Slayers

A clear, almost mocking sound rang in the air as the sword shattered with ease.

"...Huh?"

"Aaaargh!!"

Gourry"s confused exclamation was buried under the tourism official"s earsplitting wail.

"Hey you! What do you think you"re doing!? You just broke the village"s legendary sword!" He advanced on us, his face a mixture of rage and anxiety.

"What are you talking about?" I snapped back. "What kind of sword snaps when you just lean on it? Legendary, my a.s.s!" The official"s face paled abruptly at my retort.

"Urk! Well... that... that"s... well... that"s just one of its legendary properties!"

"Like h.e.l.l it is!"

Full of righteous indignation, my fist slammed straight into his face with a meaty thud.

Weapons of Legend.

There are some weapons so famous that their names become instantly recognizable. The Demon King"s Stave of Bones, Ceifeed"s Flare Dragon Sword and the Elmekia Blade, which only cuts on the astral plane. The legendary Blast Sword, so sharp it can even slice through the scales of a Deimos Dragon. The list goes on.

But the thing is, cheap swords temporarily enhanced with enchantments or gems aside, it"s not every day you find a legendary magical weapon just lying around waiting for someone to take it.

That is, unless you believe in the rumors.

There"s a cave somewhere where an enchanted weapon slumbers, waiting for its destined owner to appear. A strange cult based in somewhere or other is secretly concealing a marvelous sword. There"s a lake in who knows what country where you can throw in a plain sword and a beautiful lady will appear to hand you a legendary blade. And the most common one, of some sword stuck in some stone somewhere, that becomes yours if only you can draw it forth. The most frustrating cases are when there are real swords stuck in boulders, just outside of villages and towns.

All fake, of course. Nearly all of them are placed there by the villagers themselves. If you ask them why, they"ll reply that they did it to try and attract visitors to the village. In other words, they create cheap tourist attractions with fancy-looking swords cut to look like they"re stuck in boulders. Some places even collect fees just for the privilege of looking, or charge per try to any people who might want to try their luck at drawing the sword out.

That"s right. Just like the village Gourry and I were visiting.

"Ooh, I"m so mad! I didn"t even expect it to be a real legendary sword, but honestly! All the villagers were in cahoots to swindle us out of our money. I mean, it wasn"t even that much, but still! It p.i.s.ses me off."

After knocking out the tourism official, Gourry and I returned to a restaurant in town to grab some lunch and talk things over a little.

"Calm down. Getting angry will do nothing," Gourry said with a mouthful of fried salmon. He sat across from me, munching away without a care in the world.

"Stop talking like it"s none of your business!" I snapped, reaching for a piece of steamed chicken. "This is all for you, you know! We"re looking for a new sword!"

Right, Gourry and I were journeying across the world in search for a new magic sword. He might quite possibly be the dumbest person in the world, but Gourry Gabriev"s skills with a sword were top cla.s.s. He used to have a powerful weapon called the Sword of Light that could even hurt mazoku, but he lost it a while ago in the middle of a conflict that I caused. That was why we were following rumors all over the countryside in search of a replacement.

"But you can"t expect to find a legendary sword so easily, right?"

"Of course. If anyone could find it, then it wouldn"t have stayed lost long enough to become legend."

"Well, personally, I"m just fine with a normal sword..."

"What"re you talking about?!" I gripped Gourry"s fork hand tightly, looking up at him with glistening eyes. "I know you"re a great swordsman, but even you"re not invincible."

Slowly, surrept.i.tiously, my left hand began moving pieces of fried salmon over to my plate, piece by piece.

Lina"s ulterior motive

"And if all you have is a regular sword," I continued, making sure he focused on me, "you won"t be of any use against mazoku or wraiths. You haven"t managed to get over your reflexes from when you had the Sword of Light, either. I can"t even look, it makes me so nervous. You haven"t forgot that time you were fighting a sorcerer and tried to slice his Flare Arrow in half, have you? You were almost burnt to a crisp!"

"...I was?"

Apparently, he had forgotten. I let out a long sigh. "Whatever. Anyway, I won"t be able to rest easy until you have a magic sword."

"But... can"t we just buy one, instead of going around looking for one? That mage"s store we dropped by a while ago had a lot of swords."

"Look. Those swords have only been enchanted to be just a little sharper or stronger. I"d be impressed if you could even touch a ghost with one, much less cut an incoming spell. And against a true mazoku? It"d be worse than useless. In other words, if you want a decent enchanted sword, you have go and look for it, yourself."

"They don"t sell decent enchanted swords at stores?"

"Of course not. Even if some store did manage to get a hold of a legendary weapon, some royalty or n.o.ble would pull strings to get their grubby hands on it. So if we want to find a sword like that, we have to look for it ourselves."

"I see. So it"s no easy matter."

"That"s why I told you not to be so easygoing."

"Oh! There they are!" A voice interrupted our conversation, and I turned to see an old man standing with the same official I"d beaten up just a few hours ago. Were they here to complain about the broken sword?

