Chapter Twenty-Six: Even I Can't Do This! Alright, It's Impossible

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The newcomer wore a light cherry-pink kimono, its front hanging open, with a bandage wrapped around his waist. He wore samurai trousers below, and straw sandals on his bare feet.

In short, he was a man who had strayed out of his own era.

“I heard you.” The man nodded.

To Moray’s senses, the man’s presence burned like a torch in the night. Yet moments earlier, had a minute fluctuation of aura caused by movement not betrayed him, Moray would have been completely unaware that such a living person was there.

Recalling what had happened at the Maru residence, Moray suddenly realized that this man had already been watching from the rooftop for quite some time.

And he had not noticed him at all.

Yet his expression remained unchanged. “What do you think of his proposal?”

“I have no objection. But only after you return the sword.”

“Very well.” Moray nodded.

The man turned and began to walk away.

“Oh, right.”

As though remembering something, the man looked back.

Moray saw only a flash of blade-light before discovering, to his astonishment, that the spellwork at his fingertips had already shattered into the most basic form of magical energy, streaming out from his sleeve as specks of light.

Ahead of him, the man slowly sheathed his sword.

“To pry into another’s heart with such a petty trick upon our first meeting is unbecoming of a wise man such as yourself. It is also a provocation toward a warrior like me.”

“Let this be the last time.”

“…Your name?”

Moray had developed an intense interest in the man before him.

If only he could synchronize with that sword…

It would be a hundred times better than Kikuchiyo.

“…Ishikawa Goemon.”

The man turned and walked into the shadows of the alley.

“Ishikawa Goemon… I’ll remember that.”

Moray gave a soft laugh, then turned and headed toward the main road outside the alley.

…

The following day.

After giving his statement and retrieving Kikuchiyo from the Maru residence, Moray was on his way to the Suwa residence.

He had completed his synchronization with Kikuchiyo that morning. As a result, Moray had already mastered the basic techniques of Japanese swordsmanship. As he continued delving into the memories contained within the blade, his understanding of swordsmanship deepened as well.

Yet the more he learned, the more shocked he became.

How had that strike last night been possible?

How could tangible steel sever intangible magic? Not only sever it, but shatter it into pieces?

His sword…

But whenever he thought of Ishikawa Goemon’s skill, Moray felt another headache coming on.

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How could someone like that exist? His physical body was practically flawless, his technique perfectly rounded, and his spirit possessed extraordinary endurance. If thrown into a Holy Grail War, he might even be able to match weaker Heroic Spirits with his bare hands.

How was he supposed to get his sword?

Synchronization with an object took time. The greater the amount of information it contained and the older its history, the longer synchronization required.

Unless Ishikawa Goemon personally unsheathed the sword and allowed him to examine it.

But how could that possibly happen?

After thinking it over from every angle, Moray decided not to worry about it for now and simply adapt when the time came. At worst, he could postpone synchronizing with the sword and lay the groundwork first. After all, there was plenty of time, and opportunities would come.

Lost in thought along the way, Moray arrived at the Suwa residence and returned Kikuchiyo.

“…He brought it upon himself.”

Moray snapped out of his thoughts.

The man before him was Suwa Yuji’s son, Suwa Kenzo. He had the same narrow, perpetually smiling eyes as Suwa Yuji, along with a small mustache. However, his manner was much more careless, lacking his father’s steady bearing.

“Kendo? Bushido? The Yamato spirit? Who still cares about those things?” His words were filled with disgust toward his father. “How much did he sacrifice for them? This time, he even killed someone for the sake of this sword! I just… Ah.”

He let out a long sigh.

“After what happened, I’ve decided to entrust this sword to someone destined to have it. I wonder…”

“After an incident like this, I no longer have any interest in purchasing the sword either.” Moray shook his head.

He had already completed the synchronization long ago.

He had even used Mathematical Malignant Extraction to condense the sword’s “history” into a silver chess piece of the Sword rank.

