Maîtresse and I went to separate sides of the monastery. A circle encompassed the large pavilion, walking to equal lengths of each other. My feet scanned the damp stone floor below. Not that slippery, but posed a problem for anchoring stances. I held the yedo blade in my hands. Maîtresse unsheathed in a blink of an eye.

“Draw!”

I followed her words and my sword discharged from its scabbard. Both of our tips aimed at each other’s throat. Metal glistened in the sunlight peeking through the solemn clouds. We paused for a quick second. I took in a glimpse of her.

She moved towards me in a blink. I quickly went into an eleven block. My arms retracted back. Our blades collided and our guards met. “I’m not going to teach you what to do anymore, Young Saqui. Try to actually slash me. You won’t, and you can’t.”

My eyebrow twitched. “You’re still teaching me, even now.”

I sidestepped and faced her from a different line. She adjusted her position but my sword advanced. Maîtresse hooked my tip with hers and dragged it down. My body collapsed along with it. If my head became lower than hers then it was over for me. I disengaged my right hand and grasped her elbow.

“Too much of a risk.” Maîtresse’s sword curved downward and cut a gnash into my wrist. I jumped back in pain, resetting our distances. “What if a monster, not a human, comes at you?”

She began swaying from side to side. my eyes struggled to follow her abnormal movements. She’d never done this before. Out of all the move sets she taught me I didn’t know how to counter this.

I planted my feet into the ground and made a wide horizontal slash. The air parted before me, and Maîtresse stepped back. My body lunged into the opening. I swung downwards. She punched right past my blade and voided. Our swords slid down to the guards again. But I knew I couldn’t stay in this position.

I attempted to punt her with my leg. Maîtresse lowered herself and blocked my kick with her arms. She was that short. Then she swept my legs as I fell on my bottom. I glanced upwards to see sharp metal coming down. My hand shoved my blade in the way. Being lower than the opponent was a disadvantage. I had to get up.

My legs pushed me up and knocked off her smaller center. I had the height advantage. I could swing wider and Maîtresse had to close the distance. How could I exploit that? Sweat dripped down my neck and soaked my shirt. Good thing I changed out of my uniform. Cramps settled into my joints and binded them. Yet I gripped the shortsword harder.

My hands rose and brought it above my head. Instead of swinging, I kept the weapon above. At any moment I could drop it down on Maîtresse. I’d seen her use the same exact stance to smack me in the head with a practice sword. But I shouldn’t assume it would work the same for the master. Her expression was blank while she still approached me. I panicked and swung down too early. My slash missed and she met me shoulder to shoulder.

The sword stopped the hers in time as I sidestepped. Then she ran with her yedo sword trailing behind her. We exchanged several blows and parries. The sound of swords clanking really did exist. I rolled my weapon around my back and slammed it downward. Maîtresse blocked it and rotated into me. My body reacted for me and circled around to dodge the slash.

A look of shock came before her face, and then a grin. In an instant, she went on the move. Her sword disappeared behind her. Did she hide it somehow? I felt the threat of the blade disappear. It would come and slash me somewhere. My eyes scanned her arms in a flash. I saw it in a split second.

I turned my sword horizontal and intercepted her blade swiping upwards. But I didn’t block it. It clipped my nose, and I stumbled back. “Tch… you got me.”

“Then the test is over.” Maîtresse wiped the yedo sword on her coat before sheathing it. She nonchalantly fixed her hair as my head hung low. I messed up in the end. I wasn’t even sure how I would even pass the final test.

Blood dripped down into my lip and I spoke. “Do I need to retake this trial again?”

“Hm? What are you saying? You passed, Young Saqui.” She patted down her legs and arms, partly soaken with rainwater. “What I’m looking for isn’t a win. What I’m looking for is for you to survive and sustain yourself in a fight. And that you did. You proved yourself capable of reacting to your enemy’s movements, and acted accordingly, though it needs some work.”

“So I can really fight someone?”

Maîtresse giggled and bursted into laughter. “Hah! Not a chance. I only taught you how to increase your chances of survival by about ten percent. The ninety is up to you and pure luck.”

“I… I see… Then that’s good. Ten percent. I’m always in your debt, Maîtresse.”

“Well, you won’t be anymore.” She announced the revelation and walked up to me. Her head lifted up and locked eyes with me as she put her hands on her hips. “The reason why I decided to give you this trial is because I’m returning home for the time being.”

“Leaving?... Regione Straniera seems to be a world away from Xanton.”

Maîtresse closed her eyes and folded her arms. “I have some unfinished business in Tolosa, the capital of PatriaRegione Straniera. Can’t tell you why, but I need to go back. However I’m making sure that I leave my disciple confident enough with his abilities. You’re an interesting man—curious yet reserved, innocently ignorant and serious, malleable like metal in a blacksmith’s forge.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Just when Ruri and I were getting ready to leave Xanton, my master announced her departure as well. I didn’t know whether to call it a coincidence or not. Sheathing my sword, I got down on my knees and prostrated before her. “I wish you well on your journey to Tolosa, Maîtresse. Thank you very much for instructing me for such a brief time.”

“No, no, thank you for proving your worth. Saved me a lot of time.” The petite woman chuckled before turning around. “You really are interesting… Kaizenji Kawari. If you do stop by Tolosa one day, you can find me by asking for… Irati Azzurro.”

I lifted my head immediately to see her, but she already walked away into the alley. She knew my real name, even though Ruri casted Masking on me this morning. My identity should’ve stayed hidden. And Maîtresse always referred to me as ‘Young Saqui’. That meant she was aware of my identity the entire time. My eyes narrowed as my master disappeared into the maze-like roads of Xanton.

