Chapter 14
The red-haired woman—another GreatswordFan—grabbed me by the collar and said,
“It should be impossible to get in here… Who are you?”
I could sense bloodlust in her red eyes.
She looked ready to tear my throat out at any moment.
‘…What should I say?’
I was climbing the Tower, and then suddenly I ended up here…
-If I said that, my head would definitely come off, so let’s skip that for now.
‘Let’s ask the gallery.’
I thought I could ask GreatswordFan herself and find a way out of this situation.
[This stage is already in progress!]
[Outside interference is restricted until the stage is cleared!]
A message like that appeared, and the gallery wouldn’t open.
‘Shit.’
At this point, I had to handle it myself without the gallery’s help.
“…”
Well, there was only one option now.
I controlled my emotions with all my might and opened my mouth.
“…When I came to my senses, I was here. I don’t even know exactly where this is. Could you please spare me just this once?”
I rubbed my hands together, trying to look as pitiful as possible.
No one would attack a girl who looked to be in her mid-teens if she acted like this.
‘And it’s not even a lie, right?’
I’d left out some important details, but nothing I said was false.
“Is that really true?”
-Thoom!
She slammed her fist into the wall and pressed me for an answer.
Judging by the killing intent still in her eyes, my plan hadn’t worked at all.
‘This is a super-emergency!’
Come to think of it, she was a medieval fantasy person with no sense of morality.
By medieval standards, she’d probably dismember a minor without a second thought.
“…”
She stared at me intently, apparently suspicious.
“There are a few things that bother me, but I guess you’re not lying.”
She suddenly let go of my collar and pulled her greatsword out of the wall.
‘…What?’
I stared at her, unable to understand what was happening.
“What’s wrong? Why are you so frozen? Relax now~ Your big sis isn’t scary.”
She smiled, came over to me, and draped an arm over my shoulders.
“Heh. Maybe I came on a little too strong at first? Sorry, sorry. I’m just a little suspicious by nature.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah, yeah. But from the way your aura was moving, it didn’t seem like you were lying.”
Could she tell if someone was lying just by the way their aura moved?
‘…I could’ve died if I’d lied.’
But then, couldn’t I have told her about the Tower?
Regret came over me belatedly, but I decided not to say anything more.
Telling someone I met in the Tower, ‘Hey, I’m actually a person from the Tower lol,’ wouldn’t do me any good.
“Anyway, you said you didn’t know where you were, right? This is my house.”
She took me down the hallway, explaining the house as we walked.
“I asked a dragon to put up a barrier, but… I don’t know how you got in.”
“A dragon?”
“Yeah. You didn’t know there’s a dragon’s lair right outside the house?”
Oh, shit.
If I’d happened to step outside, the dragon would’ve killed me.
‘That’s terrifying.’
Why was every single thing about this place so spine-chilling?
“Why don’t we go into a room, sit down, and talk? We don’t even know each other’s names.”
“Oh, yes.”
-Creak.
She opened the door right beside us.
“Come in and sit wherever you’re comfortable. I’d like to offer you green tea… but there isn’t any here. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
I looked around the room and sat on the floor.
‘…Tatami?’
I’d vaguely noticed it from the hallway, but the house itself had a distinctly traditional Japanese feel.
Had some Japanese person been transported to this world and spread their own culture?
“All right. Shall we exchange names first?”
Before I could dwell on my suspicions, she sat down across from me.
‘Oh?’
I didn’t know if the person in front of me was really GreatswordFan. But if she was, this was the perfect chance to learn her name.
After all, learning someone’s real name on an online community had the same effect as invoking a demon’s true name.
-Gulp.
I swallowed and waited for her to speak.
“I’m Reiya. I don’t have a surname, just Reiya.”
I got it! GreatswordFan’s true name!
“…I’m Lee Sion. Just call me Sion.”
I introduced myself, keeping calm.
‘Hahaha.’
I was looking forward to seeing her reaction when I called GreatswordFan by her true name in a private message later.
“Sion? That’s a pretty name.”
Reiya smiled lightly and mimed putting a greatsword away in midair.
I watched, wondering what she was doing, and then—
-Whooom!
The greatsword disappeared into thin air.
“…?”
“Oh. Is it surprising the first time you see it? My greatsword has its own storage function.”
She grinned and made a motion as if grabbing the sword’s hilt.
-Swoosh!
In an instant, she swung the greatsword right beside my neck.
“What do you think? Seems like it’d be good for a surprise attack, right?”
“…Yes.”
I realized something just then.
At the very least, I should never mess around in front of this GreatswordFan.
‘I don’t know what she might do.’
There was a subtle madness hidden behind her smile.
Even in the gallery, she’d curse people out viciously, but when I went to spar in her inner world, her manner of speaking had turned polite.
I couldn’t figure out what kind of person she was at all.
Just as I decided I’d need to be careful from now on—
“Anyway. So…”
She turned serious and glared at me.
“When are you going to put away that creepy aura?”
“Pardon?”
“…Huh?”
