"You've been put in temporal hold."

The first news that Thom received in the morning came from no one else than his captain, miss Valta Lockhart. His brain was still in the middle of waking up when he heard those words, and could simply sigh as a response.

"Ha... A good morning would be gratifying to hear first." He smiled.

"Yes. Good morning." She said, completely oblivious to the pain in Thom's heart.

"Well, it just means I don't have to work and I still get paid, no? I still have to oversee the training sessions of my boys and all that every now and then. I just took a rest today to cure my wounds..." He looked into a corner of his mind, and remembered the message that popped up in his head as soon as he woke up.

「Learning successful. The passive skill [Superior Recovery] has been acquired. All wounds will heal 3 times faster than usual from now on.

Learning successful. The passive skill [Deep Sleeper] has been acquired. Afflictions and wounds heal 4 times faster while sleeping. After completing 8 hours of sleep, all afflictions like bleeding, poison, intoxication, and exhaustion will be removed.」

"... But I feel perfect, really. Slept like a baby last night." He snickered.

"I see." She pressed her hand against her lips. "Your wounds seemed like they would need magic to heal. But they're good."

The hundreds of scars on his skin were clearly noticeable. She should have been closely inspecting them ever since he had opened the door, but Thom wouldn't rebuke her about it. He couldn't help but feel elated by her stern gaze.

"I couldn't have just been put on hold and that's it, right? There must have been something else that you wanted to communicate if you knocked on my door."

"Yes."

Valta handed him a small bundle of papers, and then checked in her satchel for something else. She pulled out a small purse, and gave Thom a singular piece of gold.

"Oh?" He sounded surprised as he flipped the coin on his palm. Different from the ones inside his bag, this one had etchings on each of its faces.

"A bonus for the fort. We've checked the location and confirmed your report." She stated while pointing at the papers. "You seem fluent in Kuulkiam now. I don't think I need to read them for you."

"No, no. I'm fine. Is there anything about Suu— about my sister— in here?" Thom said.

"She was quickly approved as corporal, and handed under your section. She doesn't have a squad, and we couldn't give her a higher rank because there's not many empty spaces. You were a convenient exception."

"I see. Lucky me I guess."

Valta nodded afterwards, about to turn around and head down the corridor, when she seemed to have remembered something. Thom was closing the door, but saw her turn around, and opened it again.

"Would you like coffee some other day?" She asked him with an expressionless and calm face. Thom felt his heart skip a beat, but simply smiled as he held the pommel of the door.

"Yeah... Sure. That would be great."

He replied with a heartfelt smile.

He closed his door and flipped through the pages of the stack he had been given. The bundle of papers was filled with information about the four squadrons in his sections, and a small medal awarding his actions on the fort.

•••

The following two weeks were only filled with endless training, and supervising training.

"Is that what you call a pushup, soldier?! Reach the f*cki ground and kiss it, you sh*t! Hey, what are you doing?! You! If you spread your legs even one centimeter further apart they'll look like a canyon, you dumbass! Pull them together and pull your sh*it together! Touch the ground, all of you! Or I'll put you on the ground myself!"

"Yes, lieutenant!!"

All the soldiers replied enthusiastically as they were rising on their 100th push-up, hearing Thom yelling at them indiscriminate insults that fueled their rage to keep going up.

The drill sergeant looked at them with completely blank eyes. His face seemed to say: hey, isn't this my job, lieutenant, sir?

"You! You're doing it great! Keep your sword that way, always point for the midriff! Yes, like that! In the minute they raise the sword, poke right through them!" Thom hid the thousandth smirk that was about to appear on his face, as even he was surprised of how well he could act as a bad-mouthed superior. "Hey, you! What the hell is that?! Do you think this is a fantasy book? Swing like that in a real fight and your throat will get sliced!"

"Yes, lieutenant!"

The drill sergeant looked as if he was slowly dying inside.

「Learning successful. The job subclass skill [Trainer] has been acquired. Up to 50 creatures of choice that can hear the user's voice obtain a 150% bonus to training and skill augmentation while the user is instructing them.」

This thing is full of surprises.

Clank!

"Since when did you become so good with the sword, completely real brother of mine?!" Suu exclaimed as her sword graced Thom's face.

The sound of metal rubbing kept appearing every time they hit each other, leaving the rest of the section with baffled eyes.

"It's been some tough days, 100% not-fake sister!"

The onlookers that caught a glimpse of lieutenant Thom and corporal Suu fighting on the training yards would often stop after seeing the bizarre way in which they sparred. It wasn't so much as practice. Although siblings tended to be a little more aggressive against each other, they didn't look like they were practicing in the slightest, no, they were pretty much going at each others throats. The soldiers around them would mutter:

"Hey, those are real swords, aren't they?"

