[Vol. 8] Chapter 223: The Blue Butterfly and the Blue Butterfly Sword
"Whoa, whoa—aren’t you overreacting a bit...? Calm down, I’m not your enemy, okay?"
From the corner of the room, Violet, who had watched the whole scene unfold, lifted the [Chameleon Cloak] and openly stepped out in front of the young swordswoman. She waved her hand in a friendly way to show she wasn’t carrying any weapons.
"Also... since we’re both girls, if you feel like you’ve lost something here... I could let you look at me too, just to even it out?"
"...?"
The swordswoman didn’t respond. She just instinctively tightened the only bath towel she was wearing and looked up and down at the white-robed priestess.
The Blue Butterfly Sword might not have realized it herself, but through Violet’s special [Yin-Yang Eyes], she could see a faint red glow swirling deep in the girl’s eyes. It slightly tainted the clarity of her usually bright, star-like gaze. Clear signs that the girl hadn’t fully recovered from the lingering effects of a certain power.
It was clear now that the method she had used to heal herself earlier had come at a price.
Seeing that the girl was still staying silent and on guard, Violet, who knew she had just secretly watched another girl bathing (even if it was only out of curiosity about her healing ability), let out an awkward cough. Though her intentions weren’t malicious, she knew it hadn’t been the most ethical thing to do.
So she decided to shift the topic quickly.
"Anyway, Miss Blue Butterfly Sword, I suggest you don’t use that power too often. I’m sure you’ve already noticed, while it gives you greater strength, speed, and crazy healing abilities, it also slowly messes with your mind. That assassin earlier wasn’t wrong. If you don’t find a way to deal with it, you really will go crazy one day."
"......"
It seemed the words finally struck a chord, or perhaps the girl could tell that Violet wasn’t a threat. Maybe it helped that they were both young women around the same age. Either way, the Blue Butterfly Sword slowly lowered her blade, letting go of her earlier shame and tension. She took a deep breath to calm herself.
"You’re from the Goddess Church? What brings you sneaking in here in the middle of the night?"
She wasn’t dumb. Compared to the embarrassment of being seen naked by another girl, what mattered far more was that the power she’d used to heal herself had been witnessed by someone, and that this white-robed stranger had managed to silently sneak all the way into the room and remain completely hidden until she spoke.
If Violet had been an enemy, with such stealth skills, she could have easily landed a fatal sneak attack while the swordswoman was at her weakest and completely unarmed.
The fact that she didn’t do so already said a lot.
With that thought, the Blue Butterfly Sword stopped staring and quickly gathered her internal energy. In moments, the moisture on her long wet hair and skin was completely evaporated. Yet she didn’t rush to get dressed, just held the towel in place with one hand, sat down calmly on a chair she pulled over, and looked straight at the mysterious girl.
"No need to be so tense," Violet said, relaxed as ever. "I just happened to be passing by. You seemed interesting, so I thought I’d say hi. As for who I am. I’m not actually affiliated with the Church. You could say I’m... unaffiliated."
As she spoke, Miss Violet casually introduced herself by name.
The swordswoman’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
"So you’re Violet?"
The woman in question gave a helpless smile.
"What? Is my name really that famous now?"
The Blue Butterfly Sword gave a small nod, visibly more relaxed than before.
"About a month ago, when I left my master’s dojo, I ran into a few senior martial uncles returning from Sainz, the academy city. While chatting, they mentioned you. A newly named honorary professor at the academy, and someone known as the strongest holy arts user outside the Church. A traveling priestess not tied to any group... Miss Violet."
"Senior [Flying Flower Sword] described meeting you at the academy in great detail. She spoke highly of your character and strength. The other two senior also clearly respected you, it’s a tone I’ve only ever heard them use when talking about our grandmaster."
"To be honest, I’ve always been curious about what kind of person could earn the respect of three out of the six top disciples of the Sword Saint. And now that I’ve met you... you really are something else. Doing things no ordinary person would do... Uh, you are the real Miss Violet, right?"
"...Why do I feel like there’s some hidden meaning in what you just said?"
