The Godking's Legacy Read online

  “Huh?” Lucia asked and opened her eyes. “What was that? How come I never blew something up like this before?” Her eyes stared at me with accusation.

  “I didn’t break the cup. That was your qi.”

  Lucia blinked. “I’m special?”

  In more ways than one. Ah, I should stop thinking mean things about her. “Not really? Most people can do this, no?”

  Lucia shook her head. “I’ve never heard about this before. Maybe it was more widely accepted eighty years ago?”

  That’s possible. I guess there are times when she’s intelligent. I placed my hand in her hair and scratched her ears.

  ***

  According to Durandal, I am a brute. Even though that’s the official name of the qi manipulation category I’m in, I still feel offended. I am a very elegant lady. Maybe I have a teensy bit of a potty mouth, but that doesn’t mean I’m a fucking brute. Jeez.

  “What are you thinking about now? You’re getting distracted again.”

  Urk. Meditating is hard. How am I supposed to clear my thoughts? I’m part squirrel! Even an acorn on the ground is sufficient enough to distract me in the middle of a fight.

  “Isn’t there some other way for me to learn to control my qi?” This is way too difficult. I opened my eyes and stared at Durandal. He was practicing with his metal spear. The wind howled and shrieked with every one of his thrusts. Isn’t he supposed to be a sword? Why does he feel like a legendary spear spirit instead?

  “There is,” Durandal said and lowered his spear. He wasn’t even sweating after hours of continuous practice. Do weapon spirits sweat? I’m pretty sure they just draw on their owner’s…. Wait a minute…. That’s my energy he’s using! No wonder why I feel so tired! Thief! “It’s faster and more effective, but it’ll be painful. Are you—”

  “No thanks. I’ll keep meditating.” Pain? I’ll pass. I’m not a masochist.

  “Lucia…”

  I can’t hear you. Totally sunken deep into introspective meditation. Mhm. One with the world. Only I exi—gah! Did he just stab me!? He did! “What the hell!?”

  “Ahem.”

  Ah, I shouldn’t have yelled at him. His aura’s too fierce. “I, I mean, yes, Durandal?”

  “We’re switching to the other method. You haven’t been able to focus once in the past four hours.”

  “But didn’t you say it was painful?” Don’t rub my head! You’re just trying to trick me. Ah, but that feels nice.

  “I believe in you, Lucia. Won’t you listen to me?”

  Mm. That’s a good spot, keep scratching there. What was he saying?

  “You can do it, right?”

  “Yes!” I think I just agreed to something I didn’t want to do…. “What can I do?”

  “Mn. Just hold a horse stance,” Durandal said and removed his hand.

  A horse stance? “Like this?”

  “Perfect.”

  Is that a spike? Where are you going to put that? Don’t tell me that’s going underneath me…? “Uh…”

  “If you fall…. Don’t fall, Lucia.”

  No way. This is inhumane! I’m a girl! What if I lose my chastity to a stick!? Where are you going!? “W-what are those pots for?”

  “Nothing really,” Durandal said and poured water into two clay jugs. “I’m just going to put these on your thighs.” Ah, that’s heavy. But I’m not allowed to fall. This is really cruel. “Now, do me a favor and hold these rocks?”

  Why are you smiling like that? Aren’t the pots enough? “I, I don’t want to.”

  “Hold. The. Rocks.”

  I’ll hold them, I’ll hold them. Oh, they aren’t too heavy.

  “Great,” Durandal said and nodded at my suffering. Bastard. “Now instead of meditating, focus on circulating your qi to all the sore parts of your body.”

  “I don’t feel sore though?”

  “Give it a few hours,” Durandal said. “Unless you want me to add more rocks?”

  “N-no. I’ll wait for a few … hours….” Hold on just a minute. Did I hear that correctly? “Hours!?”

  “Hours.”

  “But it’s midnight! When do I sleep?”

  “Martial artists don’t need to sleep. They meditate instead.”

  Can’t sleep? “Where’s the justice!? Aren’t you Durandal, the legendary sword of the Godking? Surely, you’re just.”

  “Just? Me?” Durandal raised an eyebrow. “Did I give you that impression?”

  Now that I think about it…, isn’t he a cruel, manipulative person? But he’s hot, so I guess it balances out.

