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Volume 1 Chapter 23: Secret of Ranking Up

「I’m~ ho~me!」

It was late night when Sakura-chan returned all full of energy.

「Welcome back Sakura-chan. Thank you for your hard work.」
「I’m all~ fine Sou-sama! Huh? Where’s Hotaru-nee and Sis’?」

Sakura-chan hugged me before realizing the room was strangely empty and silent.

「Ahhh well, well since I promised that we’d be alone tonight…Hotaru-san can turn back into a katana…but Sistina…」
「Ahh~ I see. Maybe I did something a bit mean huh?」

Sakura-chan looked a bit apologetic so I simply shook my head with a smile.

「No one thinks that. Plus, Hotaru-san said it was a good chance for them to bond so she took Sistina away for a little drinking party. I think they’ll be having a good time themselves.」
「Ah! That also sounds like fun…next time Sakura wants to get invited too.」
「Un, that’d be nice. I’m happy if you all get along.」

At the moment they were all getting along without scrambling for me and being jealous. Although the relations between humans and former-katanas is an odd one, both have similar parts to them.

「We all really care for Sou-sama so we can all get along. Originally we were both in a warehouse with lots of other ‘friends’ as well.」
「Thanks for saying that Sakura-chan.」

I gently hugged her back and kissed her.

「n….umm Sou-sama」
「What?」
「Sakura wants you to call me like you did when we were fighting…」
「I see…okay then Sakura.」

I lightly pushed Sakura down to the bed and brought my lips to hers again.

「Sou-sama…I love you. Umm…I’m sorry….that I killed you…」

Sakura said a bit tearfully, but I just shook my head and patted her softly. It was the one who used Sakura to do the deed who was at fault. It’s his fault that Sakura is still feeling hurt. If I could, I’d want to kill him again.

「Sakura…that wasn’t your fault. You’re not a bad girl. I’m glad that Sakura ended up coming with me to this world so we could meet again. I love you too.」
「…un. Thank you Sou-sama.」
「Rather than that…」

I murmured as Sakura looked at me with a questioning look.

「I was sleeping for three days straight so I’m pretty pent up. Sorry if I don’t treat you as gently as I should…」
「Pft..ahahahaa! …Yup Sou-sama is so ecchi.」

Sakura giggled and smiled as she wiped away the tears from her eyes. She leaned up and kissed me back.

「It’s okay. Sakura wants to accept everything just like Hotaru-nee. Love me plenty Sou-sama.」

At that moment I heard the 『Zukiyu~n!』 sound for the first time in real life.

**

「Sou-sama…how was Sakura?」
「Eh, you have to ask? If you think back to how beastly I was then you’ll understand right?」

Ehehe* Sakura giggled lightly as she hugged me.

「Sou-sama…did you want to hear the results from before?」
「n~…I don’t really mind. Thank you Sakura for listening to my weird request.」
「No no. I got plenty of rewarding so Sakura is fine. Go ahead and give Sakura plenty of those jobs Sou-sama.」
「Ah right, do you like ninjas Sakura?」

In her fight against the Hide Bear, her excited state, her clothing, and the names of her fire magic all made her seem like a ninja.

「Un! Unfortunately when Sakura was born ninjas no longer exist, but in the warehouse there were blades that existed at the height of their strength and some were even wielded by real ninjas. I heard so many stories from them and thought it was so cool…at that time a disappearing bear showed up. I got soooo excited, Sakura wanted to be just like that!」

Is that so? Then it’s a good thing that she ended up awakening ninja-like powers…as if it was so coincidental!!

By chance the ninja loving Sakura coincidentally got perfect skills for a ninja…there’s no way it was such a coincidence! Well obviously there’s a small chance it could be…

That makes a hypothesis float through my mind.

『When magic swords rank up they will grow in the direction they wish for』

or something like that. That’s why Sakura raised agility and invisibility which were the most important for a ninja. In Hotaru-san’s case she seems to aim for overall combat efficiency so her stats improved across the board and her combat focused skills got a +…

I feel like the explanation is fairly reasonable. It would be hard to prove with Hotaru-san since she will take a long time to rank up, but Sakura is still in the early stages and should be able to move quicker.

In the future it may be beneficial to inform them of this when their rank up is near.

『Sakura Rank: B Refining Lvl: 31 Essence Lvl: 7
Skills: Empathy Communication Personification Sense Presence Invisibility Agility Boost + Accuracy Boost Magic Boost Fire Magic』

Even reaching B rank made the Essence Level increase slowly…but I remember that even the S Rank Hotaru-san increased a lot at the start…maybe that one time was because it was my virginity graduation bonus…though aside from joking, it was probably the essence I had gathered since birth being released all at once and the second time was…..

『Magical Conversion』!? Changing magic power into vigor may improve the rate that my swords train?

In the future it would probably be best to use Magic Conversion with everyone except Sistina.

I explained my thoughts to Sakura as well.

「Hmm I see. I can understand. Certainly things won’t go as perfectly every time unless you plan for it. Then up til then Sakura should think of what abilities I need?」
「Probably.」
「Un, then I’ll be more useful to Sou-sama? Ah! Right, we should tell Hotaru-nee and Sis’ that it’s fine to come back Sou-sama.」
「Eh, that’s okay?」
「Un! I kept Sou-sama to myself for long enough. As expected Sakura wouldn’t be able to face Hotaru-nee or Sis’ if we made them spend a sleepless night outside.」

Ehe* Sakura giggled and I felt she had a point. Even if they were drinking there was a limit to how long they could go before getting kicked out. Plus Sistina was still recovering so she needed her rest.

「Got it. I don’t know if it’ll reach, but I’ll send the mental message.」
「Un, then we can all sleep together! I’ve been looking forward to doing things like that.」

I smiled happily and pet Sakura’s head. As a katana Sakura hadn’t been able to feel the warmth of a person’s skin but it seems like she had an interest in it. As today was the first time for her she should know how wonderful it is.

Soon after I sent the message, Hotaru-san and Sistina returned and we all lay down in bed to sleep. Needless to say, the night was peaceful and we all slept happily til morning.