Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume14 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 3===

"Huff... Huff..."

"One, your speed has slowed. Two, your movements are getting sloppy. That is all. In light of that, I suggest you rest&mdash;That is what they are doing as well."

Haruaki turned his head to see Fear and the others sitting down for tea as pointed out. Fear was eating rice crackers, Kuroe was sipping hot tea casually with partially closed eyes, whereas Kirika was spacing out for some reason with a slightly gloomy expression.

"You're right... Then I'll take a brief break. Let's go."

"...?"

"Don't stare with those kinds of eyes. It's just a passing favor. I've prepared your portion of tea at least."

"No, I&mdash;"

"There, there."

Urged forcefully, she slowly stood up from the floor where she was sitting.

"Sorry to interrupt! Two more cups of tea, please."

"Muu!"

Noticing Lilyhowell's presence, Fear frowned but probably thinking it was not quite right to leave her out, she finally went "hmph."

"Suit yourselves. But I'm not gonna share my rice crackers with you two."

"Here you go~ It's still very hot, so be careful."

Kuroe poured tea into a paper cup she had brought. Then Haruaki handed the cup over to Lilyhowell. Expressionless with unreadable thoughts, she took the paper cup. Could it be that she doesn't dare drink Japanese tea&mdash;Just as Haruaki wondered, she sat down in the outskirts, slightly distancing herself from the group, then started drinking silently. Despite her cold attitude, it was fortunate that she was still willing to drink tea&mdash;Haruaki thought.

"..."

For quite a while, the only sound heard was that of Fear chewing rice crackers nonstop. A slight sense of tension was hanging in the air&mdash;as one would expect, the problem lay with Lilyhowell. Since they were going to fight alongside one another next, chatting a bit with her should not be useless. Hence, Haruaki decided to talk to her. Any topic would do.

"Right, I've been wanting to ask you. Nirushaaki is also wearing that weird mask, right? Is that a cursed tool as well.?"

The answer came after a few seconds' pause.

"...Apparently so. I am not privy to the details but reportedly, it is a Wathe of the self-augmentation type."

"Like the Family's Hinai Elsie... in other words, similar to that girl's «Clockwork Life», I suppose."

"«Four Minutes»? Compared to that, of course the effect is inferior. From what I have heard, Nirushaaki's mask merely "increases strength and reflexes" on an assistive level. Probably nothing to be too concerned about."

Lilyhowell finished quietly and took a sip of tea.

"Okay... Oh, I'd like to ask another question related to cursed tools. What Kuroe mentioned earlier&mdash;about the many cursed swords you are carrying. Are they really robbed from the weapons vault of the Knights Dominion?"

"I remember saying I do not deny it."

"Then isn't that bad? Umm, won't the Knights Dominion get mad? In terms of standpoint&mdash;"

"No matter. Provided it is possible to kill Nirushaaki... I do not care about anything after that."

Dark light resided in her eyes. Without looking anywhere in particular, she gazed at the concrete walls of these rundown ruins, speaking softly. Haruaki once again experienced the obsessive will behind them as well as an emotion akin to blind determination.

"But isn't it tough to carry so many swords? Stuff like curses for example."

"This I do not deny either... Perfect timing. Allow me to recharge the curse of one of the swords. For example, this «Epetamu» here&mdash;"

While speaking, Lilyhowell drew out a dagger-like weapon from her back. Perhaps she noticed Fear and the girls watching her suddenly draw a blade, because her shoulder shook abruptly. She simply continued searching her lower body's pockets to take out something&mdash;a number of expensive-looking rings with large gemstones. After she pressed those rings against the dagger's blade in a rough manner, the gemstones on the rings were instantly absorbed by the blade, disappearing out of sight.

"Eh? What's going on?"

"This comes from the indigenous tribes from the northern part of your country... Called the Ainu, are they not? A man-eating blade from tribal legends. A cursed blade that moves autonomously every night to kill people. Just as told by the legend, it will behave itself as long as stones are fed to it. Hence, this dagger's curse requires feeding valuable minerals to it in this manner. Otherwise, this dagger will move on its own to kill people indiscriminately, even attacking its owner. I certainly have no wish for this dagger to come flying in my sleep."

"Uwah~ That's too wasteful. This curse hits the wallet way too hard."

Kuroe murmured quietly in astonishment. Whether the gemstones just now or the money paid to hire those men yesterday, Lilyhowell's expenses seemed extraordinarily heavy. However, Haruaki did not dare ask her how she acquired her funds, deciding it would be best not to inquire.

Lilyhowell spoke while re-sheathing that «Epetamu»:

"It is nothing if a curse can be handled so easily. Personally, among those taken from the Knights Dominion's vault, «Stick Me Please» has the most horrific curse, although the sword is already destroyed."

"That's the sword you drew out before you escaped, right? Just to kill time, can I ask what curse did it have?"

