I Became the Main Character’s Demon Sword

9

Long ago, in this world, there existed another god besides the Celestial God and the Demon God.

He wanted to shift the balance of power between the gods to himself, so he started a war. After a fierce battle, he was banished from the world by the Celestial God and the Demon God.

Now forgotten by the world, he was called the Evil God.

Although driven out of the world by the two gods, traces of the Evil God still remained on this continent. These were the ‘wraiths’.

Hundreds of years ago, wraiths suddenly multiplied and invaded the continent. Humans suffered numerous casualties but eventually achieved victory.

It was from this time that humans were given the power to counter wraiths. The Celestial God and Demon God bestowed holy power and demonic power respectively, and with each generation, they blessed one special individual with the mission to protect the continent.

At this time, what was given to the blessed ones were the ‘Holy Sword’ and the ‘Demon Sword’ respectively.

These swords, though mere fragments, contained divine authority and could only be used by humans blessed by the gods.

Moreover, no matter what happened, the Holy Sword and Demon Sword wandering the world would eventually be drawn to and grasped by the blessed beings. This was the rule of the world.

It was natural for Arpel to be ultimately drawn to Rohan after going round and round. Besides the inexplicable frustration felt at being unable to change the predetermined past, and the fondness gained from Rohan being the protagonist of this world, there existed a finite emotion that Arpel had for Rohan because Arpel was the ‘Demon Sword’.

He wasn’t sure what name to give this emotion, but every time their gazes met with those sparkling golden jewel-like eyes, he felt elated.

“Rohan. It’s dangerous to come with me.”

“But still…”

Arpel was planning to go catch the culprit behind all these incidents right now. Seid, with a surprised face, asked, “Is it really possible when it’s not night?” but Arpel focused more on the tiny hand lightly grasping his clothes.

It was a face that clearly didn’t want to be alone. Arpel, who had been silently looking down at Rohan, finally embraced the child when he was about to let go of his hand while whimpering.

“Then don’t move and stay still. Understand?”

“…Yes!”

Short arms wrapped around Arpel’s neck. Arpel’s expression slowly softened at the warm body temperature.

“Um…”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s day or night. Rather, daytime when it’s sleeping is the best time for hunting.”

Arpel belatedly answered the voice trying to repeat the earlier question.

“But during the day, no one could find any attacked animals…”

“That’s because it’s hiding well. I can sense the power it possesses, so it’s fine. Stay inside where it’s safe, it’s dangerous outside.”

Shaking off Seid who seemed intent on following, Arpel tightened his arm holding Rohan slightly and ran into the forest after leaving the building.

He stepped further into the deeper forest, passing the place where corpses were buried. It was getting cooler as they went deeper, probably because the sun was about to set.

“Are you cold?”

Shake shake. The child, with his head buried deeply in Arpel’s shoulder, shook his head. Rather than speaking again, Arpel chose to pat him once and continued moving until he stopped at one place.

A faint smell similar to that from the corpses was rising from the ground.

It was a trace of a ‘wraith’.

“Close your eyes, Rohan.”

Muttering softly, Arpel flicked his finger. Simultaneously, huge black spikes that looked like materialized darkness shot up rapidly from the ground.

Soon, an eerie scream like an animal’s throat being cut echoed.

The spikes, so black they felt creepy, disappeared in an instant, and something leaped out from the ground. It resembled a wild boar but was several times larger, with bluish-black veins bulging all over its body. A dark blue energy leaked from the beast’s breath and scattered into the air.

The drooling saliva and bloodshot, half-rolled eyes seemed to show that the creature was not in its right mind.

“…Hick!”

Just then, a gasping sound was heard near his ear. Arpel turned his gaze in surprise. Rohan, who had been burying his face until just now, was looking at the beast.

Of course, it was quite a disgusting and shocking sight for a child to see, and Rohan, who had never witnessed such things before, seemed quite frightened. It seems it was a misjudgment to think he would keep his eyes closed the whole time.

Grrrr…

Arpel clicked his tongue at the beast that was clearly preparing to pounce on them. He should have killed it as soon as it emerged from the ground. He had unnecessarily exposed the child’s eyes to this.

Immediately, the hand raised towards the front where the beast was drew a straight line in the air.

It was a movement as if space itself was being cut.

And the surrounding scenery began to change dramatically. The pitch-black line drawn straight opened its maw and swallowed the beast. It was a moment when, if others had seen it, they would have felt fear of an absolute being, yet an inescapable beauty.