The priestess couldn’t help but smile wryly. But since the other girl already knew her identity, it made things easier. She took out a badge called the Marina Flower Emblem, issued by Sainz Academy to represent the status of an honorary professor, and casually tossed it to the girl across from her.
“I don’t know if you recognize this thing, but I doubt anyone would go out of their way to pretend to be someone with this title.”
“You never know,” the girl replied.
The Blue Butterfly Sword glanced at the badge a few times. It was clearly made from expensive materials and engraved with a unique anti-forgery spell. Whether she truly understood what it was or not, she quickly stepped forward and respectfully held the badge with both hands before returning it to Violet.
“My apologies for being rude earlier. I didn’t know who you were. Please forgive me, Senior Violet.”
“Ahem… well, actually, there’s no need to keep calling me ‘Senior,’ you know…”
The Blue Butterfly Sword froze for a second, then firmly shook her head.
“Senior Violet is a powerful expert. Even my master’s senior brothers treat you with junior-level respect. How could I act improperly? I must call you ‘Senior.’”
Oh no… this girl might actually be kind of sly and calculating…
Violet found it both funny and troublesome. She looked at the beautiful young woman in front of her, who stood confidently wearing only a simple white bath towel, like a fresh lotus rising from water, noble and graceful. It was hard to believe that this same person had been the cold-blooded swordswoman who killed without blinking in the dark courtyard earlier.
“Well, don’t just stand there. I have a lot I want to talk to you about. I’ll probably stay here for a while tonight. Go ahead and get dressed first. Oh, and by the way, what should I call you?”
After all, “Blue Butterfly Sword” was probably just a title, not her real name.
The swordswoman nodded, hesitated for a moment, then without being shy or dramatic, put down her sword, untied the towel that was her only cover, and calmly walked to the wardrobe, completely exposing her smooth, fair body in front of Violet. She grabbed a clean wrap top, short pants, and a loose nightgown, then quickly got dressed.
The other girl’s straightforwardness made Violet feel a little awkward. She didn’t know where to look.
This girl is definitely sly deep down…!
“My name is Lan Die (Blue Butterfly), from the ‘Swift Wind Style’ sword school. I’m the eldest student of the [Dustless Way-Sword]... who is also my father.”
“Ohhh… wait, that name…”
As she tried to politely avoid seeing the girl’s occasional exposed beauty, Violet suddenly realized something.
The name "Lan Die" meant her surname was Lan and her name was Die. It wasn’t a nickname or title like “Blue Butterfly Sword” after all.
“You’re from the Ancient Spirit Realm?”
Violet was surprised. She couldn’t help but look again at the girl’s long black hair, her face filled with doubt.
“But from what I know, people in the Ancient Spirit Realm have many different hair colors… except black like yours, right?”
Although Die’s bloodline was of the lowest level, after a thousand years of change and mixing in the Sacred Era following the chaos of demons, black hair had almost disappeared from the Ancient Spirit Realm.
Hearing Violet speak with such clarity, Lan Die looked a little surprised.
“I didn’t expect you to know so much about other worlds, Senior. Impressive. Even I have only heard my father mention it a few times… I was born and raised here as a human. But they say my father’s grandfather really did come from another world called the Ancient Spirit Realm.”
“I don’t know all the details. But the story passed down in our family says that my great-grandfather traveled across the ocean and came here. He married a local woman and had children. He was also a swordsman. To keep the sword techniques he brought from the other world from being lost, he made a rule. In every generation, at least one person must inherit his surname and sword style, and must never forget their roots.”
“But our family line is very small. Both my father and I are only children, so there wasn’t much choice. I was given the name Lan Die, but after so many generations, I’m sure there’s not much of that ancient bloodline left. For example, my black hair comes from my mother, not my father.”
“I see… that’s quite the story…”
So it really was swordsmanship and a family heritage passed down from the Ancient Spirit Realm. No wonder the girl used the word ‘senior’, a form of address not commonly used around here, and carried such a classical and elegant aura. Even the way she spoke had a scholarly refinement, like someone from an old, cultured family.
The culture of the Ancient Spirit Realm really was different from this world.
