Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

I had given Shatina and Firniel a new topic to discuss: “Deciding the side dishes for dinner in a way that benefits themselves.”
Shatina is insisting on a bean dish, while Firniel is pushing for a potato dish.
It will become clear at dinnertime whose diplomacy skills are superior.
Still, I hope the two of them can find a better solution.
I hope it works out.

I decided to use the time before dinner to look into something that had been on my mind for a while.
It concerns the spoils of war we obtained from enemy knights during the defense of Zaria. Since it’s a magical greatsword, I’d like to investigate it a bit.
Magical weapons are difficult to mass-produce, and their maintenance requires both time and money. While they’re powerful for personal use, they’re far too costly to be practical as military weapons.
If someone brought something like that onto the battlefield, I want to find out their true intentions.

I’m no expert on magical weapons, but I know how to investigate them.
There must be a maintenance spell written somewhere, so I just need to cast it.
Sure enough, it was carved into the hilt.
When I recited it, a complex pattern glowed red on the blade. The pattern was composed of a string of magical characters.
The string is like a program, and the pattern is like a circuit.
Of course, I don’t understand most of it, but if I can pick out a few words, I can get a rough idea of what it is.

“‘Slay’…mutation, no, ‘Transformation’… ‘Wolf’…”

Memories of desperately translating English and classical Japanese in my past life came flooding back. I had brought the dictionary from my training days, so I checked it over and over.
It was starting to get tedious, but I had a rough idea of what it was.
It’s a magic sword specialized for attacking werewolves.
Against other demons, it’s just a regular sword, but it can deal efficient damage to a werewolf’s body. As long as I can land a hit, even a normal person’s strength should be enough to inflict a fatal wound on a werewolf.
It gives me a slight chill to think about what would have happened if I’d been cut by this.
Then again, werewolves have the same dynamic vision as wolves, so human movements appear practically in slow motion to us.

The fact that they’ve brought out a weapon that’s ineffective against anything other than werewolves suggests our enemy is strongly focused on fighting werewolves.
It might be a bit self-important to say the Northern Alliance was wary of me, but there’s no doubt they view werewolves as a threat.
However, my interest was focused more on the magical runes.

“Hmm, it’s very well made.”

By skillfully connecting various parts of the runes, this sword is designed to unleash its power using minimal magic. It’s practically a textbook example of energy efficiency.

It’s not limited to magic, but I’m always impressed by the wisdom and ingenuity of experts.
Trying to get a closer look, I accidentally touched the blade.

“Whoa!?”

I tensed up, worried I might take damage, but my finger was fine. Phew.
However, a fatal change had occurred to the greatsword.
Only the part I touched was missing its runes. At this rate, it can no longer function as the magic sword that slays werewolves.

“No, it wasn’t my fault…”

I tried to shift the blame even though no one else was there, but no matter how I looked at it, it was my fault.

However, even considering its condition, the magical runes shouldn’t vanish just from a touch. If they disappeared that easily, it wouldn’t be usable in battle.
To verify this, I touched the blade again.

“Oh…”

The runes faded away smoothly… This is interesting.
No, this wasn’t the time to be amused.
This is bad. I’ve ruined a magic sword. The blade itself is one thing, but the runes are valuable intellectual property.

“…I’ll just pretend I didn’t see that.”

I finished the maintenance and erased the pattern that had appeared.
This sword isn’t likely to end up in the hands of humans who oppose werewolves anytime soon, so if I keep quiet, no one will find out.
But I should have made a copy of the pattern. What a huge blunder.
I’ll keep this a secret.

As I was feeling guilty about all this, Firniel knocked on the door of my office.

“Senior, can I talk to you for a sec?”
“What is it?”

I gently sheathed the greatsword and opened the door.
Firniel then told me, looking confused.

“Shatina has a visitor. It seems to be an envoy from the Senate. And Shatina…”
“You don’t need to finish that.”

I’d better go see her soon.

“Don’t be ridiculous! The North… the Senate is my father’s enemy!”
“W-wait! At least listen to what I must say!”

I could hear Shatina’s angry shouts coming from the parlor. Judging by the tone of her voice, she hadn’t drawn her sword yet.
When I stepped inside, Shatina was in the middle of grabbing a young man by the collar and shaking him around. Is she a mad dog?
Even though it hasn’t been long since her father was killed, this is no way for a governor to behave.

“Shatina, that’s enough.”
“But Teacher!”

I understand how Shatina feels, but since I’m meeting with the envoy in my capacity as governor, I must keep my emotions in check.

“This envoy did not come to see a ‘young girl whose father was assassinated.’ He came on business with the Governor of Zaria. Do not forget that.”
“Y-yes…”

Leaving the dejected Shatina in Firniel’s care, I turned to face the envoy.

