Chapter 76 - A Fragment of Faith
Forging.
That was, in fact, a path that all strong weapons had to go through.
'Because to become sharper and more durable, they must undergo the process of forging.'
However, from the perspective of a weapon with a soul, the process of forging could never end with just a simple polishing.
'Pain.'
Because there was consciousness, there was another domain that had to be endured. One had to endure the pain of being torn and ripped and achieve a strong will.
『W-wait a minute! I never agreed to this!』
Naiad cried out in a panicked tone, but it was already too late.
"Naiad, even if I don't put you back in myself, you absolutely cannot come out of there."
Clay quickly pointed out.
"The process has already begun. If you suddenly change the conditions now, when you have been recognized as one with Siltnaro, we don't know what will happen."
『B-but I can't just stay like this either!』
Naiad shouted in a shrill voice.
『If I stay like this, won't I get forged along with her!? Is that okay with you?!』
"Shh."
Clay put his index finger to his lips and motioned with his eyes. As if hiccupping, Naiad reflexively took a sharp breath and fell silent.
Silence.
Silence descended for a moment.
'Did a problem occur?'
Clay was falling silent, thinking that the forging process had been interrupted because Naiad had made a fuss.
[…Two different egos will bring about greater pain.]
Words that were no different from a warning.
[Does your weapon have a strong enough faith to endure the hammering of reversal?]
It was hard to fully understand the meaning of the words.
However,
"If it can endure, then it must be strong enough."
Clay threw a challenge at the voice.
"So I hope you can now determine it solely with the result."
There were two souls inside.
But the form that was visible to the eye was only one.
The forging here had no relation to the destruction or persistence of the two egos.
There were only two scenarios: the 'worst-case scenario where the sword is destroyed and the souls are also annihilated due to a failure in enhancement,' and the 'scenario where it succeeds in enhancement and gains a new, excellent blade.'
[Good. I permit it.]
RUUUUUMBLE.
After a momentary vibration, a path leading underground opened up.
"...I won't tell you to believe in anything else."
Clay said to both Naiad and Siltnaro.
"If you don't know what to do, then just believe in me."
『You're being cowardly.』
No one here could say that they couldn't believe in him.
『But I believe in you.』
Naiad uttered a trust mixed with complaint.
『I do as well.』
Having also obtained Siltnaro's agreement, Clay finally took a step toward the path below the ground.
"Then, let us begin."
With that, his figure disappeared into the darkness.
♧
Tch.
A back alley in Izer.
A man, who was passing by drunk, bumped shoulders with one of a group of people dressed in black.
"Hey, what the hell!"
He shouted, brandishing the bottle of alcohol in his hand.
"Who do these morons think they are, walking around in a group on a narrow street like this! Huh?!"
"What? Morons?"
The group that had been provoked immediately bared their teeth.
"You human bastard, are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
"Oh, oh?"
The man pointed his index finger at the group in black clothes, who were literally baring their teeth, not just figuratively.
"These are just a bunch of beasts, aren't they!"
Beasts.
That was a derogatory term that beastkin were called before they were recognized as having the same status as humans.
"Beasts? This dumbass is really out of his mind…!"
A deer beastkin, pulling down the hood that covered his head, revealed his antlers and stepped forward, but someone else in the group reached out an arm to stop him.
"Stop."
He was a wolf beastkin with wolf ears and a tail.
"We are not here to cause a disturbance."
"Haha, so you're the same kind of wolf as that woman."
The drunk man mocked him for trying to solve the problem rationally.
"Are you here to take back the hero's pet? Good! Take Nael away quickly! That beast woman is only making our Emperor crawl to Krata! That savage beast woman!"
"This bastard, for real!"
"Ragna."
When the deer beastkin, whose name was called, tried to step forward again, the wolf beastkin called her name.
"He is just a bum who is drunk and babbling whatever comes to his mind."
"No, even a bum has a limit! To insult Nael, who saved the world with the hero, like that…!"
"The hero? Hahahaha!"
The man suddenly burst out laughing.
"What kind of world did he save, a guy who betrayed the gods and sided with the Demon King! He was just the Demon King's pet! Both the hero and Nael, they were all… Gasp?"
He couldn't finish his words. Because the wolf beastkin, Barang, had extended his furry fist and punched him in the face.
"M-mister Barang!"
"Did you kill him?!"
"He's not dead."
The wolf beastkin, Barang, said softly to the commotion of the surrounding beastkin.
"I just knocked some sense into him for insulting things that shouldn't be insulted."
"I think he just lost his senses instead…"
"Hey, Barang."
Ragna ignored the whispers of the other beastkin and called out to Barang.
"When Nael was being insulted, you told me to stop, but when that traitor hero was mentioned, you finally threw a punch?"
"Ragna."
"What? You don't want to hear it? Because of that bastard, we're going to face discrimination again, aren't we?"
Beastkin.
They were seen as an uncivilized race in a human-centric society and had been subjected to discrimination and oppression for a long time.
That discrimination had only subsided a few years ago.
