Chapter 185: The Chinese Boy

Qiu Nuoya stared at it in stunned confusion. When the light faded, the ornate knife that had been lying there moments ago was gone. In its place, a rather impressive-looking sword lay carelessly on the ground.

"Eh? What is this?"

"Ahhhhh! I don’t know! I told you not to touch it!!!"

As the boy screamed, the sword suddenly began to tremble violently.

"Eh? Eh? Whaaat!?"

Then, for some reason, the sword moved on its own and slid straight into the belt sheath at Warren’s waist.

The sword that had originally been stored there was knocked out and sent flying, while the new sword settled firmly into the sheath as though it were declaring that this was its rightful place.

Qiu Nuoya and the others were left completely speechless.

"Eh? What? Wait... It won’t come out!?"

The sheath containing the sword had locked itself firmly into Warren’s belt holder. No matter how hard Warren tried to pull it free, it would not budge. The sword simply remained there as though nothing unusual had happened.

"Ah, ah... Ahhh, well, I’ll be going now..."

The boy let out a breath, first in surprise and then with a hint of relief. He turned as though deciding that the best thing to do was to run while he still had the chance, but Igor quickly grabbed him by the back of the neck.

"Kid, you can’t seriously do that." Igor was smiling pleasantly, but there was no trace of amusement in his eyes.

"I suppose there is some fault on the part of our idiot party member for carelessly touching the knife even after you warned us that it was cursed. Even so, you understand that we can’t simply say, ’goodbye,’ and let you go after something like this, don’t you?" Viktor’s tone was gentle as well, but there was anger in his voice.

Qiu Nuoya could not tell whether Viktor was angry at the boy or at Warren for carelessly touching the knife.

More importantly, how had the knife transformed into such an impressive sword? What kind of mechanism could possibly cause something like that?

"I, I, I didn’t do anything! You guys kidnapped me on your own, and I told you not to touch the knife, but you went ahead and touched it anyway! And then you got yourselves cursed all on your own! This absolutely isn’t my fault! I’m the victim here!!!"

Well, the boy did have a point.

The whole situation had started with Long’s mistake of bringing the boy here along with the knife in the first place.

"Um, we’re sorry about that. Still, we’d like to hear the full story, so could you tell us what happened? Just for a little while?"

"Is talking all you’re asking for? Because I don’t want you handing this thing back to me either."

Even if the boy did not want it returned to him, Qiu Nuoya certainly did not want to be saddled with something as dangerous as a cursed sword either.

For the time being, all they wanted was to hear the details about the cursed sword, or perhaps cursed knife, from the boy. They also promised not to harm him. Only after they had reached that agreement did the situation finally settle down.

The city of Cider Orchard was just ahead, but the group decided to give up on reaching it today and spend the night by the shores of Cider Lake instead.

The reason was simple. They had no way of knowing whether the cursed sword currently sitting motionless in Warren’s belt holder was actually safe.

If they carelessly entered the city and some kind of curse were to activate, they would be held responsible for whatever happened. After discussing the matter, they decided it would be better to prioritize questioning the boy, the sword’s original owner, before proceeding any further.

"First, could you tell us your name?"

When Qiu Nuoya asked the boy his name, the boy fidgeted for a moment as though gathering his courage before quietly answering.

"Um... my name is... Tao."

"Hm? I couldn’t hear you very well. Could you say that again?"

When Igor leaned closer to get a better look at the boy’s face, the boy flinched and shrank back.

"M-My name is Xiao Tao!"

"Eh? Xiao Tao?"

"It’s written with the character for ’small’ and the character for ’Tao,’ so it’s Xiao Tao. Though I guess that doesn’t mean much if you don’t know Chinese. I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!"

"Eh? Wait, are you Chinese?"

"Huh?"

Qiu Nuoya and the boy who had introduced himself as Xiao Tao looked at each other.

The boy’s eyes widened and he suddenly grabbed Qiu Nuoya firmly by the shoulders.

"I, I’m Chinese! I’m Chinese! I was suddenly thrown into this strange world, and I don’t know what to do! Where is this place!? Are there other Chinese people here!?"

As Xiao Tao fired question after question at him, Qiu Nuoya was at a loss for how to respond, yet his mind remained strangely calm.

It was true that Xiao Tao had looked Chinese enough to make Qiu Nuoya feel nostalgic when he first saw him. But he never expected him to actually be Chinese.

"Xiao Tao, calm down for a moment. Here, take a deep breath."

Qiu Nuoya tried to soothe the excited boy, and Xiao Tao obediently followed his instructions and took a deep breath.

He’s pretty obedient.

"First of all, I should tell you that I’m Chinese too. My name is Qiu Nouya."

"Eh... Eh?"

Xiao Tao gave Qiu Nuoya a double take.

Well, he can’t blame him. His appearance now was completely different from that of an ordinary Chinese person. And on top of that, he looked like an unbelievably beautiful young boy.

"I was sent to this world by a God, sort of like winning a prize in a lottery. But I suppose that’s not what happened to you, Xiao Tao?"

"Eh... Ah, I think I was probably just caught up in something!"

That was the story Xiao Tao told them.