I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN)

Chapter 12

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There was a delay with this update. Why? Because manga scanlations are a ma.s.sive pain. I’ve started scanlating again and I’m d.a.m.n glad I did. So while these updates will likely slow down as they already have, I’ll do my best to get these translations out as quickly as possible.

I realized while on the way to the town that, because my Appraisal level went up, there was a little something added to my status window.

I gained the mysterious t.i.tle, Mana Conductivity.

I asked Fran about it, but she didn’t know.

Does it increase my mana conducting efficiency? What does it do?

It also says that I’m an “A” but I had no way of knowing if that was good or bad.

Next, the way status displayed my skills changed.

I was able to categorize skills based on their type. So it became a little easier to look at my skills.

And it looked like, because I maxed out Fire Magic, I gained a bonus line in my status.

It was Superior Fire Skill.

After reaching level 10, the bonus changed a normal skill into a special, Superior one. It looked like it was excluded from Set Skills and only I was able to use it—I couldn’t share it with Fran.

If I use ten or more Self-Evolution Points, I’ll need to choose how I use them carefully.

I also told Fran about myself while we were on the road. I didn’t have anything to hide from her. I’ll have to keep my mouth shut to hide this from others, though.

I told her about the fact that I used to be a human, that I grow by absorbing magic crystals, that I could share skills and raise her stats because she was my wielder, and more.

“Magic crystals…”

『That’s right. Well, it hasn’t been that long since I ranked up, so it’ll take a while.』

“Un.”

『Ah, hey, what are you doing?』

“Un.”

Clink clink.

Fran took the magic crystal from a Fanged Rat she found along the way and pressed it hard against my blade. She probably wanted me to absorb it. Though the way she was doing it was violent.

『Wait! I need to cut it! Put it against the edge!』

“Like this?”

『Yeah, exactly.』

“You really absorbed it.”

『That’s how I get stronger. We can sell their loot, so let’s also hunt a lot of demonic beasts.』

“Un. Okay.”

And after that, I tested out Telepathy. Since I was using it for the first time with Fran, there was still a lot of things I didn’t know.

It seemed like it created an area that made two-way communication possible. If I limited the skill to only connect to Fran, then I was able to talk privately with her. Also, I would likely be able to increase the range to let me talk to everyone in an area. We tested it out on a rabbit that Fran caught, and both Fran and the rabbit could hear my voice through Telepathy.

But Fran’s Telepathy didn’t reach the rabbit. It was probably so that others couldn’t use Telekinesis to communicate while excluding me. It was a skill meant to allow me to communicate with anyone from anywhere.

Our journey was progressing without a hitch.

The plains must have been a special environment because outside of the forest, there were no particularly strong demonic beasts. They were about the same as those in Area 2.

I did the cooking.

Because, back when I was going crazy, I improved my Cooking skill. I was able to use cooking tools without a problem because of Telekinesis, and I was also able to use ingredients. It was the easiest thing in the world for a sword like me to slice and peel things. I was easily able to make fire or water with magic.

The ingredients were the demonic beasts I had kept in my Dimensional Storage. I was able to tell which demonic beasts were edible, maybe thanks to the Cooking skill.

Fran could probably cook as well because she had the same skills as me, but…

I wanted to be in charge of the cooking. Because it was my duty as a guardian.

As a precaution, I equipped the skills Poison Resistance, Enhanced Absorption, Enhanced Digestion, Gluttony, and other skills like that. Gluttony was a skill that let the user gain strength from food after it’s absorbed. I had no way of knowing how much of an effect it would have, but it couldn’t hurt to have it equipped.

Fran’s status had changed to become like this. The shared skills we had in common didn’t show up.

Name: Fran Age: 12 years old

Race: Beastfolk. Black Cat

Job: None

Status: Slave

Lv: 3

HP: 39 MP: 25 Strength: 24 Agility: 46

Skills: Sword Wielding 1, Night Vision, Ability to Skin Prey, Directional Sense

t.i.tles: Dismantling Master, Skill Collector, Flame Arts User, Cooking Master

Her status was overwhelmingly stronger than the goblins.

She was about equal to the demonic beasts in Area 3 or the Evil Goblins.

Thanks to Wielder Status Boost [small] that I acquired a while ago, each of her stats went up because of skills like Strength Boost [small].

I thought this ability was a cheat when she was only level 3. She would have no problem beating any low-rank monsters.

It’ll probably change based on the set skills, but I decided to always keep Sword Wielding, Fire Magic, and status boosting skills set.I also got used to changing the Set Skills. I could probably even change the Set Skills even during combat.

