Chapter 52: Wolf Fang (3)

“Whew….”

Standing in front of the blacksmith’s shop, I felt as excited as a child receiving a huge gift on their birthday.

The thought of my new katana waiting inside made this shabby blacksmith’s shop feel like an enormous present box to my childlike eyes.

Unable to contain my excitement, I flung open the door and entered.

Then I heard the sound of the door being locked from the outside, followed by the clanking of metal.

‘Did they lock the door? And it sounds like they added some kind of padlock too….’

How foolish to think a mere padlock could stop my Baldo technique.

“Mmph…!!”

Not long after entering, I saw condemned prisoners bound like caterpillars, their bodies, eyes, and mouths restrained, writhing desperately.

No matter how much they struggled, those ropes wouldn’t loosen. Their desperate thrashing almost looked like they were begging to be cut down.

‘No…! I must resist for now…!’

The time to cut them down would come soon enough.

I didn’t promise not to kill them after grabbing the katana, just that I wouldn’t kill them immediately. I could cut them down anytime after that.

‘Iron or straw dummies would suffice, but human targets are best for test cutting.’

Putting these human scarecrows aside for now, I made my way towards the red light visible at the far end of the room.

It was red.

A ruby-like brilliance, yet somehow reminiscent of blood – that kind of red light.

At first, I thought they’d lit a candle to make it easy to find, but upon closer inspection, it was light emanating from the blade, seeping through minute gaps in the scabbard.

Beautiful yet somewhat eerie, I found myself staring blankly at that light before snapping back to attention and slowly approaching where the katana lay.

‘…I want to cut.’

The longer I gazed at the light, the stronger that desire grew.

Was this due to looking at the light of a demon blade? Or was it just my own desire to cut?

Surely it must be the former. I’m not some lunatic who randomly wants to cut people.

Standing before the table where the katana rested, I carefully grasped the hilt, cautious not to be entranced by the sword’s magic.

Perhaps because I hadn’t drawn it from the scabbard yet, there were no notable changes to my mind.

If anything, the hilt felt a bit warm to the touch.

It was somewhat unexpected that there was no change even after grasping the hilt, when I had wanted to cut someone down before even touching it.

‘The warmth will be nice in winter.’

With such a pointless thought, I drew the blade from its scabbard with a lightened heart.

-Whish….

As I unsheathed it, the katana’s light, previously confined within the scabbard, illuminated the entire room.

As intense magical energy, palpable even to ordinary people, filled the room, the condemned prisoners who sensed it thrashed even more violently.

“Mmph!! Mmph mmph!!!”

There’s no need to make such a fuss begging to be cut – I’ll get to it soon enough….

Turning my gaze from them back to the katana, endless thoughts that seemed to be the katana’s will, rather than words, flooded my mind.

Cut and kill. Stab and kill. Dismember and kill.

As these ceaseless commands to kill kept pouring into my mind, I furrowed my brow and shouted.

“Baaaaaldo!!!”

How dare a sword give orders to its master? And telling me, a practitioner of Baldo, to stab?!

I could understand it taking a commanding tone since I hadn’t been officially recognized as its master yet, but stabbing? Just because its previous owner was some rapier-wielding pussy doesn’t mean it can force me to stab too!

“A proper katana should…!!”

It may have lived as a rapier under a foolish previous master, but now it’s a katana.

To correct its bad habits right away, I began lecturing it on how a katana should behave.

“A katana should obey its master and always be ready for Baldo…!!”

[Grrrr…!! Woof woof!!]

I imparted words so profound they should have been etched into its bones and passed down for generations as a family motto, but all I got in response was literal dog noises.

Making strange barking sounds while wildly shaking its blade, it was the very image of today’s disrespectful youth slouching and acting all cocky.

How dare it show such an attitude while I’m teaching about Baldo? Are all modern katanas this ill-mannered?

“You little sh*t, your blood on the blade isn’t even dry yet!!”

Saying that, I threw the katana to the floor and sat down in front of it.

Apparently displeased at being thrown down, the katana on the floor trembled, pointed its blade at me, and then flew straight at me.

“Haah!!!”

With a shout, I smacked down the flying katana with a hand-blade I pulled from my pocket.

But the katana didn’t give up, repeatedly pointing its edge at me and flying towards me.

This impudent bastard dares to thrust despite being blessed as a katana.

‘I need to correct its behavior thoroughly right now.’

I repeatedly knocked the katana to the ground with hand strikes as it flew at me again and again, trying to pierce my body.

After this was repeated several times, the katana fell limply to the floor, trembling.

[Keeeeeng….]

