Mercifully, that week from hell passed without any further incident and things began to settle back down. Their friends were still idiots, Sara was just as much a pain in the ass as ever, and they often ended up as the center of attention wherever they went. In short, everything was back to normal. It was an annoying life, but it was Fie's life and she wouldn't change it for the world.

Today was looking to be just another one of those simple normal days. With the guild back at full strength what few requests they received were dealt with extremely quickly, so there was no pressing need for the two overqualified bracers to rush themselves in getting ready for the day. This meant that they had the entire morning just to themselves, something which both were quite happy for.

Or at least that was the intention before someone started knocking on the door. Rean was currently upstairs so that made it her responsibility to answer. With a sigh she approached the door, ready to greet whichever resident had decided to stop by and-

No, that wasn't it at all. While her ability to sense things was more attuned to the five physical senses and not a more spiritual feeling like Rean possessed, even she could feel that the person on the other side of the door was immensely powerful. She was wary, but since she didn't feel any ill will from the unknown presence she didn't alter her course, but she kept herself ready just in case.

What she saw when she opened the door was not what she had expected at all. It was an old man. Ancient, even. And yet, despite the advanced age and graying hair the man was clearly a warrior, as seen by his powerful physique, eastern style martial artists garb, and most especially the very familiar looking blade at his side. All of this info served to give her a pretty good idea of who this was.

Something which was all but confirmed when the man smiled as he looked upon her. "Ah, this must be the correct place. Tell me, is Rean available?" Without a doubt she knew that this man was Yun Ka-fai, Rean's mysterious master.

"Uh, y-yes." She mentally kicked herself for stuttering, but she couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous in the presence of this man. Quickly, however, she regained her composure. "Come on in, I'll go get him for you." She stepped aside and watched as he wordlessly entered the house, looking around with casual curiosity.

She didn't need to do much more as Rean had either heard the commotion or sensed the visitor, as he appeared at the top of the steps not long after. "Master!?" He exclaimed, eyes widened in shock.

"Rean! How are you, my boy!" The old swordsman lit up in delight at seeing his disciple. "Although I suppose you aren't a boy anymore, are you?"

"Master! It's been so long!" From what she knew, it had actually been nearly a decade since the last time Rean had seen his master. Sure there were the occasional letters, but it was hard to maintain contact with a wandering hermit like he was. "I am well. Very well, in fact. But how about you? You've been traveling in the east, right?"

By this point the conversation had made it's way into the living room and onto the new couch that they had finally purchased. "Indeed I have, but before I tell you about it, isn't there something you're forgetting?"

"Huh?" The black-haired swordsman seemed confused before his eyes met hers and realization set in. "Of course. Master, allow me to introduce you to Fie Claussell, my fiancee. Fie, this is Yun Ka-fai, my old master."

"It's nice to finally meet you." For some reason she really wanted to make a good impression on this man that was so important to her love.

"Of course, the pleasure is all mine." The old man paused as he let out a hearty laugh, causing the two bracers to glance at each other in confusion. "It's remarkable, isn't it? I've spent much of my life exploring the continent and discovering new sights, yet end of the day this world truly is small. How else could you explain how my final student would end up with Rutger's little girl?"

That was unexpected. "You knew the boss?"It was a rhetorical question, but one Fie had to ask anyways.

"For many many years, in fact. I wouldn't call him a friend, per se, as I'm not usually one to befriend merchants who deal in death, but at the very least I considered him a good drinking buddy. He was an impossible man to hate, despite his profession. I was saddened to hear of his passing, but at least he got to go out the way he always wanted."

The next question was obvious, but it was Rean who asked it. "So how did the two of you meet?" While he always knew his master was a laid-back individual when he wasn't teaching him, the idea of him associating with the Jaeger King was a bit far-fetched.

"Hmm... It was about thirty years ago, if I had to guess? Right around when I took Cassius as my first apprentice. Rutger was just starting to rise up through the ranks of his jaeger corp and must have thought he could make a name for himself by picking a fight with a somewhat well-known wandering swordmaster. I remember being surprised when he actually issued a challenge to me instead of just attacking like many jaegers would have..." He chuckled as he recalled the memory. "Of course I wasn't about to let myself lose to some young upstart, so I downed that brat in three swings. Instead of getting angry he just laughed off his loss and rewarded me by taking me to one of his favorite bars."

"After that we kept in contact when possible. Back in those days the orbal revolution hadn't progressed nearly as far so word of mouth was still the best source of information. With him starting his own corp we both valued the knowledge the other shared so we had frequent information exchanges – over good drinks, of course."

