Chapter 13 :

Episode 4 : The Katana (1)

Raiden was quite moved by my words but he still insisted on giving me his katana. "Don't be shy! This is a present for you!"

Being given a present like this was a bit of a surprise to me. Although I do get presents from my mother, I didn't know how to react when someone else gives me a gift. Especially if Raiden were to give me an item that was super important to him..

'..Maybe I should.. ah!' I came up with something all of a sudden.

"Teacher.. How about I earn your katana by beating you in a duel?" I suggested my idea to him.

"Fufu.." Mirai giggled as if to mock me from my idiotic suggestion.

"A duel..? But you'll definitely lose!" Raiden exclaimed proudly.

"You're my teacher, so I hope you'll train me well enough to surpass you."

"Are you implying that you want a duel after you learned my techniques?" He pointed out.

I nodded to his question.

'I know I won't surpass him. Just look at me. I'm not strong enough to win against a powerful opponent.' I pondered to myself.

"Very well! I'll increase your training session until you're ready to fight me!" Raiden's announcement caused me to rethink my stupid idea.

"Wait wait!"

"For that, you'll be using this katana temporarily as for the sword training!" As he spoke, he tossed his katana to me and I clumsily grabbed it.

'Did I just..make the training more intense..?' I gulped down my dry saliva.

"Get up! I want you to swing that sword 1000 times!"

'Yep, I did..' I sighed inwardly, regretting that I told him my stupid suggestion. 'Well, I can't go back now..'

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"Yes, teacher." I got off the throne and walked toward Raiden who wasn't next to the throne but on the hallway while I gripped the katana that should have been a present to me.

———

After an hour or so, Raiden taught me how to use the katana and ordered me to swing 500 times in which I listened and did as he told me to.

'..This katana is strange.' I wondered as I was swinging it.

'It likes there's someone alive inside it or could it be one of my imaginati-' I got smacked in the head for not concentrating on my training.

"Ouch! Teacher! Know your strength!" I groaned in pain while holding my head after that horrible hit, causing the katana to dropped to the floor.

"Did I hit you too hard?" Raiden asked in concern.

"Does it not look like that to you?"

"Heheh." Mirai laughed as she flapped her fan, standing a few steps behind Raiden.

"Don't laugh, Mimi!" He demanded Mirai with a slightly frustrated tone of voice.

"But it's hilarious to watch you fail badly as a teacher! Hehe!"

Annoyed by their childish argument, I picked up the katana and interrupted them while swinging it. "Could you two be quiet?"

The two of them carried a strange expression on their faces when they heard me.

"Something's wrong?" I questioned them.

Raiden shook his head while crossing his arms in a strict manner. "Another 1000 swings!"

"..." I was speechless that I glanced at him in amazement and swung my katana again.

'Never do that to Raiden again or else I'll get punish with swings...'

———

4 hours later..

Raiden and Mirai went farther away from JoonChul, then began whispering to themselves.

"Did you see that?" Mirai was the first to speak.

Raiden nodded in agreement with her and said. "Yeah. That dark aura.."

"I do not know if that man can sense his own aura."

"My student has a name, you know?"

"So? I only call other by their names when I approve of them being my friends. You do know that, don't you?" She was disappointed that her comrade forgot about it, which was why she was secretly pouting with her fan covering her cute expression.

"I'm not that forgetful! I haven't even forgotten that time when he was sealed off!" He angrily said with clenched fists.

"We do not speak of captain anymore!" She folded her fan the moment he mentioned her captain.

"I understand that I shouldn't.. but we both missed him and our other comrades..." Raiden's face was filled with somberness as he admitted.

"You're an adult and so am I. Be more mature, Rai." She turned her head to the right, unfolded her fan as she advised him in a gloomy voice yet soft to the heart.

"Say.. Mimi. What if.. Joon could be our captain, will that be good?"

Mirai thought she heard wrong and asked him again. "Repeat what you just say!"

"JoonChul, my student as our captain." He repeated himself again but this time, clearer than before.

She was shock in pure astoundment as she kept paying attention to him.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd when the katana.." he explained his reasons why he thought Joon might be the perfect person to be their captain.

On the other hand, Mirai didn't seem to buy this whole thing and questioned him with her eyebrow rose. "So you're telling me that.. his villainous face, dark aura, and how the katana didn't react much.. could resulted in JoonChul being the captain?"

"Who could resemble our captain much more than him?"

"Your straightforwardness mindset can be too unpredictable for me to comprehend sometime." She rubbed her temple as she scolded him.

"We shall make a bet then. If he win against me in our duel, he'll temporarily be our captain." He recommended determinedly.

"And if he loses?"

"I'll-" He was interrupted by someone.

———

"Teacher. I'm done." I got closer to the whispering duo and tapped Raiden's shoulder.

He was startled when he turned to look at me.

"Did I bother you?" I asked, feeling rather awful after interrupting their conversation.

Mirai replied for Raiden. "No, not at all. We were just discussing who will bring you food and drink."

Raiden who was being helped by Mirai, followed what she said. "Yes, we were."

"Oh. I can get that by myself. But I thank you for thinking of me." I smiled with peace in my mind, knowing that these two were taking care of me.

Raiden grabbed my hand which was holding the katana and observed it. "Add 10, 000 more swings."

"What!?! But that's too much!" I gasped, almost made me choke from swallowing my saliva accidentally.

"You must do it. There are a lot of dangerous monsters outside and if you can't train hard enough. Your life might one day come to an end."