Side Story 51:《Saintess Party》Elma’s POV 47: Kh, Even Though You’re Just a Pig…

The story went back a little, after the grim-faced old man named Elysium left the place together with the monsters.

"!"

As everyone was discussing about returning to the dwarven village, all of a sudden my eye caught the sword that was trampled by Elysium and broke in half.

――Yes, it was the 'Sword' Sacred Treasure that supposedly would be my Hallowed Sacred Treasure.

"..."

――Poke poke.

I knew it was no longer usable given the state it was in, but it was still a Sacred Treasure. I couldn't help but be curious about it, so while standing at a distance just enough to reach it with my hands, I very slowly and very carefully tried to poke it with the tip of my finger.

I-I wasn't scared of it or anything. Just that the Sacred Treasures had a history of brainwashing people when touched, yeah?

So this was just in case, better be safe than sorry!

Well, it seemed to be fine, though…

Just then.

"—What are you doing?"

"Eeeeek!?"

Getting called from behind out of the blue, I let out an unbecoming shriek.

J-just who was it!?

I-I almost ended up peeing myself!? Looking back with aggrieved eyes, there I saw Tirna, who tilted her head in wonder and said, "Is that… the Sacred Treasure? You want to bring it back?"

"Y-yeah. I mean, we may have a use for it later, right?"

"I see. Alright."

"Huh, be carefu-!?"

With a nod, Tirna grabbed the broken Sacred Treasure, wrapped it in a cloth, and said, "Okay, let's go," before turning around and heading back toward Exa and the others.

"Ehh…"

It could be taken normally, huh. Now I felt like a fool for being so cautious…

◇ ◇

In any case, after we returned to the dwarven village, I secretly called the pig to the workshop so that we wouldn't get in Exa and the others' way and said to him, "Hey, can you fix this?"

"Huh?" Blinking in surprise, the pig received the bundle and unwrapped it.

"…Hm? Wha-!?"

Needless to say, the contents were the broken parts of the 'Sword' Sacred Treasure that Tirna had collected for me earlier.

"W-what do you think you're handing me!? I-I'm also a 'saint', you know!?"

The pig was naturally scared witless, and I crossed my arms, "Oh, it's fine," and said, "You had turned into Blackdoll once anyway, so you should've built some sort of immunity to it, right?"

"No, we're not talking about a common cold or the likes, though!?"

The pig looked shocked, but I paid no mind to it and asked, "So, what do you think? Can you fix it?"

"Well, I'm not sure… If I remember correctly, this is made of Phinis-sama's power, isn't it?"

"That's what I heard. It seems by purifying it with my Holy Sword, the two will merge into Hallowed Sacred Treasure. Well, at least that is the case if it's not broken."

"...I see." After giving a nod with an inscrutable expression, the pig said with a straight face, "—Why don't you try to 'purify' it for now?"

"…Huh?"

What was this pig talking about?

Didn't he hear what I just said?

As I directed him a puzzled gaze, the pig spread the Sacred Treasure on the desk and said, "Since it's originally made of Phinis-sama's power, that means it shouldn't have substance. My thinking is that maybe it can be repaired once it's merged with the Holy Sword."

"There's no way it's that simple…"

Haah… while releasing a sigh, I tried to pull out the Holy Sword from its sheath and brought it closer to the Sacred Treasure.

And then.

――Shine!

""Huh?""

All of a sudden the Holy Sword gave off a faint glow before disintegrating into particles, which were then absorbed into the Sacred Treasure.

Then, immediately after an intense burst of light—a divine single-edged sword appeared in front of us.

――Without a doubt, it was the 'Sword' Hallowed Sacred Treasure.

Of course, the blade had been completely fixed.

""...""

Huh, that's it…?

Of course, I was dumbfounded by the sight.

Well, everyone would be elated by it, so it was good, I guess…

"Fufufu(smirk)."

But the pig's smug face kinda pissed me off!