Chapter 10
“I’m not taking you.”
I sharply turned my head away.
I’m never seeing you again! You damn sword!
—Ah, Alena! I’m joking! Take me with youuu. Ventus is boring because he’s always kissing gold!
…Kissing gold?
At the holy sword’s words, I looked at Ventus. He stared back at me with an incredulous, are-you-seriously-believing-that? expression.
“That’s not true! Even if I cherish gold, I don’t kiss it!”
His face flushed red as he shouted.
I heard the holy sword giggling.
Strangely enough, Ventus didn’t react to the sword’s laughter. It was as if he couldn’t hear it at all.
Since it was transmitted mentally, it seemed the sword had set it so only I could hear.
What a terrible personality… Why is this thing a holy sword?
“Ventus, I always tell you. What does strong denial mean?”
“…Strong affirmation.”
Ventus wore a completely resigned expression. Ah, I should stop teasing him. At this rate, the sun would set.
—Alena! Then you’ll take me, right?
“Nope.”
—Why! I’ve lived such a good life! I made Ventus pick up trash! Donate!
“That part was good, but—”
“What do you mean ‘good’?!”
The moment I tried to continue, Ventus snapped back. He looked seriously irritated.
“When I’m resting, it keeps telling me where trash is and makes me pick it up! It threatens to sing all night so I can’t sleep! When I’m solemnly offering gold and treasure, it suddenly acts cute, cracks stupid jokes, and laughs by itself!”
—Huh? The holy sword doesn’t know any of thaaat!
“AAARGH!”
Ventus, boiling with rage, tried to hit the holy sword—but since harming it would curse him, he instead punched the wall furiously.
Crack.
The wall split, bits of debris falling.
I always wonder… Is that thing really a holy sword? At this point, isn’t it impersonation?
—Alena, take me with you! Please?
The holy sword begged, but it didn’t work on me. I’d been fooled by that voice for years.
“Let’s think this through. Ventus, if you get the gold back, will you fulfill the contract properly?”
“Well… or should we play that old game again?”
Ventus barely held onto his sanity as he grinned. With his sharp features, he looked especially ill-tempered.
That old game? What did we even do back then? We did too many things to remember…
“Oh! Yutnori?”
It was called Yutnori, but really, we’d been gambling gold or money since long ago.
It was practically gambling… but why bring that up now?
I looked at him in disbelief, but his face was full of anticipation and excitement. I couldn’t refuse a face like that. I nodded.
Ventus pulled out a set of yut sticks from somewhere. They were ancient and slightly rotten in places, but still usable.
He kept these all this time. Seeing how carefully he’d preserved them made me smile unconsciously.
Oh, wondering why Yutnori exists in this era?
I found it once at a market when I was bored, and we started playing then. Why the same game exists as in Korea—I have no idea.
“I’ll take the flat side.”
I went first.
To decide turns, we chose between the flat back and the rounded front of the stick, then tossed one. Whoever guessed right went first.
“Then I’ll take the rounded side.”
As soon as Ventus finished speaking, he tossed the stick. It landed showing the front.
Ugh, so close!
“I’ll wager contract fulfillment.”
“Ah, not that—bet those gold bars instead.”
“…Fine. Then what will you wager?”
“The holy sword?”
“Even if you give it to me, I won’t take it.”
—That’s cruel. Rejecting me like this! Starting tonight, I’ll sing until you like me.
Contrary to the sword’s cheerful voice, Ventus’s face grew paler by the second.
…Poor guy.
—Alena, I’ll keep talking to you too! Don’t worry! I don’t discriminate over things like this!
…Could you maybe discriminate? That’d be better for me.
I muttered silently, desperately hoping it would only sing and chatter to Ventus at night.
Ventus’s misfortune wasn’t my responsibility. He was the sword’s owner, but even he couldn’t control it. I’d suffered because of that thing for years… sob.
I cut off my thoughts and spoke.
“Then let’s do this. I’ll give you one land deed I hid in the secret room of our estate. Whoever loses takes the holy sword.”
Ventus thought for a moment, then raised three fingers.
Three land deeds? Deal. Kids, wait for me—big sis is coming.
The game began.
Winning what we wanted mattered—but the most important thing was… not taking the holy sword.
In reality, the holy sword was the one with real power here.
“Geol.”
Ventus moved his piece first. Then, in the most cautious state I’d been in since transmigrating, I took a deep breath and threw the sticks.
Please!
“Waaah! Mo!”
On my next turn, I threw again—another Mo—and stacked my piece. Then, miraculously, Ventus kept rolling Geol, while I kept getting Mo.
It felt like I used up my entire lifetime’s luck.
“Alena, the match has to be fair!”
“Hey! I’m Shur-er, okay? And if I’d used magic, you would’ve felt it immediately! You can’t fool a dragon!”
Exactly. This was pure luck.
Grinning, I looked at him.
Dragons surpassed humans in nearly every way. If I’d really used magic, he would’ve sensed it.
Knowing that, he couldn’t say a word.
Yes! All that gold is mine now!
“My gold…! Then I’ll just collect more!”
The threat didn’t work on me at all—but I thought of someone suffering because of a dragon who loved pretty things. If I were Ventus, I’d already be throwing a fit. So I decided to compromise.