The pair slowly advanced towards us, the old man sidling up to talk in a lowered voice. "Excuse me, but aren"t you the adventurers who just tried their hands at drawing the sword?"

"And what if we are? Are you here to complain because we broke your legendary sword?" I replied, smiling. The old man just smiled right back.

"No, no, of course not," he replied, the grease practically dripping from his voice. "In fact, I merely wanted to talk things over a little with you..." He sat on a chair next to me and lowered his voice even more. "You see, I"m the mayor of this village... and as you can see, it"s not the wealthiest of places. It"s hard to get to, and there are no monuments or attractions nearby. That"s why we had to do what we did, you understand."

I see. He didn"t want me spreading the word that the legend was fake. I smirked evilly. A sympathetic person might be compelled to agree, but such bleeding heart pleas had no effect on the fighter and genius sorceress, Lina Inverse! Though, come to think of it, my being a fighter or genius sorceress didn"t really have much to do with anything in this case...

"Not the wealthiest of places, you say? You certainly dress well for the mayor of a poor town, don"t you think?"

He flinched.

"You know, you look very healthy and well-fed, especially considering your age. And your clothes are made of some really fine material. Same for your official over there, too."

Another flinch. The color drained quickly from both men"s faces. I could see it plain as day - these weasels were keeping the money the sword brought in for themselves.

"We-well, in any case. I thought it would only be fair if I returned the money you paid to see the sword and attempt to draw it." So said, the mayor drew a sack of coins from within his tunic and placed it on the table. The pouch looked a bit too fat, considering it was only supposed to contain our entrance fees.

"You wouldn"t be trying to bribe us to keep our mouths shut, by any chance?"

"No, no. I just think that it would be most unfortunate if strange rumors happened to besmirch the village"s legend..."

"So you"re going to shut us up, and keep on filling your purses with the money the sword brings you?"

The old man flinched yet again, hurriedly waving his hands. "No! Of course not! We won"t be using the sword again, trust me!" His eyes, however, told me a different story. "I can"t afford to pay you any more, but... oh, of course!" The mayor clapped once, as though he"d just remembered something. "You seem to be looking for a legendary sword, right? Well, it just so happens that I know of a story involving one such sword. If you would look the other way just once..."

I narrowed my eyes. Only a fool would believe a story about a legendary sword, from a man who"d already been caught scamming people with a fake one.

"Hmm... Well, I guess it couldn"t hurt to hear you out."

"Oh!" The mayor was overjoyed. "Right!"

"But," I added forcefully, shooting him a glare, "if you"re lying..." I let my words trail off menacingly.

"Y-yes, of course!"

"Okay. Let"s hear it."

"Mmm... yes, well. If you follow the big road east of here to the north for four or five days, you"ll reach a village called Bezeld."

"Mhmm."

"There"s a mountain there, and in that mountain is a cave..."

Wait. A cave? In a mountain? This seemed familiar...

"And inside the cave is a stone with a sword stuck-"

"Give it a rest!"

Once again, my fist found a nice home, buried in a man"s face.

"Bah. If you"re going to lie, at least put a little effort into it..."

After knocking out the mayor and taking more bribes to ensure our secrecy, Gourry and I left the village. The sky was clear, and the sun shined merrily down on us. A wagon pulled by a donkey pa.s.sed us, clattering by on rickety wheels. Though we hadn"t manage to get any clues about magic swords, I supposed it was all right to travel aimlessly like this from time to time. Though I wouldn"t have shed any regretful tears if a roving band of marauders happened to pop up so I could kick their a.s.ses and rob them blind...

"So, Lina. What are you thinking of doing now?" Gourry asked, once we came in view of a little town. Coal was heaped in piles around it.

"I don"t know," I admitted. "I was thinking of maybe visiting Bezeld."

"Bezeld?" Gourry"s brow furrowed - it was what pa.s.sed for deep thought with him. "I"ve heard that name somewhere..."

"The name of the town the lying mayor just told us."

"Oh, right." Gourry nodded, smiled, frowned. "But didn"t you say he was a liar?"

"I did. He"s a liar for sure."

Gourry fell silent, and for a time all I could hear was the chirping of birds.

"I don"t understand. Then why are we going to Bezeld?"

"Because we don"t have anywhere else to go."

"Oh."

"It"s not like there are many rumors about legendary swords that"re worth trusting, you know. And even if a rumor turns out to be true, chances are that someone else has already gone and taken it. So, I figured there"s nothing to lose from going to Bezeld since we don"t have anywhere better to go."

"I see. A laid-back, wandering trip, then?"

"Right," I said, smiling. The smile vanished when a loud crashing sound rent the air, banishing the lazy silence. Nothing in the immediate vicinity was amiss, but a huge plume of black smoke was rising from the town we"d been headed toward.

"What the..."

"It looks like we can"t relax just yet. Let"s go, Lina!"

"Okay!" After all, where there are problems, there"s danger... and money!

