The next morning, the three of them set out from Deerhorn Village.
Renn walked in front, crouching down from time to time to inspect the tracks on the ground.
“Footprints. Very fresh, from this morning.”
He pointed to a small patch of bare soil amidst the grass. A very small shoe print was clearly stamped into it.
“Heading east.”
The three of them adjusted their route and continued forward, following the direction of the footprints.
The path through the woods gradually narrowed, the trees on both sides compressing their field of vision into a long, narrow corridor.
“She should be active around here.”
Renn lowered his voice.
Esper nodded, gripping the Holy Sword in her hand, ready to respond to any sudden situation.
Eladia followed quietly behind Esper, keeping her presence extremely faint so as not to affect Esper as much as possible.
The three continued walking, until a violent rush of wind blew down from above.
Something was cutting through the air at extreme speed, producing a sharp whistling sound.
From directly above.
A grey figure catapulted from a nearby tree branch, moving too fast for anyone to think.
The shadow held an iron hammer with both hands, the hammerhead reflecting a dull metallic luster in the sunlight. Its trajectory was aimed precisely at Esper's shoulder, at a tricky angle and with heavy force.
Esper's body reacted before her conscious mind could, raising the Holy Sword horizontally above her head to block.
Clang—!
At the moment of impact, the shockwave flattened all the shrubs within a three-meter radius. Dirt flew and gravel scattered.
The force of that hammer strike was much heavier than she had anticipated.
Through some technique, all the force was fully channeled, as if concentrating her entire body weight and kinetic energy into the single point where the hammerhead made contact with the target.
The rhythm of her breathing was very strange.
Short, powerful, like the rhythm of a blacksmith pulling a bellows.
Blacksmithing Techniques.
Esper gritted her teeth and held up the Holy Sword, looking through the gap above her blade at the attacker overhead.
Messy grey hair, roughly earlobe-length.
Her greyish-green pupils were as calm as water, yet she also seemed to be calculating something, giving Esper the feeling that there was something else swimming just behind that gaze.
Her tattered, rust-colored outer coat was full of patches, looking like a rag that had been sewn over and over again.
She was very small, suspended in midair, maintaining her posture by relying on the support point where her hammer pressed against the Holy Sword.
Then, those eyes looked down along the hammerhead and saw the Holy Sword.
Her breathing faltered, and her pupils suddenly dilated.
Esper saw this process clearly.
Then, that tiny body made a move that completely defied the laws of inertia.
With her entire body weight pressing on the hammer, her arms fully extended, and her body leaning forward in midair, she forcefully withdrew all her strength.
The iron hammer slipped from her hands, and then, as if her body were violently yanked by some invisible force, she plummeted straight down from the air.
She fell to her knees.
The dull thud of her knees hitting the dirt was even louder than the sound of her hammer striking the Holy Sword earlier.
Immediately after, she pressed her hands to the ground and touched her forehead to the dirt.
A full prostration—dogeza.
“Uh, can we settle this peacefully?”
Her voice carried a sob, as if she had finally snapped.
From the block to her prostration, the entire process took less than two seconds.
Esper froze in place, still holding her sword up, her mind blank for a moment.
Renn's hand rested on his hilt, neither drawing his sword nor letting go. His expression was as calm as ever, but the corner of his eye twitched slightly.
Eladia stood not far away, completely motionless, her eyes reflecting a pure, innocent cluelessness.
Meanwhile, the shoulders of the grey-haired girl lying on the ground were trembling violently.
Her sobbing voice turned into actual crying.
She was crying incredibly loudly.
“Don't kill me... I don't want to do this anymore... wahhh... I absolutely can't do this shitty job anymore...”
“...Wait a minute.”
Esper finally snapped out of it and slowly lowered the Holy Sword.
“Calm down first...”
“How am I supposed to calm down!”
Kaylar lifted her face from the mud, which was now a messy mixture of dirt and tears, her greyish-green eyes red and swollen from crying.
“I just wanted to make some money to get a full meal! But then a whole bunch of people ganged up on me! And after I won, I got wanted! Now I don't even have a proper place to stay! I sleep on rocks every day! Do you have any idea how cold rocks are!”
“...I do.”
She actually did know. During her year in Avalon, she had often slept on rocks for the night after killing wild beasts out in the wilderness.
“No you don't! You're the Hero! You have a house to live in!”
“Uh... actually, I sleep on the floor a lot too...”
“At least you have a roof! I don't even have a roof! When it rains, I have to find a cave to crawl into! The last time I crawled into one, I found a bear inside! Do you know how terrifying that was?!”
