Chapter 287
Chapter 287
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Demon Sword (2)
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-To think these iron lumps go crazy the moment they see Zuini!!! Do they even have eyes, those lowly sightless creatures!? Krahaha!!!
A voice from a spirit(?) echoing in the inner world.
It resonated with Rishir in many ways right now.
Of course.
He had never once felt dissatisfied with that fact.
A sword possessing self-awareness and the mysterious power at its core.
An ego sword.
For an ordinary swordsman, it was a legendary blade they might never wield in their lifetime.
How could receiving the attention of such swords be anything but welcome?
As a swordsman—
No.
As a mage, priest, shaman, black mage, and swordsman.
However.
This time alone, their attention was burdensome.
-Hey, you big lug, what the hell are you doing!? I thought you were pretty sensitive for a big guy, but was I wrong!? Didn't you hear me say give me back to that kid!?
The Sword of Power treating the giant woman like a servant.
And—
"..."
The giant woman staring intently at him after hearing the sword's words.
That was why.
"Ha, haha—"
Rishir let out an awkward laugh to mask his discomfort.
The woman thudded over until she was right in front of him.
Rishir's eyes briefly flicked upward before dropping to the ground.
An unreal difference in height.
As the distance closed, she had to tilt her head down—not just her gaze—to look at Rishir.
He was the same.
To meet her eyes, he'd have to crane his neck like an adventurer gazing up a cliff—
So he figured it was better to just keep his eyes down.
Suddenly, Rishir felt like a child facing an adult.
"..."
Then.
The woman thrust out the Sword of Power.
Whoa.
The Sword of Power was being offered just like that.
Rishir's luck wasn't good enough to accept it so readily.
He was certain.
In this situation, taking the sword eagerly would direct all her dissatisfaction straight at him, breeding resentment.
He'd become the so-called "that fucking guy."
When all he'd done was accept the sword's choice!
It was a common blunder in human relations.
You don't always have to commit a wrong to leave a bad impression.
Right now, Rishir was keenly aware of that.
"The more friends, the better; the fewer enemies, the better..."
Rishir reflected on the wisdom he lived by.
He didn't know if the giant woman was suitable as a friend.
However.
She was definitely someone he shouldn't make an enemy of.
Her presence, like facing a mountain, proved it.
"No doubt. She's a big shot I don't know about—"
His thoughts reached that point, filling Rishir with considerable embarrassment.
-Hey, kid! What are you doing!? Take it already!
A big shot's face was an exceedingly delicate thing—
-This body chose you! Instead of that burly brute! Don't you get how amazing that is? You want me to explain it personally, then faint from shock before you move!?
The current situation was chipping away at that delicate face moment by moment.
The woman's gaze drilling into the back of his head grew heavier by the second—that was the proof.
At this point, even Rishir started feeling resentment toward the Sword of Power.
"If a sword that only picks the strong chooses strong people, why me—"
Was it oversensitive to think its actions were driving a wedge between him and the woman?
"Hm? Wait."
Then.
Rishir's gaze turned to the Sword of Power.
Right.
He was definitely in a hypersensitive state right now.
Demon sword. He'd entered the city fixated solely on it and moved accordingly.
It was natural to be on edge encountering a sword with unknown properties.
"A sword possessing mysterious power of unknown nature..."
"Sir Danil."
The fresh-faced youth who'd been fidgeting between the sword and woman had vanished at some point.
The Hero of the Advance's eyes gleamed faintly with intent.
"Now that I think about it, I jumped in without even knowing what this sword really is."
"Ah."
It was just as Danil was about to speak.
"Hey, little one."
A voice like a beast's low-frequency growl, rippling through the listener's inner self.
"My arm's getting tired here?"
Rishir sensed clear emotional turmoil in that voice.
Wounded pride.
Resentment from it.
"..."
Rishir cautiously lifted his head to look up at her.
Once a bastard, Rishir had faced condescending gazes countless times.
But this was the first time he'd encountered a look like this.
Right now.
She was truly regarding him as an inferior being.
Perhaps a socialized beast's gaze was like this?
Glinting brown eyes.
Rishir met that gaze head-on.
"I can't do that."
"..."
She smirked, one corner of her mouth curling up.
A smile thick with predatory thrill, like a beast's musk.
"...!"
Danil, watching from the side, paled in shock.
He hadn't imagined the situation escalating this quickly.
Thus, he'd forgotten to brief the hero about her.
The Reverse Heaven's Star, Arisha.
She was a woman of fierce predatory instincts and even fiercer whimsy.
Even the Ash fanatics restrained themselves before her.
Because the moment you stirred her strong instincts and whims, anything could happen.
Just like now.
Not content with meeting her gaze directly, he was defying her will.
"Hero! For now, just take the sword as she says—"
A fanatic urgently tried to intervene.
The Reverse Heaven's Star raised her arm toward him.
The fanatic shut his mouth immediately.
Her pride had already been thoroughly trampled by the Sword of Power.
Her current state was like a volcano on the verge of eruption—nay, insufficient to describe it.
"This is bad..."
Thus, Danil could only pray fervently.
That Rishir would make the right choice and not provoke her further.
The problem was.
It might already be too late.
The Reverse Heaven's Star.
The Hero of the Advance.
The moment the Sword of Power chose the hero over her, her pride had been wounded.
"Even if the hero politely yields the sword, with Arisha's personality, it'd feel like pitying condescension—"
Could words persuade her?
Who knows. If such a method existed, Danil wanted to know it too.
In his view, there was only one way to restore Arisha's wounded pride.
Proof.
Arisha would prove the Sword of Power wrong in "her way."
That she was the rightful chosen one!
