So I'd unexpectedly become a Class V delver.
I'd become a delver. It wasn't some grand aspiration or anything. I had no particular attachment to it.
It was for the sake of making a living. That was all.
So I had only vaguely assumed I'd become one next year.
But now here I was, Class V without even waiting for next year. Life sure was unpredictable.
As I pocketed the tag, five men blocked my path.
They were all staring at me. What now? The atmosphere was clearly hostile.
They slowly closed in around me. One of them spoke.
"Come quietly."
"............"
An alley, I figured.
We turned into a nearby side street and arrived. An alley. Just as expected.
They surrounded me at a set distance, and one man stepped forward.
"Hey. You."
"What?"
"You're Wof, right?"
"That's right."
"Son of a—"
A man standing to the other's right stepped forward.
I looked them over and spoke.
"What exactly do you want?"
"We're the 'Dragon Fang Gang.'"
"Ah, right."
Well, I'd more or less expected that.
Even so, they weren't particularly impressive.
Ordinary faces. Ordinary builds. Ordinary gear. Thoroughly mediocre.
Among them was one man with a shaved head — the only one. He spoke up.
"This is a warning. Stay away from Torquetam."
"Kids like you need to know their place."
"You're not even a delver, you little shit, trying to cozy up to them."
"Sh-she's ours!"
"That's right, that's right! They're the ones we're after!"
"............"
The shaved-headed man spoke again.
"This is a warning. There won't be a next time. Stay away from Torquetam."
"...And if I refuse?"
"Then we'll just use force."
The five of them drew their swords. Not a single knife among them.
"Are you saying you'll kill me?"
"............"
"..."
"..."
"............"
"..."
"All five of you at once?"
"............"
"..."
"............"
"..."
"..."
Their silence was the answer. Otherwise they wouldn't have drawn swords in an alley.
I spoke quietly.
"Then here's my final warning. If you leave right now without another word, I won't do anything. Everything you've said and done up to this point — I'll let it all go."
"What did you say?"
"You little—"
"Let's just kill the bastard."
"Let's burn him."
"You. Are you looking down on us?"
"Final warning. Leave now, and I won't do anything."
"You cocky little—!"
One of them swung his sword. I dodged, closed the distance, and punched him with Banish.
The man's upper body was carved away and vanished.
"What!? Ghaaaah!"
I slashed the stunned, shaved-headed man with my knife.
It was Agaro's knife. The red blade drew blood.
"You—! Gwaah!"
I shaved away at the man's midsection with Banish.
"How dare you—!"
I slashed with the knife and used Banish to erase parts of his body.
"Burn to ash!"
I extinguished his flames with Banish and drove the knife into his abdomen.
I approached the still-breathing, shaved-headed man.
"Hah... hah... y-you think... you can get away with this...?"
"I did warn you."
I finished him off. Sigh. I really did warn them.
They never back down, do they? It left a bitter taste.
Phew. But still—
I hate to say it, but I took down all five of them in the blink of an eye.
"...I really have gotten stronger."
As I was mulling that over, I sensed a presence.
In a flash, a gleaming slash descended from above.
"!"
I caught it on my knife in a split second and was sent flying. What an impact.
I tumbled but got right back up. Strong. Who was it? I looked around, on guard for an ambush... Huh?
There stood Riv.
She was tapping me on the shoulder with her blade.
Peach-white hair. Red eyes. Fair skin. A beautiful girl with features too precisely sculpted to be natural.
She wore a black jacket over her Maximilian AMD suit, paired with pants.
As science-fiction as ever.
"Mm... Yo."
"R-Riv...?"
That drawn blade... that slash... No way. But—
While I was still bewildered, Riv spoke.
"Mm... Boy... what... are you... doing?"
"Just putting out some sparks. And you, Riv?"
"I... saw you... but... I was worried for nothing... huh."
Riv glanced at their corpses, then looked at me.
A faint glimmer of light crossed her red, blood-like, emotionless eyes.
"Riv!? ...!?"
A chill ran down my spine.
Riv smiled.
"Mm... Boy... let's... play... with big sister's... body."
She smiled her empty smile, entwined her legs, stuck out her rear, twisted her upper body, and readied her blade.
I gave a wry smile at her somehow bewitching pose.
"Ahaha... playing with big sister looks like it's going to be anything but brief."