“...That is a bit scary. And then? Couldn't you beat it?”
“I could beat it! I chased the bear away! But the cave was so smelly that it was completely unlivable!”
She cried harder and harder, pounding her fists on the ground, not even bothering to wipe away the mud splattering onto her face.
Esper looked at the little thing crying her eyes out.
This scene was simply too...
“Are you really not a dwarf?”
Renn spoke up.
“???”
Kaylar lifted her head from the mud, her red eyes glaring at Renn.
“You're the dwarf! Of course I'm not a dwarf! I just stopped growing!”
“...The wanted poster said 'grey-haired dwarf'.”
“That's just nonsense from that bastard who ran away! He barely even looked back when he fled! Just because I use Blacksmithing Techniques and am small, he claimed I'm a dwarf! Are his eyes just ornaments?!”
Kaylar wiped her face hard, only to make it even dirtier.
“Bullying a kid! Bah! Shameless!”
No... how does the way you talk sound anything like a kid...
Esper pinched her forehead and squatted down, bringing her gaze level with the other girl.
At this distance, she could see more clearly.
Her greyish-green eyes were indeed quite pretty, even though they were swollen like walnuts from crying. If this dirty little face were washed clean, she would probably be quite... well, cute.
There was a ring of black patterns around her neck. It went all the way around, looking as if it were etched deep into her skin.
“What's that on your neck?”
Kaylar's body stiffened, and she instinctively covered her neck with her hand.
Her crying stopped.
Because they were so close, Esper could see that the things behind her eyes seemed to spin and swim faster.
She was thinking.
Weighing the pros and cons, deciding if it was worth it, and figuring out what should and shouldn't be said.
She thought very quickly; within a few seconds, the things beneath her pupils stopped spinning.
“...An empowerment rune.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“The Pope.”
“Which cult?”
Kaylar bit her lip.
“...The Weavers' Association.”
“...What's that?”
Esper looked at Renn.
“I do know, but you don't have to look at me immediately.”
Renn complained expressionlessly.
“The Weavers' Association. One of the Abyss Cults. It was once a branch of the Mage Tower, possessing the technology to weave runes directly onto the human body. Later, they fell into the Abyss during the Abyss Expedition, causing the technology to be lost for a time, before being retrieved by Wald through the Authority of 『Wisdom』.”
“But as far as I know, among the runes mastered by the Weavers' Association, there are none that need to be woven onto the neck.”
“Well, now you know there is.”
Kaylar patted her neck, her expression returning to calm.
“So you're a member of the Weavers' Association?”
“I am not!”
Her calm expression shattered instantly.
She was getting worked up.
Her voice carried a heavy nasal tone from her crying.
“I was kidnapped! Those bastards just painted and drew on my body of their own accord! I never wanted to join that kind of thing!”
Esper massaged her temples with a headache.
“But you do have the aura of the Black Tide on you.”
Kaylar fell silent for a few seconds, seemingly weighing how much she should say.
“...It's a side effect of the rune. The Weavers' Association uses the power of the Black Tide to strengthen the rune's effectiveness, but it also taints the rune with the aura of the Black Tide.”
She touched the patterns on her neck with her finger.
“It doesn't show normally. It only... leaks out a little when I activate the rune.”
“So that's why you were mistaken for a death marcher?”
“Yeah, because if I didn't use my full strength, I might have been overwhelmed by their numbers, so I... released a little bit of it. And then that guy who ran away probably sensed it...”
Her voice grew softer and softer.
“I'm really not a death marcher... I just want to live a normal life...”
Kaylar.
Not a dwarf, probably human.
She possessed Blacksmithing Techniques and had been forcibly tattooed by body-rune artists with a rune that emitted the aura of the Black Tide.
That was her entire situation.
“Do you have any proof that what you're saying is true?”
Renn walked over.
Kaylar lifted her red, swollen eyes to look at him.
“Are you a Roundtable Knight?”
“Yes. Roundtable Knight 『Annihilation』.”
“...Did even a Roundtable Knight come to capture me?”
“I came to investigate death marchers. If you are not a death marcher, then it is none of my business.”
Kaylar sniffled.
“I can't prove it...”
Renn didn't speak, he merely cast his gaze toward Esper nearby.
Esper sighed.
“Then let's drop it.”
“Huh?”
Kaylar stared at her blankly.
“You believe me...?”
“Seventy percent. After all, you weren't even willing to kill the people who wanted to kill you.”
“Even after all this, you still don't fully believe me? What about the other thirty percent?”
“Ask again, and it becomes sixty percent.”
