v1c2 - 3

“—Nii-sama.”

It was the next morning waking up, Toru found himself face-to-face with his imouto, their breaths close enough to mingle, just like the morning before.

And, as expected, the iron hammer embedded in his pillow was the same sending him a casual de ja vu.

“Good morning.”

“……You.” Toru groaned. “What the hell is this about?”

“What’s it about, you ask?”

Akari tilted her head as if she had no idea of her actions when right beside his head, the iron hammer remained lodged in Toru’s pillow.

“I came to wake you up same like yesterday.”

“So I’m asking why you’re pulling the same stunt as yesterday.”

“Because the situation’s the same as yesterday.”

……

Toru baffled and was at a loss for words.

Sure, thanks to Chaika, they’d managed to have breakfast or rather, lunch yesterday. But that was a one-time thing. Toru hadn’t worked since, and the fact their lack of money hadn’t changed. In fact, the wages Akari earned from a day’s labor at a nearby shop had all gone to last night’s dinner.

After all, they’d both used <Iron-Blood Transformation>.

Not just lunch, but dinner too—they ate several times more than an ordinary person so, as a result, wages meant to last three days vanished in one night.

So, indeed, this was actually the situation was the same as yesterday morning.

“Besides, my injuries haven’t yet fully healed.”

“But you could handle simple work, couldn’t you?”

“I’m telling you I’m not in the mood to work.”

Toru growled.

“Why don’t you find some random guy and get married already? Learn to flash a fake smile, and you’d manage easily. You’ve trained in bedroom arts, even if you haven’t seen real combat—”

“But if the man I marry doesn’t work like you, it’s the same thing, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah, I guess.”

Not to brag, but Toru didn’t think there were many men like him in this world. In the post-war chaos, when everyone was desperate to survive, someone like Toru, claiming “working is losing,” was either utterly eccentric or a fool. That was tantamount to saying, “Well, I might as well die.”

“Either way.”Akari said. “It’s about time for the limit you broke.”

“Limit?”

“My patience.”

Akari declared.

The next instant—

“—!?”

Toru leapt from the bed getting a sheer chill on his spine, just when Akari had thrust a piercing hand strike at ferocious speed.

This wasn’t her usual half-playful attack. If Toru hadn’t dodged in earnest, her right hand would’ve punched through his stomach and out his back with fatality.

“—Akari!?”

Springing forward, Toru kicked the wall from excess momentum, then the ceiling, before landing on the floor. The already dilapidated house creaked and groaned, protesting the rough treatment.

“I told you before.”Akari rose, speaking expressionlessly. “If Nii-sama keeps refusing to work, I’ll turn you into a taxidermy piece.”

“…So you were actually serious about that?”

Toru growled.

Akari pulled the iron hammer free—unlike yesterday, she didn’t swing it but held it steady. No pointless intimidation. She was fully prepared to kill.

(Well that's…no surprise there.)

Toru thought with a self-deprecating smirk.

As she said, her patience had finally snapped—that was probably it. Having a “family member” who lazed around daily with no prospects for the future would drive anyone to want to eliminate them and start anew. It wasn’t unreasonable. The war had only recently ended and hman lives were cheap. Town registries were disorganized, and refugees like them were barely tracked. That’s why Toru and Akari could blend in among commoners without raising suspicion.

Either way—

“—!”

With almost no wind-up, Akari’s iron hammer flew at him, at that Toru dodged at the last second. The strike grazed his head, tearing a chunk out of the already crumbling wall of the dilapidated house. Rolling across the floor, Toru grabbed the belt with his short swords from beside the bed and leapt again to evade a second blow. By the time they faced each other again, Akari had already returned to her initial stance.

There’s a sword-drawing technique called iai-nuki, and this was familiar. An iron hammer had little power when the wielder’s body was fully extended. Unlike a blade, it generated no destructive force without motion. Thus, for continuous attacks, one either kept it spinning with centrifugal force or, like iai-nuki, maintained distance to accelerate each strike.

(Her hammer technique’s always been my weak point…)

Thinking this, Toru edged backward securing a relatively safe distance while fastening the two short swords to his waist and slipped through the collapsed wall’s opening to the outside of the house.

Akari followed him out.

