Christina Gets Even Prettier
Fortunately, Christina had been completely restored under Lee Bi's loving care — and had come back even better.
The design was cleaner, and her performance had improved as well.
"I put in some real work for my little Ellie!"
Lee Bi laughed heartily and slapped my back with a solid thwack.
Ah — ah. That hurts.
The reason Lee Bi called me little Ellie was simple. First, despite looking like a middle schooler at most, her actual age wasn't all that different from Cecilia's. Second, we'd gotten excessively close over the course of a single conversation. Well — for a capable beautiful girl like me, that sort of thing was nothing. And third: the pronunciation of "au" was just too cringey.
For reasons known only to herself, Lee Bi had stubbornly insisted on calling me "Ellie-au," until we finally reached the dramatic compromise of "little Ellie."
Ellie-au... it just sounds like it'd reek of sweat...!
Well, of course my sweat would smell like flowers, not body odor.
I glanced over at Lee Bi. She was completely drenched from the hard work of repairing Christina — yet the thought that she was dirty never crossed my mind. If anything, I found her beautiful. That sweat was the crystallization of effort poured into something she truly loved. How could it not be beautiful? And she was quite the beauty herself, even if she didn't quite reach my level. Maybe I ought to call it holy water instead of sweat!
Lee Bi seemed thoroughly pleased with the results of her labor. She crowded in close enough to be oppressive and launched into an exhaustive explanation of every new feature added to Tina.
"I melted the blade once, mixed in ■■ metal to make it way stronger, then sharpened it over and over until..."
In short: she was far sturdier and far sharper than before.
With this, Christina had taken another step forward!
And because of that metal mixed into the blade, a subtle pattern now ran along the edge. When I lifted it slightly to look, the pattern shimmered as if under some optical illusion — like ripples spreading across still water after a stone had been thrown in.
Christina must have dressed herself up to look good for me!
"But what about that drop of blood you took earlier?"
"Ahh, that? I used it to link Tina to your soul."
Soul? Link?
Was that even possible in this world?
Anyway — Tina and I were connected down to our souls now!
When I made a face that clearly said I understood nothing, Lee Bi raised one finger and began explaining.
"Since I mixed a drop of little Ellie's blood into Tina, she'll respond to your mana! If you want, the shape of the blade can change a little, or..."
Aha! I see!
"Mana?"
There's mana in this world too? But as far as I know, there's no magic or anything like that... If there were, wouldn't someone like Cecilia have been shooting sword auras around by now?
While Lee Bi rattled on without pause, I quietly pulled out my phone and ran a quick search on mana.
...Aha.
Even a skim was enough. It was similar to the mana I was thinking of, yet subtly different.
There existed an invisible substance called mana in this world, and when a certain amount of it settled into a person's body, they became an Awakener. People had different constitutions, though, so the amount of mana they could take in varied — and that difference was why some remained non-Awakeners while others awakened, and why Awakeners awakened at different times. On top of that, everyone possessed a unique wavelength; depending on the form the mana took within the body, different types of abilities emerged.
The reason Awakeners' physiques surpassed ordinary people's was also closely tied to mana. Awakeners took in far more of it than regular people, and some of that mana spread not into the space where their ability slept, but throughout the muscles of the entire body. That naturally developed the muscles, enhanced physical ability — and, in most cases, improved their figures as well.
Which proved that I was a body that accepted mana extremely well. Otherwise a perfect figure like this simply couldn't exist.
And... the reason people like Cecilia could enhance their physical abilities was also related to mana. Awakeners possessed exceptional natural healing. When muscles tore from excessive movement, mana from the air seeped into the injured area during the reattachment process to accelerate recovery. After repeating that dozens — hundreds — of times, they grew stronger and stronger.
So put simply: Cecilia had reached her current level by putting every muscle in her body through the kind of training that tore them apart, over and over again.
I should never mess with Cecilia from now on!
"Got it? Try moving with the feeling of injecting the mana inside your body into Tina!"
