire country. Chariot, so named after destroying thirty thousand men in a single ride. Diablos, which sealed the Demon King himself. And I already told you the tale of the Flame Sword Ignis. There have been accounts of these swords being put to use and the results are never pretty. Thousands killed in a single battle and severe destruction of the land, just to name a few.”

These sounded less like swords and more like weapons of mass destruction. Their power was unthinkable. It only made sense that they kept the nations’ militaries in check. I was nowhere near as powerful as they were. The only category I could imagine beating them in would be the cuteness of my User.

“I’m sure there’s a healthy dose of exaggeration in those stories. Still, it don’t change the fact that they are magnitudes stronger than other weapons. All of the countries are secretly looking for them, of course. Or rather, they’re looking for the Divine Smith who made them, not that they know where he is. We don’t even know if the Divine Smiths of old are still with us or if there are new Divine Smiths that have taken their place.”

“Why’d they disappear?”

“Beats me. Maybe they hated the government taking advantage of them. Some say the gods hid them away. There’s a lot of talk but we have no way of knowing for sure.”

How do we know they’re still around?

“Because they show up from time to time, leave some exquisite work behind, and immediately disappear again. Never mind the Divine Swords; even their enchanted gear is of extraordinary quality. They’re not divinely strong, but they’re strong enough. That’s why the nations keep their eyes peeled for Divine Swords.”

That strong?

“That strong. And if people heard that you might be a Divine Sword, well… They’re going to take you. By force. You might not be a Divine Sword for all we know, but they’ll grab you first and ask questions later.”

There was a possibility that nations and factions would fight over me.

“And if they heard anyone was walking around with a Divine Sword they might ambush or poison the poor fella. Still, they might go easy on the little lady and talk her into handing you over to them.”

So we’re better off keeping it to ourselves.

“Yep. I’m glad you came and talked to me about this, but be careful who you share this info with from here on out.”

The risk of exposing my abilities were too great. We were going to have to keep quiet for the time being.

We spent the next few days completing quest after quest.

Not like we had anything better to do.

“Too bad about today.”

Nothing but bugs.

“I didn’t break a sweat.”

I only got seven crystals over the last ten days.

Unfortunately, the only available quests were Gathering and Exploration quests. They didn’t give us the crystals or EXP we needed to grow.

You’re at Level 25 now, right?

“Yeah.”

I don’t think you’re going to level up as fast as you have been so far.

“Right.”

Still, we can’t find any decent mobs. Just when you need a lot more EXP to level up.

“Do I have to run Dungeons?”

It’s either that or Haunts.

I heard that Haunts had just as many strong monsters as Dungeons did. Explained the name, I guess.

The Direwolf Plains where I woke up was one such Haunt. Looking back, ninety percent of the creatures living there must’ve been monsters. I ran into a lot of them, too. The Plains’ monster population density only hit me once I started running quests on ordinary fields.

Still, I’d like to avoid going there if at all possible. We’d have to pass through the Withering Woods and I didn’t want to be within a mile of that accursed place. Having the mana-sapping forest next to the Plains made it all the more dangerous.

Some adventurers had gone to investigate the Direwolf Plains right around the time Fran and I reached Alessa. They wanted to look into the territorial battles between the stronger monsters. In fact, the fights had been between me and the area bosses. They came back with reports of B-Rank monster sightings; I never saw the shadow of one when I was there.

There were several ways that monsters could come about. One was through breeding, but sometimes they spawned from an excess of mana in the area. The monsters in the Plains must’ve been born out of the latter method. That meant the B-Rank monsters came about shortly after I left the Haunt.

That was close!

If they had spawned a little earlier I wouldn’t be here right now. I barely survived a fight with C-Rank monsters.

There was a possibility that some A-Ranks might have spawned as well, so the research team was still carrying out their investigation. It would be too risky to wander the Plains, so I guessed they were watching from the safety of the Withering Woods. They had more guts than I did.

But for an A-Rank to spawn…

The Plains did feel like a strong monster could show up at any time. In fact, I found it odd that the monsters were overly weak when I encountered them. I got lucky.

“Let’s just go to a dungeon.”

I’ll take it into consideration.

