Chapter 361.1: Fenrir ? (I)

Alistair regretted that she was unable to complete the analysis.

"Also, I don't even know why Master was sealed inside a sword."

『The reason why I was sealed?』

"Yes. Considering the timing, the mysterious soul was first sealed in the remnant of the Discarded Divine Sword Cherubim for the purpose of protecting itself. Then, someone built a mysterious system and arranged for the power of the mysterious soul to be used by the sword's main personality - or in this case Master."

『Ah』

"We can only speculate as to why they did so, but I think it was for the sake of the mysterious soul. If the number of magic stones it absorbs increases, the stronger it'll become, then the person that has equipped the sword will continue to voluntarily absorb more magic stones. In doing so, the mysterious soul will be able to recover faster too."

I see. So we're doing exactly what the creators of the sword might have intended us to do. No. Am I on the creator's side? And if that's the case, should we say that Fran was the one we're looking for?

Still, I won't complain about this because it is useful for Fran's sake anyway. Rather, I am grateful towards this system. After all, it was because of this system that I was able to meet Fran.

However, the following words from Alistair made me feel like I was doused in cold water.

"But is it really necessary to have Master?"

『Eh?』

"Maybe Master's soul was locked up in the sword at the same time as the mystery system was built. It should be so because Master's soul and the system are paired together. But do we really need Master in this system?"

"Master is indispensable!"

Fran, who hadn't said a word and had been listening intently to us previously, opened her mouth for the first time in a long while. I guess she was just trying to keep quiet so we wouldn't be disturbed. You have really grown up, Fran, to be able to listen to a difficult story without dozing off even a bit! I'm a little impressed.

However, the moment she heard words that she couldn't just ignore, she couldn't help but shout her thoughts out loud.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not saying it in a bad way. It's just that I am worried. Why did they have to go through all the trouble to seal Master in the sword just to have him act as a mediator of all this power? Couldn't they just let the person who equipped the sword to directly wield the power of the sword?"

When you put it that way...... The sword had the ability to share skills, and we have Announcer-san. I suppose it's possible for the wielder of the sword to choose their own skills and draw the power from the sword without me.

Ah.... Am I simply a leftover, an unwanted child...?

"We need Master! It's only because I have Master, and because I could count on him that I could get this far!!"

"Fran..."

"Hmm!"

I'm glad I was Fran's sword!

"Well, I'm not saying that it's completely useless either. There's a certain amount of merit to the fact that the sword itself has its own will. Besides, there's no way that a high class blacksmith who has created so many swords would imitate sealing a human soul into a sword for no reason. Not to mention, sealing a human soul to a sword isn't an easy task. Therefore there must have been something, an important reason why he put Master as the main personality of the sword. Well, I wasn't able to find out anything about that from my analysis though..."

『No, we managed to find out about a lot of things, and all of it was pretty significant for me. Isn't that right?』

Now, I understood better what my powers were, and I came to know of the name Elmera. It also turns out that I was potentially created from a discarded divine sword. This was a huge discovery.

"I don't know if it has anything to do with Master's role, but there's one place in the sword that's completely beyond my analysis. Should I say the deepest part? It's in the deepest part of the sword."

『Are you sure?』

"Yes. I am sure. No doubt about it. Only, this part is different from the others, and it's designed to prevent analysis and appraisal."

『Could you guess what kind of function it has?』

"There is too little information. I have no idea what it does or how it works.... I'm sorry, but I really don't have any ideas."

She blamed herself again for this, but I think Alistair has done really well. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have gotten this much information. And it's not like I didn't know what to expect. I had come up with a possibility after hearing the results of Alistair's analysis so far.

『I have a little hypothesis - or maybe it's more of a wild guess - about the identity of the mysterious soul, but I have a bit of an idea.』

"Oh? What is your hypothesis?"

『Well, it's just a possibility but.....』

『I've been thinking about the identity of the mysterious soul. And I think It's Fenrir. Well, I know that I might be overestimating myself by saying this, thinking that the legendary Demon Beast could being sealed inside me.』

The wolf emblem design on my handle. The name of the place with the pedestal I was stuck on was the Plains of Demon Wolves. The legend of Fenrir that was once roaming in the plain. The title of Divine Wolf's Attendant that Urushi possesses. The fact that the mysterious soul is a demon beast.

We could list any number of possibilities. But with this information that we have gathered so far, that was the only conclusion I could come up with.

"I see... Fenrir huh?"

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