Chapter 147: Jinta (1)

I was born an unusual sword from the start.

As a reverse-edged sword, my blade was the opposite of a normal sword’s, making me ill-suited for a sword’s primary purpose: killing. This deformed shape set me apart from the beginning.

It would be a lie to say I never resented being born this way, but it didn’t matter in the end.

Because the only master I’d ever pledged myself to loved me just as I was.

Though I couldn’t converse with other swords, I prided myself on receiving more love from my master than any other blade.

My master always kept me close. During meals, while sleeping, even during those secret acts one can’t speak of to others – I was always by his side.

If there was one regret, it was that I couldn’t return even a fraction of the love my master showered upon me.

I first realized my powerlessness during a battle with a hammer-wielding warrior.

Had I been a normal sword, my master could have defeated such an enemy without much trouble. But because I was reverse-edged, he had to strain his wrist just to bring the foe down.

Even in the fight against that demon beast, I was of no help. I could only watch from my master’s hip as he fought.

It was shameful. A sword should fight alongside its master, protecting them. But all I could do was watch as my master coughed up blood and struggled.

This shame only intensified after that cursed beast of a sword arrived.

[You’re nothing but a useless, defective sword…]

Though we couldn’t really converse, every night when my master slept, she would whisper those words into my ear countless times.

Without a human body, I couldn’t respond. But even if I could, I would have had no words to say.

What else could you call a sword that could only watch from afar when its master was in danger?

The beast never seemed to tire of it. Every night when my master fell asleep, she’d whisper insults against my blade.

On days when my master used me more during practice, it got even worse. She’d spend the whole night spewing vicious words.

Unable to resist, I could only listen. But it didn’t matter.

What mattered wasn’t what she thought of me, but that my master wanted me.

Finally, during a battle with Myne, I was able to be of help to my master, even if only as bait.

Afterwards, the fight intensified and I was left on the ground for a while, but I was more worried about my master collapsing after the battle than about being abandoned.

For days, as people bustled about, I remained discarded in the same spot.

I was worried about my master, but unlike the beast, I couldn’t move on my own. I couldn’t even rush to my injured master’s side.

All I could do was stay put and wait for my master to come find me, cursing my own helplessness.

After several days, someone approached me late at night. At first, I thought it was my master and my heart leapt with joy at the thought of returning to his embrace, but…

[So this is where you were…]

It wasn’t my master, but that beast who always whispered “defective sword” to me.

The beast picked me up and stood silently for a while, then started to break my blade bit by bit, starting from the tip.

[…I never liked you from the start.]

The blade my master had loved was crumbling away. Even if I wanted to scream, I didn’t have that freedom.

[Why were you the first to meet master? Why does master keep clinging to a defective sword like you?]

Spewing curses that seemed to invite damnation just from hearing them, the beast broke my entire blade and then threw my hilt to the ground like trash.

[Now that you’re like this, you won’t be able to stay by master’s side anymore. Farewell, defective sword.]

With that, the beast left me behind and disappeared into the distance.

What would become of me now?

With even what little blade I had completely destroyed, would I no longer be able to stay by my master’s side?

An ominous future wouldn’t leave my mind. As some unknown person came to collect me, a pain that felt like it was squeezing a heart I didn’t have enveloped my entire being.

Days later, when I returned to my master’s side, he still kept me close even though I was no longer even a sword. But deep down, I knew the moment of parting was near.

Painful moments usually feel slow, but perhaps because the worst future – parting from my master – awaited at the end, each day flew by like a minute.

That beast who had reduced me to this state, even in her assured victory, didn’t stop whispering to me each night. She kept saying I’d soon be discarded, that she alone would be master’s sword, repeating it endlessly night after night.

I hate her.

I want to tear that foul mouth to shreds as it spews vicious words at me.

I want to grind her blade to dust so she can never be used again, just as she did to me.

I want to slice up her face so she can never show it before my master again.

