Lucia still hasn’t released me. She dropped off Sophia with Softie for dinner, told Baldie to take the doctor back home, and brought the blacksmith to his forge all while carrying me with her tail. It’s very soft, and I’m a bit surprised at how clean it is considering Lucia’s aversion to water. With her strength, one good shake of her tail could probably remove anything dirty stuck on it. …One good shake of her tail could probably kill me right now too. And Baldie wonders why I treat lives so cheaply.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Lucia was wandering around the forge, putting me dangerously close to pointy objects and burning metal with every turn of her body. “I might have no experience, but I have all your memories. I’ll definitely be useful when forging time comes!”

I don’t know how she can say that so proudly in front of the person she Soul Scoured. What if he loses his rationality in a fit of anger and destroys Durandal’s spirit seed? Well, I don’t think the blacksmith would do that. He’s probably thanking his lucky stars he didn’t end up the same way as Durandal. The blacksmith cleared his throat. “No, your help isn’t…. Actually, yes, there is something you can do. Put your weapon spirit back inside his weapon body, will you?”

“Mm? How do I do that?” Lucia’s tail bobbed up and down, and I nearly fell out, but her fur acted like tiny hands, holding me in place by curling up.

“There’s plenty of ways,” the blacksmith said and pointed at a poker near my head. “Take that metal stick over there and run it through your weapon spirit’s heart. That should return him to his weapon body without an issue.”

“You want me to kill Durandal?” Lucia asked in exaggerated horror. It was as if the thought of it never crossed her mind despite the majority of Durandal’s deaths being attributed to her. “You’re sure he’ll return to his weapon body, right?”

The blacksmith did some tinkering out of my line of sight. “Your weapon spirit is pretty strong; piercing his heart might not be enough to kill him. You’re an expert at slaughtering the helpless. Take him outside and do what you do best.”

This blacksmith is very, very brave. …Or he’s stupid. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between the two. Lucia, surprisingly, didn’t comment on his words and dragged Durandal outside, taking me with her. “Alright, Durandal, you heard the blacksmith.” She pulled out the cooking pot she obtained from Kuang Feng. “I have to beat you to death for your own good. My new hammer isn’t ready yet, and there isn’t a new sword, so Sir Pot will have to do.” Lucia cleared her throat. “If you’re faking it, now’s the time to get up before I start.”

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Could Durandal be faking it? I’m not sure. I just assumed he was braindead because the first few people I ever perfected my Soul Scouring tool on reacted the same way as him. The heavenly doctor did say Durandal fractured his sea of consciousness, but the doctor also didn’t know how to cure him. It’s possible Durandal is faking brain damage to trick Lucia into putting him into an immortal-ranked sword before coming out to bully her. Even if he is faking, I’ll think he’ll take the death gracefully.

“Alright, I’m really going to do it, Durandal! Ready? One, two, three! …Okay, I can’t.” Lucia grabbed my arm and pulled me out of her tail. “You do it, Ilya. You’re good at killing people. I’ve never murdered someone before; the thought of it makes me woozy.”

…Is she serious? She does look a bit nauseous. However, what am I supposed to do with this pot? “You want me to kill Durandal to send him back into his weapon body, right? Am I allowed to experiment a bit?” If he’s going to die and recover, it won’t matter if I do a few damaging tests, no? Durandal refused to volunteer to help me out when I asked him before.

“No experiments!” Lucia said and shook her head. “Here. Just do one quick swing with Sir Pot and vaporize his whole body.”

“I don’t have the ability to do that….” Does she think anyone can do what she does? “Besides, why do I have to get my hands dirty? What if Durandal remembers this when he recovers? He’ll definitely hold a grudge against me.”

“He’ll hold a grudge against me too, and I can’t let that happen!”

He might hold a grudge, but there’s a strong chance he can’t do anything even if he wanted to. Whatever. “Puppers, you’re there, right? Would you do the honors?”

“Absolutely,” Puppers said, appearing out of nowhere. He was holding onto a spear with gray mist leaking out of it. “Don’t worry, Durandal. I’ll make it quick. Path of the Spear: Despair Beam!”

That’s a technique I haven’t seen before. The tip of Puppers’ spear glowed with a gray light before shooting out like a laser. It enveloped Durandal, and through the light, I could see the outline of his body fading away bit by bit. When the light vanished, Durandal was nowhere to be found.

“Puppers!” Lucia stared at Puppers with wide eyes. “You, you—! When did you learn how to do that!?” For the briefest of moments, Lucia released my arm, but before I could drop the cooking pot and teleport away, her tail had wrapped around me again. “How do you have a super-strong technique like that when I don’t!?”

Puppers tilted his head. “You have your Long-Ranged Breaking Blade, don’t you? It’s much stronger than my Despair Beam.”

Lucia’s tail stiffened around me. I think one of my ribs cracked. “You’re right! I do have a laser-beam-like technique! Mm, alright, you’re forgiven. Anyways, let’s go back inside. The blacksmith might need more of my help!”

Why did Lucia forgive Puppers when he didn’t do anything wrong in the first place? She was always unreasonable, but it feels like she’s gotten worse lately.