"You probably wouldn't remember, but I actually saw you at our last meeting. I remember being surprised at just how much happier Rutger had become, and it was only after spotting the quiet little girl hanging around him that I understood why. That pride one feels as they pass down their knowledge to the next generation is one I know well, and based on what I've heard about you from Rean's letters and the news in general, it sounds like he had a pretty good student."

Try as she might, Fie could not recall seeing the old man sitting across from her, but that wasn't much of a surprise. The boss had many drinking buddies and she was too young to remember all of them. Still, it was only after leaving Zephyr and becoming her own person that she truly became interested in her past, so hearing stories about the boss was always worthwhile to her. "Thanks for telling me that, but I doubt I'll ever be as strong as he was..." It was a very Rean-like thing to say, but Rutger Claussell was the strongest person she knew, and besting him occurred because she had the support of her friends at the time.

"Haha, you don't need to be so modest. I've heard plenty about your exploits, and I know you must be quite skilled if you're fighting alongside the newest Divine Blade. Speaking of which..."

He turned to Rean and the younger swordsman couldn't help but smirk, having expected it. "You wish to duel me, don't you?"

"Indeed I do, but only if you're up for it. I heard about the incident last month, but I am unsure as to if you've recovered your strength yet."

Fortunately for the founder of the Eight Leaves One Blade school... "I am. It's been a long month, but I'm definitely ready for this."

"Hoho! Excellent! I've been looking forward to this ever since Cassius told me about your growth. Would have been a shame if unforeseen circumstances had denied us this opportunity."

"Technically we should be headed to the guild soon, but screw Sara." Despite her words Fie still intended to at least send a quick message to her big sister. "Gotta admit, I'm a bit curious to see this fight, Rean's said a lot about you." The man who created Rean's fighting style and had apparently thoroughly crushed the boss so long ago...

Not wanting to create a commotion in Trista and not wanting the attention that borrowing the gym in Thors would bring them, the trio decided to take their act outside of town where the two could fight without interruption. It was a short trek, but despite his best efforts to hide it Fie could easily sense the nervous anticipation emanating from her partner. He was clearly looking forward to the fight, but was worried about something.

That's when she recalled a conversation between him and Laura many months back in Legram. How her best friend had been down after beating her father and Rean managed to cheer her up. Something about the physical decline of their mentors detracting from the thrill of finally overcoming them or something? Perhaps she should consider herself fortunate that the boss overcame a bad case of being dead in order to give her one final chance to fight him at his prime. But that chance ended with him being dead again, so perhaps not.

Before long the three made it to a nice little clearing that was sufficient for their needs. The two fighters took positions on opposite ends of the field while Fie found herself a nice place to spectate. It might have been considered a bit close to the action, but neither seemed to mind and she was confident in her ability to quickly vacate the area if it started getting dangerous. Plus she really wanted to spectate this duel. It had been many months since his fight against Arios, after all.

"While normally I would suggest a normal duel, as your master I am interested in seeing your progress in all the forms. So if you wouldn't mind humoring an old man..."

"Understood. Shall we start with the first form and work our way up?"

Yun Ka-fai didn't verbally answer, instead merely smiling as he drew his tachi, with Rean doing the same. Although technically a referee was unneeded, both turned their eyes to her.

"Right, in that case... Begin!"

Let it be clear. Fie would never be a swordsman. Despite that, after spending the past four and a half years around her favorite Chevalier she could safely say she understood more about the Eight Leaves than anyone who wasn't a dedicated practitioner. Even her friends who also followed the way of the sword like Laura and Kurt would struggle to match her understanding of Rean's sword style.

Thanks to that, she was able to analyze the duel with a very critical eye as it began. As had been suggested, it wasn't much of a normal duel as neither combatant immediately launched an attack. Instead both adopted the same stance before engaging.

The First Form: Helix. From her understanding it was the form used when you wanted the most power. It utilized rotations to increase the power of each swing at the expense of speed. Before laying down his blade Cassius Bright achieved the title of Divine Blade thanks to his mastery of this form.

And as she watched she could see minute differences between the two fighters as they clashed. Unsurprisingly, the strikes from Yun Ka-fai were all but perfect, with tight rotations and not a single wasted movement. If that was all there was to it he would have the upper hand, but...

Age had clearly taken it's toll on the master. It didn't matter that he could generate a little more power with his strikes when Rean could bring more natural strength to bear. After a few clashes with the younger master he was pushed back, at which point they shifted forms.

The Second Form: Gale. Fie's personal favorite, unsurprisingly. With the two having switched from the most powerful form to the fastest the battle became a lot more intense. Still, until proven otherwise she would hold onto the belief that there was nobody alive faster than Sylphid, and so she was able to keep track of the two fighters easily enough.

