Chapter 139 - Well...

~What's a peasant to a king, What's a king to a maji, but what's a maji to a binder but a pile of rotten bones~ ", Diego drunkenly sang on his way back from the "The Drunken Mysticac".

Today was a good day for the young man. He had just finished his apprenticeship under Boss Fiora, and was now a full fledged journeyman blacksmith.

Starting from today, he had the right to own his shop and leave the city and go explore as part of a binder's entourage or even by himself, on safe roads, to far flung cities. With a belly full of pork and mead and a head full of songs, Diego was feeling like he was on top of the world right -AAAAAAAAHHH.

Diego suddenly shook himself out of his drunken revelry, as he stood in attention to see what had released such a loud and ghastly shriek. As his head darted back and forth in an attempt to locate the source, a dark shadow suddenly leaped into the air from a nearby alleyway. With moon serving as its background, Diego could make out the faint outline of huge claws the size of short swords that shimmered in the moonlight.

Diego quickly dashed into the alleyway that the shadow had fled from, and the thing he saw made his face pale and stomach empty.

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[Hey Voxea]?

[Yes]?

[What's the deal with Belladonna's sword... monster...thing]?

[Hmmm, I suppose I should tell you about it. Finish going through "Ice Maiden's Reaping" and then we can talk], Voxea said with mild hesitation.

[Right on].

Currently, Voxea and I were making use of the training grounds for me to practice how to fight with a polearm. Since my magical tool was a staff, Voxea figured she would teach me a couple of tricks on how to use it bash someone's head in, in case of emergencies...or more specifically, a bunch of old "maji martial art" forms that made use of polearms and a little aether. Didn't use any aether for obvious reasons.

"Ha! Ha! Kyaaa!", I shouted while finishing the form.

[How was that]?

[You're a quick learner. It's good, but your footwork needs a little work], Voxea commented.

[Fair enough...now about the sword thing, why did my Dragon's Eye act up on when I began reading it?], I asked as I put the training staff back onto the weapon rack.

[Do you want the long version or the short version?], Voxea teased.

[Somewhere in between], I replied while making way to a bench to rest. As I sat down, Savina showed up with a canteen. With a thankful nod, I took a drink then gave it back.

[Well to start...Centuries ago there was this master runesmith named Volaphus. The man was so good at his job, that he could make gold grade equipment in his sleep,literally. Maji and warriors from all over the empire would flock to his forge in a vain attempt to have him make them a weapon or tool. Granted, the man took comissions on a whim and was rather vague with his pricing.], Voxea explained.

[Sounds like he was rather...I was gonna say eccentric, but so far every maji I met has been that, so I'm just gonna say normal], I quipped.

[Volaphus had a habit of making weapons in groups, series if you will. One of his more infamous ones were known as "The Ten Infernals", ten dangerous weapons that he swore were infused with the power of the ten underworlds from which they were named. Belladonna's sword, the Five Venoms Purple Demon Saber, is actually one of them, forget the name though].

[Huh...Did Volaphus give you one of those magical tools]?

[Two actually. The first was my old spear, Nilfheim. It was part of a set of nine called the Nine Branches. All of the weapons had handles carved from the same tree], Voxea explained, [Volaphus was poetic like that].

[And the second?], I asked while taking another drink from the canteen.

[Hakkan-Jigoku, the Frozen Prison Mirror of the Ten Infernals...also known as that disc you've been lugging for me ever since we met].

At that sudden drop of information, I choked on my water.

*Cough, hack, wheeze!*

"Sil-Sil, are you okay?!", Savina asked worriedly.

"It's cool, but...wrong tube", I said.

[Are you serious?! You mean I've been dragging around a gold grade magic artifact this whole time]?!

[Diamond actually and you might have bigger things to worry about], Voxea suddenly said.

[Please stop being enigmatic with your warnings].

I was about to quip further, when an aether enhanced voice suddenly echoed through the campus

"Attention students, there has been a murder near the campus. Please follow the Wisps to the nearest interrogation booth to provide alibis".

Well, that's not good.