Chapter 4: An old friend

Right in the middle of the clustered backyard, one introverted forest dweller stood still in shock. In his hand a long-abandoned sparring weapon that he had previously deemed useless for its state of being. That all changed however, as he heard an undeniable voice coming from it.

The soft, calming tone implored him to pick it off the ground and once again inspect it.

For the most part, there's not much difference from before. The old wooden sword still looks as unflattering with all the dirt and grime still covering it, designed to be use one handed with simple guard atop the handle and measuring about 20 inches long. But then he found something he had overlooked, there were some sort of runes carved on the side of the sword.

Brushing of the filth with his hand, he could now see them clearly. Though he couldn't read them, he had a feeling they were meant to be the name of the wooden sword. It's unfortunate really, he would have loved to get any lead on this mystery.

Just then, a cheerful voice called out behind him. "Luka~ did you find anything?" Said the wind spirit as she enters the backyard.

Turning to his friend, he shows her the wooden sword and hurriedly told her of what has happened, "Sylph come look at this, the sword can talk!"

"Really!" The fairy excitedly flies closer, "You found a weapon that developed a soul of its own? That's super rare!"

Having heard that, the purplette couldn't help but get excited as well. Who could have guessed that he would find something so supposedly hard to find in this messy backyard of all places! With a smile on their faces, they both fixed their eyes on the old weapon in his hands and waited.

...

...

...

And wait they did, for a whole while until it began to grow dark, the sun finally resting for the day.

"...Luka." Sylph turns to him in confusion.

"Yeah...?"

"You sure you weren't hearing things?"

"N-no, of course not!" He immediately denies. He does admit that it's kind of a letdown how things turn out, however.

"Hmm..." Sylph struck a thinking pose as she hummed, deep in thought about something. Eventually, she seems to have figured out the answer as she snaps her tiny fingers. "Aha! I've got it!" She loudly proclaimed.

Looking over her friend, she answers his unasked question. "I know why it doesn't want to talk now!" She dramatically pointed towards the wooden sword still in his grasp, "It's because she's shy!" and then to his puzzled face, "Just like you!"

Ah. Of course, how could he have forgotten? This is Sylph after all, he should have known better. Though despite saying that, the forest dweller couldn't help but ask.

"...It's a she?"

===0===

After finding nothing else inside the rusted treasure chest, they both had decided to call it a day and leave everything for tomorrow. As the young man place the short sword in the living room, he couldn't help but felt as though he had forgotten about something.

There's a faint tug at the back of his mind. Strong enough for him to notice, but too weakto pinpoint.

In his slumber, Luka could hear the sound of whistling. A melancholic tune long gon- Doomed to be unheard for eternity.

When he woke up, the purplette ended up worrying his friend, there were tears in his eyes despite him not remembering why.

It feels like none of the dreams he ever had. But what could it mean?

He thinks it's kind of funny how he ended up having to reassure the wind spirit when he was the one crying.

===0===

Now sitting in the living room, the shy forest dweller was going through the new routine he had added to his daily life. That being, restoring the sword in his hand to a much better state than it currently is.

He doesn't know how one would go about cleaning a sword since he never had any experience with one. But if anything in his life so far has taught him anything, it's that sometimes you have to know what doesn't work before knowing what does.

So, it's trial and error as usual.

Deciding to go with dry cleaning first, he took a piece of cloth and started polishing it as much as he can. The simple act was surprisingly therapeutic to his surprise, like helping an old friend in need.

Idly twirling the short sword in his hand, he couldn't help the small smile from growing on his face. He saw the runes once again, this time a lot clearer than before and traced his thumb across them in an almost familiar way.

"…" He wonders what they mean.

===0===

"Hey…" She called out to her fellow heavenly knight, the two of them had just gone through a meeting with the rest of their peers and now it's just the two of them left in the rather spacious meeting room inside the Monster Lord Castle.

As for her inquiry, well, could you truly blame her? It's not like the usual carefree and whimsical queen succubus to be so deep in her thoughts that she barely said anything during the meeting itself.

"Hmm?" Finally back from spacing out, Alma Elma turns to the dragonkin next to her, the one and only Granberia, the heavenly knight of fire. "What is it, Granberry~ were you feeling lonely without me?"

Ignoring the wretched pet name, the proud warrior gave her a dry look.

"Well~ if you must know." Her smile stretches bigger, "I was just reminiscing about an encounter I had with a certain human a couple days ago."She quirked an eyebrow, is that it? All this time she was just thinking about another one of her preys?

Sensing her thought, Alma Elma responds in kind. "Think I'm lying?"

"On the contrary, I do believe you.

"Oh~?"

"Which is why I'm disappointed." The dragonkin crosses her arm with a disapproving gaze. "To allow yourself to be so distracted over a mere human? How unbecoming of a heavenly knight."

At this, the succubus could only laugh. "Oh my! Don't be so serious, dear Granberry~"

"Hmph." Granberia was about to leave before the succubus playfully called out to her.

"And besides, who said anything about him being a mere human?"

"What?"

Looking back, she saw the other monster girl floating upside-down above the round table. Idly playing with her tail and giving her a knowing look. "Curious~?" She cheeks.

"...That depends." Their eyes met. "What so special about this one?"

"Let's see..." The succubus pretends to think, "The fact I found him walking around the Forest of Spirits? Or that he could keep up with my speed?" And as the dragonkin's surprise grew, so did Alma Elma's cheer. "What about how the win is very endeared to him?"

Her eyes widened. "That is-!?"

"Hmm~?"

