Chapter 97: Appraisal

After some pleasantries between the two, Hendrick quickly took a towel to wipe his sweat and put on his clothes. 

"May I know the reason for calling me here?"

Stella politely asked while noticing that two more Knights has arrived… 

It seems that they were similarly curious about her. Looking from the direction they came from, the two didn't seem to have come from inside the inn…

"Captain, is that her~?" Misha who had just arrived asked in a pleasant voice…

"You're Stella, right? Now that the retired Knight was killed, aside from the old Hunter and the Arcanists… You're probably the strongest here in the village… We can use her to understand the strength of those cultists, Sir Hendrick." 

The middle-aged man beside Misha said as he observes Stella.

"Ho~ You look more decent than that Frank…" He added.

"Misha, Ulysses… Are you done checking on the guard's training?"

"Yes, Captain! We will be supervising them from now on, so you can rest assured that they will improve in the few weeks."

"Very well, Stella, these two are Knights under my team. The reason I called you here was the chief's request to examine your sword and ensure that it was not a Cursed Arcana as one of the guards claimed…"

Hendrick explained as he looked at the wooden sword strapped on Stella's waist.

"Alright… I'll cooperate."

"Great… But before that, I just want to confirm something… Did you really kill the two high-ranking members of the cult with your sword skills?"

Hendrick asked the question in a serious tone and observed Stella's reaction. The two knights were also waiting for her answer. Truthfully, Stella doesn't look like a strong opponent at all.

Of course, they weren't just judging her appearance. They based it on her posture, her gait, her muscles, and the aura she exudes. At the very least, in Ulysses' eyes, she has more potential than that Frank that he just met.

Anyway, none of her traits matches an "expert" in their eyes.

Then, they saw Stella squinting her eyes as if she was thinking of something before she opened her mouth to answer…

"Uhmm… Yes, that's my sword skills. It was an emergency, so even though I haven't perfected my sword techniques yet, I tried fighting them to buy time for the party to rescue us… I was lucky that I managed to defeat the two of them with my poor skills…"

"I see… Then, would you mind letting us examine the sword you used… Please don't get offended, we just want to fulfill the request made by your chief…" Hendrick said politely. He didn't want to offend anyone that is potentially a strong individual or someone that has a bright future.

He also wanted to finish this task as peacefully as possible. Of course, if this is truly a Cursed Arcana, they had to destroy or seal it in order to avoid future problems.

There's a lot of problem with those types of Arcanas… They could look like a normal Arcana but will slowly drain their wielder's soul energy… They could be a weapon that grants unimaginable power to a person in exchange for sacrificing their body… Aside from that, there was a case where a Cursed Arcana rampaged and cause massive chaos in a city before it self-destructed and killed many people…

In short, Cursed Arcana may look tamed once they saw one, but it may sooner or later cause trouble.

The best course of action was to put a seal on them or just destroy them if possible. 

Then, they saw Stella handing out the wooden sword to the Knight Captain with confidence. 

It was either because she believes that it was not a cursed Arcana or she just didn't have any idea and also wanted to know the truth.

Of course, the Captain didn't forget to receive it with his left hand that is wearing a glove. If it's a Cursed Arcana, it would be a huge trouble if he mindlessly touched it without protection.

"I heard that you're using two swords." The Captain asked as he observes the sword closely.

"Ahh… The other one was already broken. This is the only one that was still usable…" Stella answered after hesitating for a moment.

"I see…" Hendrick then used the gem on his right hand's ring to tap on the wooden sword.

Stella was not sure what the Knights was doing but she trusts her master… She would never believe that an Arcana that save lives would be a cursed one. Even if it is, they must have a misconception about the "Cursed Arcana". After all, there's only a little information about them and that information may even be biased. 

Soon, she saw Hendrick repeating the process before handing the sword back to her.

