Queen's Blade: Sword of the Unicorn, chapter 2-b

Edit: now you can vote up to 3 times, our bad :3

For the Robin Hood vs Risty poll, "Both are great" won with 13v-48%, followed by "Risty" and "Robin" with 8v-29% and 5v-18% respectively, and finally there was "Neither" with 1v-3%.
Hm, guess it only stood to reason that Risty would win here, though there seems to be a lot of love for both...

Now next poll, classic weapon time? (again suggested by The Spooky Scary Overlord) With multivotes, too!

And moving on, Fio tells a bit more of the story...? Plus, pic!

Enjoy!




“And for my next song, a cheery one… I know, how about one regarding the dancing swords of the Queen’s Blade?”
Despite having almost been entirely enraptured by Fio’s song without her notice, Leina managed to steel herself and cleared her throat loud enough so that the girl could hear:
“Before you do that, why don’t you tell me more?”
“Ah…”
“I’d say the connection between you and the skeleton swordsman is worth touching on, wouldn’t you?”
The warrior cut straight to the chase.
[To be entirely honest, I don’t care where she’s from anyways. So while I did tell her to start from a point she’d be comfortable with, I’d rather she speed things up and get to the meat of things. Not to say I’m uninterested by her singing and dancing or anything, but we can always save that for later.]
“You’re right. Whoops, I got a little off topic.”
‘Teehee.’ The girl stuck her tongue out in embarrassment.
“Sorry guys. I’ll sing some more for you later.”
A quick series and bows to the crowd later, the kid turned back to Leina.

“So, shall we continue… where was I again?”
“Something about being raised by travelling entertainers.”
“Oh, right. Okay, let’s take it from there.”
The crowd that’d gathered around them to listen to Fio’s song had now joined in on listening to her tale as well.
“And thus, thanks to the kindness of the chief and his band of friendly travellers, I quickly grew up. But, as always, happiness never lasts forever…”
She took on a mournful look, waited a beat, and then resumed.
“One month ago, our company decided they’d perform before Baron Mutsuuki of the Grand Duchy of Gleed. Ah, thinking back on it now, that place never did bring my family much beside sorrow, did it?”
A song inserted by the troubadour from earlier helped tinge her words further with a sad melody.
“The wife of Baron Mutsuuki was none other than the woman who had forced my mother into exile after all, so the moment she saw my face, she began shrieking like a woman possessed: ‘Aah! What is the meaning of this? Inviting the villains who kidnapped that girl from before, here!’ The charges were false, of course, because if there was anyone there willing to go as far as kidnapping to their own ends, it’d be her… but nonetheless, the Baron believed her. And all because I possessed my mother’s belongings.”
“Her belongings?”
“The serenading blade, the Sword of the Unicorn, was all the evidence they needed to prove I was my mother’s child. It is a magical weapon, handed down from generation to generation in my mother’s family. There’s nothing else like it in all the world.”
Fio placed the Sword of the Unicorn on the table.
“The serenading blade, the Sword of the Unicorn…”
Leina murmured the sword’s name to herself, as it was placed across her crab dish.
[So it is real, the Sword of the Unicorn really exists.]
It certainly felt real enough, just looking at it was enough to make her believe.
As the warrior looked on, the girl’s story continued.
“By the Baron’s command, the chief was hanged as a kidnapper and all my friends were served poisoned alcohol and killed. With none who would listen to me remaining, and now even the truth completely silenced, I was well and truly alone. No friends, no family and, just like my mother, a captive in the Baron’s palace.”
“So how did you escape?”
[If she’s still making this all up, she should be hitting her limit soon.]
Leina was barely listening to Fio’s story at all by this point.
“Patience, I’m getting to that. The Baron then ordered that I lay with him, to which I staunchly refused. I am still a child after all… not to mention the man might have been my real father, so it was obvious that I should refuse.”
The surrounding crowd nodded enthusiastically.
“Nobles really are the worst.”
“Liking them young is one thing, but she’s just a kid!”
“What’s the fun in sleeping with girls whose boobs don’t even jiggle yet, am I right?”
“Hear, hear. So, what happened next?”
Spurred on, the songstress resumed once again.