With that thought fixed firmly in mind, Gourry and I sprinted toward the town.

The townspeople were already gathered in a large crowd by the time we got there. A house had been nearly demolished - hit by something like a Fireball, from the looks of it. Portions of the building had been completely destroyed, and smoke rose thickly from inside.

"What happened?" I asked, but the villagers only turned wide eyes to me and shrugged, as bewildered as I was.

"That"s what I want to know," one said. "We don"t have an inkling of what happened here, either."

"By the time we heard the sound and got here, it was already like this..."

"A girl was living here alone! Hey, you! Can you help us out here a little?"

"Okay! Leave it to me! It"ll be over in a flash!" I shouted, thrusting out a hand. "Vu Vraimer!"

The ground around the house obeyed my words of power, rising up to become a golem. The crowd voiced their surprise with appreciative murmurs.

"Golem! Clear these stones!"

"Ooooh!"

Following my commands, the golem began to clear away the smoking rocks. But it wasn"t long since he"d started before a second explosion rang out from the forests behind us.

"Golem! If there"s anybody inside, move the stones trapping them and wait! If not, keep working until you"ve moved all the debris!"

Leaving the house in the golem"s hands, I took off with Gourry, running into the forest. It wasn"t long before a third explosion came, closer than I"d expected. I shared a glance with Gourry, nodded, and together we turned and dashed toward the sound"s origin.

The girl landed softly on the forest floor, her languid movements reminiscent of a cat"s. She looked to be about fourteen, maybe fifteen years old, a little on the small side, with large eyes. In other words, just a normal, average village girl, her long black hair twisted into a single triple-braided pigtail that pa.s.sed over her shoulder.

"You didn"t think you"d be able to get away, did you?"

And in front of her stood a man like a shadow, his entire body shrouded in black clothes. Only his eyes were left uncovered. I would have called him an a.s.sa.s.sin, but there was something about him that wasn"t quite like an a.s.sa.s.sin at all.

"Say you did manage to escape from me!" the man continued. "Then where would you go? You have no family, and your home is already in shambles thanks to my Fireball. What, are you going to wallow in your own loneliness under the night sky? It"ll be better for you if you stop this useless struggling and come quietly with me."

"You"re pretty eloquent considering what you look like, you know!"

It wasn"t the girl who said that, oh no.

"What? Who said that!?"

It was none other than me, accompanied by my trusty partner Gourry. We"d finally found our way, following the sounds and traces of fighting these two had left behind.

"Who the h.e.l.l are you people!?"

"Only an idiot would tell that to someone as suspicious looking as you!"

"What? Suspicious looking? Don"t stereotype people like that!" the man said, his voice rough and low.

Oh, come on. Surely he wasn"t expecting me to think he didn"t look suspicious in a getup like that.

"I don"t know who you are, but why are you here?" he demanded.

"We were just pa.s.sing by through the village when a house suddenly blew up, and then we heard another explosion in the woods. Anyone would be curious and come to take a look," I said. "Now, it"s my turn to ask a question. If someone came to the place you lived, blew a house sky high with a spell, and then you found him trying to kidnap a girl, wouldn"t you think that someone was pretty suspicious?"

"Tha... that"s different! I-it"s all right because I"m on a mission!"

"A mission?" My eyebrows rose despite myself.

"It"s none of your business!"

"Well, whatever," Gourry said, taking a step forward. "But we can"t really look the other way now, you know? I don"t suppose you want to compromise?"

"Of course not. It"s your choice to b.u.t.t in in the name of some kind of deluded sense of justice, but let me warn you: if you"re not going to leave now, then I"ll have to respond accordingly. I"m sure you know what that means."

"You"re going to shut our mouths by force, then?" I snorted. The man in black"s threats were so run-of-the-mill. "Look. If we were the type to give up and run because of some wimpy threats, we wouldn"t even have gotten involved with suspicious creeps like you in the first place."

The man didn"t reply, instead drawing a dagger from the sheath at his hip. I couldn"t make out any openings in his stance. He was a bit mouthy, especially considering his outfit, but from what I could tell he was no slouch in the fighting department.

The girl who"d been watching us hadn"t even made a move while we were talking, for some reason. She hadn"t even tried. I"d been hoping she"d take the hint and run away while I kept the man busy talking, but it looked like she wasn"t going to move any time soon.

Gourry squared his stance and drew his longsword.

"My name is Gourry Gabriev."

"Just call me Zain."

The instant Zain finished speaking, a scornful voice came from behind him.

"You fool!"

A man, swathed in black clothes just like Zain, stepped out of the woods. He"d been hiding his presence? Then that meant... the girl hadn"t been moving because she"d sensed him there? When even I couldn"t sense a thing?

Zain seemed fl.u.s.tered at the other man"s scorn, sputtering, "Ga...Gal-"

"Don"t say my name!"

"But-"

"I can"t believe you not only revealed your name, but almost called out mine as well! How careless can you get?"

"Bu...but they"re just code names, sir."