She could tell at at a glance that neither of the two could match the sheer skill in this form that Arios MacLaine had used, but they came close. The older man with his superior experience was able to change directions quicker and moved more naturally, but Rean had always been a huge fan of this form and was no slouch either. Add to that his far superior natural speed and...

Karmic Flame, the third form. Fie didn't actually know that much about this form, outside of the fact that it involved fire. A lot of fire. Not that she could blame them for that. Setting bad things on fire was pretty fun, after all.

She wasn't really sure how to judge these next few minutes. There was a lot of explosions, fire, and smoke. It was good fun, but it impaired her visibility and was getting a little hot for comfort so she scurried away briefly. Really she was most impressed by the fact that both swordfighters appeared unsinged when they finally disengaged: Even Ka-fai's beard somehow escaped the inferno!

The fourth form, Autumn Leaf Cutter, was one that she knew Rean held dear to his heart, even if he doesn't use it nearly as much as he used to, because it was the first form he ever learned. Like the second, it relied on speed, but this time it relied just as much on speed of swing as it did speed of movement. One quick lunge with as many swings as possible in that one instant. It was impossible for the human eye to count the number... She counted seventeen for Rean and fifteen for his opponent before they appeared on opposite sides of the clearing, with neither sporting any real injury.

The fifth form, Morning Moon, was one Fie probably knew the least about, as Rean didn't often use it except when riding Valimar. All she knew was that it relied on sword drawing techniques and that Rean liked to use one of it's defensive stances. So did his master, apparently, as the two seemed to trade swings back and forth like how she witnessed Juna and the other tennis players back at Thors. As someone who relied heavily on counterattacks in her fighting she could appreciate it, but it was still the most boring part of the fight. The most notable thing she noticed was that the ancient master was slowly starting to tire.

Something which became more readily obvious as they switched to the sixth form: Scarlet Sky. While still capable of fighting back using the ranged form, it was clear that the first master was now fighting on the defensive as he spent more and more time avoiding Rean's Crimson Slashes instead of launching his own attacks. Come to think of it, why had Rean changed his Arc Slash into a Crimson Slash in the first place? Did her lover actually have some sort of fire fetish that she didn't know about? He always did seem to prefer fire arts, after all...

She shook her head to clear her thoughts as that was something to wonder about later. For now, the important thing was to focus on the duel, as she had a strong feeling that it was reaching it's climax. After all, Yun Ka-fai was already tiring and they were now switching to the seventh form. She had a strong suspicion that he wouldn't fare well against the one who earned his Divine Blade title thanks to the Void.

And sure enough, Rean was relentless. Credit where it was due, the older man had enough tricks up his sleeve to stave off the worst of his attacks, but at this point there was no chance for him to even attempt a counter. Defeat was inevitable.

Or at least it would have been if the founder didn't hold his hand up in a gesture for Rean to cease, which he did. "Most excellent!" Despite his ragged tone he seemed quite pleased. "But before we end this fight I want to see the technique Cassius told me about. The culmination of all your training. Your magnum opus."

"Are... Are you sure, master?" It was his most powerful technique and not one he would casually use against another human unless he had no choice.

"Haha, don't worry about me, my boy. I might be old, but I still know a thing or two. You won't be the one to kill me. So go on, use it."

Despite his reservations, it was obvious that he trusted his master's word implicitly. "Understood!"

Obviously Fie had seen his technique plenty of times. She had even convinced him to use it a couple times during their spars, so she knew just how powerful it was. Even her vaunted speed meant little once he truly got underway. So she understood more than most just how powerful it was and was completely sure that this would end the battle.

Breaking Dawn, the ultimate technique of Rean Schwarzer. Combining all seven of the sword forms into a single attack. He opened with a helix, immediately lunged forward into a gale, and so forth. It was extremely powerful and completely relentless.

And yet despite it all master Yun Ka-fai endured as his understanding of each of the forms was enough for him to fairly accurately predict the next move. But it was a near thing, and as the attack progressed he grew more and more unbalanced and his guard grew weaker and weaker.

And sure enough, it was his final and most powerful swing that did him in. It was almost anticlimactic as the old man successfully blocked the attack and was unharmed. The only problem was that in doing so he lost his grip on his blade and the three of them stared in silence as the ornate tachi flew through the air before lazily returning to the earth many arge away.

"Hahahahaha!" If the old master was upset at his loss he certainly wasn't showing it. "Perfect! That technique of yours is simply marvelous! Thank you, Rean. You've surpassed my every expectation and now I know I can lay down my blade with no regrets."

