“H-hey, wait, wait. Are you the axe I’m talking to?”
“Indeed. I am the Intelligence Axe, Holy Axe Lombardia. You may call me ‘Lombie’ if you wish.”
“Uh, right…? I see.”
A resonant voice of thought sought familiarity.
The serious atmosphere I had was instantly blown away.
“—In any case.”
“…Holy Axe Lombardia, such a weapon of terrifying power. Is it truly alright for an ordinary person like me to obtain something like this…?”
Perhaps a weapon of Legendary class—no, it might even be of Mythological class with its magical power.
Is this not an incredible item needed to save the world from crisis?
If so, it should be wielded by a hero with more talent and power, not a common adventurer like me, one of the indistinguishable masses—
As I was thinking this, a deep sigh echoed through my mind from the Holy Axe.
“Haaaah… You are truly a commoner through and through. —Let me tell you, even if you were to sell me off to someone else now, my true power would only manifest for you. If anyone else were to wield me, I would be nothing more than a sturdy axe.”
“W-what? Seriously?”
“Seriously, very seriously. Didn’t I tell you before that I accept you as my master? From now on, you are the only one in this world who can wield my true power. You cannot change masters. This will not change even if you die.”
“You can’t be serious… This is a huge responsibility.”
I slumped my shoulders.
What am I supposed to do, having gotten hold of such an incredible thing?
But this time, the axe laughed loudly in my mind.
“Kekekek. On top of being a commoner, you’re also unnecessarily responsible. You don’t even think of misusing my power.”
“Ah… Well, that’s true.”
“Well, I did see that potential in you when I chose you as my master. Still, I never imagined you’d be this selfless. As a man, wouldn’t you want to use my power to rise in the world, to have wealth, status, and women at your every whim?”
“…You called yourself the Holy Axe, but are you perhaps an evil axe?”
An intelligent weapon that tempts its user—that’s clearly a dangerous one.
But to that, the Holy Axe Lombardia replied with a laugh.
“Kekekek, you say evil? Is the form of human desire evil? Well, you’re not entirely wrong—But wait a moment. I shall show you my materialized form.”
“Materialized form…? What is that!?”
The Holy Axe Lombardia emitted a blinding light.
The silhouette of the glowing axe soon changed shape and became humanoid.
When the light subsided—
There stood a naked girl.
She was a tanned girl with black hair and black eyes.
She was short, reaching only up to my chest.
The girl smiled playfully at me with an innocent smile.
“How is it, my master? This is what I look like in my materialized form.”
She spoke with her mouth, not telepathically.
It was a clear, innocent girl’s voice.
“You, you’re the Holy Axe Lombardia…!? —And more importantly, put on some clothes! Don’t you have any!?”
I turned my back to avoid looking at the girl.
But I heard her amused laughter.
“Hehehe, you’re so naive. At your age, what’s with that reaction? Have you never been with a woman? If so, have you never bought a woman from a brothel?”
“Shut up, I haven’t. So what if you laugh? I don’t care.”
“No, a normal woman would be disillusioned, but unfortunately, I have lived ten times longer than you. Rather, I like it? …If you want, I could even give you your first time in this form.”
The girl—Holy Axe Lombardia—embraced me from behind seductively.
Completely unclothed.
“—Ngh! —Why, what makes you a Holy Axe! Get off me! And turn back into an axe!”
“Surely, sexual intercourse between man and woman is not evil—However, I do not wish to be disliked by you by teasing you too much. Let’s stop here.”
As the girl moved away from me, a blinding light erupted behind me, just as before.
When I looked again, the girl was gone, and the Holy Axe Lombardia lay on a pedestal.
“Hmph…”
I picked up the Holy Axe Lombardia again.
It still fit perfectly in my hand.
Lombardia spoke to me again in my mind.
“Well, anyway, my power is yours, use it as you please. As long as you don’t use it for evil purposes, I rarely get grumpy. See? All your injuries have been healed by my power, haven’t they?”
“Ah… that’s right.”