  “You know the Godking started out as a bandit, right?”

  “What? No way.” How could the Godking be a bandit? He was the epitome of an honorable person!

  “Have you heard of Golden Rat?”

  “Golden Rat…. Wasn’t he the really sneaky thief that the Godking captured? I think the emperor rewarded the Godking for catching him and returning the crown, right?” My legs are starting to feel numb. Let’s try circulating some qi there. Oh, that does feel better.

  “Golden Rat was the Godking. He was the one who stole from all the nobles and merchants. The Golden Rat that Roland apprehended was a young noble who offended him.”

  “That can’t be true.” Stop blaspheming my idol!

  “Would the sword of a noble person do this to you?”

  I don’t think the sword of a thief could be this cruel either. When did these rocks become this heavy? “The Godking really was an outlaw?”

  “Yup,” Durandal said and nodded as he picked up his spear. Wait! Don’t practice! I’ll lose my energy even quicker!

  “C-can I not do this?” I’m going to die. Didn’t he say learning to manipulate qi was the first step of training? I don’t want to know what the second step is.

  “You have to.” The spear pierced the air, blowing Durandal’s hair back.

  “Why?” What reason could possibly encourage this much suffering on my part?

  “Aren’t you curious? If the Godking was the strongest person in the world, then how did he die?”

  “Wasn’t it an illness?”

  Durandal snorted. “Illness? He enslaved a pill master that could bring the dead back to life. How could he die of an illness?”

  “Then … what happened to him?” Wait. Enslaved a pill master? Ah! That spike is cold! Why is it so close to my butt!? Maybe I can try resting on it…. Nope! Good thing I’m wearing thick pants today.

  “He was cursed.”

  “Cursed?” I should really stop talking. I’m getting too tired. Right, circulate qi. Just keep circulating, just keep circulating.

  “Yes. Although Roland was an obnoxious bastard, I can’t deny he was my owner. I can’t rest peacefully unless I avenge him. And to do that, I need you to be stronger. Do you understand, Lucia?”

  I think I do. “But isn’t that your problem?”

  The world around me froze. Eep! Did I say the wrong thought? “I, I mean, I’ll do it! I’ll help you by becoming stronger!” …But what’s in it for me? Mm. I’ll just think of it as the price to pay for owning Durandal. Ah, my body hurts. Tonight’s going to be a long night.

  ***

  Is it wrong for a weapon spirit to lie to its master? Maybe. But do I care? Not at all. You can blame my personality on Roland, the most dishonorable kidnapper in the world. Lucia really thought that bastard died of a curse? Sure, probably 99% of the people he’s ever met, including me, have cursed him at least once in their lives, but no one’s ever succeeded. Mostly because Vera, his amulet spirit, was too strong. I wonder if she’s still around. But let’s forget about her—we didn’t exactly end on the best terms and talking about her irritates me.

  Anyways, I actually have no idea how Roland died, but Lucia needed motivation to train because clearly the threat of being pursued by a kingdom isn’t enough for her. I had to make her think there’s a danger that I can’t protect her from in order to stimulate her growth. Is that mean? Well, what Lucia doesn’t kno
w won’t hurt her. Besides, I’m doing this for her own good. Her growth totally doesn’t relate to my freedom in any way whatsoever. I have absolutely nothing to gain from her growing stronger. Except, you know, everything I want.

  And that part about avenging Roland’s death? What a joke. How many of my brothers have died because he locked us in that miniature dimension? Shouldn’t I be avenging them instead? It’s a shame that bastard kicked the bucket.

  Let’s ignore those minor details for now and review Lucia’s progress. The first day, she nearly died under the duress of carrying a five-hundred-pound weapon. That very night, she recovered after sleeping for six hours. Then she endured holding a horse stance for eight hours until dawn. And now she’s taking a nap after collapsing of exhaustion. She’s a lot stronger than I expected her to be, but maybe I shouldn’t have been training at the same time as her. I do use up a lot of energy.

  Lucia isn’t a bad master to have. Compared to when Roland first started, her body is in much better condition. It most likely has to do with her beastkin lineage: her reflexes are sharp, her strength is above average, and her senses are heightened. The only thing Roland beat her in was amount of mana. Lucia has no chance of ever using magic in her life without the assistance of those arrays of hers, but her qi seems to be greater than the average person’s. Give and take, I guess. And while I don’t like him very much, I have to admit Roland was a lot sharper and more focused.

