He frowned slightly, awkwardly running his thumb over the sword he'd found not too long ago.

Evel wondered who it even belonged to.

It'd been a fairly normal day. He'd woken up, gave his mom a hug, ate breakfast, tended to his field, gave his plants their daily pats, and went back for lunch.

He didn't have much to do for the rest of the day. He read his books for about an hour or two, before his back pains forced him to stand and move. After some idle pondering, he decided to go and visit the river he hadn't gone to in a while; his assortment of knives carefully strapped onto his belt.

So he did. He spent his time walking by the riverside, following where the flowing water was headed towards. He'd stop occasionally, silently watching his reflection on the water wobble along.

He walked on for some more, mostly waiting if some lone goblin suddenly appeared out of the shade. Sadly, none did, and so he turned back.

Or he would've, had he not spotted something shiny in the distance.

He quickly went over, and there, wedged between the rocks was a sword, its blade bright and glittering as the river's waters passed it by.

Initially, he wondered if a stray goblin had dropped it, but the sword looked far too clean, and certainly far too expensive. Of course, the goblin could've stolen it from a corpse or whatnot, but he doubted an adventurer with a sword like this would so easily fall to a goblin.

Which probably meant that they'd left it here.

He would've left it there and then; it probably had an owner after all, but he didn't think leaving it there would do it any good. Its grip had become awfully soggy, and he wasn't sure how much more water the sword could take before it began to rust.

So here he was, sitting on a nearby rock as he wiped the sword with one of the few patches of cloth he had in his pockets.

The sword was...unnatural. It looked far too sharp for something that's been left in rushing waters, and its blade reflected just a tad too much light.

He wasn't all that worried over it though. His dad's sword was similar in a way, although it was black instead of the silver one in his hands.

It most likely meant that it was enchanted in some way.

He idly wondered if the sword could fire laser beams like his dad's, but that didn't seem to be the case. Not that he'd be able to test that out, not without blowing up the surrounding trees at the least.

The sword seemed to shake slightly as he touched it though.

Smiling, he gave the sword one last wipe before he placed the sword down, leaning it against a nearby tree. He stood to leave, and then stopped.

He'd just moved the sword, and the owner would probably be annoyed if he didn't explain.

Humming, he went to the sword and began carving on the tree, writing a quick message for the owner. Giving the finished carving a quick pat, he placed his knife back onto his belt and left, humming a nameless tune as he retraced his steps back home.

The owner returned a couple hours later to see their sword propped up by a nearby tree, with a rough message carved just above it.

"Sorry for moving it! I saw the sword and wiped it for you. Please, be careful next time!" It said, with what seemed to be a handprint just beside it.

They blinked for a moment, and blinked again.

"...Huh."

The blue cloak worn over their shoulder swayed as the wind flew by.

"So you wiped it?"

"Mm!" Her son responded enthusiastically, eyes glittering as he recounted as much as he could about the sword he'd found by the riverside.

Deliah could only sigh.

There was nothing truly wrong about what he did. He didn't take it with him; he didn't even use it, but he still touched a foreign and clearly magical item. Her son was lucky this one wasn't harmful, but if it was?

...She wasn't sure what she'd do then, actually.

"Evel." She said slowly, placing a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. "That was nice of you. It really is, but please don't do something like that again, okay?"

Her son blinked. "Why?" He asked, confused.

She smiled emptily. "Magical weapons aren't always nice to their users."

"...So they can, like, curse their users too?" He asked after a small break. She nodded, and the excitement in her son's eyes dimmed in realization. "I...So I could've hurt myself." He finally said.

Her son grimaced for a moment, but he quickly shifted it to a smile. A shaky one, but a smile nonetheless. "Well, at least the sword's going to be dry when its owner comes back!"

Deliah smiled. "They should be grateful." She added playfully.

Her intentions were less than playful however. If that sword's mysterious owner happened to not like having their sword cleaned by her son, she'd happily show them why [Seamstress] was at its fourth level.

"Oh, and mom?"

"Hmm? What-"

Her words were cut short when her son reached forward and hugged her. "I love you." He said softly, and her smile softened as she returned the hug.

"Mm, me too."

She truly did, and she'll continue to do so until her soul moves on.

Some time after that, as Deliah busied herself with lunch,

"Lo?" Her son repeated as he gently held the rabbit in his hands.

She nodded. "Well, the rabbit was lost, right? So..."

"...Mom, that's a terrible name." He said as flatly as he could, though she could see his lips slowly curving to a smile as he said so. Deliah returned it with an even bigger smile.

"I know." She said simply.

The rabbit, now Lo, silently snuggled into her son's hand before it fell asleep.

Another day had passed, and Evel found himself walking along the riverside once more.

There'd been no goblins since those two he killed, and Evel couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong.

No, that wasn't quite right. There were goblins around his village. He could see the small footsteps they left behind on the soil, the way some bushes seemed to trampled, and the copious amount of dried blood scattered all around the forest, hidden under the canopies of leaves.

There were goblins in his village, but they weren't quite alive, not anymore.

He'd asked his mom about it, and not even she knew what was wrong. She did promise she'd ask around though.

It wasn't...terrible, per se. He was itching to get more Exp to level himself up, and to get more goblin corpses to continue growing stronger goblin tomatoes, but he was patient; he could wait. He'd waited for over a decade until his status began to progress, and he could wait for some more.

It didn't mean he was happy about it.

He sighed, idly running finger across one of the wooden knives on his belt.

Assuming the pattern held, then all those blood splatters were most likely caused by the Blue Phantom. Even now, no one knew who or what the phantom was, but there'd been more sightings of it, of how the phantom seemed to blur away and blend with the dark of night.

It probably meant that the Blue Phantom wasn't an actual phantom. There was nothing interesting in the village that would've attracted their attention. His field might count, with how many monster corpses he'd buried in it, but he hadn't actually seen the Blue Phantom himself.

In the end, he came up with nothing but blanks.

Then, suddenly, he heard a shriek, one that sounded like a goblin's, and Evel quickly stepped back, snatching a wooden knife from his belt and rearing his arm back, waiting for whatever that was.

And, as he expected, a goblin soon jumped out of a nearby bush, drool flying from its open mouth as it snarled. With a quick breath, he threw his wooden knife at it.

Or he would've, had a familiar sword not stabbed right through its skull, splattering blood all over the rocky soil below. The goblin gurgled for a moment, arms flailing as it tried to move, before it crumpled onto the ground. Then, the sword glowed, and the goblin corpse broke apart, leaving nothing but ash and blood.

Evel gaped at the sight.

Slowly, he looked up and saw a girl, a blue cloak worn over her head and with the sword he cleaned held securely in her hands.

"...Hello?" He greeted softly, a small smile on his face as he placed his wooden knife back onto his belt.

The girl stared some more.

His smile strained slightly, becoming awkward.