Kaylar immediately covered her mouth and nodded vigorously.
“What about... the bounty...?”
Eladia's voice drifted softly from the side.
“Just let it drag on. It's not like the Adventurer's Guild can send people to get rid of me too, right?”
Esper, who currently had absolutely no good feelings toward the Adventurer's Guild, said somewhat coldly.
“Really?”
Kaylar lowered her hands, her eyes blinking.
“Why would I lie to you?”
“You won't wait until I let my guard down to stab me to death with your sword, right? Or lure me into some pyramid scheme den...”
“I'm the Hero.”
“Heroes can be bad guys too...”
“Are you doubting me?”
“...”
Kaylar sniffled loudly twice.
“Then, Lord Hero...”
“Just call me Esper.”
“Lady Esper...”
“Esper.”
“Lord Hero Esper...”
“?”
“Ahem, Esper.”
Kaylar's expression vanished instantly, returning to that cold look which now seemed completely unreliable.
“Then can I ask a favor of you?”
Esper raised an eyebrow.
“Let's hear it.”
“Cough cough, so, have you ever wondered why I've been lingering around here and refusing to leave?”
“Make it quick.”
“Because I heard that this place used to be a retreat for a very famous blacksmith so there should be a ruin or something underground that holds many many many high-quality weapons so I want to find it can you please help me?”
“...You should speak slowly instead.”
Kaylar flashed a punchable peace sign and then briefly summarized it.
“Oh, I see.”
Esper spread her hands.
“So, what's in it for me?”
“Eh? Are you really that realistic? I thought Esper was the kind of super-duper soft-hearted tsundere do-gooder...”
“...If you keep running your mouth, I'm leaving right now.”
“Cough cough!”
Kaylar adjusted her expression and sat up properly on her knees, looking a bit more formal.
“I can provide you with information on other death marchers.”
“...You know about them?”
Esper said, slightly surprised.
“Ha, I spent so much time hanging around that cult, how could I not know!”
“How about you tell me one first?”
“Hmph. Do you know of 『Gluttony』?”
“...What about it?”
“The holder of this Authority died a long time ago, and 『Gluttony』 has never appeared since. It's said that there are too few people who can fully resonate with it without carrying other Authorities.
But recently, a death marcher who is fully capable of becoming 『Gluttony』—an heir apparent, so to speak—has appeared!”
“...Wow. And who is he?”
“Hehe. Do you know the story of the Aberrant Blood Knight at the end of the Era of Dragon Sovereignty...”
“Ah... Kaylar...”
Eladia interrupted her at an awkward moment.
“Zhong has already been defeated by Esper...”
“?”
Kaylar's gaze darted back and forth between Eladia and Esper, the thoughts behind her eyes seemingly crashing due to high-speed processing.
“...How did you win?”
Esper raised the Holy Sword slightly.
“Ahaha...”
However, Zhong's defeat had only happened a few days ago. There was no way the news would travel so fast.
In other words... she really did know some things.
“So, what about besides Gluttony?”
Renn stepped forward.
“Pride, Lust, Jealousy, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, and Wrath. Of the seven representative Authorities created by the Abyss, other than Gluttony, which is confirmed to be uninherited, what is the status of the remaining six?”
Kaylar instinctively shrank back a little.
Renn pointed a finger at himself without any expression, as if to say, Am I really that scary?
He actually was a bit...
“Let me think... Sloth and Greed don't seem to have changed hands, though I don't know if the old guys just won't die or if no new successors have appeared. Jealousy and Lust seem to have been inherited recently. As for Pride and Wrath, there's no information on them...”
“Do you know who the respective holders are?”
“That kind of thing is pretty confidential, isn't it? I was just an outer-circle test subject!”
“...”
Renn and Esper exchanged a look, confirming each other's thoughts.
“Uh, well, if we find any good weapons, you guys can use them too! There should be plenty of runic weapons there! Plus, I can teach you Blacksmithing Techniques! Though it's not very easy to learn...”
“Alright, alright, we'll help you since we're here anyway.”
Esper sighed and stood up.
Renn, however, seemed to have noticed a blind spot.
“...Who taught you your Blacksmithing Techniques?”
“?!”
Kaylar froze for a moment.
“I... self-taught.”
“Is that so?”
Renn's eyes were full of suspicion.
“...Let's go.”
Esper shrugged and walked toward Eladia.
In the distance, Eladia watched this scene, her hands clasped in front of her chest, and nodded gently to Esper.
Then, she whispered softly.
“She looks just like a dog...”
Rate on N.U.