But no matter how much I wished for it, I had neither the power nor the freedom to do so.

Unable to do anything, harboring only hatred, time flew by in an instant. And when the moment of parting finally arrived…

[How dare this failure of a sword…!!]

The voice and emotions of the spirit defeated by my master were transmitted to me through the hilt.

Words insulting my master, intense hatred and contempt – as my master’s sword, was I supposed to just stand by and watch this?

From now on, would I have to leave the task of punishing those who insult my master to that beast…

[No…]

“…Huh?”

The first words I ever uttered, despite not having a mouth, were a denial.

No.

I don’t want to be separated from my master’s side.

I don’t want to watch some unknown being insult my master.

I want to be my master’s strength, just like that beast.

I want to stay with my master even a minute, a second longer.

That was my only thought.

——

“Wh-what’s happening?!!”

Jessica’s involuntary exclamation was probably what everyone was thinking.

At first, I thought this might be part of the sword offering ritual, but the expression on the spirit conducting the ceremony was far from normal.

No, it was beyond abnormal – part of the spirit’s body was being sucked towards Shadowstrike. This was clearly an anomaly even for the spirit.

“My power…!! No!!!”

The spirit flailed her arms as if trying to shake off something clinging to her body, and broke free from Shadowstrike’s light.

However, having lost a significant portion of her body, her right arm was now missing.

“Y-you…!! What kind of sword did you bring?!! A sword that absorbs a spirit’s power… I’ve never heard of such a thing…”

The spirit, now missing her right arm, cried out accusingly, but this turn of events was completely unexpected for me, the owner, as well.

Shadowstrike was an ordinary sword, save for its reverse edge.

There was a slim possibility that Otar had used some special material without telling me, but that chance was as close to zero as it could get.

‘What on earth is happening? This never happened in the original story…’

As this unprecedented situation unfolded, baffling both the spirit who owned this place and me with my knowledge of the original novel, Shadowstrike, unable to absorb more of the spirit’s body, changed targets and began drawing something from the surrounding swords.

The mysterious light flowing from the swords stuck in the ground like tombstones was small and weak, incomparable to the spirit’s, but it looked very similar.

‘She said everything with form has a soul in it…’

If that’s the case, is the light emanating from those swords their souls, and is Shadowstrike consuming them?

After absorbing the souls of all the surrounding swords, the light bursting from Shadowstrike’s hilt began to concentrate in one spot, taking on the shape of a blade.

Seeing Shadowstrike’s new form, my feet began moving towards it of their own accord.

“M-master!! No!! You mustn’t go!!”

At some point, Wolffang had taken on human form and was trying to stop me for some reason, but I couldn’t stop when Shadowstrike was shining like that.

Shaking off Wolffang who had grabbed my body, I continued towards the altar and stopped right in front of it, before the pedestal holding the vessel.

Shadowstrike’s blade, thrust into the ground like the legendary sword from Western legends, was emitting a light so intense it seemed it might blind me.

The light was too strong to see the blade clearly, but I could feel it. That shining blade was definitely reverse-edged.

‘I don’t know what’s happening, but…’

Whatever the reason, if Shadowstrike, which I thought I’d parted with forever, had returned, there was only one thing for me to do.

Grasping Shadowstrike’s hilt, I shouted its new name at the top of my lungs as I drew it.

“Let’s go, Jinta!!!”

As I pulled Jinta from the pedestal, the blade emitted an even more intense light than before, illuminating the dark sky. Then, just as the spirit had done, the light gathered in one spot and began to take human form.

“……”

Silky soft black hair contrasted with skin as white as snow.

Her refined, distinct features exuded an elegant grace just by standing there.

“Master…”

Jinta slowly approached me, grasped my hand, and then embraced me, suddenly bursting into sorrowful tears.

“…I’ll never leave you again. From now until the end of my life, I’ll stay by your side.”

As Jinta made this vow in a mournful voice, I held her gently and thought to myself.

I would never lose Jinta again.

—