We got lucky in that last Daemon fight. If the thing had stayed calm and closed the distance between us we would’ve popped that Return Feather without a single word.

Although I think we should hold back on fighting Daemons and other such Boss-level monsters and go for something easier.

We’d need to do some research on Dungeons and Haunts, although we wouldn’t be able run either of them until Garrus had finished fixing Fran’s armor.

There was a place called the Reference Room located on the second floor of the Adventurers Guild. It was open to all adventurers once you signed up to use its facilities.

“Why, hello there. Is this your first time here?”

“Yes.”

“May I have your Adventurer Card?”

The Reference Room was run by a small, old man. He was bald, though his bushy white beard stretched all the way to his chest, and his eyes were almost covered with his fluffy silver eyebrows. With his robe on, he was the very picture of a hermit.

He looks very much at home in this place.

“So you’re the Spellsword I’ve been hearing so much about.”

“Am I?”

“I believe so. People have been talking about you, girl. I could tell as soon as you walked in.”

Gossip was inevitable with how Fran conducted herself. They didn’t seem to be bad rumors judging by the old man’s reaction to her.

It sure is quiet here.

It was difficult to imagine hard-brawling adventurers would come up here to read books. Not to say the place was completely deserted. There were some scouts and mages looking up quest information in their frontline comrades’ stead. Research came with the territory of being the smart one in an adventuring party.

We got information on some dungeons after some reading.

The closest dungeon to Alessa would be Ulmutt.

Ulmutt was a dungeon town to the far south of Alessa. It was built on the bustling trade of items and materials you found in the dungeon. Still being part of Granzell, we wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of crossing any national borders to get there.

The other one was the recently founded dungeon in Alessa. We asked the old man about it and he said that entrance to it was currently regulated.

“Why?”

“Because only the Core is left in that dungeon. You are aware that you can manage a dungeon once you kill its Dungeon Master, yes?”

Donadrond had explained that to us before the raiding the Goblin Dungeon. If you could manipulate a Dungeon Core after killing its Dungeon Master, you could produce some items and monsters within said dungeon.

“Alessa’s dungeon is one such dungeon. It is now set to produce various necessary materials. It’s like a mine that way. The Adventurers Guild maintains it and regulates entry.”

I see. They’re monitoring it so adventurers couldn’t strip the dungeon beyond its means. That eliminated Alessa from our potential list of dungeons.

Which left Ulmutt…

Ulmutt sounds interesting, Fran said telepathically. I wanna go.

Me too. Let’s look into it some more.

All right.

Where should we start?

Ulmuttian delicacies.

I think there’re more important things to look into.

Like travel expenses and routes.

True.

I’m glad you agree.

We should look into the specialties of the towns we might find on the way.

Oh, right.

After entertaining Fran’s wishes, I looked up the routes and rest stops for Ulmutt. There was both a land route and a sea route.

If we went by land, we would be able to stop by various towns, eat delicious food and see beautiful scenery along the way. There would definitely be some fantastic sights, too. Going by sea would have us travel by boat. It would be a wonderful cruise. Warm sunlight would warm our faces as the fresh sea breeze cooled it. Dolphins—if this world had any— would playfully keep pace with our ship. 

Which one do you like, Fran?

The land route is cheaper.

Can’t argue with you there. By the way, have you ever been on a boat?

Once, when I was a slave. They shoved all of us in the cargo hold.

Oof. Sorry. Fran’s only memory of being on a ship wasn’t fond at all. That wouldn’t do!

I-I see. How about we take the sea route then? It’ll be fun.

Fun?

Uh-huh. It feels great to be on a ship. You get to eat delicious seafood, too.

…Fish?

And shrimp and crab and a whole host of deliciousness.

In that case we have to go by sea.

Fran nodded as she wiped the line of drool that was creeping out of the edge of her lips. I knew food would convince her.

With that, we set our eyes on getting to Ulmutt by sea.

Two hours later, we were making our way to the outskirts of Alessa. We took on an herb gathering quest after looking up info on dungeons and magic. We planned to hunt down some monsters while we were at it.

“Hey, off to another quest?”

“Yeah.”

