Lenna stared at the minuscule, bloodless line on my thumb, her mind, for the first time, utterly silent. The result of the experiment was in, and it was more impossible than she could have imagined.
Slowly, she pulled her gaze from my hand and looked me directly in the eyes. She took a deliberate step back from the table, she rested the ancient katana on her shoulder, the strange blade glinting in the firelight.
She stood there for a moment, simply observing me as if seeing a whole new species for the first time.
"You... you are interesting."
The heavy silence between us was broken by the sound of the dwarf's booming laughter as he returned with the others.
"What'd we miss?" the dwarf asked, noticing the tense atmosphere and the legendary katana still resting on Lenna's shoulder. "You two weren't about to start a duel, were you?"
Lenna's expression immediately smoothed over, becoming calm and unreadable once more. "No. He was just asking me for a favor."
Riko, ignoring the strange mood, walked over and placed a wooden plate in front of me. On it was a thick slice of roasted boar and a chunk of dark bread.
"Here… You should eat."
I took the offered plate and began to eat, the roasted boar a welcome and savory meal. The others joined in, the tense atmosphere finally giving way to the simple enjoyment of the festival feast.
It was Riko who broke the comfortable silence, her analytical gaze fixed on the ancient weapon still resting on Lenna's shoulder.
"Lenna, why did you take out your katana?" she asked, her voice flat.
Lenna, who had been quietly contemplating, looked over at Riko and then at me. "Ah, this," she said, patting the flat of the blade. "Hayato and I were just conducting a little experiment."
She looked at me. "He has the most remarkable constitution. It seems our new C-Rank has skin as durable as a dragon's. Even this blade couldn't draw a single drop of blood."
The dwarf, who had been in the middle of a large gulp of ale, choked, his eyes bulging as he stared at me. The rest of the table fell silent, their gazes shifting between the S+ Rank elf and the quiet, unassuming man who was calmly eating his dinner.
It happened in a flash.
A blur of motion at the edge of the table. A hand, moving with desperate speed, snatched Lenna's ancient katana from where it rested. Lenna's eyes flickered towards the movement, but in the chaos of the festival, she didn't react, not thinking it a threat.
Before anyone could even register the blade was gone, the figure was behind me. There was a sudden, sharp, all-consuming pain as the legendary sword was plunged into my back, the twisted steel bursting through my chest.
A collective gasp of horror erupted from the table. The festival music seemed to die.
Reyn stood behind me, his face a mask of twisted triumph and rage, his hands gripping the hilt of the sword embedded in my body. "You humiliated me," he hissed.
Blood filled my mouth. I looked down at the blade protruding from my sternum, then slowly, painfully, turned my head to look back at him.
"Didn't I tell you...?" I coughed, a spray of red misting the air. "I'm not the Unseen Thief... you thought I was."
The entire festival ground to a halt as everyone stared, confused and horrified at the public execution that had just taken place.
The festive music screeched to a halt, replaced by a wave of horrified screams from the onlookers.
"REYN!" Riko shrieked, jumping to her feet and knocking her chair over. "What the hell are you doing?!"
Lenna, however, moved backwards. Her eyes were fixed on the ancient katana in Reyn's hands. She knew its power. As she created distance, she began chanting in a low, rapid whisper, a barrier of shimmering, light forming around her. "Why did you do it, Reyn?" she asked, her voice dangerously calm.
Reyn ignored her, his wild eyes still locked on me. "He humiliated me! He made a fool of me in front of the whole Guild! He's the Unseen Thief, I tell you!"
My vision was tunneling, the edges turning dark. The pain was absolute. I tried to speak, my voice a wet, gurgling whisper.
"No... I'm not... even what you think..."
My strength gave out. My eyes closed, and my head slumped forward as the last of my life faded into darkness.
With my last word, I died.
The sight of my lifeless body slumping forward, impaled on the ancient blade, broke the crowd's horrified paralysis. The party was forgotten, the celebration shattered. The adventurers at my table, led by the furious dwarf, surged to their feet. City guards who had been patrolling the festival began to push through the screaming onlookers, their own swords drawn.
"Reyn, you madman! Drop the weapon!" the dwarf roared as he and two other adventurers started to close in.
With a wild yell, Reyn wrenched the legendary katana from my body, letting me fall to the ground in a heap. He spun around to face the advancing adventurers, swinging the strange, twisted blade in a threatening arc.
"Stay back!" he screamed, his eyes wide with panic and rage. "All of you! You know this blade! You know what it can do!"
The adventurers and guards skidded to a halt. They recognized the weapon. Everyone in the Guild knew of Lenna's dragon-slaying katana. To face a desperate A-Rank was dangerous. To face him while he was wielding that was suicide.
