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Chapter 136: Majority bias can be rather dangerous in certain aspects, especially when it’s wrong and no one knows to oppose it.

Although there was movement, no one actually got up.

At first I thought that was ridiculous, since everyone, except Hibiki-chan, was a seasoned adventurer who should be used to keeping alert when camping, but on second thought, maybe it wasn’t that surprising.

Besides, my sudden movement had technically woken most of them up, but they just stayed alert for several seconds before drifting back to sleep since I hadn’t raised an alarm.

Ragnall even gave me a sleepy glance before rolling his eyes, as if to say, ‘She’s doing something again…’ before falling back asleep.

… Well, I get that we’ve got Barriers and I’m keeping watch, but you’d think hearing a random young man’s voice would still fully wake everyone up.

I’m amazed everyone can fall back asleep in under 5 seconds…

“… Um… are you going to keep holding me like this? Although it’s not like it’s inconvenient or anything, but it feels sort of oppressive…”

This kind of feeling… so it’s telepathy.

Now that I’m not blind-sided with the voice, I can tell that the words aren’t being transmitted by soundwaves; this guy is using telepathy to send his words out.

But broadcasting to your surroundings through telepathy isn’t all that different from yelling, so it’s still a little weird that no one else is bothered by a loud telepathic voice suddenly popping up in their heads.

It takes me a second to grasp the frequency the dagger is using and I ask,

“…Are you only using telepathy on me?”

“Of course I’d only make it so the person who’s magic is on the same wavelength as me could hear me. What, you think I’m stupid or something? If I was brought out in the middle of a stealth mission or something -”

…Is it just me or is the dagger going, ‘hmph’?

Even though it’s just a dagger, I feel like it has a wide variety of emotions…

“…Your consideration is appreciated, but I feel like it’s kind of pointless if your loud yelling freaks me out regardless?”

“… You think?”

I release the dagger and it floats in midair.

What did it mean by ‘wavelength’?

Although I want to dismiss it by thinking that he meant the magic frequency for telepathy, I’d like to point out that not many people can intercept and then reform that sort of thing, even if it’s not a big deal for me.

People usually use telepathy by designating a target and letting magic do the heavy lifting.

And for me, the person who poured Light Magic into the dagger, to be the only one to be targeted by his telepathy, well, it can’t be a coincidence.

After thinking for a bit, I finally ask,

“…What are you?”

“Hm? I’m, well ….”

The dagger tilts a little, as if it’s looking down at itself.

“… I’m a dagger, right?”

“… Why are you asking me that?”

He, it… the dagger sounds genuinely unsure, so I can’t help but give him a retort.

Truthfully speaking, there are Light Magic spells that that can create a ‘consciousness,’ but it’s not really like giving something a soul.

That kind of magic makes something that’s more like an AI from Japan, where it can respond and learn accordingly, but lacks initiative and an inability to express true emotion.

And by all that, I mean… there’s no way this dagger’s consciousness is inorganic.

But if it’s not a dagger given a consciousness by magic, what is it?

As a Japanese person who knows some things about fantasy and manga, the first thing I’m thinking of is obviously something like trapping a soul into an inanimate object, but I don’t know enough about the magic in this world to be able to make that guess seriously.

What, that seems unlikely?

Not really, I was only taught some basic magic, and the rest I just fumble around with on my own.

Even if I can use magic, especially Light Magic, outside the bounds of most people’s common sense, it doesn’t mean I’m well-versed in the magic of this world.

I haven’t been exposed to much rare or difficult magic that’s been developed in this world, so it’s more than possible that I’ve overlooked – or rather, completely missed something that could make a dagger have this kind of consciousness…

Well, I can’t know what I don’t know, so it’s pointless to analyze it.

What, use magic to analyze it?

My magic analysis method (skill) is pretty destructive, so it’s likely that I’d end up destroying it in the process – and that’s basically like murder, right?

I sigh and ask,

“If you don’t know if you’re a dagger or not, how is anyone else supposed to know?”

“Eh… but your magic signature is what’s all over me…”

Why do I feel like I’m being accused of dumping a girlfriend or something?

“Even if I … I dunno, activated you or whatever, it’s not like I created you or anything, so there’s no way I’ll know what you are.”

