episode_0043

“No, how did this happen…”

[ Even if that’s the case..! ]

I pressed my bleeding forearm while soothing the fierce sword, and the blood gushed out even more forcefully.

The sword momentarily stopped speaking and sucked up the blood as if greedily drinking water to the last drop.

[ …From now on, you must give me blood at least once a day. ]

After I roughly filled its stomach, the sword regained its original tone. I replied vaguely and said,

“I heard you’ll be going into battle soon, so eat plenty.”

[ Hmph, only when necessary. ]

“Don’t you want more blood?”

When I slightly removed the sword from my wrist, it shuddered like a baby being forcibly deprived of a bottle.

[ Ah..! It’s not that I don’t like it! Hey, contractor! The wound is healing! ]

As the wound began to heal in an instant, the sword vibrated wildly. When I brought it back to the wound, the sword quietly began to absorb the blood.

It felt like giving a pacifier to a whining baby, bringing peace to my mind.

While I was thinking about that,

Thud, thud.

Someone knocked on the door. There was only one person who would knock on the door right now.

“Uh, – Iris, I’ll be out soon.”

After saying that, I spoke to the sword.

“I’ll feed you later, so stay here.”

[ …Ugh… ]

The sword made a crying sound while hastily sucking the blood, and as I urged it, it turned into a ball of light and slipped into the back of my hand.

Thud, thud, thud!

When the heavy knocking sound came again, reflexively, “Uh, okay, I’m coming out soon!” burst out as an answer. Perhaps because I was alone, the wound quickly healed.

Since the blood that had flowed down almost stopped just before healing had stained the sink, I washed away the blood with cold water. Finally, I washed my hands with soap. After washing even the wrist where the wound had been, I opened the door and went out.

Iris had her fist clenched and her eyes wide open as the door suddenly opened, startling her.

“Sorry, did you come to use the bathroom? Come in quickly.”

I stepped aside to let her out of the bathroom. Iris followed me as I moved to the side. When I moved again, she followed suit.

Seeing Iris, who seemed to have no intention of going into the bathroom, I hesitated, and she came closer to me, sniffing.

“…It’s blood.”

“Huh?”

“The smell… of blood.”

At her words, my body trembled for a moment.

‘Even though the door was closed, she smelled it… Iris must have a good nose.’

I thought I should be more careful from now on, as I broke into a cold sweat and said, “Hey, why would there be a smell of blood? I just went to the bathroom.”

Iris narrowed her eyes at me, then nodded in understanding. I thought I did well to wash my hands with soap and headed to the living room with Iris.

***

A few days later, the anticipated match day arrived. The cursed sword, soaked in blood every day, was in better condition than ever before.

“[Khehehe, everyone will bow before my great power!]”

As the cursed sword laughed merrily, a sinister aura spread as the sword hummed ominously, seizing the surrounding space with a terrifying force that drove people mad.

Swoosh.

“Ow! Stop spewing out weird stuff and stay still.”

When I struck the cursed sword’s scabbard, the crimson aura was sucked back into the sword.

[Even so, to strike this body!]

“After this match, you won’t need to use the sword for a while… Hmm…”

[I see, I made a mistake.]

In an instant, the cursed sword’s voice became calm. I was puzzled by the sword’s attitude.

‘Does it taste that good?’

If the cursed sword wanted blood, there was no need for it to come out in such a humble manner. When summoned, it could fly somewhere and take blood.

Of course, it’s ultimately connected by contract and will come back to me, but it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to obtain blood in other ways.

That means, the fact that the demon listens so eagerly implies that my blood is that delicious. The sight of the demon murmuring how delicious it is every time it eats also reinforced that opinion.

“It doesn’t taste particularly special.”

Seeing it eat so deliciously, I thought it must be really tasty, so I tried a drop, but it was just ordinary blood.

“I wonder if I can make a living selling blood later?”

Imagining selling blood to vampires, I imagined being caught and turned into livestock. Then I even imagined being turned into livestock by a beautiful vampire, but I came to my senses at the clinking sound.

