Chapter 94: O-Aka Pan
In the backyard of our mansion in the royal capital, Cornelia, Lily, Bach, and I—the four of us—were having a mock battle. My opponent was Cornelia.
“Hiyah!”
“Yah!”
I turned my body sideways to narrowly avoid Cornelia’s sharp thrust by a hair’s breadth, and in return, I unleashed a strike aimed at her neck.
I thought Cornelia would back away to dodge, but she lowered her stance and pressed forward even more. My strike aimed at her neck missed, hitting nothing but air.
At that moment, the thrust Cornelia unleashed shot upwards. It was on a trajectory to take my head.
My sword had missed, so I couldn’t use it to defend. It was probably too late to dodge now. Even if I managed to dodge in time, I’d lose my balance too much and expose an opening. Cornelia wasn’t one to overlook such an opening.
I prepared to sacrifice my left arm.
“Un-Limited!”
With speed exceeding my limits, I shot my left fist out and struck the flat of the Holy Sword Cornelia held from below.
CLANG!!!
A sound as if metal had violently clashed against metal rang out.
The Holy Sword Cornelia was holding changed its trajectory straight upwards, flying out of her hand. Her grip strength wasn’t enough to hold onto the Holy Sword.
I placed my sword against the neck of Cornelia, whose sword had been sent flying.
With this, it was my victory.
“I’m beaten… Onii-sama, you’re terrible…”
Cornelia said with a reproachful look, her hand hanging limply.
“Heal. My apologies. I couldn’t have won if I hadn’t done that…?”
Just then, I noticed something strange. My left arm wasn’t broken…?
Impossible. I definitely used Un-Limited and struck the Holy Sword with all my might, didn’t I? There’s no way it wouldn’t break!?
However, no matter how many times I checked, my left arm wasn’t broken. True, the muscles were slightly damaged, but there was nothing wrong with the bones or skin.
Normally, just swinging my fist using Un-Limited would leave it battered, but this time, even after hitting a lump of iron like the Holy Sword, I was unscathed. This was clearly strange.
“Un-Limited.”
I activated Un-Limited once more and tried swinging my sword with all my might. Usually, I’d break a bone, but this time, I didn’t.
“Why is that?”
“Is something wrong, Onii-sama?”
“Until now, using Un-Limited would cause me to break bones… But that’s not happening.”
“? Isn’t that a good thing? In the first place, I’m against you hurting your own body, Onii-sama…”
“Well, yeah, that’s true, but… It feels unsettling not knowing the cause…”
“The cause… Could it be because you were bathed in the dragon’s blood…?”
“Ah, there was that.”
I looked down at my own swarthy-skinned body.
“Are you sure you’re not feeling unwell or anything?”
“Not at all. If anything, I feel invigorated. I wake up refreshed in the morning, and my body feels light. I’m in even better condition than before I was bathed in the dragon’s blood.”
Dragon’s blood is said to be a potent poison, but for some reason, I, who was drenched in a large amount of it, am super healthy.
“Was my body strengthened because I was bathed in dragon’s blood…? Come to think of it, my eyesight has improved too… Huh?”
Perhaps because I focused my attention on my eyes, my vision suddenly seemed blurry. What’s this?
After a short while, my vision settled. Was it dizziness from standing up or something?
Well, I don’t understand the principle behind it at all, but anyway, it seems my body has been strengthened.
Which means… If I train more, I can become even stronger, right?
Should I increase the amount of strength training?
I want to become a muscle-bound gorilla.
◇
The next morning. Just as I opened my eyes to the refreshing morning sun, my room’s door was pounded on with a startling racket.
What’s going on!?
“Onii-sama…”
“Onii…”
When I opened the door, Cornelia and Lily were standing there, looking as if it were the end of the world.
“What’s wrong? Both of you.”
“Onii-sama… We… we might be done for…”
“Onii, bye-bye.”
“Eh?”
“Danna-sama—!”
As I stood speechless at their words, Yuria, Lily’s mother, came running with a sheet in her hand.
“Lily and Cornelia-ojousama are here too, I see. Congratulations to you both.”
“Huh?”
Cornelia and Lily looked utterly devastated, while Yuria was all smiles saying “congratulations.” What in the world is happening?
“Please look! Lily and Cornelia-ojousama have had their first period!”
Saying that, Yuria proudly spread out the sheet she was holding. There was a small red stain on it.
“Ah, their first period, huh.”
“Blood is coming from my crotch and it won’t stop… It must be because I ate too much at dinner yesterday…”
“Lili also had seconds…”
Contrary to me, who understood what was going on, Cornelia and Lily looked utterly dejected. They probably mistook it for some kind of illness.
“Ria, Lily, this isn’t an illness. And even if it were, I can cure it, so don’t worry. Yuria, can I ask you to explain it to them? It seems they don’t know.”
“Understood. Lily, Cornelia-ojousama, please come this way. You have both taken a step up the staircase to adulthood. It is by no means an illness.”
Still, for both Cornelia and Lily to get their first period on the exact same day… Talk about being close, or something.
I’d like to prepare sekihan (red bean rice), but rice wasn’t available even here in the royal capital.
“Guess I’ll prepare some red bread instead. I’ll call it… ‘O-Aka Pan’!”