Delt, one of the gatekeepers, called out to Fran. He was the same guard who greeted us on our first day in Alessa. We were on friendly terms with the guy, now that I thought about it. It wasn’t hard to imagine why. We went out practically every day, and Fran did stand out. Still, he never failed to send Fran off with a smile despite her coldness.

I could see through her, though. Despite her seeming unfriendliness, Fran treated Delt better than the other guards. It was proof that she was warming up to him. He seemed to be aware of this too, and he gave Fran extra attention because of it.

“You’re looking cute today, as always.”

… You’re not a kiddy fiddler, are you, friend? I thought to myself suspiciously. I’d have to rethink our relationship if that were the case.

“By the way, did you hear about Baron Allsand?”

“Hm?” Fran tilted her head. I guess she’d already forgotten. I couldn’t blame her since she didn’t seem interested in the guy.

It’s that noble who barged into the Guildmaster’s office and started whining.

“Oh. Little League Lieutenant.”

Delt’s eyes bulged before he broke out laughing.

“Hahaha! That’s right. Little League Lieutenant.”

“What about him?”

“I heard that he’s been looking for you. You be careful out there. One of his lackeys asked me if I’d seen you the other day.”

How suspicious.

“He’s an aristocrat so he can do whatever he wants in this city. To make matters worse, he has that skill that allows him to see through lies.”

“I know.”

He had that skill, to be precise. It was mine now.

“It’s a very handy skill to have in the aristocracy. It allows him to figure out the weaknesses of his political enemies and blackmail them out of power. You know lying is like breathing to those folks.”

Delt was my kind of man. He had an extreme prejudice towards aristocrats. Just hearing the word brought up images of stuck-up snobs who had nothing to be proud of except their lineage.

“That’s why the baron’s family lets him do whatever he wants. If he causes any trouble, they snuff it out. You can see how that’d get to his head. I don’t know what he might do to ya.”

Did she catch his attention when we met at the guild? Klimt was the one who talked him down but I guess Fran just happened to be there.

“Thanks. I’ll be careful.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ve been hearing some unsettling rumors lately.”

“Rumors?”

“Yeah. Baron Allsand has been acting crazier than usual as of late.”

“How do you mean?”

“He’d been acting weird so we thought he’d finally gone and lost his mind. Apparently he angered someone in the royal family. I don’t know the details, but it was so bad that his house is planning to disown him for it. It only went downhill from there. Now folks are saying that he’s been cursed or possessed or something.”

So he might be stalking us? Now there was a scary thought. He might come after Fran once we left the gates. We’d have to stay on guard.

“You stay safe out of there.”

“I will.”

As we walked down the highway looking for herbs, I took the chance to look at our status screens.

You still have Contract in your status, Fran.

“Yeah.”

I first noticed it when I checked her stats after leaving the dungeon. I thought she was somehow enslaved again but that didn’t seem to be the case; her status then was Slave, after all. Now she was in a Contract, specifically, with me. How it came to be, I didn’t know. But at some point she entered into a contract with me.

There were a lot of things about this steel body of mine that were mysteries to me. Nothing I did seemed to get rid of the Contract status. I tried putting physical distance between me and Fran, I asked her to unequip me. It didn’t work. If anything, I found out that I couldn’t get rid of the status no matter what. It didn’t seem to have any benefits or ill effects so I figured we might as well leave it alone for now. Fran didn’t seem to mind it, either.

We carried on our quest for herbs when I sensed someone tailing us.

Teacher.

I know. Someone’s after us.

There were two of them. One of them was a greenhorn. He didn’t even bother to conceal his presence. We broke from the highway to see what would happen. Our stalkers followed suit. Our suspicions confirmed, we tried to lose them in the forest but they dropped all pretenses and caught up to us.

“Y-you there! Stop!”

The angry shouting sounded familiar. I couldn’t believe he took the bait hook, line and sinker.

“Is that… the Little League Lieutenant?”

Probably… Baron August… Right?

We turned around and paused, perplexed. One of them was a man who looked like a Fighter. Probably hired help. I’d never seen him before but he was definitely one of the Fighter classes.

