16 A Dragon Bone?



 

"What did you just say?" I asked, I think she is not in her right mind to say something so outrageous,

"A dragon bone," she repeated herself and looked at me innocently.

'She's crazy, right? maybe not?' I thought,how can she be so calm while saying that,

"So you are telling me that this dagger is made from a dragon's bone, and if that's true, then how did you even get this?" I asked since killing a dragon is not possible for even a sixteen-star mage or swordsman. 

"We found it back in our days when your parents and I were adventurers." She said,still maintaining that nonchalant expression,

"You found it?" I am confused because it can't be true that she found it just like that.dragons are not some kind of street dog that you'd just stumble upon,

"We had so many encounters in our journey as an adventurer party; this was just one of them."She said, "Just one of them." Then what kind of journey did they have? I am curious to know, but this is not the right moment for this.

Sigh

"If this is made from such a precious item, then I can't take it, so please take this back," I said, I knew that such a mythical object was precious and extremely difficult to obtain. there's no way i can take something that valuable,

Silence,

Marylin took a pause and,

"Then marry my daughter."she dropped the bomb,

"I'll gladly take the gift." I said,Marilyn's eyes widened slightly, and she sighed like understanding that i am no longer interested in her daughter,

'I am not going to be your son-in-law.' I thought I don't want to be around Mary anymore.

"This dagger is yours now; you know how to use it, right?" She asked, and I held the dagger in my right palm tightly.

"Yeah, I do." I said that since I've always liked using knives and daggers in my previous life. 'They are useful to kill someone in a close-range fight.' I thought and pushed the dagger back into the leather scabbard.

"It's a little blunt, but after sharpening it a little, I think it will be a great weapon." I said the blade of the dagger was quite blunt for being a tool meant to slash and stab the opponent.

"Ah, I forgot that this is your first time handling such a weapon." "Why don't you pull the dagger out of the scabbard again?" Marilyn asked, and I pulled the dagger out again.

"What now?" I asked.i don't see any reason to have to pull this thing again out of it's sheath

"Just imbue some mana into it," she said,

"Well, if you say so." I then slowly pushed mana from my mana core into the dagger, but there wasn't any change in the dagger itself; it just felt like it was sucking on my mana.

"A little more." Marylin said, and I kept pushing my mana into the dagger.

Shing.

"Whoa!"    I exclaimed, "The blunt edges of the dagger are now covered with my mana!"

"This dagger requires mana to increase its power, so you have to imbue your mana into it to be able to use it." Marylin explained it to me.

"That's great!   I did—ahhh." 

Thudd

 Before I could even finish my words, I fell on my knees, I couldn't even keep my balance and my mind felt kind of hazy.

"What-?"    Marilyn showed a panicked expression but then looked at me carefully. Then she bent forward and pulled the dagger out of my hands, and then she pressed the green amethyst gem on her spatial ring gently with her index finger.

Then she pulled out a vial with transparent liquid in it, placed the mouth of the vial on my lip, and said,

I drank the liquid in the vial as instructed. I could feel the cool sensation spreading from my throat toward my chest.

' it's a mana potion,' I thought, my core was now full of mana.

"I forgot to tell you that this dagger keeps sucking a large amount of mana from your core continuously; that's why you went into the state of mana depletion." Marylin kept explaining while she helped me get up.

"So you are telling me that this dagger depleted my core and sent me into a state of mana depletion, but I only held it for a second or two." "How can it consume so much mana?" I asked, 

Marylin's expression hardened, and she said,

"Listen, Ren, this weapon was not made for normal people." "Even a sixteen-star warrior or mage can have difficulties while handling this dagger." Marylin told me this and handed the dagger back to me.

A sixteen-star warrior or mage is the highest tier of humans and dwarves. since elves and demons have different power levels than us. There are only twelve of these powerful individuals in the whole kingdom of Grav, and their identities are known only to the king of Grav and me.

'Thank God, I know the future.' I thought that because these individuals have a big role to play in this story, that is,

'They have to die.' that was their fate,

Now back to the topic, these powerhouses are extremely rare, which is why beings above the sixteenth star are not classified as humans. They are the

'demi-gods,' 

and now I can connect the dots correctly.

