v1c2 - 1

Chapter 2 : The Sister’s Decision

The clinking of dishes echoed steadily.

……

Amidst gazes laden with considerable exasperation—Toru continued eating silently. Never one for refined manners to begin with, his eating now carried an even more frantic air than usual with there was no sense of enjoying the meal.

Put it in the mouth, chew, swallow, lastly drink water to push it further down.

Then starting again he repeated this like an endless routine task.

The food particularly didn’t seem delicious or distasteful.

For the cook who prepared the meal, this must have been utterly dissatisfying, but for Toru right now, food wasn’t for savoring but it was pure nutritional replenishment.

……

Just a little about three hours earlier.

Toru had encountered a girl while gathering wild vegetables in the mountains, and then faced an abandoned beast, a Unicorn. Protecting the girl, he fled from the Unicorn, and until she defeated it with magic, Toru had lost a fair amount of blood, body heat, and used a trump card he hadn’t touched in two years—<Iron-Blood Transformation> while guarding her buying time.

Especially this <Iron-Blood Transformation> consumed an extraordinary amount of stamina from the user.

Honestly, it was a miracle that he didn’t collapse right after it was over. Forcibly drawing out the body’s innate strength, it was akin to walking a tightrope called limitation, as a result…gripped by ferocious hunger, Toru, upon entering the town of Del Solant, headed straight to a diner with the girl who tagged with him, leading to the present moment. Incidentally, more than five people’s worth of plates were already stacked before him.

It was already past noon, and the diner was reasonably bustling.

At first, the other patrons paid Toru no mind, but they couldn’t ignore the sight of a boy silently devouring food and piling up plates.

“……Oji-san.” Having cleanly cleared his sixth plate, Toru looked up and said. “Same thing. One more serving.”

“……Right.”

Through the small window connecting the kitchen and dining area, the cook nodded with a weary expression.

And then.

“ …Overeating.”

Frowning, muttering from across Toru, was a girl with silver hair and purple eyes.

Chaika Trabant.

That was how she introduced herself to Toru. He still didn’t know her background, but for now, the important thing was that she’d cover the cost of this meal. Not to boast, but Toru was completely unemployed and broke.

“Reckless. Overeating. Astonishing stomach.”

“That aside....you’ve got money, right?”

……

Chaika nodded, her face exasperated.

“Then no problem. You get hungry after moving around afterall.”

……

Sure, Chaika had hired Toru to guide her in exchange for breakfast, but she was probably regretting not confirming the exact amount or budget ahead of time.

Toru then reached for the bread in the wicker basket beside him, tearing it apart and eating. It wasn’t just about eating anything haphazardly. He’d been taught that the order of eating affected efficient nutrient absorption. The brain assesses the stomach’s state, releasing digestive enzymes, and so on—in the process of nutrient intake, efficiency mattered.

Toru devoured an entire basket of bread in no time and at that moment of his food consumption—

“—Nii-sama.”

He froze.

For some reason, everyone else in the diner froze too, pointlessly to that voice.

No—it definitely wasn’t pointless, nor without reason. They just weren’t conscious of it. Like a rabbit dragged before a tiger, their bodies instinctively tensed. The rabbit wouldn’t know why. It was simply how things were.

“You were gone so long, I was worried.”

……

“What exactly is Nii-sama doing?”

……

Toru mustered all his willpower to turn toward the diner’s entrance.

There stood—a girl who was tall and slender, her long black hair tied back at the nape. Her almond-shaped eyes were beautiful—but half-lidded, they radiated overwhelming intimidation.

She is Akari, Toru’s imouto.

“Nii-sama.”

Striding across the diner, Akari approached their table.

The other patrons unconsciously backed away, clearing a path for her. She wasn’t doing anything but just walking, without furrowed brows or a flushed face—but the aura rising from her like heat haze left no one able to hide their fear.

“A-Akari, ah, no, this is—”

Toru hurriedly scrambled to construct an excuse in his mind.

Come to think of it, it was already noon—he’d left home saying he’d “arrange breakfast,” so this was far beyond merely being late. Leaving his imouto at home while he polished off six servings of food and reached for a seventh left, objectively, not a shred of room for excuses.

That comes to conclusion with Nothing to do but apologize profusely.

“—Sorry, I Forgot.”

……

Perhaps wondering what to make of her brother’s brazen apology, Akari narrowed her eyes, looking at Toru and then at Chaika, who was staring wide-eyed in surprise behind him.

And then—

“ …The smell of blood.”

She muttered softly.

“……Ah.”

Toru grimaced.

