My fourth birthday is a cause of joy to my mother, not only is she happy because the investments her brother Shiv'Zil successfully directed towards profitable businesses year after year but also because our new house was finally constructed and our growing "Ku" family can move in.

Shiv'Za my mother is pregnant for the third time and our previous residence is too small for us if she's going to deliver us another twin in a couple months!

Uncle suggested buying a plot of land nearby the central area of our Mu'Elia city before and was met with severe opposition from mother before she discovered she's pregnant, even now I still get the shivers when I remember the glare mother gave me when I tried to convince her that it wasn't a bad idea.

We live in a neighborhood in the outskirts of Mu'Elia city's walls and from my honest opinion this wasn't safe at all, being inside the tall walls of the city will give me slight relief and I wouldn't be very worried all the time about my mother and sister while dad is away.

But I understood mother's reasons for refusing my uncle's proposition of relocating our family, doing that will cost our family all our savings for the past couple years and our financial situation will return back to being tight on unnecessary expenses for at least a year or a couple months more.

Mother was a strong woman yet after living with her I feel like she's used to living extravagantly, she was almost to tears when she accepted having the majority of our saved money being taken away in exchange for our costly new land then the rest of what remained of our money being taken as well as the cost of building our new large mansion.

Right now we're being transported in a carriage towards our new home, all our family own currently is our old house in the slums which is going to be rented as fast as possible to aid our family, the mansion which I haven't seen yet, and a couple dozen gold coins being juggled by my sly uncle in the market at the hopes of my mother that he would strike us a fortune by some miracle.

For someone who refused the idea of relocating fiercely she's overly excited, mother is smiling widely from ear to ear and is spreading the news of our family leaving the shitty neighborhood like a chatterbox!

Sister Ku'Riah is just happy with the attention like any other kid her age and waving goodbye to thin air like a fool, even the horses pulling our carriage seem to be embarrassed of these two's behavior.

𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭.

I can feel the horses hurrying towards the city gates against the will of my mother who tried to bask in this atmosphere some more, finally our carriage got on the line of other carriages and people seeking to enter Mu'Elia city before night.

This wasn't the first time I witnessed the couple hundred meter grey walls of this independent city, still it loomed over my head like a gigantic prehistoric beast and caused a stifling feeling of dread to grow in my chest.

The closer our family were to the gates the quieter the surroundings became and Riah snuggled deeper into my mother's embrace, the novelty of this situation piqued my interest and I found myself rising from my seat and pushing the door next to me to get out.

Mother just gave me a side glance when she saw me exit, "Don't go too far and don't do anything naughty" was the silent message.

Nodding I closed the door and walked towards the gate amidst the silent crowd, my pivoting and weight shifting skill is improving since I'm no longer tripping people or getting kicked as I try to move amidst a crowd of people four times taller than me.

****

"Heh, teach you how to use the sword you say? No problem Rah. On one condition."

Ku'Ram let go of the cup full of liquor in his hand and turned to face his son who just gave him his first ever personal request, Ram always knew that this firstborn son of his was an odd kid.

Especially after Riah was born the oddity was all the more glaring, he never cried, never had selfish requests, never got attached to useless and childish stuff, he always had this mature air about him and would rather spend his time either learning new things orally from grown-ups or from books and scriptures instead of playing with kids his age.

Rah always had this obsession about maps and monsters, he would keep his thoughts to himself even if he was met with what would seem like a horrible nightmare.

And these nightmares frequented him regularly yet he endured these experiences better than any veteran in Ram's underlings!

Seeing his own son come over to ask him to teach him how to use a sword was a pleasant surprise to the ten-thousand-man commander, since he was already thinking about doing just that after his next mission is complete.

Yet he had to know what brought that up in the head of his son and why is these black eyes seem to be burning with passion.

"Shoot, I kinda figured that if I interrupted your quality time you'll intentionally make it harder for me."