The one standing next to him confused us. I expected it to be Baron August but I couldn’t tell immediately by looking at him. It had only been a week since we last met and he had changed drastically. His cheeks were sunken, his eyes bloodshot. His hair was falling out and in tatters; it looked like he was balding. You could see the baron’s facial features under all that madness but only after looking at him for a few minutes. He looked like something out of a horror movie. I wasn’t sure if he was an undead or not.

What happened to him? I didn’t like the guy but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him after seeing him in such a state.

“Y-y-you!!!”

Oh boy, here he comes.

“You’ll pay for the shame you brought me at the Guild!”

He wasted no time with introductions and started yelling at us. I had a bad feeling about this seeing how messed up he looked.

“And you are?”

“Wh-what? A-are you saying you forgot who I am?!”

“Never seen you in my life.”

“R-really? N-no, you’re lying! Stop that!”

“Seriously. You got the wrong person.”

Fran didn’t want to get involved with him, either. Was her smokescreen going to work? No, he couldn’t be that stupid.

“R-really? H-have we never met? N-no, it can’t be!”

Or could he?

“I’m serious. Anyway, I’ll be going now.”

“Wait, what? She’s not… What?”

Was it because of his madness? He was really buying her story. We might be able to get off without a hitch.

“No! That sword! You’re the Beastman from the guild!”

Sorry, Fran. I blew our cover.

“I knew it! You were lying to me! You’re all liars, all of you!”

You’re one to talk! Your lies almost got us thrown under the horse carriage!

“N-now… g-give me that sword!”

“No.”

“Silence, you filthy animal! You dare talk back to a noble like me?! Give it here!”

“Nope.”

“D-do you know who I am?! I am the Baron August Allsand!”

The baron screeched as he clutched his head with his right hand. He dug his nails into his scalp and began tearing out patches of hair. Blood trickled down his forehead. He looked like a psycho out of a horror movie. Soon he began tearing out his hair with both hands.

“So?”

Honestly, I didn’t want anything to do with him. We were either going to have to run or cut him down. As we discussed our options, the man next to him came forward.

“Calm down, Lord August. I’ll take care of this.”

“Urgh…”

“I’ll just rough her up a little bit.”

“Y-you’re right. D-do your job! Heheh.”

He let out a disgusting giggle. He might have had a mental breakdown but that didn’t get rid of his rotten character.

“You heard the baron. Hand over the magic sword.”

“No.”

“Heheheh. It’s in your best interest. Before you get hurt.”

“Th-that’s right! Gyuran’s a top-notch mercenary!”

“See? Now, hand it over.”

“I said no.”

“You shouldn’t talk back against your betters, you little shit. Don’t you know how much stronger I am compared to you?”

How strong was Gyuran, exactly?

I Identified him but he wasn’t anything impressive. He wasn’t weak, but he wasn’t strong either. If anything, he was slightly weaker than Fran. So much for “top-notch mercenary.”

“Hm? You… Are you a Black Cat?”

“…”

“I’m a Blue Cat. Do you hate me? Well?”

“Blue Cats…!”

Fran shook with fury. I had never seen her so hostile before.

Fran, what’s wrong?

The Blue Cats are a race full of slavers, Fran replied telepathically. A lot of them deal in the black market.

Like the ones who enslaved you?

Yeah.

This man might be one of them. He certainly had the skills for it: Trade, Intimidate, Capture.

Five hundred years ago, the Blue Cats betrayed the Black Cats into slavery. They’ve been our sworn enemy ever since.

The Blue Cats fooled the Black Cats?

They befriended us before selling us into slavery. They captured many Black Cats and sold us off. We brought this matter to the King of the Beastmen but Black Cats are among the weakest tribes. They wouldn’t listen to us.

What a terrible story. I’ll have to remember the Blue Cat Slavers. Any enemy of Fran’s is an enemy of mine. This guy in front of us included.

“You got quiet all of a sudden. Scared? Well, it’s too late. I’ll rough you up some to remind you how powerless you are! Don’t worry, I won’t leave any lasting scars. Wouldn’t want to damage the merchandise!”

Well, he’s obviously involved in the slave trade.

Yeah.

“Let me hear you cry!”