The circle of armed adventurers and guards held, no one willing to test the legendary blade in the hands of a desperate man. Reyn stood panting in the center, a wild animal cornered.
It was Lenna's voice, cold and clear from within her shimmering barrier, that cut through the tension.
"Reyn," she said.
He flinched, his head snapping in her direction.
"That blade is not a simple piece of steel. It is bound to my mana, and my mana alone. If you try to channel your own power into it—any of your wind skills—it will backfire. Violently."
Her words hung in the air, a threat more potent than any drawn sword. Reyn stared down at the ancient, twisted katana in his hands, a flicker of fear finally breaking through his rage.
Reyn's wild gaze darted around the circle of armed adventurers, his desperation growing. "He is the thief!" he pleaded, his voice cracking. "I saw him! He appeared out of thin air in the middle of the day! Then he humiliated me in front of the entire Guild! He's the one!"
A gruff voice shouted from the crowd of onlookers. It was the dwarf from the table.
"Use your head, Reyn! That man was sponsored by Lady Kerina herself! The Guild Master personally trust him by letting him as a guild member! Do you really think a common thief gets that kind of treatment?"
The dwarf took a step forward, his expression one of pure disgust. "Everyone knows the Master and Kerina are the strictest people in the Guild. And we all know you, Reyn. You're a hothead who always lets his anger do the thinking."
The truth of the dwarf's words hit Reyn like a physical blow. He was beaten, and he knew it. He gritted his teeth, his entire body trembling with impotent fury.
"SHUT UP!" he roared at the crowd.
He let out a desperate roar, raising Lenna's katana high into the air, the strange blade pointing toward the moon. He brought it down in a wide, horizontal slash, not aiming at anyone but at the space in front of him, trying to carve a path of fear through the crowd.
People screamed and scrambled backwards, desperate to avoid the arc of the legendary weapon.
But before the swing could be completed, a hand, shot out and clamped down on Reyn's wrist, stopping the blade in mid-air.
"That is enough, Reyn."
The voice was a deep, calm baritone, filled with an authority that silenced the entire plaza. Reyn slowly, fearfully, looked over his shoulder. It was the Guild Master, Valerius who are actually been watching the whole party from distance. He shook his head slowly.
"Earlier in late afternoon we already have proof of the Unseen Thief's identity. The culprit is a girl, a rogue from the southern cities. And this," he said, gesturing with his free hand towards my body on the ground, "is a man."
The fight completely drained from Reyn's body, replaced by the cold, horrifying weight of his mistake. He stared at the Guild Master, his lips trembling.
"Guild Master..."
With his grip still like an iron vise on Reyn's wrist, Valerius effortlessly twisted, forcing the enraged adventurer's fingers to open. He snatched the ancient katana from Reyn's hand before it could fall.
He tossed the legendary blade through the air. It spun once before Lenna caught it, sheathing it back into the pages of her spectral tome, which then vanished.
With Reyn disarmed, the City Guards and the dwarf surged forward, finally grabbing and restraining him. "No! Get off me! He humiliated me! He deserved it!"
As the guards dragged the raving man away, Riko, Lenna, and the dwarf rushed to my side. Riko knelt down, her hands hovering helplessly over the grievous wound in my chest. She looked up at Lenna, her eyes pleading.
"Lenna... your magic," Riko choked out. "The curse... you healed it. Can you... can you heal him?"
Lenna reached out a hand, a soft light emanating from it. "I can heal the wound, but I can't bring his life back."
From my table, I watched the whole tragedy play out. I heard Lenna's sad pronouncement and saw Riko and the dwarf kneel in what looked like genuine grief beside my 'body'. The guards were dragging Reyn away, a murderer in their eyes. This had gone on long enough.
It was time to end the performance.
"That's a shame, i rather liked that tunic," I said, my voice cutting through the somber silence.
Every head in the plaza whipped around in my direction. Lenna, Riko, the dwarf, the guards holding Reyn, and even the Guild Master himself, they all turned to stare at the table.
I was sitting right where they had left me, calmly cutting another piece of roasted boar. My clothes were clean, I was completely unharmed, and the plate of food Riko had brought me was nearly finished.
I took a moment to chew and swallow before looking up at the sea of utterly dumbfounded faces. "I'm not dead," I said, with the simple tone of someone correcting a minor error. I then gestured with my fork towards my 'corpse' on the ground. "That was just my duplicate."
A wave of absolute confusion washed over the entire plaza. The adventurers who had been mourning me were now staring at what they must have thought was a ghost calmly eating dinner. The guards holding Reyn had stopped, their anger evaporating, replaced by sheer bewilderment.
To Be Continued.