Rah gave me a nod and waited for me to give my condition calmly, he had not an ounce of worry or anxiety in these eyes and somehow that made me frustrated.

Me jumping up and down in joy after my old man agreed to teach me how to use a sword and me begging him to teach me for days before that seemed awfully embarrassing compared to Rah's cool sight in front of me.

"Ehm.... Before actually teaching you how to wield the sword and hit with it you need to learn how to evade being hit."

"Uh-huh, makes perfect sense. What should I do? How do I know that I'm ready to hold a sword?"

Before I got to inwardly slap myself for making it twice as hard for my son, he nodded again and confirmed my words then honestly looked me in the eyes and demanded that I teach him.

"Speed comes in countless forms and styles, in your age we can't get too greedy or we might hurt your foundations prematurely that's why you'll be focusing on something else other than intensive training. Most of the fights I had been through were unfair encounters with monsters, being me facing many on my own and endangered of being surrounded on all fronts. Yet here I am safe in my home amidst my family drinking liquor, how do you think I survived?"

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Hearing my question, Rah crossed his arms and gave me a look over with squinted eyes.

"Father has a bulky physique which gives me the impression that speed isn't your forte. However, you just mentioned that speed comes in many forms and styles which leads me to think that my opinion on the topic of speed is flawed. Either that or I'm completely mistaken from the very beginning."

It took me all my willpower to stop the gawk from escaping my chest when I heared this answer from my oldest son, he isn't yet four of age yet his bright brain is the scariest thing he has.

Doing my best to keep a plain outlook I said : "how do you think I survived?"

"Erm... Very sturdy defense or you're somehow able to prevent the monsters from closing the circle around you. Since I saw your armor in tatters many times before then I don't think your defense is overly superior to the monster's offense, with that kind of muscular build I'm still not in favor of you being very fast. That being said, the only way I can think of you succeeding in avoiding being encircled is by using the monster's own as some sort of way to shield you from-"

Rah lowered his head and analyzed my situation while scratching at his cheek and tapping his foot on the floor, finally something seemed to click inside his brain and he looked up at me with pride in his eyes.

He wasn't proud at himself for figuring out my style of combat, he was looking at me with respect filling his eyes and I felt my head swim with a mixture of liquor and fatherhood.

"Father, either you're very good in swordsmanship or a very reckless person. My gut feeling tells me that you're a bit of both, if my hypothesis is right then you get very close to your enemies when you're overwhelmed and maneuver your way between their assault. That way you limit the danger of getting overwhelmed while inflicting damage all the time, however, if you failed to enter the pocket safely you'll be stranded in-between. Unable to get close and still unable to get away. Courageous yet extremely risky."

Worry for my safety was all over my son's face and pride was dripping out from the smile being drawn on my face, I found myself raising him up and laughing towards the sky.

"Worry when you best your old man, until then you just work hard and take care of yourself, your mother, and your sister. Of course any other brats your mother bring into this world is still your responsibility until I return. Now listen closely to my condition, before I teach you how to use a sword you need to have fast reflexes and spontaneous reactions. You need to be as quick as a viper and as agile as a cat. Do you know how to accomplish that?"

Lowering my son I squatted to his level and whispered the part about family while checking if mother was nearby, when I asked Rah he was curious and amused about my sudden secrecy and vigilance but he was quick to focus on what matters to him.

"Fast reflexes, spontaneous reactions, quick as a viper, agile as a cat? Do you mean that I shouldn't focus on how fast I can reach eventually for now and focus instead on raising my speed from the start? Instead of starting at one meter per second I should try and make it two or something like that?"

Honestly his answer kinda confused me yet it still made sense to me, Rah was scary right now in my eyes but he wasn't fully understanding my intentions yet.

