Chapter 87: Decisions

"Stella… You are working as Hemil's apprentice in his smithy… However, your swordsmanship was probably at a Master level as per the witnesses' words."

"Eh? No!" Stella blurted in a panic. She didn't even know how to properly wield a sword. Of course, she was also unable to tell her Master Reiji's skills so after hearing that the skills her body showed were at a Master Level, she was so surprised.

'Ahh… No, I must calm down… It was master's skills. Master Reiji only controlled my body according to his will… Right, this sentient Arcana only controlled my body. It means that I can similarly learn how to do it if I learned the technique from master…'

'Stella… Just remain calm. Remember to hide my existence and own your body's accomplishment. Just be vague about the origin of your skills… You can do it!'

Reiji didn't want to think of lies for her as he let her think for it. Anyway, it shouldn't be a big issue since, in the end, she helped the residents of the village and it was an action worthy of a reward.

"You can't deny it, Stella. There's a lot of people who saw you. The last two cultists that you killed were even at a level of 4th-Class Arcanists. Even if they were exhausted after fighting the other guards, it would still be very difficult for a young girl to finish them off without being a master swordsman."

The village chief said. It seems that he already gathered all the information about her before letting her join this discussion.

"That's right… We know what happened at that time. We're not trying to blame you or anything. We just want to know the source of your ability…"

One of the elders said as he smiled kindly at the young girl.

"I see… Of course, you're curious…" Stella nodded as she understood the situation.

"Hmph… Just tell us whether you have a Cursed Arcana with you?! There's no way a young girl can fight those cultists almost twice her size…"

"Frank! Be quiet for now…"

The village chief frowned as he reprimanded the man called Frank. If Stella wasn't mistaken, Frank was the new village guard's leader as the previous leader perished from the cultist's attack.

"Cursed Arcana? I… I just got better in my sword art. It's nothing to do with my weapon." Stella answered. 

She wasn't offended by the bear-like Frank as she didn't do anything wrong… She remained collected as her Master was beside her. 

She heard about the Cursed Arcana before but Reiji said that he's a Sentient Arcana… 

It must be different, right?

Anyway, she only knows superficial things about them and was unaware of their difference since she was only interested in Hammer-type Arcana before. This made her knowledge about them to be very bias.

"Hmph! The witnesses said that you have a different aura while wielding those two wooden swords. I'm pretty sure that you've been possessed by a Cursed Arcana. We have to bring her to town to have her checked… No, once we hired the Knights Order, I'm sure that they can similarly detect whether you're cursed…"

Frank said as he smirked towards the young girl. It seems that he doesn't have plans of letting her live peacefully in the village at all.

"Sigh~ Your concerns are valid. However, Stella saved our friends from imminent death. We're sure that she has good intentions and must be rewarded with her act of heroism."

Stella heard that the village chief was a retired soldier of the kingdom. He's just and fair to his people. She believes that he's the only one she can trust here.

"I assure you that I'm not using a Cursed Arcana. I didn't even have the chance to attend a Bestowal Ceremony."

"Then where are the two wooden swords? Let me take care of it for now until we confirm it from the hired Knights."

This statement from Frank made the others realized his true intention. 

He wanted to have the two swords she was using! Once he gets his hands on those steel-like wooden swords, he would surely create all possible reasons just to keep it for himself. 

The chief frowned at this. The guard leader wasn't forcefully trying to take it from Stella and only making suggestions. If most of the people present here agreed to him, the chief would have no choice but to agree as well…

Frank has many followers within the guard's team so they can't really control him. Only the previous guard leader could tie him up.

Aside from that, due to the recent attack, he's probably the strongest fighter here in the village if the remaining Arcanists weren't included in the count.

"I think that it would be better to just let Stella have it… She has that sword for a long time if I'm not mistaken. During the years that she's here, it never created any issue. So I don't think that there's a problem."

A middle-aged man commented. He's the Hunter Association's stationed leader based on his clothes and Stella never met him until now. 

She glanced in his direction and noticed him smiling at her. 

'Is he helping me?'

She was sure that she had never met him before. She didn't even know his name.

The fact that he made an alibi for her implying that the swords were in her possession for many years seems to be a good argument. 

Based on Frank's words, it seems that the presence of Cursed Arcana would cause trouble to its surroundings.

'Hmph! There's no way that master is one. Master Reiji is a benevolent Arcana that helps the worthy people!'

In the meantime, she thanked him in her heart as she added him to the list of kind people. 

The discussion lasted for a little while and in the end, the wooden swords remained in her possession.

"Right, where is the other wooden sword? I heard that there's two of them?"

The village chief asked. 

"Oh? Ah… Now that you said it…"

Stella was actually curious as well! She tried to remember when did she held the two swords during the chaos…

'Err… I think it just suddenly happened after Master Reiji took control over my body… It is an illusion?'

'Master?'

'Just tell them that it broke and threw it away…' Reiji answered nonchalantly.

'Eh? Alright…'

In the end, the people present can only accept her words.

The Arcanist present even checked the wooden sword she's holding now and only said that if it was truly a Cursed Arcana, he wouldn't know it until it decided to show its power. 

"Very well, Stella can keep the sword but you'll have to make sure that you'll let the Knights examine it. Are you satisfied, Frank?"

"Hmph…"

The discussion ended after Stella's interview. She was now heading to her home as she wanted to take a long bath. The meeting was so stressful so she wanted to take a rest.

"Master! When will you train me?"

"Ahh… You have to find a training sword first."

"I see… I can look for one later!"

She no longer has to help her uncle in the smithy as he found other workers to help him with the Gleam Swords. After all, there's a lot of villagers right now that needed extra money to fix their houses, so hiring some retired individuals who were still fit and already know the ropes were surprisingly easy.

Of course, it may also be due to the payment for working under him was quite generous. After all, his customer was a baron who was willing to fork out a huge sum of money to complete the job as soon as possible.

The merchant who had similarly hired her uncle to create pieces of equipment has arrived and taken their order yesterday. The smithy would seemingly prosper as long as the village would constantly have merchants traveling here, so Stella didn't have to worry about her Uncle and she just has to focus on getting stronger.

***

"One more lap! You can do it!"

"Y-yes!"

Reiji encouraged Stella as she runs around the village. At this time, he was trying to understand the limitations of her physical body. This way, he can make adjustments to her future training schedule.

'She's surprisingly tough…' Reiji was impressed with her stamina. She has a strong will and a good physical body compared to the young Diether. 

'If Diether is here, we can probably practice kakari-geiko and many other drills.'

He could teach a lot more things to his students if they have a training partner and not just a wooden dummy. 

'Ahh… Let's not think about that… What Stella needed are the basic foundation and not some advanced techniques.'

A few moments later, Reiji started to ask Stella to show her skills in her Spiritual Energy.

He soon realized that she doesn't have amazing control compared to Diether. But at the very least, she has a very stable source of Spiritual Energy which is surprising. 

'Ah! Is it the side effect of the potion she consumed?'