Royal Princess of Blood

As the smith was giving me my change, I spoke to him. “You have fine weapons displayed behind you, I’m impressed.”

“Haha, of course, those are the things that I worked hard for the most.”

“Indeed, I can see the hard work from the finished product alone.”

“Hehe, thanks.”

“Ah, which reminds me, do you also have any premium quality daggers?”

He smirked for some reason. At this moment, he must really now have the impression that I was a wealthy customer. Well, I didn’t mind.

“Of course.”

“Oh? Then can I take a look?”

“Hehe, wait for a moment.”

From behind the desk, he grabbed a wooden box, it wasn’t something you would call plain. It was all made up of wood, but it was carved beautifully. Various shapes that resembled vines and leaves were all around it.

“Here it is. It’s one of my older works, but it’s been untouched for a long time, so it should be completely fine.”

I guess he barely makes any daggers which were premium made. Mostly what I see were swords, could be that swords were more in demand than daggers.

He continued, “As for the box, I also made it myself.”

“You have a wide range of talents, I see.”

“You flatter me, missy.”

He placed the box on the table and presented the front to me. He opened the box slowly, a bit dramatic to be honest. But holy shit, it was actually building up my anticipation. 

Well, the age of my old world and here were different, thus, I was actually looking forward to how this dagger was. And you rarely find any, you could say, custom made daggers. Well, rare for me, that is. It was hard to scout, okay?

Then when I saw the thing inside, both my eyebrows rose. I have never seen such a marvelously designed dagger before.

The dagger of plain steel, but there were more. Along the hilt was a trace of gold, wrapping around all the way to the top. In addition to that, there was also something embedded along the steel, perhaps silver. Then at the upper side of the handle, the guard, there were carvings of flower petals, in the color of gold and silver.

By the blade, at the center, there were lines and traces of gold, then shapes of flower petals and vines carved in, highlighted by a golden hue. The dagger was beautiful and neat. Not only that, it was around a medium-sized dagger. I’m impressed by just thinking of the intricacies.

“Incredible,” I let out my words of awe.

I want to have it.

“Right? I added silver and gold on the steel. Although, I only applied thinly the materials used for cosmetics so that it wouldn’t weigh too much and to keep it balanced.”

“I’m at a loss for words…”

“It can be used for practical purposes. Personally, though, I think it fits best to just be a collection.”

“No, that’s wrong… What’s the use of a dagger if not used for its true purpose? And this one should definitely be used.”

Just imagining as I cut down my foes with it elated me.

“Oh?” He seemed to be taken aback by my words as he raised his eyebrow with smiling lips.

“... May I touch it?”

“Of course, go ahead.”

I slowly reached out. What I was about to hold was a sacred object. Beauty beyond realms that other people who didn’t have the same interests as mine could understand. I carefully wrapped my hand around the handle, the coldness of the metal spread out through my senses.

I lifted it and looked closely.

“Amazing…”

I flipped the dagger into a reversed grip and waved it in the air. It could be used perfectly. And, I could see it was still sharp.

“What fine craftsmanship.”

I’m definitely buying this!

As I was admiring the beauty of the sacred object in my hand, all of a sudden, the door banged open.

“Yo!”

A loud man’s voice echoed throughout the entire shop. The owner in front of me looked displeased. I decided not to look back, since I didn’t want any attention. Plus, I bet the dagger in my hand was more pleasing to the eye than him.

“What’s… up?!”

He sounded drunk. And the way the owner reacted, and the others were completely silent, it gave me the impression this wasn’t the first time that this happened.

“Why so quiet, hm? Whatever man, I’m resting today so I might as well have my sword repaired, it’s getting dull.”

He walked towards the owner, and stood beside me. Fuck. Of all places, but it was not that surprising since I was talking with the owner. Dammit, it reeks of alcohol! But that was not the problem at the moment. If someone like him caught interest in me, it would be troublesome.

I pulled my hood, lowering it down some more.

“Here smithy. Take care of it.”

With a frown, the smith glanced at the sword placed on the counter.

“Bertos, you better pay this time.”

“Of course I’ll pay you.”

“You didn’t pay last time.”

“Huh?! Don’t ya have patience?! I told ya I’ll pay.”

“And when would that be?”

“I will.”

“Then no—”

“Don’t even try to deny me your services, Nekero. Or else, I’ll feel upset.”

The smith, Nekero, looked around his shop, the products and so on. Was this one of those ‘do what I want you to do, otherwise I’ll wreck this shop of yours’? Yup, it seemed that way.

“.... No, not this time,” the blacksmith said in defiance.

“Oh? Resisting? What do you got, eh?”

Bertos looked at the other adventures and snorted.

“You think those guys can even beat me?”

I stole a glance at the other adventures amidst the racks, they appeared to be hesitant. The men at the front appeared to be covering the women behind them, hiding behind the bigger man. Almost looked like they were keeping them from view. Could be a battle formation or something else.

Hm. Was this guy infamous? And if that group were reluctant to resist this guy, then he must be skilled.

Well, senses and movements are dulled when drunk, so they should be able to beat him. But I suppose it's this guy's reputation that made them hesitate. 

I looked at what I assumed to be the smith’s wife, and she was looking at her husband with utter worry.

How troublesome.

