Chapter 10: Bread and Cheese Sandwich!

There were quite a few swords in the Honmaru who opposed my decision to join the Action Team and rush straight to the front lines to battle the Time Retrograde Army, especially since I had just barely escaped from being surrounded by them and hadn’t even had a chance to properly recover.

Besides the most basic concerns about my own well-being, part of their objection was that they believed I should rest until all the Magic Circuits in my body were fully healed before undertaking such dangerous missions.

Yes, ever since my Magic Circuit problem was exposed, and the swords learned that, in a certain sense, I was severely disabled, I have been treated like some fragile item inside the Honmaru… Honestly, was that really necessary? I had managed fine for over twenty years before this!

Yet when I voiced my complaints, the swords said it was very necessary.

But sorry, I just can’t budge an inch on this!

After quite a chaotic scene, I finally managed to argue with the swords and secure the right to join the Action Team and investigate Wisteria’s Honmaru.

However, the swords also made a request of me.

“You know as well as we do, right? There’s no way we’d let you go alone like this,” they said. “At the very least, you must bring along several swords with you.”

Actually, some details about Wisteria’s Honmaru had already come to light—based on previous cases of Honmaru coordinates being leaked, the Government of Time had nearly concluded that the Sword Spirits inside Wisteria’s Honmaru might have hidden her away to protect her.

Generally, missions involving such divine concealment do not dispatch Touken Danshi—perhaps out of fear of harm coming to their own kind, or concern that the swords might imitate such behavior.

In any case, what the Government of Time lacks are rare talents who can serve as Saniwa, not fighters. The Touken Danshi are more needed, and better suited, to fight on the front lines against the Time Retrograde Army.

But looking at their expressions, I knew I couldn’t refuse.

Well, fine, I’ll indulge this bunch—

“Higekiri, Knee-maru, come with me.”

“Oh? Is that an order from you? Then I’ll have to get a bit more serious.”

“Yes, staking the name of a treasure, we will fight with all our strength for you.”

You two say such fine things; Auntie is very pleased.

If only you were as obedient when I refuse to eat brother’s donburi.

I have to make an interjection here.

I know the swords in the Honmaru each have their own histories and relationships. Though they all gather here to serve me as my swords, their closeness to one another varies.

I had some awareness of this, but only this time did I truly realize which swords are genuinely close and which only allow themselves to be selfish.

If Higekiri has always been keenly aware of himself as “the Master’s treasure,” then among this pair of brothers, Knee-maru is clearly the one more suited and more self-aware of placing himself in the subordinate position.

He certainly does not lack the pride of being a Heian Sword and a Genji Treasure, but compared to other old blades, I seldom sense that weight of centuries-long history on Knee-maru.

No offense intended, but Knee-maru is really full of energy, like a youthful hothead (?), at least compared to those who have weathered a thousand years.

I used to think Knee-maru was such a good sword—so pure and sincere, totally unlike the sly old blades!

But when you really try, you realize hotheads have their own unmanageable difficulties…

The old swords are all terrible.

Mikazuki is somewhat dignified, Tsurumaru likes to play around because of his personality, Higekiri probably carries a commanding presence from being the Master Sword for so long, and Sekizou is the worst— he likes to slowly wear me down bit by bit until I can’t stand it and beg him to finish the job properly, even though he himself looks uncomfortable holding it in.

But Knee-maru is different.

Once Higekiri nods his approval, Knee-maru’s actions and emotions become so passionate and straightforward that I feel as if I’m a prey being constricted tighter and tighter by a python, until finally swallowed whole, leaving nothing behind.

Truly… worthy of his name.

I never considered myself an expert in sword appreciation. To me, they were just long or short blades—what is hamon, what is nakago, what kind of engraving—sorry, I was completely clueless.

But now I feel that maybe, once I have some free time, I could write a sword appreciation guide based on my own experience.

…But it would have to be a black market edition.

“May, you’re here,” greeted my colleagues from the Action Team.

I’m not officially part of the Action Team, but as one of the top-ranked Magicians among the military Saniwa, I often work closely with them.

Many of them and I have been on all sorts of chaotic missions together, so we know each other fairly well—after all, not to boast, but we Magicians are very useful.

Especially since my magical origin is “Copy,” and I possess an unusually large number of Magic Circuits along with the immense magical power granted by them.

Even without inheriting the Mage Family’s Magic Crest or receiving nearly as much magical instruction and resources as my younger brother, I have still grown into a strong, fully competent Magician.

Just like this body that retains the appearance of a girl.

Once, on a certain mission, I was fortunate enough to receive instruction from a powerful Magician.

Born with incomplete Magic Circuits, I’m like a disabled person. The reason I can “walk normally” now, rather than only functioning as a magical battery, is thanks to that Magician’s help in forging me into a living doll.

She refused to accept the title of “Teacher” that I offered her, since in the world of Magicians, the master-disciple relationship is a serious and intimate bond.

She insisted that she helped me and offered theoretical guidance simply because it was a novel and interesting challenge for her; for me, however, it was truly lifesaving grace.

“You brought swords with you?” The Action Team members’ eyes flicked to the Genji twins standing behind me.

Though they didn’t press the matter, I was certain I saw many disapproving glances.

“Ah…” I had to explain myself, “You know my situation. If I don’t bring swords with me…”

I spread my hands: “I probably wouldn’t be able to step out of the Honmaru gates at all.”

One member of the Action Team muttered, “I’ve heard quite a bit about how much the Sword Spirits value their Saniwa, but isn’t this a bit too much…”

A spokesperson for the family—well, I agree.

But it’s not about what I want. It’s about what the swords want.

They probably see me as such a fragile thing that I can’t even walk on my own, and they’d rather carry me around every day in their arms.

Huh? You ask how I know this?

Heh, do you have any idea how many blades inside the Honmaru are fiercely competing to be my walking stick?

Faced with the comments from the Action Team, I could only offer an embarrassed but polite smile.

“Haha, well, after all, something like that just happened recently.”

A soft voice came from behind me, gentle as a cloud, with a slight drawn-out laziness that made it sound like whipped cream thoroughly whipped.

“If anything happens to our important Master again, we’d all go mad, wouldn’t we? Such a precious existence is best kept right beneath our eyes.”

Higekiri smiled.

“What do you think?”

“May.” A closer female colleague tugged at my sleeve and pulled me aside, leaning close to whisper in my ear, “Your Higekiri… looks a bit dangerous…”

“…Hmm.” I replied solemnly.

[Master… The wielder of a sword, if they cannot control their Sword Spirit, who knows when the sword might turn and bite back?]

—This was once said to me jokingly by Higekiri after he had reverted from his extreme form.

[It’s alright.]

—Ah, yes, that was my reply at the time.

[From the moment I grasped you, I resolved that even if we were to be torn apart, I would never let go.]