"You..." The second man in black looked incredibly angry at Zain"s thoughtless words. I guess I would be too, with a dunce like that for a minion. I sighed.

"So, code names. That means you two probably belong to some kind of organization, most likely employed by royalty or n.o.bility."

"Huh? How"d you know?"

Heh. I knew he"d take the bait.

Gal-whatever just sighed. "Somehow we"ve ended up revealing too much," he said, his cold, calm voice a stark contrast to the fl.u.s.tered Zain. "I"m sorry, but we"re going to have to shut you up, permanently. If you must, hate yourselves for purposely getting involved in things that are none of your business, and Zain for having a loose tongue."

"You talk big, don"t you? Fine! Shut us up, if you can!" The tension in the air was almost palpable.

What bothered me was that the girl still hadn"t moved a single step from where she stood. I wondered if she was simply too scared to move... or if there were more allies of these men in black, hiding close by.

"Hah!" Zain rushed forward and took the initiative, as if to cut off my pensive thoughts. Weaving his way through the trees with surprising speed, Zain closed the distance to Gourry in an instant. Two lines of silver flashed in the sunlight streaming down through the trees, followed by the sharp sound of clashing steel.

"Bah!"

Zain let out a muttered curse as Gourry parried his first attack, instantly segueing into a second slash. He was pretty good, but nothing compared to Gourry, in my opinion. But this was no time for thinking about him - the moment Zain attacked, the other man in black drew his sword and sprang toward me!

No time to cast a spell! I drew my dagger from my waist and blocked, preparing a spell with my other hand. The shock ran through my arm, making me wince. This guy was no slouch, either. If I hadn"t been learning basic sword techniques from Gourry, I might"ve croaked right then and there.

Just like Zain, the other man in black drew back as soon as he saw his strike parried, shifting to the side and attacking again - not me, but Gourry! It looked like they were trying to team up on him and finish him off.

Gourry parried the second man in black"s slash with his sword and bent his body to the side, just barely avoiding Zain"s attack. The tortured screech of Zain"s sword grating on Gourry"s breastplate filled the air. Instantly Zain drew back, intent on attacking again while Gourry was busy with the second man.

Not if I had anything to say about it. "Diem Wind!"

There was a rush of displaced air as my spell sent all three of them flying. Whoops. I hadn"t been able to avoid hitting Gourry as well, but at least I"d stopped them from attacking him.

"d.a.m.n! You"d hit your companion just to get to us?" Zain snarled, getting to his feet.

"Hah! Haven"t you ever heard of sacrificing the few for the needs of the many?"

Zain stared at me. "What kind of person are you?"

I just replied with a faint smile.

While I was buying time verbally sparring with Zain, Gourry managed to stand up and get a hold of his sword again. I"d only said those things to buy time for him to get to his feet. I"m not really that cold-blooded a person. Really. Believe me. Please.

Anyway, these guys meant business - even Zain, talkative and easily fl.u.s.tered as he was, was a good fighter, and ruthless. We had to end this quickly.

"Gourry! I"m gonna go for a big blast! Don"t feel bad if you get caught in it, okay?" I called. Unfortunately, Gourry was more worried by my bluff than either of the two men.

"Wa... wait, Lina! Can"t you think things over a little?"

"Lina? Are you by chance Lina Inverse?"

That voice hadn"t belonged to either of the men in black. It had been the girl who"d been watching us.

"Li... Lina Inverse?"

Zain looked askance at Gal-whatever. "Do you know her?"

"Don"t you know? She"s one of the people n.o.body wants to even mention by name! She"s a sorceress in the Top Ten People You Don"t Want to be Friends With List!"

"What?!" I cried, shocked. "Hey! What kind of Top Ten is that? Who made it, anyway?" I knew infamy and unsavory rumors were the price of fame, but...

The man in black clicked his tongue and said, "Looks like we picked the wrong fight. Still, as long as it"s two on two, we still have a chance..."

"Then how about four on two?" a voice said, from behind them - from the direction of the village. The men in black warily glanced over their shoulders, remaining alert in case we decided to attack. Everyone focused on the two newcomers.

Both of them looked to be in their early twenties. The man was tall, with short black hair - I"d have called him handsome if his eyes hadn"t seemed just a little too sharp and cruel. The woman was tall as well, and beautiful, with long silver hair tied into a ponytail. They both held swords at the ready. The man wore proper armor while the woman sufficed with a hardened leather shoulderpad.

In other words, a generic pair of mercenaries. At least it looked like they weren"t working with the men in black...

Luke and Milina

"So, what"ll it be? If you stand and fight any more, the villagers might come to watch, you know."

"Blast! Retreat!" the second man in black said, clicking his tongue in disappointment once more before vanishing cleanly into the forest. Not a bad exit, if I say so myself.

"Don"t think you"ve seen the last of us! We"ll be back! Just you wait!"

Zain, on the other hand... Right. Yeah.

Gourry and I only relaxed once we were sure the two were gone completely. "Thanks for saving us," I said, turning to the mysterious duo.

