Swordsmaster Fox-girl

As soon as I entered the city, one thing was very apparent.

‘It’s so fucking loud!’

I could hear everything; from the chattering of the guards on the ramparts, to the water rushing in the sewers below. My brain felt as if it was going to fry from an overload of information.

As I was covering my ears in annoyance, Ria tapped me on the shoulder and said,

“Young miss, Madam anticipated that this would happen, so she prepared something for you.”

Then, she took out a hairpin shaped like a white crescent moon from her pocket.

“This item will dampen sounds. You should w—”

“I get it. Put it on, quickly.”

Though I felt kind of bad for cutting Ria off, the sounds I was hearing were just too damn annoying!

Ria didn’t seem offended by my action. Instead, she put it on my hair while chuckling.

“Alright, sorry for rambling.” 

Immediately after the hairpin made contact with my hair, I could sense that that noises were less prominent now—though, they were still loud. But…I could see myself getting used to this since it would be an effective tool against surprise attacks.

After that, Ria led me through the crowded street and into a fancy-looking clothing shop. 

Immediately after entering the shop, I could hear an annoyed scowl.

“What’s a brat like you doing h—”

But as soon as Ria entered the shop, the voice halted. Soon, it was replaced by a respectful tone. 

“A-Ah, Head maid Ria, welcome.” 

Ria nodded at the owner of the voice—a lady in her forties wearing glasses. Judging by the fact that she was standing behind a counter, I guessed that she was a receptionist.

But however sturdy the counter may be, it couldn’t save the lady from Ria’s cold rage.

“Ms. Receptionist, would you mind talking with me for a few minutes?” 

Sensing the anger in Ria’s voice, the receptionist gulped and nodded fervently.

Then, Ria knelt down to me and said, 

“Young miss, please browse the store without me for a few minutes. I have some…businesses to attend to.”

“Okay.”

I ran deeper into the store. As I passed by the receptionist, though, I gave her a quick middle finger; which made her face go red with either anger or embarrassment.

‘Good thing Ria isn’t looking my way.’

I saw a lot of things while browsing through the shop; from plain clothes to overly extravagant ones. One thing that made me a little bit dejected, though, was the distinct lack of travel clothes.

However, my eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to a peculiar section in the store.

‘These clothes…what did Ihwa and Hana call them again? Ha-bok and Kimon?’

Whatever the case was, their presence here meant that the Otherworlders’ culture had spread even to this stubborn and conservative Vetrix Empire. 

‘If this was ten years ago, the owner of this shop would’ve been publicly executed for spreading the Otherworlders’ culture.’

It seemed that a lot of progress had happened while I was staying inside the mansion.

That aside, I wasn’t too keen on wearing them. They were baggy, so they weren’t really suited for combat. That was, except for one extremely familiar piece of clothing.

‘Red and white fabric, isn’t this…a shrine maiden’s outfit?’

Staring at the outfit blankly, I recalled a distant memory.

I was lying on the ground, clutching my bleeding stomach and trying to crawl away like a fucking coward. 

However, I was stopped by a sword stabbing through my arm.

“AHHHH!” I screamed in pain.

Gritting my teeth, I glared at the one who dared to hurt me.

Long black hair, black eyes, and that same shrine maiden outfit—only, painted with my blood.

She was nicknamed: Demon sword shrine maiden. 

At that time, I was a battle maniac; going from battlefield to battlefield to experiment with new weapons; all to find the type of weapon that suited me the most.

It was through this near-death encounter with the Demon sword shrine maiden that I was inspired to walk the path of a Swordsmaster.

‘I wonder where she is right now…’

After all, I never had the chance to meet and fight her again after our first encounter.

“Ah…”

I blinked and snapped myself out of my recollections. There was no need to ponder anymore; the only practical piece of clothing in this shop was this red-and-white outfit.

But it wasn’t enough. I didn’t want to wear such a conspicuous outfit all the time. So, I also put some durable and comfortable fabric sheets inside my bag so that the maids back at the mansion could make more of the clothes that I was wearing right now.

Then, I came back to the counter. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ria was still berating the receptionist. I tugged on the hem of her sleeve to catch her attention.

“I’m finished.”

“Young miss, that quick?”

“Mhm.”

As she went through my bag, a brief look of worry flashed through her face. She looked up, opened her mouth, and was about to ask me the obvious question, but she ultimately kept her mouth shut and sighed, as if saying, “I should’ve guessed that the young miss is very eccentric.”

