Chapter 81

A Demon Lord's Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss Chapter 81

A New Weapon — Part 2

Editors: Sebas Tian, Joker, Speedphoenix

As the figurative furnace cooled, the light surrounding the newly merged item began to dim .

"Wow… " I blinked, impressed, before reaching towards the final result and grabbing it by the hilt .

The blade glimmered . The light that came from the chandeliers illuminating the room almost seemed to sparkle off its edge . It, the final product, was a blade of Japanese origin—a katana . Specifically, it was a longer sub-type of katana known as a Tachi . Or at least that was what it would have been had its size been any less disproportionate . The blade was so long that drawing it from a scabbard looked like it would be a royal pain . Fortunately, there was no need for me to carry my weapon the same way the average Joe would . I had a magical inventory, and I planned to use it .

My new weapon's blade wasn't nearly as wide or thick as the western styled swords that I had been using to date, but its weight matched, no, exceeded its predecessors' nonetheless . The grip, the part that I had grabbed, was fairly simple as far as its design went . So simple, in fact, that it lacked a guard .

By contrast, its blade was beautiful . It was dyed a fiery shade of crimson and almost seemed to embody the concept of flame itself .

The only thing the weapon lacked now was a name .

And I had just the perfect one in mind .

"Alright, from here on out, your name is gonna be Zaien . " After christening it, I analyzed the weapon to ensure that it had taken on its new moniker .

***

Zaien: A greatsword in the shape of a katana synthesized by a Demon Lord by the name of Yuki . This blade despises sin and forgives not those that commit it . Through its blade, which only grows sharper and more powerful as it bathes in blood, Zaien convicts sinners of their crimes and delivers their sentences itself . Equipping this weapon leads to a drastic boost in its wielder's stats . Quality: Immeasurable .

***

To summarize, Zaien was a crimson blade capable of judging and punishing sinners . And that was precisely why I had given it the name I had . Zaien was a combination of two Japanese words . The former denoted sin, while the latter denoted flame . Together, the two formed a perfect description of exactly what the weapon was .

Its specs were quite literally off the charts . It was obviously not only far superior to anything I'd made to date, but also likely more powerful than anything I would ever make going forward . Yet, according to its description, the sword was still incomplete . I guess that's probably why it's got that whole immeasurable quality and all that .

Of course, it went without saying that I didn't mind . Gradually strengthening a sword that only grew more powerful as it continued to cut was an entire male fantasy in and of itself .

As for the weapon in question? It also seemed quite satisfied with its transformation—which made sense given the sinister air that had possessed it prior . The thick, grudge ladden miasma that it had attempted to channel into me was now replaced with joy . Its happiness was literally seeping into my being . Yeah, I'd say this whole experiment turned out pretty damn well . I see no reason not to use the hell out of you .

"Wow! That thing's huge!" said Lyuu . "The blade's got this weird curve to it too . Is it s'pposed to be some sorta cutlass, Master?"

“Nah . It’s a katana . ”

"A katana…" muttered Leila . The demon girl was looking at the weapon with eyes full of unbridled curiosity . "I believe they stemmed from the east…"

You know, Leila's got a pretty serious curious streak, huh? The fact that I'd voiced only to myself was one that I'd only noticed fairly recently .

"I see…" said Lyuu . "Well, uhmm, would you mind lettin' me see it, Master?"

"Sure . But you might not be able to wield it . It's pretty heavy . "

"No worries there! I may not look tough, but I'm a warwolf, and strength is somethin' that just comes to us, y'knowhat the heck!?" The warwolf cut herself off with a screech the moment I handed her the oversized blade . "Why the heck is this thing so heavy!?"

Yeah, that's pretty much the exact reaction I figured you'd have .

Leila and I laughed as we watched Lyuu, who had already started to sweat in desperation as she did her best not to drop the blade . Only after watching her struggle did I casually take it back .

