## Chapter 1053 – A Man of Many Questions

“With your body?”

Arms crossed, I scanned Karin from her ankles to her face. As always, she was dressed comfortably at home. Her outfit, a very short pair of shorts and a tank top, accentuated her figure.

Her healthy waist was firm yet slender, and the slightly small tank top revealed her navel. The short shorts, barely reaching below her crotch, subtly displayed her hips, and the complete exposure of her thighs inevitably drew my gaze.

Truly, a figure I adore. She’s flawless. Naturally, exploring every inch of that body would be quite pleasurable.

“Sounds good.”

A surge of intense desire for caresses seized me, a compulsion to shower her entire body with kisses.

“Ugh, you little shit. Cut the crap.”

Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed her approaching. She jabbed my abdomen fiercely with her fingertip.

—Poke. Poke. Poke.

The sensation of her finger digging into my muscles was incredibly painful…!

“Ow! Ah! Ow! No, no! Sis, wait! I won’t joke around!”
“Good.”
“But you want to do it with our bodies? I get you want to see my skills, but I don’t know if it’ll work out.”

I’d tried it many times before, but honestly, it never went well. Thinking about fighting Karin made me uneasy; exerting my full power was practically impossible.

I don’t hate Karin, nor do I want to kill her, so I can’t muster any fighting spirit. That means I can’t fight properly.

Back then, when I was just a nobody, it was fine because she was unfazed by my attacks. But now I know my own strength. I can’t just go all out.

“I’ve gotten ridiculously strong, but that doesn’t mean I can gauge my skills by sparring with you, Sis. It’s not like I want to slice you up or anything.”

How can I fight properly if I don’t genuinely want to kill her? Sparring is possible, but it’s just sparring. It’s not a real fight. It’s fundamentally different from dealing with random punks who attack me like in some martial arts tournament.

“Huh? I want to treat you with the utmost care, Sis.”

I reached out and gently stroked Karin’s neck and shoulders. She blushed, averted her gaze, and bit her lower lip.

“Ugh… you suddenly saying that…”
“Hehehe, why are you blushing?”
“…Whatever.”
“You’re wearing a face completely melted by my masculine charm and tenderness. Yes, it’s perfectly natural. It can’t be helped… Just enjoy my touch.”
“Are you seriously going to keep this up? I almost got a hot flash in my lower abdomen, you little shit.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Anyway. Let’s try it once. We have to try even if it seems impossible. Or how about this? Just try blocking my attacks?”

Hmm.

Just blocking?

Would that work?

“No… But Sis, honestly, I know I won’t die even if you attack me, so I don’t think I’ll block properly. I don’t have the fighting spirit, the fighting spirit.”

I can’t muster my combat power against someone I trust completely, unlike other opponents.

“Then what do I have to do to ignite your fighting spirit? Should I give you an erection? Should I go change into lingerie?”

Sparring with Karin in lingerie?

The thought of seeing Karin’s breasts and butt jiggling was appealing, but that would be an explosion of lust, not fighting spirit.

“I don’t know. I feel too relaxed just looking at your face, Sis. How can I ignite my fighting spirit when I’m so at ease… Why are you so pretty? What did you eat to grow up so beautiful? Huh? It’s infuriating.”
“…Ah.”

I know my own condition best.

If you asked a boxer to beat his newborn son to a pulp, could he do it? He would never do it, no matter the torture, and even if he reluctantly did it under duress, he couldn’t exert his full power.

My strength is for fighting enemies, not for beating my women. And since my women are all such beauties, my heart calms down too easily when I see their faces.

“…Are you trying to make my lower abdomen throb again?”
“Should we go to the bedroom?”
“No… I was determined to figure it out today… But I can’t.”

She plunged her sword into the ground and approached Liztina, who was sitting behind her, and began whispering something, as if consulting with her.

“I’ll never be able to do it like this. Is there any way?”
“Hmm… At this rate, it really seems impossible…”
“So is there anything or not?”
“Why are you rushing me? I need to think too.”
“Then think fast.”
“Umm… Then… Ah. Say it like that.”
“How?”
“Like… this.”

Her voice grew fainter and fainter until I couldn’t hear her. After whispering for about three minutes, they seemed to have finished their conversation and approached me.

“Okay. Let’s do it that way.”
“It might work… Try it first. It doesn’t seem like it won’t work, right?”
“Judging by his personality, I think it might work.”

—Thwack.

The two women stood before me.

What might work?
What did they talk about?

“Sis? What did you…”
“That means.”
“Huh?”

She cut me off.

“You can’t be serious.”

Karin raised her head and announced in an arrogant voice.

“Against this sister?”
“What?”
“So that’s how it is. You can’t be serious against your sister. I’m honestly shocked. That I’m only worth that much to you.”
“No? Sis?”

What is she talking about?

“What do you mean by that?”
“Aah! My husband won’t even take me seriously anymore! It seems like he’s only interested in my body! Can I go cry now? No, I’m just going to go cry! I’m going to hug my pillow and bite it while I cry!”

What ridiculous acting!
But listening to her, my heart felt like it was shrinking.

“What are you saying, Sis!!! Why are you crying!”

I shot forward, wrapped my arms around her waist, and shouted. She tried to push my face away with her palm and yelled.

“Get away from me! You unserious bastard!! A husband who’s only serious during sex needs to be punished!”
“I got it! I got it! I’ll be serious! I’ll be serious!”

If that’s what she wants, I have to do it somehow…!

“See? It worked, right?”
“It really works.”

