The Demonic Sword's Remedy (3)
Tuon spent a good long while berating one knight and a quarter of a horse. She employed a truly varied and dignified array of refined vocabulary, but most of it boiled down to variations on "how could you so utterly forget about me."
Orishin timidly shot back.
"[B-but... feeding the abyss to a demonic sword...]"
"Do you take me for a betrayer of my master? I am not like that curved sword that bent its honor as readily as its blade!"
"[No! I mean, what does a blade's shape have to do with a sword's character!]"
"Since when did you start using the character for 'person'? It's sword character we ought to be discussing."
"[Lately even I've been getting confused, but my essence is a spirit, not a sword?!]"
"Even so, you're no human. Spirit quality? Hmm. I'd acknowledge abyss spirit quality."
"Urk!"
Orishin's breath caught in his throat. He was already a spirit body and didn't need to breathe, but it felt like a fist had slammed into his solar plexus.
"[Huh. Hold on a sec...]"
Having heard Tuon's confident declaration, Orishin tilted his head. The fact that she could absorb the abyss disease embedded in Lady Pand's body meant...
"[Then! Why aren't you treating me!]"
Orishin let out a screech. Tuon watched him freak out, then haughtily lifted her chin and snapped back.
"Stabbing a sword with another sword dulls the edge."
"[You're serious?! And here I thought of you as a comrade!]"
"I was joking."
"[Wh-what?!]"
The shock of "she knows how to make jokes."
Tuon had apparently vented all her anger and now settled back into her chair—not plopping down sloppily, but with graceful poise that didn't rumple her garb.
"Lady Pand's abyss disease is embedded in her flesh. It hasn't extended to her soul. Extracting the abyss from the body and from the soul—the difference is plain."
"Grk!"
There was no arguing that. It wasn't some cowardly rhetoric dragging up Tuon's own abyss corruption or curvature; this was a straight logical push. Orishin's shock doubled.
"The side effects are the same. The worst outcome of a failed attempt to excise abyss from the flesh is death. A failed attempt on the soul? One can't even discuss a 'worst'—only the abyss knows what might result."
Tuon answered with grave seriousness.
'Does that mean a path like "Infinite Abyss Solo" opens up?' Even Kriel, who had been pondering that, had to bow his head to the cold analysis.
"Thus, I made no such proposal to you, whose soul core is pierced by the abyss. Do you understand, you legless nag who twists others' consideration as badly as your master's sword curvature?"
Orishin, utterly stunned, rolled across the floor. A translucent horse head tumbling like a bowling ball was a profoundly surreal sight.
"Mind the horn. You'll put a hole in the floor."
It was a professional reminder from Tuon, who had just been tidying up moments before.
"[Ghosts don't exist! Physics!]"
Proper ritual and mana could allow materialization, but Orishin lacked the mental bandwidth for that now. In fact, he lacked not just a spirit-head but everything below a body-head.
Kriel turned his head away from the horse head.
"I have a question."
"Ask anytime, my master."
"Truth be told, I was wondering if you'd brought up the Demon King because you could easily purify even the abyss embedded in a soul. If not, what was the reason?"
"Because light and darkness together appear the strongest!"
Hmm. A thoroughly logical and rational line of thinking. Kriel nodded.
"[What's with the nodding, you jerk!]"
They had found a way to treat the lady, but problems remained.
"[How do we explain this...]"
They could brush off others, but not with the lady—the treatment process wouldn't look clear-cut. Orishin racked his brains for a suitable excuse.
Kriel shrugged.
"What's the harm in trying once?"
"A challenging spirit is admirable. Better than giving up in worry before even starting."
"[You two were probably chatting about knightly honor while I was gone, huh?]"
"I do think giving up before attempting something like abyss corruption is wiser... but Tuon has a point."
"[Huh?]"
Better to regret saving someone than to regret not trying. Summarizing his stance, Kriel said,
"Save her first. Persuade later."
"[This guy's got a reckless streak.]"
Even as he said it, Orishin didn't strongly oppose Kriel's view. He knew Lady Pand could die at any moment.
"First, we need someone who knows exactly how her disease has progressed and in what way."
"Only Niam."
And so Kriel was once more in a private meeting with Niam. Bars between them, she wore a melancholic smile.
"I'm sorry. I still haven't recalled how I learned about the abyss disease. Oipe and the young master are diligently searching the family records, so clues should turn up soon."
"Not about that."
Kriel laid out the current situation honestly. As the one who had caused the incident to save Lady Pand, he judged the truth would be most effective.
"I have a way to treat Lady Pand's disease."
"What?"
Niam shot to her feet and approached.
"Removing the root of abyss disease is something even renowned priests or mages can't do."
"They lacked a demonic sword."
Kriel drew Tuon. Quick on the uptake, she emanated power. A blue chill enveloped the surroundings.
Niam stared at Kriel in bewilderment. Even without the abyss's peculiar power, a demonic sword was something to fear. In human terms, its wielder was no different from a demonkin. The only difference was whether the slaughter was for the abyss or personal satisfaction.
And he'd been carrying it around all this time? Her gaze shifted to the floating horse head nearby.
It was a look that said, 'Your contractor walks around with that, and you didn't stop him? Did you toss your age into the abyss?'
"[D-don't look at me like that! He's safe in his own way!]"
"Revealing this won't help you."
"It will help Lady Pand and her family."
Niam had no reply.
"Right. Has that Kromnagha fulfilled the contract?"
"...No. Since negotiations with you fell through, there's no need to uphold the promise."
This was also why she didn't suspect Kriel outright. Whatever the demon had offered, the deal had ultimately collapsed.
The knight had proven his innocence through actions.
"Using this demonic sword's power, we can excise only the abyss. But for that, we need someone who knows her condition precisely."
"You're going to use a demonic sword to save Lady Pand?"
"I don't plan to advertise it. Just say I have some relic. I'll explain it properly to the lady receiving treatment."
Niam felt a crick in her neck. He was remarkably reckless. She'd heard Oipe say the knight friend of the young master's was "pretty weird" too.
What if rumors spread that he was using a demonic sword to harm an elf noble lady? She sighed deeply.
"Let's tweak the backstory."
"[Huh? Tweak the backstory?]"
"I get that taking me as both condition reference and witness avoids the bad optics of a man visiting her room alone... "
Niam proposed making herself the treatment performer.
"Say I obtained the cure as payment for aiding the abyss. Sir Kriel. I don't know the exact mechanism, but you know a demonic sword that absorbs the abyss won't be treated properly anywhere, right?"
Requesting a private audience with Lady Pand while gripping it was the same. Every step could drag a knight's honor through the mud.
So, excuse it as her stealing the cure from the abyss, or Kromnagha revealing it as compensation for the Cup of Truth's destruction.
And for the treatment's witness: If anything goes wrong midway, Kriel as executioner for her summary execution accompanies them.
"This explains arming up to enter the lady's room and leaves no doubts about how you treated the abyss disease. Simple, no? Come back with the young master."
Kriel scratched his head.
"Won't that just deepen suspicions of abyss collaboration? My honor is lighter than a person's life—"
"The moment we acknowledged the deal with Kromnagha, my death sentence was as good as sealed. Saving Pand is enough."
But as Kriel tried to add something, Niam slowly shook her head.
"...Still, she's Alberik's older sister. It'd be too pathetic to cause trouble and leave. At least let her remember me as a longtime friend who helped."