Sword of the Hero

Tales place the weapon in a holy sanctuary near the Village of the Sword, set into rock by the Goddess of Creation for the one destined to drive off a world-ending threat. Countless would-be heroes have gripped the hilt over the ages, and every one has failed to pull it loose. Monsters loathe the blade and feel an urge they cannot resist to wreck it, which keeps them swarming the site, so Frieren pledges to return now and again to thin their numbers and guard the secret kept there.

The sword is a straight, double-edged design with a raised central ridge for stiffness, a six-sided cross-section, and a grip long enough for both hands. Its guard is thick and layered, set with an oval stone at the center and capped by a rounded pommel. Himmel's stand-in mirrors that shape almost exactly and works as a true weapon, having cut down armies of monsters and the Demon King alike. He sheathed it plainly at his left hip and never traded it away, keeping the blade beside his hero's garb and carrying it with him to the grave.

The replica came from the dwarven smith Kiesel, who shaped it early in his career on commission for a Royal Capital merchant. Himmel earned the blade as thanks from a peddler he rescued from a monster near his remote childhood village. Though he privately admitted to being a false hero wielding a false sword and resolved to claim the genuine article, he never managed it; those who knew the truth buried it, and later generations came to believe he had drawn the real weapon. Years afterward Kiesel recognizes his old work, offers a finer replacement, and is gently refused before settling for honing the blade to a mirror shine.