Chapter 65: Your Name (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: Your Name (6)
Generally speaking, what exactly is "blackening"?
Literally, it involves one’s appearance turning dark. But beyond that, it usually entails one’s personality, thoughts, and values turning dark and ruthless. In the worst-case scenarios, a character’s personality might flip to the complete opposite of what it once was.
On top of that, a base stat boost is a given.
To put it simply: in the worst-case scenario, a being could be born with a nastier personality than the current Daisy but with far superior abilities.
Since the flower language of a daisy is roughly purity, hope, and peace... wouldn't a "Black Daisy" represent something like despair and destruction?
"You said it would be fine!"
I immediately glared at Violet, shifting the blame.
"I trusted the RoFan heroine!"
"The blackening of a RoFan heroine—how could I pass that up?"
"Okay, that is hard to pass up!"
In terms of RoFan developments, it was indeed an irresistible trope. The problem was that we were the ones who had to deal with it.
"We can win, right?"
No matter how nonsensical Daisy’s growth rate was, she was still a long way from beating me. However, since she now had the "blackening" buff on top of the insanely overpowered magic sword used by the Demon King—which even Violet acknowledged—I couldn't be certain.
At least we had the beastkin warrior squad on our side... but having seen so many plots where a mass of troops gets annihilated during an awakening event, they felt more like a liability.
"..."
Then, the blackened Daisy looked at us. With her hair and even her eyes turned pitch black, Daisy...
"Huh? Why is my hair this color?"
"..."
"..."
She seemed surprised herself, her eyes widening as she began to fuss with her hair.
"Is it a trap?"
"Could be."
We didn't let our guard down. It wasn't unheard of for a character to act normal only to cut you down the moment you approached.
Therefore...
"You go first."
"M-me?"
"You're her childhood friend."
"In this situation, the boyfriend should go before the childhood friend..."
I tried to use Violet as bait, but she caught on and tried to push me forward instead.
"...Daisy?"
Ultimately, losing the seniority battle, Violet cautiously approached Daisy. Daisy tilted her head, watching Violet with those black eyes.
If she stabs her now, the battle begins!
"D-do you hear anything?"
"A sound?"
"Like... 'Do you crave power?' or something like that."
"Am I supposed to hear that?"
"Well, no, but..."
However, Daisy didn't seem to have any intention of stabbing Violet. Instead, she just looked at Violet as if she were talking nonsense.
"U-um, your hair suddenly turned black."
"I see that."
"Your eyes turned black, too."
"Really? I couldn't see them, so I didn't know. Is it because of the sword?"
As Daisy spoke, she plunged the sword into the ground.
"Huh?"
The moment she let go of the hilt, Daisy returned to her original appearance. Violet’s eyes widened.
"Does it just change your colors?"
"Seems like it."
When Daisy lifted the sword again, her hair and eyes were dyed black once more.
"Is it a disguise sword?"
"...There's no way."
"Right? It's a sword the Goddess herself sealed away. So, what does it actually do?"
"Uh, well. That is..."
Still wary, Violet kept glancing at the blade in Daisy's hand as she finished explaining the magic sword's properties.
"That's an amazing ability. Did the Goddess make this sword?"
Violet shook her head with a strange expression. She was likely barely suppressing the urge to say the Goddess didn't have that kind of talent.
"...Usually, if something is sealed, isn't it because it's dangerous?"
"In legends, things are often sealed so they don't fall into the hands of the unworthy."
"I-is that so?"
"Hmm. So, if I use this sword... it says I can absorb and use the opponent's mana..."
Daisy's black eyes sparkled. The problem was that those sparkling eyes were directed at me, not Violet.
"Let's go a round!"
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I want to test it out."
"Violet is right there."
"It's no fun for a swordsman to fight a mage, right?"
True enough. Even in Leon, and during the regular spars between the Swordsmanship Club and the Magic Club, people said the same thing.
...But how does someone who isn't even from a swordsman background know that? Should I really try to convince her to change her major this time?
"What if I say no?"
"...Hmm. Then, shall we call it the price for two-timing? Let's set the stage as a spat with an angry girlfriend."
"Couldn't we just break up?"
"There are only a few months left anyway. Practically speaking, it's over once we return to the Academy from Rias."
"Well, I guess I have no choice then."
As a Leon native, I couldn't ignore a budding prospect. Changing her major to swordsmanship might lead to her getting entangled with Prince Ellen... but people would understand her trying to avoid the Prince, who would be in the same classes as her ex-boyfriend.
As for Prince Ellen... he might dump me and go for Daisy, but the condition for our fake relationship included a clause about him. Unless a sudden RoFan development stabbed me in the back, Daisy wouldn't betray me.
...She wouldn't, right?
"I'll teach you a thing or two."
"Bring it on!"
And so, our first lovers' quarrel began.
Preparation didn't take long. Perhaps it was confidence, but the wolfkin didn't demand we surrender our weapons as they led us to their village.
I drew my favorite sword from my waist and infused it with mana. I gave Daisy time to prepare as well.
"Here I come."