"Eh! That would be wrong if I only limited my thoughts to be one way, if it is a race then I'm good thinking like that but this is a sword confrontation. Sometimes I will be striking at an enemy and other times Ill be parrying, defending or evading the blow all-together. That means my movements will be chaotic especially if I'm surrounded everywhere like father mentioned before, making split second decisions and acting faster than my foe to survive. This takes guts and courage, the moment you hesitate is all it takes for you to die-"

My son figured it all on his own and much to my pleasure and pride he saw the whole picture without me having to intervene and correct him, he looked up at me with a face full of admiration and smeared with a hint of worry.

"Why's the long face? You old man isn't suicidal or foolish enough to risk it beyond his limits. After all your mother will kill me if I dared to die before her.... Hahahaha."

"......."

Rah wasn't laughing and still gave me this silent annoying stare.

"Tsk.... Go on kid, from now on you'll find the most crowded spots in the streets and markets. Each time you get touched by those around you as you traverse the crowds means your technique is nothing worth mentioning and you're not worthy of holding a sword to fight. Only when you move all the way without receiving a knee or a kick, an elbow or a slap. Only then can you stand in front of me and receive my tutelage. Understand?"

"Yes, I won't bother you anymore father."

Rah twirled on his heels and ran towards the nearest market after saying that and my mood was super that vacation, especially when he made a few scarecrows in the garden next day and gave them arms and legs that could be controlled via a few strings and included his little sister Riah in the game of "hit big brother if you can".

*****

"Oy! Watch it kid. I almost squashed the little guy, hey! Careful around the mules you little shit, if one of them kicked you'll be sent flying to one of mountain gods."

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘦.

𝘏𝘳𝘮𝘮𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦.

Smirking inwardly at the follow-up curses from the people he just bypassed in his unique way, Ku'Rah found a treasure almost buried in the dirt.

Careful as always while in a crowd he took a quick look around to ensure he wouldn't receive any sudden hit if he scooped it out, the past few months as he perfected his techniques of "crowd crossing" poor Rah would return with multiple bruises and aches.

Many times he got distracted and learned from experience that losing your focus means incoming pain, staying vigilant was the best course of action.

The stick I held wasn't a crude tree branch that got stripped of it's leafs by the elements, clearly the wood was processed by some craftsman and a handle was made for a better grip.

No edges on the main body of the stick which was smoothly rounded and sanded made the stick closer to a cane than a blade.

Somehow as I skipped left and right between the legs of human giants compared to my tiny physique, a smile formed on my face as I admired the touch of the wooden cane in my arms and innocent joy that only simple children can feel when they find similar simple treasures.

Ahead of me the crowds were halted and the running water of the moat under the bridge could be heard, pivoting on my toes I expertly turned aiming to head back to my family.

"Stop!"

When I gave the source of the previous holler a side glance without stopping my movement I was met with the sorry sight of a few kids in tattered clothes full of mud splotches and holes, hair so messed up and left unattended for god knows how long that birds could nest in.

The one who spoke was the largest of the group of half a dozen thin and scrawny kids, he was no older than twelve and obviously the leader of this small pack of hyenas.

"Boss Zi this fellow smells like a noble.... Maybe we shouldn't bother the like of him near the gates or the guards-"

"Shut it Fatso.... You, come here."

As if he's the commander of this life and the one afterwards, the leader admonished the timid fatty who always manages to get fatter as their hunger intensified and their cold night's grew longer.

Then the boy gangster beckoned to me to follow and walked towards a secluded place behind the carriages, it made me very amused about this situation and shaking my head I walked towards our carriage completely ignoring the brats.

"Boss Zi he's trying to escape!"

"He's a coward crybaby noble who's afraid of big boss Zi, hahahaha....."

My eyes were twitching as the loud voice of the fat son of a bitch haunted me.

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘨, 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦! 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

Glaring back at the fatso almost gave him a heart attack and it released some of my anger but the rest of the pack of homeless kids were squeezing their way towards me and I had no intention of getting bullied in this helpless age by brats, that's why I carefully slowed down my speed to lead these ignorant kids towards my mother.

She was pregnant and always in a bad mood these days, the perfect candidate for spanking some naughty brats.