"So.. what did you do before you came here..?" She asked me curiously. We are currently eating some sort of a stew on the table. She is sitting right the opposite of me while the children sat besides her.
"Hmm? Nothing special really.. I just wandering around on the surface.." I said truthfully. She seemed quite unsurprised hearing that though.
"You are with the 'Scavengers'?" She asked me while feeding one of the children besides her.
"No? I am just alone. Just wandering around aimlessly" I said again while eating another spoonful amount of stew. This tastes like a combination of chicken and beef stew.. and it has quite the unique savory taste.
"What..? Aren't the surface dangerous though?" She asked me that.
'It seems not a lot of people had quite gone to the surface in their lifetimes..' I thought to myself silently.
"Well.. it is. It's better for you to not know what it's like.." I said to her with a little smile. It's good to know that some people still is oblivious to the dangers right above them.. but sometimes it is better to live in unknown rather than knowing the world is full of dangers..
"Then, I could ask the same to you.. what did yourself do..?" I asked her the same question and she fell silent a little..
"Do you believe.. in demons..?" She asked me with a low voice..
"Hmm.. demons?" I said with a little confused face but I suddenly remembered about them..
"Ah! Sand Demons..?" I said to her with a guessing tone. She seemed surprised to know that I could guess it.
'Is it really rare that people here know about Sand Demons..?' I thought about the imminent thousands upon millions of Sand Demons up upon the surface..
"Yes. Sand Demons. How do you know about it?" She asked me curiously now as well.
"Well, remember how I said I am wandering the surface..?" I said to her while finishing off my stew.
"Yea..? Why?" She became even more curious.. but not only her but the two children had been staring at me curiously as well..
"Well.. how do I say this.. there are a ton of them.. up there" I said this to them which made them widen their eyes in surprise..
"A ton..?"
"How many?" The two children asked which kind of take me by surprise but I still answered truthfully..
"I do not know. I have killed around 300 of them in one go.. but there are certainly a lot more of them" I said while remembering the situation of the surface.
"300?! Even I who had been a Mercenary specialising in hunting them had only killed around 100 in my whole 8 years..!!" She exclaimed in shock. The two children were quite equally shocked as well.. this two is smart.. really smart to the point it is scary..
"Hunting Sand Demons..? Isn't it dangerous? It's really hard to kill them as well.." I remembered about the struggle to actually end them.. they seem to possess a quite regenerative ability.. and it really made it annoying to kill.
"Ah? Yeah. To kill them effectively, we used Ammosium based weapons to behead them" She said while showing all of their weapons including the children's weapons.
Looking at the children's dual daggers and the woman's shortsword, I could see a unique yellow colour and a rough textures making it look like a hardened sand..
"Don't you use them?" She then asked me about it.. and because it is quite the confidential thing.. I kind of hesitated to show her..
"Ah! It's fine if you don't want to show it..! I'm sorry for asking!" She seems to noticed my hesitation and backed off but I just waved her off and chuckled a little.
"No! No! It's fine!" I said to her which earned a weird look..
"Well.. here it is.." I said while extending my hand forward..
"Come! Sword That Pierces The Void, Kyo!" I said out loud which earned a weird look from the children who even had seen the sword.. but I don't think they knew how it was supposed to appear..
"What are you doing-" She was about to ask me but then she became silent when..
"What is that?!" A sword suddenly appears on my hand. It was a katana-like sword with a beautiful void black blade that looked like it absorbs every light.. it's handguard is also black but with a tint of purple and is decorated with multiple purple gems that looked like amethysts.. it's handle is wrapped in dark purple with three onyxes embedded in it.
"This is.. Kyo" I said while holding it tightly and showing it off. I placed it onto the table for her to inspect.. but when she tries to lift the sword..
"Hnghh..!!" She looked like she was struggling a lot.. it looked like the sword was heavy but when I lift it with one hand I didn't feel any weight at all..
"Is it heavy..?" I lifted the sword with ease which even surprised the children. I mean.. I don't feel any weight from the sword. It felt like it is weightless.
"That.. is that an Ancient Relic..?!" The woman said in astonishment..
"Ancient Relic..? What's that?" But I never even heard of anything like an Ancient Relic before. Well to guess it's probably something made by the past people of this world.. and it probably hold some sort of weird power..
"Ancient Relic is a weird and unusual item made by what we calls the 'Crafter' who also made the protection dome that held this country in shape. They seemed to create a lot of weird stuffs and it's not really unusual for them to create a weapon that only could be used by the chosen one." She said analysing Kyo while I was holding it.
"*sigh*.. Well I don't know.. I just have this weapon with me.. it's not like I know where it came from" I said while sighing after hearing her explanations..
"Then, can I analyse it, Mr..?" Oh yeah.. we still don't know each others names yet.. well I'm always bad at introducing myself..
"Don't call me that way.. I am still 17. My name is Mi- Zero Origin." I said to her while holding my head and sighing internally..
'Do I really look that old..?' I mean I am pretty sure I looked like a 16 year old.. just with a natural white hair..
"Ah..! Sorry. Well you can just call me Castor.. my full name is Castor Geminorum" She introduced herself.
"This two are Iota and Nu.. they are my brother's children.. but I now took care of them" She pointed at the two children and patted their head..
"I see. Well what do you want to say about analysing Kyo?" I asked her about the previous matter and she seemed curious about something.
"Kyo? Is that perhaps the name of this sword?" She looked over to the sword.
"Indeed. It's not me who gave it the name. It just came onto my mind one day when I had it" I explained it to her. But it is quite a cool name so I'm just fine with the name itself.
"I see. Then I would like to give you an offer then!" She said with a happy and hopeful face.
"Go ahead..?" I urged her to continue.
"You said you do not have any money nor job right?" She said while walking closely towards my face even though she is shorter than me..
"Why don't you work with us?"