8 – Ancient Sword

Compared to Agate which could fly by herself at about 800 km/h omnidirectionally, I flew much slower at about 100 km/h relative to the ground, with potential to perform maneuvers mid-air up to 250km/h on diving. All in all, it was similar to the dragons of Halkegenia, though still faster than Agate dragging me along with her flight spell.

I reached the capital city Tristania in less than ten minutes flying leisurely from the Academy.

As Osmond told me, travel controls were lax. The guard at the gate didn't do anything except stare at my landing and quickly bow his head as I walked past.

It was early in the morning and few people were on the streets, but I still got quite a few stares from the commoners who quickly lowered their eyes when I turned to them.

I walked around quickly following signs to the market district, going into various weapon shops.

After two hours of fruitless searching, I found another shop with a sword icon on its sign in a narrow street with a revolting stench from piles of trash. Could this really be the one Louise had gone to in canon? It seemed far too sketchy for her but none of the ones in more reputable areas seemed to have the item I was looking for.

But with no other choice, I pressed on.

People hanging about in the area fled on sight of me.

The shopkeeper who was smoking a pipe took one glance at me, grew fearful eyes and bowed immediately.

"My lord! All of my wares are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

"I'm not here for an inspection," I said, looking around the darkly lit shop carefully.

I searched carefully with my prana sense, walking around to the shelves and piles of disorganized weapons.

"I'm looking for a sword," I said.

"Oh...a noble buying a sword, that's strange…oh! Forgive me, I mean no offense, sir," he said.

"Hm…" I ignored his comment and continued to walk around, examining each sword. They generally looked to be decent quality despite the shop's location, but I wasn't looking for just any sword. There was a specific one I wanted, but unfortunately I didn't know what physical features to look for. None had the telltale signs of being enchanted.

Was it because it wasn't here, my prana sense wasn't good enough, or it had to be active for me to sense it?

Even though I was a beginner at it, it had seemed so simple to sense magical enchantments at the school.

It hadn't revealed itself by talking in any of the other stores either.

This was the last shop in the city. If I couldn't find it, I might have to resort to using Structural Grasp on every sword in every shop.

"My lord, would you like my assistance in picking the right sword?"

"It is not the wielder that chooses the sword. It is the sword that chooses the wielder," I said solemnly.

"Well said, my friend. Come closer and let me see you…" A disembodied voice called out.

My head turned with the full force of my excitement.

"I'm right here," it spoke again. I traced the voice to one particular rusty longsword.

Taking the handle and holding it in front of me, I examined it in closer detail. It was thin, had frayed edges, and didn't feel well balanced.

"I am the great Derflinger. Remember that name."

"You look like you've seen better days, Derflinger," I said.

"You try staying alive for six thousand years. I'm sure you'd look a lot worse than me."

"Perhaps. But there's no need to stay that way. I'll restore you to a better condition."

"Talking as if I've already accepted you? If you want to wield me, you'll have to prove you're worthy!"

I took a stance in the open space at the middle of the shop, and rapidly unleashed a series of strikes, using the sword mastery I obtained through Cranial's skill-transfer tech in Worm.

"How's that?" I asked once I finished.

"Not bad…but I've seen better."

Was it testing me because I didn't have the Gandalfr runes? I didn't remember anything about a test when Saito bought it in canon.

"Well then, how about this?" I channeled prana into the sword and Reinforced it.

"Eh? What's this?"

Over the course of half a minute, prana went into the sword and filled the gaps in its imperfection. Without Agate, my Reinforcement was horrendously slow, but I should be grateful that it worked at all. Apparently whatever Derflinger was, it didn't count as being enchanted enough to have Magic Resistance, or maybe it was because it was intelligent and gave me consent.

"Ooh…I feel great! Nobody's ever done that before! Buy me now!"

I turned to the dumbfounded shopkeeper and asked, "How much for this sword?"

"…It's a rare talking sword so 500 écu," he said, quickly schooling his expression.

After checking out all the other weapon shops, I knew his price was way above the 150 écu market price for a decent longsword.

"Preposterous. You had this lying in a pile of junk. If it was attractive to any other customer, you'd be hanging it on a display. You obviously didn't think it was worth much before I came along, and now that Derflinger has chosen me, it won't let you sell it to any other buyer anyway."