Although it looked like there was only an ocean between them, crossing the world boundary from the Ancient Spirit Realm to the Origin Realm wasn’t something that could be done easily using normal methods. As far as Violet knew, only Spirit Veil Immortal Island currently had a relatively stable method and the experience to do it.
Because there were Spirit Veil Merchant Associations in both places, the Immortal Island would organize large-scale overseas journeys from time to time to transfer goods and people. So, if someone in the Ancient Spirit Realm was lucky enough, and also had the desire to start a new life, it wasn’t impossible to get on a ship and head to the other world.
The members of the Reaper’s Scythe team, along with others Violet had seen before, such as Hongyan, who had now become a Hero of Dominion, had all come this way. So having another case like Lan Die wasn’t really surprising.
The priestess didn’t care much about the girl’s background. After a brief conversation to understand her situation, she didn’t dig any deeper. But when she saw the girl finishing her outfit and getting ready to hang the Blue Butterfly Sword back on the wall, she suddenly spoke up to stop her.
“Wait. Where did you get that sword? If it’s okay, could you tell me?”
“?”
Lan Die paused slightly and frowned a little, as if the question made her uncomfortable or unsure.
But maybe because she thought about Violet’s identity, or how her elders spoke so highly and respectfully of this young-looking girl, or maybe because of the strange and powerful skill Violet had shown just now, in the end, she stopped and turned around.
“To be honest, Senior Violet, the origin of this sword really is kind of mysterious. I got it by chance and don’t actually know its full background.”
The girl pulled the blade out a little, about half an inch. The icy blue glow reflected her flawless, delicate face. She thought for a moment and said:
“I think it was around two years ago. I was still underage and training with my father at the dojo. Then one day, a man in a grey robe suddenly fell from the sky with someone else and landed in the backyard of the dojo.”
“He appeared without any warning, and since the backyard is normally quiet and empty, I was the only one there practicing my sword skills. So we saw each other.”
“When a stranger shows up in a restricted area, of course my first reaction was to draw my sword and be on guard. But the man in the robe was very polite. He said that his new student had once studied the Swift Wind Style, and even though they were from a different school, he hoped to get official teaching permission from the Sword Saint. That’s why he brought his student to visit.”
“Hm?”
At this point, the priestess frowned slightly as if she had realized something. Her eyes turned a little strange as she looked at the Blue Butterfly Sword. But the girl didn’t seem to notice and continued:
“That man… was very mysterious. I couldn’t see through him at all. But the person standing behind him, who looked much older and was supposedly his student, was clearly a real legendary-level expert. His presence was deep and powerful. I think his strength wasn’t far behind the Six Disciples of the Sword Saint. And yet that man was just a student?”
“But the Sword Saint wasn’t at the main dojo at that time, he travels around a lot. Only my father was there, and he’s the head of the Six Disciples. People call him [Dustless Way-Sword].”
“After those two showed up, we talked for just a bit, and then my father and two other senior uncles rushed over to the backyard. They seemed very cautious of the grey-robed man. And they really did know the student he brought, an older swordsman named Nicholas.”
“The Swift Wind Style doesn’t have that many rules, so after hearing their request and talking to them for a while, my father agreed on behalf of the Sword Saint.”
“Once they got what they came for, the two were about to leave quickly. But before leaving, the man in the robe took out this Blue Butterfly Sword and gave it to me. He said the sword shared the same name as me and that it was fate. He told me to take it as a gift and apology for the uninvited visit…”
“My father signaled me to accept the sword. Since I did need a good weapon, I asked the Sword Saint afterward and got permission to use it. So I’ve been using it ever since.”
At this point, Lan Die finally noticed Violet’s strange expression and looked confused.
“Senior Violet… is there something wrong with this sword?”
“Well… how should I put it~”
The black-haired girl looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But just to be safe, she decided to do one last check.
It wasn’t too difficult. After all, with such a “powerful-sounding” name, just using [Information Detection] would probably be enough to find out the truth.
“If you trust me, Miss Lan Die, could I take a closer look at the sword? I have some ways to examine it.”
“……”
The young swordswoman looked into the priestess’s clear, silver-blue eyes for a moment, then gave a small nod without saying much. She directly handed the sword over.
“This sword gives off cold energy. Please be careful when you touch it.”