In the middle of the garden of the mansion.
　I closed my eyes and stood alone.

　The wind blew.
　A strong wind that whipped near the ground.

"--!

　I snapped my eyes wide open and took in the sight in an instant.
　There are 1, 2, 3 ...... total of 10 blown leaves flying in the air.

　You put your hand on the hilt of the sword you are carrying on your back and pull it out and release it.
　A full-blooded sword dance against the 10 falling leaves dancing in front of you.

　A bolt of lightning flies, ten (the same number) of slashes firmly catch the fallen leaves.

　Check the sword after it has been fully wielded.
　The metal of the gods, the metal of the baboons, and the philosopher's stone fused into a new sword.
　Even under my full force, it still shone exactly the same.

It looks like you got a nice sword.
"Eliza

　Eliza coming up from behind and lining up next to me.
　Even though she's the emperor, she comes to visit me occasionally on the sly.
　She joins me and peers at my new sword from beside me.

That was the best you could do.
You know?
"Yes, ............ is about you.

　As usual, Eliza mumbles one last inaudible word to herself.

"What did you just say?
"Hey, it's nothing. More importantly, it's amazing that it can withstand Alec's power. What is it made of, after all, orichalcone?
No, it's called a baboon.
"...... huh?

　Eliza goes puzzled.

"What's a baboon?
"Yeah, maybe, um,
"...... lies.
It's true.
"Yeah, yeah, because how did you get so many baboons?　And processing.
I managed it.

　It would be too long to explain, so I've blurred that part out.
　Immediately afterwards, the blade of the sword was small - pulsing to the point that only I could see it.

　It was a will.
　As it fused with the sword, it felt stronger, the will of the Philosopher's Stone.

　Yes, fused.
　The Philosopher's Stone that dove into the baboons didn't vanish.
　Not only did it not vanish, the sword itself became like the Philosopher's Stone.

　It was reborn as a sword that could withstand my full force and yet possessed all my knowledge.

You still do the unbelievable things. You are.
"I wonder.
But your swordsmanship seems to be a long way off.
"Huh?

　Eliza squatted down and picked up a few fallen leaves.
　These are the leaves I had cut with my sword earlier.
　Most of them were intact and only one was sliced.

You didn't cut nearly enough. Hmmm, there are about ten of them and only one was slashed.
"Oh,
If you can only cut one piece of paper, your swordsmanship is not as good as it should be.
No, it's not.

　I chuckled.
　It's the other way around.
　I was able to cut one card.

What do you mean?

　As a matter of course, Eliza nodded her head.

"Well,

　I took a leaf from Eliza's hand, threw it in the air, and then drew my sword.
　The slash clearly caught the leaf, but...
　But it didn't cut. It fluttered in the air and fell slowly to the ground.

Huh?　Not cut?
Yes, I want to have complete control over my power, and I'm slashing so I can't slash. Of course I can slash.

　Then tossing the fallen leaves once more, he swung his sword out.
　This time it was clearly visible from the time it was in the air, slicing it in half.

Like this. I tried not to slice through ten of them earlier, but I see. ...... I was able to cut through one. It's not quite there yet.
"......
"Eliza?

　Eliza stares at me with a poke in the eye.
　It's like I've seen something unbelievable.

　Suddenly, there's a breeze.
　Just like before, a strong wind.



　The fallen leaves of the garden tree were brought in front of me again.

　...... This time.

　Gripping the sword firmly, I concentrate and release a slash.

　The number of fallen leaves is 20--twice as many as before.
　I caught a glimpse of Eliza's figure.

　Twice as many, more than twice as difficult.
　But it's not cool to fail because Eliza is watching me.

　I concentrated and hit all the fallen leaves with a slash.

　The wind has stopped and the leaves fallen to my feet.

I didn't slash a single leaf. ......

　A more stunned Eliza.
　Thank God, it looks like we made it.

You really are ......

　Eliza's face becomes more and more amazed.
　I'm glad I didn't fail twice in front of her.

　This gives me confidence.

　A power I had awakened a while ago.
　A power in physics that I couldn't control, that I had no weapon to catch.

　It's now a weapon, and we can control it.

　I knew with certainty that it was completely mine.