"Corporal Suu totally just impaled lieutenant Thom with the blade. Why isn't he bleeding?"

"Guys, is it normal to call your sister 100% not-fake sister? Is that like a totally normal thing between siblings? Hey, dude, you have a sister, tell me."

"Man... I knew Clawgold clan members were weird, but these two..."

Erina could only hit her beet-red face every time she heard the soldiers talk about her clan by associating it to that couple of strange foreigners.

「Learning successful. The job class skill [Swordsman II] has been upgraded to [Swordsman III]. Control and strength have been upgraded. All sword skills have become stronger by 25%.」

In the two weeks that Thom could stroll leisurely around the headquarters, he spent the days by training his section and training himself. While training with Suu, he managed to recover some of the time he had lost with her. They had always been close friends, in a remote village far from the bigger cities you never met new people, and you treated everyone closely. It never went any further than being really good friends. However, lately, Thom had been feeling that the brother-and-sister facade wasn't as disingenuous as they had originally thought.

"You say this is called chess?" Suu said as she moved her pawn forward.

"That's right. Valta taught me how to play it. I've lost a total of 12 times and won once. I say my score is pretty decent." Thom smiled.

The chess pieces moved along the board for several minutes until Suu's side only had the king left. She had started to panic, and went to the furthermost left corner of the board to escape Thom's tower.

"Huhu." An evil glow appeared on Thom's lips. He moved the queen two squares beside her king, placed the tower underneath the king on his next turn, and moved his bishop on the following.

"Uwah! I can't move any longer..." She smiled bitterly as she looked to the board.

"This is called strategy. It's what military officials use to win in combat. Valta has talked to me several times about how raw strength is important, but you could have your section destroyed by a single squadron if you didn't prepare properly. Valta, for example, always wins using the queen. She has won even when only starting the game with the pawns and the queen on her board."

"Huh... I guess it's an important thing to learn now that you're a lieutenant and all that." Suu smiled. "But that can't be it, cannit?"

"What do you mean, hm?" Thom bent his back forward and raised an eyebrow.

Suu looked around Thom's room as if searching for peeping ears that were not there. She leaned forward with a smile and her hand on her thigh and started to speak with a whisper.

"You can't be planning on staying here forever, are ya?"

Thom scratched the back of his neck as if troubled by her question. Having the atmosphere changed so quickly, he wasn't quite sure what to answer. However, he ended up telling her the truth.

"Well... Now that you mention it, I've been having a hard time thinking about that."

"Why's that?" She asked excitedly, as if she had finally earned Thom's trust enough that he would open his heart to her.

"You know... I have some unfinished business here. Mom and dad are outside of the city in the farmhouse, and I thought it would be nice if I could watch over them from here. I haven't been granted permission to freely go and visit them, but I will as soon as I can and say hi. They must think I'm already dead." Thom sneered at that nefarious thought.

"... Your mom and dad, is it, Thom?" Suu sighed. Her facial expression had immediately crumpled. She crossed her arms with eyebrows that denoted nothing more than worry.

"Yeah. And now that I think about it... Sh*t, I haven't even written a letter to them." He nervously scratched his head. "I should tell them you're good, too."

"Thom, what are my parents' names?"

"Eh?" Thom froze for a second. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally answered. "Mister Dragonson and miss Saya. I remember they taught me how to sew and make shoes back then."

"Yeah... And your parents' names?" Suu closed her eyes, pressing her index finger against her cheek.

"Why are you asking that? You couldn't have forgotten who taught you how to read and use the sword. My parents' names are Marz and Merry." Thom answered with a stern expression

Suu parted her lips slightly as if about to tell him something, but then quickly shut them, deciding to remain silent. She only pondered shortly about what seemed to be no more than a handful of things, and then, she let go of her raised shoulders with a dejected smile.

"It seems I've been thrown into a mess bigger than I expected because of you, completely real brother of mine." She lightly punched Thom's chest in a gesture of comradery, but her frustration tainted her words.

"Hey, hey, that's not fair. Why are you looking at me as if I had been the one to pull you to this place? You decided to come here by yourself, Suu." Thom sighed. "I didn't throw you trough that port—"

Thump thump

Thom's eyes opened wide.

"Thom?"

"I... Didn't throw you trough that portal. The portal. What portal? Suu, what portal am I talking about?" Thom grabbed Suu's arm with a violent motion, thick drops of sweat started to form in his forehead and neck.

"Poor you, Thom." She smiled warmly, and grabbed his hand. "I don't blame you. I've had to snap out of it several times before as well. We don't belong to this place, but that's not how it should be. It wants us to belong."

