Leaving the room, I had ended up at the shipyard near the port.
In Warehouse No. 8 here, they were fitting a ship onto the 'Skia Coffin Ele'.
The ones doing the fitting were a major player in the shipbuilding industry. Their parent company turned out to be a witches' trading house.
To be precise, the Lala & Lily Trading Company — co-managed by witches — had a shipbuilding division.
That shipbuilding division was the major player in the industry.
Lala & Lily was one of the five great trading companies on the continent.
Famed for ranking third and dealing in a wide range of goods.
The workers had already gone home, and the warehouse was locked up.
I used the key I'd borrowed from the witch to unlock the door and went inside.
I was surprised she'd handed over the key so readily when I'd begged with a death-or-nothing resolve.
On top of that, she'd told me I could stay as long as I wanted.
Well, annoying, but I'm grateful.
I stepped into the 'Skia Coffin Ele'.
First, I grabbed a change of clothes from my room and headed for the bath.
I undressed in the changing room and made my way to the washing area. I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
Honey-colored hair and eyes, just like my mother's. I think my facial features are similar, too.
As for my figure, though... My chest is a bit of a nuisance. And my rear seems kind of big.
If anything, I feel like I'm tall to begin with. But, well, hmm.
"Ugh, I really can't figure it out."
I can't tell whether I'm attractive or not just by looking at myself.
Not knowing made me even more irritated. I let out a deep breath and washed my body and hair.
I scrubbed my hair, arms, stomach, and face with obsessive intensity. Even after my skin was smooth, I kept scrubbing.
Every part that man had touched — I went over all of it the same way.
It felt like something filthy was stuck there and would never come off.
Sticky and dirty. I hated it. Dirty.
"……………"
I wasn't satisfied, wasn't at peace with it, but my skin had gone bright red, so I finally stopped and got into the bath.
"Hhhhhhh………………"
I let out a long breath and sank into the water.
I surfaced almost immediately, then repeated it. There was no purpose to it. I was just acting on impulse.
"…………………I'm getting out."
When I climbed out of the bath, I headed to the changing area to get dressed — but there was nothing there.
Without drying off, I walked out of the bathroom completely naked and threw myself onto the bed in Wof's room.
Still soaking wet, I hugged the futon like a body pillow.
I squeezed it tight, and Wof's scent filled me — maybe that was what finally let me feel safe.
"Hhhhhhhh…… hnnhnn……gck……hhhaaaaaAAAHH—!!!!"
Like a dam breaking, I burst into tears.
I sobbed, as if every emotion I'd been holding in was pouring out all at once.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
I couldn't hold back. I couldn't endure it any longer. I wailed.
It was frustrating. It had been frustrating. I was scared. Anger welled up inside me.
Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable. I'll kill them. Even if I die, I'll kill them.
I'd tear them apart, rip them to shreds, reduce them to nothing—anything, anything at all.
"Ahhhhhh—ahhh—aaaahhhh!"
Fear and relief and humiliation and terror and rage all twisted together, and I cried and cried and cried.
I had never shed so many tears before. For the first time since I was born, I cried without a shred of restraint.
"I wanna get...stronger... I wanna get stronger, pleaaase... stronger... wanna get stronger..."
Stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger. I want to be stronger. No—I will be stronger.
I swore it.
But to become stronger... there was something I needed.
Something the fairial me absolutely, certainly needed in order to grow stronger.
I couldn't find it in Hydrangea.
I'd been through every dungeon, but I still couldn't find it.
But maybe I could find it in Hyzen.
The Full Moon Bazaar, opening soon in Hyzen.
Hyzen, on the night of the full moon. A bazaar held once every six months.
A night market running from dusk till dawn.
The number of stalls was on a whole different level compared to a normal bazaar, and the legal and illegal were thoroughly mixed together.
Hyzen was a trading city. Merchandise poured in from every corner of the world.
Maybe I could get it there. Maybe I could find it.
A spear to stand alongside my trump card — the Demon Star Manifestation Spear.
That alone wasn't enough. So I had no choice but to add more to my hand.
It was a weapon I absolutely needed if I was going to get stronger.
"Haa haa haa... haa haa haaa... haa... haa..."
Breathing was hard. All I could manage were ragged gasps, and I started crying again.
