Didymus was having a hard time getting the sword to stop screaming. It had done nothing but scream in his mind every time he touched it. It was screaming when they stopped for the night. It was screaming when he went to sleep. It was still screaming when he woke up. Lilith said it was an intelligent sword having a laugh at his expense, but the joke jad long since stopped being funny. Or maybe she had lied about it, and was quietly laughing behind his back. Either way, someone was mocking him.
He looked at the sword in his hand and said in the firmest voice he could muster, “Look here sword, you’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not. So you have two options. Either you can stop screaming and introduce yourself, or you can get left in a tree to rust away.“
The sword stopped screaming, and then it spoke, “Look here kid, your threats won’t work on me. I’m made of an ancient rustproof alloy. In fact I once spent two centuries at the bottom of Miyako bay after an ill fated naval battle. When i was recovered, I was as shiny as the day I was forged. You are a fool if you think any amount of time stuck in a tree would be enough to destroy me, the great and powerful ego sword, Ronald Topor! Muahahahahaha!”
It didn’t particularly matter whether the threat would have worked or not. It was enough to make Ronald stop screaming and introduce himself, although more out of pride than fear. The young man and the sword quickly got into an interesting conversation about proper weapon maintenance, but Didymus quickly noticed something about Lilith. She had seemed entirely unbothered by the sword. He had never even heard of an ego sword, but she seemed to take it in stride.
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“Hey Lilith,” he said, “You know a lot about these talking swords, right?”
She responded, but avoided looking him in the eyes, “A little, my father has one.”
He nodded, satisfied and returned to his conversation.
----------------------------------------
Sashikizu Arata put down the parchment he was reading and let out a sigh of relief. The Serienmorder boy had apparently come down with a bad case of spider pox, and the wedding would have to be delayed to allow him to recover. This gave Arata exactly what he needed most, time.
He penned a short reply, wishing the young man a speedy (but not too speedy) recovery, and gave it to one of the maids to send off with the morning mail. He went to find Oda to tell him the good news.
Oda was not hard to find. When Oda wasn’t with Arata, he was on his stand on the mantle above the fireplace in the master bedroom. Oda was a sword. He grabbed Oda from off the mantle and told him the good news. “That’s very convenient for you,” the sword responded, “but I have some good news too. Jethro finally gave away Topor.” That was enough to draw a gasp of surprise from Arata, but the sword continued, “The boy who got it is heading north from Femur Junction to Skinsplitter pass, and he’s traveling with a woman. I believe she is your missing daughter.”