The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

“Am I getting stabbed by a sword?”

[“Kekekekek! Yes, it’s you! You’re going to be stabbed to death today!”]

The sword trembled slightly, creating a chilling atmosphere, but it didn’t concern me.

The weapon is talking.

It seems to be a cursed weapon, but to speak with such will… at this point, it’s more than just a simple cursed weapon; it qualifies as a remarkable rare artifact.

“Is this also for sale?”

“… You want to buy this?”

“It’s not even a Ego Sword, and if a cursed weapon is talking on its own, it’s incredibly valuable. Did a ghost possess it or something?”

The sword was genuinely speaking with intention, not merely the echoes of a restless spirit.

Cursed weapons typically emit strong curses, but one that can actually converse is quite rare. Sometimes a curse accumulates, allowing a spirit, like a mass of lost souls, to attach to a weapon, but it’s hard to find one that can express its thoughts so clearly, which would make it priceless in the hands of necromancers.

[“Kekek! You have an eye for things, despite your looks! But fate cannot change… you are destined to be stabbed to death today!”]

“… I don’t like that.”

The sword kept repeating itself endlessly.

It was saying I would be stabbed to death.

There can’t be more than ten people who could stab me to death, so who exactly is going to do it?

“Why would I get stabbed to death?”

[I saw the future the moment you grasped me; you will be stabbed by your own blade. Every future I’ve seen has come to pass… how about you use the little time you have left wisely!]

Whoa, can it even see the future of the person wielding it?

This is a genuine treasure.

I might be able to sell it to a necromancer if I ever head north.

I didn’t pay much heed to the future that was supposedly bound to happen.

“Getting stabbed to death… doesn’t really seem plausible.”

I couldn’t imagine it.

Even though I’m not invincible just because I’m a Master, it begs the question: who would have to come to this downtown to kill me today?

‘Commander…?’

The first person that came to mind was the Commander.

If she wielded the sword, she could definitely stab me to death.

But why?

Could it be that she was angry because I outmaneuvered the Sword Master she had intended to kill first?

‘Thinking this way makes it sound plausible…’

The Sword Master was the first opponent she faced after becoming a Master.

The fact that she had been interrupted just before she could behead him would surely leave her with lingering regrets.

“Atlas… let’s just drop this and go… it’s making me uncomfortable…”

Lucia grabbed my arm that was holding the sword.

Her expression was not pleasant at all.

While I was fascinated by the talking cursed weapon, she seemed to feel quite uneasy about it.

It’s weird for me to be okay when it’s saying I’m going to die.

“Hmmmm…”

At that moment, the shopkeeper, who looked like he was either asleep or awake, suddenly arose.

He walked over, gripping a thick hammer with one hand, and quickly reached out toward me.

“Can you give me that sword?”

[“Cough?! Was the old man awake!!”]

“It’s a wonder anyone could sleep with all this commotion…”

As I handed the sword’s hilt to the shopkeeper, it quivered violently.

It seemed to be truly afraid of him.

Seeing him wielding that hefty hammer in his right hand, it wasn’t hard to understand why.

The owner stepped back and placed the sword on an anvil, which appeared to be set up for display near the counter.

Once on the anvil, the sword trembled even more violently.

“Is this disrespectful sword trying to chase away every guest that comes by…?!!”

Then, the shopkeeper raised his hammer high and brought it crashing down toward the sword.

-Wack!!

[“Aaaaaaaah!!”]

With a cheerful metallic sound, the shop’s atmosphere echoed with the sword’s screams.

He wasn’t just trying to shape the metal; he was swinging down with the intent to break it.

For a sword of that thickness, it wouldn’t be strange if it shattered in one blow, but the cursed sword didn’t even show a scratch.

I was convinced.

That sword is definitely an artifact of AAA-grade or higher.

“Didn’t I tell you I wouldn’t let this disrespectful thing go on like this!?!”

-Wack! Wack! Wack!! Wack!!!

Despite the shopkeeper’s rhythmic hammering, the sword maintained its shape without breaking.

[“I-It’s going to break!! I swear it will break!!!”]

“I’ve been too lenient up to now. I might just break it and melt it down to make a new sword!!”

[“Aaaaaaaah!!”]

I had intended to buy it, but it seemed difficult now.

If I bought it and sealed it properly, I wouldn’t have to worry about the curse, but Lucia was concerning me right now.

“… Let’s get out of here.”

“Good idea.”

Lucia welcomed my suggestion.

I’ll have to come back and buy it next week.

Hopefully, it can hold out until then…!

[“Ack!! Ack!!! Ack!! It’s going to break!!!”]

As I turned my back, the weapon shop echoed disturbingly with metallic sounds.

—

“It was a weird shop…”

“But isn’t a talking sword amusing?”

“… It only says creepy things… let’s go to the next place… this one’s fine.”

Lucia guided me to the next location, but things didn’t go smoothly afterwards either.

“Hehe, are you new students?! You need to pay a toll to pass through here, didn’t the seniors tell you?”

As soon as we passed through a sparsely populated area, armed robbers appeared.

From their speaking, it seemed they targeted new students on their first outing.

“Does your senior not tell you to flirt with the ones you’re robbing?”

“What??”

But Lucia and I were quite strong new students.

The robbers couldn’t gauge us and charged in, only to find their shins shattered, crawling on the ground like worms.

As we passed the alley, we encountered an artifact shop this time.

It wasn’t as antiquated as the weapon shop and looked like a nice, refined, and clean store.

But as I approached, something caught my eye even more than the artifacts.

“… A warning notice from the city hall?”

