3. The lump in the heart
3. Lump in the heart
“…What? A talking weapon?”
An evening of drinking oak at a tavern after carrying out an arduous quest.
“Yes, a talking weapon! I heard you!”
The man smiled at the thought that his colleague had picked up some nonsense somewhere.
“Where is that? Even in a storybook… “
“No, is it real? There are rumors these days that a mercenary with a talking sword has appeared at the forefront!”
Despite the man’s objection, the colleague began to give a long speech about the power of the sword and how strong the owner of the sword was.
Although it was absurd, it was worth listening to just one word, so more and more onlookers began to gather around the table.
“—And so, the moment of despair! May the talking sword advise its master… “
My colleague, who was born a storyteller, was creating a wonderful novel on the spot, even gesturing with his hands.
A dizzying exclamation fills the tavern whenever the high and low of the story pours out.
With the drunkenness, the man felt his face heat up.
It was to death to hear the obvious delusion openly. Even more so as the comedian was a colleague.
In the end, the man slammed the table and stood up. Then he grabbed the back of his colleague who was talking nonsense.
“Tsk, let’s go!”
Unfortunate booing erupted here and there after the free play that would add to the taste of alcohol was over.
The man who escaped the tavern without hesitation threw his colleague into the inn where he always stayed.
The guy who starts snoring as soon as he puts his head on his bed. The momentum from a moment ago when talking about the ‘talking sword’ has gone, and it’s just a drunken mess.
“Ehh… “
The man had a complicated head, so he left the dorm for a while to get rid of the alcohol. He puts on only a thin top, and his body shrinks.
I was about to regret the colder than expected.
“Huh.”
How did the man say the talking sword that his comrades admired so much?
“Ego Weapon?”
He realized that he had developed an unwitting longing for the legendary weapon that was said to have an ego.
He seemed to still have some romance left in him who thought he was worn out while working as a mercenary.
The proverb of women who say that men with chili peppers never grow old until they die may be true.
Ego Weapon.
“Ego Weapon, Ego Weapon… “
The man surrendered his swaying body to the sonorous pronunciation.
From what I’ve heard, Ego Weapons are said to have tremendous abilities.
Even if he can’t handle magical powers, even if an ordinary warrior uses it, he’s said to have power comparable to that of an astounding comrade.
A wonderful imagination wielding such a weapon and commanding the battlefield. The man closed his eyes for a moment and smiled.
However, that was short-lived, and as the sharp wind grazed the tip of his nose, the illusion was shattered as well.
“…Eh.”
Things that can’t happen in the end.
The man shook his head and murmured.
A mythical sword that reaches the sky and cuts the sea?
“If there was something like that, this bloody war would have ended sooner or later… “
Thanks to the protracted war and the inundation of monsters, the mercenary industry unintentionally entered a booming period.
But the news was not so good for the man. He made good money, but the number of days when his life was in danger increased proportionally.
There were precious people to be caught on the battlefield where the line between life and death is getting narrower. Like family members who are waiting endlessly for a man in a distant place.
The man suddenly took out something from his pocket.
Sure.
A mape with the word ‘lower middle class’ written on it.
Between the mercenary with the ‘highest level of mana’ and the one with the ‘lowest level of mana’, the man in the halfway position felt that the limit was coming.
It would be a different story if even ‘enlightenment’, which often appears in heroic tales, comes.
The man who knew the cruelty of his reality did not expect much from himself as a mercenary.
“…I have to go back.”
The man could not stand the cold that was gradually approaching, and turned to the inn where his companions were sleeping.
The harsh winter was not over.
**
Two years have passed.
In the meantime, the man’s matcha was promoted from ‘lower intermediate’ to ‘upper intermediate’, which was a fairly rapid promotion. In the public opinion, the appearance of good talent followed.
It was still winter in the world, and soon mankind began to face the strangeness. Rumors that the Demon King had risen from the Demon Continent was one of the main culprits that made the air flow even worse.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
The colleague who gave a short answer was extremely talkative compared to two years ago.
She stayed quiet as if her lively personality and even her smile that was as bright as the sun were hidden by her dark clouds.
There was also a time when she was having fun talking about the Ego Weapon. But now it remained like an afterimage, only occasionally casting a shadow on her face.
“I miss my family.”
Her pointy ears shake in the winter wind.
The tips of her ears are frozen red after suffering from the cold for so long.
“…Is that so?”
A colleague said he would return home. I wanted to stop it, but there was no reason to stop it. Because many mercenaries were already getting tired of the protracted war.
I should have sent him off, but the man pondered over what to say.
Shall we promise to meet someday?
Would you like to wish a blessing on the future of your comrades?
Or else…
With the wind blowing as if it would freeze even the awkward air, the man struggled to open his mouth.
“Until now, I owe a lot to you. And… “
The man opened and closed his mouth several times, then laughed awkwardly.
“Huh.”
The words I couldn’t convey in the end. Maybe a man will regret this moment for the rest of his life.
… No, it will be clear.