The problem was money.

I was told that the currency in this world is commonly called gold. But we got two silver coins and twenty-four copper coins from the slave trader. All together, it was two hundred twenty-four gold. I couldn’t tell if it was enough for a night at an inn or not; this conundrum could not be solved.

I called it a conundrum because Fran didn’t know the current prices in society. She probably only had a rough idea.

First, we needed to make money. So we can buy armor or the necessities for exploring.

I had a solution for now. The corpses of the demonic beasts I had put in my Dimensional Storage.

According to Fran, selling the loot from demonic beasts is explorers’ main source of income. I will likely make at least some money by selling the loot in my storage.

So, before storing them, I needed to dismantle them and sort out what loot was sellable.

But if a girl like Fran carried around the high rank demonic beasts’ loot, she might attract attention, so I planned to sell the less strong monsters’ loot first.

Well, this was all stuff I could figure out when we arrived at the town though.

『Great. That’s settled.』

We were currently camping out. Fran was dismantling the loot.

I realized this just a moment ago, but after being registered as my wielder, Fran had access to our shared skills even when I moved away from her. Her status boosts also stayed in effect. Even if I wasn’t right next to her, Fran could still use the Dismantle skill.

Fran, with a knife in one hand, was diligently dismantling the demonic beast’s corpse that she had laid down on the ground.

I was creating an odor-nullifying barrier to stop any demonic beasts from smelling the blood and coming here. Fran also put up a barrier herself. It seemed like she was getting skilled with magic skills in the blink of an eye.

I was preparing a meal for Fran. I made a stew with the pot and ingredients from the slave traders’ wagon and meat from the demonic beasts. I also added in the medicinal plants she had picked along the way so it was even perfectly nutritious. In addition, because of my Cooking 10, it tasted perfect——I mean, it should taste perfect. It really was a shame that I couldn’t taste it.

We’ll likely share the work like this in the future, more or less.

With me cooking and keeping watch, and Fran being in charge of dismantling.

I ate the magic crystals, and Fran would either sell or eat everything besides that.

『Fran, all done.』

“Un.”

『And of course, wash your hands.』

“——Aqua Create.”

Fran washed her hands with the water she created. Mana-wise, this was no problem.

She could use my MP pool, so she could make as much water as she wanted without it being a problem.

『Are you finished dismantling?』

“More or less. But I couldn’t do that one.”

『Ahh, the tortoise.』

At the opposite end of Fran’s gaze was the Blast Turtle’s conspicuous corpse. Even with a dismantling skill of 10, it was impossible to cut through that hard sh.e.l.l with an ordinary knife.

Well, it is an evolved demonic beast, so it couldn’t be helped.

Yesterday, she also couldn’t dismantle the Tyrant Saber-toothed Tiger. Mostly because of the tools.

『Looks like that’s up to me today as well.』

“Please.”

『Yeah. Leave it to me. Fran, eat.』

“Un. Thanks.”

I should hurry and dismantle it before Fran’s done.

It was three days after I met Fran.

We continued to walk with the town as our destination.

I was wrapped up in the wagon’s cover to not be noticed by others, and Fran kept me on her back. Because there was no excuse we could give if somebody saw me floating in the air.

『Hey, can we enter the town without a problem?』

“Un?”

『I mean, is there an entry toll or some kind of identification card that we need?』

“Don’t know.”

Fran shook her head from side to side. Cute——.

No, no. This wasn’t the time for that.

Fran had probably never gone through the entry procedures of entering a town because she was a slave. And thus, we had almost no information.

『We might be able to gain some more information if there was someone to ask.』

For the past three days of our journey, we had yet to find even a trace of other people.

But why was that? There weren’t any peddlers or travelers, let alone thieves.

“Because this isn’t a highway.”

『Huh? What do you mean?』

“This is a side road split off from the highway.”

The slave traders probably crossed through that dangerous area full of demonic beasts to save some time.

And how unfortunate for them to meet their demise after being attacked.

If only they hadn’t dragged the slaves along with them.

『Huh? There’re highways?』

Though there was no way there would be a lot of people in that field infested with demonic beasts.

『Where is it?』

“It’ll show up soon if I keep going.”

『That’d be great.』

“It’ll be okay. Probably.”

And four hours pa.s.sed.

During that time, we walked carefree, hunting rabbit-like animals or talking about what to spend Self-Evolution Points on next.

We discussed a variety of options, from increasing our skill levels to getting status boosting skills, but in the end we decided to acquire Nullify Senses and and Memory Increase .