His face contorted unpleasantly.

"Hah! He's got you there, you old bastard! That's what you get for always complaining about me! If you don't sell me to him, I'll really start scaring away your other customers!"

"Considering the rust and damage, I'll pay 50 écu to take this sword off your hands."

The shopkeeper moaned painfully. "Please, sir, have mercy. I need to get back what I paid for it at least. 100 écu?"

I decided not to make his life difficult and agreed. I had no pressing need for money and even if I did I wouldn't miss the 50 extra écu—getting this sword as fast as possible was the main reason I asked Louise to pay me tuition in gold in the first place.

On the way back to the Academy, I took the opportunity to talk to my new sentient sword that was now attached to my hip via a newly grown dedicated holding section on my utility belt, and a tendril extended to pull the sword out of its scabbard slightly so that Derf could talk.

"What is this?" It asked. "Are you some kind of shapeshifter?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. So Derflinger, six thousand years is a very long time to be alive, you must have learned and seen many things."

"Sure have. Over the years, I've been fighting in wars half the time and collecting dust during the other half. I've had more wielders than I care to remember, but you're pretty different from any other one I've met! Oh! And I don't even know your name yet, partner!"

"I'm going by Axion right now, but my friends call me Kaleidus."

"No last name?"

"I had one once, and a name given to me by others, but it doesn't matter anymore. I've chosen a name for myself to hold my destiny in my own hands. Also, names have power, and I'm wary of anyone that might be able to use my original name to attack me magically. I suppose you could call me Kaleidus Axion."

"I'd say you're being paranoid, but I've never seen magic like yours so maybe you're right."

"Is Derflinger really your name? Who named you?"

"I don't know. Can't remember anymore, it's been too long. You can just call me Derf, it's easier."

"Alright Derf. Do you care what your wielder does? If we're going to be partners, I'd like to know if you'll object to anything I do."

"If you put me in a dark corner and forget about me, I'm not going to stay there to collect dust."

"What if I suddenly started massacring innocent people?"

"Hah! I've had more than one wielder that did that, partner. You planning on starting a massacre?"

"I don't have a reason to do that anytime soon. Just wanted to know if you care about things like good and evil."

"It doesn't matter to me. Just don't get yourself killed."

"So you don't have a true purpose or anything like that?"

"If I knew the meaning of life, you'd have found me being worshipped in a temple to Saint Derflinger the Wise."

"Right...what about your powers? Can you do anything special besides talking? Something that can help in a fight?"

"Yes, I can scream their ears off if my taunts just aren't cutting it."

"...I can see it already, Derf. Our war cries will strike fear into the hearts of all our enemies. But seriously, you're a magic sword. Don't you have any magical abilities, special attacks, that sort of thing?"

"Eh…let me think. Huh…oh! I can absorb magic! Use me to block a spell and I'll take all that magic in and…uh… I'm sure I can do something with it."

"That's amazing! What about golems or other constructs of magic? Or enchantments? Can you cut through and absorb them too?"

"Sure can. It's harder to absorb magic from something that's solid or harder than me though. Much easier to absorb fire or wind spells."

"Still pretty amazing. Make sure to tell me if you remember any more powers. Losing because we didn't know we had an option would be terrible."

"Don't worry, if you're about to die, I'll suddenly remember a secret power and turn the tables. That's how these things work. Dramatic tension and all that."

"I think that only happens in stories, Derf."

"Like the ones the bards sing about the Great Derflinger, yeah. It's alright, you're still young and inexperienced but stick around me and you'll learn the tricks of the trade. If you work hard, I'll let you star in my next legend."

"..."

"I know, it's hard to believe the Great Derflinger would give a newbie like you that kind of opportunity. But in my old age, I've come to appreciate the joy of nurturing the young'uns."

"...okay, it was a little funny before but now you just sound creepy, Derf."

"Aww...aren't you just a precocious wittle thing? They grow up so fast..."

My Armoriont tendril pushed the sword back into its sheath and waited for a few seconds before pulling it back up.

"Sheesh! I'm just having a little fun after being stuck in a pile of rust for ages."

"I can take a joke, Derf, but do you really need to crack one every other sentence? I still have important questions."

"Fine. I'll stop. What do you wanna know?"

"Since you've been alive so long, do you know anything about the lost Void magic?"

