Chapter 119

Changes in Zaien

"Ughh… what a pain . " I groaned as I watched the furf.a.g"s corpse turn into DP .

Painful was the only possible way I could describe the experience that Rir and I had just shared . Dealing with people and creatures that enjoyed battle just wasn"t up my alley . Ughhhhhhh . I"m so tired .

"Seriously man… I mean like, if you wanna fight that badly, can"t you just pick a fight with someone else that likes fighting? What the h.e.l.l, right Rir?"

The wolf responded with a silent, reproachful stare .

"Oh come on… Don"t look at me like that . I do not like fighting . I"m a hardcore pacifist and you know it . "

The wolf responded with yet another silent, reproachful stare . The reason behind it was obvious . He was mad because I had made everything harder by p.i.s.sing off our dear friend the sociopathic manticore .

"Okay, okay, fine . I"m sorry . I shouldn"t have let the blood get to my head," I said . "Come here . I"ll make it up to you by fixing your fur, alright?"

I changed the topic in order to distract him from his dissatisfaction, then grabbed a potion and sprinkled it all over his fur . The parts of his coat that had been frizzled and burnt by the explosion soon returned to normal and regained their sheen .

Of course, aesthetics and the like weren"t our priority . We had obviously already healed all our deeper wounds ahead of time . Recalling the act of healing made me grimace . I hadn"t had much of a good time . Removing the stone spears wedged in me was already bad enough . But it wasn"t even anywhere close to being as painful as getting the shrapnel out . I had to use a knife to literally gouge each and every last piece out of my flesh . The process had hurt so much that it had caused me to scream profanities and curse the stupid manticore to no end . f.u.c.k manticores . I swear, the moment I get strong enough to beat them with ease, I"m going to go back and commit a G.o.d d.a.m.n genocide . f.u.c.k the wildlife conservation act . Laws don"t apply to demon lords . I don"t care what anyone says, I"m going to hunt those f.u.c.kers to extinction .

One thing I learned from today"s experience was that potent and powerful as they were, potions didn"t do all that much in the way of restoring lost blood . Rir hadn"t been all that injured, so he was fine in that regard . I, on the other hand, had lost so much vital fluid that I had dyed Rir"s back in crimson . Oh man . I"m feeling kinda lightheaded . I should probably make sure I eat something that"ll help boost my energy levels when I get back . Like meat . Or meat . Or more meat . Yay meat . But in the meantime, I guess I"ll probably use Rir as a pillow or something now that his fur is back to its usual nice and fluffy state .

With that in mind, I approached my pet and gave it an order .

"Let"s go home . "

***

After returning home, I found that Lefi was the only person in the true throne room, which meant that Illuna and s.h.i.+ were most likely playing out in the gra.s.slands while the maids were probably attending to some sort of housework .

"I"m back . " I greeted the dragon girl as I moved over to one of the drawers in the room"s corner .

"I am pleased to see that you have returned . Welcome home, Yuki," said Lefi . "Your clothes appear rather torn, and your scent carries with it a hint of ash . "

For some odd reason, sitting on the throne filled me with a sense of comfort . It was almost as if the seat was somehow warming me up from the inside out . Apparently, I was the only one that felt that way . I was the only one of the dungeon"s residents that its soothing effect extended to . Must be because I"m a demon lord or something .

"I must admit I find manticores rather obnoxious . I dislike both their obstinance and their propensity to play with their prey," said Lefi with a frown . "And though I have encountered many, I"ve not ever heard of one that could make use of fire . "

"Oh, yeah, the one I fought couldn"t use fire or anything like that either . The reason I got all burned and stuff is "cause I killed it with one of the dungeon"s traps . It was the kind that makes explosions and stuff, and I kinda got caught up in the blast . Wasn"t just me either . Rir did too . It made his fur all frizzly and stuff . You remember the spaghetti Lyuu burnt that one time? How it was all curly and singed and stuff?"

"I do . It was quite the incident," chuckled Lefi .

"Yeah, that was basically how Rir"s fur looked . "

"How unfortunate . " Again, the dragon laughed .

Likewise, I also snickered a bit while pulling Zaien out of my inventory .

My most recent encounter had led the blade to suffer a good bit of abuse, so I made sure to carefully inspect it for damage . I figured I was probably going to have to take it to a human blacksmith if it got bent or chipped since I wasn"t sure how else I was supposed to have it repaired .

"Huh…" Carefully looking over the blade caused me to tilt my head in confusion . "Something about you seems a bit different . "

The red that decorated its still unblemished blade had gotten darker . And for some odd reason, I even got the impression that it was the opposite of damaged . Zaien seemed even sharper than usual . Maybe I"ll go cut a bunch of random stuff later to try testing it out . I don"t think I"m just imagining things .

"Really?" The blade responded to my statement by channelling its will through its grip .

…

Wait a second .

"Could I always hear your thoughts this clearly…?" I asked . I could have sworn that the blade had never conveyed anything more to me than just vague emotions . I recalled it feeling happy, angry, or even resentful at times, but that was all . That, however, was no longer the case . Although it couldn"t speak, I felt as if I could understand it just as well as I could Rir or s.h.i.+ in her slime form . It was conveying its thoughts to me in something akin to but different from words .

"I think so…" replied the blade . Uhhh… I"m pretty sure you replying like that already makes it a straight up hard no .

Thinking back, I recalled that Zaien"s stat page had said something about it being able to grow . I guess this is what that meant? Yeah uh, definitely not what I was expecting .

"Yuki…" Lefi flashed me a suspicious gaze . "I am aware that your weapon bears a consciousness . However, I must advise that you reserve speaking to it for when you remain in its presence and its presence alone . I believe that the action would be interpreted by many as but evidence of insanity . "

"Right, yeah . Good point," I said . "I"ll save it for later . "

I opened up my item box and opted to put Zaien back inside, but the blade promptly complained .

"Let me be with you… a little longer," it said . Its thoughts almost seemed to resemble a cry of loneliness .

"I-I"ll make sure I equip you again soon, alright?"

"Okay…" For some odd reason, hearing the weapon"s thoughts led me to envision a child that was trying their hardest to endure a crus.h.i.+ng sense of solitude .

"…"

I almost wanted to let it have its way, but I didn"t think that having the blade sit around in the open was exactly what I would call the safest blade in the world . I hadn"t even made it a sheath .

"It"ll be alright . You"re my main weapon . I promise I"ll use you again soon, so you don"t have to be so sad, okay?" I tried to soothe the blade after coming to the conclusion that I would simply have to put it away for the time being .

"See you later…" replied Zaien .

I heaved a sigh after placing the blade in my inventory . Don"t get me wrong . I"m happy that the weapon I made has grown so much . But… how do I put this… Man, that was real rough . I feel so guilty right now…

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