The Mecha-Kai Species During Dimensional Travel

Immediately after, Xiu Er asked her second question.

"[Inquiry] So, is this also the reason you want to obtain the 'Holy Sword'?"

If his calculations were correct, then Takuson's reason for wanting the 'Holy Sword' was probably the same.

Unfortunately, the next answer once again caught him off guard.

"Huh? No, I just think it's 'cool'."

"...Eh?"

The atmosphere instantly collapsed.

Takuson, his face flushed with embarrassment, turned his head away and scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"Because, whether I can pull out the 'Holy Sword' and become the 'Hero' doesn't matter to me. As far as I'm concerned, as long as I can kill Demons, that's enough."

To avoid misunderstanding, Takuson chose to explain himself.

He had thought the other had grown quite a bit, but instead, he was regressing back to how he used to be.

Oh well, this was fine too. Keeping a childlike heart was better than that bitter, vengeful look from back then.

And so, after traversing a not-short cave passage.

The two reached their destination for this trip.

Moonlight streamed in through the cracks in the stone walls, spilling across the central floor, illuminating the 'thing' resting on the stone in the middle...

Chapter 20: An Unexpected Encounter

"So this is the so-called 'Holy Sword'?"

Takuson walked up to the stone pedestal, his face full of doubt.

There was nothing here that looked like a cool, awesome 'Holy Sword'—aside from this rusty iron sword that probably wasn't even sharper than a fruit knife, there was nothing else.

"[Affirmation] This is the 'Holy Sword'."

At that moment, Xiu Er also arrived in front of this 'Rusty Iron Sword,' her glowing (physically) eyes fixed on the blade as she gave a definitive answer.

"Ehh—"

"Well, since Teacher says so, I'll take it as that legendary 'Holy Sword.'"

Though he said that, Takuson's doubt hadn't disappeared.

So, refusing to believe it, he pulled out the Battle Axe strapped to his backpack.

Bang—

The dust in this space was stirred up by the impact, then blown away by a sudden gust of wind from nowhere.

"How's that?"

"This is really..."

Takuson looked at the iron sword before him, then shakily at the two-handed axe in his hands.

"It clearly looks like just an ordinary iron sword, and look, Teacher, it's completely rusted! It's about to rot away!"

"And yet it blocked my axe, didn't even scrape off the rust."

Pointing directly at the corroded patches on the so-called 'Holy Sword's' blade caused by rust, Takuson shouted at Xiu Er with a face full of existential crisis.

"[Rebuttal] Because it's the 'Holy Sword.'"

It wasn't that Xiu Er actually had data on this world's 'Holy Sword'; rather, in his scan results, this sword possessed an extraordinary energy.

Externally, it was likely caused by some unknown 'Seal.' In other words, once pulled out, it should revert to its original form.

"[Proof] Go pull it out yourself and you'll understand."

Hearing his teacher's very certain words, Takuson had no choice but to comply.

"It's just a sword about to rot, what's so hard about pulling it out..." As he spoke, one hand had already gripped the hilt.

"Huh?"

Takuson blinked a few times.

"Ugh—"

He had both hands on the hilt now, feet planted firmly on the ground, but no matter how hard he strained, he couldn't budge it an inch.

"As expected of the 'Holy Sword,' it's this hard to pull out."

"..."

"I don't believe this."

Watching the muscular Takuson, holding his breath and struggling to pull the 'Holy Sword' with all his might, letting out a groan that sounded like he was constipated.

"Hmph, hmph, aaaaaaah—!"

A voice rang through the cave, startling all the birds in the surrounding woods into flight.

Two days later...

Sitting in a restaurant, Xiu Er held a menu in her hand and glanced at the black-haired youth across the table, whose face was full of gloom.

"[Inquiry] What do you want to eat?"

"..."

This time, it was Xiu Er who received no response.

"[Puzzlement] The 'Holy Sword' is only allowed to be drawn when a 'world-ending disaster' appears. If it can't be drawn, that proves the world is in no danger—isn't that better?"

"[Addition] It's already been a day. Still haven't gotten over it?"

"It's not that..."

Hearing his teacher's words, Takuson's already somewhat red face turned even redder.

Xiu Er stared straight at his face and suddenly understood what he meant.

"...I see."

"[Correction] Isn't it just that your pants split..."

"Waaah, stop saying that!"

It was like this: at the time, Takuson had used all his strength, but the 'Holy Sword' didn't budge an inch, meaning his 'sword-drawing attempt' had failed.

But just as he was about to let go and release his grip, for some reason, the floor beneath his feet suddenly cracked open.

Even worse.

Because of this sudden dip, his foot slipped. Add to that the low seasonal temperature, the cave floor was covered in puddles everywhere. And as luck would have it, there happened to be quite a few around the Holy Sword...

Only a "rip—tear" sound was heard.

The noise of clothes splitting echoed through the cave.

And so, that night, Takuson gained a shameful dark history in front of his own teacher.

But Takuson's shout directly drew the attention of the other customers in the restaurant.

Xiu Er didn't care about those stares, but Takuson was different.

"Sir, could you please not disturb other guests while they're eating?"

"Sorry, sorry."

Without looking at Takuson, who stood up to apologize to the waiter, Xiu Er turned her attention back to the menu in her hand.

After a somewhat unsettled lunch...

Xiu Er handed Takuson a fairly heavy pouch of money, telling him to arrange the rest of his time as he pleased and to wander around the city—whatever he wanted to do or buy was entirely up to him.

As for Xiu Er herself, after dismissing her disciple, she strolled through the city streets.

Just like before, she scanned the entire city. By now, the cities and villages Xiu Er had recorded in her registry totaled over a hundred.

Using the coordinates from her scan records, she could open passages to those cities at any time via [One-Way Street].

What she was doing now was precisely recording this town's information and coordinates.

But this time, she ran into an unexpected situation.

"Big sister, what are you doing?"

Hm?

Xiu Er heard a little girl's voice from behind her.

Let me explain: actually, Xiu Er was aware of the girl behind her.

When not in combat, Xiu Er always maintained the state of disguising herself as a human using [Fake Demoness].

And being "spoken to" was something she had encountered more than once. She had plenty of experience dealing with it.

The best method was—

Ignore it!

Yes, not responding to the other person.

That was Xiu Er's way of handling this situation.

Every time, when faced with someone trying to strike up a conversation, she just ignored them. After a few seconds, they would leave on their own.

"Big sister, are you an adventurer?"

"..."

"Big sister, your eyes are really pretty."

"..."

"Big sister, what do you do?"

"..."

"Big sister, why aren't you saying anything?"

Alright, it seemed that in this situation, simply ignoring her wasn't working.

Sigh—

Letting out a silent sigh in her heart, Xiu Er finally turned to look at the little girl beside her, who had a large orange braid.

The child had very naturally plopped herself down on the same chair and was now staring at Xiu Er with a curious expression.

Xiu Er found children with this kind of personality to be quite troublesome, though she had encountered plenty of them before.

She casually scanned the child's body, obtaining a full set of physical data, and learned that she was only seven years old.

At this age, she had probably run out on her own. Likely, her parents would come looking for her soon.

Thus, worried that the child might get lost, Xiu Er ultimately decided to talk to her first.

"[Inquiry] What's your name?"

"Big sister, the way you talk is so weird."