That was why Danil was half-mad with worry.
Judging by her capricious nature alone, Reverse Heaven had a worse reputation than Wanderer.
It wouldn't be strange if she crippled one of the hero's limbs.
"If not for the Ash's words, we wouldn't have let in such a troublesome existence...!"
Danil's thoughts paused there.
"...No, I have to hear what she says no matter what. What she's babbling about."
The Reverse Heaven's soliloquy shattered the awkward silence filling the space.
Her reason had tried—and failed—to resolve the situation smoothly.
"Little one. This sword chose you over me. So why won't you accept it?"
-Are you seriously asking that!? With a brute like you scowling in front, of course it'd be wary! That's why I chose that kid over you!
"But that little one couldn't even draw you properly from the sheath. What you need to wield is strength. Pure, absolute strength. Am I wrong?"
-Exactly! You see it right!
"Then why? Why choose this little one over me?"
-Because I sensed a greater power in him beyond your 'brute force'!!!
The giant's pride. Stubbornness. Dignity.
The Sword of Power was obsessively prodding at them.
As if peeking into and trying to dominate her inner self.
"A greater power beyond my brute force..."
Arisha's emotions manifested as a smile brimming with predatory thrill.
"Hear that?"
Arisha thrust the sword toward Rishir once more.
"Little one. Whatever you say, this sword acknowledges you. That's all there is to it."
Arisha was getting impatient.
Only once the opponent accepted the sword could she prove it was wrong.
Right now, no words could persuade her.
She was beyond persuasion by words.
"Isn't that strange?"
Yet the hero spoke instead of taking the proffered sword.
"Little one. Trying to lecture me?"
"Not at all. Just discerning right from wrong."
Saying that, the hero still took the sword from Arisha.
It was the moment Arisha's heart pounded in anticipation.
Clang!
"...!?"
Arisha's predatory expression cracked.
The hero.
He had suddenly flung the Sword of Power to the ground.
-Kid!!! What the hell are you doing!!!
The sword's voice held more bewilderment than anger.
The Ash Company.
The Reverse Heaven's Star.
Even they had been swayed by its aura.
In fact, hadn't the Reverse Heaven's Star been on the verge of losing her reason?
Yet.
To casually toss aside something like itself?
"What the...?"
Even Reverse Heaven was the same.
Faced with the hero's wildly unexpected action, she could only look back and forth between the fallen sword and him.
Then.
The hero spoke.
"This sword cannot choose me."
"...Ha! Is that it? You'll acknowledge me, so the sword should too? How noble of you."
"That's not it!"
Clang!
Reverse Heaven's eyes shook once more.
Like a mirror shattering.
Rishir had nudged the sword with his toe.
Utterly indifferently, as if it were a roadside stone.
"In the end, it's just a tool we wield by our will! The choice is ours!"
"...!"
Everyone present was shocked by the hero's words.
No one could have imagined such words from the mouth of the holy sword's chosen hero.
In fact.
It was the factor that had provoked Reverse Heaven's pride.
She had once sought to become the holy sword's master to prove her greatness but failed the choosing—
Thus, the sword's choice of him shook her even more.
"Mere tool..."
Yet the words from the hero's mouth.
They upended Reverse Heaven's world.
-Ridiculous!!!
The sword shouted at the shaken Reverse Heaven.
-You, who found meaning in life through the holy sword's choosing and devoted yourself to being a hero, saying that!?
Then.
The sword's voice pierced Reverse Heaven's heart once more.
-Then tell me!!! You, chosen by the holy sword's will and swayed by it—what are you!? Just a mere tool if not a hero!?
That argument perfectly pointed out the hero's contradiction, reigniting the impure emotions in Reverse Heaven.
Then.
The man bellowed.
"Shut your mouth!!! The holy sword is just the hero's tool!!! "
His rage-filled voice brimmed with anxiety.
It was clearly the hero's cry, called out on his contradiction.
The pathetic side of the revered hero.
The Sword of Power pressed on triumphantly.
-Holy sword!!! Did you hear that!!! The hero calls you a mere tool!!! Is that truly the hero you chose!? Are you okay with that!?
"W-Wait...!!!"
Danil shouted urgently.
The hero was one chosen by the holy sword.
In other words, if the holy sword willed otherwise, their bond could shatter anytime.
The fanatic feared the Ash-chosen Hero of the Advance might lose his qualification over this.
-Of course, even so, I will choose you, kid!!! Your potential is undeniable!!!
Reverse Heaven grimaced as if something bitter lingered in her mouth.
The sword's choice, emphasized again now that the hero's pathetic true nature was exposed.
It burrowed into her heart in a more twisted form than before.
Their emotions and actions churned along some unseen flow of intent.
The Sword of Power.
It was just about to form a satisfied smile from the shadows.
-What do you know to spout such nonsense!!!
"...?"
They noticed the anomaly.
The hero's mouth wasn't moving.
The voice came from a slightly lower position.
-Rishir fully understands the hero's position!!! And the meaning of the holy sword!!! As he said, the holy sword is just the hero's tool!!! So don't spout off when you know nothing!!!
The outrageous claim that the holy sword was a mere tool!
That remark came from the holy sword at the hero's waist.
The "domination" the Sword of Power had attempted on the hero veered off course severely.
And that domination failed to take full effect.
For a stronger "domination" already bound the target.
The hero's actions to persuade Reverse Heaven.
Misinterpreting them, the holy sword actively joined in denigrating the sword.
"..."
Their gazes, unable to accept the situation, darted busily between the hero's mouth and waist.
Ventriloquism, maybe?
Someone entertained that foolish thought for a brief moment.