The Dagger

Even though at first Arina almost wanted to die when she thought of herself being used by the 2 princes, fortunately Arina's feelings got better as soon as she came home from the celebration at the palace. After all, after confirming how naive the priest was, Arina didn't feel like she had anything to worry about.

Even if it wasn't her, there were already 2 other princes who wanted to kill her.

Although, of course, the problem of the man named Ergin is still worrying. Just imagining that she needed to fight him again made Arina feel exhausted already.

Plus… "I'm curious about their relationship." Muttered Arina.

The problem is that if you are willing to die many times to protect someone, it seems safer to assume that their relationship is more than just friends. And the fact that they pretended to be strangers also showed that they wouldn't be rash to communicate openly.

And whether it's good or bad, Ergin was still a candidate for the union too, so he wouldn't visit the palace too often either unless he had some important meetings. Which left… If they want to communicate, as much as possible they will do it outside.

"And I definitely can't tell when and where they'll meet just by thinking about it." Arina sighed.

As far as the priestess is concerned, even if it's not strictly forbidden to go out--she will still need permission from her seniors. "Too bad I don't have any priest acquaintances. Well, except for that grandpa. But of course I can't ask him."

"Sei, you don't have any ideas?"

"Eh? There is no way I have…" Sei replied without turning her head because she was still busy looking for something on the stacked shelves.

"That, right above your hand." Arina said again.

Accordingly, Sei moved her hand up and took a box from one of the shelves. A box with a sun carved on it. "Miss Arina, is this the one?" She said while giving it to Arina who had been sitting waiting.

Arina glanced at it for a bit, but then came back reading her book. "Yes. Just put it there." She said. It seemed she was still looking for additional information about the immortal human, ajin.

As the name implies, the main trait of an ajin is the fact that they cannot die. In the usual way, of course. Because with certain magic items, or even priests with certain powers, they should still be able to die.

"Hm, having the high priest as his girlfriend… This Ajin is smart too."

But even with special items or abilities, killing an Ajin would definitely not be easy. Because besides not being able to die, most ajin also have other abilities. Either it's magic, or some other superpower.

From what Arina remembered, what was certain was that the man had unreasonable strength and speed. It was like she was being chased by a ghost at that time. Like, he was always in front of her before she even realized it. And ZAP! In an instant his sword went straight to Arina's face.

"But if he can do other magic, he should have done it when I killed him right?" Arina asked while turning towards Sei, though of course the maid could only stay silent. After all, even if that guy came back to life, at least that time Arina was sure her shadow had succeeded in killing him.

"Hh."

For several hours Arina kept muttering to herself and preoccupied with her thoughts. But when it was getting really late, Sei was obliged to remind her. "Miss Arina, don't you want to rest? You haven't really slept since… 2 days ago."

But suddenly Arina showed her smile and grinned widely. "I want to go out." She said while standing up.

"Eh?! Eh?? Again? Now? Don't! Please, I beg you."

"Why? You just need to sleep on my bed. No one will notice it."

"...B-But Mrs. Anastasia will!"

Turning to look at her maid, Arina furrowed her brows as if she was going to get angry. "You were found out by her? Yet you didn't tell me?"

"That, no! I mean, she doesn't really know, just aware…" Sei replied in a daze.

But because Arina even crossed her arms now, she hurriedly tried again to explain. "It's just that, when Mrs. Anastasia gave me medicine because she thought you were sick, she kinda stroked my head too…"

"Madam didn't say anything that night. But for some reason, I think she noticed that I wasn't you..."

"Hmh…" 'Mom was indeed a bit troublesome.' Thought Arina.

After lying here and there her whole life to hide this and that, Arina has actually reached the stage where she knows that most normal people are easily fooled. But since long ago, her mother was one of the hardest to deceive.

Sighing softly, Arina sat back down at her desk and looked at the box that had just been there idly.

She opened it and found the figure of a black dagger that was exactly the same as the one she remembered. With a black grip accented with red thread, the blade of the dagger was curved fatly at the base and sharply tapered at the tip. And even though the entire blade was black, the reflection strangely showed a faint blue light.

Arina remembered that she had to traveled around 4 kingdoms to look for this item. The Dagger of Moon, a dagger that could kill cursed creatures, such as ajin and dark magician like herself.

Every time she heard that there was a good magic item, regardless of the details, Arina would usually decide to buy it right away as long as she had enough money. But because this thing was much more expensive than she expected, at that time Arina was going to postpone her plans for another time until she could collect all her savings first.

But then… Her inner voice said otherwise.

After all, it was one thing that could be used against her. So if that item fell into someone else's hands, the most unlucky scenario, it could have been used to kill her instead. So even though she had to sacrifice all the jewelry that stuck to her neck and hands, Arina decided to buy it right then and there.

But of course Arina had never used it. She had been attacked by a werewolf or some other scary beings. But since her shadow could still take care of it, Arina had never needed to use it before. And it's not like she always carries it around either.

"Well."

"Miss Arina?!" Sei interrupted, who immediately held her master's hand, which already looked like she was going to cut her own hand. "What are you going to do?!"

"Testing it." Arina replied casually who immediately removed Sei's hand. It was only after she rolled up her sleeves that she slashed a straight line across her fair skin. Her teeth were gritted, but strangely the sides of her lips were also slightly raised.

"Hm?" But even though the blood was gushing out, the sensation was strangely no different from a normal knife slash.

Sei started busy wiping the blood off her master's arm, but the woman herself was busy looking at the dagger again. Having a lot of magic items, Arina knew clearly that the dagger had a genuine magic aura.

'But why isn't it working…? Maybe I should activate my shadow first?'

"Sei, step back a bit." Arina said, this time standing up from her seat. And this time she also took off her necklace and started casting that black, billowing shadows that formed the exact reflection of herself.

But just when Arina was about to cut it, her shadow reluctantly drifted away. "No, hey! Just a little!" Arina scolded it.

Sei felt a bit of goosebumps seeing her master talking to her own reflection, but her heart was pounding even more when she felt Arina's shadow turning towards him. 'Hiiii…!!'

But after being coaxed, Arina's shadow finally complied and remained calm as the dagger slashed it. And as expected, as if turning solid, the shadow revealed a burn that wouldn't heal immediately. Even after doing that, Arina also slashed her arm again, and this time the sensation did feel quite hot. "Ack…"

Sei who saw that also worked up the courage to get closer so she could wipe Arina's wound again, although she still had to avert her eyes when Arina's shadow was right beside her.

But while putting the dagger on the table, Arina became a little flabbergasted. "Holyshit, if this thing really falls into someone else's hands, I don't think I'll be able to sleep every night." She muttered.

"And I have to give this to Felix if I want him to take care of Ergin??"

Arina looked back at her shadow as if asking for an answer. And after a few seconds, both of them nodded in agreement. "Definitely not…"

"Tsk, looks like I have to think of something else."