I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

"...What do you think that was?"
[...What do you mean?]

"I mean, what did you do to make the young lady let us go so easily?"
He wasn’t wrong to ask. Just last night—
Gray had stood there hesitantly, staring into empty space, and then suddenly grabbed Carlyle by the collar and hurled him out of the room.

"..."
No, seriously. What was that?
He vaguely remembered that, uncharacteristically for Gray, her entire face had turned beet red.

"You. What did you do to her?"
[⋯⋯.]
Carlyle narrowed his eyes at the silently feigning-innocence Holy Sword.

She might be pretending nothing happened, but the evidence was staring him in the face.
–System Message
▶ A relationship has been formed between [Holy Sword] and [Gray Chasefield].
▶ [Gray] is now acting in line with the [Holy Sword]’s intentions!
▶ As the relationship deepens, conflict may arise between [Holy Sword] and [Gray].

...Even just reading this made it ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) obvious that whatever conversation took place hadn’t exactly been normal.
What the hell did she do to make things head toward “conflict” later?
"Did you lie to her or something?"

[I didn’t do anything I couldn’t take responsibility for.]
"..."
[Oh come on, really now?]

"..."
Cold.
A dagger flew right into his chest...
[Well, you’ll figure it out soon enough. It won’t be a bad thing for you either.]

"...I don’t believe you."
[There’s a signal coming through the communicator. Shouldn’t you answer it?]
"..."

She was blatantly changing the subject, and it was extremely suspicious, but—well, the communicator really was ringing.
And, of all people, the caller was Felix. The signal was coming through the device that man had given him.
In the end, Carlyle brought the communicator to his ear, still glaring at the Holy Sword.

[Remember what I mentioned before? I think I’ve found a way.]
"...Please explain with a little more context, Your Eminence."
He certainly lived up to his reputation as a busy man, diving straight into the main point. But still, saying it like that made it completely incomprehensible.
[That thing. You know, that thing.]

"..."
[The thing that gives you a headache just by looking at it. I found a way to deal with it.]
He couldn’t see Felix’s gestures through the call, but he had a very good idea of what he was referring to.

Carlyle leaned his head out slightly and looked up at the sky.
The black mirror was still floating above Yoram.
...Just that being up there cast a shadow over part of the academy, so they’d barely managed to convince it to “anchor” itself at a short distance away.

Considering they’d done it because Carlyle asked, maybe he should be grateful.
Looks like it really understands language...
The clue Panhyma had mentioned in the folklore confirmed it: this beast definitely had intelligence.

No, not just intelligence—it seemed to possess emotional range and reasoning ability comparable to a human.
It kept showing that it could understand things when explained, even with gestures.
When they conveyed that “being here makes others uncomfortable,” using all sorts of pantomimes, it blinked once and nodded quietly.

It even gently spun half a turn in the air and swayed its fins as if to say “sorry for the inconvenience.”
At this point, calling it a mindless monster in the form of a whale would be a stretch—it was practically a person.
Which, in turn, sparked new ideas.

It would be great if we could talk with it.
The fact that its brain had been implanted with a magic bomb implied one thing: it had made contact with a demon.
And what Carlyle needed was information on that.

"..."
Because here’s the problem.
If there was a being out there with enough power to puppeteer a calamity-class magical beast without resistance...

There was only one kind.
The most sinister beings beneath the brimstone hellfires.
Forged from a malice so vile it could rot your brain just by being near it—enemies of humanity itself.

Archdemons.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
In every cycle, only Gray had ever been able to stand against them.

Even the Hero’s party—aside from Gray—would all have to gang up just to barely handle one of them.
Whether they were already physically present in the material world or merely projecting their power, he didn’t know.
But even just grasping how they were operating in this timeline was invaluable intelligence.

Which meant—communicating with the Black Thing was essential...
[...Though whether “Blackie” is the best name—no, forget it. I can tell you’re going to be stubborn.]
What do you even know about Blackie?

[⋯⋯.]
Blackie was Blackie.
No matter what anyone said, Carlyle had already decided on that name.

[If you want to talk to it... well, it should be possible. I’d already started looking into that direction anyway.]
As he was exchanging nonsense with the Holy Sword, Felix’s voice came through the communicator again.
"..."

And just how had he been investigating that?
Was there anything this man couldn’t do when asked...?
[I squeezed a few contacts from the Magic Kingdom and the Alchemist Guild. Turns out there’s actually been real progress on “humanizing” magical beasts.]

"...Why would anyone have made progress on something like that?"
[⋯⋯.]
Felix went quiet.

He sounded like he was considering whether this was something he should even say aloud.
[Some magical beasts, well... how should I put it. If you turn them into human form, they end up looking kinda cute?]
"..."

[Don’t look at me like that. That’s what those researchers said, not me.]
"...Yes. I think that’s enough detail, Your Eminence."
He didn’t want to hear any more.

He didn’t want to know what kind of perverted thoughts those deranged fur-lovers had while looking at magical beasts...
Carlyle shuddered in disgust at the depraved imaginations of certain academics, while Felix cleared his throat and continued.
[Anyway, if you have the right materials and the right process, the transformation is possible. The ingredients involved are just so rare that they’re hard to come by.]

"Even for someone like you?"
[Even for me.]
Hmm.

If he was saying that, the materials must be truly exceptional.
As Carlyle nodded slowly in understanding, Felix added:
[Still, I do know someone who can get them. Or rather, a family.]

"A family?"
[One you can reach through someone you already know.]
"...?"

***
Elena Lindel Anastasia had been living her days quite diligently lately.
At Yoram, the empire’s top academy, she was getting along with everyone and enjoying the prime of her youth.

A stunning beauty, endlessly sociable, and practically the academy’s information hub—every useful bit of gossip passed through her.
She was welcome wherever she went, and that was certainly something to be proud of.
"Hello."

"..."
"...It’s been a while, Elena-sunbae."
...And so—

It wasn’t an overreaction for her face to turn deathly pale the moment she encountered a person capable of ruining that happy life in an instant.
Seeing the familiar orange-haired junior standing in front of her, Elena trembled as she responded.
With dead eyes and ghostly pale cheeks, she staggered backward.

"...Whyyyyyyyyyy... Hrk—whyyyyyyyyyyyy..."
"..."
To an outsider, it might sound like she was retching.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had.
Carlyle somehow managed to translate the meaning behind those sounds.
She was probably trying to say, “Why did you bring these people to me?”

"...You’ve met before, but let me reintroduce them. His Eminence Felix, and the Hero."
"..."
"..."

Felix and Gray stood with arms crossed, silently watching Elena.
Both had given her horrific memories in their own way.
And they were probably staying silent because Carlyle had begged them not to say a word.

If even one of them opened their mouth, Elena’s mental state might completely collapse.
"I have a favor to ask."
"B-BLEEEHHHHK—"

"..."
He didn’t know how much stress a human being had to endure to literally lose language, but there it was.
"I need to bring these two with me to your family estate."

"..."
"...We’d like to meet your family."
"..."

"...I’m sorry."
It wasn’t really his fault.
But if a sincere apology could prevent her from passing out—

"—Wait, sunbae? Sunbae!"
"...She passed out."
"..."

Hmm.
So much for that effort.