"Do you remember what happened? How did you fight against that person on equal footing?" Her uncle asked filled with curiosity.

Stella furrowed her brows as she shakes her head in confusion.

​​

She was confused because she was aware that there was no way to fight that person equally during that time.

Stella tried to remember what happened before she lost consciousness…

'I heard someone else who tried to help me but…' She couldn't remember the exact event but she was sure that someone else was there…

"Right! Uncle… You said that the guards managed to save me…"

"That's correct…"

"Then… Did they not see anyone besides me?"

"Eh? No… What they saw was just the unconscious killer and you lying beside him due to exhaustion in battle… Your clothes were filled with your blood so the guard hurriedly brought you to the clinic… They didn't see anyone…"

Her uncle only thought for a moment before recalling the guard's words. He also had a good relationship with the village guards so he easily learned what happened.

"Really? I'm sure that there's someone else who saved me… Urgh… Anyway, what's with that sword? Is that yours?"

Stella asked while gesturing to the wooden bamboo sword on the table. Her uncle denied it and told her that she was holding that weapon when they found her…

"I'm holding that sword?"

"Yes… You don't remember?"

"Ahh… I might've picked it up when the killer was chasing me… I don't remember…"

"Very well… You still needed some rest. We got the missing materials from Venya. He even gave more than what we requested…"

"T-that's good to hear… Right, I'm feeling better now… I can start working…" Stella said before attempting to get up. She still needed to help her uncle complete the ordered swords.

"No! Stay here! You need to take a rest…"

Her uncle was adamant about letting her stay on her bed for at least a day to ensure that her body's conditions had turned better.

"I have helpers with me… Don't worry about the order…"

"Are you sure?"

"Mhmm…"

"Then… I'll help once I rested… By the way, why did that person did that?"

"Well, I haven't asked the guards yet since you're my priority. In any case, they've already captured the man and being kept in temporary prison. With the number of people he killed, he might be fed to some Evil Beast in the forest…"

"I see…"

Stella was aware of how the punishment works in the village. If the person has a bounty, it would be handed over to the city for the rewards, and if there's none, the village chief and elders would decide on the punishment.

She was also curious about the person's motive for the killing since as far as she remembers, this had never happened in the village before. She heard a lot of people dying from the forest's beast but not from fellow humans. It may happen in big cities, but a small village here shouldn't have these kinds of crime.

Her uncle then left the room to continue with his work at the smithy. Now, Stella had the time to pick up the wooden sword on the table...

"Was this left behind by the person who saved me?"

Stella had a sudden thought. It wasn't that far fetched if she thinks of it like that.

After having this realization, she couldn't help but imagine a young handsome man protecting her when she was in danger…

He must've seen her fragile self and decided to protect her from the evil person… Then after dealing with it, he left the sword in her hand as a sign. A sign that they will meet again someday…

"Does he want me to get stronger the next time we meet? Is he telling me to learn how to protect myself from now on? Ugh… But I'm a blacksmith! Sigh~ I guess it's not bad to practice swinging swords from time to time…"

Stella was in her fantasy when she heard a man's voice…

"Ehem… Stella, was it?"

"Ah? Eh?! Who are you? Where are you?"

It wasn't her uncle's so she was alerted… She tried to look around to find where the voice was coming from but she didn't see anyone.

But she was sure that the voice didn't sound from someone afar! She felt that the source was just somewhere beside her.

"Err…"

Reiji was curious a bit since he remembered Diether's story when they had time to chat. He heard from him that he felt that the sword was an Arcana or even a cursed Arcana that was why he avoided it from being covered by trash.

However, this young lady who could similarly practice Spiritual Energy was unable to tell that the sword wasn't just a normal sword even though she was holding it already.

'Did I get too good in hiding my presence?'

In any case, he decided to leak a bit of his energy.

"It's me… The one you're holding! Don't get too surprised since I'm a sentient Arcana!"

"Ehh?!"

Of course, just because he said not to get surprised, Stella wouldn't be surprised… She even quickly unhanded the sword in panic…

However, instead of hearing noises of the sword falling on the floor, something weird happened…

Stella clearly saw what the sword did.

She just stood there, mouth agape…

"T-the sword is floating!" She exclaimed.

"Calm down… I'm not a bad sword… I helped you defeat the beast-like guy before… You should've heard my voice before, right?"

"Ahh… Now that you said it… You sounded familiar!"

"See? I healed your wounds and helped you defeat that guy. But your spiritual energy was too lacking and we only managed to put him unconscious… Luckily, the guards quickly came to apprehend him…"

Reiji remained very calm in explaining the situation to the girl. After all, even he would be surprised if a talking sword would approach him.

"Is that so… T-thank you very much for saving me! I would've surely died if not for your help! I'll do my best to repay you!"

"Mhmm…"

Reiji was satisfied that the girl calmed down and easily absorbed all the information.

He looked at his mission and was happy that saving her benefited him as well.

[ Hero Part I ]

[ Progress: 2/3 ]

'One more act of being a hero… Then I can get the ranking up quest… Kehehe!'

He was excited about this quest since he was sure that being higher in ranked means getting stronger…

"Uhmm… Mr. Sword… Since you stayed here and waited for me to wake up… Do you have something in your mind that I can help you with?"

Stella politely asked to the floating wooden sword. It was normal to think like this since she was sure that the sword would just leave her if there's nothing.

In any case, the sword helped her so it was normal for her to repay it…

"Oh! You're a quick-witted child!"

Reiji likes how assertive she was.

"T-thank you…"

"Well, before that… I noticed that you're a blacksmith…"

"Yes, Mr. Sword…"

"Are you making Magic Weapons?"

"Eh? Not really, our smithy doesn't have Arcanist to help us make them…"

"Really? But I sensed some strong Spiritual Energy in some weapons displayed on your shop…"

"That? Uhmm… They do not have Arcane Magic similar to Magic Weapons so we don't call them Magic Weapons. Some people would call them enhanced weapons, and the one that you saw was probably a Warrior's Sword."

"Enhanced Weapon? Warrior's Sword?"

Reiji was a bit confused since he had only been exposed to Magic Weapons and Arcanas.

"Yes… Err… Enhanced weapons were too broad as Magic Weapons and Arcana can similarly have Enhancements… Due to that, in honor of the Ancient Warriors of the past who uses similar basic enhancements, they called those Swords that don't have Arcane Magic but have one or two enhancements a Warrior's Sword, Warrior's Spear, or something similar…"

"Hmm… I see…" Reiji nodded his non-existent head as he somehow understood the story.

It seems that the creation of weapons or probably advancement of their technology hadn't been easy in the past… There must've been a long history about it.

Right, Reiji was unsure about the history of how this was all discovered or how did the first people summoned their arcana or created their magic weapon. However, it seems that the Ancient Warrior of the past garnered enough reputation to be given such honor…

'I'm interested in learning about this… But I can do this in my free time…'

Reading books was one of his hobbies aside from practicing kendo. It would help him focus his mind and prevents cognitive decline.

"W-why did you ask Mr. Sword?"

Stella said as she blankly stared at the floating sword.

At the back of her mind, she was thinking of something else…

'How can he see me? Is there an eyeball attached somewhere? No… How can it speak? It must have a mouth that I can't see… I wonder where is it located?'