"Magic Potion Merchant" Mr. Sargent had indeed provided Shade with unexpected information. Shade had more or less pieced together the attack, his self-treatment, and the process that had forced him to seek help through Mr. Mortis and his own investigation. But some things were known only to the severely wounded man himself:
"While I was unconscious, I had a long dream. In the dream, I saw the longsword Elder Harald mentioned, entangled in black light. Then I realized that I had become an identical sword myself. I could still feel that my eyes, ears, nose, and all my organs existed, but my body had been compressed into the shape of that sword, and my skin was gradually hardening."
He sat on the bed wrapped in a thick cotton coat, his face growing ever paler, before shuddering violently.
"If you hadn't awakened me in time, my consciousness might have been assimilated into that Demon Sword in the dream. After waking up, I became certain that those infected by that sword will eventually turn into swords. That would have been my fate, so I beg you: if I truly reach the point of transformation, you must kill me.
"I would rather die as a human than become a soulless metal life form."
Elder Harald looked at Shade. There were some things he could not say, so Shade made the promise for him:
"If it truly comes to that, I will personally send you to your death."
"So, this is the 'proliferation risk' Mr. Watson spoke of."
Elder Harald summed up. He looked fairly well today; if Shade had not seen his wound yesterday, he might even have thought the old man was uninjured.
"Yesterday, we saw seven swords in total. Apart from one that may have spread here from elsewhere, the other