"Master?" It was plainly obvious that Rean was uncomfortable with what had just been said.

Something which the elder clearly noticed. "I'm old, Rean. After spending my entire life honing my own body I understand it more than anyone and I can feel that the end is rapidly approaching. Thus I decided that regardless of the outcome this was to be my final battle. Now I know that I can go into retirement knowing that my teachings will live on beyond me."

"Wait, are you saying..."

"That's right. I want you to be my successor, Rean. Cassius will probably never use his blade again. Arios feels too much guilt about his prior actions. My granddaughter is not ready. None of the others have expressed much interest in taking on the role. You're the only one."

Unsurprisingly, Rean looked quite conflicted. "I..."

"Of course if you don't want to, that's fine as well. It's clear to me that you've finally found the happiness you've longed for all your life. Even if you don't accept I've found that these things aren't simply forgotten-"

"No! I mean... That's not it at all. I've often thought about doing something like that in the future, but I'm not sure if I can. Or at least if I can do it the same way you did..."

"Hmm... In that case, allow me to impart one final lesson onto you as your master. Be respectful to tradition, as that's what shapes us into what we are, but don't be a slave to it. Find a path that works best for you and you alone. I picked the path of the hermit because it allowed me to sate my natural curiosity of the world, but if your road is here, helping out others alongside your lovely bride-to-be, find a way to make it work."

"I see..." Rean muttered, deep in thought. "I'll take your advice. Thank you, master."

With his piece finished the now former swordmaster turned and slowly began to walk away. "I think I'll go pay a visit to old Victor before settling down and spending my final months in Liberl."

"Wait! What about your sword?" The blade was still lying where it had landed after he was disarmed.

"It's yours now! Farewell, Rean. It was nice meeting you, Fie."

The two young bracers watched as the older man made his exit with far more speed than they would have expected from him. As he did Rean couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy as he realized that that was almost certainly the last time he would ever see his master.

"Rean?" Fie certainly didn't need a combat link to sense the myriad of emotions plaguing him in that moment, confusion chief among them.

"I'm... fine." He winced, knowing almost immediately that such an answer would not satisfy the scowling girl. Quickly he clarified. "Or I will be. I just need time to sort through my thoughts. Promise. I'll tell you tonight."

That was enough to mollify her... for now. "Kay, but remember, you promised. You're gonna tell me everything."

"Of course. Speaking of, we should probably get going before we get yelled at for being late, but first..." Understandably, he had no intention of leaving his master's blade on the ground. He picked it up and the two looked it over carefully. While the lethality of that master-crafted weapon was about the same as his black zemurian ore tachi, it was far more ornately crafted. A peerless sword for the head of the Eight Leaves school.

As he stood there holding the sword a problem arose, one which Fie quickly picked up on. "...He didn't leave his sheath behind, did he?" She couldn't help but grin in amusement as Rean just shook his head with a sigh.

"...Let's just leave it at home for now." He answered with exasperation, causing her to snicker at his misfortune. At least it was enough to shake him from his thoughts temporarily.


As expected, they were quite late to work that day. Sara was there and looked ready to chew them out, but since she wasn't in the mood to listen to that Fie had a plan: She told her about Yun Ka-fai. Sara, being Sara, forgot all about her anger when she heard about the presence of a skilled older warrior being around, especially when she found out that he was going to be meeting with Victor S. Arseid. She didn't even seem to comprehend the fact that the old master was at least twenty years out of her very generous age range. Or at least Fie hoped he was.

It was a betrayal of all her morals to lead Sara on like that, and feeling Rean gaze upon her with horror in his eyes only made her feel worse, but it was the easiest way to get her older sister out of her hair, especially once Sara so conveniently decided to take a request to Legram immediately after. She did shoot a quick message to Laura, both informing the older woman about the visiting swordmaster that she would be curious to meet and to warn her about the chaos that Fie had just sent her way.

Unsurprisingly Rean was lost in his thoughts for most of the day, but that was understandably. And a distracted Rean was still more than sufficient to handle most of the tasks they found for themselves. Although their tasks took them out of the capital into nearby Milsante, they were able to finish everything at a reasonable hour and made it home just as darkness began to take over the sky.

"Alright, so what's been bugging you?" Truth be told Fie had a pretty good idea about what it was, but still wanted to hear his words for herself along with whatever conclusion he had come up with. The two were currently sitting on their new couch as they conversed. Truly a worthy investment.

He took a second as he gathered his thoughts. "Right. I've just been pondering Master's words and trying to figure out what I want to do with myself in the future."

Bingo. "I figured as much. And?"

"My words to him were no lie. I do want to pass on his teachings to others. But I already have so much else to do..."

