The Skeleton's Sword
It looked a little dangerous, but we built a fire inside the fortress and rested anyway. The dreadful chill that had pressed in while the skeleton swordsman was still here had faded, so it ought to be fine.
"Sit here. Put this over you too."
Levan settled me by the fire and draped a blanket across my shoulders.
"Earlier, right at the end, I got a bad feeling and came running. Was that your power?"
"Huh?"
What is he talking about?
Levan looked at me, his face serious.
"I thought the skeleton had gotten you, so I took off at a run. But you'd already won."
So my last attack had felt like the skeleton swordsman to him. What had that even been? I remembered some tremendous power surging up, that much was true.
"Yes. I thought we were done for too," Runesa said.
I blinked, and Levan laughed and shook his head.
"You were incredible. Just now."
"Oh. Was I?"
Was that a skill firing off? If it was a Darkland Warrior skill, then it was Heavy Strike—put simply, swinging hard enough to wreck something. It was a skill you could pick up just by fighting long enough.
So that was what I'd used at the end. Thinking of how my strength had drained away and I'd collapsed after the fight, I'd burned through what little mana I had to pull it off.
"Haa..."
If a single use left me like that, it was ridiculous. How small was my mana pool right now?
I looked down at my own body. Surely not that small...
"It looked like magic. Was it?"
"Huh? Yeah. I think so."
Levan fixed me with a sharp look, putting on the air of a man with a keen eye.
"So from now on we have to pack mana potions too?"
"How often am I even going to use it."
Mana recovered on its own with rest, just like stamina. I had no reason to start throwing that kind of power around all of a sudden. Knowing I could use it was enough for now.
"Was that the first time you used it?"
"Hm? Yeah."
Runesa stared at me, then broke into a grin.
"The Count said that once you start using magic, you only improve by using it a great deal."
She wasn't wrong. Darkland did have a system where repeated use raised proficiency. Even so, that wasn't something we could afford in our current state.
"That's something only rich people like your Count can do."
Levan said what I'd been about to say. Runesa's mouth fell open a little, and she nodded.
"This one would split the potion she was drinking even if a friend got launched by an ogre, so there's no need for talk that fancy."
He's still holding onto that?
I looked at Levan, and he smiled back at me. Then he suddenly pointed past my shoulder.
"Hey, isn't that the sword the skeleton was using?"
I turned my head. It really was still there—the sword and cloak the skeleton swordsman had used, left just as they were.
"Oh, I'll go and bring them."
Runesa ran over at once and brought the sword and cloak to me.
"Oh... how strange. The sword looks quite fine, and the cloak is worn, but it looks good too."
The skeleton swordsman's blade, which my attack had snapped, had somehow fused back together. How was that even...
I lifted the sword. A faint chill came off the blade itself, but otherwise it didn't feel strange.
This was a spot I'd farmed heavily. The rarest drops here had been the skeleton swordsman's sword and cloak, and I'd just gotten them right away?
"Hmm..."
The sword the skeleton swordsman had used looked far better than the one I was carrying now. The cloak looked ordinarily worn, but I thought I could feel a faint mana from it. They'd existed as items, so there was nothing unsettling about them. I threw the cloak over my shoulders at once.
"You're going to use that?"
Levan eyed the cloak I'd put on with an uneasy look, as if asking whether that was really all right.
"Yeah. It's nice."
I pulled the hood up too and smiled. The strange chill I felt from it seemed to wrap around me and push the cold away. It really wasn't an ordinary thing. It would be good for sleeping outside.
"It suits you very well!"
Runesa, who had been feeding the fire and pitching the tent, smiled at the sight of me in the cloak.
"Thanks."
"The skeleton swordsman's cloak, of all things. People would be shocked if they saw it! Heheh."
"Yeah. That definitely looks strong."
Runesa roasted more of the potatoes she'd brought over the campfire.
"I packed extra potatoes from the winter woods. Please have these first, at least."
When it was cold, those were the thing. I took the potatoes she'd roasted again over the fire and ate, and little by little my mind eased as fatigue came rolling in.
After the potatoes I pulled the blanket close, and my eyes shut.
"If you are tired, you ought to sleep a little, if I may say so."
"...Yeah. I'm counting on you."
As I settled in to sleep, Levan got to his feet.
"Then I'll go take a look around. There might be more skeletons left."
"Be careful..."
Levan stepped away to scout the area, and Selen fell asleep.