We stared into each other’s eyes in silence for a moment.
“Wait a second… You didn’t even realize you’d been constantly giving off aura?”
“I was?”
I really hadn’t noticed.
“How long have you been awakened to aura?”
“Not even a month, more or less.”
“Stop joking and be serious.”
“I’m serious.”
After hearing me, she closed her eyes for a moment and focused on something.
A few seconds later…
“…It’s true.”
The lie detector had given its verdict.
“Even reading the flow of your aura, I can’t detect a trace of a lie… You’ve grown this much in just one month?”
A look of shock crossed her face for a moment, then she returned to a smile.
“Could you show me the sword you have?”
“Sure.”
I handed the sword over without a word.
No one would hand their weapon to a stranger, but even if I fought GreatswordFan with my arms and legs tied, I’d still get wrecked.
It was wiser to do as I was told.
“Hmm.”
She examined the sword for a while, then made an odd expression.
“Who made this sword for you?”
“I bought one that someone else used.”
“…I see. It definitely isn’t shaped to suit your aura.”
She continued speaking as she inspected the sword from different angles.
“This sword isn’t shaped to hold aura properly. It only needs a little work… Want me to help?”
She was offering to turn an ordinary weapon into one made just for me.
‘I have to take her up on this.’
I wondered if I could trust her, but she was a Swordmaster, so surely she knew what she was doing.
“I’d really appreciate your help.”
“Yeah. First, I’ll take a look at the shape of your aura. Can you infuse your sword with some aura?”
I held the sword and gathered the black mist in one spot.
‘Infusing it is easy now.’
I wrapped aura around the sword and slowly let it seep inside.
Then GreatswordFan’s face turned red as she said,
“Ah, ngh… You’re really rough, despite how you look?”
“Pardon?”
She continued.
“It’s really thick and huge… and the shape is so savage. If it went into my body, it’d be so full it might not even fit all the way.”
No, something about this was weird.
“Ah, but don’t worry about being careful. It’s my first time receiving someone else’s, but… I’ve practiced on my own for a long time. So relax and keep putting it in.”
“…You mean aura, right?”
“Hm? Of course.”
It sounded suspicious, but I decided to focus on my aura for now.
How much time passed like that?
“…Phew. I’m done now, so you can take it out.”
“Okay.”
Feeling a little strange, I withdrew my aura.
“I was worried when you said you hadn’t even learned aura for a month, but there was no need. You’re really good, huh?”
“…”
At this point, I wondered if she was saying it on purpose, but decided to let it slide.
“Wait here. I’ll come back after reshaping it to suit your aura.”
She took my sword and left the room.
‘I should practice manipulating aura.’
About an hour passed while I fiddled with my aura.
-Creak.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here, this is your sword.”
She came back carrying a purple-tinged mithril sword.
“While I was reshaping it, I also embedded some orichalcum. I hope you like it.”
“What?”
Orichalcum?
‘The stuff that costs tens of billions per kilo?’
I accepted the sword with a flustered expression.
“Oh, sorry. You didn’t like me doing that without asking? Should I take it back out now?”
“No, no! It’s fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes. So please, absolutely don’t take it out.”
This was one thing I absolutely couldn’t compromise on.
“I’m glad you seem to like it. The orichalcum should stabilize your aura a little more.”
So that’s how it works.
‘I thought it was just decorative, so I was going to sell it later.’
If it was a performance upgrade, then I’d have to use it as is.
Besides, I’d feel a little guilty selling a gift to someone else.
“Okay, shall we go test it out?”
“Test what?”
“What do you mean? I reforged your weapon, so we have to test its power!”
She grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the house.
***
‘What on earth is she going to bring back?’
A forest near the dragon’s lair.
GreatswordFan had left me stranded in the woods, saying she’d bring back something like a training dummy.
‘This is terrifying.’
I felt like something could pop out around me at any moment.
I’d just seen wyverns flying in the sky. If one of them spotted me, I’d be helpless and dead.
‘I couldn’t beat even a top-tier B-Rank to begin with.’
It was a rough estimate, but my current combat power was around the middle of B-Rank.
Forget an S-Rank monster like a wyvern—even a top-tier B-Rank monster would kill me.
Anyway.
As I waited for GreatswordFan, trembling with fear—
“Kiaaaak!”
A wyvern’s cry rang out from the sky.
‘What the hell?!’
I hurriedly made every preparation I could.
I activated my Stigma and infused my whole body with mass-laden aura.
Once I was fully prepared, I kept watch all around me.
‘…Come on.’
No, actually, I hoped it wouldn’t come.
S-Rank monsters were strong enough that their appearance alone could trigger a national mobilization order.
‘Please don’t come.’
I gripped my sword tightly and kept watch around me.
-Kuuuuung!
Something landed in front of me with a tremendous impact.
“Kyak, kiaaak!”
It was a wyvern-
“Sorry. It was acting up, so it took me a while.”
-that GreatswordFan was holding.
“?”
“Hm? What?”
What the hell was this?.