“Now you seem ready to listen to my lecture. Let’s start again. A proper katana… You little sh*t!! How dare you sit so disrespectfully while an adult is speaking!! Sit up straight right now!!”

Outraged at the katana’s disrespectful posture, I bellowed at it. The katana trembled again and corrected its posture.

“And what’s with showing so much skin with all these strange men around? Are you some deflowered woman?! Sheathe yourself right now, you bastard!”

I threw the scabbard that was on the table, and the katana scurried back into it.

“Where was I… Ah, yes. A proper katana should conceal its blade until the very end, only revealing it for the final, killing blow. And always respect its master….”

As I continued teaching the katana how it should exist, suddenly the tightly locked door opened with a clank of metal.

“…What the hell are you doing in there?”

As Otar cautiously poked his head in and asked, I pointed at the katana on the floor and said:

“Can’t you see?! The katana has bad manners, so I’m correcting its behavior!!”

“W-what? Correcting a katana’s behavior…?”

“What nonsense are you spouting? How can a katana have manners?”

“What are you talking about?! It’s still misbehaving like this!!”

Even now, this rascal was whining and turning its hilt towards Otar and Hadi as if begging to be saved.

[Keeeeng…! Whmm!!]

“Ah, what in the…”

“It was just a normal sword when it was with us, except for emitting magical energy…”

“It must have been putting on an act. Anyway, I need to discipline it a bit more, so please wait outside.”

“…Alright, understood. We’ll wait, so finish up as quickly as possible.”

“Master?!”

“Just… just do as I say. There’s no point in arguing further, it’ll only give you a headache.”

Hadi seemed to have more to say, but in the end, she left the blacksmith shop with Otar, her head hung low.

[Keeeeng! Keeeeng!!]

The katana wailed pitifully towards Otar and Hadi as they left, but they didn’t turn back.

“Shall we start again?”

[G-grrr…!!]

As the lesson resumed, the katana rebelled and pointed its blade at me, but its thrusts never reached me.

I repeatedly slammed the katana to the ground, either dodging its attacks or smacking it down with my hand-blade.

I continued to pound my Baldo theory and the proper mindset a katana should have into it, slamming it to the ground over and over until it understood.

Finally, having grasped the mindset it should possess, the katana transformed into a good katana, quietly listening to my words.

“Well, shall we wrap this up?”

[Woof!!]

As I stood up, hearing the katana’s lively response for the first time, the light shining through the window tickled my eyes.

It seems I was so focused on lecturing that I continued until dawn.

‘They said they’d wait outside….’

Feeling guilty for unintentionally making the two spend the night outdoors, I made my way to the hallway.

The condemned prisoners waiting in the hallway had all fallen asleep, drooling, apparently exhausted from waiting.

‘Looks like they’ve given up on escaping.’

Or maybe they struggled to escape but failed and fell asleep from exhaustion.

Having succeeded in subduing the katana, I grabbed the hair of one of the condemned prisoners to test its sharpness.

“Mmph!! Mmph!!”

The awakened prisoner thrashed about wildly as soon as I grabbed their hair, but strangely, I felt no strength from them at all.

‘Did they starve them for days?’

Well, I suppose feeding someone who’s going to die anyway would just be a waste.

I dragged the prisoner outside by the hair. There was a tent set up that definitely wasn’t there when we arrived.

“What’s this?”

Did they really pitch a tent just to wait one night? Baffled, I kicked the tent lightly, and Otar emerged with a sleepy expression.

“Hmm… What, are you finally done…?”

“Yes, sorry for making you wait so long. Look at this.”

[Ngggg~!]

As I touched the katana, it rubbed its hilt against my hand like a dog licking its owner’s hand.

Seeing the close bond between master and katana, Otar wore an expression that suggested he wasn’t sure what bizarre thing he was witnessing.

“Good lord, what kind of madman tames a demon sword like this… How the hell did you tame it?!”

“You saw it yourself earlier. I just kept explaining my Baldo theory and the mindset a katana should have until this child understood. Well, I did use Baldo on it whenever it rebelled.”

“…Right. I suppose it’s not unreasonable to end up like this after listening to that nonsense for two days.”

“…Two days?”

I thought only a few hours had passed, but could it really have been two days?

Come to think of it, I did feel a bit thirsty, but I thought it was just from talking too much.

“…I really made you wait too long. Has Hadi already left?”

“Yeah, she’ll be waiting at the inn.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer then.”

Deflated, I carelessly tossed the condemned prisoner I had been dragging onto the ground.

“Haah….”

And I was so eager to cut them down quickly….

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