Every night, before going to sleep, I would blame myself countless times for being foolish. That self-reproach will continue until death, and she will die in remorse until the very end when she is torn apart by the teeth and claws of monsters on the battlefield.
It is good for the eyes.
“…..”
But even so, in spite of that, the reason why I couldn’t tell you.
“Okay, good bye. Let’s meet again if we have a chance.”
It’s because I knew very well that making the other person in trouble was worse than that when we had to break up anyway.
The red-eyed man hurried to leave.
Gasp.
At that time, the elf grabbed the man’s sleeve. As desperate as the man trying to run away, and with desperate gestures.
“This, this.”
A trembling voice as if echoing in the thin vocal cords. Instead of conveying his feelings through words, the elf also abruptly handed over a clenched fist.
In its grip was a pure white micro-spirit. It has been known since birth that only spirit-friendly elves can handle it.
However, what floated up on the elf’s hand was a small fluff that had yet to become a spirit, and was still at the micro-spirit stage.
It was the only summoning beast she could summon, her half elf.
“This is… “
“It’s not a farewell gift.”
So what do you mean?
The man’s head went blank, but he soon realized the elf’s intentions.
“…Okay, let’s meet again.”
“Must be.”
The hands of the man and the elf overlap.
Even though she was a stranger, the micro-spirit somehow seemed to like the man, and melted into him with a futile ease. With this, the man could possess the micro-spirit at any time and feel the traces of the elf.
It’s a bit unfortunate, but this will be enough to solve the lingering lingering feelings. The man, whose lips were much looser, was now really about to say goodbye.
It was then.
The elf took a step closer and immediately raised his toes, and the man’s body froze at the refreshing scent of grass in front of him.
“…Next time, you do it first.”
The elf, whose ears were completely red, turned around and disappeared. He was probably on his way home as he left.
The man left alone touched his lips in the middle of the street for a while.
A short touch.
However, the heat that was stamped on his lips was so clear that even the cold could not be erased.
The harsh winter weather was still the same, but for the man, it remained as a vivid memory of the hot day.
**
Three years have passed.
“Brother, are you kidding me?”
The dwarf nervously hit the anvil. Sparks flew out and landed on the man’s feet.
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“I am not trying to deceive you. I wasn’t kidding.”
The man said to calm down and drew his sword slowly. Looking at it this way, the appearance became strange again, but the Dwarf hurriedly picked up the shield hanging on the wall, probably misunderstanding it as a robber trying to raid the forge.
“…I’m here to give you a request. Please look at the sword.”
The Dwarf, hiding his stocky body behind a large shield, asked with only his head sticking out.
“What do you mean? If you have something to show me, don’t come any closer and do it there.”
“You only need to look at it once.”
The man who didn’t care showed a demonstration.
The man holding the hilt of his sword took deep breaths as if meditating.
Ugh.
A harbinger of an aura. It also feels quite skillful. The dwarf, who noticed at once that the man was quite strong, admired it.
“Are you a top-notch horse? No, maybe a little less than that…”
“It’s embarrassing, but we are close to that stage. Well, actually, it’s not that important.”
The man told him to concentrate and further strengthened the aura stained with the sword body.
In the midst of the light that was enough to brighten up the blacksmith’s interior, a strange sound suddenly rang out.
ㅡㅡㅡ!
“What do you mean?”
“I came because I didn’t know that.”
The echo-like sound was like a bird’s cry or a cicada’s cry. It was certainly not something I hated to hear, but it was a rather ambiguous phenomenon to neglect.
“Did you say that this sounds every time you inject an aura over a certain amount?”
“Yes.”
The man with his head bent down stored the sword body.
“Hmm… A phenomenon I’ve never heard of… “
“Isn’t that right?”
The two crossed their arms and sobbed.
“As far as I know, each master has a distinctly different aura.”
“I know that too.”
“But those were all combat related traits, just as nonsensical as they sounded… Oh, excuse me. In any case, I have never heard or seen an Auror that emits a peculiar sound.”
The dwarf, who covered his mouth in the middle and saw the man’s notice, broke into a cold sweat.
Bondi mercenaries tended not to take it lightly if they said something that would damage their honor even a little bit because they had a fiery temper.
‘It’s a big deal. The damn snout! Snout… !’
Not to mention, since the swordsman’s pride, the aura, was disparaged as meaningless, whether it was true or not, if the numbers were wrong, a knife could have been stabbed in his throat.
“Hmm… “
However, the man in front of me was calm as if all his nerves were focused on resolving an unknown phenomenon. Looking at his calmly sunken eyes, he also seemed to have a calm temper in the first place.
The Dwarf, feeling relieved inside, continued.
“…Anyway, I guess I’ll have to do some tests to find out more. You will know if your aura is the problem or if it’s the sword.”
Whatever the case, the dwarf felt his inquisitive spirit burn for the first time in a while. The savagery that lasted for several years was so great that even the blacksmith’s soul was extinguished for a moment, but nonetheless.
At this moment, the interesting material brought by the man began to stimulate the spirit of the field again.
‘It’s interesting.’
“Now, come in quickly!”
“Excuse me.”