A parchment with red lettering was stuck to a pillar.

It’s hidden behind another advertisement, but I could see it.

That was certainly a ‘stigma’ issued by the city hall.

My steps halted at the sight of the stigma, which is enforced when multiple accidents occur in a place and must be displayed for a while.

That doesn’t happen for just one or two accidents.

“Lucia, wait a moment… I feel uneasy here.”

“… Uneasy?”

“Yeah… like something’s going to blow up…”

-Boom!!!

Before I could finish, the shop exploded.

“Everyone run away!! Dr. Esty’s golem is rampaging again!!”

A massive golem appeared from the explosion.

Unlike the usual golems you can see, this one had many more mechanical parts, making it a peculiar sight.

People who seemed to be shop employees and artisans rushed out from inside.

“Ahhhh, my store??!!! How long has it been since I just built it?! I’m going to kill that doctor!!!”

The owner, likely the shopkeeper, was pulling his hair out upon witnessing the wreck of his shop.

“Well… I guess there’s no chance to watch it. That’s too bad.”

“… Indeed.”

A fascinating scene unfolded as other golems inside rose up to confront the rampaging golem, but I decided to leave this potentially dangerous area.

.

.

.

After escaping the chaos, we ended up in a quiet alley.

“Ahh…”

Lucia looked incredibly deflated.

Every place we attempted to go turned into a scene of chaos, making it impossible for us to stay long, and she seemed to be in a bad mood.

I, on the other hand, found it quite entertaining.

What a mess! But I saw a lot of rare things.

The faults in each destination weren’t solely Lucia’s fault.

Downtown is inherently chaotic.

Given the port nature, all manner of strange things gather here, resulting in frequently bizarre happenings.

That’s why incidents related to demons often occurred here.

Hayden, realizing this, frequented the area right after outings were allowed.

But Lucia’s gloomy mood wasn’t improving at all.

“Don’t be too down; I had fun.”

“But… nothing went right…”

“Well, that’s part of the fun too. Wasn’t the fight between the golems entertaining?”

The brawl between the rampaging junkyard golem and the formal golems was quite a show.

It was a shame I couldn’t see it to the end, but I heard the Department of Magical Engineering at the Academy does similar things, so I decided to check it out.

“There’s still plenty of time. So… how about we head there?”

“Is that the… doll store?”

“We just looked at it! Don’t you want to go?”

“… Yeah.”

The doll store was filled with everything from porcelain ball-jointed dolls to adorable plush toys stuffed with cotton and feathers.

Lucia’s eyes lit up as she gazed at the dolls, looking genuinely happy for the first time all day.

It seemed like she had finally perked up from her earlier gloom.

“… Atlas, this is a gift.”

“Is it for me?”

Lucia spotted a shelf filled with teddy bears and handed me a black bear.

She had a huge golden bear and several other plush dolls tucked under her arm.

“Yeah… it wouldn’t be right for me to carry all of them alone.”

“That’s true. I’ll keep it nice in my room.”

After buying a few more dolls, we decided to send all but one bear home, which we each held in hand.

“… Hehe~.”

Lucia seemed pleased with the golden bear in her hands, humming cheerfully.

Walking side by side with a plush toy felt like visiting an amusement park during school days.

And indeed, since we were in the Academy, school days it was.

After this, we would return to the dorm, have a meal, chat a bit, and check on one hidden piece only available in downtown.

After today, what the sword said at the weapon shop would become meaningless.

And at that moment, a chilling killing intent swept over me.

“Whoa?!”

As I pushed Lucia aside and rolled backward to dodge, an assassin wielding a sharp rapier zoomed past the spot where I had just been standing.

The figure was clad in grey robes over armor.

His hood was pulled down tightly, and he wore a mask, concealing his face, but he seemed to be about my height.

“…!!”

The assassin lunged at me, rapier at the ready.

I didn’t know who it was, but that took some audacity.

They seemed to be a rather skilled assassin, yet failing to kill me on the first strike was essentially a declaration of defeat.

I threw a chunk of brick at the assassin to gauge his reaction.

The small brick flew as quickly as a crossbow bolt, but the assassin simply dodged the attack with ease.

“Seriously, you dodged that?”

The brick grazed the assassin’s face.

The hood tore apart from the force, and silver hair cascaded into the air.

A hair color that was incredibly familiar to me.

“Kid…?!”

With no more intention to attack, my hand froze.

Instead, I studied the assassin’s face.

It had a slightly more mature look, but it was definitely a face I recognized.

The expression wasn’t one of joy at seeing an old acquaintance.

The assassin, now revealed, was Casey, who spoke to me with an expression filled with resentment.

“Is this because of that… you abandoned me…?”

-Thud!

A pain surged through me.

The rapier Casey wielded pierced my abdomen, and bright red blood gushed out.

The blade, protruding from my body, flickered with azure flames.

“Ah… Atlas!!!!”

Lucia screamed when she saw the rapier buried in my side.

Blood splattered onto the black bear I was holding.

‘This really got me…?’

That sword was impressive… I got stabbed before sunset.

I’ll definitely have to buy that next time.

Even with a hole in my abdomen, what came to mind was only that it was a prophetic sword.

Despite the dizzying pain, I was strangely thinking about it.

This kind of injury is something that often happened among knights.

No matter how careless I was, it was a cleanly executed attack at that.

“Looks like your skills have improved during our time apart.”

“Yeah… it’s been three years!!!”

Anyone seeing me right now would likely think I’m insane.

Blood was pouring out from my abdomen, and yet here I was, acting all chill about it. I must be crazy.