小嫂子的味道

The wagon shook in a jolted motion as the wheel stumbled upon a rock on the unpaved path, thus, knocking me out of my thoughts and snapping me back to reality.

It was night, a cool, comfy, and peaceful night—like the perfect nights you see in those fantasy storybooks. The sky, dyed in black with a tinge of denim, was wrapped in a blanket of gleaming, twinkling stars. The weather was clear too, and the moon was enlightening the world with the rays it borrowed from the sun.

We were passing through an area covered with wheat fields, but the season was of fall, and they had just been planted, therefore leaving them green instead of the golden field you would expect.

A gentle breeze brushed past our wagon, and the stalks of wheat swayed and danced as the dried leaves on the road were hurled in the air, creating a bit of noise in the atmosphere.

But then when the wind died, there was silence again. Deep, pure, silence enveloped the whole world. Of course, the sound produced by the rolling wheels of the wagon was still present, along with the clopping of the horses. However, those sounds were too, a part of this silence. And that's what made this silence so special.

It was strange, bewildering, cold, yet somehow comforting—like a mother's embrace.

I would've said that I was alone in this silence, enjoying and savoring it to the last bit but…that was not quite true. Well, but it won't exactly be lying either. I was alone in a metaphorical way but alone nonetheless.

Sitting on one side of the wagon, I was staring out at the moon from the open back portion, and opposite to me sat Req, who was staring at me. For a reason, I don't know.

Now, you could say that the two of us were alone, but even that was far away from the truth. I mean, the wagon's driver was also with us, although at the far front. There was no reason, no importance for him, but the world couldn't work if he was not here, driving the wagon and taking me back to the capital city, so he was.

"That dark edge," the first to break this wonderful silence, was the one who enjoyed it the most—me. "What was it?"

Req said nothing for a while, but then settled back in her seat, a little smile appearing on her face. "That, huh? Well, it is an attack I made back in time. It's not much but does the trick anyway…" I heard her sigh, "If not for the cringy name, it would've been a lot better."

Hmm, the name was cringy indeed. However, that alone can't change the value of that attack. It was powerful from what I saw and considering that the Requiem sword was now mine I was interested in trying it out. Because when the calamity will hit, it will hit hard.

If I was not prepared, then that could be my… What am I even saying? As the one who created the calamity I knew how powerful that disaster was, stronger than the natural forces, it stood up to its name; truly a catastrophe. I can never be too prepared for it.

As of now, my primary weapon in combat is my elemental magic. It might be a good thing to keep in my arsenal, knowing that I can use it for both offense and defense. Though that doesn't change the fact that it won't be of as much use when thrown against an army of a hundred thousand, maybe millions of mindless mutated monsters—or lower demons, plus their masters and the archdemons too.

I am not even including the demon warlords.

My skill of Foresight is a good weapon too as I can see the future despite it being limited to only a second. However, just like everything, that skill also has a negative side which affects me hard when I abuse it… I don't want to get into the details for now.

Still, none of this changes the fact that I need to get strong.

That's why I needed to increase my power as much as I could. I was not going against the demons and saving the world or some bullshit like that. I just want to be powerful enough to transport my family safely to…well, where the remaining humanity gathered after the calamity struck.

The Requiem sword was going to play a good role in it. Its powers were pretty high in the novel, but in this world, it seems like there's more to it than what I know. The dark edge attack is one of them. And since it was now my property—both Req and the Requiem sword, I would not hesitate to search the hell out of them for information.

I had tried imitating that attack when we were fighting the klauth, but it failed.

"I tried using it, but nothing happened," I stated, shifting my gaze to Req.

"Is that so? Well, it is not like your usual attacks you can accomplish just by manipulating your mana flow," she said with a half-assed tone as if she didn't want to talk about it. Taking the previous conversations regarding this move of hers, I can guess why she was behaving like this.

"You need to be in a specific mindset and have a certain level of concentration to use the Requiem the way it should be used. Because this sword has a lot more to it than you think, it can be the greatest weapon—your primary source of strength, if you use it right. However, it can also affect you negatively. And to use it correctly…agghh, I'll just tell you how to do it rather than sit and explain."

"Hmm, that will do, I think," I replied, looking back and forth between the moon and her face.

Then I decided to switch the topic of conversation and shift it to something that interested me even more than this attack.

"You said something about our souls being one now, right? What was that about?" I appealed, interlocking my fingers and resting my arms on the top of my legs as I leaned forward a bit.

"Now," her eyes lit up. "That's something worth explaining!" her face bloomed into a refreshed smile; similar to a child who finally got to play with his favorite toy.

She drifted back in her seat, crossed her legs, then gazed at me. "You see," she started. "This is a rather complicated topic but pretty silly at the same time if you grasp the basics right. So, let's start with the seals—the thing that caused our souls to come together.

"Back in my glory days, I was sealed inside my sword by a group of people for certain reasons. And that was how mine and the sword's soul got together. Also, if you're gonna ask why the sword has a soul then let me tell you it is alive, the sword I mean. Not completely, but it contains enough lifeforce to be counted as a living being, thus it has a soul too.

"When I was sealed within it, my physical body was destroyed and what remained was the soul which afterward was bound with the sword's soul via a large-scale spell and put into this labyrinth, hidden from the rest of the world. But regardless to say, that was not the only seal they put. Inside the labyrinth, another spell was cast that will make sure to bind the soul of the person who breaks my seal in the mixture of ours.

"This was a measure taken to ensure that I can't get out of this labyrinth, even if somehow I was released from the seal. Because this time when the timer of the spell that sealed will be over, along with me the one who broke my seal will also turn into a sword and lay in the dark like I was. Until someone else came and broke the seal as the previous one did, but if everything went the same, the cycle will keep repeating itself over and over again.

"However, in your case, we were able to get out before the spell triggered, hence you are safe and sound. But it doesn't change the fact that your soul is now one with mine and Requiem's."

I stood without motion for a while, processed the information she'd given me, and then asked. "How many sealing spells were used in total?"

She brought forth her right hand, opened her palm, and folded her thumb and pinky finger. "Three," she said. "The first was used to destroy my physical body and combine my soul with my sword. The second was used to keep me inside the labyrinth and to combine the soul of whoever unseals me into the mix, but that spell didn't destroy their body. Finally, the third one, this spell was the main spell that enveloped the labyrinth in it.

"The work of this spell was to remake the seal of the second spell—to keep me from leaving the labyrinth, and then the other use was to wipe the body of whoever unsealed me from existence and dump them inside the sword too, just like me. Though since this was the biggest spell and required complicated magic circles and an enormous amount of mana to function, it took a reload time of thirty minutes from the point my seal was broken before it triggered itself again."

"I see. I think your enemies certainly didn't want to let you out at any cost," I commented.

"You bet!" she snapped her fingers.