Chapter 1282: Chaos Slash

We headed for the capital via Urushi and Jean’s undead carriage. Along with us on Urushi’s back were Amanda, who absolutely refused to leave Fran’s side, the vigilant Forrund, and the relatively energetic Sierra.

Maleficent needed some rest in the carriage, and Persona accompanied him. As for Yuvel and Oldona, we sent them to Jean’s side since he wanted to discuss something.

They must be very interesting subjects from a necromancy prospective.

「Amanda, did your title change affect anything?」

「Hmm… I’m not really sure.」

Fran spoke about her worries to Amanda while riding Urushi. Guardian of Children was Amanda’s most prominent title, so I would expect significant changes to her stats.

「I don’t feel any immediate difference, but there will probably be a surge of power when I start fighting. My new title seems to lend power not when protecting children but when saving them.」

Amanda opened and closed her fists a few times while lost in thought. By attacking Laranflura, she lost her title of “Guardian of Children” and gained “Hariti” in its place.

This was essentially a message saying that “saving” can take many forms.

It may be necessary to cut down a child in order to “save” them from suffering or their own insanity. The correctness of such an action will vary from person to person, but it seems the gods have acknowledged Amanda’s intentions as salvation.

「Laranflura was truly a child. Despite all her talk about righteousness and grievances, everything she did was full of contradictions, with little consistency in her actions. Children change their preferences day by day and may start saying the opposite of what they insisted on yesterday, and it all makes sense within their minds.」

Now that you mention it, I still don’t understand what Laranflura really wanted. She made a lot of big talk about defeating the Evil God Fragments, repaying the East Conquest Duke, and killing us to get revenge against Kranzel. Looking back though, everything she did seemed half-hearted.

That makes sense once we accept that Laranflura was as young as she looked. She wasn’t making her judgments based on the bigger picture, she was simply doing whatever she felt was right at the moment. This might be the truth behind Laranflura’s motives.

「She may have committed some terrible crimes… but that responsibility lies with the adults who raised her. They educated her to despite Kranzel and did everything they could to lower her inhibitions towards violence. No one is born evil. Bad children are the fault of bad adults.」

「Really?」

「Fran-chan, you grew up to be a good girl because you were raised by good people like your parents and Master, right?」

「Nn! That makes sense.」

「Hehe, right.」

Fran nodded instantly at being called a “good girl”, causing Amanda to suddenly embrace her. The hug was so tight that it seemed to be giving her trouble breathing.

「Amanda?」

「Just a little longer…」

「Nn.」

Since this was what Amanda wanted, Fran chose not to resist. Certainly, interacting with children would put Amanda at ease, and she needed some time to calm down.

Meanwhile, I spoke to Forrund, who had remained silent for the entire exchange.

『Forrund, how are you holding up?』

（That you, Master? My fatigue is hardly recovering. I only managed two swings and I’m in tatters. The divine swords are truly incomprehensible.）

Oh right, I just remembered that communicating via telepathy makes him quite talkative! At least he’s more approachable this way.

『I’m honestly surprised you were hiding a trump card like Divine Sword Imitation all this time.』

（No, it’s all thanks to you and Ashwrath-san.）

『What do you mean?』

（During that incident at the royal capital, I witnessed the power of a divine sword with my own eyes. Then, I touched you, a psuedo-divine sword. It seems that caused my Sword God’s Favor to reach a new height. Or perhaps I am the one who truly grew.）

When Forrund and I fought Fanatics in the royal capital of Kranzel, he had yet to learn the method behind Divine Sword Imitation.

He apparently felt that it would be possible with enough training, but it hadn’t taken a concrete form.

That’s when he witnessed the clash of the Grand Earthblade Gaia and Fanatics. Touching me also seemed to deepen his understanding of higher-tier swords.

As such, his fragile “feeling” grew into a full fledged conviction. Then, he finally got a grasp on the extremely powerful ability of Divine Sword Imitation during the fierce war with Raydoss.

Before this, his strongest move involved materializing 100+ magic swords and pouring in excessive mana to make them burst. But the current him could now do the same thing with much lower risk to self. Not only did he gain the Divine Sword Imitation ability, his skill itself seemed to have improved immensely.

（That said, the recovery of my fatigue and mana is still incredibly slow. The same thing happened the last time I tried it.）

『You mean because of the divine attribute?』

（Divine attribute? Ah, you must be referring to that special mana the divine swords and higher-ranked magic swords sometimes emit? I see, so this is a glimpse into the power of the gods…）

While Forrund didn’t know about the divine attribute, he seemed to have an intuitive understanding. He nodded to himself as if everything made sense now.

Forrund went on to bow his head and ask for my knowledge about the divine attribute, so I shared everything I knew.

In the middle of our serious conversation, Forrund’s gaze shifted to the side. The eyes that had been looking at me were now focused on Fran.

No, more specifically, on Fran’s hands and mouth.

『Fran?』

「Munch munch?」

Before I knew it, Fran and Amanda had started eating.

『Fran, I know you’re used to eating on top of Urushi’s back. But don’t you think curry is a bit of a high hurdle for Amanda?』

Especially since it was the more watery type of curry you eat with naan.

Fran was probably just picking out whatever she felt like having, but wouldn’t curry bread make things a lot simpler? Amanda was desperately trying to finish it because she could never waste a gift from Fran.

「Nn.」

「Thanks.」

Now she’s giving it to Forrund too!

『Forrund, we have plenty of easier-to-eat options. Would you like to swap?』

Amanda was already past the point of no return. Her hands were covered in curry, and it’s even splattered a bit on her presumably very expensive top-tier armor.

She’ll have to finish the rest on her own, and I’ll cleanse her later. I don’t expect her to give up on food from Fran either way.

Meanwhile, Forrund shook his head at my offer and started eating the curry. It seems he’s willing to accompany Fran.

「Hmm?」

「Like this.」

「I see.」

「Nn.」

For some reason, that “conversation” taught Forrund how to eat naan curry perfectly. He began tearing the naan and scooping the curry, all while maintaining his balance.

Oh! Speaking of curry!

『Fran, about that “Curry Slash” thing. What should we do with the name?』

「Nn? It’s Curry Slash.」

『Wait, hold on. Don’t you think putting food in the name makes it sound kinda weak? I admit it’s a good name, but hear me out here. I’m sure we can come up with something better. That golden aura thing seems to be a power related to the Chaos Goddess, so we can call that “chaos aura” or something. In that case, why don’t we call the move “Chaos Slash”?』

I admit, Chaos Slash sounds a bit chuunibyou, but it’s way better than the alternative!

「Hmm? Chaos… Chaos…」

『W-What do you think?』

「Nn. Let’s go with Chaos Slash.」

『G-Great! Yeah, what a name, right!』

「Sounds really cool.」

「Woof!」

『Perfect.』

Good job, me! I did it!