Arknights story · Fantasy in the Mirage
Errant Swordsman
The swordsman loses his sword, but meets someone after his own heart, the one whom Lin Qingyan is chasing for the theft of the tome. Thunder breaks the woman's geisthood, and it turns out the swordsman never lost his sword, after all.
1 scenes, 339 lines
1. Interlude
339 linesIt's already a new day, sir.
Yes, I know.
Did you get stood up by whoever you were planning to meet?
Perhaps she was delayed.
You can wait, but I'll be closing shop.
I'll leave, if I'm in your way.
But I'll still have to wait at the door... this is the place where we agreed to meet, after all.
Oh, that's not what I meant! You can stay at your table. We've known each other for quite a while, after all.
I was a humble waiter when we first met. Now I'm the keeper of this teahouse.
You're a weird one, you know, a lone swordsman, coming over every year from... I forgot, are you from Jiangqi or Yumen?
I don't stay in one place. The four corners are my home.
But I remember that you come here to this tea house in this little town every autumn to meet someone... how many years has it been?
Seven.
Seven years... all you do when you meet is have a cup of tea, have a little chat. You're neither friends nor lovers; you don't even know her name, do you?
We promised not to pry into each other's matters.
Strange things indeed...
Who exactly is this person you're waiting for, anyway?
I don't know.
I've dealt with many people in my time... good, bad, wise, foolish, they're not so hard to understand at the end of the day.
But she's the only one whom I've never figured out.
Your sword just knocked over my tea, young lady.
It's rather cramped in here. You should put away that sword of yours.
It's just a cup of tea. I'll pay for it.
In fact, I'll buy you a jug of wine, and call you my friend.
And you can teach your new friend how to use a sword.
Me? Haha...
You're talking to the wrong guy. I'm no swordsman, just an ordinary merchant delivering some goods to the City of Dusk, stopping by this town for a cup of tea.
I don't even have a sword on me. What kind of swordsman doesn't carry a sword?
Don't play the fool with me. I won't let you go until you say yes.
Wh-Why would you cut the table in half like that? You're scaring the other guests...
Shut up.
I'll pay for it later. Don't interrupt my chat with my friend.
Say any more, and I'll cut you in half too.
A-Alright...
...That's not very reasonable, is it?
What point is there in being reasonable? Better to roam free in the jianghu.
But one needs plenty of skill to roam free.
I know you're a master of the sword. I want to learn from you.
*sigh*...
You came a little too late.
I lost my sword...
...The moment it disappeared, I vowed to retire from the jianghu.
You lost your sword?
I lost it.
When?
Last night.
I stopped by this time for the night. It was gone when I woke up in the morning.
It just disappeared without a trace. No thief ever came, nor could they have taken anything from me if they did.
What kind of sword was it?
A good one.
One who was by my side for many years. Without it, my business would not have prospered so much, nor would I have had the fame that I enjoy in the jianghu.
Why don't you look for it, if it's so important?
On the contrary, I can't look for it.
Why?
For so many years, I've used the sword, washed it, used it again. Nightmares and waking up from them... it seemed like there was nothing else in my life.
The sword does not remember the blood that it has tasted, but I can never shake the sin... perhaps losing my sword was a sign from Heaven.
I will rid myself of the sword and the status it brought me. Perhaps I'll change my face and name, and find a quiet place to live out the rest of my days... I'll leave the jianghu and bid farewell to my life before.
That's why I can't teach you.
The tidings of fate have brought us together in this tiny teahouse. If you don't mind me being a busybody, I have a word of advice for you... don't learn the ways of the sword, and cut all ties with the jianghu.
You can't rid yourself of it.
Why?
You're lying.
You're tired of the killing, of the constant cycle of revenge, but you could never let go of the freedom, of the days when you loved and hated as you pleased.
You just wanted an excuse to quit. Losing your sword gave you a convenient one.
You're talking like you know me...
Shall we make a bet? We'll see each other again in this very same tea house, same time next year.
Go and live a year without your sword, as you intend.
If you feel happier, I won't bother you again, nor ask you to teach me your swordsmanship.
I can learn it, whether you teach me or not.
Hah... sure. It's a bet.
I may or may not teach you the sword, but I'll buy you a drink the next time we meet.
The following year...
You're here already... why don't you go in?
No hurry. There's plenty of space.
Huh?
I've been studying the sword every day of the past year, and I've figured out a few moves. I'll show you.
You don't need to offer any advice, just watch.
Heh... sure.
Go ahead.
And that's it... duoxie.
Why do you thank me?