“Then how about this? I’ll return two-thirds of the gold bars, and you fulfill the contract. If we later recover the stolen gold from those thieves, I’ll give it back to you.”
“Hm. That’s reasonable. Fine. Then I’ll go around with you in human form again.”
“Do you have to…?”
You’ll totally mock me when I act cute in front of Kiel…! I’m already embarrassed enough!
I felt my pupils shaking. I was doomed.
“We need to renew the contract.”
Swallowing my tears, I agreed and renewed the contract with Ventus—using my life as collateral.
—Take me too! I want to stay with you, Alena! Let’s beat bad guys, pick up trash, and help people again! It’s been so long since I went outside! Yay!
The holy sword cheered. I clutched my head, while Ventus buried his face in his hands, then muttered darkly,
“I’m going to kill the bastard who offered that thing to me…”
Since the one who offered the sword was the root of everything, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him. Just like that, our party suddenly gained another member on the way home.
After finishing our gambling—no, Yutnori—and arguing intensely over which gold to take, the sun set. We decided to stay the night and leave the next day.
But did they really leave? I told them to go, but I still feel sulky!
As I grumbled, Ventus approached me.
“They looked like they were planning to wait secretly until you came out, so I sent them away. The presence was annoying. I couldn’t kill them either.”
“Of course you can’t kill people! You didn’t… while I was gone, right?”
“No. I didn’t. I didn’t even leave the cave.”
Chatting with Ventus, we returned to the ducal estate.
“We’re here.”
—Alena, Alena.
“I told you yesterday. My name here is Shur-er. Just call me Shuri.”
—Oh! Got it, Shuri! Are we doing that thing? Sneaking around enemy territory to gather intel?
“Ah, then why don’t we just kill all the enemies? I can breathe fire once and—”
“Absolutely not!”
I hurriedly stopped Ventus, who looked ready to breathe fire. These two seriously felt socially maladjusted.
Well… living stuck in one place for most of their lives without interacting with people would do that. I dragged them outside, at least…
I sighed quietly where they couldn’t see.
“Miss!”
Hern ran toward me as soon as he saw me.
Hi, nice to see you after just one day!
I waved cheerfully, smiling like a puppy reunited with its owner. The two behind me froze, looking like they’d witnessed something shocking.
What. Why.
I mouthed silently. Ventus, who understood, looked utterly dumbfounded.
Yeah, I get it. There’s a big difference in how I treat you. You’re a friend—he’s business.
“Oh, Kiel-oppa!”
I ran over, grabbed Kiel’s hand, and beamed. I heard muttering about eye pain and weirdness behind me, but I ignored them.
“Poppi. Don’t bring strangers here.”
Kiel said flatly.
Calling me Poppi aside… Is he worried? I almost got touched. Almost.
“They’ll negatively influence Lotte.”
Not might, but will. Such dedication. And honestly, this time, I agreed.
Yeah… those two absolutely could.
“But he’s someone I know!”
—More precisely, someone bound by a life-collateral contract!
“We even played games together!”
—A gambling-style game involving gold bars and land deeds!
“And we know each other pretty well!”
—Including each other’s embarrassing pasts and humiliating actions!
“If you keep this up, I’ll never sharpen your blade again. I’ll stick you in barren land and ignore you, rain or shine.”
I turned my back to Kiel and whispered threateningly to the holy sword in the smallest, calmest voice possible.
—Eek!
Thankfully, the threat worked. The sword shut up, suddenly worried about its future.
Ahh, peace at last.
When I looked ahead, Ventus was staring at me with pure admiration.
Heh… You’ve been tormented by that thing too, huh. Poor us…
“…So? You’re bringing him in?”
“Ah, he’ll go with me when I return to the count’s estate! Could he stay just until then?”
“Get Mother’s permission.”
Kiel spoke curtly, sounding displeased.
What’s with him all of a sudden?
Before I could ask, Kiel turned away. I stared blankly at his back. Before his figure even faded, a voice sounded beside my ear.
“Aren’t you going to ask for permission?”
Ventus grabbed my hand and dragged me along. I looked at him, puzzled.
“Do you… know the way?”
“Ah.”
At his belated realization, the holy sword and I burst into laughter. Ventus seemed to scream internally.
Yes! Another black history added!
Teasing Ventus together with the holy sword, we strolled down the hallway and ran into the duchess.
“Your Grace!”
“Shuri! Are you alright?”
“Yes! And I negotiated with the dragon too! I’ll explain later—but this is my friend. Could he stay here until I return to the count’s estate? There’s a reason…”
To look extra cute, I wiggled my fingers and stared at the floor, then slowly looked up.
The holy sword screamed at the unfamiliar sight. Ventus silently covered his mouth. Their reactions were basically ‘seeing your close friend act cute.gif’.
You idiots are dead.
“Is that so? Then let him stay. I’ll give him the room next to yours.”
“Gasp! Thank you so much, Your Grace!”
I hugged the duchess once and hurried off to show them the room locations.
“Oh, right—I have something to ask. It’s about my friend’s friend’s friend…”
—Wait, Alena… you had that many friends?
“Three friends?”
Their innocent expressions annoyed me even more.
Hey! I have friends too! More than you guys, okay?!