"Eeh..."
I'd need to be able to feel mana first...
I glared at Tina with that dissatisfied thought — and suddenly her blade shifted into a slightly longer, rougher form.
"...Black?"
Even with the forge-fire still blazing right beside us, not a single ray of light touched it — a pitch-black that swallowed light itself. An ink-dark so absolute it seemed to devour the world around it.
I stared blankly at that mesmerizing sight, then asked Lee Bi,
"So what's this for?"
"Hmm? No idea! It's a form that came from little Ellie's soul, so you'd know!"
"Huh?"
I looked at Tina again.
So... if we're talking swords, this is the form of my soul?
This pitch-black thing? This thing that looks dangerous at a glance?
"I like it."
They say the more beautiful a flower, the sharper and more deadly its thorns. And this black practically radiated a secretive, dangerous atmosphere.
A shadow-wielding assassin. A secret order.
And me — Elysia.
Perfect!
By day, the most beautiful girl on campus. By night, a dark hero conducting clandestine operations. Then, while heroically saving a heroine in mortal danger, I'd take a critical wound. When I opened my eyes again, it'd be with bandages wrapped around the injury, waking up in the heroine's home. And then — a romantic romance with the heroine who'd learned my identity...
A perfect plot!
"But how do I change it back?"
"No idea!"
What do you know, then.
"Hehe."
"...You like it that much?"
Cecilia, hands on the steering wheel, asked casually.
"Yes..."
I kept stroking Christina, who had slipped snugly back into her sheath. Fortunately, just thinking please go back to normal had returned her to her original form.
"If anything weapon-related comes up from now on, just go to Lee Bi whenever you can. She's a weird one, but her skills are top-notch."
"Yes!"
I would have done that even if Cecilia hadn't said so. We'd already gotten as close as could be — we'd even exchanged numbers.
"But Teacher, where did you meet Lee Bi unnie?"
"Hmm? We first met on the battlefield during the Great War. And we met again..."
She chewed her lip for a moment, thinking, then spoke again.
"About eight years ago? We ran into each other by chance and got close. Why?"
"Hmm... Just curious."
So Lee Bi unnie had participated in the Great War too. Well — thinking about the ability she'd described herself, it wasn't purely combat-oriented, but it wasn't useless in a fight either. Her power was freely changing the size and weight of a hammer within the limits of what she could handle. "Freely" was relative; there seemed to be maximum weight limits depending on the size, along with various other restrictions. But Lee Bi unnie's overwhelming natural super-strength would have solved all of that. Apparently her strength had been exceptional from the moment she first awakened. Looking at how someone as young as her had reached that level as a blacksmith, maybe blacksmithing was simply her natural calling.
"But how did you two get close? You don't seem to match at all."
"Saying that right in front of the person involved..."
"I'm curious!"
"...Just the camaraderie of having survived the same battlefield, I suppose. Probably."
Probably?
I wanted to ask more, but looking at Cecilia — who seemed more downcast than usual — I closed my mouth. She probably had one or two pasts she didn't want to talk about either.
Cecilia gripped the steering wheel just tight enough not to break it and muttered inwardly.
How am I supposed to say I confessed to Lee Bi during the Great War and got rejected.
That was pure black history for her — but she had her excuses. Back then, both of them had very different personalities from now, yet they'd been close enough to call each other best friends. You know how it is: on a battlefield where life and death hang in the balance, same-sex romance is said to bloom pretty often.
Looking back now, it was all a misunderstanding!
Simply put, with life-or-death situations continuing nonstop, she'd wanted to try dating someone at least once before she died. And the closest, most trustworthy person just happened to be Lee Bi. Her younger self had probably mistaken that feeling for love. The way her heart had pounded madly when they reunited by chance eight years ago was definitely just because she was happy to see a friend after so many years.
As if growing restless, Cecilia's fingers tapped the steering wheel in a steady rhythm.
She didn't notice that the rhythm was exactly the same as the speed of Lee Bi's hammering.