88. Ominous Prophecy
88. Ominous Prophecy
About two hours later, the regular ferry from the academy arrived at the port.
As I was descending the stairs to disembark, I heard a commotion off to the side.
"Haha, I'm heading off first. May your outing be enjoyable..!"
It was Nivas Perda and his entourage.
They came swarming over and were descending the staircase next to us.
"Nemea! Let's meet again later!"
"Hey..!! I told you to stop paying attention to him..!!"
"Even if I get hit, it's me who gets hit, so don't worry about it!!"
Even though she'd been scolded quite a bit, the half-elf female student hadn't changed much from the first time I saw her.
She looked at me and waved her hand wildly; even as the other female student beside her scolded her, she kept waving.
'She's so far gone that I can't even formulate a thought about it...'
I felt like I understood why Perda had said you'd never have time to get bored with her.
But Lucia seemed unhappy; she was glaring at the half-elf female student with a terrifying intensity.
"... I don't like her..."
I thought this was the first time I'd seen her directly say she disliked someone so bluntly.
The academy students who disembarked at the port gathered in their own groups and scattered in all directions.
"Lucia, is there somewhere you want to go first?"
"... There are a few places I looked up beforehand, so let's head to those first."
I asked just in case, and it turned out she did have places she wanted to go.
"Places you looked up?"
"..Yes, first, to the downtown district..."
Following Lucia's lead, we headed toward the downtown district.
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The downtown district in the port city connected to the academy contained many places that required caution.
In the original story, from a month after the academy freshmen's outings were permitted, Hayden would experience countless incidents in the downtown district and frequented it constantly.
Since the downtown district catered to so many academy students, most of whom were nobles, a great deal of money circulated there, and consequently all manner of shops and all kinds of incidents existed.
Among them were items useful for hunting demons, items that allowed one to grow stronger... and cursed objects as well.
Lucia unfolded a small, creased map and navigated the crowded streets.
I found the sight of her bowing her head deeply and staring fixedly at the map adorable.
When I glanced over, a few places were checked off on the map; it seemed she intended to visit those.
I could tell they were places she'd scouted out once before entering the academy. If I looked at the map directly, I could find them faster, but I refrained from doing such a boring thing.
Since she had prepared it and said she wanted to guide me herself, I decided to quietly leave it to her.
"Th-this... is supposed to be a famous weapon shop..."
"I see. It has a certain feel."
'It doesn't look famous, though.'
The weapon shop was located in a secluded alley even within the downtown district. To put it nicely, it was antique; to put it uncharitably, it was shabby.
It was a strange place where, though it was bright and sunny outside, the interior was so dim and gloomy that it was hard to see clearly.
"Uh... is this the... right... place?"
Lucia seemed unaware it would be like this, blinking as she looked back and forth between the map and the weapon shop.
"Okay, okay, let's go in."
I felt that if we backed out here needlessly, Lucia would feel embarrassed, so I took her hand and entered first.
Just because the exterior was like that didn't mean there couldn't be good weapons inside, after all.
And I abandoned that thought the moment we stepped inside.
'A talisman with a drawing of a black lizard on it is stuck to the pillar... So this is a shop that deals in Cursed Weapons.'
The fact that a Black Lizard Talisman, which had the effect of suppressing ominous things, was attached to the pillar indicated that items of that caliber were slumbering here.
A Cursed Weapon was, literally, a Cursed Weapon.
It was very common for something to dwell within a weapon.
Weapons that had the word of a god engraved upon them to cast a 'holy power,' or weapons that caused magic to activate through engraved formulas, were commonly distributed. But Cursed Weapons were a bit different.
A Cursed Weapon could not be created through sheer will and intent.
They were simply 'accident items'—things that, on extremely rare occasions when a horrific event occurred, naturally manifested within the weapons present at that location.
Scholars had researched it time and again, but all attempts to artificially create a 'Cursed Weapon' had ended in failure.
They had discovered how they manifested, but it was impossible to explain why they did.
Cursed Weapons bore a powerful curse.
A curse was a power of this world, like mana, distinct from the demonic energy used by demons, beings from another world.
Scholars understood it as a power with negative properties, the exact opposite nature of mana.
Cursed Weapons, drenched in that curse and radiating it powerfully, displayed a potency far greater than ordinary weapons.
Just as an Aura Blade sheathes a sword in aura, a terrifying power constantly emanated from the sword itself, so it was inevitably far more potent than other weapons that were simply lumps of metal.