"As indicated by the name, the sword demands that the owner's body put the concept of 'penetration' into practice."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"The curse requires giving it the feeling of 'penetration.' Otherwise, the sword will penetrate the owner's body on its own. Under normal conditions, the user apparently uses stakes or nails to penetrate their flesh, but considering I still have to fight in the future, I wanted to minimize damage to the body. But very fortunately, I am a woman and there is a certain part of the body whose anatomy is most suited to penetration. As a result, I used that place to&mdash;"

"Hey&mdash;! Hold it right there, aren't you talking about something very dangerous!?"

"Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Come, Haru, do this together with me!"

"Wait, you two are making too much noise, I can't hear! Penetrate what?"

"It's best you don't hear! You can also terminate this subject!"

"Is that so? In any case, I am no longer bound by that curse. To be honest, I am relieved. Although I am a lesbian, I did consider earlier that one day I might need to endure briefly and find a male to assist me&mdash;"

"Hey! I told you to stop! I'll curse you!"

The situation became inexplicably noisy all of a sudden. But in the middle of all this, Kirika was still sipping tea blankly. What exactly was up with her?

"Class Rep, is something wrong?"

"Eh? Oh, nothing... Sorry, I'm just spacing out and didn't hear what you guys were saying. What's the matter?"

"Kirika, don't bother, it's just stuff that would make you shout 'Absolutely ridiculous!' at this shameless brat as usual. Why don't you shout it once right now?"

"Why must I shout...?"

"Haha, never mind. There's always next time."

Kirika smiled lifelessly. She really looked drained but Haruaki was already too occupied to tend to her.

Just at this moment, Lilyhowell spoke quietly as though reminiscing:

"Let me clarify one thing first. Perhaps you may be harboring hopes, but among the Wathes in my current possession, none of them are fitted with Indulgence Disks."

"Hmph, I wasn't harboring hopes at all. That said, I do want Indulgence Disks, of course. Once the current affair is over, I'll continue searching. Since you're a member of the Knights Dominion after all, you should at least know where some of them are?"

"I have no way of knowing who possesses what Wathe and whether they are equipped with Indulgence Disks. Besides, from our perspective, that sort of thing is merely an ordinary device for lightening curses. Its level of importance is akin to whether fabric is wrapped around a sword's hilt to prevent slippage. One would not normally pay particular attention..."

"Hmph, how useless."

The dialogue ended there temporarily until Kuroe spoke up as though thinking of something on the spot:

"Oh right, take that Ainu dagger for example, the Dominion's weapons vault really seems to keep anything without being picky. I was thinking it'd be like a scene from a fantasy movie with a huge pile of western armor or swords laid out in a row."

"The Knights Dominion has more than one weapons vault. It is just that the one I visited happened to house many Wathes of this type, with long histories and appearances in legends. Perhaps in other weapons vaults, there are places gathering western Wathes of your imagination."

"Legends... That sounds very amazing."

Hearing their remarks, Lilyhowell shook her head lightly.

"But it is virtually impossible to discern whether they are actually the weapons featured in legends or tales. Neither is it possible to confirm whether people gave them names from legends only because their curses and traits resembled the legends. In any case, I do not believe that all of these Wathes existed since the distant past. However, among them... Surely there exist ''real artifacts'' that date so far back that the years are impossible to count."

"Age isn't necessarily the higher the better. Isn't that right, Kuroe?"

"Yeah, I'm currently at an age where it's not too convenient for me to reveal how old I actually am. Speaking of which, are those legends mostly anecdotes of a certain type?"

"Indeed. Mostly the likes of cursed swords appearing in Norse sagas and eddas. «Calamitous Sword of Sigarsholm» is one of them. The name Sigarsholm appears in ''Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar'' from the Poetic Edda. Again, it is unknown whether this sword was named by later people to imitate the poem or if it is actually a sword described in that story."

"Oh... Does the black sword you're lending me have a similar origin?"

"That is the Champion-Killer's&mdash;"

For some reason, Lilyhowell paused there temporarily. Haruaki tilted his head.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing... I simply needed time to remember. The «Toxic Sword Poison Ritter» appeared in the ''Saga of Asmund the Champion-Killer''.  It was a revenge story where a hero was slain. Legend has it that the sword was coated with poison."<!--wise readers who do the research will realize there's no poisoned sword in the story; furthermore, "ritter" is German for knight, which wouldn't come from a Norse saga-->

"What about this white sword for practicing... It's the «Alius», right? Is it the same with this sword? Their shapes are very similar."

"In... deed. It also appeared in the same saga."

Lilyhowell finished by muttering quietly. As though trying to change the subject, this time it was her turn to start asking questions.

"Speaking of legends, the Muramasa you are trying to take back is also a sword of legend, yes? Simply out of curiosity, I would like to ask: what kind of sword is she?"

"Just ordinary Cow Tits, Cow Tits. Fat and flabby."

Seeing Fear reflexively give an instant answer, Haruaki smiled wryly while thinking back. A sword of legend. Perhaps that really was the case. But did he ever gather that kind of impression from her?

Naturally, with a nostalgic state of mind, Haruaki recalled how Konoha was when she first arrived at the Yachi home.

"You're right, I guess. At least there wasn't much of a feeling like a sword of legend. Because..."