🧭 ARC26: The Contract, and the Blade Chosen Again

The village in the morning was too quiet.

As if last night’s murmur had been a lie, there were few voices.

Doors stayed shut, windows were opened only a sliver.

Only caution and watching remained in motion.

There was no one in front of the board in the square.

Only the notices had increased.

One sheet, then another.

They were pasted over faster than they could be torn down.

Subjugation.

Subjugation.

Escort.

The requests were similar, but the places differed.

The edge of the village, the roadside, the forest’s rim.

What they shared was one thing.

“At night.”

The monsters come in the night.

No reason was written.

They couldn’t write it.

Lumia took the lowest-paying request.

It wasn’t that it was less dangerous.

It simply hadn’t been priced—because it was “unknown.”

That was fine.

Right now, she needed to test it.

How far her light

could still be used.

Before leaving the village, she stopped by the smithy.

The smith looked at Lumia in silence, then lowered his gaze to her sword.

“…Want me to work on it?”

Less a question than a confirmation.

“Adjust it.”

She answered briefly.

“Not everything.”

“Just the grip—and the weight.”

The smith’s brow shifted, just slightly.

“You’re going to keep using something that’s broken.”

She didn’t deny it.

Lumia held out the sword.

“I can still fight with this.”

The smith stayed silent for a while,

then reached for his tools.

No fire.

And the hammering, kept to a minimum.

He didn’t change the blade’s shape—

only nudged the balance point, slightly.

“Not a blade meant to protect.”

He muttered.

“…Not a blade meant to attack, either.”

“A blade for not running.”

Lumia didn’t reply.

Instead, she took the sword back.

It was a little different in weight.

That alone made it feel like something else.

She left the village.

The road was quiet.

There was wind.

The grass was moving.

And yet there was that sense of something “drawing nearer.”

Not being watched.

Not being chased.

Even so.

As night approached,

the presence thickened.

The first monster was only one.

Weak.

Alone.

And yet it closed the distance.

It didn’t run.

It didn’t observe.

—Testing.

Lumia didn’t use her light.

She drew the sword.

She stepped in.

The blade cut the air.

A dull resistance stayed in her arm.

The monster crumpled without a sound.

At that moment, something in her chest gave a small throb.

Not erosion.

Not loss.

The feeling of being “waited for.”

Another shadow moved.

Deeper in, the presence increased.

The numbers were starting to gather.

Lumia tightened her grip on the sword.

“…Come.”

A voice close to a mutter.

Her light stayed held down.

That was enough for today.

This night was a night to measure.

How far she could stand

without breaking further.

And—

How far the monsters

would keep “coming closer.”

The village lights wavered in the distance.

The rumors had already caught up.

To Lumia’s back.

Quietly.

Certainly.

— Lumi🪄💕