Fortune and misfortune are like a famed sword. Grip its blade and we are wounded, grip its hilt and we can behead the wicked.

Of course, if one has achieved indestructibility, it matters not which part one grasps.

Show that even with the hilt you can beat a man to death.

-James Russell Lowell-

----------------------------------------

One month earlier.

Watson’s ordeal began the day Holmes returned to the boarding house carrying a brioche vostok glazed with sweet syrup.

‘From today until the day of the ball, at mealtimes you’ll have to use this instead of the cutlery you normally use.’

Holmes brought two odd metal rods along with the pastry he intended as bait.

At first Watson could not understand how they were supposed to be used in place of cutlery.

She was annoyed that Holmes wouldn’t properly explain the rods’ use, but she got her answer when dinner came.

“Eat up before the food gets cold.”

Of all nights, Mrs. Hudson had prepared a classic Great British roast for that evening.

Mrs. Hudson cut a large piece of Cantonese-style roast goose1 and placed it on Watson’s plate, but Watson couldn’t touch it.

Naturally.

On her place lay not a fork and knife but a blunt metal rod.

“What are you doing, Watson? Why aren’t you eating?”

“But I don’t have utensils. How am I supposed to eat the meat?”

Watson asked, and Holmes answered with an incredulous look.

“Didn’t I tell you? For the next month, this will be your cutlery.”

“What the—”

-Whoom!

Before Watson could finish speaking, a blade of Sword-Qi sprouted from the metal rod Holmes held.

“…Huh?”

Only then did Watson understand.

What Holmes had meant by ‘cutlery.’

“So… you’re saying if I can’t form a blade with Sword Qi, I’m out of luck for today’s meal?”

Instead of answering, Holmes gripped a rod with his left hand.

Four thin streams of Sword Qi extended from its tip.

“Precisely.”

While Watson stood dumbfounded, Holmes quietly began carving the goose leg.

“The hoisin mixed with fruit compote complements the crispy skin and tender meat. An excellent recipe, Mrs. Hudson.”

“Not bad coming from a humble house, I suppose. Though it can’t compare to the fare at the royal ball.”

“Madam, I must have been a fool that day.”

Holmes and Mrs. Hudson were already merrily chatting and eating.

“Even Mrs. Hudson…”

What shocked Watson was that Mrs. Hudson, too, drew Sword Qi from her alloy rod and was eating the same way as Holmes.

Even if Mrs. Hudson was older than Watson, the ability to form a blade of Sword Qi rather than merely cloak a blade with it was a mastery only a tiny fraction of first-class martial artists possessed.

Holmes found Watson’s reaction to Mrs. Hudson’s Sword Qi hard to understand.

Mrs. Hudson was a wealthy widow who owned a large, cozy boarding house in central London.

She had long earned considerable rent from letting rooms to Holmes, and before Watson arrived she occasionally sought instruction in Kung-Fu.

She had no desire to venture into the Peak realms nor to enjoy fighting, but after years of diligent training, Mrs. Hudson possessed a rare skill even among London’s elite martial artists.

“A blade of Sword Qi, it’s still premature for me, I think…”

“It you can’t do it, you’ll be thrown out of the royal ball’s supper without so much as a bite. Or you’ll have to leave before dinner begins.”

“There’s such a rule?”

“Whatever you imagine, Duke Albert’s austere rules at the Forbidden Palace will show you more than that.”

Hard to understand as it was, the man Watson was speaking with was Sherlock Holmes.

He was no man to spout nonsense merely to tease her.

Remembering that, Watson nodded reluctantly.

“It would be a grave breach of etiquette to send a lady home alone, so I must escort you back as well.”

“Does that mean you must return without playing Sword Debate Chess with Her Majesty…?”

Holmes smiled and nodded.

“Don’t feel pressured. It’s only a Sword Debate Chess game, after all.”

“…”

Watson silently picked up the two alloy rods and began sending internal energy into them.

-Buzz Buzz

The glossy, blunt tips of the rods began to glow faintly.

It was the state of Sword Qi to Injure, a level any First Class Martial Artist could attain.

Medical professionals were known to coat long needles, Liston knives, and bone saws with such thin Sword Qi to perform surgery.

But when the Sword Qi drawn to the rod’s tip was applied to the meat, it could at best nick the surface.

If there had been an actual blade rather than just a handle, she could have properly carved the thick goose meat.

With a blunt rod, it was difficult.

If she forced it and pressed hard, she might cut it somehow, but a single slip could shatter the plate.

“It’s not easy…”

“I understand. But a month is not exactly a lot of time.”

Watson nodded at Holmes’ explanation.

With little time left before the royal ball, he must have chosen a shortcut.

Clearly, appetite was the most pronounced of Watson’s desires.

To make her train, given she couldn’t resist gambling and fine food, Holmes had found the optimal method.

“I’ll try. If it fails, so be it.”

Watson, though she had more real combat experience and harsher training than many top warriors, had not reached the level of forming a blade purely from Sword Qi.

This was not a problem unique to her.

The British Army’s standard armament had been modified into staff-swords optimized for discharging Fingertips.

Formal Kung-Fu tactics likewise favored long-range Fingertip shooters who discharge from a sheathed staff-sword and short-range shooters who discharge directly with gloved hands.

Even in close combat after drawing the blade, it was considered virtuous to conserve energy by thinly sheathing a sharp blade with Sword Qi rather than forming a blade purely by force.

