A Perfectly Ordinary Journey (1)
Kriel was soothing Tuon.
Having transformed into the form of a girl in a gray dress, Tuon was fuming and grinding her teeth. "How could you! Put me in the coffin of that vulgar curved sword?!"
[What the hell?! Hey, that scabbard is pretty damn comfy in its own way!]
"Well..."
If, after slaying the minions of the Abyss, he spouted something like "Join me, and we shall conquer the world," wouldn't it look like some turf war between demons? Kriel himself was a Dark Knight dispatched to kill Grikenkos's underling Tushkin and expand another demon's territory. He'd surely be seen as some demon's vanguard—or its incarnation.
"Tuon. I have no intention of conquering the world, as you were saying."
"That's not what I was saying! You didn't even let me finish!"
"You're right. Sorry. What were you originally trying to say?"
"Join me, and you shall become the king of the Abyss!"
"No!"
Kriel grabbed Tuon and launched into a long sermon. A knight's duty lay in honor, and true honor wasn't climbing to higher positions for glory and prosperity—it was safeguarding one's own integrity. Orishin, who had been dragged into listening to the lecture beside them, thought:
'This guy's seriously into knighthood, no matter how you look at it...'
"Thus, throwing myself into the Abyss for some Demon King's throne is far from my goals. Sacrificing others for selfish desires isn't honorable."
"But Demon King... doesn't that sound cool?"
It was an absurd retort. Orishin figured Kriel would brush off Tuon's question lightly. But Kriel couldn't respond. His expression clearly screamed, 'It does sound cool, though...'
"If you don't like King of the Abyss, how about Knight King?"
Orishin shook his head. There weren't any vacant lands at the moment. To claim kingship, he'd need to carve out his own territory, but Kriel was the wandering knight type. Kriel's face took on a subtly bored look, as if he were thinking the same thing.
Tuon hurriedly added, "No, you could do both!"
[Huh?]
"Be both Demon King and Knight King. With both light and darkness, you'd look invincible!"
Orishin heard Kriel let out a quiet "Oh" of admiration. It was hard to grasp this guy's criteria for "cool."
[Aigoo, you children of darkness. Get your heads straight!]
That was when Orishin lightly tapped the flats of the curved sword on their heads.
"I just stepped out for a—" Armed opened the door and walked in. Her eyes fell on the gray-haired girl clinging to Kriel, tears welling up. She froze.
[Haha, we're screwed.]
Orishin muttered.
Armed didn't grab a rock and yell, 'You philanderer! And you're my fiancé?!' Her mind had gone completely blank, leaving her speechless.
Kriel started to come up with an excuse about how he'd ended up with a demonic sword but gave up. It was unlikely Armed had figured out Tuon's true nature at first glance. He'd just insist it was a normal ego sword, not a sword spirit from a demonic blade.
Tuon reverted to her sword form: a gray straight sword with a cross-shaped crossguard.
"Just a little disagreement with the sword spirit. What brings you here?"
"Ah, yeah. A sword spirit, huh..."
Armed barely pieced her scrambled thoughts together and nodded blankly before catching herself. Her curiosity as a mage kicked in.
"Sword spirit? One that's materialized with a fully formed ego?"
A strange fervor flickered in Armed's eyes. Kriel nodded awkwardly.
"A weapon housing an ego of that caliber... Top-tier among ego weapons, right? I suspected as much when it shattered Tushkin to pieces."
Armed raised her hand. The urge to touch it, just once, was palpable. The High Priestess of Eve Kaha had guaranteed no connection to the Abyss remained, but Tuon was still a demonic sword. The kind that corrupted people was shunned anywhere in Tirnanog. And even if Tuon had escaped the Abyss's shadow now, her origins lay in one of the Seven Great Demonic Weapons: Gratuon.
Best to keep her identity under wraps. Kriel glanced at Orishin. Orishin read the desperate plea in his eyes.
'Time for this hero to step up!'
Though Orishin found Kriel and Tuon baffling, he didn't realize that thinking in "heroic" terms meant he'd already been steeped in knightly romance.
