[48.5] Reika Learns a New Word

She blinked sleepily, "Huh? Who are you?"

I blinked back, "Reika."

She rubbed her eyes, "Oh yeah. The new arriver."

I deadpanned, "Uh. What?"

"Soul from another world, trapped in this one." She stretched lazily, "An arriver."

Cyrus let out a sigh, "Great. Another person who talks like this."

The Swordmaster waved her finger at him, "You should listen up, little boy. This is a very important topic."

Zephyr finally lit up, "Wait. So you know the truth about Reika?"

"Know about her? Not really. I've just met several arrivers and I am one myself. They get easy to spot when they act as blatantly as she did."

Zephyr laughed, "She did go around telling everyone she was from another world!"

Cyrus thought back, "Oh yeah. I remember her bragging about it several times when we were children. I just thought she was crazy."

The Swordmaster laughed, "That's to be expected."

I felt my cheeks heat up, "I-I didn't know I should have worked harder to hide it!!"

"Wait." Zephyr cut in, "Did you say there are more like her?!"

The Swordmaster nodded, "There are countless arrivers."

Zephyr whispered in amazement, "I never knew."

The Swordmaster spoke without care, "That's because they are dead."

The room grew silent.

She added, "And the remaining few hide. Otherwise, they'd get hunted down and killed."

I felt my head spin, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Killed?!"

She smiled awkwardly, "Maybe I should start from the beginning?"

I took a seat in disbelief, "Please? I'm very… Confused."

Confused is an understatement.

She leaned back and started speaking, "When I first arrived in this world, there was already a civilization set up. One side was controlled by Chaos arrivers and the other was Order arrivers. Humans were few in number and treated the arrivers as gods since they made their life easier."

I asked, "Chaos? Order? What does that mean?"

People were always calling me a child of Chaos.

Did it have something to do with that?

She answered, "All arrivers either belong to Chaos or Order. I'm not sure who coined the phrase, but it follows this logic: Those who belong to Chaos have unimaginable power referred to as a talent. Their talent far exceeds all possibilities. However, just as powerful as it is, it is just as uncontrollable. Those belonging to Chaos have the tendency to lose control and destroy everything around them. Those who belong to order are in complete control of their ability as if it is as natural as walking. However, their abilities aren't as powerful."

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, "What do you mean by talent?"

"Every arriver can do something unique. In my case, it's creating swords with magical features like the one I gifted to your boyfriend. It's not a very powerful talent and I don't have much mana so I am a child of Order."

"And me?" I looked at her anxiously, "You said I'm a child of Chaos. What can I do that's so special? Use magic without a chant?"

She shook my head, "No. That isn't a thing unique to you."

"Then what is it?!"

She shrugged, "I have no idea. You should know yourself."

I felt disappointment settle in my chest, "Fire? Whenever I lose control I either freeze things over or burn things around me."

She shook her head, "That's not it either. Those are attributes. Every human has an attribute and every arriver is a human so they have an attribute, but only arrivers have a unique talent."

"Then what do I have?!"

She pondered this, "If you don't know, then you haven't discovered it… And I pray you don't. If it's Chaos, it can't be a good thing."

Is it really that bad?

Ugh. That can't be good.

Seeing that I wasn't going to speak, she continued her story, "Anyway, when I arrived there was a clear line between Chaos arrivers and Order arrivers. Both sides hated the other. Order arrivers were jealous of the other's power, Chaos arrivers were jealous of the other's control and ability to get along so well with the humans of this world. Eventually, everything boiled over and the Great War started. Humans were caught in the middle and almost went extinct because of it. I didn't care for either side so I sought out a place where I could craft swords in peace. Luckily, there was a village filled with arrivers like myself who didn't choose a side. We lived in peace while the other arrivers died in the Great War. It was there that I met Abadi."

She laughed, "You know, I was actually testing out a new sword I made and got a bit too out of control with excitement. I accidentally cut her cheek when she tried to step in to get me to rest. She had a white scar on her cheek for the rest of her life."

I watched as she smiled nostalgically.

I guess she really cared about Abadi.

She continued with a faint smile, "Abadi reinvented the word 'pacifist'. She refused to even slap a fly and acted like all of our mothers. Seeing the other arrivers die in the Great War filled her with great sadness. In her original life, she lived during a war and watched everyone die around her. She desperately wanted to bring back the dead and she carried that over to this world. So, she created our village to live in peace without war and death."

I smiled softly, "You seem to really like Abadi."

She nodded, "I loved her. The two of us were married after all. I fathered many children."

F-Fathered?!

Her expression soured, "That woman who attacked you, she was there also. Her name is Vira. When I first met her, she was a shy and timid girl. She was far too scared to talk to strangers let alone raise a sword. I had made her a sword imbued with her essence, but she was too scared to ever unsheathe it. However, our peaceful village didn't last much longer. The Great War was reaching a peak and we were eventually swept into it. Abadi refused to fight, and I couldn't bear to see her die so I jumped in front of an attack to protect her. I ended up dying as a result."

I pursed my lips, "But you are clearly alive."

She let out a sigh and pulled out a dagger. With one swoop, she chopped off her hand.

Zephyr flinched, "What the fu-"

However, much to our surprise, the hand fell to the ground and turned to sand. The sand swirled and flew back to the stub of the hand and reformed back into a hand. She held out her hand, "This body isn't living. It doesn't contain flesh or blood. After I died, Vira finally pulled out her sword and killed the rest of the arrivers who were involved in attacking our village. After everything was done, only Abadi and Vira were the remaining survivors. Abadi was beside herself and tried to bring everyone back to life. You would probably call her the first Necromancer… However, she only succeeded in bringing back myself."

She laughed, "Abadi was shocked to see my original body. I never told her I was originally a woman."

I gasped, "Wait. You mean-"

She scratched her cheek awkwardly, "I was a man when Abadi first met me."

I was shocked, "How did that happen?!"

The Swordmaster pursed her lips, "Did you choose that body?"

"No…"

"Well neither did I." She let out a sigh and continued her story, "Either way, I came back as a female when Abadi brought me back to life. Not only a female, but I actually look how I had in my original life. After that, Abadi and I agreed to just remain friends."

Cyrus whistled, "That's tough."

The Swordmaster smiled softly, "I understood. Sometimes just loving the soul isn't enough. Plus, we remained very close as friends, and returning back to my original form just felt right."

Zephyr was enthralled by the story, "What was your original life like!?"

She laughed, "It wasn't good. I always wanted to be a swordmaster, so I used to sneak into the army base to watch their drill practice and memorized their movements. I wanted to join, but I lacked the… Qualifications. I spent the rest of my short-lived life making swords under an assumed name until I was eventually caught and beheaded."

My mouth dropped open, "Beheaded?!"

She nodded without any sense of emotion, "Yes. Thanks to that I got to come to this world as a man who had no problems with making swords… Until the war broke out and killed me."

Cyrus drew in a breath, "Very tough."