"Don"t mention it," the man said, waving his hand nonchalantly. "It"s not like we were doing this for you. We just happen to know the girl over there, actually." He gave a flick of his head towards the pigtailed girl.

"Long time no see, Sherra. Were those men after you because of that?" His voice was a fair bit warmer than it had been when talking to us.

"I don"t know!" the girl replied obtusely, giving her pigtail a light flick with her hand.

That?

"Hey... you know, it"d be nice if we got some kind of explanation for what"s going on..." I started, but the man didn"t even give me a glance as he turned away, again waving his hand dismissively.

"Oh, you two"re still here? You can go back now."

Grrr...

"Wait-"

"I know how you feel, Sherra. But you know, the world doesn"t do what you want it to do just because you"re stubborn about it."

"Look here, old man!"

Well. That certainly got his attention, judging from the way he suddenly froze, his shoulders trembling slightly. Great! Now that I"d hit a nerve, I had the upper hand!

A vein popped out on his forehead as he slowly turned around. "Old... old man?"

I cut him off before he could get any further. "Look, we were the ones who got here first. Just who do you think you are, telling us we can "go back now" when you didn"t even lift a finger, huh? An old man, that"s who! I don"t know how old you really are, but inside you"re really just a grouchy, old man!"

Wilting in the face of my verbal barrage, the man sent a pleading glance to the woman who"d come with him. For her part, she completely ignored his pitiful gaze, simply staring back at us with marked curiosity. All right, now to turn up the heat!

Wait. That"s not it.

That"s right. I wasn"t supposed to make him mad - I was supposed to wheedle information out of him. Heheh. I almost forgot.

But... talking with the man would only lead to an insult slinging contest at best, and it looked like the woman was a sight more taciturn than her partner, and therefore less inclined to talk. That left only one person!

I smiled sweetly at the little girl, Sherra, and said, "Hey, you! Do you know who I am?"

"Ah... Yes, since you are a very famous person, in many ways."

In many ways? The phrase and the way she said it irked me, but I let it go with a great, nearly superhuman exertion of will.

"I see. Then, how"s this? You tell me what"s going on, and I"ll give you an autograph!"

"Huh?" Sherra"s face showed open confusion. "Uh... I mean... I... umm..."

"Hey, little girl." Gourry"s voice was filled with honest concern at Sherra"s bewilderment. "If I were you, I"d just cut my losses and take the autograph. Though I do suppose an autograph from someone like Lina would probably only leave a bad taste in your mouth..."

Why, you...

"But just imagine what"d happen if you refused. Lina wouldn"t take that sitting down, no way. She"d probably go on a rampage! Just take it and maybe you"ll find a use for it when you go to the bathroom or somethi-"

A rock the size of a human head, applied with judicious force to his skull, shut Gourry"s mouth.

"You probably know there are lots of unpleasant rumors about me making the rounds," I said, smiling sweetly. "But don"t you think it"d be unfair to judge a person by such rumors without even getting to know her?"

Sherra thought it over for a moment and nodded cautiously.

"I mean, everyone has one or two things they don"t want to talk about. But you were being chased by those two men for some reason, and they were even willing to kill us to make sure we didn"t talk about whatever it was. Don"t you think it"d be wrong to keep your mouth shut over such an important matter?"

The girl kept her silence, obviously thinking things over. Good, this was my cue to push forward!

"I won"t ask you to tell us everything. After all, we"re the ones who b.u.t.ted in on you, right? But I"d appreciate it a lot if you just told me what you can. Who knows? Maybe telling us about it will make you feel better, or we might be able to help you somehow."

"Oh, no, that won"t be necessary. You don"t have to tell "em a thing," the man said, taking a step toward Sherra. "After all, we"re all the help you need. Ain"t that right, Milina?"

"Whatever, Luke. Your selfish intentions are showing through, you know," the silver-haired woman said, smirking.

"Hey! What do you mean by that? People"ll get the wrong image! I just couldn"t leave a cute little girl in danger like this. Oh! But wait! Don"t get me wrong, Milina. You"re the only one for me!"

"Idiot," the woman muttered.

Now, if she"d said it with a blush, maybe averting her eyes to one side, then I would"ve thought that they loved each other... But no, judging from the way she just snorted and spat the word out, it looked like Luke was the one who"d fallen head over heels for Milina, and the feeling wasn"t mutual. But anyway, that wasn"t important.

"You know, if you"re the type who can"t bear to see a cute girl in trouble, then doesn"t it bother you that I"m completely in the dark about what"s going on?"

Luke just stared at me for a long moment before saying, "I really like seeing annoying girls get what they deserve."

That was the last straw. I took a running start and leaped, my boot striking a resounding blow to the side of Luke"s face. "What did you say?!"

"What the- what the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?!"

"Shut up. You"re the one who p.i.s.sed me off!"

"What, was I wrong?"

"Of course you were! It"s because you"re so thick that Milina over there won"t even give you the time of day!"

