"No good, huh? I guess an evil god's curse wouldn't be as easy to remove..."

...

Dammit...

it failed.

I'm really not sure what to do at this point...

The only option left is to simply carry the sword everywhere I go.

But that's just...

"Well, cheer up! This might not have worked, but how about you try putting it into a sheath?"

Well, that's what I planned to do earlier.

But seeing as it managed to break even an item bag from inside of it...

"You see... I had a cursed sword with a sheath here... and then someone came along and haughtily bought just the sword, leaving me with the sheath. Not sure if this thing is gonna do anything to hold back the curse on your sword but... how about it? Wanna give it a try?"

Oh?

A sheath designed for cursed swords?

I wonder if that's gonna work...

Well, at this point, I'm willing to try anything!

Bring it, please!

Rennack went into a back room and returned with a sheath.

It didn't look very cursed, anti-cursed or otherwise special in any way.

But since I had money to spare, I decided to buy it and give it a go.

Well, even if it doesn't work, I would feel bad for not compensating Rennack in any way.

He DID try his best, after all.

I tried putting the sword into the sheath and it seemed to fit perfectly.

But... nothing seemed to change.

Well, it's a good thing that it didn't burst out right away, but the item bag also took its time before it tore.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

We left the shop and noticed the sun was already about to set.

Since we didn't intend to travel at night, we quickly found an inn to stay at.

And luckily for us, the one we found even served us a dinner for a small extra fee!

...

Hmm.

I feel like I'm spending a lot of money lately.

Well, it's fine!

Money exists to be spent, right?

I got plenty from all the C and B rank monster subjugation quests!

And it's not like I'm saving up to buy my own mansion or something like that!

After the dinner, we went to our room to sleep.

Since the sword only seems to act up whenever it isn't close to me, I decided to put it on a table a bit further from where I slept.

I'm not taking off the headband so, I'm sure I'll notice if anything happens!

...

The next morning.

Cana's incoherent mumbles woke me up.

And when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realized what was happening.

There was... something black linking my leg and the sword.

The shadow magic leaked through the sheath without damaging it and went straight for me.

And it didn't even wake me up.

Heck, I didn't even NOTICE until I saw it!

...

What the heck is wrong with that sword?!

It's like an overly attached pet!

It sneaks out of its designated sleeping place(table) and crawls into my bed!

...

Also, this sheath...

I'm glad it didn't break, but it's doing a terrible job at blocking the magic.

...

Wait a minute...

No no no!

Don't tell me the sheath is cursed as well now!

Didn't I want to avoid cursing more stuff?!

Argh, I'm so dumb!

Why did this happen?!

"U-umm..."

Go ahead and laugh at my stupidity, Cana!

Ugh, dammit.

This sheath was useless after a-

Midway through my thought, I grabbed the sword and attempted to pull it out of the sheath.

And the moment the blade was exposed, even more grotesque black tentacle-like shadow magic... things burst out from it.

I immediately pulled the sheath back over it, calming it down again.

I could only stare at the sheath as it sprouted smaller versions of these tentacle things.

...

So it DOES work?!

It just doesn't block ALL of it?!

Are you kidding me?!

This sheath is even more useless than I thought!

The amount of shadows leaking is the same as before!

Except, it's a blunt weapon now!

And on top of that, if I unsheathe it, it's gonna go nuts!

I only added onto the weight I gotta carry around with me!

Argh!

This is hopeless!

Hopeless I say!

I'm fated to forever carry an ominous evil sword with me now!

"How about... you ask the one who made that sword for a sheath...?"

...

Oh.

There's still someone who can think rationally around here.

That's right...

If that guy can create a sword out of that whatever-ium, which conducts magic well.

I'm sure he can make a sheath that insulates, right?

Or actually...

Now that I think about it...

This sword's hilt isn't not covered by the sheath.

And even though I painted it with shadow magic as well, it doesn't seem to leak any of it.

...

Alright.

If I can get sheath made of whatever the hilt is made of, this might work!

I'm betting on you, super rude spicy food-addicted self-proclaimed hero!

With our plan C in mind, we signed out of the inn and went to Buanna's market to buy the best spices we could find.

And after that, we swiftly headed out of the city and back to Kalamas.

The guard I know seemed to be on a break when we passed the gate.

On our way back though, we made a stop.

Why?

Well...

I got curious.

If the sheath leaks this much of the shadow magic...

Just how crazy is it if I remove it completely?

How bad is it after one night of not being close to me?

"I... don't think this is a good idea."

It's fine!

If it goes out of control, I simply have to absorb it just like before.

Alright!

Step back a bit Cana!

This might be a little- GYAH?!

I slid off the sheath in one motion.

And by doing that, the magic erupted, making the sheath shoot off and stab itself into a tree.

Yes, a blunt sheath stabbed itself into a tree.

Coincidentally, the thing that appeared after the sheath flew off also looked like a tree.

A pitch black tree with ominous leafless moving branches.

...

Yep.

I made a mistake.

This thing is absolutely huge.

I didn't expect this.

...

I'm sorry Cana!

I should have listened!

B-but it's fine!

I'm not a real cat, so I won't let curiosity be the end of me!

Oh, nonono!

I've got this under control!

I composed myself and ran to the sheath stuck in a tree to pull it out.

After doing that, I realized there's not a good way to put it back on.

The shadow magic 'tree' extended far beyond the sword at this point.

Argh, dammit!

Fine!

I just gotta stuff it back into it!

Like an overfilled bag of clothes prepared for a vacation trip!

If it fit before, it will fit again!

Panther soul!

"I-i-is is over?"

Ugh...

I guess so...?

This was real rough...

And...

Magic: 47/32

I ended up absorbing a good chunk of it.

...

But no worries!

It's back in the sheath!

And until I get my hands on a better sheath, it's staying there!

Hop on, Cana.

Let's go.

"What the F*CK is THAT?!"

A brilliant first reaction.

Well...

He's not really a blacksmith, but I guess he would be mad to see a weapon he made in such state.

"What did you do to it?!"

Look, I'm sorry.

I didn't know shadow magic is this nasty!

I swear I won't use it on weapons again!

"That looks pretty bad..."

"Meow..."

Not you guys too!

Argh!

I know!

I messed up, alright?!

"Ugh, well... since you DID go out of your way to give me this..."

Well, at least he seems to be enjoying his spicy noodles.

"I guess a sheath made out of adamantium would work... It's really hard and impenetrable even for magic."

Oh another nonsense-ium.

Or actually, this one sounds familiar...

Didn't a certain superhero named after an animal have a skeleton made out of this stuff?

Well anyway...

If it's impenetrable by magic, this might work.

Although, I'm always skeptical since these variants never seem to follow standard rules...

The cage wires turned off for a couple minutes and the guy made a red metallic sword sheath.

"Here, try it."

He hands it over to me and I... realize that it's big enough to go over the previous sheath as well.

What, so this sword is SO bad that it needs two layers of protection?

W-well, I can't deny it...

I put the sheath on and fasten it with the little mechanisms at the hilt.

And unsurprisingly, nothing happens.

I decide to test it by leaving it a bit further from me while I go and 'talk' to Kuro.

And after over an hour, when I checked back on it, nothing seemed to change.

The sheath, although quite thin, didn't let any signs of magic out.

It didn't even seem to change its color to black.

Well...

I think I finally managed to tame this thing.

Intermission - Evil sword: END