The man drew his sword from his hip. It was flowing with magical energy. It seemed quite strong.

Name: Enchanted Phantom Augite Blade

Attack: 650, MP: 200, Durability: 600

Mana Conductivity: B

Skills: Phantom Strike

It wasn’t just his weapon, either. I could feel mana emanate from his entire body.

Is all his gear enchanted?

Yeah, seems like it.

Should we take it?

Can’t hurt to try. Get ready to use the Pocket Dimension.

I had been wondering if the Pocket Dimension could store an opponent’s equipment mid-combat. It’d be insanely strong if it could. 

We had been experimenting with the Pocket Dimension’s capabilities. Did time really freeze for anything that was stored inside of it? What about temperature fluctuation? We figured out the answers to those specific questions early on when monster materials wouldn’t decompose and the food I cooked came out piping hot as if straight out of the oven. Time really stopped for anything that was stored within the Pocket Dimension.

So I had been wanting to try this idea out for a while. We fought monsters most of the time which obviously had no equipment… But this encounter presented the perfect opportunity.

“You wanna go, little girl?”

Fran grabbed my hilt. Gyuran was sneering at her, not once reaching for his sword. He wasn’t expecting a child to put up any resistance.

“Hmph.”

Fran drew me. Gyuran fell.

“Aaaaargh!”

She was now standing next to Gyuran, whose legs rolled helplessly against her feet. She’d gone for his legs to prevent him from running.

Let’s give the Pocket Dimension a try. First, the armor.

“Eeegh!”

Fran stabbed me into Gyuran’s shoulder as he crawled, desperate to get away.

“Eeeaaagh!”

Despite his Pain Reduction skill, it didn’t nullify all pain. Noting that, I used the Pocket Dimension…

No, I can’t store it. It looks like we can’t store anything that’s equipped.

Too bad. That would’ve been really helpful in a fight.

What if we detached it from his body?

“Aaagh!”

Fran swung me and lopped Gyuran’s arms clean off his elbows. He had an enchanted bangle on one of his arms.

Try storing it now, Teacher.

O-okay.

She was merciless. She was quietly angry today, more so than usual. Fran paid no attention to the writhing man as she touched my tip against the bangle.

That worked.

It looked like we could store anything that wasn’t attached to its User.

Now the sword.

Sure.

We took the sword into storage, too.

“How could this—! Goddammit!”

I was amazed he could still talk in his state. Was it because of his Pain Reduction skill?

“Why?! My skill… There’s no way you could be this strong…! P-please, just spare my life…!”

What was that about his skill? Oh, he must be talking about Strength Sense. It was a skill which allowed him to detect if someone was weaker than him. He must’ve sensed that Fran was at a lower level than him. Add that to the fact that she was a Black Cat, and a girl, and you had the world’s most unfortunate misunderstanding.

We got everything except his armor.

Yeah, stripping him would be a pain.

So it’ll work as long as we kill the User.

I suppose… Look, I’ll do it.

Gyuran was unlike all the goblins and monsters we had fought up to now. I could hate him all I wanted, but he was still a person. I thought Fran would’ve hesitated but…

No, it’s okay. I’ll do it myself.

Fran swung me without a second thought.

“Aah… Heee…”

With his throat cut open, the man drew his last breath. His life poured out of him as blood flowed down his neck. He stared at Fran, the color draining from his face. It was a blank stare full of nothing. His trembling lips seemed to send shivers down to the rest of his body. He reached his stump arms to the sky in exhaustion before he finally rolled over and expired.

Well, that was unsatisfying.

You all right, Fran?

It was bound to happen at some point. I’m glad I did it with my own hands.

She was exceedingly calm for taking her first human life. Their races had been sworn enemies and he was a scumbag to boot, so that might have helped.

She wasn’t putting up a front, either. I could sense no remorse in her. Calm Mind must be kicking in, too. It was a skill which allowed its User to reduce any reservations they had about killing. It was a good thing I took it.

We could debate later whether this was the right thing to do but I chose to let it slide for now. The important thing was that killing this man wasn’t weighing down on Fran’s conscience. I never liked wimpy protagonists anyway. They’d go and kill a guy and get depressed for ten volumes; that was terrible writing.