"What?! Of course she will! We"re a perfectly happy, loving couple! Right, Milina?"

"I wouldn"t say that," Milina shot back, looking a bit miffed at Luke"s words.

"I don"t believe it! My love still hasn"t reached you?"

"Hahaha! See? You"re the one with a crush on her!"

"Didn"t I tell you to shut up! What would a flat-chested, wishy-washy waif like you know of romance, anyway?"

Erk!

"who"re you calling wishy-washy, huh?!"

"Uh... You know, the girl"s leaving."

"Shut up, Gourry, can"t you see I"m- eh?"

Gourry had apparently regained consciousness some time ago, and when I turned to look the way he was pointing I saw Sherra walking back towards town by herself.

"Hey! Wa, wait!"

"Wait for us, Sherra!"

We all started running after her.

"Why"re you two tagging along?" Luke asked, shooting us a glare that I matched with equal malice.

"Because the town is this way, dummy. Why"re you two following that girl, anyway? She didn"t look like she liked you all that much."

"What? Then d"you think she liked you?"

"At least she liked me more than she did you!"

"You"ve got a big mouth, you know that?"

"Yeah, and what of it, huh?"

If looks could kill, both of us would have been dead as door nails by the time we reached town. A little behind us, Gourry and Milina followed, doing their best to look as if they didn"t know us.

Judging from the way Sherra had talked to them, it looked as though they were following her even though she didn"t want them to... maybe they were after the same thing the men in black had been? And just what had they been after, anyway?

The most likely answer to that question was, of course, treasure. Sherra might be the keeper to the key of some treasure, and both the men in black and these two were after it. That made perfect sense.

Furthermore, if, like I thought, the men in black had been special forces in the employ of some kingdom or lordship, then chances were high that the treasure was pretty valuable!

"Eeeek!"

Sherra"s sudden, piercing shriek cut through the air, abruptly ending my line of thought.

"What"s wrong?" I called, hurrying to the girl.

While I was arguing with Luke, we"d reached the town borders. Sherra stood there, looking at the crowd of gathered people, and the golem I"d made. Oh, and the shapeless mound of rocks and rubble that had once been her house.

"Are you all right?"

"What happened?"

Sherra ignored the villagers" concerned inquiries, whispering, "My... house..."

"Oh, that," one said, pointing at me. "That nice lady there thought you might be buried underneath the rubble, so she made a golem to clear the stones away."

"Ahahahaha..." Sherra slowly turned to face me, giggling eerily. "I know a Fireball hit it, but at least part of it was fine... It looks like your golem just finished the job. How considerate."

Oh no! Sherra"s eyes were flashing with anger. I had to make an excuse!

"N, no, I didn"t mean to demolish your house. I told the golem to clear the stones and ran into the woods... I guess the golem couldn"t tell where the rubble ended and the house began. Heheheh... heh. Umm... I"m sorry?"

"You"re sorry?" Sherra shouted. "What are you going to do about this? I don"t even have anywhere to sleep tonight!"

"Umm... well... I guess that"s a problem that needs to be solved?"

"It"s your problem! What are you going to do about my house?"

"Uh... umm... right! If I make a dozen golems and tell them to build a house..."

"I don"t want to live in a creepy house like that!"

Bah. Picky little squirt, wasn"t she? I tried to think of a way to make her feel better.

At length, we settled on getting her a room at the inn for the night, the fee coming out of my own purse.

"But you know... the thing I"m curious about is, why are you two still here?" Night had fallen, and Gourry and I were seated at a table on the inn"s first floor, having some dinner. The "you two" referred, of course, to Luke and Milina, who were sitting across from us.

"Well, this is the only inn in town, y"know," Luke replied lightly, shrugging. "We ain"t sitting here because we wanted to see you. We"re just sharing a table with with Sherra here."

Seated between the four of us, Sherra pointedly ignored everyone and merely continued to eat, a markedly surly expression clouding her face. Hmm... looked like she was still in a foul mood.

I thought it would be best to just leave her be until she cooled down a little. The problem was, between the sulking Sherra and the naturally taciturn Milina, the conversation naturally moved into a heated argument between Luke and I.

Gourry, of course, was a non-factor. Trying to get intelligent conversation - or even a rational opinion, for that matter - from him was as futile as tying a rope to a tree branch and trying to bungee jump off of it. But at the same time, it was clear that just arguing the night away with Luke would do nothing to make Sherra feel better. Maybe it was time for a switch of tactics. I cleared my throat and turned in my seat to face Sherra.

"Are you... still angry, Sherra?" I asked timidly, shoveling a heaping forkful of b.u.t.tery fried salmon into my mouth.

I chewed once, then wrapped a whole beef roast in a few leaves of lettuce and shoved that in as well, attempting to take a reasonable tone. "I"m really sorry about what happened earlier today, and I want to apologize..."

A few handfuls of steamed shrimp disappeared into my mouth. "But I know you probably won"t be satisfied with just an apology..." I made a makeshift sandwich out of lettuce, pork sausages and a wedge of lemon shoved between two loaves of bread, and took a big bite.

