Rumors Of A Sword

“Psst, Psst…” Sato whispered, causing Luna to raise her head. Idalec was lying like a corpse beside her, his hand interlaced on his stomach. “Psst, Psst!”

“Stop pissing on Idalec’s tent,” Luna shouted, throwing open the tent door to the morning sun, with Sato standing bent over the entrance, hand blocking his mouth,

“Psst… Oh, it’s you.” Sato said, looking over at Idalec, who was sleeping gracefully, “Did he die?” Sato whispered

“Of course not!” Luna said angrily, climbing out of Idalec’s tent.

“Anyway, I have HUGE news.” Sato said auspiciously, “When I was gambling yesterday, I heard this guy run in and say that they found a bunch of demons looking around this cave, and they say that inside the cave is a mythical sword!”

“You heard a rumor. Congratulations.” Luna mocked Sato,

“No, what I’m saying is that I-we NEED this sword.” Sato kept whispering with his hands cupped around his mouth, “And I need Idalec to cast a spell to find my sword. Garia told me he would definitely know.”

“Idalec is sleeping, and he’s not interested.” Luna declared loudly, causing Idalec to open his mouth and sit up. “Look at that, you woke up, Master Idalec~.”

“What do you want, Sato?” Idalec asked, getting out of his tent to scratch,

“So I heard this rumor that there's a mythical sword in a cave nearby!”

“That’s not what he told me!” Luna said, pointing a claw at Sato.

Sato ignored Luna, whispering to Idalec excitedly, “And Garia told me that you know a way to find it.”

“Do I?” Idalec asked skeptically,

“Garia said you do.”

Idalec sighed as he looked at his tent and back at Sato. “Did these rumors say anything else?”

“Oh yeah, they said the cave is a two-hour walk from the small village of Pinkgrad.” Sato recited; his eyes were moving from left to right like he was reading off a script,

“There you found, are you happy?” Idalec asked,

“What do you mean? I don’t know where Pinkgrad is.” Sato yelped,

‘I’m starting to believe Sato does have an angel who feeds him information.’ Idalec pinched the bridge of his nose. “Have you talked with Prix about this?” Idalec looked up,

“I think she might be mad at me,” Sato whispered, looking around as if expecting Prix to jump out at him,

“Well.” Idalec started to pack up his tent. “Is it because of your poor performance during the endurance competition?”

“No,” Sato said, deflating,

“It’s because Sato is a bad gambler and lost all of his money~” Luna guessed,

Sato instantly went red in the face. “I didn’t lose all my money; I actually ended up basically even!” he said hotly.

“Sato, why are you so angry then?” Idalec asked, having backed up his tent already.

“You see, I even went…” Sato trailed off; he licked his lips, then he started biting at them, “I went even, but I sort of lost all the money I borrowed from Prix… and her friend… Isn’t there some way to turn lead into gold! Like it is common alchemical knowledge, right! Right!” Sato spiraled as he tried to grab Idalec just to grab hold of the Pure Shield around him,

“Yeah, you can turn lead into gold,” Idalec said dryly,

“Can you teach me that spell?” Sato begged,

“Well, you go out to the market and sell the lead for gold...”

“That’s not cool, bro,” Sato said, taking his hands off the Pure Shield.

“I’m sure she can forgive you.” Idalec said, tent and suitcase in hand, “It was a bad decision on her part to lend you the money in the first place.”

“Well…” Sato rubbed his hands,

“How much did you borrow?” Luna was starting to laugh, “A gold, ten…” Sato stayed quiet. Idalec was looking back as Luna kept going higher, “Twenty? Thirty? FORTY? How much?" Luna was howling now as Sato looked uncomfortable,

“Fifty-three.” Sato sighed, putting up a five and three on his fingers,

“FIFTY THREE!” Luna broke out into tears, and Idalec actually stopped,

‘Did this man gamble away half an estate?’ “How does someone even manage to gamble away fifty-three gold?” Idalec asked, his usual disinterest erased,

“No, fifty-three copper,” Sato confessed,

‘Just over half a silver?’ Idalec looked at him with a thousand-yard stare. ‘A two hundredth of a gold coin?’ “Fifty-three coppers? You said, coppers?” Idalec repeated

“Yeah, I don’t know how I’m ever going to win it back,” Sato said nervously,

“Sato…” ‘I don’t even have words for him anymore.’ Idalec turned and kept walking. ‘He worked me up over 53 copper!’

“Idalec, do you think Prix would ever forgive me?”

‘I will never forgive you.’ Idalec spat onto the ground, ‘Why are you troubling me over pocket change!’ Idalec's eyes darkened like a storm.

“Prix.” Idalec ripped open Prix’s tent flap,

“Huh?” Prix sat bolt upright in an instant,

“Do you remember lending anyone money yesterday?” Idalec asked dangerously,

“No?” Prix answered

“Can I have your map?” Idalec asked angrily, extending out his hand,

“Did something happen?” Prix panicked as she scrambled in her messenger bag, handing Idalec the map.

“Who was the girlfriend you were with yesterday?” Idalec kept up the pressure, purely via momentum, as he scowled at the map, finding Pinkgrad was basically in the opposite direction of Sigfire Castle,

“Uhm.” Prix felt a sinking feeling

“Did you by chance see 53 gold coins vanish?”

“WHAT?” Prix screamed out, nearly getting a heart attack from the panic,

“Well, Sato came to me this morning and said he gambled away 53 coins,” Idalec said he was ready to give the map back to Prix, who looked like she would be willing to kill Sato. “Well, Sato told me that he borrowed 53 copper coins from you and your friend.”

“What? What does that have to do with the missing 53 GOLD coins? IDELAC, I NEED TO KNOW!” Prix shouted in desperation,

“53 gold coins? That’s what Sato told me, but it turns out it was a miscommunication.” Idalec stepped away so Prix could see Sato,

“Sato.” Prix managed,

“I’ll find a way to repay the 53 copper. I promise.” Sato bowed apologetically as Prix’s heart could be heart-thumping, and the steam coming out of her ears was turning her tent into a sauna. “Psst… Idalec, is there a spell to make Prix less bitchy?” Sato tried to whisper discreetly. Prix heard it. Loud and Clear.

“So that’s how our mornings went,” Idalec said, as all seven of the heroes were back on the road.

“Couldn’t the demons just be tricking us by spreading a rumor to send us in the opposite direction?” Miki asked weakly as they were halfway to Pinkgrad.

“...” There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted for several minutes,

“Let’s not think about it too hard; the guy was just some dude.” Sato waved Miki’s concern off,

“Sato.” Prix breathed out; a vein that hadn’t been there before this morning was throbbing,

“Look, Prix! Prix, I promise you that when we get there inside of that cave we WILL find a mythical sword which would let me defeat The Calamity, without which I literally stand no chance.” Sato sputtered, moving his hands like he was playing the Turkish March on a piano at ten times speed,

“That mythical sword better glow and be made out of gold…” Prix said dangerously,
“Don’t worry, I already got a name for it-” Sato’s hands seemed to complete their performance as they went still. “I’ll call it The Swordomizer 32K.”

“...”

“I know. Sometimes I’m frightened by my own genius.” Sato bragged. Prix sped up to walk next to Idalec,

“Idalec, can you do something with him? I don’t think I can take another word from him.” Prix hissed desperately,

“That’s a good point. Sato! Let’s train your sword skills and magic while we’re walking.” Sato bit his lip as he nodded and began to receive instruction from Idalec. They kept walking along with the sun. Our seven heroes made it to Pinkgrad a few hours before dinner to find the town in chaos.