Anyone who said that you should never let children kill anyone under any circumstance had a naive outlook on reality. A moment’s hesitation could get you killed in this world. Teaching Fran such childish kindness would put her life in danger.

Alright, let’s try storing it now.

“Hm.”

Let’s start with the armor.

I took everything: armor, boots, shield, dagger, and choker. The Pocket Dimension could take things from a corpse with no problem.

“Heee, hee!”

The Little League Lieutenant August let out something that could either be a shriek or a giggle.

“I-Impossible! H-he was a war hero in the Rouze War! Th-the superman…! Killed a thousand men…! How…?”

August, he pulled a fast one over you. All you needed was to take one good look at the guy to figure that out.

He tricked him?

I’m as bewildered as you are, but he must’ve. He’s not so smart for a rotten aristocrat.

Wait, was this my fault? Could he not tell the difference between the truth and a lie because I took Essence of Falsehood away from him?

He must’ve had that skill all his life so it was easy to assume that he’d use it in every conversation he’d ever been part of. He’d have no way of judging truths from lies if he suddenly lost that skill.

Definitely your fault.

You think so too, huh?

Yeah. Very good.

Why, thank you.

She showed no mercy to her enemies as usual. Well, the guy had it coming. He had the misfortune of crossing us and tried to take advantage of us. None of this was my fault.

“Wh-where did you hide Gyuran’s equipment! I-I bought those for him! They were all very expensive!”

Gyuran played him like a fool. He fed him lies and treated the poor bastard like a living wallet.

What should we do with him?

…Leave him.

Hmm, I don’t know about that.

We decided to store away Gyuran’s corpse for the time being; he’d turn into an undead if we left him out here. We’d have to dispose of the body later but it couldn’t be helped. We also took the 20,000G he was carrying on him. It would do for consolation money. Besides, it’d be a shame to let it go to waste.

But what to do with August…?

Arrest him? Kill him? Ignore him? Brainwash him? He was still a noble, after all.

A new presence approached us as I pondered this question.

Teacher…!

I can feel it. It’s pretty strong. Be careful!

“Yeah!”

Fran ignored August and readied herself. The strong magical presence approached us at high speed. It was an odd magical signature, though. I had never felt anything like it before. It wasn’t a monster or a person. Was it targeting Fran? No, there was the possibility that someone sent it after the idiot noble. Whatever the case might be, we couldn’t afford to let our guard down.

“Wh-why did you draw your sword again? Do you want to fight?!”

August was screaming at us again. He could distract us in the middle of the fight so we needed to silence him for the moment.

Fran.

“Alright.”

“Wh-wh-what…”

August fell with a thud after Fran knocked him out with the side of her hand. A few minutes later, an odd, half-transparent thing appeared before us. The thing was a ball of water floating in mid-air which constantly shifted and squirmed. It didn’t seem hostile, but what on earth was it?

“You didn’t kill him, did you, Fran?”

A voice called out to her.

“…?”

Was it coming from this thing in front of us? It didn’t have a face or a mouth that I could see but the voice must’ve come from this formless thing. It sounded familiar, too.

“Guildmaster?”

“Yes. Aah, I suppose this is your first time seeing this. This is one my Spirit familiars. Worry not.”

Klimt’s familiar looked nothing like I imagined. I was expecting something humanoid—maybe a Sylph or an Undine. Fran tilted her head, equally confused.

“It looks weird.”

“What do you mean, weird?! It lacks human form because it’s not one of the Greater Spirits but I’ll have you know it’s just as cute!”

“You should’ve gone for a cooler-looking one.”

“I’m not going to summon a Greater Spirit outside of combat.”

So the Guildmaster had the ability to summon humanoid Greater Spirits. Still, I was getting a strong mana reading from this intermediate spirit, and I wondered how strong the Greater Spirits were. That he could summon such powerful spirits was a testament to how strong the GM was. No wonder he made Guildmaster.

“What do you want?”

“Right. I heard that Baron Allsand left town.”

Word travelled fast considering it happened just today.

“Delt, the gatekeeper, told me. He said that the baron left town to look for you and wondered if you were alright.”