“I see…” Disappointment faintly appeared on Suwa Kenzo’s face, and he said nothing more about it.

He seemed to have lost the desire to continue the conversation as well. After telling Moray that “the odd fellow is in the backyard,” he exchanged a few polite words and hurried away.

Moray went to the backyard.

Ishikawa Goemon leaped down from the roof and landed lightly on the ground.

“You look somewhat different from yesterday.” He looked Moray up and down.

Before Moray could answer, he continued, “I can no longer sense the spirit of Kikuchiyo’s blade.”

“The spirit of the blade?” Moray was puzzled. “The blade… has a spirit? Its soul?”

“The will dwelling within the sword. The crystallization of its history and the feelings others have held toward it… or something like that. I’m not very good at describing it. In any case, it’s something along those lines.”

Moray awkwardly sensed the silver chess piece of the Sword rank circling the core of his spirit within his body.

Ever since incorporating the piece, he had vaguely sensed that he could use the resonance between the pieces to briefly “overload” his enhancement magic. But even if he did so, he had no confidence that he could face Ishikawa Goemon head-on.

“Perhaps it sensed Suwa Kenzo’s intentions. After all, there’s a saying in the East about sacred objects concealing themselves…”

“Sacred things conceal themselves.” Ishikawa Goemon did not dwell on the matter. “The Suwa family’s warrior tradition may end with this generation… But enough of that.”

“I can tell that you’re curious.”

Moray nodded. “How did you perform that strike last night?”

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“How can tangible steel sever intangible magic? There was no spellwork added to your sword…”

“As for how it is done specifically… that is the ultimate secret of the Blade-Cutting School. Forgive me, but I cannot reveal everything.”

Moray understood. A secret passed down within a school would naturally not be disclosed to an outsider.

“But I can tell you how I came to understand that strike.”

“That year, I had yet to complete my training…”

As Ishikawa Goemon began to recount the story, Moray’s thoughts followed him back to the man’s youth. His swordsmanship had not yet reached its current heights, but his enemies would not give him time to grow.

At last, one day, a series of plots left him with nowhere to retreat.

“At the time, the enemy’s onmyoji had laid down a maze of illusions. I charged left and right through the fog, unable to find a way out. Their voices came from every direction…”

“And then?” Moray asked with interest.

“While trapped in that desperate situation, I suddenly thought: spellwork has neither form nor substance. Isn’t flowing water also without form or substance?” Ishikawa Goemon’s face was solemn.

“More precisely, water has substance but no fixed form… Still, close enough.” Moray nodded.

“If I could cut off the flow of water, couldn’t I also sever spellwork?”

“...?”

“So I recalled how I had felt when I once cut through a waterfall. My blade flashed…”

“The barrier shattered. I still remember the look of terror on the enemy onmyoji’s face.”

“From that moment onward, I was able to cut through spellwork.”

“…”

Moray fell silent.

It was of absolutely no practical use!

Still unwilling to give up, Moray asked, “Then is there some quantifiable factor? The angle of the swing, the amount of force used, something like that…”

“There may be.”

“What?” Moray asked expectantly.

“The strength of one’s will.” Ishikawa Goemon nodded solemnly.

Moray let out a long sigh.

Why couldn’t these ultimate techniques be like science and magic, with standards and rules that could be mastered by studying their underlying principles?

To be honest, even if Moray could somehow acquire such a technique through synchronization magic, he would not dare use it casually.

Some people might say: You use a phone, a computer, or a car without knowing how to build one yourself, don’t you?

When using a phone, you know perfectly well that it was created through modern technology and can be mass-produced. Countless people have used it in practice, so there is an extremely high probability that it is safe. All you need to know is how to operate it.

But skills of this kind were different.

To make an analogy, it would be like getting drunk and then, through the power of sheer thought, inexplicably assembling a phone from materials of unknown origin using techniques born entirely from your own wild imagination.

Some people might cheerfully pick it up and use it…

But Moray would not.

He did not trust it.

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