Free Web NovelChapter 325: Intermission: Cassandra’s Sword Chasing Chronicles
--This Chapter is written in Cassandra’s POV--
In my quest to claim the peerless sword I once desperately sought, I came across its master, who charitably allowed me a taste of its power.
It wasn’t long before I became addicted to its glorious form. Day after day, my greatest comfort and joy would come from handling the sword, letting it shape me into its perfect wielder, almost as if I were its second scabbard.
However, I wasn’t the only one being cared for by the sword master and the treasure he possessed. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Adventurers, knights, and nobles... People from all over, with completely different backgrounds, all found themselves in the same position as me.
Tradition would dictate we compete.
The sword master saw to it that we share.
One day, after countless sessions tending to and appreciating the splendour of his sword, the sword master judged me unworthy of being in its presence.
To prove myself and earn an entire day graced by his majestic blade, I was to embark on a quest.
A demon hunt.
More specifically, I was to bring under the raging Devil known as Elizabeth, a Demon Queen whose name still instilled fear into the hearts of the Gods lucky enough to have crossed her path and survived her might.
Having been one of the crusaders who opposed her father, before her declaration against the Gods, my olden self was far too prepared for such a journey.
Yet I knew not to underestimate her demonic dynasty and her personal deeds, which, according to the tales, far surpassed those of her own father.
The sword master gave me no time limit, other than how long my desire for the sword would last.
However, he restricted me in a far more capricious way.
Well-aware of who I was before meeting his sword, he knew if it were his only condition, he’d have Elizabeth’s head before midnight of the same day.
Instead, the sword master requested that I calm the demon’s fury, bringing an end to the catastrophic blizzards and thunderstorms that painted the entirety of the Kingdom’s sky in dull colors without fatally injuring her.
Before embarking toward her last known whereabouts, I headed to my room in the sword master’s mansion.
The technique required to hunt a demon was ingrained in my body, as was the love for the sword.
I knew that on that front, I wouldn’t falter.
Still, the success of a hunt could be measured as soon as the hunting equipment was chosen.
Having anticipated a session of training with the peerless sword, I had begun the day without armor.
While I would usually neglect it against an inferior opponent, of which most were, I suspected the Demon Queen wouldn’t allow me such indulgence.
As such, I donned a piece of armor that would not only protect me but also keep the replica sword I carried securely in place, lest it fall during battle.
Reina: "...Has My Lord sent you after Elizabeth?"
The sacred haven where I worshipped swordsmanship and mentally trained to brandish the peerless sword with my collection of replicas was breached by a fox.
The red-haired beastwoman’s nose twitched as her acute sense of smell picked up on the sweat and tears that I’d often drown the room in.
An amateur with absolutely no experience with the hardships that the path of the sword entailed, her face flashed with the same look the maids wore whenever they complained about the amount of maintenance true dedication to the sword demanded.
But the fox-woman was no maid.
She was, supposedly, a strategist and a former queen.
One who had not only joined the war against the Demon Queen, but most importantly, been graced with the visage of the master’s sword.
A woman I severely despised for stealing my techniques in hopes of a shortcut to taste the power of the master’s sword, she didn’t understand that being graced by it was merely the beginning of the road, not its end.
Cassandra: "What does it look like?~"
Expecting a long, arduous fight, I kept a second replica sword within my armor.
The Demon Queen was the first opponent that forced me to such lengths since meeting the sword master, and yet, the thought that even this much might not suffice sent a shiver running down my spine.
Reina: "How can I assist you?"
The fox woman’s offer fell short of tempting my heart.
I would never distrust a fox just for being a fox; however, this woman had stolen from me once before, and I would not allow it again.
Especially when the reward the sword master promised was great enough that even a tempered mind like mine would occasionally be clouded in a thick fog of expectation.
Such an untrained, unpolished woman would easily drown in lust for its glory, becoming another obstacle in my righteous path.
Cassandra: "I don’t need your help~"
The Demon Queen’s favorite weapon was her lightning-attribute magic, which even the Kingdom’s entire sky wasn’t spacious enough to manifest in its entirety.
Having now fought side by side with the Devil more than once, I knew not even the hardest of materials could protect me from her powerful strikes.
Thus, I chose for my last piece of armor a chestplate powered by electricity that should only grow stronger upon contact with her lightning.
Reina: "...You’ll die."
Seeing me wear the small plates beneath my clothes, that uninitiated woman dismissed their effectiveness.
I could hardly blame her, as only after experiencing severe training did I realize the true power hidden behind the thumb-sized, cylinder-like protective gear.
Whilst they’d provide laughable protection against a physical strike, I was far too outmatched without carefully considering my target.
Elizabeth would never lay a hand on me.
She wasn’t naive enough to let me get this close, and her victory required no such effort.
Cassandra: "Perhaps. But I’d rather trust my instincts than the opinion of the failed strategist who got us here in the first place~"
The fox woman had earned the respect of the Demon Queen through their shared history on opposite sides of a war and her recent victory in their military exercise.
Yet the campaign that brought turmoil to Elizabeth’s heart had been devised by none other than the fox herself.
I wasn’t versed in strategy myself, and unlike the cheating fox, I dared not overstep my boundaries.
My sole purpose was the sword.
Yet, swords were merely tools of war, and thus, knowing war was essential for one treading the path toward the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
That philosophy allowed me to acquire some knowledge through my previous crusades, all of which led me to suspect the results of the fox’s last campaign.
Every contender to wield the peerless sword, those who had already basked in its glory, had been injured to the point of being unable to handle it for an undetermined time.
Even potential candidates to stand before its splendor, like the Angel and the Devil, were systematically removed.
And now even I, the most dedicated to the sword, marched toward impending death.