Around them, refugees peeked from their own dilapidated homes, likely alerted by the sound of the collapsing wall, but none seemed reckless enough to intervene. Facing the ferocious killing intent radiating from a serious Akari, no ordinary person would dare step in.

“…You gotta be kidding me, stop it now Akari.” Toru issued a final warning. “It won’t end as a joke.”

“Nii-sama.” Akari replied in sharp tone instantly. “I’ve never told a joke in my life.”

“…R-Really?”

“Of course.”

……

A flurry of retorts flashed through Toru’s mind, but setting that aside.

“…Then you left me with no choice.”

Resolving himself, Toru gripped the hilts of his short swords and aligning the emblems carved on the hilts with those on his palms—he tightened his fingers. At the same time, he flicked the thumb-locks on the guards and drew the swords.

“…Heh.”

The sensation in his hands—no, his arms—changed instantly.

Toru’s two beloved swords, though nameless, were no ordinary blades. They were machine swords, often used by professional warriors accustomed to battlefields. Their hilts and blades contained mechanisms that the wielder activated by aligning the “key” emblems.

In that moment…the machine swords became, literally, part of Toru.

Rather than slashing an enemy with a wielded tool, it felt like grabbing an opponent with his own hands as if it was  natural, seamless sensation imbued even in the swords. He could sense the temperature and wind on the blades’ surfaces as if they were his own skin. It was as if his arms had extended into the shape of swords. There was no sense of “handling” them.

And then—

“—‘I am steel.’” Almost simultaneously, Toru and Akari muttered. “‘As steel, I do not falter.’ ‘As steel, I do not waver.’ ‘Once I face an enemy, with no hesitation whatsoever,’ ‘I am a weapon to strike them down’—”

The secret art—<Iron-Blood Transformation> with the chant of the key phrases, the two saboteurs’ bodies were optimized as weapons, combined with the unity of the machine swords—Toru, in that instant, became an existence solely for wielding the blades, a part of the machine swords, and the swords themselves.

As a sword, he did not waver.

As a sword, he did not fear.

Per the key phrases, he became an existence solely to strike down the enemy without any hesitation.

The next instant, Toru and Akari kicked off the ground simultaneously but neither leapt into the air. They knew each other’s momentum too well. Carelessly jumping would invite an upward strike from below. Even with <Iron-Blood Transformation>, there was no way to dodge in midair. At best, they could adjust posture with limbs, but an attack aimed at their center of mass was unavoidable.

Dan! The sound of pounding the ground echoed followed by the scream of clashing metal.

Crawling low—both saboteurs ran with their upper bodies tilted forward, and at the moment of collision, they kicked the ground harder, channeling the full force of their stretching muscles into a single strike.

“Ngh…”

Toru groaned as he’d barely managed to evade Akari's strike.

The iron hammer, swinging horizontally from the left, he caught with both short swords crossed. Naturally, blocking the hammer’s head would snap the swords. So Toru targeted the handle. Since the hammer’s destructive power, amplified by rotational acceleration, was strongest at the head and weakest at the base, closer to the wielder.

But with that meant diving deep into the opponent’s range.

An ordinary person would instinctively pull back to create distance to be safe but that would make them prey to Akari’s hammer technique. Another spinning, accelerated strike would follow. The only correct move was to step in boldly.i

And with <Iron-Blood Transformation>, Toru had no hesitation or fear.

His body, optimized for combat, suppressed even instinctive terror.

But the same was true for Akari too.

She instantly—pulled the hammer back.

The crossed short swords, still locked with it, were dragged along, and for a moment, Toru’s balance wavered as he was pulled forward. Using the recoil of pulling the hammer, Akari spun—not the hammer this time, but herself. Her gracefully extended leg, like an iron hammer, aimed for Toru’s exposed right side, specifically his temple.

“—!”

The boots both Toru and Akari wore had iron plates embedded in several spots. Primarily for defense, but with enough force, they could serve as weapons. Akari’s roundhouse kick, powered by her body’s full spring, would undoubtedly crush Toru’s skull if it landed—especially at the temple, the thinnest part of the cranium.

Toru stepped in further, slamming into Akari to disrupt her stance where he managed to avoid her toes striking his temple, but her knee slammed into his cheek, and Toru tumbled to the ground, entangled with his imouto.

“Guh…”

Shoving Akari away, he rolled across the ground, using the momentum to spring to his feet.