“Hmmmm….”

Looks like trying to solve this dagger’s identity crisis is going to be a pretty pointless exercise with how much it knows and how much I know.

As I ponder over what the hell kind of situation this is, the dagger speaks up again.

“By the way, I don’t really care if you want to use me or just keep me in a sheath or whatever, but that… Inventory you call it? Please don’t put me in there anymore. It’s really horrible! You can’t move at all, you can’t channel magic, and even thinking is suspended in there. You just exist, on the verge of a thought, unable to tell how long you’ve been there, it’s really like torture!”

Th- that sounds awful.

I’ve always wondered what would happen if I could put something living in Inventory, but now I’m really glad for the limitation.

Having consciousness but being kept from thinking … it definitely sounds like torture.

I am very sorry.

“N-no, it’s not like I’m complaining to you, like, I get that you didn’t know, so…”

What an amiable dagger.

I sigh quietly, to avoid waking the others up before asking.

“… So do you have a name or something?”

—

“…So it seems like his name is Derrick.”

“Nice to meet all of you.”

The next morning, as everyone woke at dawn, I introduced the dagger to everyone, even Sir Desmond and the elf twins, who had been camping nearby.

It seems that a talking dagger really is extremely rare, but almost everyone accepted that it was probably just something so rare that they’d never seen before.

But while I was feeling secretly relieved that I wasn’t the only one that felt that way, Sir Desmond had an extremely odd look on his face.

“…You said you channeled Light Magic into this?”

“Yes, quite a bit of Light Magic.”

Wasn’t he around when I did it?

… Was he?

It’s kind of hard to remember, since Sir Desmond and the elves have been acting stealthily in the background these days.

Sir Desmond tapped a finger on his chin thoughtfully, his eyes wrinkled in confusion.

“’Ey, what’s wrong with needing Light Magic? With this kind of intelligence, isn’t it obvious I’d need a lot of Light Magic?”

? It’s subtle, but I feel like I understand why Sir Desmond is feeling doubtful.

“But you’re not alive…?”

Right, that’s it.

Although I analyzed the dagger back then and determined that the magic engraved on it took in Light Magic, in the end, it’s a little odd that the dagger needed Light Magic to ‘animate.’

Light Magic is something like qi, so although I didn’t think too much of it at the time, in retrospect, it is weird that the dagger would need Light Magic to activate. ?

So far, at least, I haven’t found any inanimate objects that used Light Magic; at most, Light Magic would be used to make an inanimate object, but the tool or weapon itself would not run on Light Magic.

There are lots of tools that run on normal non-attribute magic power or other elemental magics, but there aren’t any magic tools that circulate Dark and Light Magic.

“What’s ‘alive’ mean anyway? I can think and communicate, can’t I? Anyway, Light Magic is the magic of words and thought, so naturally this kind of complicated ego would require Light Magic rather than any other kind of magic.”

?

Both Sir Desmond and I tilt our heads a little at this.

“Oi oi, what do you guys think Light Magic is, anyway?”

Derrick the dagger asks.

“… It’s something that all living creatures possess?”

Except most flora.

“…What?”

“What?”

There’s a strong sense of incongruity, like we’re talking in parallel circles.

A flash emits from the stone in the dagger’s pommel as Derrick uses a spell.

It’s basically the search spell Sir Desmond taught me, but a little different.

It feels … antiquated?

After a moment, Derrick sighs.

“… I see. So that’s how it is.”

“?”

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

How what is?

Can’t you speak more clearly?

As everyone looked at the dagger, er Derrick, he only laughed hollowly.

“Ahaha. No. There. Is. Nothing.”

… Like hell.

At any rate, we’re still pressed for time, so we break camp and move on, leaving what or who Derrick is exactly a mystery.

Just as I promised, Derrick doesn’t go back into Inventory, but stays sheathed by my side.

As we move forward towards the second level, that dagger starts talking to me through telepathy.

Since no one else reacts, it seems he’s just talking to me.

“…Hey, hey, you and that little elf lady, you’re not real, are you?”

The fuck he means by that?

“Ah, no, I didn’t mean … well, what I mean is, you two, having bodies made completely by Light Magic… you two didn’t originate from this world. Bodies had to be created for the both of you.”

