I looked up to see the massive teeth of a creature about to bite my arm off. It stood on four legs and had a massive tail like a salamander. What was unique about this creature, however, what was strange was that it was covered in deep black features and its mouth was a beak covered with razor-sharp teeth.

It’s beady red eyes threatened to bore a hole in me.

You may be wondering how I ended up in this situation. It all began a week ago. I had settled into my normal routine with all my teachers. It had now been two months since I had first met Ren.

Since meeting him I have even made some advancements with the Lub Lub System adding points not only into my stats but into unlocking both princes profiles. I decided that since I was training I would have to get stronger as to not be left behind.

Training with Ren had since become my favourite part of the day, even Riku and Ki had started to stick around to watch.

I’d look over to see them whispering and chatting as Ren and I trained, it was nice to see them getting along so well!

The battles were still very one sided but the feelings of pent-up frustrations of the day and feelings of helplessness for the future were all fed into my sword. I had taken to training each day like a fish in water learning as much as I could, as best as I could.

My heart seemed to have gotten better since my father had brought back that herb and Ishi had mixed it with one from the second prince. It wasn’t 100 percent perfect but it was good enough for me to sweat a little.

My father had actually dropped by one training practice. I was told to train by myself for a little while Ren and Father spoke. After about an incense stick of time, Ren came back and tapped me on the shoulder.

I paused my sword movements as sweat had dripped down my face.

“ Young Master Yuki, ” Said Ren firmly

[ His tone is a bit off I wonder what's wrong ]

“ Your father and I have decided that you are going to go on a training trip to the Tama forest. We leave tomorrow” Ren said with no room for discussion.

“ Tama forest with the magic beasts grandfather spoke about!?” I remarked bewildered.

“ They're one and the same, Ki and I will come along to keep you safe, however, unless your life is in serious danger I won’t step in” Ren replied.

“ Why is Ki coming, isn’t it dangerous? She is my maid, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her! It’s not like she can defend herself!” I retorted worriedly.

Ren had coughed for a moment to clear his throat.

“ Please have a little faith in my protection abilities young master” replied Ren. The look on his face was complicated.

“ It’s not that I don’t trust you... Sorry Ren, I am sure you can protect us both” I responded unable to take back my words.

Ki walked over at this point with Riku and touched Ren’s shoulder. He seemed to want to jump back ten feet but was stopped by her dainty arm.

Ki giggled before she said, “ hmm your father just told me what's happening, don’t worry I am sure Ren can protect me very well, right Ren?”

“ Yes, Ma'am!” Shouted Ren out of sorts before giving a military salute.

[ Maybe he has venustraphobia? *fear of women]

I had noticed that since the first day of Ren being here he had been somewhat fearful of Ki. However, it seemed that no matter what I did to fix the problem it never went away. For instance, this one time I invited him for tea with her and I, but as soon as her name was mentioned he ran away. It has gotten worse ever since.

[ Not much I can do…]

I internally sighed.

“ Young master, I apologise for not being able to join you, however, I am quite useless when it comes to anything other than books. “ Riku said apologetically breaking up the awkward atmosphere.

“I would like to have you there too but with Ren protecting both Ki and I, I am not sure he could protect you too” I replied dejectedly.

Riku scrunched the hair on my head.

“ Next time!” Riku responded and smiled.

“ Why am I going now of all times anyway?” I grumbled to no one, in particular, blushing slightly.

“ Since it has been a while since you started training it is best to train with real targets. Not everyone is like me and will hold back, you need to be prepared!” Ren said.

“ Are you really okay with going Ki” I said to the maid at my side.

“ Of course it is my duty to follow you, through sunshine and rain young master!” Ki replied energetically.

She pumped her fist in the air.

“ Young master, I will start getting your clothes and equipment ready, please be sure to finish your training and get any other work done that you may need by tomorrow. We will be leaving at dawn” Ki followed with.

“I will have Ki see me out, it was a pleasure seeing you and I hope you have a fantastic trip,” Riku said. He bowed and starting walking away. Ki nodded and followed a step behind him.

I had spent the rest of the afternoon with Ren, he corrected my form as I copied the sword, I learned from him. They were slightly more complicated than when I first started but Ren was rather patient so learning was rather easy.

When we had finished up I said to Ren “ What sort of things should I expect in Tama forest?”

“ We will be going to the outermost section of the forest. So nothing too scary but just right for you” Said Ren as he nodded to himself. His arms were crossed. He looked like he was a grandmaster of a dojo imparting wisdom on his disciple.

“ Outer forest so there is more than one part?” I responded.

Ren then uncrossed his arms and crouched down. He grabbed the trusty bamboo pole at his feet and began to draw a crude map. He had sectioned it into three before putting skulls in each section.

I had also crouched down so I could see what he had drawn.

[ What a crappy map, Well I guess he is a swordsman and not a cartographer ]

“ You see this section here, this is the outer area, it has a lot of weak magic beasts. They should rank between 1-3” Said Ren as he pointed to the map.

“ uh, Rank?” I replied.

“ Sorry I got ahead of myself!” Ren shook his head and blushed slightly.

He looked down at the map and said “ We, humans, rank magical beasts from one to 9 to make it easier to classify them. The stronger the beast the higher the rank” Said Ren as he touched his chin in thought.

“ Think of it this way, a rank one beast is usually really harmless, we actually eat them regularly. Even a farmer could find one for dinner. A rank 9, however, needs an entire army to remove it” He said as he then pointed to the inner ring.

“ Here is where you would likely see a rank 9, they are normally called the guardian of the area. There is normally only one rank 9 who is the leader of all the beasts. It could probably be found in the inner area where the resources are more abundant” Ren states out loud in thought.

“ Why is there only one?” I said as I tried to imagine what a rank 9 beast would look like.

“ Hmm beasts are very territorial, why would a king share their subjects and food with another king?” Ren replied as he shrugged.

“ Right I think that is enough for now! I will explain more as you need to know it, I would hate for you to get your information mixed up” Ren finished with that.

We both stood up to find Ki had been standing there looking at the crude map from behind us. In one hand she held snacks and in the other was a towel for my sweat.

[ How did she sneak up on us?!]

She handed me the towel and I wiped off my face. Ren seemed to shake his head slightly unfazed.

“ I know you are looking forward to tomorrow's journey but you must make sure you are healthy enough to go!” said Ki as she looked at the snacks and then back at me.

I said my goodbyes to Ren and Ki and I found my way back to my room.

Today’s snacks were pretty reasonable in flavour so I guessed Ki had made them. This time, however, she handed me a cup containing the foulest looking liquid I had ever seen.

[ This drink needs a censor on it ! ]

The pungent smell of swamp had invaded my nose and made me wince. My eyes had started to water and my soul threatened to escape from my body. I looked at Ki as if I were a dying man.

“ Young master, Ishi had found out that you are going on a journey tomorrow, He had made this drink just for you saying it was a family recipe or something to help you stay healthy” Ki seemingly responded to my expression.

“ Do I really need to drink this stuff “ I looked at her pleading.

“ He has been your doctor for years... I am sure it isn’t poison... Probably” She took a look at the vile concoction trying to hold a straight face.

“ Ki! You are supposed to be on my side, can’t you just say I drunk it” I said as I tried to push it away from me.

She pushes it back to my chin and smiled.

“ Young master, drink it, Ishi spent a lot of time on this for you, do not waste medicine,” Ki said sternly.

[ I knew it everyone here wants to kill me! ]

I had held my nose and took a swig.

The taste of that vile goop will haunt me for the rest of my life!