[Technically, I'm that kind of weapon too!]
The horse head blocked Armed's path. She frowned. Theoretically, Orishin and the horn dagger fell under ego weapons too. Ego—self-aware weapons.
"But implanting a spirit that already had a physical form into a sword is different from a sword spirit born from the blade itself."
Armed's explanation veered into an academic debate on ego weapons. With attention safely diverted from Tuon, Kriel shot Orishin a grateful look and waited for the right moment to speak.
"So, what brings you here?"
"...You were planning to skip dinner and leave without paying, weren't you?"
"Uh."
Kriel gave an embarrassed grin. He'd already received his payment, so he saw no need for extra courtesy or more coin—he'd been packing to leave.
"At least have a meal before you go. The servants were talking about preparing a welcome feast for the noble knight who slew Tushkin the ghoul and saved him from the Abyss."
"Too much hassle."
"Huh?"
Kriel shrugged. He was the type who preferred holing up alone in his room. Being the center of attention wasn't something he hated, but it was burdensome.
"I'm kinda introverted by nature."
Armed let out a small chuckle at the lame joke.
"You're weird, you know that?"
"If you need my name to draw more support from the Gabi Merchant Guild, use it freely. I'm your fiancé in name at least. Gotta repay what I owe."
Armed's lips twitched subtly. She fought back a laugh. But the next moment, she no longer needed to.
"Though I'd need to check with Morgina too."
"...Hey. Why's her name coming up here?"
Kriel explained calmly. His public titles were two: Champion of Eve Kaha, and fiancé of Armed Ket. Orishin chimed in telepathically, 'First one's soldier, no?' but Kriel breezily ignored it.
"Religious issues could arise. Better to consult her once to avoid complications."
Armed nodded with a sulky expression. With his greatsword—the one retrieved from the ruined hallway—packed last, Kriel was about to set off.
"Kriel. Winter Solstice is coming up soon, right?"
Winter Solstice. The longest night. Nights hadn't always been ominous, but after the Demon King War, that changed. The Abyss hid from light, nesting in darkness.
"About a month left. Why?"
"Come to Ket County around the solstice festival. To formally sort out our engagement, it's easiest with the family together—and that's when they'll gather."
Winter Solstice Festival. Originally a rite to burn away the year's grudges on the longest night and pray for next year's fortune. Post-Demon King War, it twisted into gathering people's vitality on the darkest night to ward off abyssal calamities. Bluntly, it was about monitoring for Abyss spies under one roof. More surveillance than celebration. Now that the Demon King had fallen, the original festive spirit was slowly returning.
Kriel nodded. He'd probably dissolve the engagement around then and regain his freedom.
Avoiding the crowded main gate, he headed to the back entrance. A figure sat unexpectedly atop the wall. The hair color was familiar to Kriel: black fading to red at the tips.
"Knew you'd take the coin and bolt right away. You're later than I thought."
"Armed came to my room saying the exact same thing."
"Even that pink-head figured you wouldn't pay and leave? Tsk. Tough rival..."
Morgina touched her lips as she spoke. She looked like a priestess pondering under the moonlight—a painting come to life. But Kriel knew she was far from the textbook saintly image fit for holy art. Specifically, her shoes. For long trips, she crafted combat boots akin to marching gear via blood manipulation instead of ordinary footwear. Right now, Morgina wore leather dress shoes, not red combat boots.
"Sticking around for work?"
"Yeah. Grandma said something's brewing in the Empire, so I came this way. With Abyss traces here, I'll dig into this first."
The High Priestess of Eve Kaha's warning of abyssal stirrings. A knight couldn't ignore it.
"Need help?"
"Nah. Nothing solid's surfaced yet. You've got that horse-head business. If it's too much for me, I'll call."
"How'll you find me?"
Morgina hopped down from the wall and approached Kriel. She closed the distance until their breaths mingled, then pointed her index finger at his shoulder. It slid lightly down to his solar plexus. The raven necklace—mark of the Champion—swayed.
"With this. Send a raven, and it'll find me just fine."