"Have you ever used this dagger?" I asked since I wanted to know how much Marilyn knows about this weapon.

"I am a mage, so I don't fancy these types of things." That's why I tried to give it to your father, since he has a knack for sharp weapons, but he refused, saying he wouldn't be able to handle this. "Now it's been here for years." Marylin said while sighing

I paused for a bit and,

"Mrs. Marilyn, thank you for the gift, but now I must go back." I said that since I have to go home right now and confirm something,

"Oh, that's bad. Why don't you stay for lunch?" She asked,

"I am so sorry, but I have to go right now." I said, "I have a theory about the origin of this dagger, and if it's true then,'I am going for a dungeon dive.'

.....,,

"Bye, and thanks for the present." I said, "Marylin came at the front door to send me off."

"Don't forget your promise; you have to keep visiting me." Marylin said,

"I won't forget about it," she said, leaving the Kleine household.

"I have to go home to try it out." Then I began to run in the direction of my house.

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After Ren left, Marylin came into the house and walked towards the sliding door at the end of the corridor. The design of the house is a bit unusual, but it is made this way to incorporate the dojo into the house.

Slide.

She opened the sliding door and peered into the dojo.

Slash.

Slash.

Slash.

Inside the dojo, Mary was practicing her sword techniques diligently; she was sweating buckets, which was expected since she's been practicing for like six hours now.

Slash.

Mary has been practicing like crazy to catch up to her only rival. After her father died, Mary's only goal was to become the greatest swordsman in the whole Kingdom and for that goal she can sacrifice anything.

"Mary, I think you should stop now." "I have some news for you." Marilyn said, keeping her voice calm.

"What is it?" Mary stopped swinging her sword and asked,

"Ren was here a moment ago," Marylin said , but before she could finish her sentence, Mary cut her off.

"If it's about Ren, then there is no need to tell me; just tell him to go home and stop bothering me." Mary huffed at her mother for bringing up Ren,She got back to her practice after saying these words.

Sigh.

"He broke off the engagement with you." Marylin sighed and conveyed the message to her daughter.

Silence,

"Is this some kind of trick that he's using to attract my attention to him?" Mary frowned and asked if it was another gimmick of Ren's.

"No, Ruu came here and declared that he was breaking this engagement," Marylin answered serenely, She waited for her daughter to respond, but to her surprise, Mary didn't answer; she just stood there like a scarecrow with a sword in her hand.

After a few seconds,

Step step

"That's good."    Mary immediately walked out of the dojo and went to her room upstairs, leaving Marilyn behind.

Creak.

After closing the door of the room, Mary jumped onto her bed and buried herself in the soft embrace of her mattress. A few minutes later, she rolled to the left side of the bed, where she opened a drawer of a side table. Inside the drawer was a single piece of paper.

She carefully picked up the paper and read it.

The words on the paper say,

[Sometimes you have to choose what's more precious, and for me, it's my daughter, Mary.]

She placed the paper back in the drawer and closed it.

"I have to choose what's more precious," she thought in the letter that her father left for her. These two lines are important to her; whenever she's stuck between two paths, she'll remember these two lines and choose one.

"Ren or swordsmanship?"  For Mary, the answer is clear—that is,

"My father's dream is more important than anything else." Mary said to nobody,

"And as for Ren, I am certain that after a few days he'll be back to normal again." Mary thought, Since Ren has always been doing these types of things to get Mary's attention.

"But I never thought that he would pull a stunt like annulling the engagement." For Mary, everything Ren does is to gain her attention, but this is the first time he has said that he wants to end their engagement, and for some reason, it hurts her.

Fuu.

Mary took a deep breath and closed her eyes. ,

Inside her mind, an image of Ren smiling appeared, and soon her mind calmed up a little.

 

"He's always going to be around, since he loves me." Mary said, but deep down in her heart she was feeling uncomfortable.it was some unexplainable feeling,

"He loves me, right?" She questioned herself.

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