After paying for the clothes, we left the store. 

Now, I finally had time to observe the city. Tall houses built from bricks and wood, streets paved with gravel and stone, and various stalls. Literally. Fucking. Everywhere. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that this whole part of the city was basically a bazaar.

It was beautiful, yes, but extremely disorganized. Though, it could be part of its charm, I suppose.

“Young miss, where would you like to go next?” Ria’s voice snapped me out of my thought.

“Mmmm…how about that food stall?”

I had Ria buy me a meat skewer for five Copper.

“...And that bakery.”

Delicious bread, all for only double the price of the skewer—one Silver.

“And that other food stall.”

This time, it was Wyvern meat on a skewer. Since Wyverns were still classified as 4-star Monsters, it costed a whole eighty Silvers.

Ria paid the shop owner one Gold coin, but she refused the 20-Silver change since apparently, it would be a hassle.

‘Understandable. I also wouldn’t want 20 Silver coins weighing my bag down when I can have as many Golds as I want.’

“Young miss, I’ll have to remind you,” Ria said as I wolfed down the skewer. “The spending limit is five Platinums. So please, consi—”

“So, it’s fine as long as I buy under fifty of this skewer?”

“Y-Yes. I don’t know who taught you Math but…yes.”

“Good, but don’t worry. I won’t spend it all on the skewers.”

“As expected of you, young miss! You already know how to spend money sensibly from such a young age!” Ria pumped her fist up in joy.

‘Not spending everything on street food is nothing worth celebrating, but…spending money reasonably, huh? This reminds me of the time when I—’

{When you have to sleep on the streets for months since you got scammed into buying a mediocre sword for a hundred Platinum coins.}

‘...Wow, thanks a lot for reminding me.’

{You’re going to recall that memory yourself anyway. Seriously, how stupid were you? How could you possibly think that buying a sword that worthed a small mansion was a good idea?}

‘...No comment. But, how the fuck did you know that? I hadn’t even manifested you at that time.’

{Your dear Kirion told me. Oh my~ what are you going to do? The sword that you trusted so much betrayed y—}

‘I’m sure he had his reasons.’

Being too bored, for example. Staying in that crack in space must be terribly lonely for him, so it made sense that he would be desperate to make the haughty and bitchy Avaron talk to him.

Besides, it didn’t really matter if Avaron knew about my early memories.

Ignoring Avaron once more, I continued touring the streets with Ria.

.

.

.

.

As I walked through the streets—

CLANG—!

—my ears twitched at the sound of metal hitting against metal. The sound was so clear that I could hear it even with the noise dampener active.

‘Ahhh~ that’s a good sound.’

CLANG—!

‘More~’

CLANG—!

‘I’m cu—’

{And yet you say that I’m the weird one.}

‘Shut up, someone like you won’t understand this divine sound.’

It was the sound of battle; of weapons clashing against weapons. It was the sound of death, of victory, and of loss. 

However, I was sure that such a bloody battle wouldn’t exist in this city; at least, not in broad daylight. As such, I could only come to a conclusion.

‘A good Blacksmith is in this city.’

For a competent Blacksmith, each swing of the hammer was a battle of attrition and spirit. They, despite not fighting in the front lines like us Swordsmaster, had to engage in hundreds of battles in their hot forges.

Sadly, not many Swordsmen and fighters knew of this. Even if they did, I doubted that they would accept the fact that Blacksmiths worked as hard as them.

That was why I and Master blacksmith Druvleyn of the Hero’s party were close friends.

And that was also the reason why I paid particular attention to the sound I was hearing right now.

‘It sounds like Druv’s hammering.’

{Y-You mean that Blacksmith is here?! Quickly! Get to him! Tell him to make the great me a new scabbard!}

‘Oi, don’t be too excited. You might be let down.’

That crystal-clear sound was unmistakable. Though, I could tell that there were some imperfections.

This could only mean two things:

First, Druv was staying in this city, and his skills had regressed during the ten years of inactivity.

Second, one of Druv’s many disciples was here.

I was leaning more toward the second one since it was simply absurd for Druv’s skill to have regressed this much in merely ten years.

Tugging on Ria’s sleeve, I pointed to the direction of the sound—Southeast.

“I want to go there.”

“Young miss…it’s the area where Blacksmiths and Alchemists live. Are you sure you want to go?”

“Mhm.”

With a patient smile, Ria grabbed my hand and walked me to the quarters of Blacksmiths and Alchemists.