Chapter 193 Dark Edge [1]
"This! This! This is so good! I-I… I have no words to describe it! It's so good that I can die for it! The amount of mana has lessened, and this world has grown weaker, but the food! The food is something I couldn't even dream of having back in those days!!!"
"Can you stop exaggerating?"
"Huh? I'm not doing over-anything! I'm just tellin' the truth!"
I tried to quiet her, but Req was so busy admiring the taste of the donuts I'd bought that for the time it went on, my existence didn't matter to her. She completely ignored me.
When she was done eating—which was a long time really, she ate like a sloth and muttered how good it was after every bite—was the time she finally took note of me.
I was sitting on the bed, leaning my back against the wall and skimming through the pages of my diary—in which I've written the rough plot of loli_pop's novel.
My goal was to check if something major was going to happen anytime soon, but there was none of it. The closest event I could find was the midterm exam, but even that was four months away.
In short, I had some time for myself. 'Though that doesn't mean I can rest all the time,' I thought as I put the diary on the desk and hopped out of the bed.
"Let's go," I said. After giving it a thought, I picked up the diary again, walked up to my wardrobe, and put it inside one of the drawers as I took my blazer out.
"Go? Where are we going at this time? Just to be clear, I'm not interested in foreplay. If you are into that sort of thing then it's fine, but I'll prefer if you directly—"
"We're going to do some training."
"Yeah, like I said. You can train all you want, but I'll prefer to get straight into the—"
I turned to face Req, her face had that wry little smile she was so proud of.
"Turn into the sword, I can't have you hanging out on the campus," I said forcefully with a serious tone.
"Heh? Aren't we going to be using your sword and my sheath…" I passed her a straight look. "Fine, fine. You always have to spoil the mood," she mumbled with a dying voice of complete displeasure.
She raised her dominant hand toward me and signaled me with her eyes to hold it. Just as I reached out and grabbed her palm, her body shone brightly before it turned into the Requiem sword which I was holding by its hilt.
I wore my blazer, tied my laces, and left my room. I was on my way through the last corridor of the dorm building when I suddenly grew aware of a fact due to the occasional glances I was getting from the passing students.
'Doesn't this sword have a sheath?' I asked internally.
I hadn't given this much thought until now but the Requiem sword never came with a sheath. Even when it came out from the seal—the stone it was stuck into—it was only the blade that was there.
[No, it doesn't. And why do you even need a sheath in the first place?]
'I can't go around roaming in the academy with an unsheathed sword in my hands. Well, at least not until I want a one-way ticket out of the academy.'
[Heh? What's the problem with that? Having a sheath will only lessen the beauty of Requiem. I can't have that.]
I don't know why but I felt something off in her words.
'No? Then I'll have to go pick one from the store—a sheath, that is.'
[Wait! What?! No, no, no! You can't do that! There's no way you can put any, filthy, sheath on Requiem. You just can't!!!]
'I think you are mistaken in your reasoning. I can do that.'
[No! A big buffing no! You'll insult her beauty by putting her inside a random sheath! Requiem's not a plaything, you know.]
'I don't see the part where that's my problem. To me, it's just a sword, thus I'll handle it like one. And a sword is kept inside a sheath albeit the time you're using it, so that will be the case with this one too.'
[...] There was silence. She didn't say anything for a while, though then what I heard next was indeed Req's voice, but in a dull, unwilling tone.
[You know?]
'I know.'
[Sigh… Fine then. But remember, I don't like this at all. Back in the days when I was Requiem's wielder, the only thing sheathing her was the blood of the people and monsters it had slain.]
As she said that, a dark, shadow-Esque cloud formed around the sword's blade. At first, I thought that I had seen something like this before, and after giving it a thought I recalled that it was similar to the substance that made Req's clothes.
The cloud of shadow settled around the blade, it fit perfectly as if it was a part of the sword—which was likely the case I suppose. The shadow hardened and took the shape of a solid, pure black, mat-finished sheath.
Unlike the color of the blade, this sheath was pure black and reflected no light. There were fine detailing of gold on its sides, but it was so firm and delicate that one could almost overlook it.
'Well, this is better. Is this the original sheath?'
[Yes, it is. It was always with her, but I never used it. I didn't want to.] ƒ𝓇𝑒𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝑛𝐨𝘷el.𝒄𝗼𝓂
'I see.'
With my sword covered, I was a bit more comfortable than before in hanging out with it. You might say why I was doing this and what if someone saw me, but there wasn't any problem with that.
Many students who came from noble families with a bloodline that stretched far back in history had weapons and swords which carried their family's name. Some even bought equipment that was far too expensive and wasn't available in the Zenith kingdom. This, of course, meant that they carried them together in the academy.
In short, what I'm trying to say is that having your weapons in the academy was acceptable and totally within the rules. Although, that doesn't mean you can carry it with you all the time.
The basic rules allotted to the use of weapons are still followed. You can't carry the weapons with you unless you are training in the Instrs or there is a case where the use of that weapon is required in the classes—to bring your weapon into regular classes, you'd have to take permission from your homeroom teacher.
𝑓r𝘦𝘦𝘄eb𝒏𝙤vel.c𝙤𝙢
That was one of the reasons why I was using a normal sword during the sword arts classes, since I don't want to involve Ryfin in this. Though right now I was headed to the Instrs, so it was fine to take it with me.
After all, there would be no meaning to this training if I didn't do it with the Requiem sword.
***
I opened the door in front of me and stepped inside. With flat and thick metal-plated walls and solid concrete floor, before me lay an enormous room made purely for training purposes.
I closed and locked the door behind me as I walked further into the room. The area was well-lit due to the magic lights placed on the ceiling and the top corners. It was so perfect that one might think that this room did not belong to a medieval period—which was somewhat true too, as this world had many things which didn't exist during the real medieval times.
I reached the center of the room, and only then did I realize how big it was. The size differed vastly compared to the room I'd rented before for training. And this meant that I had to pay more for it.
But it was all worth it, this was just the place I wanted. Where I could train away from the eyes of the world.
I held the Requiem sword close to my chest and was about to slash it out from its sheath. Though just as I rubbed my hand on it the sheath turned back into a shadow and vanished, revealing the clear, dark-blue blade.
'I shouldn't do this in public,' I made a mental note of the fact. Sheaths didn't vanish when you removed them, this was something that would invite trouble if done in the presence of other people.
"Anyway, let's get straight to it," I said to myself, holding the sword straight in my hands and feeling the power it contained.