[Name: Caliburn (Vessel), Nora (Former)

  Condition: Mended

  Rarity: Uncommon Sword (16 ATK)

  Skill(s): Spirit Vessel

  Quest 1: Bind yourself to an owner

  -->Status: Complete

  -->Reward: Cimed

  Quest 2: Recover from 'Battered' condition

  -->Status: Complete!

  -->Reward: Cimed

  [A 'mended' bastard sword, useful for its ability to be wielded with both hands or just one. There appears to be more to this bde than meets the eye… Currently owned by Grail Initiate Romeo.]

  Ramsey watched the st of the glittering powder drift down into the grass before tying the pouch closed and slipping it back onto his belt. The forest edge remained quiet, the trees standing like a bck wall against the night sky. For a moment he simply studied the treeline as if waiting for something immediate to happen. When nothing did, he nodded to himself, apparently satisfied.

  “Well,” he said, brushing a bit of dust from his gloves, “that should do it.”

  Ramsey gnced back at him.

  “You’re going to stay here.”

  Romeo frowned. “Why?” before adding a discourteous “…Sir.”

  “Observation duty.” Ramsey gestured zily toward the forest edge. “Give it a few hours and see how things develop. If too many monsters start wandering out, come wake me at the Grail Knights’ barracks and we’ll thin them out before morning.” His tone remained casual, as if discussing stable chores rather than the deliberate manipution of a monster habitat.

  “And if nothing happens?” Romeo asked.

  Ramsey shrugged. “Then you come wake me anyway so I can sprinkle a little more fairy dust along the boundary.” He gave the treeline another brief gnce before turning back toward the road. “If it looks like the right number of beasts are appearing, don’t bother me. I’d prefer to get some sleep before tomorrow’s performance.”

  Romeo stared at him for several seconds.

  “You’re trusting an initiate to judge that?”

  Ramsey smirked faintly. “You’re the one who seemed so concerned about the town’s safety earlier. Consider this your chance to prove you meant it.” He began walking back toward the fields without waiting for a reply. After a few steps he added over his shoulder, “Try not to get eaten. Fake crying has never been my strong suit, so I’d like to avoid acting that out.”

  The captain’s figure gradually faded into the darkness of the road until the faint sound of his footsteps disappeared entirely. The forest edge fell silent again.

  For a long moment Romeo did not move. The damaged rune pilr stood beside him, its fractured engraving catching the moonlight in uneven lines.

  Inside the bde, Nora finally spoke.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I didn’t think you’d roll over like that.’

  Romeo let out a slow breath. “Meaning?”

  ‘I had you pegged as a more noble, righteous kind of guy. You didn’t really make an effort to defend the people of Arenberg,’ She paused briefly before adding, ‘Not that I care, I don’t know anything about the background characters.’

  Romeo looked toward the dark forest.

  The trees swayed faintly in the wind, their branches shifting like distant silhouettes. Somewhere deeper in the woods an owl called once and then fell silent.

  “We can’t let his pn work,” Romeo said quietly.

  ‘I think it’s a bit te for that.’

  He shifted his grip on the hilt of Caliburn, the newly mended bde catching a faint glint of moonlight as he lifted it slightly.

  “If monsters start appearing,” he continued, “and the knights arrive tomorrow morning to clear them out, Ramsey gets exactly what he wants.”

  ‘When monsters start appearing.’ Corrected Nora, ‘I promise you now that fairy dust works wonders.’

  Romeo gnced again toward the road Ramsey had taken. The man was long gone by now.

  “If there are no monsters left when the knights arrive,” Romeo continued, “then Ramsey has nothing to show. The problem vanishes before he can parade around fixing it.”

  Nora was quiet for a moment.

  ‘You’re suggesting we kill everything that comes out of the forest tonight.’

  Romeo nodded once.

  “That way tomorrow morning the knights ride out expecting a hunt and find… nothing.” His expression hardened slightly. “Except the bodies.”

  The idea hung in the air between them.

  Finally, Nora spoke again, her tone less amused than before.

  ‘You do realize what that means, right?’

  Romeo waited.

  ‘It means you’ll be fighting all night,’ she said. ‘Dusk until dawn. Every creature that wanders out of the forest because of that fairy dust.’

  He said nothing.

  ‘Romeo, I’ve enjoyed our conversations, so I’ll let you know in case you don’t realise.’ she continued more quietly, ‘there’s a very real chance you die doing that.’

