Kuro no Maou

Chapter 28 Curse, Replica and Multipurpose Knife

A long, long time ago, a beautiful girl used to live in a small remote village.

The girl wasn’t just beautiful, but also smart, knowledgeable in sciences, and also had talent in swordplay. And yet, she had a calm and gentle personality. Being the single daughter of the village head, she was loved by all. She was truly the very picture of an ideal girl.

The girl herself was satisfied with her life till now and held no dissatisfaction towards her betrothal with the strongest man in the village.

But, on the day the village was visited by a certain magic warrior, her fate had started to go out of order.

The youth had come to exterminate a strong monster that had started appearing near the village. The youth was just a newbie as a magic warrior but was filled with young enthusiasm and a sense of justice. That is why he took this request, which others felt was too dangerous as compared to the reward, as a mission for himself.

And thus the youth, along with the soldiers of the village, entered the mountains to exterminate the monster.

But this monster wasn’t just strong but also cunning as well. And it commanded a swarm of small monsters and led a surprise attack on the youth and the soldiers.

Due to the surprise attack, the soldiers were scattered, and the small monsters obstructed the youth’s chanting and made him unable to attack. He was somehow able to barely make it back to the village alive. He who returned with serious injuries was treated by the girl who had learnt about medicinal sciences. But, her heart was in a pitiful condition, the same as every other villager.

His wounds had healed but he had already lost the faith of the villagers.

But the youth did not give up.

The youth’s abilities were weak but the sense of justice he held in his heart was the same as the magic warriors that appeared in fairy tales. It wouldn’t break with just one loss.

Even though he received no help from the villagers, he once again left to face the monster and entered the mountain alone.

Of course, unable to fight against the strong monster that led a big swarm of monsters, he once again returned wounded. The girl once again healed the youth and the villagers once again scorned him.

But still, not giving up on defeating the monster and saving the village, he once again entered the mountain.

Lose again, healed by the girl again, challenge the monster again. This same cycle was repeated countless times.

The youth started getting stronger gradually with every battle and the number of small monsters was slowly yet steadily cutting down.

But still, the main boss remained undamaged and from the point of view of the villagers he was getting no success and their faith in him was yet to be restored. But the girl who healed him every time he returned injured started to get a better opinion of this magic warrior who was unable to give up.

Looking at that serious and earnest figure of the youth all the time, it did not take long for her feelings to grow deeper.

“Thank you as usual.”

Thanking the girl who had healed him, he was about to yet again go and fight the monster, at that moment,

“Can you please take me as well?”

Swinging the big hatchet with one hand, the girl asked the youth.

Naturally, the boy refused.

But, the girl was obstinate in following him.

I want to help you who has been fighting for this village. I also want to fight for saving this village. I have confidence in my skills with the sword. I brought the hatchet and not the sword so the village head will not find out.—etc etc. The girl kept on objecting the youth’s words of refusal.

“You will take me as well, right?”

At last the youth yielded to the girl’s strong enthusiasm. But, the girl was simply attracted to the youth and in actuality, she just wanted to help him in any way possible. The village was simply an afterthought.

Or maybe, the girl had become weird due to falling in love for the first time.

“Yes! This time the result was much better!”(youth)

Due to the girl joining, the fighting potential was greatly increased.

To release strong magic, chanting was necessary, so a swordsman or a soldier was necessary to protect the caster during that time.

After getting stronger due to the countless battles with the monsters alone, with the addition of just one swordsman, it was natural that he was able to display strength multiple times than usual.

Also, the girl was able to protect the youth perfectly while he was chanting.

Even though it was big, it was still a mere hatchet after all, yet she was able to slice the small monsters in a single slash. Her skills were definitely above those soldiers in the village.

The two of them, after that, entered the mountain together and clearly started driving the monsters into a corner.

“Today definitely, I’ll end this——-“

In the last battle, the swarm of monsters was almost annihilated, and even the boss monster was injured.