She remained quiet, correctly assuming that he had more to say. "I want to keep fighting alongside you, of course. Helping others as bracers. And eventually Ouroboros will make their move and we will be there to put a stop to it. And most importantly, I fully intend to keep my promise to you. To give you that family you've always wanted. All six of-"

"Four."

Rean blinked. "Huh?"

"Changed my mind. I only want four kids now."

"I- What?" Confusion gave way to a blank look. "You're just messing with me, aren't you?"

"Maybe~" She totally was. "You're cuter when you aren't being all serious and thoughtful."

He chuckled, causing her to grin at the success of her plan. The dour atmosphere was well and truly gone. "As I was saying!" His mock glare did nothing to change her mood. "Four, six, thirty-seven, the number doesn't matter." Thirty-seven sounded kinda unpleasant in her mind, hopefully that was just an arbitrary number he came up with.

"But to do all that... Sacrifices need to be made elsewhere." He paused and closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened again they were filled with resolve. "Hopefully father and Elise can forgive me."

It took her a second to piece together the meaning of that statement, but when it did her eyes shot wide. "You're not going to inherit your title?"

"Right." While someone like Victor S. Arseid was able to manage the responsibilities of being a noble alongside running a school of swordsmanship, raising a daughter, and fulfilling his obligations to the Imperial Army, he did so with the assistance of a brilliant swordmaster butler and a well-trained staff of servants to handle things in his absence, neither of which Rean could ever see himself possessing. "I'm sure my decision breaks your heart."

"Haha..." She laughed awkwardly, again unwittingly imitating her partner. "Not gonna pretend you're wrong, but you do know I would have followed you down that path without hesitation, right?"

He smiled warmly as he took her hand in his. "Of course. You're wonderful, Fie. I never doubted you for a second. Still, I was kinda looking forward to you being a prim and proper Lady Schwarzer for all the people to fawn over. A shame."

"Gross." He just had to try and ruin the good mood with such a horrible thought, didn't he? Still... "I don't want to hear that from anyone else, but... I don't mind just being your Lady Schwarzer."

For some reason that statement caused a burning blush to form on Rean's cheeks. "I... Thank you, my lady."

"But I don't think you need to worry, you know?" At his confused look she elaborated. "I'm probably not the best person to be saying this, but I don't think your family will be disappointed with your choice. Families are there to support your decisions and do what they can to make you happy, ya?" There were certainly exceptions to that, of course. Jusis's dad and Alisa's mom instantly sprang to mind. "But I could be wrong. Like I said: Not an expert."

"I'm not either, but I guess that's something we can figure out for ourselves down the line, isn't it?" In an odd reversal of roles he let out a massive yawn

"Hmm... I guess it's been a pretty crazy day for you, hasn't it? Why don't we call it early tonight?"

The two lovers made their way up to the bedroom, but before they could settle in for the night they were interrupted by the chiming of Fie's ARCUS. Said girl paused as she scanned the contents before grimacing awkwardly. "...It's from Laura."

"Oh..." Rean too shared her expression. "How bad was it?"

"She says we aren't friends anymore."

"That bad, huh?"

Fie took a minute to scan the full contents of the message. It was a lengthy one, and it wasn't at all made easier by the fact that somehow Laura still couldn't send messages properly, even after all these years. "...Apparently Sara found your master to be 'quite dashing and dapper'. Just repeating the written message was enough to make her cringe.

"Eww." Rean too. "Please tell me nothing happened."

"Thankfully not, but once Sara found out that the two were drinking together she invited herself to join them. Laura says she managed to do a great job of making a fool of herself."

He shook his head in dismay. "I still can't believe we turned out alright despite being influenced by her for so long..."

"I think that's the point. Spend enough time around Sara and you learn what not to do. It's all thanks to her failures that Class VII turned out as good as it did." Crediting Sara for their success was high praise from Fie, sorta.

"Sure, let's go with that. Did Laura say anything else?"

"Yup. She said that after spending time in Legram your master left on the ferry. He should be on his way to Liberl now."

That was a relief to hear. Not that he was all that worried about Yun Ka-fai, but he did leave his blade behind... "Great. In that case we probably should sleep now, especially if we're going to be dealing with Sara tomorrow."

"Ugh... She's gonna be extra annoying." The silver-haired young woman groaned in dismay at the idea. "Whatever, that's a problem for future us."

With that the two went to bed for the night. She wasn't surprised when Rean fell asleep almost immediately, as this had been an exhausting day for the swordsman, both physically and emotionally. She made sure to cuddle up a little closer to provide him some extra comfort. That was one of her roles as his Lady Schwarzer, after all.