However, that mighty potency was a double-edged sword.
The curse radiated by a Cursed Weapon could not distinguish between friend and foe.
A Cursed Weapon that emitted a curse in all directions, much like radiation, attacked not only the enemy but also the owner.
And not just the owner.
If not properly sealed... the curse would encroach upon the location where the weapon was placed, turning it into land prone to being haunted by ghosts or spawning undead.
If the Black Lizard Talisman was functioning properly, the land wouldn't be contaminated, but the crucial part was how many Cursed Weapons there were.
"....."
The owner was an old man in the twilight of his years.
It was unclear if he could see properly; he wasn't even looking our way and simply sat there, utterly motionless.
It was hard to tell whether his eyes were open or closed.
His posture was so bent that it was difficult to see clearly, but his knotted, hardened body was visible, suggesting he must have done a thing or two in his youth.
"Wow... it's my first time in a weapon shop."
Though she looked uneasy, Lucia's eyes sparkled as she looked at the full array of weapons displayed inside the shop.
True to its name, the shop had all kinds of weapons densely displayed throughout the store.
From self-defense daggers to one-handed swords, two-handed swords, and exotic edged weapons like chakrams, they clung thickly to the walls and display cases. Beside them, shields, blunt weapons, throwing weapons, and so on were packed so densely that it was hard to find anything that wasn't there.
The items inside the shop were largely divided into two types: those displayed to catch your eye the moment you entered, and the shabby things filling large shelves and the wooden barrels in front of them.
Even at a glance, the quality of the eye-catching items on the display cases and walls was clearly far superior.
"You said you'd never been outside your territory, didn't you?"
"Yes... the smithy wouldn't make unusual weapons... they mainly make items ordered by the knight order..."
Lucia looked at the various weapons not so much with fondness as with great wonder.
No matter how much she liked cute things, she had spent many years holding a sword and living that life.
She didn't love the sword, but she was naturally curious.
"Atlas, you... used a longsword... often, didn't you?"
"If I try, I can use just about anything."
The weapons hanging on the wall were not fixed in place.
I drew the longsword that Lucia had handed me from its scabbard.
"Hmm... not bad."
My face was reflected on the blue-tinged blade.
Gripping it with both hands, its balance was well centered, and it was an adequate sword.
'It's not a cursed object.'
I suspected it might be, but it wasn't a cursed object.
I'd once picked one up after killing a bandit who used a cursed object and confiscating it. When you hold a cursed object directly, you get a unique, spine-chilling sensation.
"You used a two-handed sword, didn't you?"
"Yes... they said my house's swordsmanship requires you to use a large weapon..."
While we were setting out different weapons and sharing stories about them, my gaze suddenly shot upwards.
As we talked, we'd moved toward the shelves, and a sword that had been set up high began to wobble on its own.
Then it fell toward Lucia's head.
"What the hell is this?!"
Faster than the sword could fall, I leaped up and caught it.
I thought I'd land lightly. But the moment I grabbed it, a spine-chilling energy shot up my spine.
'This... this is that thing!!'
-Kudangtang!!
Startled by the spine-chilling sensation, I failed to land lightly and instead rolled once across the old wooden floor with a loud noise.
As I did, a few more blades tumbled from the shelf and fell toward me.
"Atlas, are you okay??"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine... don't worry."
Thanks to twisting my whole body to dodge the blades, it must have looked like some kind of circus trick.
As I stealthily rose to my feet, I stared fixedly at the sword clutched in my hand.
There was no doubt I had felt a chilling sensation when I grabbed it.
Just as I was considering snapping it in two, a creepy voice began to flow out from the sword.
[Kikikit, what a shame, what a shame... you should have died!!]
"Huh...? Atlas, what's that sound...?"
I thought only I could hear it, but it seemed Lucia could hear it too.
At the mysterious sound, the color drained from Lucia's face, leaving her pale.
"You can hear this too?"
"... That's not... the voice of the shop owner... right?"
"Looks that way."
As Lucia trembled in fear at the mysterious voice, the ominous voice rang out from the sword again.
[Kikikit, kikikit, you...! You managed to dodge it just now, but I shall give you a prophecy you cannot escape from!! You will die today, stabbed by a blade!!]
Hearing that voice, which declared this with immense confidence, I stared blankly at the humming sword.
Me?
Stabbed by a blade?
"I'm going to die stabbed by a blade?"
It had been a long time since I'd heard something like this, too.