With his words, the youth made a firm resolution and together with the girl headed towards the last battle.

“I, I did it—-“

After fighting for the whole day, the youth and the girl finally defeated the monster. The youth, after a long struggle, was happy to have finally saved the village. But the girl was happy only due to the fact that the youth was happy.

By this time, the girl had become unable to think of anything else other than the youth to the extent where everything else seemed worthless. She was harbouring a twisted love in her heart.

Fighting with the youth together, without telling the villagers, it was the happiest moment for the girl in her whole life.

Returning to the village together, the youth let the villagers know that the monster had finally been defeated.

In the centre of the village with the village head, soldiers and others, the youth lifted and showed the head of the monster, and revealed that their fight like a heroic tale.

With a great applause, the villagers apologised to the youth for their impoliteness up till now and the village head gave his daughter’s hand to the youth who had accomplished such a great feat—–or so the girl stupidly thought by herself.

“I see, since you have defeated the monster we shall reward you. But it is unforgivable that you involved my daughter in such danger. I ask you to leave this village at once.”(Village head)

For a second, the girl was unable to understand her father’s words.

From the point of view of the villagers, the youth was scorned beyond any recovery, and even if he finally defeated the monster and brought peace to the village, it was [too late now], or so they complained.

Even the village head felt that giving the reward was an extraordinary treatment towards the youth. And above all, not just the village head but even the villagers found it unforgivable that the youth involved their precious girl in such danger.

“No way——“

Why? Was what the girl was about to speak, but she was intelligent and soon realized the mind of the villagers. At the end, the girl just didn’t want to believe it.

But the seeing the youth bowing deeply and apologising,

“Thank you up till now. Farewell”(youth)

And the moment these sad words reached her ears, the girl’s world took a total turn. The village who was supposed to bless him and her, her village where she grew up, had hurt the youth’s heart. They were an unforgivable enemy worse than monsters.

“I will not forgive—–“(girl)

Firstly, she severed the head of her father. Then she split open the belly of the man who was supposed to be her fiancée and was speaking some useless things. At the end, each and every villager had the appearance of a ‘monster’ in her eyes.

“I will never forgive you!!!”

The big hatchet that had been enhanced by the youth’s magic and had cut through countless monsters; had now become slightly covered in magical energy and showed strength far above a normal sword.

Using the now cursed hatchet, there was no one in the village who could stop the girl who was cutting everyone with a violent passion.

The girl slashed everyone that entered her view.

At the end all that was left was, the youth who had fallen and had become unable to move in front of the abrupt tragedy and the girl who was smiling while drenched in blood.

“Wh, Why did you……..”(youth)

Sitting on the ground, clenching his favourite staff, he asked the girl with a shivering voice.

“Why? Isn’t it obvious—-“(girl)

The girl answered with a mesmerizing and charming smile.

“Because I love you, that’s why.”

And thus, the big hatchet filled with hate and love was born.

For the girl, the world to protect consisted of only the youth and herself and everything else was the enemy. Whether it be human or monster, there was no distinction. Thus it held the curse of attacking everything indiscriminately.

“——this is the super dangerous story behind this big hatchet.”

The cursed weapon I got from those goblins. The appraisal result had come at the item shop, and I came to know about this overly blood-reeking old story of this different world which would have been better if I didn’t know. Or rather, does an appraisal reveal the whole story behind how the weapon was born as well ?……..Magic really is amazing. By the way, its official name is [Cursed Hatchet – Tsujigiri (lit. intersecting beheading)]. If you let the blade absorb blood and enhance it further, it will change its name as well as its shape.

Seriously, it’s a dangerous level up system. At least it could have been something softer like exp points, but instead it’s -let the blade absorb blood……….

“And the black baton here is a replica version of a legendary weapon with hidden magic known as Black Barrister.”