I gave the signal to the ready Daisy. As she nodded, I stepped forward and swung my sword lightly.
Clang!
Blade met blade. And in that instant, I realized.
As expected of the Demon King's sword.
Holy shit.
It’s a total cheat...
"Hmm."
"Ngh...?"
Since Daisy knew how to handle magic, she had lightly coated her sword in mana. It wasn't a swordsman's sword energy; it was literally a sword wrapped in mana.
Of course, even this wasn't easy. Ordinary mages were surprisingly bad at utilizing mana itself. Most mages were geniuses sensitive to mana, but much like how everyone knows they are breathing but can't explain how they do it, they found it easy to use mana for spells but difficult to move mana in its raw form.
However, because it was literally just a coating of mana, it couldn't match the density of sword energy. At best, it just kept the blade from dulling. While that's a huge advantage in battle, it's underwhelming compared to the amount of mana consumed. If it clashed with real sword energy, it should have shattered easily.
"The mana is..."
Yet, Daisy's mana didn't shatter even when it hit my sword energy. No, rather, I was the one who got chipped.
Literally chipped. The part where our mana clashed broke off in a small piece, and Daisy's mana greedily devoured it.
It was a tiny amount, something that could be restored instantly. But I had failed to win where I should have won, and instead took a loss. Conversely, my opponent gained an advantage in a moment where she should have lost.
If this were due to skill and sense, like with Prince Ellen, I’d be frustrated. But to get this result just by holding a sword...
To be honest, I didn't feel any resentment regarding the time I’d spent living as a swordsman. There’s a nonsense saying from my past life that a master doesn't blame his tools, but the elixirs I’d been fed by the Kingdom's support were things ordinary people could never achieve anyway.
So, the thought that struck me as soon as we exchanged blows was: 'Can I use that too?'
Honestly, if I used that magic sword, I might even be able to beat Prince Ellen. If I could borrow it for the remaining three years of the Academy, I was willing to extend the boyfriend contract by another year.
"I think you can go a bit harder."
"You might get hurt."
"Have you forgotten who I am?"
I hadn't. The Saintess. Someone who could heal almost any wound with self-recovery.
But why did that sound less like an offer to heal and more like an assertion of her durability?
"Then, a bit harder."
Since I had the subject's consent, I wanted to see just how far the performance of that magic sword went.
"Ugh!"
First off, it seemed the sword didn't protect against pure physical strength. When I increased my power, Daisy frowned and swung her sword. The original Demon King probably had the physical build to make it unnoticeable, but with Daisy's frame, she couldn't win a contest of pure strength against a real swordsman yet.
"I told you to do it, and you just do it!"
"If you're upset, change your major to swordsmanship."
"Argh!"
Clang!
I saw her potential when she parried my sword, and I was surprised once again by the chunk of mana that was ripped away this time.
"What did you just do?"
"It's a secret!"
Clang!
I clashed with her incoming blade again. Once more, a mass of mana was drained, and the mana within Daisy's sword began to surge even more violently.
Wait, could it be?
"Hmm."
For the sake of the experiment, I poured an absurd amount of mana into my sword. Not the usual compressed mana, but simply a volume that matched the mana in Daisy's sword.
If my theory was correct...
"You... you're not planning to swing that, are you?"
While I was lost in thought, Daisy seemed startled by the ridiculous amount of mana in my sword. Her eyes were wide, her face practically screaming, 'You're really going to swing that?'
"I am."
She was showing her lack of experience here. A seasoned swordsman would know that a sword with such an overtly enlarged mana pool isn't actually that scary. Seeing her overwhelmed by mere size made my heart flutter slightly.
A talented newbie... how enticing!
"Here I come."
"D-don't come any closer?!"
Sword met sword. Or rather, mana met mana. The shockwave alone was enough to make the watching wolfkin warriors gasp in admiration.
"Hmm..."
Looking at the result alone, it was my total defeat. Of course, I had achieved my goal by confirming my hypothesis.
"It really is a total cheat."
I wondered if the amount she could absorb increased in proportion to the mana she had already absorbed, and it turned out to be true. This meant the more exchanges we had, the more impossible it became to win.
"Violet. Fire a spell."
"Eh?"
"Something like this?"
"Violet?"
Violet caught on immediately and prepared exactly what I wanted. Seeing her surprised expression, this was likely a detail not explained in the original work.
"W-wait a second?!"
The eyes of the blackened—no, Black Daisy—widened. Her face was full of a sense of betrayal.
For some reason, it looked like the comrades were the ones doing the betraying, rather than the blackened character. But the experiment was important.
"Fire."
"N-no, right? Is it because I teased you earlier? I was just joking! I thought we knew everything about each other, but then all these things I didn't know kept popping up! I just felt a little betrayed!"
Daisy started making an unexpected confession as she watched the spells manifest one by one.
"Ready?"
"Hey, you traitor?!"
But the person standing before her wasn't her childhood friend Violet, but the cold-blooded agent, Boradori. In the end, Black Daisy could only shed tears as she watched the magic flying toward her.