"Would you stop it with this foolishness!" She snaps at the succubus, "If what you say is true, then how come you did not report any of this during the meeting?" Not only is a human who has managed to acquire the power of The Spirit of Wind for themselves something worth discussing about, but to purposely keep this information away from the rest of them? Either her fellow heavenly knight truly does not care about her title, or she's going out of her way to get fired.

"Why indeed." Answer Alma Elma, placing both her hands behind her head. "I must've forgot to."

Granberia brought a hand against the side of her head, grabbing a fistful of her scarlet hair in exasperation. "Of course you did..."

She gave up. Never mind all her speculations, the succubus's inner machination was simply beyond her.

As for Alma Elma, she couldn't wait for the next encounter between her and that young man again.

"You were almost mine..." She stares out the window. "Next time, I'm not holding back~"

===0===

Deep within the Forest of Spirits, a young monster girl could be found meandering around the greeneries. Her growing silver hair dances around as she stands atop a cliff, vibrant green eyesoverlooking the forest. All her chores for the day had been done, and there weren't many other monsters her age that she could befriend. Coming here has been something of a routine of hers lately, this is mainly because of what has happened recently.

"Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~"

Humming the local song of her village, the elf observes the forest below her in search for any signs of her saviour. The one who had pulled her out of the river on that day, saving her from drowning. She wonders why they didn't stay and introduce themself?

How Donna would have loved to express her gratitude. But alas, they were gone before she could have the chance to. Now left with no clue, she would often find herself here. Looking around in the hope of finding any sign of them.

The elf sighs, "If only I know what you look like..." At least then she would know where to start. The only thing she remembered when all of that was happening was the feeling of someone's hand gently holding on to her body and laying her down next to the river before she woke up, confused and dizzy.

By the time the elf finishes thinking back on all that has happened, the sun has lowered onto the horizon, casting her and the surrounding trees in a beautiful shade of gold. It was time for her to head back least she dared to stay out during the night, where the more powerful and territorial monster would be up and about. And considering her only average level of strength as an elf? She'd rather not.

"I already had a near death experience once, better not temp fate a second time." Then a thought crossed her mind. "What if..."

They came to her in a time of need, when her life was in danger. By that logic, if shewereto be in a dire situation again then...

...Nay, it was a foolish thought. Whoever the kind soul that saved her, Donna was sure they wouldn't have wanted her to purposefully endanger herself like so. I'd be best if she returns now and tries again on the morrow.

Even so...

Thump!

A loud noise emerges as the elf stomps on the ground in frustration.

Thump!

Thump!

"Darn it!" Donna yelled out, her eyes watering a bit."Why is it so hard to find you!?"

It would appear thatthis had been eating away at her for a while now.

"Just you wait!" She pointed towards the setting sun. "I will find you! And when I do, you're going to accept my thanks! Whoever you are!" Following the rather strange and unusual threat, Donna huffed and proceeded to head home.

===0===

The young man shudders.

"What's wrong Luka?"

"Nothing... It just feels cold suddenly."

"Want me to grab us a blanket upstairs?" The wind spirit offers, hovering above the table Luka has been using for the past couple hours. Since the sun has already set, they might as well cozy up before the night gets cold.

"I'd appreciate that buddy." He spoke softly,turning on the lamp next to him. As the flickering light illuminated the living room, he fixed his eyes back to the thing on the table, or rather, the wooden sword that had been hogging his attention for the past couple days.

Now that it's been restored back to its former glory, the relatively plain looking short sword is getting a few adjustments before the purplette would practice with it. A 'finishing touch' Sylph had called it.

Starting with the bottom, he wrapped a layer of clothes on the handle to make itless likely to get blisters while holding it. Then he shaved off somebits of the cross guard to make it point upward. Lastly, he re-carved the engravings on the side of the sword so that it's easier to see now. All and all, the sword has come a long way from what it was before, he even feels a bit accomplished looking at it now.

"I'm back!" Said his friend, he turns to a comical sight of her liftingone end of their blanket down the stairs, the rest of it being dragged on thefloor. "Did you finish yet?"

Was he? Looking down at the sword in his hand, the purplette tries to think of anything else he might have forgotten to do. He already removes any filth that could be found and adds all the stuff he wanted to on it. There's not much left other than to actually use the sword itself.

"Yeah," He concludes. "I think so."

"That's great! Now all that's left is for me to bless it!"

Oh yeah, there's also that too. He kind of forgot that she could do that. Is that why his friend has been so excited about this? More so than usual at least.

Sylph tosses the blanket aside, flying around the room in excitement before she came to a stop right in the middle. Then she did the same thing as last time – gathering a big amount of magic both in the air as well as a bit ofherself while singing an incantation as playful and surprisingly thoughtful as she is.

"And I, Sylph the spirit of wind gave you, my blessing~"

The sword shines in his grasp. A soft white light that soon enveloped the whole room.

"May you be as swift as the wind, may you guide those who needed you~"

Luka could seethe verdant winds around them take shape around the sword as the glow began to die down.

"May you sing as you wish so, may your loyalty lives on~"

It slowly descended, once more in his hands. But now a lot more powerful than before.

"And may you also be free~"

He doesn't really know how he was so sure of that; it might have to do with the way it now feels sturdier, or that it looks more refined than before. It could also have been the reassuring aura it now radiates.

"One thing for sure..." He ran his finger across the engraving. "It's time to give you a name."

Luka could have sworn, for a second there, it glows as if nodding to him.

END OF CHAPTER


Author's note: Sorry this took a while. My laptop was broken so I had to buy a new one, couple that with my college life and well... you know how it is. Don't worry though, I'm not abandoning this anytime soon.