Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

So, the shoulder bag had never been washed, covered in bloodstains from Winters everywhere: splatters from the fight, smears from handling the whistle.

"Really?" The girl was skeptical; she was no fool. But her brother's tone was calm and unflustered, not seeming to be feigned.

Winters opened the shoulder bag and carefully took out the female thief's dagger, which he had returned to the bag after their encounter.

Elizabeth's eyes lit up, and she reached for the dagger: "What is this? It's so pretty."

Winters was startled and lifted the dagger high, out of his sister's reach: "Be careful, it's sharp."

With his height and long arms, no matter how the girl reached, she couldn't touch the dagger. She simply hugged Winters's left arm and coaxed him: "Just let me see it, please? I'll just look, I won't take it, is that okay?"

"Alright," Winters relented: "I'll hold it for you to look, but be careful, it's very sharp."

Before, Winters had either casually stuffed the dagger into the bag or pulled it out to stab someone, so this was, in fact, the first time he had properly examined the weapon he had confiscated.

The blade of the dagger was about twenty centimeters long, about two fingers in width, double-edged, with a straight edge and no fuller. It resembled a short sword, but it had no guard or quillons, just a sleek, straight hilt.

There might have been decorative patterns originally on the blade, but since Winters had used it to cast the Luminosity Spell, it had turned red and black, covering everything. However, the red and black patterns on the blade gave it an eerily beautiful look.

The handle of the dagger had no decorations either; it was wrapped in some kind of leather over a wooden grip. Thin strands of some silver-colored metal were twisted into a cord and wrapped around the handle of the dagger with a one-finger interval, ending in a smooth counterweight sphere.

Winters speculated that the metal wire on the dagger's hilt might be silver, and even if it wasn't, the craftsmanship required to weave three strands into a cord was not something an average artisan could manage.

Although the blade was not visible at the moment, when he stabbed people on the ship, the dagger slid into the body as if cutting through butter, suggesting the steel was of good quality as well.

From all the evidence, this seemed to be a rather fine dagger. Unexpectedly, the female thief cared quite a bit about her "dining utensils."

"This little knife is so pretty." Elizabeth, taking advantage of her brother's distraction, snatched the dagger and started making gestures in the air with it.

Watching his sister clumsily wave the sharp weapon, Winters felt his heart leap with fear, worried she might accidentally cut herself, and he kept saying: "Ella! Be careful, that dagger is very quick."

In truth, the more Winters mentioned the sharpness of the dagger, the more Elizabeth wanted it.

Winters hadn't realized, from a male perspective, that the dagger had been originally used by a woman; although its design was simple, its compact and exquisite construction naturally would attract the eyes of a girl. Moreover, since Winters had "colored" it with the Luminosity Spell, Elizabeth was even more reluctant to part with it.

Hearing his words, Elizabeth stopped, blinked, and played hard to get by obediently handing the dagger back to her brother.

Then she hugged Winters's left arm again, playing the spoiled child: "Brother, can you give me this little knife? Please? The safety in Sea Blue City has been terrible lately, let it be for my self-defense?"

"I'm afraid you might hurt yourself."

"But I've used kitchen knives before, and even craft knives, and I've never hurt myself," Elizabeth retorted sharply and quickly. Winters had never been able to win an argument with her since they were young.

"It's designed differently, this dagger is really dangerous, and you could very easily hurt yourself with it." Could it not be dangerous? Winters thought. In his hands alone, the dagger had already taken three lives, not to mention its previous owners; it might be the deadliest thing in the house.

"Then you can teach me how to use it."

Winters was at a loss for words. He had only love and tenderness for his sister, and he couldn't say things like "What does a girl need with something like this?"

He sighed, finally conceding defeat: "Okay, I'll give it to you. But the dagger doesn't have a sheath now. Wait until I make one for you, okay?"

"Isn't it just a sheath? I can find some leather and sew one right now." Elizabeth cheered triumphantly, now that she had gotten her way.

"Fine, make the sheath, and then come get the dagger from me, okay?"

"You're the best, brother!" Elizabeth planted a kiss on her brother's face and hurried off to her room to sew the sheath.

Winters shook his head, the image of his sniffling, tearful little sister who used to fight and cry with him still vivid in his memory. When had she become so...

Astonishing? Not quite right.

Understanding? Not quite right either.

Very good at persuading people? Even less so.

In any case, she had changed; truly, a girl changes eighteen times between childhood and womanhood.

As he pondered, he emptied the shoulder bag, and a small white silk parcel fell out. Winters picked it up and took a while to remember this too belonged to the female thief.

But Winters was very tired now, with no interest in what was inside the parcel, so he casually tossed it back onto the table, pulled the white cloth off the bed, and collapsed onto it as if he had lost all his strength.

He closed his eyes.

Time to sleep.

...

...

But he couldn't sleep!

Curiosity overpowered sleepiness; he still wanted to know what was inside the little parcel.