In short, martial artists in the army generally only cloaked blades with internal energy and had not trained to create blades from Qi alone.

And what of Watson, who served as an army surgeon providing rear support?

Her primary Kung-Fu was always Fingertips.

She had only briefly used Sword Qi in emergencies, during operations or when using long needles as weapons.

“Ugh…”

After straining to summon Qi for a time, Watson collapsed face-down on the table, still holding the rods.

In the end, she ate nothing until Holmes and Mrs. Hudson finished their meal.

“…Sniff sniff!”

Watson buried her face in the tablecloth and sobbed with sorrow.

“I wanted to eat… the goose…”

“Lift your head, Watson.”

When Watson raised her tear-filled face, she saw Holmes produce a normal-looking fork and knife from somewhere and hand them to her.

“Sorry. I appeared to have progressed you too quickly. For now, practice cloaking a steel blade with Sword Qi again.”

-Slash!

Holmes seized a plate and generated warming Qi, and steam began rising from the goose again.

“Holmes…!”

Watson brightened and began slicing the meat.

But in her excitement, as the dense Sword Qi she produced at full output made contact.

“Ah.”

-Zing!

Mrs. Hudson’s beloved plate split in two.

“From tomorrow, eat out before coming home.”

“…”

“…”

Mrs. Hudson commanded with a razor-sharp glare.

From the metal rod she held, a foot-long blade of Sword Qi leapt up.

Watson, reborn through a month of grueling training.

From the cutlery she now held, which were only handles, they now blades.

Adorable one-joint-long blades of Sword Qi.

“…Even if it’s only one inch, to form a blade purely with Qi is…

“…Has she not yet completely reached first-class yet?”

Though it flickered like a candle in the wind and looked perilously close to vanishing, it was undeniably a blade made solely of internal energy.

“Heup!”

Then the rod in Watson’s left hand split its Sword Qi into two prongs and extended them.

Thus the fork of Sword Qi, requiring a more complex circulation than a knife, was completed.

“Judging by your hair, it seems you’re stuffing from meridian blockage disorder, yet you’ve put in tremendous effort.”

“Even born with an ordinary body, it’s hard to reach that level at that age. How on earth…”

“I’ve been so focused on the achievements of the Little Heavenly Demon and the Mistress of Green Willow that I didn’t notice, but among the later-stage prodigies entering the ranks of the elite, this one merits attention.”

As onlookers gasped one by one, Watson’s cheeks gradually flushed.

In truth, she could not truly claim to have completely entered the first-class stage yet.

Even so, her ability to produce over an inch of Sword Qi was thanks to a month’s training and a small trick.

Seeing her ears continue to redden, it was clear she was embarrassed by the praise that outstripped her true skill.

“Mm. One seldom finds someone just past twenty with such accomplishments.”

-Puff!

Watson’s cheeks turned even redder and steam seemed to rise from the crown of her head.

“Heh…”

I felt indescribable watching someone estimate her age nearly ten years younger and see Watson lose her composure.

It’s true her small frame makes her look younger, but staying that she was in her early twenties seemed a stretch.

‘Anyway, it seems no one has discovered it yet.’

I looked at Watson’s Snow Halation Iron dagger, faintly glowing in its sheath.

Just as a phonolite records or plays back sound imbued with Qi, the Snow Halation Iron also absorbed and stored Yin-Qi.

Minerals that store Qi internally and release it under certain conditions were common in the martial world, and most could be bought at a high price.

The Snow Halation Iron dagger was the tool once used by one of Irene Adler’s subordinates to bore a hole in a wall to steal the royal decree.

Because stored Yin-Qi could be infused in a blade, someone unable to use Kung-Fu could still silently carve through a thick wall with ease.

Snow Halation Iron, once processed, had tremendous cutting power and also helped maintain Watson’s condition.

For that reason I ordered a separate sheath and gifted the dagger to Watson.

Thanks to this, over the past month Watson periodically filled the Snow Halation Iron with excess Yin-Qi, alleviating the side effects of her meridian blockage disorder condition.

‘Even if discovered, the special palace maid corps would have no grounds to punish her.’

And just before entering the supper hall, Watson returned the Yin-Qi stored in the dagger back into her body.

Specifically, she channeled the dagger’s energy into a shawl woven from the Ancient Vicuna Wool and then drew it into her Elixir Field.

The Ancient Vicuna Wool possessed the mysterious property of converting Yin-Qi into Yang-Qi as it passed through the fibers, so the dagger’s yin energy was fully transformed and returned to Watson’s body.

This trick neutralized Qi up to the limit Watson’s bloodstream could bear while temporarily doubling her available internal energy.

Through this, Watson could perform feats that would normally have been impossible.

“The Forbidden Palace’s finest chefs have prepared this table—feast and enjoy to your hearts’ content.”

When all attendees stood before the table, Her Majesty offered kind words and the meal officially began.

Servants carved the meat onto the guests’ plates, and Watson busily moved her Sword Qi fork and knife.

If she had a ‘real blade’ formed by raised Qi pressure, she could easily overcome the final trial set for her.

She was certain of it.

-Swish!

“Careful, Watson!”

That was until a rule-breaker flicked a poisoned needle aimed at them with a cutlery handle and attacked Watson.

1. TL/N: Oh Gawd!!! One of my favs… too bad it’s sooo hard and expensive to find in Korea. ️