In that moment Akari was already rising, just as he was.

(…She’s damn strong.)

Toru thought calmly back as they’d sparred countless times in the Acura village—but never fought seriously until now, it was a first time experience for Toru.

But…

(Our skills are equal. So it comes down to raw stamina and strength…)

For the past year, Toru had slacked on training, and his baseline abilities had declined. Akari, on the other hand, seemed to have improved probably she trained constantly unlike him. And…

(The wound’s on me reopened, huh.)

Toru thought detachedly.

The gash on his back, restitched by Akari, wasn’t fully healed. The back muscles weren’t heavily used in daily life, but leaping and jumping put considerable strain on them.

In stamina, Toru couldn’t match Akari either.

So—

(Let's try a quick decisive strike, then.)

Toru adjusted his grip on the two short swords, making his decision.

If Toru had any advantage over Akari, it was their weapons. Akari’s weapon—the iron hammer—excelled in destructive power but was limited in attack patterns. Its reliance on rotation meant larger movements. In contrast, Toru’s weapons—the dual short swords—could be used for thrusting as well as slashing, and being far lighter than the hammer, they were more agile. Having two doubled the variety of techniques.

That difference was the only gap he could exploit.

“—!” Exhaling sharply, Toru charged towards Akari with his plan.

Dan! The ground screamed under his forceful step, and Toru glided straight toward Akari. He raised his left short sword like a shield, tucking the right one close to his side.

Akari’s iron hammer came flying.

A scooping strike from below at an angle.

The left sword alone was too far to block, and the hammer’s rightward arc couldn’t be parried. Using the right sword for defense would leave him unable to attack. Dodging by leaning back risked the hammer adjusting to a horizontal sweep, which he couldn’t block either.

Thus—

“—!”

Toru crossed his swords to catch it, as before, but this time his left sword lagged behind the right. The half-hearted cross-block couldn’t fully absorb the hammer’s momentum, and both short swords were sent flying into the air with a shrill clang.

……

Akari’s gaze flicked to the swords for a split second but the hammer, barely veering off course, continued toward Toru’s side. A direct hit would shatter vital organs like his kidneys. Not instant death, but a fatal blow that would kill in days.

But then in that moment—

“—Heh.”

Toru had grabbed it.

The iron hammer itself.

“—!”

Akari’s eyes widened in shock as she didn't expect him to use that technique out like that.

Blade-less catch—a technique both Toru and Akari had learned to stop a blade by clamping it with both hands which was meant for swords, not hammers. A hammer’s rotational force was too strong to be stopped by bare hands. Trying would either let it slip through, landing the blow, or in the moment if blocked, it would damage the arms’ joints, leaving the user unable to counter the next attack.

But—

……

Toru had simply grabbed the hammer. If anything, he’d flown in the same direction as its motion, not resisting. Having already knocked away the swords, the hammer’s momentum was slightly reduced, and its large head was easier to grasp.

Instead of stopping it, he merged with the strike’s motion, jumping along with it, nullifying its relative force. In this state, Toru’s weight acted as an anchor, sapping the hammer’s power. In other words—

“—Kuh.”

Exhaling briefly, Akari released the hammer.

In this position, holding the weapon was a disadvantage.

But—it was already too late for her.

Floating in the air with the hammer, Toru twisted his body, hooking Akari’s long hair with one foot.

“—Ha!”

Using the falling momentum, he yanked her hair, dragging her to the ground.

Toru then deftly flipped the hammer in his hand, pointing it at her temple.

“—Well?”

Toru stared down at his imouto, sprawled on the ground, entangled with him.

The hammer was Akari’s cherished weapon, and like Toru’s short swords, only she could wield it to its fullest—but its weight and sharp tip remained. If Toru chose, one strike to Akari’s temple would kill her.

But—

“Let me ask again. Are you really serious?”

“…Of course I’m serious.”

Akari said, without a hint of remorse.

And then—

“—That’s enough!”

A sharp clap rang in Toru’s ears.

Stepping back from Akari and tossing the hammer to the ground, Toru turned toward the sound.

There stood—

“…!?”

Two familiar figures stood side by side.

One was—

“You…”

Muttering, Toru quietly recited the key phrase to deactivate <Iron-Blood Transformation>, releasing his combat stance.