For now, the gash on his back from the Unicorn’s fangs had been crudely stitched up with needle and thread Chaika happened to have—both his clothes and skin—so he thought it wasn’t that noticeable. But as expected of his imouto, she immediately picked  up on her brother’s abnormality.

And then—

“Nii-sama.”

“Yeah, no, I mean—”

“While I’m here.”

“…Huh?”

“To defile such a young girl—what’s the meaning of this?!”

……

Toru glanced back at Chaika.

Chaika, for her part, looked utterly confused, blinking blankly—

“Akari.”

“What, Nii-sama?”

“There’s a lot I want to retort to, but setting that aside, you’re in a grave misunderstanding.”

“Is that so?”Akari tilted her head expressionlessly and continued. “Where did I go wrong? Enlighten your foolish imouto, Nii-sama. I assumed the smell of blood clinging to you was from deflowering that girl over there.”

“Suspect an injury first, you idiot!”

Toru slammed the table and shouted.

But Akari tilted her head the other way and said.

“How strange.”

“What’s so strange about it?”

“There’s no way Nii-sama would get injured just going into the mountains.”

……

Toru sighed.

Being trusted that much was, in a way, gratifying, but…

“And bringing an unfamiliar girl along? I couldn’t help but think Nii-sama had finally awakened to his sexual urges.”

“Don’t say such scandalous things easily!”

In a packed diner, no less.

“But if that’s the case, with a non-blood-related imouto like me right beside you, it’d be natural to direct your lust toward me. I may not be Nii-sama’s type, but a young man’s libido—”

“Shut up! Just shut up damn it!”

Toru growled. “Look at this.” and reached his back, slightly tugging at his clothing.

Even if she couldn’t see the entire wound, the edge of the stitches should be visible to Akari.

“This is—”

As expected, Akari’s eyes widened in surprise as she muttered.

“Got it?”

“Yes. I understand. I made a grave mistake.”

“Good. As long as you get it. Right, since you’re here, why don’t you eat—”

“That girl.” Cutting Toru off before he could finish, Akari turned to Chaika and said. “—I’ll kill her.”

“Oi!?”

Toru instinctively grabbed Akari in a bear hug to stop her as she marched toward Chaika. She didn’t have her trusty iron hammer now, but that was no reason to relax. Incidentally, Akari could crush an apple with her bare hands like a gorilla. Despite not having a particularly muscular build, she was, after all, from the Acura village—not an amateur by any means.

“You don’t get it at all!”

“I do. She did that to you, didn’t she? I, known for my mild and gentle nature, cannot tolerate seeing my beloved Nii-sama defiled.”

“Where the hell are you mild and gentle!? And are you respecting me or insulting me!?”

How could anyone think Toru would let a girl like Chaika slice up his back?

“……Is that not it?”

Still in Toru’s bear hug, Akari turned her head over her shoulder to ask.

“No, it’s not.”

“But aside from seducing you with her loli charms and attacking your back, what other way could she harm Nii-sama?”

“…What the hell do you take me for?”

Toru groaned.

And then—

“—Abandoned beast.”

Lowering his voice—and switching languages, Toru said.

If word got out that an abandoned beast appeared near town, it’d cause a panic. And that would lead to questions about who Toru was, surviving an encounter with one. That would render meaningless his choice to live in Del Solant’s refugee district without revealing his surname or status.

……

Akari’s eyes narrowed briefly as he explained.

“Ran into an abandoned beast, somehow. That girl—Chaika—happened to be there and helped me take it down. You see she’s a mage and with her Gundo’s in that coffin over there.”

The Acura village had a coded language only its members understood. By speaking this way, they could keep the abandoned beast incident from the other patrons while signaling to Akari that Toru was being serious.

“So she’s more like a benefactor. And the reason I’m eating now is because she got lost in the mountains, so I offered to guide her here in exchange for covering breakfast for you and me. I’m sick of always eating wild vegetables, you know.”

“…I see.”

Akari nodded.

At the same time, Toru released his bear hug on his imouto.

“Sorry, Nii-sama.”

“…As long as you understand.”

“Since you’re always lazing around at home, refusing to work, I thought you’d twisted your libido in some weird direction—”

“Just shut up!”

Toru grimaced.

“Since you’re here, why don’t you get some food too?”

“Hm?”

Akari glanced at Chaika, who sighed and nodded.

“I see. Then, four servings of the daily special.”

“Hey, you.”

“With Nii-sama not coming back, I got worried and ended up using the secret art to search the town. So I’m extremely hungry.”

“……The secret art’s supposed to be more……never mind.”

Sure, Akari could use <Iron-Blood Transformation> too.

“Sorry, but that’s how it is.”

“……Resignation.”

Chaika nodded.