“His legal wife, who could tell she’d lost the Baron’s affection to my bloodline once again, tried to have me quietly eliminated. She falsely reported that I’d managed to escape and had me locked away deep in their underground dungeons. Inside that cold, dirty prison nestled within the darkest pits of the earth… I was given a taste a hell itself… aaah, just thinking about it… I don’t know how I could even begin to describe it, but suffice to say, it was enough to… at times… make me regret my decision of not just sleeping with the Baron when he’d first asked instead.”
Tears filled Fio’s eyes, her small shoulders trembling. The crowd rustled around uncomfortably, trying their best not to dwell on the thought of what could have possibly happened to the poor 12 to 13 year old girl for too long.
“And after weeks of daily torture, that was when ‘she’ appeared… Yes, a necromancer who had an eye for my power…”
“Power? You mean you have a special skill or something?”

It’d been a bit since the blonde last said anything, but she spoke up the moment she saw her chance at uncovering more of the truth from Fio. She needed more than just songs and the Sword of the Unicorn after all, so…
“Can you show me that power right now?”
“I’d rather not if we’re in public though…”
The girl blushed, bashfully.
“I have the ability to heal the wounds of others.”
“So you have medical skills too?”
“Oh, way better than that. With my ability, even those on death’s door can be expected to recover no problem. Though, that comes at the cost of me potentially losing my life instead.”
And as she explained, she gently began opening up the front of her dress. The audience leaned closer to peer in.
“H-Hey, you can’t do that in the open like that!”
But faster than Leina could stop her, the girl exposed her shoulder to the crowd.
A large, light red, scar could be seen splitting the porcelain-white skin on it.
The fighter gasped in shock.
[You’d have to be willing to rip the girl’s entire arm off to give her a scar like that!]
Leina had seen many a sword injury in her day, but none as awful as what Fio had.
[In fact, with an injury like that, the victim would be dead long before it ever got the chance to even scar over. This girl wasn’t kidding, to have survived such a death blow proves there’s definitely more to her than meets the eye.]
“That’s just awful…”
“And to a kid too…”
The crowd, having looked out of curiosity, expressed their sympathies.

[Her scar is genuine. Her vocal skills are also the real deal. And yet her origins are fake on account of that place’s name being total hogwash. Just how much of her story is true anyways?]
“Hm~...”
Leina didn’t know what to believe.
“The necromancer’s plot involves using me as a sacrifice. As to what she intends with her ritual, I don’t know… but there is one thing I do know. If she catches me, then I’m as good as dead.”
“Alright, I think I’ve heard enough.”
Clearing her throat slightly, the Vance heiress stood up and began walking around the table before taking a seat right next to the girl.
[When in doubt, it’s always best to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth.]

“L-Leina?”
Ignoring the confusion from the girl’s voice, the blonde studied her.
[She seems sincere. I see no trace of the typical hesitation you’d sense out of a person’s look when they tell a lie anyways.]
“So, how much of that was true?”
She whispered into the girl’s ears, low enough so that the crowd wouldn’t hear.
“You doubt me?”
“Just a little. There’s no such thing as a Grand Duchy of Gleed.”
The blonde began poking holes into Fio’s story, wondering how she’d react.
“And as far as nobility rank goes, there was a big inconsistency there too.”
Ruling a Grand Duchy, your rank could be nothing other than Duke. And yet, the noble who popped up in Fio’s tale was a Baron.
Not to mention that, self-proclaimed dukes aside, no one on the Continent even owned a Duchy at the moment.
[When you’re a noble, you know everyone.]
“I said I wanted to hear your story.”

Leina reminded her, whispering some more into Fio’s ear. Her small body trembled with a small start and her body stiffened.
It was as if time itself had stopped…
But in reality, only a few seconds had gone by.
The songstress took a deep breath, then turned to look the fighter in the eyes, looking as if she’d finally decided on something.
“Leina… could I ask you something?”
Nervousness could be sensed in her tone.
“Go ahead.”
“Those wounds you got fighting the skeleton swordsman a bit ago, do they still hurt?”
“A bit, yeah.”
“In that case, allow me to make them stop hurting.”
And with a swift and very unexpected motion, the girl moved forward and locked lips with the already close warrior.

The gallery exploded into cheers.
“!!”
Meanwhile, the warrior’s eyes bulged out at the sudden sneak attack.
[A kiss!? Is this what kissing is like? ...Wait, no! She’s a girl! This doesn’t count!!]
Amidst many confused thoughts and emotions, her mind could only spout nonsense.
[Calm down, Leina, don’t lose your cool.]
Taking a cue from her own advice, she stood up and with hands guarding her lips:
“W-What do you think you’re doing!? You brat!!”

“Your wounds don’t hurt anymore though, right?”
“Ah.”
She was right. Leina could no longer feel the pain from the scant wounds she’d received earlier.
“So do you believe that?”
Having experienced it first-hand herself, Leina couldn’t help but believe her story a little more.

***