As the hero brought the beastkin Nael into his party and set out to save the world, those who were saved by the hero party gradually stopped ignoring the beastkin.
They even began to revere Nael as a hero, and the general perception of beastkin was significantly improved. The beastkin had now grown into a race that was trusted by humans.
"Look at the situation now!"
But that glory didn't last for long.
As the hero was executed as a pawn of the Demon King, the position of those in the hero party became unstable.
The situation had become too ambiguous to revere them as pure heroes. In the midst of this, Izer came into conflict with the Holy Kingdom Alliance.
The people of Izer wanted to vent this anxiety somewhere.
At this time, the beastkin, who were wandering around like nomads without their own country or base, suffered a great blow. They were the easiest targets for humans to condemn.
Public opinion even arose, condemning Nael, who appeared in the underground arena, as a beast who only knew how to fight, and claiming that her nature of baring her teeth at everyone had contaminated the hero party.
This could be seen in the hatred shown by the drunk man who was now lying on the ground.
"If we get utterly crushed for standing up to Krata! We'll go completely back to the way we were before! Everyone will bother us so much that we won't even be able to sleep with our legs stretched out!"
"Ragna, remember who we were able to escape from hatred thanks to in the first place."
The hero, Clay, who embraced the beastkin without any discrimination.
"On the contrary, we did nothing when he died. We were afraid of the discrimination we would face if we protected him. We didn't want to go back to that time."
"That was…!"
"You also once satisfied your hunger with a piece of bread given by the hero."
At that, Ragna fell silent.
"That, all of it."
She clenched her fist and spoke again.
"It was all an act."
The whirlwind of emotions showed on her face.
"It was all an act! That son of a bitch!"
The only thing she could do was the same as the humans: to condemn someone.
"If you were going to do it, then do it all the way! Why couldn't you do it properly all the way through! Why did you have to ruin everything! Why!"
"…"
Everyone was silenced by her outrage and said nothing.
"…Have you been waiting long?"
Except for one beastkin, who had just arrived in the back alley.
"Nael…!"
Ragna, who had confirmed who it was, let out a cry of disbelief. Wolf ears and a wolf tail. Ragna was enraged to see her, who hadn't even hidden herself with black clothes like the other beastkin.
"I came to look for you so many times, so why are you only showing up now?! What do you think you're doing! What audacity do you have to show your face!"
"Then were you hoping I wouldn't show up this time either?"
"What?"
"Calm down, Ragna."
Nael spoke in a calm voice.
"If we show ourselves causing a commotion like this, it will only make our position more difficult."
In the meantime, the drunkard who had been punched by Barang shakily got up and ran away from the scene. Ragna, who had briefly turned her head at the sound of his movements, took a sharp breath and turned her gaze back to Nael.
"If you didn't want to make our position more difficult, you should have just left Izer."
"I'm sorry, but I have the freedom to act according to my own will."
Nael stared intently at Ragna.
"Isn't that freedom enough?"
There was a past where they couldn't even enjoy that freedom among humans. There was a time when the beastkin only wished for that freedom.
"Are you kidding me?"
Ragna spoke in a trembling voice.
"Do you know how much will change because of you alone?"
"If I've changed this much, then you can handle the rest yourselves."
Nael answered softly.
"I came to tell you that. Don't try to persuade me."
"What?"
"I am not the one who should lead the beastkin. Don't pin your hopes on me anymore."
"Hey, you…!"
"Wait, Nael."
Before Ragna could step forward, Barang stopped Nael, who was turning her back to them.
"We didn't come to break your will."
He took a letter out from his pocket.
"Even if you won't become our leader, this was something we absolutely had to consult with you about."
"Consult?"
Nael took the letter from him.
"!"
And her eyes went wide.
Her gaze quickly scanned the contents of the letter.
"This is impossible."
At her reaction, the surrounding beastkin muttered.
"Barang, what is that…"
"You didn't even show it to us."
"Who sent that letter?"
Barang ignored them and spoke to Nael.
"I don't know what intentions are in it. I just received the letter from a raven."
"…"
Nael took her eyes back to the letter.
The content written on it was only a single sentence.
[Follow Nael.]
However, the handwriting was all too familiar to Nael.
"Nael."
Barang asked.
"Do you have any idea who the sender is?"
There was no way she couldn't. He, the man who had taught her academics when she was ignored by humans as uncivilized and only knew how to write for giving and receiving quests, had often written her poems in this kind of handwriting.
That was something a beast didn't need.
-Nael, what do you think of when the wind blows?
Nael had said she thought the scent of prey would come.
-Hahaha, that's true, but this time, focus on your ears, not your nose.
He, who had playfully touched Nael's perked-up ear, said.
-Can you hear the song of the grasses? The shhh sound.
"Ah."
Nael let out a gasp as if the scenery in front of her had been cut off.
She couldn't react any further. Her chest felt as if it had been hollowed out and was cold. It felt like the song of the grasses was passing through that cold emptiness.
Clay.
As if she was holding onto the hem of his clothes, she tightly crumpled the letter.