This is a story from the not-too-distant future.
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"Mister! I'm here again today!"
"Not selling, not taking requests, not doing anything for you. Shoo, shoo. Go away."
"Ehh... that's so mean. Then I'll just window-shop again today!"
"If anything gets broken or goes missing, I'm going straight to Finn."
"Okaaay."
This was Tiona, a Level 5 first-class adventurer of the Loki Familia. Think her name looks strange? No, no. You read it correctly. It was NA.
Anyway, before she bought Urga, she had used my weapons for quite a while—she broke three oversized greatswords alone... But after she signed a contract with the Goibniu Familia and began using only their products, she had stopped coming to my shop. I had no idea why she had decided to visit today.
If someone with an exclusive contract with the Goibniu Familia went around carrying a weapon bearing the Hephaestus Familia's mark—especially one made by the vice-captain—there was no telling what might happen.
She was rather oblivious about that sort of thing.
—Tiona's Side—
Hmm hmm hmm.
Today, I came to visit NPC for the first time in ages!
Before I bought Urga, I used to buy weapons here. They did eventually break, but they lasted much longer than the ones I used elsewhere!
Hmm... The captain told me not to buy anything more from Smith's place now that he has a contract with Goibniu, but something small should be fine, right?
All right, time to start shopping again!
Hmm... This dagger looks a little weak... (It is a second-class weapon.)
Ah, this one is sturdy, but it's too thin... (It is an estoc made with an intense focus on durability.)
Oh, this armor looks kind of weird? Why does it only have a skull for a helmet? And beside it...
Wow, this is really cool!
It's seriously huge!
It's too huge to call a sword, isn't it?
It's enormous, thick, and simple!
Isn't this just an iron bar?
"What the heck, you meanie! You've got something that suits me way better than what you sold me before!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
As I met the old man's gaze when he turned around and held up the incredibly heavy greatsword—so heavy that even I could barely lift it with both hands! Wow!—
Shiver...!
The instant our eyes met, goosebumps rose all over my body, and the instincts that had kept me alive until now sounded a warning. Right now, the old man was looking at me with the resolve to kill me!
"Ah... haha...? Um, mister? I don't know what I did wrong, but..."
Gulp. Swallowing hard, I slowly continued. My level and combat experience should both be superior to his, but for some reason, my instincts kept screaming at me. If the old man truly intended to kill me, he would try to take me down with him if he had to—and he would succeed.
"How about we... settle this by talking first...?"
"Put that sword down."
"Uh, yeah? This one? I'll put it down, I'll put it down! Is this good now?!"
Only after hurriedly setting down the sword I could barely hold with both hands, placing it exactly where it had been beside the skull-helmeted armor, did my survival instincts—which had been noisily screaming from every direction—quiet down a little.
Phew... What was that all about all of a sudden...?
"No, mister, you—... ahem. What the heck was that? You were going to kill someone just because they picked up a sword?!"
"There is no one left anywhere who can wield that sword... no one worthy to wield it."
"...You mean... they died?"
"No, they did not die. If only their story could have ended with death—how much better that would have been."
"What does that mean?"
A story? Was it some kind of heroic tale?
"...Honestly. That innocence of yours, being able to look at someone who was trying to kill you moments ago with those eyes, is a talent in itself. But this is closer to a desperate tale of survival than a heroic story."
"Eek... I still want to hear it!"
"Then shall I begin? The adventure of a brazen mercenary and a sword capable of killing dragons."
"Waaaah!"
The story the old man told was truly... desperate, yet endlessly radiant. Enduring pain and hardship, they simply kept moving forward, and forward again.
With that ugly sword that was nothing special, the mercenary killed monsters, and killed them again, walking such a bloody path that the blade eventually evolved into a magic sword. Yet all he wanted was to fight the monsters and complete his revenge.
Even amid despair no human should have been able to endure, he rose again and again. He never surrendered to fate, but walked his own path and carved it open—a true adventurer with an indomitable will and a spirit of steel!
But as time passed, and the story kept repeating its cycle of plunging into despair and hope, I started to feel sorry for him. Betrayed by his family, betrayed by his comrades, losing new comrades, nearly killing his lover with his own two hands... It was just a heartbreaking story that made me cry.
"Sob... waaah..."
"...Are you crying? But the story is over."
"Waaah...? Sniff. It hasn't reached the ending yet, has it? What was that boy who appeared inside the full moon, then?"
"I... don't know either. The story ends here. Go. Captain Finn will worry about you."
"Hmph... I'll definitely come back to hear the rest of the story later!"
"Yeah... I want to know the ending too..."
"That's weird... It's a story you told me, so why do you want to know it? Oh, right! Then why were you so angry earlier?"
"The reason... the reason, huh... The only person in this world—or even in that distant world—who could wield that sword, who could wear that armor, was a single mercenary. But now, they are sad things with no one left to wear them..."
"I'm asking why you got angry!"
The old man was weird today. He kept saying things I couldn't understand!
"This greatsword that once cut through everything, and this armor that once drove everyone mad—they can no longer move after their master. Because their true master can no longer move. That long journey has stopped, but I can only hope that even his indomitable soul has not stopped.
I'm sorry for getting angry, Tiona. But these two are no longer things to sell, nor things for anyone to use. They are merely pitiful things, perhaps resenting their master who can no longer move."
"Ugh... You're weird! I'm going to ask the captain!"
"Goodbye. Finn will explain it far better than I can."
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The girl ran off in a huff!
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"Captain!"
"Yeah? What is it, Tiona?"
"You dare interrupt my private time with the captain...?"
"Forget my sister! Listen to this and explain it to me!"
...Explanation in progress...
After hearing everything, Finn somehow looked gloomy, and my sister looked just as gloomy. What was going on?
"Tiona, those two weapons are probably... Hmm, I'm not sure whether I should say this..."
"Smith told her to ask you directly, Captain, so it should be fine to tell her."
"...Thank you, Tione. Yes, well, simply put, that armor and greatsword were probably made to mourn and remember someone who has already departed."
"Mourn...?"
"It means remembering and longing for someone who has died. Perhaps it was a friend of Smith's who died a very long time ago, or someone who had been active outside Orario. Either way, they are likely weapons and armor he made to grieve the death of someone who meant a great deal to him. That could explain why he got angry as well..."
"Mourning... grieving... So it was a sad story..."
"Tiona, even if you visit NPC again, be careful not to touch that greatsword and armor. They are probably one of his sore spots."
"Okay, Sister..."
In memory of the late master Miura Kentaro...
I dedicate this writing to him.