I can’t help but gasp.

It’s not that I’m surprised that he so accurately guessed that, it’s more that there seems to be a lot of implications that I don’t understand behind his guesses.

“Furthermore, it seems that there’s some rather large misunderstandings about what Light Magic is and how to use it these days.”

Great, can you clear that up for me?

I mentally heave a sigh and ask,

“So, what is Light Magic, then?”

“Ai, Light Magic… what can it be…”

Clonk.

I rap on the dagger’s pommel sharply.

“Ai, ai, don’t need to hit me-! Light Magic is the magic of information and knowledge.”

What?

“That doesn’t make any sense. Isn’t Light Magic something like the magic of life?”

“How can that be? What kind of manipulation of life will give you light when you say ‘light’, or like you and the little elf lady, form a body from specifications given by an external force? Or translate between languages, or give you information on objects when you Analyze? In another word, Light Magic is the manipulation of data.”

I feel a chill running through my body, not because Derrick is driving me crazy, but because he sounds a little too right.

“How can that be? Everyone else in this world recognizes Light Magic as life magic.”

“Ai… that’s the main problem. Light Magic, like Dark Magic, is extremely complicated, after all, so there shouldn’t be too many people who can use it, or at least use it well. And yet…”

Derrick drops his voice to a whisper, despite the fact that only I can hear him.

“Why does every living creature capable of sentient thought have the stamp of Light Magic on them? Why is everyone mistaken on what Light Magic is, even the Deep Elves? Isn’t this something odd?”

At this point, it’s clear that Derrick the dagger is old.

Very, very old.

From a time long before the current theory of Light Magic came to be accepted knowledge all over the world.

But I’m unwilling to think that the entire world has a misconception on what Light Magic is.

Because … because…

“Why would it be unreasonable for everyone else to have and manipulate Light Magic? And, I’m able to manipulate Light Magic through my own body… isn’t that proof of it being related to life?”

But even as I say it, I’m starting to understand how vague my conception of Light Magic is as ‘magic that manipulates life’, and I swear I can hear Derrick roll his eyes.

“You’re a being that’s literally created by binding a Spirit Tree to form. You basically have Light Magic circulating your veins, so naturally you’ll be able to strengthen yourself with Light Magic. The little elf lady can probably accomplish it as well, although less effectively. But could anyone without a body created through Light Magic be able to constantly circulate raw Light Magic throughout their bodies?”

Derrick makes a tsk tsk sound.

“There’s no other way the other people could have the stamp of Light Magic on them, unless we start thinking in the direction that someone has placed a universal curse on all the peoples in this world.”

It takes me a second to understand what he means.

So the Light Magic present in almost all sentient beings… is actually a curse?

I can’t help but ask,

“Curses are Light Magic?”

Derrick snorts somehow.

“Of course a curse is Light Magic? Curses are the most obvious form of Light Magic since they use words and intents almost literally.”

I can’t refute that.

But if it’s a universal curse on all sentient creatures…

Just who in the world could have done something like this?

And why?

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<a/n: I sincerely apologize to everyone for how lacking my updates have been this year.

2020 has been an awful, awful year for my creativity. My writing, especially the 1^st pov stories, is heavily based on whether I can enter an emotional state relevant to the characters, and a year full of fear and anxiety due to a global pandemic has been complete shit for this.
Add to that my normal annual month of depression (October-ish), and this chapter was so terribly difficult to write.

The Chinese romance novel I recommended during the lull: https://editingonaslowday.blogspot.com/p/rebirth-on-doors-to-civil-affairs-bureau.html
It’s a good strong-female-without-being-an-imperial-sister story, and focuses a lot on ‘grey’ issues in life, as well as being a surprisingly healthy romantic relationship between two extremely busy people who have to purposefully make time to grow their relationship.
I recommend going into it without judging the male lead and his ex until the ex returns to China, because the author does a very slow reveal about why their relationship really ended up dying.
Be prepared for tears on some of Yu Dong’s interactions with her radio audience, and at least read up until she and her friend get drunk and … well, let’s just say girl friend goals.
Also the kind of crack extra at the end… the author was just tired of readers asking about the homeless guy, wasn’t she?>