There was a clatter. I scrambled upright.
The door was left wide open, and Anna Kreuzen was standing there.
For some reason she was naked too, but I understood right away.
Oh, right. She'd come for the same thing.
Anna Kreuzen smiled awkwardly. Her eyes were red.
"Anna. Come here."
When I called out without thinking, she came rushing toward me in tears and threw her arms around me.
The two of us sobbed until we were too exhausted to do anything but sleep.
When I tried to go look for Mineha and the others, the witch stopped me.
The witch said she knew where the two of them were, and that it would be better to leave them alone for now.
If she knew where they were... I was still worried, but I did as she said.
Then I told the witch about the Sword Goddess and the Sword Goddess's daughter.
I also showed her the knife from a different sea.
"Well, well — you've gone and gotten your hands on something interesting again."
The witch touched the octopus's tentacle gingerly and spoke.
I listened to what she had to say.
"You know about it?"
"Long, long ago, I caught a glimpse of something similar in a dungeon. But I've never seen anything quite like this before."
The witch touched it and remarked that it was thick and slimy, with a faint grimace.
The part where she was unabatedly scooping slime into her bottle with her hands was less of a grimace, though.
For a moment, the witch looked like she was about to taste the slime.
In the end, she didn't, but that moment had every hair on my body standing on end.
"This knife from a different sea — it seems like it can destroy the Sword Goddess's daughter."
"Mm-hm. A different sea, you say."
The witch nodded with a vaguely meaningful expression.
"Yes. This knife seems capable of destroying her."
I put the knife from a different sea away. The witch looked like she might want a piece of it.
She made a slightly disappointed face. Close call, close call.
"Hmm, hmm. The one who had that daughter — he was living in Heizen, wasn't he?"
"Yes. Hoss told me that."
"Heizen is a trading city. Goods flow in from every country, every region, even from beyond the continent. There's a high chance that daughter ended up there among all those goods."
"That makes sense."
"And then — you said you sensed three similar presences?"
"Yes. Just for an instant, but they were unmistakably the Sword Goddess's daughter. And the direction I felt them from is where Heizen is."
"So there's a good chance she's in Heizen."
"Yes..."
Of all places, Heizen.
Our easygoing trip was starting to hit a reef.
"Speaking of Heizen, the full moon is coming up soon."
"Is there something special about the full moon?"
"Oh yes, there is. The Full Moon Bazaar. It happens once every six months. For that one night, the bazaar runs from evening all the way until morning. They say the number of stalls is ten times the usual."
"Really?"
"Well, well, it's a kind of festival, after all."
"Ah, so that's why there might be a Blue Green Crystal there."
"Exactly. They've actually had them before. Oh, that's right, that's right. Young Wof. The gauntlet is finally complete."
"Really?!"
I leaned forward instinctively.
The witch gave a faint, wry smile.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so, so long. I'll hand it over tomorrow at 'Skia Coffin Ele.'"
"Yes. I'm looking forward to it."
"Fufufufu, it's been a while since Kon poured everything into a masterpiece."
Finally. The gauntlet was finally done... though I was a bit nervous, since I'd asked for all sorts of things to be added to it.
I wondered what kind of thing it would turn out to be.
"By the way, by the way — young Wof —"
The witch stood before me, and three tails coiled around my back.
They ensnared me like three octopus tentacles from some other sea's knife.
"W-Witch?"
"By the way, by the way — looks like you got yourself a new Relic."
"Ah."
"That, that — I'm not angry you kept quiet about it. Even between master and disciple, there's no need to lay everything about Relics bare. Kon hasn't told you about many of his Relics either. But, but — young Wof's new Relic... you got it from a plate, didn't you? And young Wof, you haven't checked your soul vessel's capacity with Seihou, have you?"
"Um..."
Too close. The witch's, uh, chest was way too close.
The witch's was huge. Among all the women I knew, hers was especially large.
Since she was taller than me, when she stood up straight, her chest inevitably ended up right at face level.
Chest at face level. A solid thud of chest at face level. And in that position, I received a thorough lecture.
A mysterious white space, shrouded in mysterious white fog.
"............"
I stood frozen in that space. Yep, just as I expected.
A mysterious, transcendent beauty with the glint of a blade appeared.
The Knife Goddess.