"My ring is not reacting to it… This is Unique-Rank Ring Arcana that can identify the power level of magic weapons and other Arcana… The reaction only gives me a standard level… It's not even enough to be considered a magic weapon… There shouldn't be a problem.

"Ulysses, you also have an Arcana that can connect to other Magic Weapons and Arcana… Do you want to try testing it?"

"Captain, this is only a Rare-Rank Arcana, you know? You already tested it with a Unique-Rank's ability… There shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Hmm… That makes sense…"

"Amazing… Is it required for a Knight to be an Arcanist as well? It seems that everyone has an Arcana…" Stella said as she was impressed about the appearance of real and genuine Arcana in front of her.

No one in the village has an Arcana, after all.

"Eh?"

The Knights looked at each other before answering…

"Well, it's not necessary… Only the two of us were lucky to have summoned an Arcana. We just had enough money to buy a higher-ranked ownerless Arcana… In truth, our original Arcana is only a common-rank… Hehe…" Hendrick said before he softly chuckled. 

Possessing an Arcana wasn't a huge secret as it would be a great deterrence to their opponents as well… However, they have still had to put a certain level of secrecy.

The information that they have to hide for themselves is the number of skills that their Arcana has and the names and power of these skills.

"That's right, throughout the many years that had passed, it was normal for the previous owners of Arcana to die in natural causes so there's a lot of Arcana that were left behind and being sold. Especially in the capital…" Ulyssess added. 

"I see… Thank you for that information…" Stella was already aware of the requirements needed to possess an ownerless Arcana. 

Perhaps someday, once she summoned an Arcana and found it to be common or weaker ones, she would have to visit the capital to consider finding a better one.

She had never thought that the shinai, or her master, would be a weapon that would always stay by her side to protect her forever…

She already realized this even before her Master said that he has the ability to conceal himself from people other than those he selected. 

"Alright… My weapon should now be cleared as a possible Cursed Arcana, right?"

"Mhmm… That's correct… Only Arcana that is above Unique-Rank can hide their presence from my ring… Perhaps, even a similar rank but has a skill of concealment… Aside from that, the only thing I can think of is that the weapon might either be blessed by a deity… But that's impossible…"

Hendrick said as he returned the wooden sword to Stella…

'A deity, huh...' Stella noted it in her heart.

"By the way, is this made from a branch of a Beacon Tree? I'm not really familiar with these types of wood." The Knight Captain suddenly asked.

"Ah? Eh… I'm not sure…" Stella answered as she was surprised why the Beacon Tree was included in this conversation. Anyway, she was truly unaware of what kind of wood it was made. 

If it is a summoned arcana… This wood might not even be available anywhere else. 

Hendrick looked in her eyes as if he was trying to know whether she was telling the truth…

"Well, it should be fine to keep a secret or two about your strength… Just be careful with that Frank, from the village guards… It seems that he's interested in this sword. 

"Thank you for telling me... I will be careful."

"Mhmm… Jillian, walk her home…" Hendrick said but one of the knights exclaimed in surprise.

"Ha?!--Wait, you're not asking her for a spar? You don't want to see her sword skills? She's dubbed here as a swordmaster, you know?" Misha asked in a hurry. She knows the captain very well and he was not someone who would let this opportunity pass.

"That's right, that's why the two of us hurried here, you know?" Ulysses said in agreement.

He was similarly expecting a spar between the two.

"Just what do you guys think of me? I'm already exhausted. It would be embarrassing if I lose…" Hendrick said as he didn't want to fight a battle when he's not in a hundred percent condition. A defeat, even if he gave a handicap, would still be defeat… 

Aside from that, he wasn't in a mood to play with the girl since he would have to arrange a group of knights to enter the forest tomorrow…

He wanted to find clues whether the bright stone that could summon an Arcana was real or was only a made-up story…

Stella then hugged the sword as she prepared to leave with Jillian. 

Then, the Knights saw her flinch for a moment as she hastily strapped the sword on her waist before walking away.