Now that Raissa had asked, I couldn’t come up with the right words to explain my complicated feelings regarding pulling the sword. I decided that I just wasn’t going to try very hard. Surely, if I gave it a light pull, it wasn’t going to slide out, right?

Licking my lips, I reached down and put my hands around the blade. The hilt felt surprisingly warm. Countless hands had grasped this blade desperately trying to pull it, so I guess their lingering warmth made sense. They had also seemingly worn the handle to the point where it felt surprisingly comfortable, even welcoming to touch.

There was also another feeling when it came to this handle. There was a certain feeling of disorder within this sword like something was off about it. Slowly, I started to pull. Originally, I had planned to just give it a little tug for show, but I started to apply more and more pressure to it. I had this feeling like if I just did a little more, it’d come free. I stopped thinking about how strange it would be, and I started desperately pulling on it.

Wasn’t there some kind of skill in my dungeon skill points that increased status? Maybe if I accessed that, I’d have the power to pull it. I was much stronger than most normal humans, I should be able to claim this sword. Just as I was going to give it the strongest pull I could, a light, feminine voice sounded in my ear.

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“Master?”

The sound was so soft and sudden that I let go of the blade in surprise as I pulled up. I stumbled back just like Eliana had. I just managed to keep from falling on my butt, and a second later the girls grabbed my back to stabilize me. The esmere giggled as they watched before heading over to a merchant who had been gesturing to them for some time.

“Master… are you okay?” Raissa asked.

“Hehe… I bet you thought you could pull it too.” Eliana laughed, feeling less embarrassed after I had made a similar folly.

“You got that feeling too?” Raissa’s ears perked up. “I also had this feeling like if I just tried a little harder, I’d succeed. Yet, no matter how much I pulled, it didn’t work.”

I let out a breath. So, it was like that. This sword did have some kind of magic compulsion. It was no wonder the locals avoided it. You could hurt yourself if you got too obsessed with pulling it out. Now that I looked at the stores nearby, besides the typical tourist stores, there were also a few people advertising they could help with back and shoulder pain. Even that had been accounted for. They probably weren’t priests or white mages. White mages were rare and priests were all controlled by the various church sects. However, witch doctors, alchemists, and masseuses could all help with ailments too.

I reached out-touched the blade again. The girls widened their eyes in surprise that I was trying to give it another shot. That wasn’t what I was doing though. I was listening for that voice. I spent about five minutes trying to pull the sword in various ways, but the voice didn’t return.

“Deek, we need to get to the wedding.”

I nodded as I gave up on the sword. Well, not everything was meant to be.