The next day.
I gathered everyone in the observation room at the back of the second floor and told them about the daughter of the sword goddess.
After consulting with the witch, I decided it would be best for us all to be on the same page.
I told them about my curse too, leaving out the part about the goddess of knives.
When I finished speaking, Bid opened his mouth.
"So that's why you were using nothing but knives?"
"Yeah."
"I was sure it was just a hobby."
"Ha ha ha — originally they didn't suit me and were too heavy so I never used them, but before I knew it, it had just sort of become like that."
"I did think it was odd, you being so fixated on knives. But if it was a hobby, I wasn't gonna say anything."
Hoss spoke up.
"That's how it looks, huh."
I guess being thought of as doing it as a hobby — yeah, that does make sense.
"But the sword goddess's daughter, now. That's the stuff of myths, ain't it? Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't faced her myself. Is it true she was the one who worsened Duukas?"
"Yes. But originally, scumb... there's no doubt he was a bad person."
I felt bad saying it in front of my old friend Hoss, but that much was undeniable.
Hoss let out a sigh.
"I know that. Duukas was a petty crook from the moment I met him. A real piece of trash, he was. But still — three of those daughters in Heisen? That's something to be feared."
That's the thing. There are three of the sword goddess's daughters in Heisen. Or rather, three swords? Three blades?
"...Hey, is the Torquetam going to be all right?"
Mineha was worried about Pakira and the others, who had already gone on ahead to Heisen.
I couldn't tell if she'd fully shaken it off, but she seemed to be getting back to her usual self.
"Hm hm. Now that you mention it. It wouldn't be strange if they'd already become 'vessels,' would it."
I'd thought the same thing. I didn't want to think about it, but it was the very first thing that came to mind.
They were more than capable of becoming 'vessels.'
(Rest easy. As long as I'm here, the sword goddess's daughters won't come anywhere near you.)
Huh? Riv?
(The sword goddess's daughters despise and fear me. Lupinus as a vessel. And even if Pakira wants one, as long as I'm here, they won't approach of their own accord.)
That was a relief, but — why, though?
(...I don't know.)
That's absolutely a lie.
Come to think of it, I'd been wondering about this for a while now.
The Riv River and the Riv Lake. Was there some connection to Riv?
(...That's probably just a coincidence.)
That sounded so fake. What was with the pause?
Still, it was Riv, wasn't it. Well, when it came to her, there were all sorts of... things, you know.
She was a tricky subject to bring up. As long as she was safe, I guessed that was good enough.
After that, we talked through things we needed to watch out for — though it wasn't much of a countermeasure.
Even so, there wasn't much we could do. But having even one way to fight back was the only sliver of hope we had.
"I'm planning to destroy all of the Sword Goddess's daughters in Heisen."
"Are you serious?"
"…Wof."
"…………"
"Oh my. I had a feeling young Wof would say that."
"Mhm. Wof'd definitely say that, yeah."
"Shardina will help too, desu."
We couldn't just let something like Dukas proliferate. You can't just leave a calamity to fester.
Of course, this was my selfishness. That meant I had to do it alone.
"Now, now, young Wof. You're trying to do this alone again. That's a bad habit of yours. Kon and the rest of us are here, you know."
"Wh— but it's my selfishness, and it's dangerous—"
"Don't be like that, desu. We're helping too, desu."
"I've got a soft spot for Heisen too, yeah. Besides, I can't just stand by and let things like Dukas run around. I'll help however I can!"
"Shardina will help too, desu."
"As for me…………"
"…………"
As expected, Mineha and Anna Kreutzen were hesitating.
"Wof. Sorry."
"………………"
The two of them apologized.
"It's not some mandatory participation thing, so don't worry about it."
"Pushing yourself isn't good."
"You should rest up."
"Mhm, mhm. Honestly, you don't even have to go to Heizen."
"I'm going to that."
"…!"
"But…"
"There's no option not to go."
"…!!"
Both of them firmly rejected the idea of not going.
If that was the case, then there was nothing left to say.
We finished talking and dispersed. I headed back to my room.
Let me organize the luggage I brought from the inn.
It had been a while since I'd been in this room, but for some reason, it smelled nice.
A sweet floral scent? A honey-like fragrance? What even was this smell?
It was especially strong coming from the bed. Why?
"…? Did Chardina spill something during cleaning? Perfume, maybe."
That seemed plausible. But why perfume? Maybe just because Minosdol is a girl.
But it felt too natural for that. And this scent — I'd smelled it somewhere before.
There was a knock at the door.
—Come in.
—Sorry to bother you.
The one who walked in was Mineha.
—What's the matter?
—I need to talk, and to ask you a favor. Actually, no. I have a personal commission for you, Wof. Rank V delver.
—A commission...?