"Man, you guys sure are mean…" she said as she panted . "I can't believe y'just stood there n' laughed even though I was 'bout to drop it!"

"Do you know when you'll return, my lord?"

"I'll definitely be back by dinner, so make sure you make my share!"

I gave the girls one last shout as I walked across the true throne room and left through the front door .

***

I called for Rir, who had returned to the forest with his underlings, immediately after doing a few practice swings . The reason was obvious . The two of us were to set out to hunt, both to test my new weapon and to earn some much needed DP .

“Wow… Not bad . ”

A few minutes after we started, I found myself standing in front of the butchered corpse of the first monster we'd encountered, nodding in appreciation . Needless to say, Zaien had impressed me . The sword had quite literally adjusted its own trajectory in order to better the strike I had executed . As a result, the slash had ended up literally perfect . It had cleanly cleaved the monster into two equal halves . Wielding Zaien just… felt right .

It was in part a result of the way I fought . I had always just relied purely on brute force . I had a lot of power behind my swings, but much of it was wasted . That, however, was no longer the case . The lovely crimson blade assisted me in following through with my attack and thereby put the would-be wasted force to good use . Talk about user-friendly . God damn . And these bonus stats too . Holy crap . My body's light as a kite . Hell, I feel agile enough to pull off all the crazy acrobatic shit they need stuntmen and wires for in movies . With ease .

The weapon's auto-assist was a really nice feature, but it wasn't the only thing that left me feeling pleasantly surprised . Zaien was sharp . Incredibly . Fucking . Sharp . The first swing I used had happened to contain a little bit too much power because of how gung-ho I had been feeling . Thus, Zaien had cut right through both the monster and the tree next to itwithout the slightest bit of resistance . So sharp was the blade that it scared me . I was worried that I would accidentally end up touching it without meaning to do so one day and end up losing a finger or five .

I suspected that Zaien's current state at least in part stemmed from the will that resided within it . It had really wanted to be able to fulfill its role as a weapon, after all .

"You're sharp, you look awesome, and you're even easy to use . God damn . You're pretty much the best possible weapon a man could ask for," I said with a smirk .

Zaien once again began channeling its joy into me in response to the praise I sang it . Huh . That's a bit of a charming reaction . Hell, I'm even feeling kinda tempted to call it cute .

You know what? I'm definitely going to engrave a fire-based spell into this thing later . Maybe I'll go with the one I got from one of the books I bought, the one that ignites things it cuts and reduces them to cinders .

Despite eating much more mana, Zaien had, unlike Hasai, spawned with three slots, likely as a result of the ultra high-class materials used in its creation . Wait . Will it be able to do that whole growing by drinking blood thing if it burns things down on contact? Ehh, whatever . I'll figure that part out afterwards .

I had yet to decide on what I was going to put in the other two slots, but since I didn't have any ideas off the top of my head, I shelved the thought for another time .

My excitement had been a little more than just obvious . The sheer extent to which it seeped out from my being had actually caused Rir to smile wryly in my direction . But that didn't discourage me . I continued to spend the rest of the day testing my new blade out regardless .

***

Editor's note (Joker):

Hey, guys! Joker here . Man, how about that fast update speed, huh? Don't get used to it though . This was a special occasion, so enjoy it . And now we have Yuki's main (maybe) weapon, Zaien . Which, if you don't know, is actually an anagram of Aizen . As in, Sousuke Aizen, from Bleach . No wonder that sword is strong . I guess the Soul Reaper reincarnated into a sword . Wonder how Zaien and Sword-Dad would get along… Hopefully well . All right, time to check the mail box . Let's see… It seems we got 5 questions from four people, so thank you to

Fran Fan (

So sorry about you losing your fix . Blame SevenSeas

), zekkendo, Tup, and Zehd Cashew

for your awesome questions . I do love replying to y'all, so if you have a question for me, leave it down below with the hashtag #AskJoker and I'll reply to you personally . See y'all in the next chapter, which will probably be out a little longer than this one was .