The burn on my left shoulder had completely healed without me noticing.
Other minor injuries were also healed without a trace.
“Currently, the only skills I can grant you are the [Enlightenment] and [Healing Ability] that I have already given you. You will acquire other skills as you fight alongside me.”
“So there’s still more to come…?”
“Hehehe, don’t underestimate my power. Lesser magical swords and spears are no match for me.”
I had truly obtained a formidable weapon.
But, leaving that aside—
“The problem is how to get out of here…”
I now faced a real problem.
I had fallen into a pitfall here.
It was likely a considerable fall, and climbing out physically would probably be impossible.
No matter how great an axe I obtained, dying of thirst and hunger in this place would be meaningless.
However, I soon found the solution to this problem.
When I investigated the walls of the small room where Lombardia was stuck, touching a certain part caused the wall to react, and a hidden door opened.
Beyond it lay a staircase leading upwards.
I ascended the stairs.
Upon reaching the top, a straight passage lay ahead.
As I proceeded down the passage, I arrived at a familiar place.
It was the location of the pitfall.
I remembered it clearly, even though I was just running blindly before.
When I poked the floor with my shoe, the trapdoor opened with a *kapu*, and after a short wait, the floor returned to normal.
“The range of the pitfall is about three meters. Can I jump over it…?”
I was on the other side of the pitfall, relative to the room where I encountered the Chimera.
In other words, unless I somehow bypassed this pitfall and reached the other side, I couldn’t leave this ruin.
Now that I had no heavy baggage, if I could get a running start and jump well, I might be able to clear the pitfall and reach the other side—but that was only if I jumped successfully.
A slight mistake and I’d be plummeting back down.
Even if falling again wouldn’t be fatal, being stuck in a loop wasn’t exactly pleasant.
But at that moment, the Holy Axe Lombardia in my hand said something.
“Ah, jumping over a mere three meters shouldn’t be that stressful.”
“No, I know what you’re saying. As an axe wielder, I’m not as agile as a swordsman or a thief. I’m not a hero who can explosively enhance his physical abilities with fighting spirit. For an ordinary person, even this is quite difficult.”
When I replied, Lombardia sent back a thought of exasperation.
“Listen, you. Were you listening to me? I told you I elevated your rarity to the highest rank, ★★★★★, didn’t I? You now possess the strength worthy of a ‘hero’ as you call it. You are no longer an ordinary man.”
Ah.
I did recall her mentioning something like that.
“No, I don’t understand what ‘rarity’ means. I understand it’s likely related to talent, but I have no idea what you mean by stars or anything.”
“Well, don’t worry too much about it. The important thing is that you are different now than before you possessed me. When you first held me, you felt a surge of power flow into your body, didn’t you? Try to search for the power dwelling within you.”
“The power dwelling within me…?”
As Lombardia instructed, I concentrated my consciousness and searched for the power within myself.
While I lacked talent in handling fighting spirit, I was familiar with the basic methodology.
I focused my consciousness on the area below my navel, known as the tanden—
—There it was.
“And what is this…?”
I was astonished.
Fighting spirit—was it this abundant, gushing out like water?
Following the instructions from my fighting spirit control training, I focused on my breathing and circulated my fighting spirit throughout my body.
And—my new physical abilities were now complete.
Even just the basic motor skills were far beyond what they were before.
“…I see. This is indeed no problem for a three-meter jump.”
Without even taking a significant running start, I lightly leaped over the pitfall.
Effortlessly.
My physical abilities were beyond anything I had ever imagined, truly unbelievable.
And as I continued down the passage—
I encountered “it.”
“…Well, it’s no surprise I’d run into it. If I hadn’t defeated it or fallen into the pitfall, it would be strange if it wasn’t here.”
I faced it with a bitter smile, preparing the Holy Axe Lombardia.
A Magical Beast, the Chimera.
A B Rank monster with an appearance like a cross between a lion, a goat, and a dragon.
We meet again, for the first time in a hundred years.
