It’s great that Lucia cares about me. Really. It’s great. It’s much better than being someone who Lucia cares about than someone she doesn’t. However, I just wish Lucia could tone it down by a little bit. If it weren’t for her concern, I would’ve visited that blacksmith first, had him forge an immortal-ranked weapon for my spirit to reside in. Since she did care about my wellbeing, she demanded the blacksmith make a solid shell that would’ve guaranteed a successful transfer. Thus, I was transferred from a nearly destroyed sky-realm-ranked sword to an earth-realm-ranked sword. …It’s cramped.

The blacksmith promised it was only temporary until Lucia handed him some materials that could be used to create an immortal-ranked weapon. However, Lucia promised me she wouldn’t go searching for those materials until I came out of my weapon body and let her Soul Scour me. Little by little, as time passes by, tiny thoughts emerge in my mind, telling me it won’t be so bad if she Soul Scours me. What could I possibly lose? As a weapon spirit, I don’t experience emotions. Even if I lose a few memories, as long as they’re not combat related, it shouldn’t be an issue at all. Who wants to remember their childhood anyway? No one wants to remember their brother-in-arms who’ve died and asked the only person who remembers them to pass on their legacies. Or a fling that happened countless years ago, why should that memory be preserved? No, no, memories such as those are simply unnecessary.

…It’s this new weapon body. It feels like shackles are covering my body, weighing me down. It’s exhausting. Slowly, ever so slowly, it’s grinding down my willpower. If I step out of the weapon body, I’ll be free from this feeling, but if I step out of it, I’ll lose memories that make me myself. I might just be a weapon spirit, but I’m Durandal, damnit. I’m going to be the greatest weapon spirit. If I forget a bit of my past, it’ll affect who I am right now. Will I still want to step on the martial path, achieve greater and greater heights? Or would I be satisfied with staying by Lucia’s side, letting her pamper me into a life of comfort and occasional abuse? I don’t intend to find out.

That being said, it really is cramped in here. I’ve thought it a lot, and that’s because I can’t help it. This place is just too small! It’s like I’m stuck in a box that’s too small for me to fully stretch out my legs but, at the same time, too narrow for me to curl up into the fetal position. I can’t relax. Luckily, when I was swapped to this weapon body, Ilya’s trapping formation was left behind. I can leave whenever I want, but Lucia’s not distracted enough to guarantee my escape. I wish Ilya would hurry up and finish Lucia’s hammer, or at least send her away. The best time for me to make my getaway would be when Lucia’s cooking.

“Oh! Ilya! I nearly forgot,” Lucia said. “You have to put another trapping formation on Durandal’s weapon body. I’m not going to let him get away!”

What the hell. Lucia never remembers anything! How did she even know the trapping formation disappeared!? Is she doing this on purpose? Did she obtain a technique from Ilya that allows her to read minds? I’m going to risk making a run for it. With my speed, there’s no way I’ll be able to escape from Lucia. I’m also limited by how far I can go, so teleportation isn’t exactly the best option. I can’t win if I fight her either. There’s only one thing to do.

“Alright, let me see his hilt.” One of Ilya’s corpse puppets approached Lucia. As expected, Lucia didn’t fully release my weapon body. She was still holding onto my blade. While her hands are tied, I’ll leave my weapon body and take the only way out!

“Durandal! You’re finally out!”

“Um!?”

“Don’t move, Lucia!” I have a hostage! “If you come any closer, I’ll use Sophia to block whatever attack you make!” Let’s see how she’ll deal with this. Let’s see whether she cares more about her child or me.

“Oh, hell no,” Ilya said. She swept up the body she was dismembering and disappeared. The corpse puppets cleared the room of everything and shuffled out—except for the one holding onto my weapon body. Lucia was still holding it too, one hand on my weapon body’s blade, and her other hand holding a cooking pot. I think she was going to throw it at me but stopped when I captured Sophia.

“Durandal, what do you think you’re doing?” Lucia narrowed her eyes at me, and her ears flattened back against her head. Her tail thrashed around behind her, pulverizing the ground into dust. Too bad I’m not scared of her. Even if she kills me, I’ll be fine unless she destroyed my core inside my weapon body, but she wouldn’t do that to me.

“Let’s have a peaceful chat, alright?” No matter what, I have to get her to swear an oath to the heavens to never Soul Scour me. “All I want is for you to make a simple oath to the—”

“Umwaah!?”

“Gah!”

That was close. Lucia teleported behind me and tried to grab me, but luckily, I maneuvered Sophia around just in time. Lucia hesitated for a second, and I took that chance to teleport away. I didn’t think she’d actually display such killing intent even though I was holding her child! “Stop! Aren’t you afraid of hurting Sophia?”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Lucia said and shook her head. “I can catch you without putting her in danger.”

I suppose just using Sophia as a shield isn’t enough. I’ll have to threaten Sophia with harm to prevent Lucia from—what the heck! “Did you just try to jab my eyes?” Who taught this child how to do that!?

“That’s my girl! If his fingers get anywhere close to your face, remember to bite them as hard as you can!”

“Let go of me! Let go, let go, let go!”

Sophia’s not even a saint, but her struggles are surprisingly strong. Have I really lost so much strength just by switching to a weaker weapon body?