Floating in the center of the room, a shiny silver candlestick holding a candle in the air that felt as if a chill ran through the entire body just by breathing. Its surroundings were enveloped in a pale light, and the entire room seemed to glow, like it was under daytime sun.
“Hey, Ed?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s it.”
I nodded in return to Tia, who whispered to me quietly. There was only one thing I could think of that would make a difference.
“This light――.”
“What, I thought a great treasure awaited me here, but it’s just a mere candlestick!”
And then Pierre, who seemed to feel no pressure from the air or the thing in front of him, carelessly reached for the candlestick.
“Wai-!? Oi, Pierre!” Rebecca shouted,
“Shut up! It’s always been a rule that the first to reach the treasure gets it! and if it’s made of silver, it has some… AH EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!??”
The moment he touched the candlestick, Pierre yelled loudly and removed his hand.
“The hell is this!? It’s so hot! Shit, if that’s how you gonna play it, my left hand..”
“No, you’d better stop. …” I said,
“OWWWWWWW!!!??”
“… Pierre, you an idiot?”
Pierre sprawled on the floor, swinging his slightly reddish metal claw, while Rebecca looked down at him with a frown. It would be a big problem if the metal part attached to the body gets hot. I doubt it was possible to remove it.
“Water! Water! Pour some water on me! Hoo! Hoo!”
“Can’t help it…”
I took a water bottle from my bag at my waist and poured it over him, causing steam to rise from his claws with a sizzling sound. As soon as it subsided, Pierre finally stood up with a relieved look on his face.
“Fuck, that was rough!”
“Don’t touch it any more, okay? I ain’t gonna splash water again, okay?”
“But what are we going to do, Ed? We can’t even touch it if it’s that hot, right?” Tia asked me,
“Hmm, yeah, … Hey captain, could you try touching it this time?”
“Eh!? Why me!? Why would I do it when I know it’s hot?”
Rebecca replied to my suggestion with a dubious look on her face. That’s a normal reaction, but my conjecture was a little different.
“No, You were the one who pushed the door open a while ago, too. So I thought maybe you can touch this too. And since you know it’s hot, if it gets too dangerous, you can just take your hand off it right away.”
“Well, that’s true, but …”
“Go for it! You experience its hotness too!”
“Shut up, Pierre! Well, but at least I can try to touch …”
Rebecca, having been persuaded more easily than I expected, slowly reached for the candlestick. First, she touched it with her fingertips, then she wrapped her fingers around it little by little. … Finally, she squeezed the handle of the candlestick and pulled it close to her chest.
“… I don’t feel hot or anything?”
“Huh!? What!? You’re the only one!” Pierre shouted,
“I don’t know anything about that! Hey Ed, the way you’ve been talking, do you know anything about this?” Rebecca asked,
“If I know what it is, then you know what it is too, right?. It’s probably the [Sword Of Light].”
“”EHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?””
I said casually, and Rebecca and Pierre’s voices overlapped simultaneously. Both of them observed the candlestick …. sword of light seriously, and Pierre touched it once more and flinched at the heat of it again.
“Fuck, I knew it! Why is Rebecca not feeling anything!?”
“That’s because Our Captain is the Hero from the fairy tale, isn’t that correct?” I said,
“A Hero!? This wretched old woman with them wretched tits and a fat ass, A Hero!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”
“I see, I don’t really care about being a Hero, but this guy is pretty handy.”
Pierre rolled around on the floor three times laughing hysterically as The Sword of Light was shoved up his nose. Poor … totally deserved it, though.
“Damn, damn, damn you bitch!”
“What’s the matter, Pierre, you haven’t been burned enough? If you want, I can burn the sheath of your dagger too. … No, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want a pile of gold coins.”
“Why would I ask you to do that!”
“Aahahah! Well then, now that we’ve gotten what we came for, it’s time to head back.” Rebecca said,
“Yeah. I’m sure there are no more treasures to be found here. Let’s go, Tia.”
“Yeah, let’s go, Ed.”
“Wait, I ain’t got no treasure!, Can’t ya… listen to me a little more!?”
With Rebecca in a good mood in the lead, we headed back the way we came. The fire in the candle of the Sword of Light was brighter than it looked, and even without Pierre’s hook to light it, we were no longer troubled by the darkness.
But when we left the ruins, the landscape before us had changed drastically. A fog so thick that we could not see our fingertips if we stretched out our hands was covering the entire area.
“It’s a terrible fog. What’s going on here? …” Rebecca said,
“Hey, Captain, that Sword can dispel the fog, right? Why don’t you try swinging it?”
“Oh?Like this?”
At Tia’s words, Rebecca swung the Sword of Light. Despite her vigorous swing, the fire at the tip of the sword did not go out, and instead, the fog that covered the surrounding area disappeared in a flash.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, isn’t this awesome! Don’t tell me it’s really the Sword of Light?” Pierre asked,
“Who knows? At least the power to dispel fog seems to be real.” I said,
“Why’s Rebecca the only one!? Don’t you have a Hook of Light or something?”
“…, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Tia said to the raging Pierre with a vague, indescribable smile. If there was such a thing, it would definitely be exclusive to Pierre. … Fortunately, there wasn’t.
“By the way, Captain. If you are the Hero, what are you going to do after this?”
“Hmm? I won’t do anything special. I’ll just continue being me. Don’t tell me you thought I’d be wielding this sword to fight a Demon Lord who may be anywhere in the world?”
“I don’t know? But wouldn’t you be able to make history if you did?”
“Ha! I’m not interested in that. I am a pirate. I live how I want and die how I want. But, well, you’re right. …”
After she had finished, Rebecca looked up at the blue sky where the fog had cleared.
“If this thing can dispel the fog, it means we can get to places where no one has ever been able to go before because they were beyond the fog, right? It sounds like a lot of fun to go into places that have never been explored before and collect all the treasures that are there.”
“The hell, Isn’t that awesome!? Hey Rebecca, give me a bite of that!”
“What? You want to take advantage of me?”
“Whatever you say! One of these days… when I make a prosthetic hand that doesn’t get hot, I’m going to take it from you and make you lick my ass!”
“…I’m not sure why you’re telling me this right now, but it’s very typical of you. It’s alright. The world is not so small that I can keep it all to myself.”
“That’s the way it should be! All right, then, let’s get the hell out of here! First, let’s go to the port of Charos!”
“We’re not going to Charos, okay? I’ll lend you a small boat, but you’ll have to go home by yourself.”
“What!? Then look … please take me. I’ll at least polish the deck.”
“Hahaha, I’ll think about it.”
“… Hey, Ed. Do those two end up getting along? Is it bad?”
Rebecca and Pierre were walking side by side before I knew it, and Tia was whispering to me gently. Her jade eyes seemed to glow with curiosity, but my answer to that was only a shrug.
“They’ve been after each other for years… but there are certain things that only they know about each other. It’s not just a relationship that can be easily described by the words “friend” and “foe”.”
“It’s complicated. But it’s fun to watch.”
“Hahaha, I agree with you.”
With the two of them bickering amicably, Tia and I returned to the ship, chatting and laughing.
(T/N: Sorry for the delay)