“I understand you are an envoy from the Senate. Is that correct?”

The young man straightened his clothes and hurriedly bowed to me.

“My apologies for the late introduction. I am Kait, a Magician of the Senate. Um, are you perhaps Lady Shatina’s tutor of some kind?”

It seems this young man doesn’t recognize my face. That’s only natural in a world without photographs.
I could introduce myself, but the Senate doesn’t seem to be too fond of werewolves.
I suppose I’ll just make something up.

“I am Lady Shatina’s instructor in the art of diplomacy. Since Lady Shatina is in no state of negotiation, I’ll handle this matter on her behalf.”

Kait seemed a bit troubled, but then he began.

“In the recent Zaria Liberation Battle…”

A word I couldn’t ignore had slipped out, so I cut him off, knowing it was rude.

“Please wait a moment. What exactly do you mean Zaria ‘Liberation’ Battle? Who was liberating who from whom? Please answer that.”

Kait’s expression stiffened with tension, as if he’d grasped the intent behind my question.

“W-well, of course, it was the battle in which the Senate liberated Zaria from the Demon Lord’s Army…”

Perhaps feeling awkward as he spoke, Kait’s voice gradually grew quieter.
I gave a wry smile to avoid making him feel more intimidated than necessary.

“You’re aware that this doesn’t match the reality, aren’t you?”
“…I know. It’s merely the Senate’s official stance.”

He’s quite frank.

Since he admitted it, I didn’t press the issue further and steered the conversation back on track.

“It’s an undeniable fact that the Demon Lord’s Army fought against the Senate’s forces in the recent battle. So what about that battle?”
“Actually, I’d like to ask you to return the catapults and other equipment that were confiscated by your side.”

Since Kait was clearly apologetic, I responded gently.

“Do you really think the Demon Lord’s Army would return them?”
“I suppose not…”
“If we were to return those catapults, where would they be hurling stones next? At the Federation, wouldn’t they? At the very least, I can’t return them on Zaria’s authority alone.”

At my words, Kait’s expression darkens.

“W-well then, could you at least return the sword of Lord Vorzharb, the Knight of the Senate? I’d like to at least give his family his personal effects.”

That’s a problem. A huge problem.
After all, I just broke it a moment ago.
I’ll refuse outright.
With a stern look on my face.

“You’re not asking for it back because it’s a memento, are you? It’s because that’s the ‘Werewolf-Slaying’ Magic Sword, isn’t it?”

Kite jumped back in surprise.

“Eh!?”

Judging by the smell of sweat, he doesn’t seem to be lying. It appears he really didn’t know.
Sending someone who doesn’t know the inside story as a messenger… what a troublesome bunch those Senates are…

“Regardless of whether you knew or not, the Demon Lord’s Army has already determined the nature of that greatsword through their investigation.”

And I broke it the moment that was revealed.
I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry.

Kait looked down, seeming to be thinking hard about something.

To begin with, there’s no way the Demon Lord’s Army would return the catapult.
But making an unreasonable request first, then bringing up the real one afterward is a standard negotiation tactic.
It’s the same as what I often saw on TV shopping shows in my past life: “This knife set normally costs 20,000 yen, but for this special offer only, it’s just 10,000 yen!”
Buy it for 20,000 yen! Can’t do it? Then buy it for 10,000 yen!
That’s the kind of negotiation trick.
“I can’t give you the catapults, but maybe I could spare a single sword…” He must have intended to get me to say something like that.

But for me right now, the Great Sword of the Werewolf Slayer is a far more unreasonable request than eight catapults.
It was a magnificent-looking, expensive-looking sword, and surely a treasured blade with a distinguished lineage. I have a feeling that if it were discovered that I’d broken it, it would cause all sorts of problems.
Kait pondered for a while, but eventually looked up.

“If what you say is true, I must return to the Senate and report it. I’ll withdraw this request for now.”

So he’s not making a decision on the spot, but taking it back to consider first? He’s cautious.

“Understood. Then let’s meet again soon.”

After the messenger left, Firniel popped her head in.

“Senior, dinner’s ready.”
“By the way, Firniel, what’s on the menu for dinner?”

Firniel smiled happily.

“Potato and bean stew! This means we’ve both completed our tasks! Right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Good catch.”
“Hehe, we figured it out while talking it over. So there are times when both of us can win, huh?”
“That’s the fun part of diplomacy. Well, shall we eat?”
“Yeah!”

There’s no need to decide on just one option, after all. It might have been a little too easy, but it seems they finally caught on.

Still, I’m a bit concerned about the Senate envoy.
Maybe I’ll stay in Zaria for a while and continue the diplomacy here.