But even though Leon knew that, he couldn’t do what the sword wanted.
There was a long silence before Leon said, “It’s almost time for lunch. Let’s eat, then head into town.”
“We’re going out? Where to?”
“To the blacksmith.”
Alice’s heart leaped in her chest.
“We need to go pick up your custom equipment, Alice.”
“…Humanity should just perish.”
At the forge connected with Unbreakable, the weapon shop, one woman lay sprawled on the floor, muttering maledictions under her breath. Her eyes looked like those of a dead fish.
“Just when I thought I could finally get a good night’s sleep, man, fuck this and fuck all those bullshitters who wouldn’t recognize good craftsmanship if it bit them in the fucking ass. Fuck their deadlines; fuck them just going ahead with shit without asking me. Are they trying to fucking kill me? Is that what they want? They want me to fucking die? Well, fuck them. They should all fucking die, those fucking pigs. I swear to God…”
Anyone could see she was about one tactless comment away from burning down the entire building and everyone in it. Still, Leon walked right up to her without reservation.
“Emilia,” he said. “Get up. We’ve come for our special order.”
“…Huuuuurghhhhh…” Emilia let out a sigh that made it sound like she was going to deflate. “…It’s right over there. Take it and get the fuck out of my sight.”
She pointed to a bow resting on the worktop. It was ivory white, inlaid with scarlet bands. Alice eagerly shuffled over to it and picked it up, excitedly looking it over before asking, “Erm…why does the grip part have blades coming out?”
“Hurghhhh… Hold it in both hands and try channeling Source energy into it.”
Emilia offered no further elucidation. Alice gave a puzzled look, then did as the forge mistress suggested. When she did, the bowstring dissolved, the grip split apart, and the weapon became two curved swords.
“Now you can fight at both close and long range with the same weapon,” Emilia explained. “By channeling Source into the scimitars, you can make them sharp enough to cut through steel, and in bow mode, you can summon phantom arrows that pack a real punch…That’s it for the main features. Figure the rest out yourself. Now go away.”
Her explanation complete, Emilia heaved another big sigh and rolled back onto her side. The girl almost looked like a corpse, but Alice’s attention was gripped by the weapon in her hands.
“This is really wonderfully made, Master! It almost seems to stick to my hands!”
“That’s Emilia for you. Best blacksmith in the land.”
Emilia prickled a little as Leon sang her praises. “…Heh,” she scoffed. “Well, even the best weapon in the land’s no good in the hands of an incompetent girl like you.”
“Hey! I might be new, but I am not incompetent!”
“Hah. Well, only time’ll tell if you live up to your words or die like the rest of ’em.”
Emilia turned toward Alice and appraised her.
“…Wonder why it was you and not me,” she muttered so quietly, it was almost impossible to hear her. Then, in a louder voice, she declared, “Well, whatever. I’ll leave the task to you, then. The task of saving Leon, that is.”
Emilia’s words raised a cluster of questions in Alice’s mind, but before she could voice any of them, the fiery forge mistress went on.
“Do you know the name ‘Regtelia Town’?”
“Isn’t that…where the Martyrs are from?”
“Yes. That psycho cult with their own interpretations of the holy texts. They set up a place they could impose all their masochistic rules. Anyway, a few days ago, the Shroud got ’em.”
In other words, mankind lost another settlement while a new dungeon arose.
“As you know, newly created dungeons are a bit of a mystery. We don’t know what’s goin’ on in there, but the place is sure to be teemin’ with anomalies. Perfect if you want to go questin’ for gold and fame.”
Anomalies. These items had been touched by the general weirdness of the dungeon, and some of it had rubbed off on them.
“Anomalies are unique items, only created when a dungeon springs into existence,” Emilia explained. “That means the more we let glory-seeking blowhards loot the place, the less there’ll be for us.”
That said, few were foolhardy enough to go wandering into an unexplored dungeon, even with such massive sums of money at stake. Everyone from the most debt-laden wastrel to the most cloud-headed optimist knew to stay well away from such a dangerous place.
Yet there was one breed of person who tossed aside common sense and reveled in acts of sheer suicidal madness. Yes, heroes.
“The Risky Eagles. I assume you’ve heard of them?”
Leon nodded. One person in particular came to mind. A scar-ridden man by the name of Velgo Zahaj. The man they called the Hawk and an old acquaintance. The Risky Eagles were led by none other than him.
“As usual, they went into the place first. And they picked up a hefty haul, too. Problem is, Velgo’s the only one who made it back alive.”
“…What?” said Leon. For once, it seemed he was actually concerned. “Is he okay?”
“It was touch-and-go for a while, they say, but he’s recovering now.”
“…Thought so. That guy’s impossible to kill.”
Despite Leon’s cold words, it wasn’t hard to see the genuine relief on his face. Emilia nodded in agreement before continuing.
“Anyway, like I said, Velgo brought something back with him. It seemed like fruit of some kind, but…it was a fuckin’ weird shape. Anyway, when they took it down to the lab to have it examined…”
Here, Emilia paused, looking to Leon and Alice in turn.
As if to imply the story was only just getting started.
And sure enough, the next words out of her mouth blew any relief Leon might have been feeling about the safety of his acquaintance right out of the water.
“…They found out it could cure Blue-Eye and turn fiends back into people. All with just one little bite.”
Leon and Alice went wide-eyed with shock. They could barely move, let alone speak.
“Yeah, that was basically how I reacted as well. It’s like there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel.”
If the anomalous fruit could be analyzed, perhaps it could lead to a medicine or vaccine against Blue-Eye. It would mark mankind’s conquest over the disease that had brought it to its knees. Perhaps there was even a way to defend against the Shroud, to stop the mist from taking away people’s homes. And…if fiends could be turned back into people, then…
“…Do you think…we could turn Master back into a human as well?” asked Alice.