Chapter 6: Obtain a Sparring partner.

“Should we wake him?”

“Awroo!”

“No, just let him sleep, Kail will wake up if he is hungry…”

“Oh… Alright then.”

… Something smells delicious…

“Master’s nose is twitching…”

… Was that Akai’ voice...? What happen just now…? Did I collapse?

“mmgh… A..kai…”

“Yes, Master. I heed your words.”

“!... ”

I can understand that he want to help me, but… is there any need for you to hold my hand and kneel like a butler, Akai??

“Let my hand go… Help me up.”

“I obey your order.”

He push my back to help me up and I check my surrounding, Uncle, the inn staff, the kids and surprisingly Aunt Lena also here, with bunch of wolves. They already start the party without me, tsk… and I check the sky just to see it already dark… It already night… I didn’t get to buy anything today… Even though I have many things to regret, I walk to the kids and start patting their head while saying “congratulations for success fully learn arithmetic. I will give something soon as your congratulate gift.”

Perhaps, I should buy them wand too… to make the control better…

“!! Onii-sama~!”

“Kail-nii! Thanks a lot!”

Both of them hugging me tightly, I-I’m choking~! Help here! They finally let go, hah… kids strength…

“Alright, since the person in topic has waked up, let’s celebrate!!”

“hm?”

“Happy birthday Kail!!

“??!!” w-what??

“Surprise aren’t you?? Forgot that today is your birthday?”

“I… Ah… I remember it now, hehe… Thank you everyone…”

“Alright~! Blow the candle here~ Wish for something”

Emily held out the birthday cake to my face and I blow it. I am already way old to wish for something.

Then, we start eating, chatting and dancing for a while. The inn staff went back to work after eating the barbeque of meat that I hunt, while the kids are playing with Emily, and the wolf. Uncle Barbatos and Aunty Lena sit with me at the stone table at the yard with Akai standing next to me.

“Want some?”

Aunt Lena shows a bottle of cold beer inviting me to drink.

“Sure. Thanks.”

She pours drink to my cup and to Uncle Barbatos cup, uncle start talking all of a sudden.

“Aren’t they nice kids?”

“hmm? Ah yes, they are indeed nice.”

Apparently, it was Reno and Eline idea’s to celebrate my birthday, since they are the only one I told my birthdates to. How do I know my birthdates? I don’t. But somehow I can feel it. How do I explain? It is complicate feeling, back when Kail was a teen, he was grieving upon the 3 kids death and his only friend leaving him alone at the slum and so that his friend could leave to become someone else child. It was the same date like today but since many years ago, I suddenly feel as if my bodies become so light, and feel like someone hugging me from behind. Then I was guessing, that probably my birthday because ever since then, because every time the date came, I will feel exactly the same.

But it stops once ‘I’ the person from Japan incarnate into this body. No one explain anything to me but I can guess it all just by gut feeling.

“By the way, Kail. Barbatos has told me about your plan. Are you serious? Ah no… Are you going to be alright?”

“What does that mean?”

“You plan to leave the town, right? But where to?”

When she asks the question, I already expected it already; calmly I gulp the beer down.

“kuh~… ha… The Dark forest.”

“WHAT!”

Both uncle and aunt stand up, as expected of their reaction. Dark Forest is not place for human to live. Both of them, stuttering and start complaining to me. I ignore them that were complaining and say my reason.

“I already expect this, though you say living in town is better but my life style is just going to be as boring as hell. I am strong, clever but I came from the slums, a place which kid was seen as nuisances, even church won’t accept us.”

“…”

“Just my gut feeling, if I live in Dark Forest, I can make a living for kids like us. Perhaps it risky, but that’s the thrill of living. If I live here safely, and just enough with what I have, it won’t have that much of different than when I live in the slum.”

“The kids are following?” (Aunt Lena)

“They don’t know about it yet, I will ask them, 4 days later. That is when I depart, and the wolves will definitely follow me, since it’s their dream to go there.”

“Ha~ahh… ” (Aunt Lena)

“Kail, I am fine with your decision, because I saw your growth since the first time you came here ‘takes’ my thing.” [Barb]

“Haha, that is all old business, uncle~ forget about already~”

“No I would not, it still bad thing to do. Either way, you came to ‘takes’ one time and I used to have bad impression on you. But when you are a teenager, Eline is sick and you come begging and groveling to the floor to borrow some money to buy medicine. Then, I always start watching over you and notice that you always take the beating to let the kids run away. Since then, I got a feeling, this kid is not bad.” [Barb]

“… Uncle… Damn, you make me shy for nothing here, hahaha.”

I rub my nose feeling my face warms up.

“Ah, when you talk about that, I remember the time you beg me for my kitchen knife. What did you do with it anyway?” [Lena]

“… Don’t get angry, okay? Here…”

I show her the small knife that I use to craft and butch the hunt goods.

“E-eh?? Just how did that large knife become like this?? You!”

She chocked my collar, and I start to ‘complain’. Even though she is a woman, the muscle seen at her arm wasn’t a joke.

“You say to use the knife as I feel like it! So I use it for many things and when I notice, it has already become so small that my hand can’t grip it like before.”

“Urgh… My beloved Stephanie…”

You actually name it? Damn you old unmarried lady. To use your strength on me is something uncalled for. Uncle has been laughing all along amused. By the way, Akai has been giving advices to Reno to train his body so he does not see this scene. Akai, though he may not look like it, he has the ability to use magic, his body also strong and even stronger than Snow. Snow as the leader of the wolf pack is just weak in combat one-on-one with him but Snow definitely a great leader better than the previous Clam wolf tribe leader.

Akai is werewolf while Snow and the other wolf as Greater Wolf, even bigger than normal size wolf. When I ask Akai, why he evolve as werewolf rather than Greater Wolf, he says something like “I wish to protect master rather than serving you.” If I am a girl in otome games, this will definitely trigger the event, but I am a man damn it! Though in previous life, I gave up on relationship, that doesn’t mean I stop loving girl!

“-yawn-~~”

“hm? Eline, already sleepy?”

“Reno-nii… mmm… sleepy…”

Hm? Oh, I didn’t realize it at all, it already midnight.

“Reno, Eline, goes upstairs and sleeps.” I stop them from playing anymore and pointing my finger to Reno and Akai. “Ah, wait… Reno, You. Don’t sleep, I need to teach you magic.”

“! Yes, Kail-nii!”

“I abide your order, master.”

Then I stand up from the seat and says farewell to everyone, and goes to the room. The wolves also follow and sleep inside the room as the room is enough for everyone, but there’s only one large bed enough for the kids, so the wolves sleep on the floor which I also does. Akai, give his idea and rejected straight away. How could he offer such thing? To sleep on other man bodies is… forbidden or I’ll really fall to the ‘Yaoi’ world, plus… he is macho damn it!! Those guy out there, don’t you dare be disgusted seeing me! At least pity me! Don’t laugh at me either!

“Alright, Reno, to congratulate you for doing well at arithmetic, I will now teach you magic.”

“Finally!”

“But first, do you know the reason why I ask you to learn arithmetic?”

“uh… No?”

“It is to train your brain which can be says mental training that can help build your ‘Energy’. Your magic power is high but since you have almost zero ‘energy’, to create something is not possible for you. Thus, I have you learn arithmetic and when you have done that, your mental training is almost complete.”

“So, does that mean, I can cast magic, no?”

“Yes. I will teach you the first level of water manipulation skill. Give me your chalk board and chalk. Your training starts now.”

We went to the yard again to train, only Akai following us and I start to draw some image on the chalk board. The first skill to have him learn is water ball. I draw circle-like water and ask Reno to imagine it at front of his palm. At first he having trouble to do that, but by second tries he succeed. I call upon a dummy made out of earth in front of him. Then orders him to soak the dummy with the water ball by throwing it. He succeeds at throwing but he missed the target. Thus I ask him to always train like this whenever he has free time, then I teach him the second skill; the water blade.

I draw a crescent shape, and then ask him to imagine it and do the same to thing like water ball to the dummy. Like I expected, he missed but scarily the result is the yard fences is cut perfectly like a katana cut. I warn him to be careful with this skill and to not use it unless necessary. He tilt his head showing wonder and disagreement at first, then I warn him saying if he does not obey, I won’t teach him anything again and still explain that the water ball function.

Water ball, seems useless at first but if you know how to use it, you can avoid needless fight. First of all, water ball can be use to soak the opponent, which can make the opponent easily slip the weapon of his grip and his movement become a bit slow since the cloth is soaked and making his movement a bit awkward. Water ball, that missed the target will soaked the ground and make the ground slippery, if your luck is good, your enemy will fall in embarrassing possible pose. Another thing is, if you make the water ball large enough to fill your enemy inside it, you can kill that person but that need large amount of magic power and amazing magic control [great mental training].

Also, water ball is a good skill for control practice but I left out that fact for him to learn the truth himself.

He stops complaining, rather than that, he have refreshing look at his face, promising me that he will keep train from now on and went straight to the room to sleep. I stay at the yard and start sparring with Akai. He does not talk much, but a man talk with his fist or so my experience says, so I invite him to spar and he accepts without hesitation. Nothing worth mentioning but, I change my cloth into something much more simple that wouldn’t limit my movement. Bare body with only black knee-length pant and bare feet.

While sparring, I thought of testing my other element and make them into an elemental ball. Then I realize… I have 7 type of element.

The premiere element as earth, fire, dark and wind, while secondary element is light, poison and ice.

I wonder why my ice is even more powerful than fire but then I remember…

I share my energy especially to Akai, and his base element is fire. Also, other than that, I found out my magic power vessel [Mana Perimeter] is way too large.

I can cast 7 different element balls palm size at once and it only cost around bit part of my magic vessel, around 1%?

Then, while sparring, Akai change into his wolf form. Ahh… his cloth lay to the ground… if he change into human form again, he will be naked. While I think all that, his speed suddenly increases drastically.

“wow! So fast!”

“I’m happy to hear your praise, master”

He really fast, I can’t see anything at all, not evens his shadow. Then I thought of crazy idea, I gather my ‘energy’ to my eyes and I found him! I cancel all my elemental balls and cast a stone wall to corner him, and then I jump right above him.

“Hyah!”

I pin him down and point my fist to his face. It’s my win.

“I lose…”

“That was close… You are strong Akai, if I didn’t get the idea to use the ‘hidden eye’, I will definitely lose.” Hooray! I don’t know how I manage to get those ideas though.

“Ah, master is being humble… I’ll accept it as praise.” He says it while his tail happily wags side to side.

After the duel, he turns back to human form and sits down next to me. While bowing down to me, he request odd things.

“Master! Please teach this one, skill if you find it is not troubling you while you teach Reno-sama.”

“E-eh?? Skills?”

“I lack experience in the same way, I lack skill even though I am much stronger than Snow and the others.”

“Ah… Now you say it… all you does just now is to run around me and waiting for openings. You are strong but lack the skill eh…”

“… Yes…”

He lowers his head in agreement.

“Ah… I don’t think I would be trouble to teach both of you at the same time, but I would need you to do something for me.”

“? Please order me as you see fit.”

“Always spars with me at night like this.”

“!... It is my utmost pleasure to do such thing. Thank you, master… to agree with my selfish wish.”

With a butler-like one leg kneel poses, he thanks me.

“Nah~ it nothing big, plus I wish for you to always be my sparring partner, so you have to follow my greed all along too~” Yep, it was my plan all along, killing one bird with two stones. Now, while grinning I look more like a pervert rather than villain.

“Ah~ I have been had… hahaha”

That smile could kill any young lady, I should warn him to not smile too much to others or he will suffer great misery [Girls crowding him].

…