Woah!

Outside, the host was shouting about me, and the sound of anticipation filled the air. “People are really energetic today,” I thought as I went outside.

Shuffle, clink.

The door on the opposite side opened, and out walked an orc with green skin. Not just one, but five orcs came out carrying giant swords, bows, staffs, and shields.

Two orcs held swords, one shaped like a saw. Since orcs had the intelligence of a 3-5 year old, they didn’t rush at me immediately.

Arrows flew from afar, and the orc with a shield stood at the front. The shaman with a staff was making black magic beads at the end of his staff, laughing, “Khek, kehik.”

“Only five orcs? They’re not even prepared for exercise,” the demon muttered dryly, as if his interest had waned. I looked at the approaching orcs and raised my sword.

Swish -.

I swung the sword lightly from bottom left to top right. It wasn’t a forceful swing. It was as light as drawing a line in the air.

Clang.

Along the line I drew, the orc’s body split. The charging orcs stumbled forward with only their lower bodies, rolling on the ground, while their upper bodies crumpled backward.

They died without even realizing death.

In a fight that didn’t last a minute, silence descended on the arena in an instant.

“Wowwww!”

“Kiyayaaa!”

Overwhelming, the crowd went wild over a fight that could only be described as such. Just as they were about to leave, thinking it was already over.

“If it ends like this, it would be a shame, right? That’s why I prepared for this!”

Ssshh, ssshh, ssshh! Thud! Boom!

The iron bars, each corresponding to the size of the demon, rose up with a loud noise simultaneously. And beyond them, all sorts of demons poured out.

As dozens, if not hundreds, of enormous demons poured out, the cheers of the audience grew so loud that it reverberated through the ground of the arena.

“Can the newly emerged star overcome this trial?!”

Keyaaak! Ggyueeak!

The emerging demons attacked each other or devoured one another, but all eyes were on me.

“Just insignificant bugs crawling around, there’s no one worth fighting properly. Tsk..”

The demon, not particularly strong, licked its tongue.

“But -… with this many, it’ll be difficult to deal with all at once.”

Even among the demons, there were some as tall as me scattered here and there. Even if I swung through the air, it was difficult to strike the smaller ones.

Of course, the problem could be solved by swinging the sword several times, but the demon seemed reluctant.

“Hehehe, can’t help it. I’ll allow you to use a great technique this time.”

“A great technique?”

“Yes.”

The demon chuckled as it extended the length of the dark sword.

“Lower your posture and hold the sword diagonally.”

“Like this?”

As I roughly adjusted my posture as the demon instructed, the dark sword began to glow red.

“Now, quickly swing the sword!”

As if gathering all its strength, the rough, crimson light of the sword swirled from bottom to top. Then, the voice of the Evil Sword was heard.

[ ‘Blood Wave!’ ]

What? Isn’t it usually the person wielding the spell who shouts?

At the same time as such a trivial thought occurred, the crimson energy entwined around the sword surged forward. The energy that was supposed to cut down the oncoming demons seeped into the ground.

The ordinary earth quickly turned into a sea of blood. A huge wave rose from the blood sea and began to swallow up all the oncoming demons.

Crack, splash—

The sound of something melting mixed with the sound of the demons’ bodies breaking apart, creating a terrible noise. Those who were no longer breathing were swallowed up by the red waves in an instant, disappearing without a trace.

“Oh, isn’t that what’s coming out over there? That…”

As I murmured the name of a specific work, the Evil Sword, who had been looking puzzled, spoke in surprise.

[ This is a technique I developed! ]

Like a creator whose copyright has been infringed, I closed my mouth in surprise. After all, in this world, the Evil Sword might have the copyright.

“Are there any other techniques besides this one?”

[ Hehehe, of course there are. I have -.. ]

Once again, the Road Dragon, who had barely sealed something or other, looked towards the host while letting his repertoire flow through one ear.

The host seemed completely bewildered, clearly not expecting things to turn out like this.