Thom let go of her with his heart beating in his ears and held his chest with a drumming palpitation between his ribs. Suu puffed her chest and extended her hands forward, grabbing Thom's cheeks and tenderly squeezing them.

"You're not alone in this, Thom. I came here with you, and now I'm glad I did. I'm sure you're here for a reason, and I'll help you, whatever your goal is. But, for now, please, listen to me and answer my questions from the bottom of your heart. Thom... What are your parents names?"

"Mars..." A single tear slid down his eye. "And... Merry."

"No Thom..." She made a rather sad expression, her mouth twisting slowly as she murmured. "What are your parents' names? And where do you come from? Thom... Were you born here?"

He closed his eyes, and every little detail of his life began to filter into his head like a bad dream. Growing in a farm, much different than Mars' and Merry's, playing with swords and living trough poor, sad years where he couldn't choose his single meal of the day. He remembered his father, a prideful man blinded by rage, dying at the hands of a noble who he had sought to kill. The joy and the pain came all together, and then, they manifested in the shape of Suu's hand.

He held her firmly, but her skin did not redden. Suu sighed in a tragically disheartened manner, filled with nostalgia and remorse. Then she let go of him, and he fell on the chessboard, sending all the pieces flying to the sides.

"Thom... What are your parents' names?"

Thom cleaned the streams of tears running down his cheeks and sniffed convulsively before straightening his body. There was a long moment of silence, one that almost made Suu repeat her question, until the weary youth moved his hand forward. He picked the white queen from the sprawled pieces, sighing, and fumbled it between his fingers.

"My mom is called Aszucen. She's a humble woman... Who once wanted to be a scholar." He caressed the face of the queen for a second, and then started to accommodate the pieces on the board once more.

"And your father?" Suu arched her eyebrows with a smile.

Thom put seven pawns on the front row, and then picked the king. He doubted for a second, but after having placed the figure, he grabbed the last pawn from the floor, and his face twisted with rage.

"It would have been better to forget him. Arbur Farmborn. A piece of sh*t that never gave a damn about my mother and left us alone to pursue a stupid dream."

Crack

The pawn crumbled to pieces in his hand.

"That's more like you. It was strange to hear you talk about your father with such lovely eyes." She giggled, and took Thom's hand once again.

"Thank you, Suu. You've really been a good sister." He returned a tender smile. "I don't know if we can go back. But we can try. I know I'm weaker-minded than you, so I'm counting on your slaps to wake up. I came here... Because I followed a girl. I don't know where she's now, but finding her is more doable than opening a gate to our village, don't you think?"

"Yeah. We can start with that." She nodded.

"Then... I've finally remembered my goal. I know you'll cringe hearing me say something like this, but... Suu, thank you for making me remember my dream."

"Thom Arburson with a dream? Oh my. This place has really done a number on you, hasn't it?" The girl couldn't help but sigh. "So? Care to tell me what it is?"

Thom smiled, and grabbed the chess piece of the tower. He placed it on the center, and then grabbed the king. Putting the king on top of the tower, he articulated his mouth in an exaggerate manner, and made his voice sound as low as he could.

"To make mine everything I see!" He said, making an absurd presentation of the king on top of the tower.

"Ohohoho?" The black-haired girl couldn't help but let go of a mocking chuckle. "Oh yeah? And then what?"

Thom smiled, and removed the king from the top of the tower. He placed the other white tower on top, and then the black one, and then the final black tower. Then, in a demonstration of a good sense of balance, he placed the king on top, and opened his arms.

"And then climb even higher, and take everything I see. When I'm done, I'll add more towers. And as far as I can see, I'll take it! ... Or something along those lines, was what Runa said."

"Pffft— Hahahahaha!" Suu covered her mouth before letting go of a full-on laugh, and Thom happily observed the girl moving back and forth at his absurd idea. "Oh... That sounds like a great plan!" She cleaned the fake tears off her eyes and hit him again on the chest.

"So?" He crossed his arms. "You in?"

"Are you kidding?" The girl pouted slightly, and her frown became extremely slanted. She then formed a smile, and extended her hand. "When you're king, make me a duke. If you do that, I'm in."

"Hmph." He extended his hand, and grabbed hers. "Take that for granted."

--

「Do you wish to share a skill of grade A+ or less with the individual Suu Dragontwist? The skills not available for sharing are as follows:

•Luckiest

All other skills can be transferred with the use of [Skill Sharing], as well as one of its subordinate skills.

Suggested skills:

• Skill Master (Unique, Grade A+)

Suggested subordinate skills:

• Skill Master: [Bookread's Guideline]

• Skill Master: [Dissolve Sublevels]

• Skill Master: [Skill Sharing]

Awaiting response.」