  “I…ce … cream.” Lucia’s lips smacked together a few times. Is that what she’s dreaming about? Faint snores caused her exposed belly to rise up and down.

  Well, a simple master isn’t a problem. I do wish she were a little more ambitious. I’m a legendary sword. I can carry her to new heights if only she had the drive. But it’s like pulling teeth when I try to improve her strength. Currently, she’s at the level of a novice, maybe borderline apprentice. At least, that’s what it would be called back in my day. She said she could beat a lot of the knights in the army, so the standards of the current times must have dropped. A novice has to focus on training their bodies and trying multiple weapons until they find a suitable one. Of course, she’s going to use a sword. There’s no other choice for her. Ignore the fact that I’m using a spear. Most weapon spirits use a weapon identical to their weapon bodies. I … destroyed mine while attempting to engrave an enchantment on it. I think our first goal is going to be finding a dwarf colony to create a new weapon for my use. Yes. That’s a good goal.

  Afterwards…, I’m not sure what happens afterwards. Roland always had a goal: live unfettered without scruples. The majority of our time was spent being tyrants while goofing off somewhere. He was the strongest, but he had zero sense of responsibility. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why he died. Maybe the people he constantly bullied got sick of him and conspired against him. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what really happened. I don’t want Lucia to suffer the same fate. …Let’s pretend I didn’t provoke a whole empire, okay? Old habits die hard.

  As soon as we escape this godforsaken forest that appeared out of nowhere, we’ll be able to plan accordingly. It’d be best if we could leave the Ravenwood Empire and enter the fae or demon territory. Boundaries between nations are respected—the humans should stop their pursuit once we’re out of their lands. They shouldn’t spread the news of my being found so quickly either. They’d want to keep me for themselves after all. Is that a bad thing that I want to escape from? Yes. No way in hell am I going back to a human owner.

  Now that Lucia knows how to circulate qi, traveling with me weighing five hundred pounds shouldn’t slow us down as much. As long as we continue walking in a straight line, we’ll have to exit this forest eventually. If I’m not wrong, we should be in the Dark Woods. That was the only heavily forested region back in Roland’s day, but I’m not sure why there aren’t any wild animals or beasts around. It’s also possible a new forest sprouted in the time I was sealed. Is eighty years enough time for a forest to grow? I’m not sure. All I know is too many things have changed in the time I was gone. I’ll have to keep a low profile until I figure everything out.

  Lucia stiffened and sat up. She probably needs to pee. “What’s wrong?”

  “Something’s coming,” Lucia said and pursed her lips.

  Really? I didn’t notice anything. Don’t tell me my senses are inferior to a half-asleep squirrelkin lady. “Oh? You noticed?” On the off chance she’s right, I have to maintain my image as a master.

  Lucia nodded and stood up, quickly putting on her leather armor. She placed my weapon body on her lap and sat next to me, facing the fire. Her ears swiveled back and forth while her tail twitched repeatedly. It makes me want to stroke it.

  “Eep! What are you doing at a time like this!?”

  Stroking your tail, is that wrong? No need to look so flustered. “Just checking something.” I’m curious, okay? Roland didn’t have a tail.

  The snap of a breaking twig caught my attention. Well, it looks like my senses have dulled. I’m ashamed of myself. Lucia looks so serious—it’s really strange. I’m too used to seeing her excited with sparkly eyes, sad with watering eyes, or lewd with her eyes and mouth half-open. I didn’t know she had a serious expression. As her weapon, it brings me joy to see her like this. It almost reminds me of the times Roland waited in ambush. If the intruder is a person, I wonder what action she’d take. Somehow, I’m excited to find out more about my new owner. I hope you won’t disappoint me, Lucia.

  3

  Did someone discover that I killed Bryant? That shouldn’t be the case, right? If they’re able to track me down, then either a miracle or a shitty plot must be guiding them because even I have no clue where I am right now. Mm. It must be a few random strangers passing by: some young village children or a company of merchants. We haven’t seen any wild beasts, so this forest shouldn’t be a hunting ground for mercenaries. This will be a totally peaceful encounter, right?