“... And that’s what ‘Maîtresse’—Irati Azzurro said to me,” I relayed the information to Ruri back in the townhouse. We sat down together at the table in the main room, drinking late-night tea. I could only see pitch-black through the transom windows above the door, and the dying glisten of the complex’s dim street lights. After a long day, Ruri deactivated the Masking skill. It didn’t matter to ‘Maîtresse’ anyway.

Ruri tapped her foot and put her hand on her chin. “Hm, Irati Azzurro… I feel like I’ve heard that name before. Well, it’s good timing then. We too are leaving for our next stop south. Kucha.”

“Did you resign yet from your job?”

She turned her head away. “I did. Just waiting for you to hurry to that clinic tomorrow morning so the Kokmin can clear this place already.”

“Ah, that’s right…” I scratched my head before remembering I had to resign as well. Whatever the reason, with Doctor Yang’s personality he would understand. I was practically a migrant worker, after all.

Someone knocked on the front door. Ruri and I cranked our heads to the entrance where it reverberated. We waited in silence for any sort of signal, and soon another knock sounded again. Ruri shrugged her shoulders as we stood up. “It might be the Kokmin’s Aymy. You open the door and I’ll follow suit.”

“Why do I have to be the one to open the door?” I mumbled and walked to the door. Just who could be here at night? And who knew people lived here? I placed my hand on the knob and twisted it open.

“Saquisaqui?...”

“Yuanyuan?… Tch” — I choked on my own saliva — “W… what are you doing here?”

She rubbed her eyes, as her eyes widened. “Wait, you aren’t Saquisaqui… You’re—”

I turned my face away. The Masking skill was off since Ruri and I were in the townhouse. This was bad. Yuanyuan saw my face without disguising myself. We’d let our guard down since we assumed it to be Kokmin. I exposed my identity out in the open.

Ruri grabbed Yuanyuan by the wrist and yanked her inside. I slammed the door shut. She fell and I caught her by the arms. Immediately she backed away from us.

“You’re—”

“Yuanyuan, please calm down.” I had no idea how to deëscalate the situation. What we had here was a ticking time bomb. Her legs trembled as if she would collapse any second now. “My name is Quirisaqui Saqui—otherwise known as Kaizenji Kawari.”

“‘Kaizenji Kawari’?... I’m sorry, I realized I have to talk to someone—”

Ruri escorted Yuanyuan to a seat with a nervous smile. “We can have that talk right here. So… what brings you here?”

Yuanyuan sat down, her back rigid and her arms quivering. It appeared there was no hiding it now. Our identity we’d kept hidden for a month had been found out. I sighed and pulled a chair up to her. “Yuanyuan, please talk to me. I promise I’ll explain everything, so please don’t tell anyone. Are you scared?”

“No, I’m not scared.” She shook her head anxiously. “I’m shocked that you two are on the Guild’s posters.”

Ruri placed her hands on the ears of the chair I sat on. “How are you not scared? We’re the wanted ones the Royal Marshal is searching for.”

Yuanyuan’s face still held no sign of fear. “I told you I’m not scared. But I’m rather curious, like everyone else. Saquisa… Kaizenji Kawari is from another world. No one can believe that.”

“Ruri, is it okay that I tell her?” I looked up at her, and after a reluctant pause she nodded her head.

“So you really are from another world!?” Yuanyuan slammed her hands on the seat of her chair and leaned forward. Her enthusiasm returned just as fast after I showed my chart, my profile stuck at Level 0. “And she is fine with it? Why do you travel with her? You’ve been living together for three months?”

I facepalmed before looking at her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Ruri and I are acquainted with someone we cherish. For now, we’re simply… like roommates?”

“Oi, you’re spilling too much!” Ruri shot a glare at me and pinched my ear.

“We have to explain. There's no use in hiding at this point.”

“A foreign language I’ve never heard before… That’s so amazing! Did she learn it from you? Does it raise your Lingual Cognizance? Is anybody able to learn it?!”

Ruri and I reeled our heads back in embarrassment. We’d gotten used to speaking Japanese to each other for the past month and never bothered to conceal it. This would get worse, and we both nodded at each other not to lose face. I switched back to Wawaqi. “E… enough of that. How did you find us in the first place?”

Yuanyuan tilted her head and winked. “Your address is written when you applied to the clinic, you know～”

Ruri scowled at me again while I stared up into the ceiling. Another blunder. Seemed like I didn’t cover our tracks to well to begin with. “Then you must’ve come with a reason. What brings you here late at night?”

She scratched the back of her head and closed her eyes. “Well, I just wanted to check on you after I met Maîtresse and she told me about the news—”

“Liar. Your body language does not say the same thing. You fear the fact that we are the people from the wanted poster.” I hinted at her legs, which still shivered slightly and her sudden mood switchup. Not to mention her tone.

She tilted her head again. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“D’Orientois.”

Sure enough her body and face flinched at that word again. I knew there was something bothering her. I leaned in and rested my head on my hands. “Please be honest with me. There’s no need for the act. Why did you come to where we live?”

I gave Yuanyuan my thoughts I had after interacting with her all this time. Now that our secrets were out, everyone had to do the same. After the encounter with Doctor Yang, I knew Yuanyuan didn’t come here for a mere trivial reason. No more lying with excuses or maintaining a façade. After what happened with Maîtresse, all I wanted to know was the truth.

Yuanyuan balled her fists, and the next words we heard were a complete revelation.