Ex-Hero, Now Freeloader

8 - Holy Sword Tantrum (1)

『Bweeeeeeh...!』

When I got back to my room, the holy sword was crying her non-existent eyes out.

The sound echoed in my head more than a Mandragora's scream.

「Geez, what the hell is wrong?」

『R-Rain...! You came back!』

「Well, this is my room.」

Since the holy sword is my partner, I suppose I should call it our room.

『Y-you're late! I almost drowned in a lake of my own tears!』

「Nothing came out of you.」

『The tears are in my heart!』

「...Then I guess I gotta pull you out before your heart drowns. So? What is it?」

I pick up the sword and bring it near a table.

I lean her on a chair and take a seat opposite her.

「I shall make you some tea, Master Rain.」

Ferris followed me, said that, gave a bow, and left.

It's just the two of us now. Me and a holy sword with a will of its own.

『...You can't just leave me behind. It's dangerous.』

「Hmm... But that's not the reason for all this, right?」

shock The holy sword shook in surprise...I think.

『W-w-w-whatever do you mean?!』

Has she really been the holy sword of every Hero since the first?

This is more than just a poor attempt at deception.

「I didn't want to ask because you didn't seem to want to tell me, but you've been acting especially weird lately.」

『...』

Usually, she'd say something like『Whaddya mean weird?』or『Whaddya mean especially lately?! Am I acting differently?!』 but she's just...clamming up.

「Tell what you were going to say before, about the thing you were hiding.」

It seemed like something really difficult to say, so I didn't push it.

『...Ngh.』

I waited for some time while she kept going back and forth between mumbling something and staying silent.

I thought I'd wait, but it doesn't look like she'll say anything like this.

「There are cursed swords, right? Swords with amazing abilities, but place a curse on the user?」

『...Yeah.』

「There used to be tons of holy swords in the past, but now every one of them except you became a cursed sword, right?」

『...That's right.』

「For cursed swords, in exchange for great power, they curse you. So then, what about holy swords?」

『...』

「I've never felt like you took anything from me. That thing about dead Heroes passing on their power into the holy sword seems like the real deal, but lately, you've been all like『Don't cheapen my value!』.」

In fact, it feels more like she's afraid that I, the Hero, won't want to use her.

「So, I thought about it a little. I've met several people with cursed swords, but none of them could talk. If they really were holy swords just like you...are they dead?」