Left alone, Runesa looked at the armor Selen had taken off.
"She fought so roughly."
Runesa roughly stitched the armor where it had been cut and torn. The places she'd patched after yesterday's fight with the goblins had split open again. They had only been temporary fixes, not proper repairs, so it couldn't be helped.
"She might almost need to buy a new set..."
Runesa looked at Selen sleeping inside the tent. There were a few bruise-like marks on Selen's body, but thankfully no cuts.
"Thank goodness."
Runesa added another log to the campfire and let out a small breath. Then she lifted her head and took in the fortress. The count's estate came to mind—the count's castle, ruined by monster attacks. Its chill and its silence resembled this place.
"The Count..."
Runesa closed her eyes and exhaled. He hadn't become a monster, had he, like the skeleton swordsman guarding this place? If she met him someday, could she fight him as if it were nothing? And even if she fought, could she win?
"Lie down and sleep."
"Yes?"
When Levan returned, Runesa startled and opened her eyes. Then she shook her head and smiled.
"Ah, I wasn't asleep."
"I just saw you. Eyes closed."
"I—I really..."
"If you start being stubborn too, I'm the one who suffers."
Levan sat by the fire and let out a long breath. Watching him, Runesa offered a faint smile.
"Then... may I rest just a little as well...?"
"Go on."
I opened my eyes to the chilly morning air.
"Ugh..."
Pulling the blanket closer, I looked around and saw Levan sitting by the fire. Beside him, Runesa was asleep.
"You're up."
"Yeah. You stayed like that all night?"
"I did."
Levan shrugged, not looking particularly tired.
"You should've woken me partway through."
"You were dead asleep, so I left you."
Levan smiled and tossed me a waterskin. I drank, got up, and put on the clothes I'd taken off, and the rustling woke Runesa too.
"Oh... is it already morning?"
"You can sleep more."
"No, it's all right."
Runesa was up in no time, and Levan looked at me.
"We're leaving right away, right?"
"We should. What's there to do here."
"There is one thing."
What now?
I tilted my head, and Levan pointed deeper into the fortress.
"While I was checking the area, I saw something like a storeroom farther in. Want to loot it?"
"Ah."
If you went inside the fortress, you could often find chests. They were meant as a bonus after the boss fight, but I'd rarely bothered, since it was a hassle.
"The skeleton swordsman was guarding this place, so I doubt anyone looted it first. It used to be a strategic point for Belmor, so there ought to be something."
"Ah... you mean we are going farther inside?"
Runesa looked at me with uneasy eyes, as if she wanted no part of that plan. It was a desperate look, hoping I'd say we should just go home, but Levan was right.
"There's nothing much farther in, so we can just stop by on the way. Don't worry."
"Ugh..."
"Selen already took down the strongest thing here. What's there to worry about?"
Levan patted Runesa's shoulder and laughed. I was too embarrassed to say it myself, but it was true. Once the skeleton swordsman was beaten, nothing here should be more dangerous.
We packed up camp and moved deeper into the fortress.
Inside, it was silent and cold. The chill that clung to the whole fortress, together with the cold of the stone buildings, made my body shake so hard it was difficult even to move.
"It was that way."
Thanks to Levan having already found the way yesterday, we didn't have to wander. We were soon deeper in and found the place that looked like a storeroom.
"Thing is, the door's shut tight. There's no lock or anything, either."
Levan shrugged as if there was no way through, then looked at me.
"How about you try breaking the door with that power of yours?"
That, again, here...?
I drew the sword. Unlike the one I'd been using, the skeleton swordsman's blade gave off a faint mana, and I thought I could channel mana into a swing a little more easily.
"I'll try."
"With that sword?"
"Might as well do it properly."
Standing before the storeroom door, I gathered mana into the sword. A sensation like the one from the fight with the skeleton swordsman began to rise in the hand gripping the hilt, and in the blade itself.
"Haaah!"
I brought the sword down on the huge door. The moment the blade touched it, the iron door that had looked so solid split like paper, then burst inward, and the space beyond opened wide.
"Oh, that actually worked. Ugh..."
I started to marvel, then swayed as dizziness hit me.
"You get like this from using it once?"
Levan caught me.
"...This was the second time."
Use it back to back and I felt like I'd pass out. Looking at the state of me, Levan spoke as if worried.
"This... even if it costs some money, you're going to have to practice. Let's go in for now. If we make a lot here, it'll cover it."