"...So I want to know if there"s any way I can help you."

"You"re not being very convincing at all!"

Huh. What was her problem? Seemingly miffed for some reason, Sherra dropped her fork and knife to the table with a loud clatter and sprang to her feet.

"I don"t care about my house anymore! Just stop following me around! That means you, and you!" she shouted, pointing at both me and Luke. Huffing indignantly, Sherra turned and stomped off in the direction of the bedrooms.

Luke watched her go and turned to glare at me. "What"re you gonna do? You just made her angrier," he said testily.

"Don"t act like it"s all my fault!"

"What"re you talking about? It is all your fault!"

"What?! Just how is this my fault?"

"Anybody"d get mad if you said things like that while stuffing your fat face!"

"They would not!" You know what I said, if looks could kill? Right, this was another one of those times.

"How about the both of you put things off until next morning?" Milina said, her quiet voice effortlessly defusing the bomb that had been about to blow. "I"m sure she"ll have calmed down by tomorrow."

"Hmm... Well... I guess you"re right."

"If Milina says so, I ain"t objecting."

"Good," Milina said, flashing a sudden smile. "Let"s try to at least have a quiet dinner."

"Oh, were you looking for Sherra? She left early in the morning."

"...What?"

All four of us could only gape, dumbstruck, at the innkeeper. We"d started eating breakfast in awkward silence, then noticed that Sherra wasn"t coming down and went up to look. The room had been empty! Worried that the sinister men in black had gotten their hands on her, we went to check with the innkeeper, and...

...So we came to where we were now.

She"d been away too long for it to be a brisk morning stroll.

"So, umm... do you happen to know where she went?" I asked.

The innkeeper thought it over for a minute. "Well, she didn"t tell me where she was headed, but she did tell me something else..."

"Oh?"

"Right. She said that the russet haired sorceress would pay for her room and board. I"m guessing that means you."

...I didn"t need to hear that.

Luke glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "Poor Sherra. I guess that means she ain"t coming back. Though, to be honest, I can"t blame her. You know, since somebody completely demolished her house..."

"Erk! What?! And who was it who said she"d calm down after a good night"s sleep?"

"Don"t go and pin this on Milina!"

"So you"re saying it"s my fault? Gah, never mind. For now, finding Sherra comes first. She might still close by, and I"m going to look for her. Come on, Gourry!"

"Right!"

...Well, we left confidently enough, but come lunchtime we returned to the inn, empty handed.

"Hmm... She wasn"t at what was left of her home, and none of the villagers seem to have seen her, either. Maybe she"s already gone," I said dejectedly, quenching my thirst with a pitcher of fruit juice. I could practically see the riches slipping away through my fingers.

"Then what are we going to do?"

I heaved a short sigh at Gourry"s words and replied, "What do you mean by that? There"s nothing we can do, now that she"s gone. If she"s not in the village, we don"t have any way of knowing where she might have taken off to."

"Come to think of it, I don"t see those other two around."

"Maybe they"ve gone on a hike or something? Even if they have disappeared, it"s not like..."

It"d change anything, I"d meant to say, but my words trailed off as something suddenly occurred to me. The pair hadn"t said anything as we left to find Sherra. Maybe they"d already known where she would be? And then they"d waited for us to leave before heading off to find her?

I threw back the last of my juice and stood up, walking over to the kitchen where the innkeeper was doing the dishes.

"Excuse me! Do you happen to know where the couple we were with earlier today might have gone?"

"I"m afraid I can"t help you. They paid and left immediately after you headed off."

"Didn"t they tell you where they might be going?"

"No, I don"t... wait, yes. The man said to pa.s.s this message on to you: "Without Sherra, it"s no use for you to keep trying, so give up and go home.""

"What?" My brow furrowed in thought. Something was suspicious. Very suspicious. Why would a guy who"d argued with me so much suddenly just tell me to give up? There was only one possibility: they hadn"t given up. Also, they probably knew where Sherra was headed. So they"d waited until we were gone, left a message telling us to give up, and ran off after Sherra?

Then there was only one thing to do! Chase after Luke and Milina! And in order to do that, we had to find clues.

"We didn"t really get to know them well, actually. Is there anything you might have to tell us about them? It might help us find out where Sherra"s gone."

The innkeeper scratched his head with one soapy hand and replied, "I just thought they were wandering mercenaries, so I didn"t really ask them that much... They came here around three or four days ago and visited Sherra occasionally."

"They already knew each other?"

"I don"t know. You see, Sherra hasn"t been living here all that long, either."

"You mean she moved here from somewhere else?"

"Moved...? I guess you could call it that. We just noticed one day that she was living here."

"Why, you irresponsible..."

"No, no. You see, there used to be a man called Glenn who lived there. He was born here, lived together with his mother in that house, but he was a bad sort and broke his poor mother"s heart."