Rohan, who had been watching without taking his eyes off from the beginning, felt similar emotions.

The situation resolved so quickly that it made one doubt if the terribly formed beast had really been here just moments ago.

“J-just now…”

“It’s over. Let’s go back.”

Rohan tightly closed his mouth.

Unlike before, it wasn’t a frightened face, nor was it a face happy about going back. He wore a complex expression that made it hard to know what he was thinking, but Arpel failed to notice this.

The only thought floating in his mind at the moment was what more food to buy for Rohan with the reward money.

***

When Arpel showed the corpse of the beast that the shadows had devoured, Seid, who had been screaming in fear, belatedly realized that everything had been resolved and shed tears of gratitude. Arpel didn’t particularly refuse when Seid expressed his thanks and added extra money to the reward.

“If only this beast wouldn’t appear again…”

Seid, who had been bowing his head repeatedly, lamented with a face still full of worry. It was close to a mutter, but Arpel, glancing at him, added:

“It won’t appear again.”

“R-really…?”

Leaving Seid with a clear face behind, Arpel picked up Rohan, who had been unusually quiet for a while. Is he scared… It seemed he would need to comfort him when they got back.

“And burn the corpses buried in the ground.”

“Yes, yes! I’ll definitely do that!”

Vaguely passing over the voice expressing thanks again, Arpel quickly descended the mountain path. Although he didn’t show much in front of Seid, thoughts of the hideous beast didn’t leave his mind.

That beast resembling a wild boar was in a state transformed by a ‘wraith’. He had considered telling the client, but unless one was a priest directly dealing with wraiths, for ordinary people living in this world, wraiths would be existence close to calamity, so he refrained from speaking.

Probably, it had escaped from its original place and accidentally entered this mountain range. Since wraiths are beings that crave life, this place with many animals that could be eaten would have seemed very attractive to the beast infused with that power. And it was clear that it had finally settled down completely.

Originally, there are no cases where a being that is not a ‘wraith’, whether inanimate or living, contains that power. But there were exceptions. If power was forcibly injected from outside, beings with the power of wraiths could be born at a very low probability.

‘Actually, it’s not something to feel unfamiliar about.’

Isn’t the situation quite similar?

The reason he had broken the protagonist in the original story, and the reason he still familiarly feels the power of wraiths now, all stem from that exception.

A Demon Sword corrupted by containing the power of wraiths.

That was ‘Arpel’.

***

Putting aside his thoughts, he quickly returned to the inn. The money received as a reward was quite substantial. The reward had increased considerably, probably because many mercenaries had repeatedly failed after accepting the request.

After tightly tying the pouch containing the money, Arpel glanced and stared at Rohan, who was still silent. Since earlier, or more precisely, since Arpel had caught that beast, he had been keeping his mouth tightly shut.

Occasionally, he seemed to be checking Arpel’s mood, as if he had something he wanted to say.

We should talk. Deciding that they couldn’t continue this situation, Arpel put the money pouch in a drawer and approached Rohan, who was sitting on the bed fidgeting with his fingers. Perhaps hearing the footsteps, the small shoulders flinched.

“Rohan.”

“…Yes.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

“What?”

Rohan, who had answered in a shrinking voice while avoiding eye contact, suddenly raised his head and asked back. Arpel just quietly looked at Rohan.

The sight of the shadow breaking space and swallowing the beast didn’t seem that scary… He felt a bit depressed, as he had some pride in it.

However, his perspective and that of a young child would clearly be different. The beast corrupted by the power of wraiths had a terribly frightening appearance to a child. And Arpel had killed such a beast with a single gesture. It was understandable to be scared.

Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him along. As Arpel was slowly continuing his thoughts…

“No, I’m not!”

“…You’re not?”

“There’s no way…”

Rohan strongly denied, shaking his head vigorously. His eyes were wide open, seeming quite surprised. It was an unexpected reaction for Arpel, who had naturally thought the reason for his silence was because he was scared.

“If you have something you want to say, you can say it.”

He said this while staring at the lips that were fidgeting as if checking his mood. The child quickly lowered his head after briefly raising it.

Childcare is about communication with the child…

He seemed to have heard such a story sometime in his previous life. Recalling this, he waited silently for Rohan even as he was taking his time.

Perhaps about ten more minutes passed. Finally, Rohan opened his mouth.

“I… might not be needed.”

“What?”

And the words that came out were completely unexpected.