Chapter 330

White Blade – Tenko

“Hmm-hmm…hmm…hmm…”

I was in a rather good mood.

“Hehe…”

After all, I had received a sword from the store.

I had gone off in order to explore the market after the incident, but as I quickly reached the edge, I had to turn around and walk back. That’s when the old man called out to me.

“Hey, you.”

“Ah, hey.”

“Thank you for intervening. You saved me.”

Who knew what that Adventurer was up to? But you had to be insane to attack someone with so many people watching.

The merchant kept me there for a while with some idle chatter. But my real interest was with the swords.

“Haha. Do they interest you so much?”

“Yeah, sorta. I happen to have a similar one, you see.”

I said as I took out the Ashikirimaru.

“Ahhh…a kodachi. That is quite rare indeed.”

“I bought it at a weapon store a while ago. The owner had bought it from some other place.”

“Hmmm… So, you’re interested in katanas then. Well, seeing as I have yet to repay you for what you did…”

Oh? Was this going where I thought it was…?

“Alright. You can take your pick of what you see here!”

“Do you mean it!?”

“Aye. I’d be a sorry man if I didn’t repay my debt here. I’ll even throw in a sheath!”

“Thank you!”

Awesome! Helping people really did pay off.

And so I took out the appraisal glasses from my bag and started to inspect the weapons carefully.

After picking up each one and taking my time inspecting them, I chose the ‘White Blade – Tenko.’ It had a white hilt and blade. Only the handguard was gold. White and gold had such a feeling of luxury in my head. Which was a nice thing to feel after so recently having my appearance insulted.

The blade itself was seventy centimeters. It was average. It was slightly curved, which meant it was best used for cutting.

‘White Blade – Tenko: A blade made from materials of an abnormally evolved being known as a White Tenko.’

The appraisal glasses displayed this text. To be honest, I had no eyes for the other blades once I saw that. Why was something like this sold in a morning market…? It seemed like the rarest of blades. A monster blade.

However, the idea of it being from the materials of an abnormally evolved being was also frightening. There was that time I had a cursed Assault Kobold sword, after all… Well, that was a monster I had killed myself, so maybe that was the reason.

And so I ultimately decided to accept the weapon from the old man. He looked just a little disappointed over my selection. Perhaps he had not expected it.

Well, that was too bad for him.

“…Yeah, so that’s how I got this. Cool, huh?”

“More importantly, what did you get for me?”

“…”

I filled Daniela in on what had happened after we reunited, but apparently, she was more interested in what food I had got her. And so I silently pulled out the rice cakes from my bag.

“Ohoho. I see… Thank you. Mm…hmm… It’s stretchy… And sweet.”

“That’s good. So, what do you think? It’s called White Blade – Tenko. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Mmmggg…yes. I feel a strength from it. An abnormally evolved being, right? I hope that it is not cursed.”

In spite of everything, she had been listening after all. Yes, the curse was the one thing I was worried about.

“I want to find out, so come with me after you finish that.”

“Aye. If the time should come, I will cut off your arm.”

“Well, as long as its a clean cut.”

Still, I would prefer to not lose it. It wouldn’t be the same having just one hand on Daniela’s chest.

□ □ □ □

When Daniela was finished eating, we went to the outskirts of the town where there were no people nearby. The area here was all snow and rocks. But as it wasn’t too far from the Ritune River, we could still hear the rushing of the water.

“This place should be fine.”

Daniela said as she unsheathed her rapier.

“Alright, let us begin.”

“Nah, now I’m scared.”

This woman was actually going to cut me.

“Well, it is better safe than sorry, is it not?”

“Can’t we think about that when the time comes?”

“Very well…”

Just don’t cut off my arm for real. There will probably be other ways to deal with it. In fact, it was likely that nothing would happen at all.

And so I pulled the katana out from the leather sheath.

It was the one that the old man gave me. Instead of putting it through your obi, you attached it to a belt, like all swords in this world. I had a kind of ‘sub-belt’ that came out of the main one and adjusted the position of the sheath.

“…Okay.”

The white blade glimmered in front of me. Apparently, the blade of the sword was made of the tail bone of the monster. The White Tenko. A strong bone would surely result in a strong, sharp blade.

I held the hilt tightly and slowly sent a current of magic energy into it.

“Ha…!”

“…”

Daniela held her blade up and slowly moved closer. Don’t move. I said with my eyes.

I continued to do this for some time, but no miasma seeped out as it had during that time with the Assault Kobold. So, was this a success?

“…Hmm. It seems fine to me.”

“Looks like it. Alright. Now put that thing away, Daniela.”

“I was doing it for your sake, you know?”

“You can’t cut off my arm and say you did it for me!”

I wouldn’t appreciate it at all!

“However, nothing seems to have changed. Well, perhaps the blade is glowing a little…”

I tried swinging it without much thought. That’s when it happened. A blade of light that was in the shape of a crescent moon shot out and split a nearby boulder in half.

“…”

“…”

Huh. A ranged attack…

“If I could attack people from far away like this…won’t I be invincible?”

“If you want to be a god of destroying nature, perhaps.”

“I guess…”

A flying attack sounded cool on paper. But it was true that it was quite limiting in terms of where I could use it. But well, at least it wasn’t cursed and the blade itself was of good quality. So I might as well use it. I just won’t fill it with magic too often.

□ □ □ □

We entered a random dining hall after returning to the town. It was just midday.

“I’ll have the same thing.”

“Certainly.”

We finished ordering and I drank some water and sighed.

“So, what did you buy in the market, Daniela?”

“Some very fresh meat and some street food. There were some unusual magic trinkets I also purchased.”

“Magic tools?”

Maybe she had acquired a rare import just as I had.

“What kind?”

“A magic tool that uses wind and fire ore. It creates a warm current. Also, I got another tool that uses wind and water ore. It can be used to humidify the air.”

“Ah…”

She bought a heater and a humidifier. I didn’t know they had such things here. But a humidifier was good. They should have them in every inn.

“Did you get anything besides those rice cakes and the sword?”

“A lot of spices. But I think I just went in a bad direction.”

“Well, you are quite abysmal at finding things.”

“I’m what?”

That wasn’t true!

I was about to thoroughly debunk the accusation when our food arrived. It was some kind of meat dish that Daniela ordered. There was clearly a lot of herbs involved. Daniela had recently decided to always have bread with her meat. And I was no different.

Meat was good. It made one happy. Your joy increased every time you chewed, and by the time it reached your stomach, you were willing to give it the best possible score. And so I had long forgotten what Daniela had said to me after the first bite.

“So, I suppose all of our shopping is finished then.”

“Hmm…perhaps it is… Could we have forgotten anything?”

Daniela asked as she sipped on some fruit wine. I thought about it as I dipped a piece of bread into the meat juices and brought it to my mouth and then licked my fingers like a filthy animal. I didn’t think we had anything left.

“Well, I suppose we can go back for the day then.”

“Yes, we just need to prepare for our journey tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

As I had finished eating, I paid for our food and we left the restaurant. There was something refreshing and purifying about the way your body cooled off when you were outside. As we walked, Daniela moved beside me and put her arm in mine.

“…”

“What?”

“Uh, nothing.”

‘This is embarrassing,’ I said with my eyes. But Daniela pretended not to see it. Instead, she held my arm tighter and urged me to keep walking.

Well, there was nothing to do then. We took several detours so that we could walk long enough to help with digestion, and it ended up turning into a date.