Chapter 401: The Role of a Sword
After finishing his discussion with Nian about that so-called "request" of hers, Steven once again felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
To be honest, that request wasn't anything difficult for him. At best it was the equivalent of a side quest.
Besides, he was still on Rhodes Island right now. There was plenty of time before they reached Yan, so there was absolutely no need to rush and worry about it already.
As for Nian—the client herself—she was even less anxious. As a fragment of Sui, the one thing she never lacked was time. And the project she wanted to see through wasn't something that could be completed overnight anyway. So of course she wasn't going to pressure Steve.
Thus, after giving him a simple rundown of the matter, her attention immediately drifted back to the long sword at his waist.
As someone who prided herself on being a blacksmith, there was no way she wouldn't be interested in a weapon that had already awakened its own consciousness. If possible, she absolutely wanted to forge something like that herself one day.
And the fact that the boy in front of her turned out to be a fellow smith only added to her delight.
The more she looked at Steve, the more pleasing to the eye he became. With a casual flick of her fan, she silently pulled the distance between them a little closer, letting her observe both the boy and the sword at his waist from up close.
"Side note… mind letting me take a look at that sword of yours? Honestly, I'm really curious about it."
In the end, Nian couldn't resist her curiosity any longer. She leaned in beside the other boy, grabbed his wrist, and gestured toward Yamato.
Steven had already been thrown off balance by her openly curious gaze, so her straightforward request actually made things easier for him.
"I don't really mind," he said. "But the problem is… it might mind."
He placed his hand on Yamato, drew it slightly, and offered the sheathed sword to the girl in front of him, motioning for her to see whether it would allow itself to be held.
Considering Nian was a fragment of a god who had the Authority of smithing, maybe she really could figure out what had gone wrong with this weapon of his.
Because from what Steven remembered, the original Yamato definitely did not have this yandere-like personality.
Nian took his response as permission and, without hesitation, grasped the sheath in his hand, lifting Yamato into her own grasp.
But the moment Yamato left Steven's palm and entered hers, the sword—mere seconds ago appearing like a simple longsword—erupted with a killing intent so sharp that even Steven, standing to the side, had to look twice.
A space-rending pressure surged out. Nian nearly lost her grip on the sheath, and simply holding it made her feel as though the sword's overflowing sword aura was about to slice her to pieces.
A few strands of hair by her temple were cut cleanly, sliding down as if to confirm that this wasn't just her imagination. The sword truly, unmistakably, was showing her its hostility.
Not even allowed to touch it, huh?
Nian had no doubt that if she dared to draw it even a single inch, the sword aura clinging to the sword would immediately lash out at her.
And judging from the overwhelming sharpness leaking from the weapon, it was more than capable of actually harming her.
The long sword seemed to contain some kind of special power. Even though Nian was merely holding it, she could clearly sense something unusual—a sensation like it could cut through anything.
"This really is quite the curious thing… I've never seen a sword this… sharp."
After thinking for a moment, Nian ultimately chose not to unsheathe it.
That was an action with unpredictable consequences, and her curiosity wasn't nearly worth taking that kind of risk.
As for Yamato, there was only one word she could use to describe it: absolute sharpness.
An unprecedented sharpness.
A sharpness so intense that it manifested even without the sword being drawn.
There was no mistaking that part.
"That's only natural. For a sword, being able to cut down anything standing in its way is one of its most important functions, isn't it?"
Hearing her evaluation, Steven—its creator—couldn't help feeling pleased.
It wasn't often he met someone who actually understood such things; naturally, he had to puff himself up a little.
"Indeed. But… it really doesn't seem to like me very much. I'm just curious—how did you get it to develop this… self-awareness? Mind sharing the secret?"
Returning Yamato to Steven, Nian's interest remained fixed not on the weapon itself, but on the one who forged it.
After all, giving one's creation a self-conscious mind—that was the thing she cared about most.
"If I had to say… maybe it's because I killed enough stuff with it? Maybe all the souls and weird junk it absorbed piled up, and it just… evolved? If you want a proper explanation, I honestly don't have one."
Steven shrugged as he said so.
He really didn't know why Yamato turned out like this.
If it were just about the kill count, he had plenty of swords that had reaped millions of souls—none of those had turned into a clingy sword.
Yamato only changed after he arrived in this world and cut down a whole bunch of weird things.
So the real catalyst must have been the things it killed.
He wouldn't mind testing whether other weapons could awaken like this, but… that would depend entirely on whether Yamato allowed it.
"I see… Then may I ask what kinds of blood and souls this weapon has absorbed?"
Nian's expression grew even more intrigued as she locked her gaze onto Steven.
"Nothing much—just some Seaborn, Collapsals, that sort of thing. If possible, I think she wouldn't mind chopping down one or two Feranmut while she's at it."
Steven hooked Yamato back onto his belt, then smiled lightly as he tossed out the line in a joking tone.
"…Seaborn and Collapsals, huh? It seems, little one, that your experiences are far more legendary than I originally imagined."
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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