The sound of crunching rice crackers echoed through the living room of the Fushiguro household.
"I'm glad we have Bakauke too. Just Bonchi Age leaves you wanting a bit more."
"Well, that's true... but I feel bad, receiving tea and snacks too. Maybe I should have brought a souvenir?"
"You can do that next time. Now then, shall we continue the talk?"
"From the fourth binding, right? What was the next binding again?"
"Next is 'Unarmed'. It's a binding where I can't use weapons. It's not that I can't touch them, but if I touch a weapon with the intention of using it, I can't use it."
"I see. Specifically?"
"For example, holding a kitchen knife to put it away. That, I can do normally. However, if I think 'I'm going to cut this Chinese cabbage', my arm goes numb and won't move. This binding applies to cursed tools and armor too. If anything, cars probably count too. In exchange, my physical durability itself has increased, so I guess it evens out?"
"That's too inconvenient...! How do you live your daily life? Do you eat ready-made meals?"
"No, well, with cursed energy manipulation, I can manage somehow. I just have to do it like this, see?"
Saying that, Naoya formed a blade of cursed energy about 10cm long on his fingertip. It was a solution that simply relied on the brute force effort of having 'absurdly high proficiency in cursed energy manipulation', but using one's own body as a weapon apparently didn't conflict with the binding.
"Eh, but Naoya-kun, you cook with that? Just looking at it, it seems like you'd slice through the kitchen along with the cutting board. You're circulating cursed energy at high speeds, making it like a chainsaw."
"True enough. That's why I'm cutting only the food quite delicately... Shall we go to the next one? If we digress, it'll get long."
"Ah, sorry, sorry. Go on?"
"The fifth one is the 'Gentleman' binding. This one is also a pain. Personally, it's number one in terms of annoyance."
"Hmm? That much?"
"I can't raise a hand against women and children unless they are enemies. Even abusive language is bound. On top of that, I'm looking after brats, so it's so stressful I might go bald. I mean, you can tell from my upbringing, right? Born in Zen'in, raised in Zen'in. Being a gentleman isn't just foreign to me, it's impossible, right? We're the embodiment of male chauvinism."
"It's amazing that you're self-aware, but what you're saying isn't amazing."
"Well, that's just how it is. If it's an old sorcerer family, most places are probably similar. It would be nice if it could be fixed, but you know the saying, 'A leopard can't change its spots'. My nature has long since rotted."
Despite saying that, Naoya's action of pouring tea for Yuki the moment he noticed she had run out was 'truly gentlemanly', but indeed, as he said, if you looked closely, veins were popping on his temples.
Indeed, if it were his original nature, it would be an action he would absolutely never take. If so, how much of a return does a binding that forces such behavior provide?
When Yuki asked that, the answer was somewhat plain.
"Technically, my physical strength and such has increased. Even without cursed energy, I can do quite a bit."
"Specifically?"
"Let's see, just enough to punch a car apart normally."
"Well, that's reasonably strong. ...But if you consider that you can layer cursed energy on top of that, is it exceptional?"
"Honestly? It's a compound binding, so I can't really measure the individual effects."
"Well, I guess that's normal... No, well, I don't know any sorcerer who has bound themselves as much as you, so I don't know what's 'normal'."
"I guess so. ...Shall we go to the sixth one? It's 'Asceticism'."
"There it is! The one that looks the stupidest!"
"Right? I seriously think so too."
This binding, which involves performing rough training based on the Five Elements Generating and Overcoming every day, is simple but truly painful. Because the visual is too 'training montage-esque', its impact is outstanding.
Therefore, Yuki remembered it, but on the other hand, she didn't recall the benefits of the binding very well.
"The benefit is probably body reinforcement."
"Again? No, well, I guess that happens?"
"Probably, you know? My durability has gone up. Like being able to withstand the poison of cursed spirits. My body is also tougher than average. The other day I fell and the floorboards broke."
"I see, so muscle strength and stamina are separate accounts... Even though Physical Gifted gets both."
"Well, that part is postnatal, after all. I guess I can't surpass the original."
"I see... Man, that's interesting."
"Is that so? Well, if it helps with something, that's fine; I'm just talking."
"No, honestly, it helps a lot... Hmm? A car?"
Immediately after Yuki muttered that, the presence of a large vehicle stopped in front of the house accompanied by a heavy exhaust sound and the sound of brakes. Naoya, noticing the sound and glancing at the wall clock, stood up from his seat as if in a panic, excused himself to Yuki with a word, and walked quickly to the hallway.
"Crap, no good! It's the shuttle bus! Wait a sec, I'll talk about the rest after I pick up the brats!"
"Hai-hai, I'll wait while organizing my thoughts a bit."
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