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"We don't have much time left," Willem said without preamble.

He and Kutori were the only two people in the clearing they'd taken to calling their training grounds. Nephren and Aiseia had been told to repeat their exercises from previous days for today instead of joining them. In Willem's hands was the stick he always wielded, but Kutori held something different this time: the dug weapon whose invincibility and strength exceeded all others, Seniolis.

"Today, you'll be going through a bit of special training," Willem's expression was more serious than usual. "A way to wield your Kaliyon to its fullest potential in an intense battle, executing powerful techniques you can only use in that sort of situation. If I couldn't give you my undivided attention, I wouldn't have the confidence to properly teach you how to pull it off."

"It's that difficult to use?"

"In terms of power level? Very. It's such a ridiculously overpowered technique that I can't demonstrate it for you."

…Huh? "What do you mean by that…?"

"It has some absurd requirements. They say you need to have the blood of a legendary swordmaster, or be born with a curse running through your veins, or have your loved one brutally murdered, in order to use the technique." Willem sighed. "I was born a normal person, without any ability to obtain those qualifications. Unreasonable, don't you think?"

"Um…" The things Willem bitterly talked about were starting to fly over her head.

"Five hundred years ago, I tried to pull it off by copying what I'd need to do, step by step. In the end, I couldn't activate it completely and only managed to flatten half a mountain, plus the backlash from forcing it through despite not meeting the requirements nearly killed me. If I hadn't been petrified first, I'd probably have died right there and then."

Is he joking? Can anyone even laugh at that? "…You want me to try and use something like that?" Kutori asked weakly.

"Yep. You just happen to fulfill the requirements perfectly. Even though I can't really grasp the complexities of the technique, as long as I can teach you Venom control and basic sword techniques, you should be able to master it completely."

…Willem's strong. Not just in terms of fighting, but as a person as well. Listening to him, Kutori came to that conclusion.

This is something not even he's able to do fully, but he's letting me inherit it and use it.

"…That being the case," Willem said, "as we're running low on time, you'll have to try and learn everything I'm about to teach you in one sitting."

"Alright." Kutori nodded, filled with determination.

"If you lose focus for even a moment, there'll be someone dead right here, right now, before the actual battle. That someone being me."

"Alr… what?" She didn't need to know that part.

"Get ready." Willem dropped into his combat stance, raising his stick.

"I-I understand!" Kutori angled Seniolis at him, releasing some Venom into the dug weapon. As if it was waking from a deep slumber, light gradually began to leak through the fissures running through its blade.

"…Lemme ask you something," Kutori said, appreciative of the opportunity to be spawled limp on the ground. Willem grunted in curiosity, leaning against a nearby tree with his shoulders sagged in exhaustion. "In the past, did you have… any kind of girlfriend?"

"What? Why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"I want to know, since it'll affect my plans for the future."

"How would…" Willem ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I didn't have that sort of free time. After qualifying as a quasi brave, all I did every day was practice, train, fight, and then go off to war." There was an inexplicable nostalgia in his voice.

"Okay, then… after this, are you planning to go anywhere?"

"After this? What do you mean?"

"You were hired as a caretaker for our warehouse, but the contract never said the job would continue forever, right? There'll be a day eventually when you reach the limit of your term or lose your job, won't there?"

"Ah… you're right." He didn't speak for a short while. "I haven't made any decisions, nor given it much thought. If I went and talked to Grick, he'd probably come up with a bunch more jobs that'd make some difference in my life."

That unfamiliar name she'd heard before had popped up again. Just who was this Grick?

"At the least, I'll stay here for a while longer. If it was possible, I'd like to go and give the Beasts a beating personally. But as I am now, I'd only be holding you all back." Willem's mouth twisted into a displeased grimace. "So instead, I'll stay and do what I can manage right now. I'll take care of the little ones while waiting for you guys to return, and give you all a grand welcome when you do."

"…Okay."

"I promised, after all. I'll make butter cake, and you'll eat enough to give you a stomachache."

"Mm-hmm…" She nodded, smiling. "…Wait. Did the amount of butter cake just go up?"

What am I? Kutori thought to herself. The question had frequented her mind recently.

She was a Leprechaun, a spirit who had failed to die properly, a form of unliving life, a weapon created to sacrifice everything and protect those who still lived.

She was attuned to the Dug Weapon Seniolis, fifteen years old, and born in the forest of the 94th Floating Island.

Last but not least, she was going to take her first unrequited love to a hopeless battlefield.

But, now she had a place to return to. Someone to hear the words, "I'm back." He would wait for her, right here.

So she must - no, she definitely would return. She'd laugh with happiness on her face, gorging on butter cake until her stomach hurt-

Kutori heard the person she loved make a puzzled noise. Even though her body couldn't move, she tried to turn her head and look at his expression. "Is something wrong?"

"That last clash just now… do you remember it?"

"Yeah, when I parried your piercing-cut something-or-other upwards, right? No problem at all, just teach me it once and I'll never forget it."

"It's called the Piercing Crane Strike. It's a technique you normally use while empty-handed, but after it's been tweaked slightly and applied to swordfighting that takes place in… Ugh, never mind, you don't need to remember that part."

"Gotcha."

"What I meant to ask was if you remembered the other thing. Seniolis."

"…Huh?"

"When you were deflecting the force of the Piercing Crane Strike, your sword got flicked out of your hands, right? The direction it flew off towards… do you remember where it went?"

"Um…" A bead of sweat trickled down Kutori's face.

As one may recall, the 68th Floating Island is almost completely covered by forests and swamps. This includes the area around the fairy warehouse. Trees within the property have been cut down, of course, but beyond that the forest becomes difficult to look through and filled with strange black swamps of all sizes and shapes.

"T-this is bad!"

Now wasn't the time to lazily say I still can't move my body. Kutori forced her numb and crackling limbs to move, jumping up on the spot.

Everything depends on this!

After it was found and fished up, Seniolis, covered up to the hilt in foul-smelling mud, seemed to emanate displeasure until it was scrubbed clean.

Before closing this chapter, there is one final detail to mention.

For some time after the story of these past few days transpired, Tiat could be observed performing the eccentric act of putting mustard in her black tea, and then gulping it all in one sitting with a rather undignified shriek. That is all that will be said on this subject.

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