The first was an older man who gave off a small, thin, with a slightly nervous air, he was from the job dispatch guild. Toru remembered meeting him when Akari dragged him to register. His surname was Barton, if Toru recalled correctly. He didn’t know the first name.

“Alright that’s enough, that’s enough. Phew, I was in a panic. It was so fast, I thought I’d miss the chance to stop you—”

“…What’s going on?” Toru frowned, asking.

“Well, Toru-kun, it was about time we considered expelling you from the guild.” Barton said in matter of fact. “Having someone who’s just a name on the roster only hurts our reputation.”

In short, Toru—who’d registered but never took jobs, rejecting every offer—was a burden to the guild.

It was a perfectly reasonable stance.

Toru had no grounds or desire to complain.

But—

“So, we figured we’d offer you one last job, and if you didn’t take it, expulsion was next—but there was some internal debate about whether it was appropriate to assign it to you or not.”

“…?”

“Well, from what the client said, it’s a tough job with strict conditions so we thought it best to verify your capabilities first.”

“…But the guild’s got tons of registered members already, right?” Toru frowned. “Setting my skills aside, why not someone else—”

“Nah, actually, the client specifically named you as their top choice.”

Barton gestured to the figure beside him.

A small, silver-haired girl.

Chaika.

“So...we wanted to test how skilled you really are but it looks like your imouto helped us out giving the demonstration.”

……

Toru turned and glared at Akari, who’d stood up unnoticed.

She met his gaze unflinchingly, without a trace of guilt.

“Wait, so you weren’t serious?”

“Of course I was serious.” Akari clenched her fist and nodded firmly. “There was no lie in my intent to turn Nii-sama into a taxidermy piece if this failed!”

“Don’t just declare that so proudly!” Toru shouted, then let out a long sigh giving up. “Ugh, damn it. I really have to work, huh?”

He’d thought there was no path for him outside being a saboteur.

He still felt that way.

That he was useless for anything else.

But…

(Hired by her?)

Toru glanced back at Chaika.

Chaika nodded enthusiastically—

“Hire. Hire. Skilled.”

She pointed at Toru and Akari, looking somewhat smug.

“Akari too? Hey—what the hell are you planning?”

Barton and the job dispatch guild likely didn’t know that Toru and Akari were saboteurs, outlawed and hunted by various powers—but still.

Chaika knew Toru was a saboteur.

And saboteurs, in a peaceful era, were the first to be deemed useless—children of war. Their combat prowess was undeniable, but combat skills varied. Saboteurs, reliant on deception and trickery, had limited practical roles. For a shop’s guard or town patrol, burly types with straightforward strength were preferred. Even for protecting the wealthy, those with refined, legitimate martial arts were favored.

Saboteurs, bluntly specialized in “winning efficiently” by any means, were often despised for their ruthless methods, even without their outlawed status.

“Consult.”

Chaika nodded again, saying.

“Well, looks like it’s all settled. I’ll take my leave.”

Barton, looking satisfied, walked off, leaving Toru and the others behind. For better or worse, his job was dispatching talent—he didn’t care what happened afterward. He’d probably already received an advance from Chaika.

“ …Why me?”

“Hm…” Chaika tilted her head, then said. “Fate?”

“…Fate… huh.”

That was a really  vague answer.

But—

(Maybe she felt something from yesterday too.)

Walking the tightrope between life and death.

The fulfillment felt in that moment—and…

“Nii-sama.”

Akari’s voice prompted him.

Toru grimaced, as if chewing a bitter bug, but—

“Fine, fine, I’ll do it, alright? You’re hiring me and Akari, so I’m guessing you don’t need maids or farmers but actually us?”

“Of course.” Chaika nodded. “Need. Saboteurs.” and declared clearly.

-x-x-x-x-

Translator's Note :

from Chapter 2, Part 2 about the carriage April. A little spoiler ahead. 

"April" is the name of vehicle. It’s a magical-powered cart (also called a sabat) pulled by a creature that looks like a large, ostrich-like bird. April is used by Chaika and her group (Toru and Akari) to travel between locations while collecting Emperor Gaz’s remains later in chapters.

For those who using scrappers & apps to read, they will be encountering problems where Images won't be shown, or few texts might get left out. Read the chapters in the site instead.