  The initiate looked toward the dark treeline again.

  The forest seemed deeper now somehow, heavier. As if the shadows beneath the branches had thickened since Ramsey shattered the rune anchor. After a few seconds Romeo adjusted his stance and stepped forward until he stood directly between the forest edge and the fields leading back to the vilge.

  “If I die, Ramsey gets to avenge his me, which means he can py the part of the noble knight commander who cares about his men.” Started Romeo, “From there he’ll py up his role and properly secure his position after my dad’s retirement.”

  Drawing Caliburn, Romeo got into a stance he had practiced a hundred times over.

  “There’s nothing I’d hate to see more than that.” Continued the Initiate, “So the decisions been made for me… I won’t die tonight.”

  Nora considered arguing further but stopped herself.

  ‘Alright,’ she said instead. ‘Listen to me when I point something out. Weak spots, movement patterns, anything like that. I’ve fought plenty of these monsters before.’

  Romeo chuckled, “How luck am I to own a talking sword.”

  Before she could respond, something rustled in the undergrowth. Two shapes emerged from the shadow’s moments ter. Their eyes reflected pale silver in the moonlight as they stepped cautiously out of the trees. Lean bodies, matted fur, ribs faintly visible beneath their coats. They circled slowly, heads low, sniffing the air.

  Wolves.

  ‘Low-tier monsters,’ she said calmly. ‘Forest wolves. Fast but fragile. Aim for the throat or spine.’

  The nearest wolf lunged.

  Romeo reacted instinctively, stepping sideways and bringing Caliburn down in a sharp diagonal arc. The bde struck the creature across the neck with a wet crack, sending it tumbling across the grass.

  The second wolf immediately sprang forward.

  Romeo tried to pivot for another strike, but his footing slipped slightly on the damp ground. The wolf’s jaws snapped toward his arm-

  ‘Left!’ Nora shouted.

  Romeo twisted at the st second, thrusting the bde forward instead of swinging. The point drove directly into the creature’s chest, the momentum of its leap forcing it deeper onto the steel before it colpsed.

  For a moment everything went still.

  Romeo pulled the sword free and exhaled slowly.

  “…That’s two,” he muttered.

  The next monsters arrived only minutes ter.

  A pair of goblins crept out from the forest edge, their hunched silhouettes barely visible against the trees. Unlike the wolves, they approached cautiously, muttering in low guttural voices as they studied Romeo from a distance.

  ‘Small, but smarter,’ Nora warned. ‘Watch their hands. They like throwing stones.’

  One of the goblins immediately proved her correct by hurling a jagged rock toward Romeo’s head.

  He raised Caliburn just in time to deflect it, the stone gncing off the bde with a sharp cck.

  “Mana,” Nora said suddenly.

  Romeo blinked. “What?”

  ‘Channel a little mana through the sword during your swings. Not a lot. Just enough to reinforce the strike.’

  He hesitated for only a moment before doing as she suggested. A faint warmth travelled down his arm as he pushed a small amount of energy into the hilt.

  The effect was immediate.

  When the first goblin rushed forward, Romeo met it with a horizontal cut that carried far more force than his earlier attacks. The bde sliced cleanly through the creature’s shoulder and chest, sending it sprawling across the dirt.

  The second goblin shrieked and tried to flee.

  ‘Don’t let it run,’ Nora said.

  Romeo stepped forward and thrust the bde into the creature’s back before it reached the trees.

  Silence returned once more.

  Romeo stood still for several seconds, breathing harder now.

  “That felt… different,” he said. “Different from when I tried it with Havel.”

  ‘Because you actually used mana properly,’ Nora replied. ‘You were leaking energy all over the pce earlier. I stabilized the flow a little.’

  “You can do that.”

  ‘I didn’t realise it either.’ She said, ‘Only after your mana was surrounding me did, I feel a sembnce of control.’

  [Skill: Spirit Vessel]Something about this object is odd… Despite its apparent inanimate nature, those holding it cim to hear voices. Perhaps this phenomenon is due to its strange affinity with magic.

  Changing the subject, Romeo asked hesitantly. “How much time has passed?”

  Nora didn’t answer immediately. “Probably…-Maybe about five minutes?”

  Romeo whistled a little. Long and high pitched, a single note. “Damn it.”