Liztina came to my side and spoke, and Karin nodded.

“Did you two discuss doing that act just now?”
“Act? Are you calling your sister’s feelings an act? Wow! He’s changing his tune right away! I’m sulking!”
“Oh, this is driving me crazy. Oh, Sis! Calm down!”

Anyway, I barely managed to calm Karin down, who was trying to run wild. I know they’re plotting together, but I can’t resist…!

“Okay, let’s do this.”

So, being serious, huh.

Honestly, I don’t think it’ll work out, but I can’t just not do it when she’s going this far. I’ll try my best. I have to show her my sincerity.

“Let’s both use these swords. Since you’re worried about getting hurt, don’t use sword energy against each other, and you just defend. Can you put some strength into it then?”

I received the ordinary iron sword that Karin handed me and replied.

“Well… I can manage somehow.”
“Good. Then defend seriously. Liz, you watch carefully and evaluate.”
“Leave it to me.”

We took our positions and created some distance.

—…

It feels strange to hold a sword that isn’t Vygale. Having been wielding such a ridiculously overpowered weapon, switching to a regular item naturally makes me feel like my damage output will be lower.

But well, I fight well with both Vygale and my bare hands, so it doesn’t matter.

“Then I’m going seriously!!!”

—Kooong!

With a loud shout, Karin instantly kicked off the ground and closed the distance. In that instant, I calculated her speed and whether I could do the same. I could. As soon as that judgment was made, a fierce attack came crashing down.

—Kwaang!

As soon as I parried the descending sword, her blade twisted and surged towards my neck. I immediately pushed the hilt of my sword to easily deflect it and extended my hand to grab Karin’s wrist.

—Whoosh!

Of course, even in that moment, Karin pulled her sword away to avoid being grabbed and pressured me with just one hand, while also reaching out her hand. At the same time, she stepped forward and launched a lower body attack using her foot, but the fact that I was aware of it meant that I could block or evade it.

—Papapat!

I stepped back, retreating a step to evade the incoming low kick, while enveloping my grip with mana to neutralize Karin’s hand attack. Karin’s fists flew in rapid succession, but I defended all of them with just one arm, ensuring that it didn’t affect the strength supporting my sword.

Even in that moment, I didn’t launch a major counterattack, focusing solely on defense, remembering the thought of being serious.

“Hmph…”

Since Karin was my opponent, I didn’t feel a great sense of crisis, but I still expanded my senses to the maximum to deflect all the incoming attacks. It was incredibly fierce. An attack that only those who could wield their sword and entire body to the extreme could unleash. But I calmly blocked and continued to defend for several minutes.

—Kwaang!

Suddenly, in a close-quarters situation, Karin kicked the ground intensely. Was she planning to end it soon? She seemed to be planning to end it right away by gaining momentum. —Kwaang! I also performed the Heavenly Demon’s Descent, shooting my body forward to meet her. I had to offset the impact to be able to block it.

—Kooong!

“Hmph!”

But in that instant, Karin’s body was pushed back!

“What!”

Surprised, I threw away all judgment and thought and immediately withdrew the power in my entire body.

“What, Sis, why are you being pushed back!”

Karin, who had been knocked back that far, landed softly. I was shocked by her sudden flight, but she didn’t seem to be hurt. In any case, Karin landed and plunged her sword into the ground.

…It’s over now.

“As expected.”

Karin approached me.

“Now, I really can’t just adjust my strength appropriately and spar like we used to.”

Even I could feel that Karin had adjusted her strength in that spar. That’s why I was able to block everything.

“That’s obvious. I’ve gotten ridiculously strong too. Now, if you adjust your strength, I can block it.”

Karin shook her head at those words.

“No. Just now, I adjusted my strength appropriately in a sparring style, but it was still a proper attack. I thought it would be incredibly difficult to keep blocking without properly counterattacking. But you blocked it all.”
“Oh.”

Karin said that she had launched a proper attack while adjusting her strength?

That was the first time she had said that today.

“How much did you adjust it specifically?”
“Roughly to the level of skill that I saw and felt from you. I did match it to your state without fighting spirit, but it seems our husband is definitely stronger than I thought?”

What.

“Definitely. It looked that way to me too. From my perspective, it was quite amazing, and there were several times when I thought you wouldn’t be able to block it.”

Liztina nodded from the side.

“Hmm… Then what level was the strength you adjusted to just now?”
“About two levels below a properly fighting Liztina?”
“What!!!!!!!!!”

I roared.

“Have I gotten that strong!!!!!”

Two levels below Liztina!!!

She said she adjusted her strength considering I had no fighting spirit, so that meant I was already as strong as Liztina!!! It seemed I had become stronger than I imagined! Then that meant I was now close to the strongest!!!

“Hey, hey. Don’t shout. Honestly, we were both in the same boat without proper fighting spirit. It was just a proper attempt with the thought that it might be roughly that level. I’m the same as you. I wasn’t fighting with the intention of really killing you.”
“Then!!!!!!”
“Oh, you little shit. Be quiet. So what did it feel like?”

I calmed my trembling heart and replied.

“What did it feel like? I kept blocking, thinking I could block it. And I was a little surprised when you were pushed back at the end.”

That’s why I stopped the spar.

“Yeah. I thought I could push you back if you did the same, but I was pushed back.”
“Really?”
“Would I lie about something like this? I can say for sure that I know very well that you have a few advantages over me. Actually, I was focusing on finding that out.”
“Advantages!!!!!!”