The innkeeper suddenly started rambling on about things I didn"t even want to know. Was this the fabled Gossip Disease?

The Gossip Disease often befell men and women who lived in the countryside, causing them to talk endlessly to any visitors who had the bad luck to ask them a question. Those unlucky souls caught in their thrall were fated to listen to unbelievably boring anecdotes forever.

But there was a way to escape: you remembered an "urgent" meeting with someone that you had to go to right away, and made it clear that you had to leave. Though there were some fearsome opponents immune to even this technique, I was sure it would work on this run-of-the-mill old man.

Still, sometimes you could glean valuable knowledge from such gossip. I resolved to listen a little first before utilizing my technique.

"...he was a man who dreamed of getting rich quick. Liked his liquor more than his food, he did; spent more time outside the house than he did inside. Wasn"t even there when his poor mother pa.s.sed away. The villagers didn"t like him, of course. Anyway, was it two years ago? Three? Well, anyway, he snuck into town with a little girl, and though neither of them said a word, everyone thought that Sherra was probably his daughter. Some time later, Glenn got drunk, fell off a bridge into the river and died, and ever since then she"s been living there alone. Oh, I"m boring you, aren"t I?"

"No, I love listening to stories like this," I stammered, waving my hands.

Gourry dozes off

"But that man who came along with you is already asleep."

"Huh?"

I looked to my side, and what do you know, there was Gourry, leaning against the wall and snoring away without a care in the world.

That idiot...

I was tempted to give him a good, stiff kick to wake him up, but I reigned that urge in. Wouldn"t do to have the innkeeper distracted from his story.

"Let him sleep if he wants," I said. "So, anyway. Sherra"s been living there since Glenn died, and...?" I squelched my need to hit Gourry and goaded the innkeeper into continuing.

"...Right. So that"s how she came to live here in this town. She must have felt a lot of pressure, being from outside and all. She didn"t make many friends, but the villagers liked her well enough. Most of it was pity, seeing as how she must have suffered so much with a father like that."

"Suffer? She had to work after her father died, then?"

"Hmm? Come to think of it, I don"t know," the innkeeper said, unaware of my masterful manipulation of the conversation.

I see. Even after her good-for-nothing father died, how did Sherra manage to survive by herself without having to work at all? The likelihood that she had some kind of hidden treasure grew even greater.

"She didn"t work? It doesn"t sound like her father would have left her anything, based on what I"ve heard from you so far..."

The innkeeper waved his hand in reply. "Of course he didn"t. He was the sort of man who"d drink tomorrow"s money away today if he could. He sold everything he owned. Always said he"d hit the mother lode some day. The funny thing is, he went to Bezeld one day saying he"d mine orihalcon."

Hmm... that"s not quite what I"d expected.

...Wait. "Orihalcon?!" I shouted in surprise.

Orihalcon was a metal that was probably unfamiliar to the average person, but due to its unique characteristics - namely, the ability to contain and block magic to a certain degree - it was always in high demand among researching sorcerers.

The only drawback was that orihalcon was far rarer than gold, to the point where orihalcon eventually came to be worth several times its weight in platinum. But on the other hand, that also meant there was nothing better than orihalcon if you wanted to turn from rags to riches.

"They found orihalcon ore? In Bezeld? Wait, Bezeld?" I frowned at my own words, the memory coming back suddenly. Bezeld had been the place where that cheating mayor had said a legendary sword was.

"Well, it was actually found there two decades ago, and only one nugget was ever found. But even then, Glenn moseyed down there in search of it. Of course, he didn"t find what he was looking for. Do you know what he said in his defense when the townspeople made fun of him?

He was rambling again.

"It"s the strangest story. Glenn said he couldn"t find any orihalcon, but he dug his way into a strange cave instead. In that cave there was this sword stuck into a stone, but he said it gave him the shivers so he just came back."

"Whaaaat!?" The shout came from my mouth unconsciously.

"Di, did you just say sword?"

"Ah, uh, yes. Of course, it was probably all made up, you know. He was pretty deep in his cups when he told me that story."

"I see..." I gave a neutral reply, but my attention wasn"t on the conversation at all.

If Glenn had been drunk when he told his tale, then the chances of it being true rose even more. You see, there weren"t many people who would admit to being so scared they ran away, while drunk. A normal excuse for such an ign.o.ble retreat would have been something far more impressive - for example, a horrible monster emerging from the cave, so scary that anyone would have fled.

I had to admit, though, that a drunk man"s story probably wasn"t enough to conclude for sure that there was any kind of special sword in Bezeld.

"So this is what I told my wife, see. In my opinion, Sherra is Glenn"s daughter who he sired in Bezeld. She"s just about as old as a person born when Glenn went to Bezeld would be. And he really liked the ladies, Glenn did..."

The innkeeper"s tale started veering off into the rumors he"d heard and private theories he"d concocted, and I just nodded my head and made polite noises while my head whirled with thoughts. How much was true, and how much was false? The only thing I could be sure of was that the key to all these mysteries could be found in Bezeld.