What was this about? There was nothing illegal about commissioning someone outside the guild, but she was being awfully formal about it.
And she had that intense, dead-serious look on her face.
I gestured for her to sit on the bed.
I offered to grab something to drink, but she turned that down.
—Do you know about the Full Moon Bazaar held in Heisen?
—Yeah. I've heard of it.
—I want to get a new weapon there. That's why, Wof — I want to borrow the power of your Relic.
—...The Wheel of Fortune?
—That's right. Ordinary weapons won't cut it against them. I need a spear on par with, or stronger than, the Demon Star Spear.
A spear after all.
Fairials only wielded spears as weapons, barring extraordinary circumstances.
And the only way for a fairial to grow stronger was to expand their arsenal — their hand of weapons.
Mineha's mother, Ruriha, owned many spears.
Each one of them wielded power on par with, or greater than, Mineha's Demon Star Spear.
I found out later that fairials were absolute geniuses when it came to handling weapons.
Apparently every member of the race was like that. It was some kind of racial trait.
With OOPArts in particular, they could use them without any issues no matter how powerful or unwieldy they were.
The catch was that they were weak at everything *except* weapon handling. That was fairials for you.
"...Hmm."
"Is it no good?"
"No, it's just that I can't make the distinction. The rarity. I can tell its rarity level, but I can't distinguish between weapons or anything like that."
If I could tell them apart, we'd be able to cooperate, but the Wheel of Fortune only picked up on rarity.
"I see..."
"Mineha. Those guys..."
"The daughters of the Sword Goddess."
Mineha. Was she planning to fight?
No — maybe she had to fight. Maybe she had to take them down to get past this.
"All right. Let's go consult the witch."
"The witch?"
"If it's the witch, maybe she'll have some kind of solution."
I was back to relying on the witch whenever things got tough.
We headed straight for her workshop on the second floor.
I knocked.
"Oh my, oh my, do come in."
"Pardon the intrusion."
"Come on in."
"Oh my, oh my, what brings you here?"
The witch was fiddling with a light sphere made of some kind of high-grade material, for some reason.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh this, this? I'm analyzing it for the sake of further study."
"It's from the Hayān people, isn't it?"
"Yes, yes. I thought I'd try to learn the techniques from that lab."
"And how's that going?"
"Well, well, I've been making some headway, bit by bit. Now then — I take it you've come to consult me about something?"
The witch pulled her face and hands away from the light sphere and turned toward us.
She gestured for us to sit on the sofa.
"Actually, it's—"
Once seated and having relaxed just a little, I began to explain.
When I finished, the witch said one thing.
"Mm-hmm. So in short, you want only the spear to react, is that it?"
"Yes. Temporarily, though."
"Do you have any way to make that happen?"
The witch's fox ears perked straight up.
She was grinning. It was a slightly mischievous smile.
"Of course, of course. I do, you know."
"You do!?"
"You really do?"
"Well, you see, since ancient times people have wanted to control the power of Relics and narrow their use down to specific applications. Through years of research, it's not perfect, but it's been achieved. In his case, it would take the form of a control medicine."
"A medicine?"
That was the witch's specialty.
But could medicine really do anything about a Relic?
"Mm-hmm. It would only last for a short time after taking it. But if that's acceptable, I'll make it."
"Wait, that's not free, is it?"
"Oh."
Right. Mineha's remark snapped me to attention. It's not free.
That was right. It's not free.
The witch grinned — absolutely delighted, as if she'd been waiting for this moment.
"Of course, of course. Nothing in this world is free, you know. But I'll do it for free."
"What!?"
"Is—is that really okay? Witch."
"Well, well, every once in a while, you know."
"If you're fine with it, then I'll take you up on that."
"I'd like to ask the same."
"Mm-hmm. First, I'll start with a test dose. I'll have it ready by the day after tomorrow."
That takes care of the essentials.
And then came the day of departure.
The Skia Coffin Ele, in waterborne mode, departed the port town of Riizu.
Destination: the trade city of Haizen.
"There's still so much I'm worried about…"
"Is there?"
The balcony of the observation room.
I murmured while gazing at the scenery of the Riv River.
Beside me, Gymnema munched away on a sandwich, speaking between bites.
Chicken, lettuce, cucumber, and orange sauce, all tucked inside white bread-bean.
"I was only supposed to visit Uncle's hideout, but now there's the Sword Goddess's daughter, finding a new weapon for Mineha, and all sorts of other things."
"That does sound like quite the task. The Sword Goddess's daughter?"
Come to think of it, she wasn't there during the meeting.
"She's an enemy."
"I see. I have an enemy too. A grand one, at that."
"What enemy?"
"Water."
"…Because you can't swim?"
"That's right."
The fish-headed tuxedo freak munches away at his sandwich.
This guy. I wonder why he's even here.