If I were to settle with this guy, I have to take in mind that he was drunk. So he wouldn’t be at his full capacity. Still, this made me think of magic. However, if I had no choice but to strike him, I have to do it with utter swiftness.

One issue, this was a public place.

Bertos gave a confident smile towards the smith.

“You got no one. Hm?”

It felt like he glanced at me. I didn’t see it as I was avoiding looking at him.

“Or don’t tell me you have a chance if you have this girl.”

“She has nothing to do with this!” 

The smith defended me. I was thankful for that. I hope this will be over with that. But of course, it wasn’t.

“Hehe,” Bertos ignored him. “What a nice baby knife you got there, girl.”

Tch. This asshole just has to keep his mouth talking.

“Oi, why you not looking at me? Don’t ignore me.”

I kept ignoring him. I would like to avoid trouble if I could.

“I said don’t ignore me! And I’m curious what beauty you are, come on show us who you are!”

“Bertos! Don’t involve her!” the smith shouted.

“Stop it, Bertos. I can’t just keep watching.” The adventurer with the sword walked towards us.

“Shut yer mouth!”

He extended his hand towards my hood.

No, no, now that’s crossing the line. Gotta respect a lady’s privacy.

“Now then, show me yer face.”

I sighed as I made my move.

The next moment, in a flash, a passing glint of a blade cleaved through the air. Too quick for the unguarded eyes to follow. After that, what everyone could only see was an extravagant blade held by a slender and pale hand, pressing against the bare throat of a crude man.

His throat had a little shallow wound as the blade dug only just slightly, blood leaking through his skin.

A voice then reached everyone’s ears, emotionless and cold.

“Keep on going, and the next thing you’ll see as your insignificant life snuffs out is your own blood spurting out of your throat,” I said, with my head looking away from him. I didn’t need to look at him to strike. Training wasn’t a waste.

He froze in surprise, he didn’t see it coming.

“Oh, try moving a muscle, and you’re dead. This is a new dagger, so I would like to try it out. But I don’t know if your trashy blood should be what this blade tastes first.”

But blood is blood. It had been a while since I spilled some, since I was last killed. And this little shit, I am willing to put it in its rightful place. What this thing should be, a mere plain, unmoving corpse.

If he even tries to move which I deemed threatening, my strike will be instant. His throat would have already been slitted before he could even tackle me.

I waited as I anticipated the fountain of blood that was to come.

His next action will decide his fate… And I was waiting.

“... Gh. You…” He seemed defiant, but he was reluctant.

Of course he would be. The only thing missing from him would be his life flashing before his eyes.

Good thing he didn’t have his guard up at all. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to threaten him this way, and an upfront battle will be difficult.

Even though I had an idea what reputation this guy has from the other’s reaction, that didn’t mean I would also cower before him. 

Fear? If I feel such a thing towards people, how pathetic I would be. What made this man different from other people who I faced that wanted to kill me?

“Please! No bloodshed in my shop!” the smith yelled out of the blue.

He sounded pretty desperate.

“Bertos, I beg you. Back down,” he pleaded to the man.

The asshole was silent as he deliberated on how to proceed.

“... F-Fine. I’ll step back.”

I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, just a little bit.

He opened his hand and showed his palm. One by one, he stepped back away.

“... There, I’m away, satisfied?”

I slightly lowered my blade. As if I would lower my guard. 

I spoke to him. “Walk to the door and stand there.”

“What?” He sounded puzzled.

“Do what I say.”

“Huh, I’m surprised you didn’t tell me to immediately leave.”

He walked towards the door and stood there.

I then spoke to the adventurer that approached us. “You with the sword, may I ask you to do something?”

“Y-Yes, w-what is it?” He sounded uneasy.

“Please give back his sword.”

“What?”

“Do it.”

If his sword wasn’t returned, he might get annoyed and just come later, since the smith said he wouldn’t repair it. So it would be good to give him back his sword.

The reason I had him stand by the door and away from me was so that he wouldn’t strike me the moment he had his sword back. If he decided to unsheathe his sword, the heroic adventurer should be the one to face him first, not me. And I’ll have plenty of time to respond.

“Very well.”

The swordsman took the sword from the smith and walked towards the man.

“Here.”

“Hmph, at least you gave it back…” He received the sword. “Also, you girlie, you win this small round, you got me good. In honor of that, I’ll leave you people be… for now.”

With that, with a loud slam of the door, he disappeared from the shop.

“How much for the dagger? And oh, please rub off the blood.”

I returned to how I spoke earlier as I presented the dagger to the smith.

“R-Right, sure. It’s two gold coins.”

He took the blade from me and cleaned it with a piece of cloth.

I then placed two gold coins on the table.

The smith returned the dagger to its box. Good thing it was included in the package.

“Ah.”

He took a piece of fabric from the cabinets and spread it on the table. He took my daggers I bought and placed them on top of it, arranging it while doing so. He then carefully rolled the fabric.

I grabbed the sling bag and wore the strap by the shoulder.

“Here you go.”

I received the rolled fabric and placed it inside the bag. How thoughtful of him to place the daggers inside it. I then placed the belts and strap in the bag, and took the wooden box then pushed it down inside the bag before closing the lid.

“Thank you for the time.”

“N-No, I should be the one thanking you. It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”

I nodded my head and left the shop without a regard for anyone else.