How interesting that after the fox barked, so many apples fell from the tree...
Reina: "...I’m not a failed strategist."
The fox lowered her head, emphasizing the round features that made her face cute, only so that they’d contrast with her strikingly sharp red eyes.
Reina: "I’m just not a clairvoyant, either."
Despite the fire burning behind her stare, I remained unfazed.
The fox woman’s eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly, almost unnoticeably, and fully deniably.
Reina: "That My Lord has achieved his objectives despite the unforeseen circumstances only proves that the strategy was worthwhile."
A shadow fell across her face, further hiding what her bangs already covered.
Cassandra: "...Worthwhile?"
Raising my chin and tilting my head, I stared at her from above, despite our similar heights.
The distance I created should have made my eyes colder, yet the air sparked where our gazes collided.
Cassandra: "Would you dare tell that to Your Lord? Perhaps I should bring you along. I bet Elizabeth would be delighted by these words~"
Scrawny as the fox woman was, her muscles tensed up, and her eyes flared brighter still.
Seeing such a cute reaction, I approached the fox with a growing grin.
Cassandra: "You don’t have to answer. If you were that brave, you wouldn’t be here, wearing that..."
Even though the clinic needed nurses, the fox that once helped there was nowhere to be seen, using the wolf girl as a carrier to deliver her medicine.
Not only that, but instead of wearing her cute little nurse outfit, she wore her battle armor.
Almost as if she had predicted all of this and already decided between the two available courses of action.
Cassandra: "Don’t tell me... Were you expecting the boy to worry about your feelings? You secluded yourself, thinking he’d spare you a visit when his beloveds are on the brink of eternal sleep? You really are cute~"
My two fingers slid across her abdomen until they met her chestplate, resonating a metallic clink as I turned them into a small blade and continued up, toward her neck.
Piercing the flawless skin of the fox, I returned my fingers to their original shape, tasting the single drop of blood I drew from her.
Reina: "You don’t understand. My heart has been solely dedicated to My Lord for an eternity. Even the smallest mistake brings me utter shame."
Her pinkish face, emblematic of a healthy, young woman, burned redder still.
The fox’s eye began tearing, as if an innocent maiden admitting to a heinous crime.
Yet, through it all, only one thought resonated within my mind.
Cassandra: "Is that really the case?"
I lifted the bangs that covered one of her eyes.
Each told me a different story.
Cassandra: "Such a heartless woman you are."
The fox flinched, her breath uneven.
Cassandra: "I see you."
She squinted her eyes, her lips unfolding slightly to reveal a small fang.
Cassandra: "Do you know why there are so few Living Armaments?"
While reproduction between different races didn’t usually cause too many problems, there were exceptions.
Angelica, my cute little sister of summoning, whom I adored so much, was one such case.
Being half a dragon and half an angel, she was not fully anything.
Both forms were unstable, and while she could control her transformations, it would only take one careless mistake for her entire body to change.
Still, at least she was born of two living beings.
Living Armaments were even more unstable.
Our true form was, after all, that of a weapon.
That made childbirth difficult, both for the mother and the baby, as any transformation could kill the other.
Cassandra: "Even if the boy were to breed me every year for his entire life, I’d probably pump one, maybe two children out."
That I had a twin sister was a miracle in and of itself.
But that was another story.
The point was that...
Cassandra: "You were late, weren’t you? The post of first wife was already taken, and your love is so one-sided~"
She reached for my arm, gripping my wrist tightly.
Cassandra: "But if only you could give him his first heir... That could sway the boy to rearrange the hierarchy, right?"
Even though the icy swordswoman claimed she wouldn’t allow anyone else to have his kid first...
Cassandra: "All it’d take was a small mistake. Someone, forgetting the oven on... Even though they were meant to close it~"
Brushing my arm away, the fox woman retreated a couple of steps.
She brought her head back a little, her eyes darting side to side, confirming there was no one in the corridors.
Cassandra: "Well, I certainly have no reason to cut in line. But one piece of advice, if you will... You’ve got the boy sad and the demon hag mad. Get me bothered and... Nine lives might not cut it for you~"
Reina: "...Those are cats."
Cassandra: "Same difference?"
After clicking her tongue, I felt the disappointing stare of a female studying me.
Paying her no mind, I made my final preparations for a much more challenging opponent.
Reina: "How many more vibrators do you need?"
My body, which had been refined to the sword’s liking, was especially weak against shocks.
Facing Elizabeth meant preparing myself with as much protection as possible, especially in my weakest areas.
Reina: "Your accusations are baseless, and your threats are empty. I was wrong about you, Novaes. You’re just a brainless harlot."
She turned her back, facing the corridor.
Cassandra: "Kya~"
Even though she got me, she refused to look my way.
Still, her ears twitched enough for me to know she was still hearing.
Cassandra: "You’re right. I am just a brainless slut..."
Approaching her from behind, I rested an arm over her feminine, frail-looking shoulder.
Cassandra: "But between this brainless slut and a heartless woman, you know exactly who Your Lord would pick, don’t you?~"
She trembled slightly.
But after briefly averting her gaze, the sharpness returned to her eyes.
Reina: "...You’re right. My Lord has no desire for heartless women. That is why you should refrain from calling me that."
Cassandra: "Make me?~"
Reina: "Very well."
She summoned a short, narrow dagger with a ring attached to its end.
Despite wielding it with maestry, the fox didn’t follow her brave words and simply hid it inside her armored skirt.
Crossing her arms, she stood against a wall, staring at me with an expression far too bothersome to read.
I knew it wasn’t as blank as she wanted it to appear, but I cared not to dig deeper than that.
Most annoyingly, after every step I’d take, I’d hear another one following behind me.
From the mansion, all the way into the forest where the Demon Queen lay.