Delt, I’m sorry for calling you a kiddy fiddler. You are a genuinely good person.

“He’s here.”

“I knew it! We had a request to capture the baron while keeping it under wraps. You didn’t kill him, did you? Did you? It would be problematic if you did!”

“I didn’t.”

“R-really? Thank goodness! We would like to bring him in. You’ll be compensated, of course.”

“Sure.”

Honestly, I didn’t want to deal with him anyway. The Guild was doing us a great favor.

“Really? Wonderful! We’re coming over right now, so could we bother you to secure him for us?”

“No problem.”

“If you’ll excuse me!”

And with that, the messenger spirit disappeared.

The Guildmaster arrived in person ten minutes later, all out of breath. This must’ve been an urgent commission.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Fran.”

“Hm.”

“Now, Baron Allsand… Oh, there he is. Hey, over here.”

The adventurer the Guildmaster had brought with him slung the unconscious Baron Allsand over his shoulder and carried him away.

“Where are you taking him?”

“He’ll be under the care of Count Olmes, now.”

Never heard of that name before.

“Count Olmes is the Baron Allsand’s father.”

“His own father is arresting him?”

“Yes. This is strictly between us, but Baron Allsand is a problematic character. The Count never disciplined him because he wanted to use his Essence of Falsehood.”

The benefits of the skill far outweighed the drawbacks of his rotten behavior. It was an understandable decision.

“However, he suddenly lost that skill a few days ago. Nobody knows why. This doesn’t happen very often, you see. Perhaps the gods have had enough of his nonsense and saw it fit to punish him for it.”

That’s right. It was divine punishment. Please go with that angle.

“I was as surprised at his sudden transformation as everyone else. It was inevitable if you had to rely on your skill to judge when a person was lying. Without it, he couldn’t trust anyone.”

That might have been an oversimplification, but the fact remained that it broke Baron Allsand. I thought I’d acquired a powerful skill but I was going to have to be careful with it. I didn’t want to end up like the baron. I was no exception to its ill effects.

“He caused trouble during an audience with the royals a few days ago. They had come for their routine check-up when he leaped up and grabbed them, screaming at them to stop lying.”

Geez, that’s rough. Fran and I might not be trained in etiquette but even we wouldn’t go that far. Wait a second. We did take Royal Etiquette away from him, too. Was that why…?

“Having been arrested, he escaped and took a large amount of money out of the family coffers. He used most of it to buy expensive gear, and that’s how we were able to track him down.”

He was most likely being led on by Gyuran at the time. Once he captured Fran he was planning to leave Alessa and never look back. Anything went for that idiot baron.

“Count Olmes would rather keep this quiet. He sent a request to the guild in secret to apprehend the baron before he could cause any more trouble.”

“In secret?”

“Yes. This is my personal opinion, but I assume he is going to keep the fact that the baron lost his skill a secret so he can keep using him. I don’t know whether he’s going to use a double or cure him. That’s why he needed to capture the baron. He wants to prevent the truth of the situation from being revealed.”

“Impossible.”

“I agree. Well, whether it succeeds or fails has nothing to do with me. Doing favors for people in power never hurts. The commission and hush money are good, anyway.”

I see. Commission money, huh…?

“Uh-huh…”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’ve marked this request as completed under your account, and I also gave you a nice bonus.”

“Of course.”

“You know what to do, right?”

Fran puffed her chest and nodded while the Guildmaster tossed her a worried look.

“Keep my mouth shut.”

“Please do. Our client is a powerful aristocrat. Upsetting him would be problematic for us.”

We’d rather not be involved in aristocratic family matters, either. We wouldn’t spread rumors even if you asked us to.

“Ah, he also told me that we didn’t need to recover any of the baron’s personal effects.”

He might as well have told us to take the baron’s gear and money. I felt like we were beginning to owe the Guildmaster a lot. He later told the Count’s side not to bring up Fran’s name. I didn’t think the great count would be interested in a commoner, but you never know.

We got an extra 200,000G in completion fees, bonuses, and hush money. The windfall doubled our purse in a day.

Those crazy aristocrats spared no expense in getting their problems fixed.