That first blow told me everything.
She wanted to fight me. She wanted to play.
Nothing I said would make a difference.
I held my knife by the spine. Riv flipped hers to show the back of her blade.
"...Riv won't use... the Pleiades..."
"And I won't use my Relic."
Of course. This wasn't a death match. It was a game. A serious game.
"Mm... okay then... here I come... Boy. Catch me... okay?"
She gave a light bounce and charged straight at me. Fluid speed.
I desperately matched her pace and parried Riv's blade with my knife, but was driven back.
I angled my knife upward to deflect, but couldn't — the blade clung to my knife like a magnet.
"Damn!"
I released the knife in an instant. Wrapped around the blade, it was flung away.
At the same time, Riv's motion grew wide, and I exploited the opening to close in.
I quickly grabbed the zipper area and the middle of Riv's jacket.
"Mn—!?"
I pushed and pulled, flipping Riv over.
"Deaah!"
"Mm... but... too easy... Boy."
"Wha—"
She wouldn't budge. Like a rock, she wouldn't move.
"...Yoo-hoo."
Riv twisted her upper body from the hips and swung.
That alone was enough to make me let go of the jacket and get flung aside.
"Whoaaa!?"
I tumbled and sprang right back up. Where was my knife? There! Good!
I picked up Agaro's knife.
"Mm... slipping into big sister's... embrace... Boy... you're naughty."
"Your body... is incredible, big sister."
"...Because I trained... big sister... got strong..."
Riv closed the distance and swung her sword. I countered with my knife.
I was in trouble. Riv's sword was faster. I was being steadily pushed back.
"Guh! Kuuh! Kuuuuh!"
"Mm... as expected of the witch's apprentice... strong..."
"T-thank you."
"But... there's still... more... right... Boy?"
"!?"
The exchange grew faster. Riv's blade attacked from all directions.
And every single hit was heavy. The flurry was punishing.
I took an overhead strike, expecting the next attack to follow immediately.
But Riv pulled back.
"Mm... Boy... you're doing great..."
"Thank you. ...Huh?"
Something felt off.
Riv gripped her blade with both hands and angled it diagonally downward.
"Mm... so, Boy... big sister's going to show you... something even better..."
"?"
The blade blurred double as Riv dashed forward.
She brought it down while I caught it on my knife.
A massive impact and pressure — and in that moment, I felt a strange heaviness in my knife.
A sense of danger told me to pull back, but my body wouldn't move.
The blade's afterimages stopped dead.
"Crash Edge."
The knife shattered.
"...Ah."
"Huh?"
Agaro had asked me cheerfully what I wanted as a memento of the kill.
I answered "a knife" without hesitation. So she gave me this red knife that had been sleeping in the back of Arifa's shop — a knife Agaro had treasured back when she was Class IV.
The single-edged blade was simple in design, and she'd said she'd replaced the scabbard and fittings several times. Currently, it had a salamander-leather sheath. The hilt was made from a thunder bull's horn — from those cattle wreathed in lightning. The blade itself had never been replaced; it was darkened like tarnished copper to a deep crimson. Hamon lines ran through it like rough waves. It was slightly curved and the longest knife she'd given me — almost short-sword length. More than that, this knife resembled one from a corner of my past-life memories: the knife of that adventurer with the trademark hat who named his dog the same name as himself. Simple in design, but cool.
It shattered. From blade tip to pommel, it fell apart.
The red, glittering blade turned to powder and scattered in the wind.
Fragments lay on the ground.
Oh no — the red wind. Was Hagan still around?
No, that wasn't right — he was undead, so "still around" didn't quite apply.
Then what was that red wind?
That red wind must have carried his dying will.
The knife must have carried it too.
"............"
"Mm... Boy... sorry."
Riv apologized. So what.
"............It was... from Agaro... the knife she gave me..."
"Mm... ah... mm... ...Boy."
"...Ah, um, it's fine. I'm okay. I'm doing great today."
I... couldn't help it. This kind of thing was always possible.
I was used to knives breaking and shattering. So, yeah.
"...Boy... but... it's Riv's fault... so..."
"...Ah, no, it's, it's fine."
"Mm. So, Riv will fix Boy's knife!"
"What?"
"...So... follow... me."
"Where?"
And she could fix a knife?