123 Part 1
Chapter 123 To the World of Farming! (5)
#4 Other stories: An old man’s story
“Have you come?”
I saw Merln come out of the door holding an antique silver sword in his hand.
“Is that your answer?”
“Yes.”
I picked up the tree branch I had found nearby as he nodded.
“While it has been a long time since I held a sword, I don’t think I will lose.”
“If you are the previous Holy Sword, you would usually be able to win against a nameless swordsman like me.”
“Usually?”
I know that he was stronger than a nameless swordsman. However, his opponent was me, the previous Holy Sword. How can he be so confident?
“Do you not believe me?”
Well, if the old man living next door told me, “I was actually the previous Holy Sword…,” I would not believe him myself.
“No. I would not have prepared this meet if I did not believe you.”
“Is that so?”
If that’s true… Is that man saying that he could beat me?
“This is a demonic weapon created by a dwarf family. They fear it, saying that this sword was their masterpiece.”
“A demonic weapon?”
Dwarfs are a blacksmith family. They are said to be born betting their lives on metal and fire, and each one of them is a skilled warrior and artisan. The swords they usually make are considered high-cla.s.s weapons, and the weapons made by a masterpiece with painstaking skill were called divine weapons because they are said to have been graced by G.o.d.
A weapon called the demonic weapon that is feared by them.
“Is that a cursed item?”
“It can be said to be cursed. A curing curse.”
“A curing curse?”
“Yes, this sword cannot hurt people.”
A sword that cannot hurt people?
“Do you mean that you cannot cut people with it?”
“I also cannot hurt anyone by hitting with this.”
A sword that cannot cut or hurt people?
“Then why is it a demonic weapon?”
A demonic weapon would place a heavy burden on the user or curse the opponent. A sword that cannot cut would not be called a demonic weapon and instead be considered a failure.
“It has a strong curing effect.”
“It is all the more then, not a demonic weapon.”
His explanation became even stranger. If there was a high healing effect, would it not be a healing item instead? The answer Merln gave me was something else.
“Instead, it gives extraordinary pain.”
“Pain?”
That’s the only reason the sword was a demonic weapon?
“It really, really, really, really hurts! So much that a person cannot endure it.”
“A swordsman should be able to endure that.”
“A swordsman who has reached the heights cannot endure this pain.”
“Is that so?”
I nodded but could not understand that pain could make that sword a dwarf’s demonic weapon. Some swords would track down an opponent until death, or swords that inflicted unhealable wounds. However, to think that a sword that only gives pain would be called the worst demonic weapon that dwarves have made.
Was not pain something that always followed a swordsman?
“I’ll let you have first hit.”
“I’ll not refuse.”
Merln swung his sword after taking a position, and it was an ordinary low blow. However, the posture was first-cla.s.s, and I blocked the sword by lightly swinging my stick.
“You have thought me too easy…what?!”
I felt an amazing shock!
“Thi, what is this!”
I screamed in instinct, as I could not name this pain!
“Wa, wait? Ah!”
I felt a sharp pain all over my body when my sword met his. I had lived with my sword for as long as I can remember. Even though I had not held a sword for a while, how could a pain like this exist!
“Stop!”
This was the first time I let out screams like that.
“Not yet!”
“S, stop!”
I realized why that silver sword was a demonic weapon as it flew at me, dissipating sword auras. Death was rest for warriors, but that demonic weapon did not give a warrior death. It meant endless pain. What kind of an evil weapon would give out ongoing pain of unG.o.dly proportions?!
“Doesn’t a swordsman need to finish after lifting a sword?”
“I stopped being a swordsman! So, you can stop now!”
“All right.”
Merln let go of the sword as he nodded.
“What!”
Arms and feet came out of the sword and started walking towards me as it hit the floor.
“It’s a demonic weapon.”
“What does that mean?!”
I got gooseb.u.mps all over my body. While it was crawling, it was fast enough to fly at me!
“Ahhhh!”
“Since it’s a demonic weapon, it hits people until it’s satisfied. Of course, you don’t die.”
“Kill me instead.”
“It’s a demonic weapon.”
“Arrgh!”
The silver demonic weapon attacked me by swinging its limbs as Merln bowed his head.
“You’re the owner!”
“It’s a demonic weapon.”
“Why do you keep saying the same thing!”
I gave up on his help as Merln only kept repeating the same sentence. A weapon is only a weapon! I can take on a weapon without its owner!
“Transient Sword Principle!”
The reinforcing aura I had not been using for a long time gathered on my weapon. If the reinforcing aura covers something, even a stick can cut steel. And if I focused more!
“Only a demonic weapon!”
I had not used the Master Art of the Transient Sword Principle, the Definite Sword, after facing the current Holy Sword, but now it appeared once more in my hands.
And what was this? The demonic sword took on my most powerful attack and just charged me.
“Wait, what is this?”
“It’s a demonic weapon.”
“You only keep saying that!”
The legs on the sword kicked my ankle and I let out a groan. The demonic sword climbed on me as I lay on the floor. I was scared. For a moment, after I first grabbed my sword when I was seven, I felt fear for the first time. A sword mounted me. While I would have met human eyes if it was a human being, I could only see a grotesque blade with limbs of a demonic weapon.
“Wait, wait a minute, demonic weapon.”
I had become a senile old man who spoke to objects, but the demonic weapon seemed to understand my words.