Without a master like you, I wouldn't know which moves should be polished, and which moves should be scrapped.
I didn't need you to say anything. All I needed was your reaction.
Your face told me all I needed to know about which moves stand out, and which moves are flawed.
You said you didn't want to take up the sword again, but you looked like an inveterate drunkard who just saw a jug of wine. You can't hide it.
The jianghu is too dangerous for a simple one like you.
Haha, you're absolutely right.
Interesting... ouch—
Here, take this medicine.
I thought you would keep holding your pain.
The wound opened when I laughed.
What happened?
I was waylaid on my way out of Jiangqi, after delivering the last batch of goods for the season.
Enemies of yours?
Yeah.
A job that I took a few years ago... it was only after I killed the man that I realized he wasn't just an evil rich man. Many people had reason to thank him.
And reason to take revenge for him, even though they were not his kin.
They must have watched me for a long time. They finally dared to attack when they were sure that I had lost my sword, and I hadn't fought in a long time.
I barely escaped with my life to meet you here.
How many enemies came for your life in this past year?
Too many to remember.
And you just kept running?
What was I supposed to do, let them kill me?
You could have killed those petty minions easily, sword or no sword.
To what end? One can never truly kill all of one's enemies. Kill one, and you make another.
I'll just keep sinking deeper.
And what of it?
Isn't that what the jianghu is about? Live free and live without regret. If your sword-hand slows down and you fall to someone stronger, that's just how things are.
You've seen the best and worst of the jianghu. What's so bad about such a life?
Besides, is laying low and keeping your head down the rest of your life really the way you want to live?
I still think losing my sword was a sign from Heaven.
(Frowns without comment)
Come in, friends.
Your tea is ready. You should drink it before it gets cold.
Let's go. You can leave once you've had your tea.
But I just arrived...
My swordsmanship has improved greatly in the past year, but you haven't figured out how to live without the sword. I won the bet this year.
See you again next year.
...Very well.
Year three...
You're still alive.
How have you been? I don't see many new wounds. Have your enemies grown fewer, or have you learned to run faster?
Year four...
'Marking a boat to find a sword'? How could anyone be so stupid?
Although I've never seen a boat, nor the river, nor the sea.
'Lotus leaves as far as the eye could see, an endless green becoming one with the sky...' I wonder what it looks like.
......
Year five...
See you next year.
......
Year six...
......
Hey!
Oh, there you are.
I got within two inches of you, and you didn't notice... I could have killed you easily, if I wanted to.
You still can.
Hmph. You were distracted by something else... what are you hiding?
Oh—
Notice, warrant, bounty...
'Delivering Blade'... is it the name of you and your sword?
Yeah.
You keep talking about ridding yourself of your sword, getting away from the jianghu, then you commit all these crimes?
Not me. The Delivering Blade.
What do you mean?
The Delivering Blade, which had been quiet for so many years, has once again become active in recent months, leaving a trail in multiple nomadic cities, Jiangqi, Langyi, Shangshu, Lungmen...
Or should I say, a trail of blood.
I told you last year that medicinal herb harvests were poor across the board. I had a really tough year, trying to my debts settled with a few major clients...
You mean someone's stealing your name to do evil? Attempting to frame you directly, even?
Why?
For twenty years I've worked for both the law and the underworld. There must be countless warrants and bounties on my head, but there's one thing I can be sure—
Whether they're trying to catch people's attention, or hide their true aim... the name of the Delivering Blade is convenient for them.
......
Which means the Delivering Blade can never escape the jianghu.
Funny, isn't it?
You're concerned?
It's been six years since I lost my sword. This was a sign from Heaven for me to distance myself from all this... and I almost succeeded.
When I first set foot into the jianghu, I just wanted to make a living by the sword while doing a few good deeds along the way. But the further I went, the less my will was my own.
It's only now that I realize the jianghu is a vortex, a gigantic vortex, and there's only one way out of it—
Don't get sucked in, in the first place.
You're in pain.
I've never seen you like this before.
Is that so? Perhaps.
...Enough about me. What about you?
Me?
...It's true. You could have killed me if you wanted to, just now.
Your skills have improved tremendously over the last few years.
No secret tomes, no teacher, not even a sparring partner in this little town. You've come this far on your own talent alone...
You don't even feel surprised or confused about all that's happened to me. Your mental attainment, too, is far beyond the ordinary.
The first time we met, I tried to dissuade you from studying the sword, out of my own experiences alone. But perhaps...
Perhaps you're a true genius who belonged in the jianghu all along.