"Void magic…that sounds familiar."

"Does Gandalfr ring a bell?"

"Yes, it does, actually. I've been calling them users for centuries, and you just reminded me of what they're actually called. Why do you ask? You're not a Gandalfr. Have you met one?"

"I have. I've taken on a new Gandalfr and his Void mage as students, but I don't know all that much about them. I was hoping you would have the answers to some things I'm curious about."

"Well, the Gandalfr can fight with any kind of weapon, and they're physically stronger and faster when they're using their power. That's pretty much all there is to it."

"Do you know how their magic works? Is there a way to grant the powers of Gandalfr to somebody else that's not a Void familiar?"

"No idea."

"What about what happens to their powers when their master dies?"

"Nothing. They don't lose their powers if that's what you're asking. If a new Void mage is born after that, and they summon a Gandalfr, it'll be the same familiar unless it dies first."

"And if the Gandalfr dies while under contract, the master can just summon a new one, right?"

"Yup."

"Can one person have more than one set of Void familiar runes? Like being Gandalfr and one of the other three that I can't remember the name of."

"They can. They can be all four. I'm starting to remember something…right! The first Void familiar had all four powers."

"Who was it?"

"Don't remember."

"What happens if you break? Do you need some special way to be reforged or repaired, or can you be repaired like a normal sword?"

"If I break, you can repair or reforge the sword. Or I can move to another sword. Takes a few days but I'll be fine."

"Can you move even if you don't break? I think such a powerful sword spirit should have a better vessel than this. And can you move into things other than swords?"

"Sure. Spears, axes, daggers, whatever, as long as it's a weapon. If it's not alive and has no mind, I can move into it. But I like being a sword and take my advice, I'm better as a sword than anything else."

"What about my armour? It can be used as a weapon."

"Huh? What armour?"

I showed Derf the fake glove on my hand and had the Armoriont shift until a layer of skin was visible, then move back and grow hard protrusions on my knuckles. Technically the skin was still part of my Armoriont—or rather, when fully integrated, my Armoriont, bionanite swarm, and I all functioned as one being. My skin and muscles could be converted into other Armoriont parts and vice versa as I needed.

"Meet my Armoriont. This is how I can shapeshift. It's a special armour that works like a second skin for me. It's connected to my mind, but I could detach an outer shell and let you occupy it."

"Woah! Never seen that before. So this is your secret. You were thinking of letting me be your armour to absorb all incoming spells, right? Not a bad idea. But, it's alive so I can't move into it. I'd love to be able to change shape like that."

"That's unfortunate…you'd be a lot less useful as a sword. If you're only as strong as steel, you'd break long before my armour gets a scratch, so I'd fare better in a melee just using my Armoriont to punch or kick instead. You're much more useful as a defense against magical attacks than a weapon."

"Just how strong is that thing?"

"I'd guess at least ten times stronger and tougher than the average unenchanted steel, maybe more. Resistant to cutting, piercing, blunt damage, muskets, heat, and a lot more. It also regenerates from damage and makes me a lot stronger and faster."

"Well damn. I'm feeling jealous. But you just reminded me. I can make you stronger and faster too. The more magic I absorb, the more power I have to make you stronger, or make myself sharper and tougher. I can even release the magic as a ranged attack! This effect works best when I'm a sword, and with enough magic power I could probably even cut your armour."

"Oh? That's useful. Is there a limit to how much magic you can absorb?"

"There is, but I've never reached it."

"Any way to increase the limit?"

"I'm sure there is, but I don't remember. You won't need it anyway, unless you're fighting an army of mages."

"Doesn't hurt to be prepared. What about the speed you absorb magic at?"

"It'll take longer for bigger and more powerful spells. Don't try swinging me at a Square-class spell unless you're prepared to get hit anyways."

"Any way to speed it up?"

"Same way as increasing the limit. The bigger my limit, the faster I can absorb magic. Still don't remember how."

As I got close to the Academy, I noticed a commotion in the courtyard, and quickly spotted Saito getting beaten up by a bronze female golem.

His face was bleeding and he was struggling back to his feet. The golem punched him again and he fell once more, only to get up and get kicked tumbling. The cycle of rising, getting hit, and falling again repeated several times, until he couldn't get up anymore and Louise was kneeling over him crying.

Now then…should I interfere?

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /