“Fight me.”
"No.”
I said. I continued ignoring him, focusing my full attention on the steel I was forging. It was a constant sound of a hammer hitting steel, the molten metal being dipped into water, and only for it to be then hammered again and again. The cycle kept repeating, and with every cycle, a question was asked of me.
“Fight me.”
"No.”
It's been three hours. The sky was already dark. The heat within the forge already rose to a point where the average person would pass out. And yet there he was, still standing, gazing at me as I worked, and kept asking the same thing over and over again. At first, it was amusing. I even kept count.
But I stopped counting and stopped being amused after the 58th time. Now, a normal person would say to me to just chase him out of the store. I tried. I really tried. But he didn't budge. He even said that he would be on his way, only if I fight him. It was a simple request. Sure, I could fight him and be done with this madness.
And I did. I lost. So why, do you ask, is he still here despite getting what he wants. Well in his own words, ‘You didn't even try.’ That was true. ‘And you didn't even use Kigen.’ That was also true. But I had my reasoning.
Why the hell would I use my Kigen, which was in limited amount, to a person who asked me to fight out of the blue. We didn't even exchange names. He just tried fighting me for some reason. Eventually, I lost my patience and just ignored him. Continuing on with my work.
I gave him a sidelong glance, and hell he was staring directly at my eyes. His blue, ice-cold eyes. I saw him opening his mouth and I already answered before he uttered his statement. “No.” Oh, this was new. He finally had a reaction. His sweaty forehead creased, clear that he was now frustrated. He held his chin with his right hand, perhaps pondering about this situation, and seemed to have come to a conclusion.
“Tomorrow. Fight me.” He nodded. Turned around and left without even buying anything. Rude.
And just as he left, a certain old man came in while wiping his greasy hands with a cloth. "New Friend Kayde?” Bael smirked, chuckling as went out as soon as he came. Teasing bastard. Why didn't he toss him out? He wasn't even buying anything. He just kept provoking his beloved apprentice to a fight. Wasn't that enough to warrant his attention? Guess not. Damned old man.
...
The young man halted his steps. He turned around and gazed at the ricketty old storefront. Their store sign was glazed, as the title of their store was hard to make out of.
Severin von Schlieffen crunched his fists. He thought back to the moment when he accidentally stumbled upon this store. At first, he was frustrated with himself. He, Severin von Schlieffen, got lost as he was on his way towards the local Counts Manor. But he quickly recovered himself. He was indeed frustrated but was also used to it. It wasn't his first time being lost while he was on his way somewhere.
It was to such an egregious consistency, that he thought there was foul play involved. A curse was put upon him. But he checked. Several times even and it was sure that no curse ever existed. So he could only grit his teeth and endure this disability. Yet it wasn't all bad.
Sometimes, he would often come across golden opportunities in his misadventures. It was one of the reasons why he was a Complete Kigen Yoji at such a young age. He was only 18 and he was able to do something that only a few in his family's history was able to do. Usually, the average battle dancer was able to Complete Kigen Yoji in 4 years, and the geniuses were able to do it in three, but he did it in half the time.
There is no doubt in Severin's mind that he was the best young battle dancer in the entire Empire. That was until he met him.
Severin never met him before. He had never even heard of him before. Now Severin wasn't prejudiced against commoners. He didn't think that they had no chance to become battle dancers. Becoming a battle dancer was already a statistical anomaly. But becoming a strong Battle Dancer was strange when you're a commoner. He wasn't being prejudiced but was stating a fact.
To become a strong Battle Dancer, one would need resources and teachers to guide you. Without it, becoming a capable Battle Dancer was no different than walking through a thin tightrope while being blind. Training to become a battle dancer required money and resources. The person in front of him, who was probably the same age as him had none.
The moment he entered the room, his family's innate gift, Wulfin, was ringing his alarm bells like it was church Sunday. At first, he was cautious and alert. He never once doubted his Wulfin. It guided him in moments when he thought he was going to die. Especially when he turned sixteen, and was made to fight and kill a grown winter wolf as his rite of passage to adulthood. But it was obvious that this person wasn't here to fight him.
So he could have interpreted his Wulfin in two ways. One was that he was in extreme amounts of danger and that he was about to be attacked, or two, the thing that was in front of him was strong enough to kill him. He believed the latter. But Severin didn't want to believe it.
To believe that there was someone stronger than him. Sure there were definitely Battle Dancers that were stronger than him, but he never once met a Battle Dancer that was as young as him, and was probably stronger. He didn't want to believe it. He refused to believe it. So there was only a logical conclusion to solve his doubts.
“Fight me.” He said.
At first, the person in front of him was confused. He probably thought he misheard so he asked again, what can he do for him. But Severin answered the same. "Fight me.”
It went on. For about half an hour until the person in front of him already got tired of it, and agreed. In the beginning, Severin was excited. He finally agreed. But his excitement dipped faster than a meteor falling from the sky, as he realized that this person wasn't even taking him seriously. Kayde, his name he learned later on, wasn't even trying. He swung his sword languidly, and at times, wasn't even looking at him and instead was looking back at the place where he came from.
Angered, Severin retaliated and swung harder. He gripped his sword tightly and sent a fast downward stroke that was imbued with Kigen. He thought that finally, Kayde was about to take him seriously. He was mistaken. Kayde didn't even think to defend. His sword clattered away as he sat on his but with an irritated face.
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“Happy? Now, can you order something, or if you won't, then just leave.”
Severins face turned red. But he quickly composed himself. With a cold face, he said. “You weren't taking it seriously. Fight me again.” Kayde looked at him with an extremely frustrated expression. He was about to shout at him but remembered his master's words. You can't yell at your money. So, he took a deep breath, regained his composure, and turned his back to Severin. Severin wasn't disappointed, and was patient, like a wolf hunting his prey.
He followed him to the back, and the rest was history.
Severin looked to the skies and resolved that he should try again tomorrow.
“Young Master! There you are! Her dutchess has been worried sick about you. Come, come. It's time to prepare. The trials shall start in a few days, and the Duke wishes for you to train more.” A middle-aged man, his hair turning white with dark circles under his eyes came forward to Severin. He grabbed his wrist and started dragging him away. He didn't mind the treatment and instead said.
"I can't. I want to fight someone.”
"Fight? Young Master, you can fight as much as you want when we're back at the estate. But for now, we need to get there first.”
“But-”
"No Buts! The Dutchess has already started to throw things at the Duke, and if you don't come soon, then the Duke will throw me into a pit of starved wolves.” Severin couldn't open his mouth for a retort. He knew Mother's temper. And he knew his father's temper when he started being her punching bag. He didn't want Albert, his attendant, to suffer anymore because of him. He knew him long enough to understand the sacrifices he made for him to his quirk.
Severin no longer hosted any rebellious intentions and went along with it. But before he did, he took a long look at the smithy and felt that this wasn't the last time they were going to meet.
That Crazy Guy is finally gone. I took a peek through the second-story window and saw him being dragged away through the dark alleyway. It was then that he looked back for a few seconds, and it was as though he was staring right at me, but he quickly withdrew it and left. I released my breath and felt that there were really some strange people in the world. I resolved to myself to never meet that person ever again.
I even doubt it. Judging from his attire and temperament. He most likely came from a wealthy family, and would probably spend his days vacationing at a seaside resort. What? How did he end up at his store? Accidents. Accidents.
Taking my eyes away from the window, I went back down and started closing up. I tallied up the total customers for today and wasn't surprised. One customer. No items were bought. After writing it down, I closed the notebook and went to Bael. He was currently smoking a pipe, while holding a longsword I just made. “Sloppy work. A 9-year-old could have made it better.”
“Hey, I was being distracted by an annoying guy. My focus was totally in shambles.”
“So what? Even if a dragon spat fire in front of you, you should keep hammering away like it didn't even exist.”
"Shouldn't you run away though? Instead of, you know, continuing to forge, should you just run away or something. Instead of you melting the sword to mold it, you're the one that gonna get turned into a crisp.“
“Insolent! This is one of the reasons why you can't become a great blacksmith like me. Back in my day, I used to hammer away even when a Giant-”
I tune Bael out whenever he does this. I covered my ears in Kigen and prevented any sound waves from entering. Now, I could just see him yapping away while he swung the sword I made in the air like he was making a point. Oh, I think he is now showing how he.. slew the giant while he was hammering? Yeah, he usually does this whenever I satisfy him, and tell egregious stories of when he was young.
I mean, slaying a squad of orks while hammering at a floating anvil? Is he insane? I questioned if he even believed his own stories. At first, I was fascinated, but it continued on and I realized how unrealistic all of it was.
Just as I was pondering about how ridiculous Bael was sometimes, something hard hit me in the head and I wasn't able to cover it in Kigen in time.
“OUCH! Bael! What the hell was that.”
“A sword hit you in the back of the head. What else. And yer doing that again aren't ya? You think I'm so blind that I can't see you using Kigen to ignore me. I thought you were passionately listening to my tale, but I was mistaken.”
“How long-”
“Long enough. Now, kid, you get my point, don't you? Do you see the reason why I'm telling you this?”
I rubbed the back of my head and thought about it. I don't understand. He was clearly bothering me so why am I at fault. He seemed to have seen through my look and said. “Focus. It doesn't matter if you have the strongest technique or the biggest pool of Kigen. Without it, a distracted Battle Dancer is only a defenseless mortal when confronted with a focused Battle Dancer.”
He handed me the sword, his face somber, and I took it. Bael nodded and went out of the room. “Lock up before you go. I don't want any bastards stealing my stuff.” He said, before going up and resting.
Bael was right. Even more so when I thought about it. I don't have the strongest technique if it comes down to pure destructive ability. I don't have the biggest pool of mana, I don't even come close. But maybe, just maybe, one of the things I can use to beat those that have it is Focus. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Let's try again.
I opened the furnace and turned it to full blast. The heat brushed past my face, feeling as if it would melt me the moment I came closer. But I smiled, as I chucked the sword that I was holding back into the furnace.
This time, I will focus.
…
He looked back, making sure that he was not seen. He saw Kayde fire up the furnace, shoving the waekly made sword back to the forge, as he watched it quietly burn amidst the embers of molten fire. A grin lightly graced Bael Astoff's expression and muttered a few indescribable words under his mouth. He saw Kayde turn his head back to the staircase but Bael had already hidden behind it.
‘Close.’ He thought. He went to his room. Hung his apron on his coatrack, and watched the busy streets through his window. The light of the moon quietly seeped into him, illuminating Bael's pondering face, and his room, which was almost empty except for his bed, and the glistening sword that hung atop his bed. He had the barest necessities. A coat rack. A simple bed that had one pillow. And a mysterious sword.
‘It won't be long, it seems.’ He quietly sighed. Clenching his fists. He thought back to the moment he met the little runt. He was only sixteen at the time. Barely a year had passed since his parents had moved on from this world. Though that's not how Kayde had described it. To this day, he still believes that his parents are still alive. A few times he tried convincing him to let them go. Yet Kayde persisted.
He knew better than anyone to cling to those who are gone, that which is more toxic than the most poisonous snake in the world. It is a feeling akin to a sickness, consuming you at every waking moment if one refuses to take their medicine, or in this case, letting go. Kayde was stubborn, even more stubborn than himself. Bael felt like he was talking to a rock every time a conversation about how he needed to let his parents go came up. He thought that talking to a rock was a better option than Kayde.
Bael eventually relented, not Kayde. Not because he also believed that they were also still alive, but because it didn't matter what he believed. Behind Kayde’s eyes was a will, a determination, and pure faith that they were still alive. Bael wasn't so foolish as to erase the burning embers inside of him.
It may even be the last thing that kept him going. Like a burning candle amidst a winter storm.
There was not much time left. Soon, the boy he once took care of would no longer be under his possession. It would soon be time for him to pursue the burning desire that constantly eats him up every day. Kayde thought that he wouldn't see it. That Bael wouldn't see his desire to go out and start looking for them, instead of spending time with some old man in a smithy in the middle of nowhere.
Bael grinned. He may not have faith in the thing Kayde believes in, but he has faith in Kayde. He went to his bed, crouched down, and pulled a box under it. He opened it and saw the thing he kept for almost his entire lifetime. Bael kept it, hid it. In the case that something went wrong, and he had to pay for something that was more than his own life, he would use this. Now, it seemed that there would be a use for this thing.
He gradually forgot about it through the years. He didn't need it anymore. The riches he holds are more than enough to last his entire lifetime. He may not need it, but a particular person does. He just hoped that he would take it without any fuss.