  I turned to look at Durandal. Why was he staring at me? Shouldn’t he focus on the approaching people?

  Durandal pointed straight ahead. “Shouldn’t you focus on the approaching danger?”

  You stole my line! You get to stare at me, but I don’t get to stare at you? I see how it is. Hmph. Wait. He said approaching danger? Did he know something that I didn’t? My hand tightened around the hilt of Durandal’s weapon body. Ah, it’s so inconvenient referring to my weapon as Durandal’s weapon body. “Hey, Durandal?”

  “Lucia…. Did you lose focus already?”

  “Erm. No? I just wanted to know, can I call your weapon body mini-DuDu?”

  Durandal’s expression stiffened. A vein bulged on his forehead. “What am I, a piece of shit!?” The world froze over. Even the approaching people stopped.

  Eep! I wasn’t expecting that! It sounded a lot better in my head, I swear! “S-sorry! Sorry! I mean, uh, mini-DalDal?” Why does DuDu sound so much like doo-doo? “I-it’s just awkward when you say things like grab my hilt firmly, or hold me gently, or thrust me harder, or hide me underneath your clothes…, you know?”

  “Is this really the time to be discussing this?”

  Ah, I really pissed him off. He looks super angry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s alright mini-DalDal. We’re in this together. You won’t yell at me, right? Maybe if I get on my knees and beg for forgiveness he’ll be in a bett—!? Mini-DalDal! Why have you done this!? You can’t turn into a four-hundred-pound slag of metal right now!

  “Didn’t I say training resumes when you wake up?” Durandal asked and smiled. A shiver ran down my spine. “Oh. I think it’s also a good time to increase the weight to five hundred pounds.”

  “But there’s people coming!” Mini-DalDal turned seriously heavy. I can barely prop myself up with my elbows and knees.

  “Didn’t you learn to circulate your qi yesterday?”

  Oh, right. I did. That’s much better, but I feel weird. Like mentally exhausted. Maybe I should take a nap?

  “Lucia!”
/>   “Y-yes!”

  “Danger.”

  Ah, I almost forgot. This feeling will take a while to get used to. Well, at least this time I don’t have to worry about a spike flying up my ass if I lose concentration. That horse stance training was really cruel. I think I’ll sit next to Durandal for now until the danger arrives. It’s safest here.

  “Is that a fighting stance?” Durandal asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

  “N-no, but, uh, I’m lowering their guard! Yeah, lowering their guard.” Please believe me. I’m not trying to use you as a shield or anything. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to sit than to stand with a five-hundred-pound sword hanging off your waist. This kind of weight training won’t give me back problems in the future, will it?

  Durandal’s expression softened. “Acceptable.”

  Is he evaluating me? I guess he always is, isn’t he? The sound of footsteps became clearer. How many people are there? Ten? Twenty? Please be friendly, please be friendly, please be friendly.

  “Hello, is there someone here?” A human man appeared from between the trees. He wore a cuirass with a chainmail jacket underneath and plated leggings. There wasn’t any visible crest on his armor. A sword hung from his waist. A group of similarly dressed people appeared behind him. “Would it be possible to share your fire?”

  They’re friendly? What. I usually never get what I ask for. Something’s off.

  “Of course,” Durandal said. Why was he smiling like that? “Have a seat.”

  The group of armored men walked into the clearing. There were seven of them. The person in the back was holding onto a rope that was attached to a pair of furry hands. Furry hands? That’s a beastkin! They’re slave traders!

  Just like I thought, there was a scrawny, long-haired, beautiful, rabbit-eared beastkin being dragged along by the rope. Pure-white ears pointed directly towards the sky even though the beastkin’s gaze was glued to the ground. A white pompom-like tail stuck out of the dirty rags that was a dress. He … He!? That’s a terrible candidate for a slave! What the hell!? Rabbits are usually prized for their looks: The males are super handsome and the females are extremely beautiful, but he’s clearly a male dressed as a female…. Unless there are some nobles who are into that…? A shiver ran down my spine. I looked at Durandal to gauge his reaction. Why was he staring at me with those judgmental eyes? I feel like I should be offended. Don’t categorize me with cross-dressers please.