The original is said to be able to fire an arrow made of black magic that could pierce through even castle walls. Though I don’t know what it actually was like, but it should be similar to how I fire my magic bullets since I am able to bring out much more strength when using Rifle or Buckshot with this baton. SO this item must be compatible with me.

“The knife is called [Efreet’s Thumb], it is meant to use fire type magic it seems.”

The item inside the treasure box along with the baton was knife with fire magic. Well that sounds good but the only type of fire magic I can use is……

“umm, spewing small fire and putting up a flame barrier that can ward off small insects, and that’s it.”

Even though I called it fire magic, it’s just a replacement for a lighter or a bug-repellent.

Well it’s practical but it still is a bit sad.

“Also, there is also a cursed weapon that I bought at the item shop, but, yeah, it’s quite difficult to use in an actual battle.”

It would have been great if it was something straight like a sword but instead it’s a [Needle]. I wonder if it can even be called a weapon.

Well, it was cheap so I ended up buying it in the end….

“nee,nee, Kurono.”(Lily)

“Hm?”(kurono)

“What happened to the youth and the girl after that?”

Looks like Lily found that cruel tale interesting.

“Hm Let’s see—–the two of them lived together happily ever after.”

After that, we were not attacked by any other monsters like that Dagger Raptor and safely reached the place where the Rixei grass grew.

“ooh, looks like a lot of it is growing. We should be easily able to fill the bags.”

Rixei grass was so plain looking that you wouldn’t even realize that it was there if I didn’t particularly know about it.

The only characteristic was probably the jagged leaves like dandelions but other than that it was similar to weeds.

But, it cannot grow in any place other than Fairy Garden since it needed an environment with dense magical energy to grow.

Not just people or monsters but to think that magical energy affected even plants, for someone modern like me, it was very difficult to understand.

“Can this really be made into a medicine?”(kurono)

“It’s not meant to be used directly though.”(Lily)

“yeah, Nyarko-san also said something like that. Although I thought that the grass itself might also recover something like 10 HP.”

“Echpii?”

I explained the concept of HP to Lily. Although it’s called a medicinal plant, according to Nyarko-san, it won’t show any effect until you properly boil it and process it into a proper medicine.

As Lily said, Rixei grass has no effect on the body if used directly. Even without studying about medicine professionally, it seems it is a widely known fact among even the rural people. But it seems there are younger people that think that any ingredients of the potion will have the same effect as well.

I was clearly in the latter category. I’m embarrassed.

“I’ll learn from here onwards, so it’s fine.”

I cut the Rixei grass with the Efreet’s knife from the roots. Obviously I don’t release fire. What would I do if I caused a forest fire?

“To combine a knife and a lighter, this is basically like a multipurpose Swiss-knife.”

I can’t really feel the value of the fire magic, but it’s still useful so I’ll leave it at that.

“Now that I think about it, how is Lily removing the grass?”

Even I who has a magically reinforced body can do it faster since I have a knife. Lily using bare hands would definitely be inefficient, and she doesn’t wear clothes so I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a sickle or a knife as well.

Curious, I looked towards Lily who looked like a kindergartener working very hard. The moment Lily held the roots of the grass in her hand, small lights flashed near her hand and the grass is completely separated and then Lily throws the grass inside the bag.

“Using laser to burn it off……..she is a scary child.”

It was thanks to magic that she was able to do it so well. I should also work to find more applications for my magic!

Looking at Lily’s use of magic I resolved to raise my skill as a magician as well.

By the way, looking at the bag where Lily was putting all her grass and then looking at the [Shadow Space] made by me, I felt depressed again. I thought my space magic was unique……..

After this, we cleared the quest without any trouble.

Since we got exactly three bags, we received one set of Rixei grass extract 1000mg potion from the owner of the item shop.

But there is barely any danger in rank 1 quests so I don’t really have any timing to try this potion. Well I’ll keep it but doesn’t this thing have any expiry date?