"So, how can we return to the sanctuary? Can we teleport like last time?" Kurotsuchi asks Selene who is the only one sitting on the floor. It seems full of magic power takes so much toll of her body.
Selene shakes her head, "That teleportation was done by grandma. But she is too weak lately. She can no longer perform the same.feat as before." We could see anxiety in her shaky voice and gloomy face.
"So, what's the plan now. There is horde of zombies between us and sanctuary." Sekrit interjects.
"We only have to run straight from this house to the sanctuary." Selene explains.
"But if we do that, we have to go through.." Sylvia says in high pitched voice. Selene only nods.
"If we sleep here to sleep here tonight, is this house safe? We even bring food." I try to calm everyone.
"This is sturdiest building here." Selene answers succinctly.
***
They have sufficient dinner that night with meal cooked earlier at the sanctuary. The ground floor is bright as its crystal lamps are still usable.
The third guy, Genma and the second guy, Danzo work the whetstone along the blade of their kunai and swords in a way that is less sharpening and more scraping away the metal. Maybe because the weapons are simply generic items, but no- these men would have treated legendary swords in the same way.
The polishing stops for a moment, and the weapons with different lengths, are held up to the light.
Those whom have learned just a tiny bit of adventuring from tales and songs might smirk and say knowingly that a sword is actually an expensive club, but they would be wrong.
A sword is for cutting flesh, tearing skin, and shattering bones. Otherwise, why make swords at all?
Only the massive two handed blades of knights could cut, pierce, smash and club all at once. They are like a sword, hammer, spear, and pickaxe all in one.
The weapons the men are holding at the moment, though, are nothing of the sort. It is for piercing the throats of zombies, lopping off their heads and cutting out their faces.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The second guy with a beard, Danzo is checking his swords.
"Killed a lot zombies with that thing?" Hiro asks as Danzo looks so concentrated. There is a noisy crackling of fire from the fireplace, audible even over the sound of the men and women talking to each other.
A strange silence pervades, as if they and they alone have been cut out of a picture. In the background, Kurotsuchi, the main storyteller tonight has switched at some point to a story about how they fought zombies near the frozen mountain.
"Hmm." Danzo strokes his beard and looks up at the ceiling. He wonders how long, how many years, it has been to grow so blackened with smoke. After a long moment, Danzo smiles as if he is about to reveal the secret to a magic trick. "Do you know how blacksmith tempers a sword?"
"No " Hiro says after a moment of thought. "I don't."
"All right, well, let me tell you."
Danzo begins counting off on his rough, big fingers. " They heat it. They pound on it. They chill it. And then they heat it again."
"Heat... Pound ... Chill.... Heat it again." Hiro parrots quietly.
Danzo crosses his arms. "The process requires each and every step. Whatever else you do to it, you have to do those four steps."
"It seems very labour intensive." Selene interjects. She shifts her focus from the talkative Kurotsuchi and Hanabi to this manly conversation.
"Doesn't it, though?" Danzo grins, as satisfied as if he has done the labour himself.
"A soft sword is supple but doesn't fight well between strong fighters " Danzo says while pointing at rapiers beside Sylvia and Ivanna.
"A hard one can cut anything but will break before long. So, what's good sword?"
Danzo is murmuring almost as if he is reciting a spell, but his voice carries as he takes a sip of sake to wet his lips.
"Cut with a sword, and the blade starts to chip. But polish it up, and you have less steel to wield. And all steel is just a speck of history's dew. So, what's good sword?"
Hiro and Selene who is beside him, with their thighs touching, listen silently. They look like children, sitting by the fire, and listening to their father tells tales. So, when they finally speak, the directness of what they say is surprising, "I don't know." Hiro and Selene says the same words.
Danzo smiles and resumes, "Of course, you don't. And it's fine to live without knowing the answer."
Danzo squints his eyes, running his thick fingers along the blade. "The secrets of steel are many, and complex."
The fire crackles loudly again. A log could be heard to split.
"I much agree " The elven girl concurs with a nod.
"That's how it is." Danzo adds and insert his sword into sheath.
Hiro brings some cabbage into his mouth. It doesn't taste bad at all.
Meanwhile, the leader Dan is working the whetstone with his weapons while listening to the girls' conversation.
All the girls have been talking non stop but Kurotsuchi, his lord's granddaughter dominates the conversation.
Dan's hand stops, and he holds the swords against the light. He brushes a finger along the edge and nods. He put the swords in their scabbards. Next, he takes out his throwing daggers or known as kunai.
There is a noisy scraping as Dan begins to hone the small daggers. Hanabi's big grey pupils drinks him in as he works the evil looking blades while her palm cover her mouth as the girls' conversation becomes funny.
Dan has instead picked up the whetstone he has casted on the floor earlier, rolling it around in his hands.
He silently polishes the rest of his daggers, checks the state of his equipments, and makes sure his item pouch is organized.
"So, what is the plan tomorrow?" Ivanna suddenly raises serious tone after long silence among the girls.
"The three of us actually have trump cards. We only use once we find ojou-sama." Dan says while looking at the Danzo and Genma who smile confidently.
Hiro who can see their ability beforehand already know their abilities but he doesn't know how exactly their abilities work.
"To pass through the zombies, we shall use Danzo's ability. He summons a lot of skeletons. The skeletons kill and block the zombies for us."
Danzo adds, "I have been saving my magical energy so when I use it, my ability will be at best." He looks at puzzled Kurotsuchi.
They then lay out their escape plan that night.