Nullify Senses, as its name suggests, is a skill that blocks my target from sensing anything. According to Fran, talking swords are rare. So I acquired the skill to use in case of a difficult encounter.

Memory Increase is a useful skill that increases the number of Set Skills I can have. Because one of our strong points was the diversity of our skills, increasing the number of skills we could set directly improved our combat ability. I needed to acquire it.

We continued talking about this looking good and that looking good until we discovered the long-awaited highway.

『Yes, it’s the road!』

It was a slightly better road than the beasts’ road that was just a path with the gra.s.s pulled out. But due to constant traffic, the ground was imprinted with wheel marks. That was without a doubt a road.

Thanks to Fran’s Directional Sense, we continued to walk towards the town.

“Ah, life form detected.”

『It doesn’t seem like a human.』

We were able to perceive the size and movements of our targets with the Sense Traces skill. I could tell that they were probably goblins, as I had sensed them multiple times before.

“Get them?”

『For now, anyway. I don’t know if we can sell their loot, but I can absorb their magic crystals.』

“Okay.”

Fran nodded her head, and she ran off the highway.

Because I already equipped combat boosting skills, she ran between the trees like the wind.

“They’re there.”

The goblins hid themselves in the forest that was at the edge of the highway. They were likely waiting for someone to come along the road.

There were three of them.

Fran crept up silently behind the goblins and attacked them.

“Hup.”

“Keek?”

The one that Fran had slashed stood unsteadily on its feet then collapsed.

“Haagh!”

She felled the two remaining goblins with the sword after taking it out of the goblin’s corpse. She had become faster with her techniques because she had grown more accustomed to the skills.

The goblins likely hadn’t even realized anything was wrong with their bodies.

Because the fight was over before the first goblin’s body had even hit the ground.

“Master, the rest is yours.”

『Yeah, leave it to me.』

After I absorbed their magic crystals, I cut off the goblins’ horns, the only usable loot on them. Fran told me that she had heard that once.

It was dangerous to leave the corpses near the highway as they could attract large demonic beasts, so I put them in my Dimensional Storage.

“Master, there’re goblins over there.”

『More of them?』

“What shall we do?”

『We have to go that way anyway, so want to get rid of them?』

“Un.”

Fran once again ran at them. But once she ran forward, a completely unexpected sight entered our vision.

“s.h.i.+t! Go away, you d.a.m.n goblins!”

“Kikiki.”

“Gururuah.”

A wagon was being attacked by the goblins.

There were six of them. While there appeared to only be one person on the wagon.

『The goblins again, really?』

“I want to help.”

『Got it. Do your best.』

She once again launched a silent sneak attack from behind.

She sliced three of them with Sword Technique: Triple Thrust. Though it was weak as a swift trio of stabs would be expected to be, it was more than enough against the goblins.

“I-I’m saved!”

“Kiii!”

“Shut up.”

The goblins sensed the threat that Fran’s sudden appearance posed. But Fran cut them down without mercy.

The sole remaining goblin turned to run away, but Fran threw me at it, killing it.

Thanks to the Throwing skill, I had cut clean through its stomach. I had planned on secretly changing my trajectory if the throw was off, but there was no need for that.

“Th-thank you, young lady. You saved me.”

“Un.”

“But you sure are strong. Are you here by yourself?”

“……”

“No, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Though Fran was simply not talkative, he must have mistaken her behavior for her not wanting to talk.

The truth was, I was glad that she didn’t rashly give him information. Deciding to allow this misunderstanding about Fran to stand, I gave Fran instructions with Telepathy.

‘Okay.’

“Um, if it’s okay with you, would you like to ride on my wagon? You’re going to Alessa, right?”

It seemed that the name of our destination is Alessa.

But this man; he looked weak, but he wasn’t a fool.

He may have offered a ride to his savior, Fran, out of the goodness of his heart to repay her for saving him from the goblins, but he also wanted her to act as his escort.

We needed information anyway, so we decided to take up his offer. But of course, the debt for saving his life wasn’t that cheap.

I told Fran what to say.

“We’ll escort you up to the town.”

“Ah, yeah, please do.”

Hmph. There was a bitter smile on his face.

“We will escort you for free in exchange for the information we want.”

“Hahahaha. This is fun. I like it! Get on.”

“Un.”

“I’m Randel. And you?”

“Fran.”

“Then I hope our travels go well, Fran-san.”

We didn’t forget to collect the goblins’ horns before we left.

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