You should leave this town and see what lies outside.
You're right.
It's something that I must do.
Young lady...
What is it?
Frankly, there aren't many who would be a match for you at this point. There's no need to linger in this tiny town. If you want to leave, you should.
We met each other by the tidings of fate. I would like to give you a present, if you'd take it—the name of the Delivering Blade.
Call yourself his student, even the Delivering Blade himself. I could even give you a token to prove it... the jianghu can be a treacherous place, after all, and it'll make life a lot easier for you.
You should go. Let's bring this annual meeting to an end.
It's not time yet.
What?
I haven't found a way to leave this town... but I will, soon.
I don't understand...
You're not the only one who's being drawn into the vortex... see you next year.
Another four hours have passed. It's long past the appointed time, isn't it?
She's never missed the time before.
You're not going?
L-Let me stay a little longer.
*sigh*...
I suggest you don't wait anymore.
I knew there was something you wanted to say, keeper. Go ahead, say it.
The woman you're waiting for is a killer who's committed multiple murders in these parts.
The whole town's in an uproar. Nobody dares to go out, even in the light of day. Didn't you notice how few patrons were in here?
Finally, a Tianshi from the bureaus passed by here a little while back, she's now going after this woman.
So... I don't think she's coming.
She might be aloof and eccentric, but she's not evil...
What happened?
I heard she was looking for a secret tome meant to improve one's kung fu, or something else. I don't know the specifics.
You know... I've been wondering about something.
Go on.
Her sword is unusual.
As far as I know, there were no other martial artists in this town before.
How could a girl who was born and raised here, a town isolated from everything, become so obsessed with the sword and jianghu?
...Born and raised here?
No, she's not local. She just showed up one day, and no one knows what her name is, or where she came from.
Do you know when that was?
Let me think... about the same time that you first came.
...I had just lost my sword then.
Wh-What's going on?
—!
Lin Qingyan, is it? Why do you keep coming for me?
Object of evil, submit and answer for your crimes.
What do you think you know?!
I do have many questions. Why did the Grandmaster's Book of Kung Fu show up here, and why are you after it?
But you won't answer them unless I take you in.
Enough talk. Do your worst—
You missed our appointment.
I thought you had left.
......
...Zheng Chou, the Delivering Blade?
I don't remember ever doing business with the Tianshi Bureaus.
Lin Qingyan of the Tianshi Bureaus. I read your files when I was working at the Judicial Review Office. It was a thick one. You have been quiet the last few years, though. I see you were hiding here.
And so I end up finding a Judicial Official who knows about me in this place. What a joke, isn't it, trying to retire from the jianghu?
Are you in league with each other?
Didn't you hear him? He left the jianghu behind, trying to wash its stains from his hands these seven years.
He has nothing to do with this secret tome or the entire incident.
But he's trying to protect you.
Protect me? I don't need it.
Hm...
Young lady...
Get out of the way. I can deal with her myself.
The swordsman does not move.
You finally got rid of your sword, of the identity that it gave you. You spent seven years putting your previous life to rest. There's no need to break your vow now...
We barely know each other.
When we first met, you said... I could never rid myself of it.
In fact, it's always been there by my side.
What?
I lost my sword here. Then I met you, who seemed to be born to wield a sword, improving simply by observing my tiniest of reactions...
Of course you could. We were inseparable, once!
I don't know what happened, or why you're doing all this...
Hah. Now you realize. How slow of you.
Funny, isn't it, how you tried to give me the name 'Delivering Blade' when we met last year... when in fact that is exactly what I am.
......
This is a strange town. There's a mysterious power in the air, causing inanimate objects to become sentient geists.
Teapots, fans, rocks... maybe half the people you see on the streets were once such trinkets.
I don't remember how we got separated, but I've looked like this from my first ever waking moment.
I looked for you, until I found you at the teahouse. You were drinking tea nonchalantly, not the slightest bit anxious. I came up to you and drew your attention, and you said...
I lost my sword. It's a sign from Heaven.
Young lady, no, Delivering Blade, no, how should I call you...?
I...
Don't get sentimental.
A swordsman with blood on his hands wants to turn over a new leaf. That's not wrong. The grumpy Tianshi over there might even exclaim, 'There's no greater virtue.'
But there was one thing that I realized at the time—
This jianghu, which you've grown so tired of... I've seen it and walked it with you, but I've never experienced it myself.
I shall wield the sword and travel the jianghu—this time, under my own name!
But Waregeists cannot leave this town.
I've tried many times. The river to the east, the bridge to the west... it's as though there's an invisible wall around the town, one that stops only the geists!
That's why you said 'It's not time yet'...
...I knew it.
You stole the Book of Kung Fu because you sought to break this barrier for geists through the Grandmaster's teachings.
Such strange affairs. You could not have known who the Grandmaster was, so why would you think his writings would have such power... someone is trying to manipulate geists into causing trouble.
Are you done with your deduction, Tianshi?
Yes.
I thought you might have been a geist, but I didn't expect you to have such a past with Zheng Chou, the Delivering Blade... yet it provides no reference for my judgment of your crimes.
You must answer for the acts you committed in attempting to acquire the book.
Submit, or be annihilated in form and spirit by Lei Fa.
Submit?
The secret tome is already mine. Soon I'll discover its secret and leave this place... this place that I've been trying to get out of for seven years!
No more swordbearer, no more sheath. What is there to stop the sword's edge?
The only way to stop it is to break it!
If that's so...
Thunder of heaven, heed my call.
Lin Qingyan's voice is soft, but it seems as though heaven and earth themselves heed her call. The sky suddenly darkens, dark clouds gather, and a bright arc of electricity forms on her palm.
Tianshi Lin, I don't know how things came to this, but... I can understand why she wanted to do what she did. There's no need to...
She's my sword. I-I'll accept responsibility with her...
Begone!
Fool!
I can understand her desire for freedom.
But violence is inherent in her nature as the Geist of a sword. It is likely that she cannot control herself anymore; the more intent her desire is, the more important it is that I stop her from putting even more innocent people in harm's way.
As for you...
It was a good thing that you took the loss of your sword as a sign to distance yourself from the jianghu and its conflicts. But seven years have passed, and you have yet to fully retire from it.
Hatred and grudges are like snow falling in a valley, piling up deeper and deeper, but you could have freed yourself from it if you truly tried.
Maybe she was right... in your heart, did you really throw away your sword?
......
Enough talk. As both the Deputy Minister of the Judicial Review Office, and disciple of the Tianshi Bureaus—this thunder must strike!
......
The clouds and thunder scatter. The sword-bearing woman is gone, and the skies are clear again.
A plain-bound book lies where she stood. The wind blows its cover open—
'Book of Kung Fu'.
(The one who stole the Book of Kung Fu from Yumen might be here in this town. What is this person planning?)
(No use thinking about it. I'll just retrieve the Book of Kung Fu for now...)
There you are!
I've been looking for you!
...Huai Tianpei?
......
There is only the swordsman left on the street.
He stands there in a daze, staring silently into space.
Such commotion... is something the matter?
I...
I lost my sword.
It's time to go...
Once a year... and never again.
Excuse me, sir...
Y-You're...
Do you know me?
I...
I'm lost. I don't know how I got here. You're the first person to pass by in a while, and I wonder if you know the way.
(So that's what Tianshi Lin meant...)
In your heart, did you really throw away your sword?
......
I don't know the answer.
But what you're doing is heartless, Tianshi Lin.
Heartless, is it?
Are you still going to beg for mercy for her, even at this hour?
We saw each other one day of the year for seven years. I thought I was the one guiding her, but it turns out it was the other way around.
It's true, I was a fool. I had thrown away my sword, only to pick it up time and again.
I don't know what I'm clinging to, or what I'm afraid of... maybe it's something I should figure out, in a remote village somewhere, or in a prison cell.
I'll pay for all the damage she caused, then I'll turn myself in. Before that, though, please...
......
(Frenzied muttering)
Look at her. She can't hear you anymore.
She has engaged in too much violence to obtain the book. Malice will overcome her mind, even if the thunder of Heaven does not strike.
But she will never truly be human, even if Lei Fa manages to rid her of geisthood.
The living suffer much and think much. But the geists formed from inanimate objects are often simple of mind... it is difficult for them to truly become part of society.
Is it an act of kindness to bring them into this world, or an act of cruelty?
(Perhaps you should beg the Tianshi Bureaus' forgiveness when all is said and done, Lin Qingyan...)
But...
Enough talk. As both the Deputy Minister of the Judicial Review Office, and disciple of the Tianshi Bureaus—this thunder must strike!
What did you just say?
......
Don't you remember anything?
Remember what?
N-Never mind.
There's a town down this path. The Chidao's half a day's journey from there, which leads to many nomadic cities, Shangshu, Dahuang, Langyi...
Where are you going?
Where do you want to go?
Forward.
I'm not in great health, but I want to see those places...
Perhaps we can travel together, for a while.