Kenshi: Grasp the Heavens (RE-UPLOAD)

by Seereni

A young boy joins the Loki Familia through a display of his skills. His past unknown, his reasons unsaid, there is only one desire that drives him into the dangers of the Dungeon and the world's: "With this sword...I will grasp the Heavens..." But...how will he fare...? Fic is Rated M by me, the author, and for good reasons. OC-Centric, slighly AU and certainly not for everyone.

64. Omake: A week off

Ayo.

Yeah, I'm still alive. Somehow.

And yes, I am sorry that I have not posted anything since April 2024.

However, between my work being chaotic, my free time being consumed by games like Baldur's Gate 3, Space Marine 2 , Path of Exile and my fire for Mobile Legends ignited again, not to mention the huge writer's block that hit me like a truck shortly after my last post which lasted for literal months, I haven't really been in the "zone" for writing.

But, I'm back now.

The writer's block vanished as soon as I finally forced myself to finish this omake, so I think I'll be able to post regularly again. At least, until the next writer's block decides to be a beatch and hit me again -_-

As for this omake…Oh boy, it's long.

Yeah, I have been keeping you waiting for a while, but this bitch's 120 pages long.

How, you ask?

Don't even ask…

Now, if you remember what happened in the last Chapter, you would know that my boi Fuzen had experienced a case of burnout. Yes, he is a child who has already experienced burnout.

This is the type of fanfic you decided to read for 60 Chapters, soldier.

The idea for this came from a very nice older lady at my workplace, who had actually been on sick leave for two whole years because of work-related burnout and only started working again shortly after I was hired at my new place.

She told me about how it had been when I asked her about it, what she went through and how it's a slow, slow progress back to recovery.

In Fuzen's case, his burnout kicked in because of a lot of little things stacking atop each other over the long, long years he had been forced into the world of adults. Too much stress, worry, doubt, self-loathing and much more, all slowly piling up inside of him until finally…poof.

After all, he is no main character. No chosen one. He doesn't have invisible armor around him that keeps all the bad things from sticking onto him. Everything sticks onto him, instead. And consequences happen because of that, naturally.

Now, unlike in real life, I won't exactly have him go through year long processes of healing and rehabilitation. It's a fanfic after all. To do that I'd need to use very long time-skips, and that's not possible since the main story of Danmachi happens in less than a year.

This is not me looking down on how serious burnout is or on those affected by it.

However, this is a fantasy fanfic. People have other means of dealing with things that take us years to tackle, be that Magic, superpowers or just bollocks amounts of willpower and drive.

The consequences of not taking care of himself at all until now will follow Fuzen for quite some time, but they will not be as severe as they would be in real-life.

Now, as for this omake itself…I actually decided to use this small chance of respite to cement some things, like relationships and bonds.

So yeah, it won't have any fighting, but I do think it is quite a good read, even if it's more or less the length of 6 Chapters shoved into your faces in a single omake.

Ah well…If you actually read up to this point, I don't think you're the kind of person to mind that.

So with that said, have a good read and I'll see you down below.

Kay bye.

XXX

Contrary to popular belief, there were in fact a lot of things Fuzen Katsumi did not understand in life.

People, in general, were what he understood the least.

Amazons and their biology was another thing. If a race of people can only give birth to one of the two sexes, then how did the first Amazon come to be?

The idea of spending one's whole life without a set goal in front of your eyes was another.

The list could go on for another two days and he would probably still not be finished, however one thing he would have never thought would confuse him was the one person in Orario that he trusted the most. "What...did you just say to me?"

The silver-haired Doctor sighed as she turned on her seat to look at him. "I said you need rest. Rest."

That one single word managed to send a shiver down his spine.

Resting.

That damn cursed word. A word which reminded him of mortal weakness. The word that was the anathema to his goal.

Resting.

"But...why?" He asked with genuine confusion in his voice. Following the premature cessation of his body's responses against his will the night before, he decided to visit Amid and find out what was wrong with him, despite their...latest differences. He had expected for her to give him a potion or some pills or tea or something to help. The last thing he expected was for her to try and backstab him. "You aren't trying to get back at me for my 'justified' actions against Ishtar Familia, are you?"

In response to his accusation she threw him a glare so cold it could have frozen flames in place. "Don't insult me. When you are here you are my patient, and I am your Doctor. You need rest because I say so."

"And I expect a reason to be provided."

"Haaa…" With a long sigh she picked up her chart again. "Fine, if you want to go through the questions again...Indulge me: how much do you sleep?"

He crossed his arms, obviously annoyed at her insistence. "One or two hours."

"...Daily?"

"Every two or three days. I already told you this."

"When was the last time you did not train?"

"A long time ago."

"When was the last time you were in a peaceful environment for an extended period of time? That means an environment where the usage of your sword is not needed."

"I am only at peace when I make use of my sword skills."

"When was the last time you took time for a hobby?"

"I don't have time for hobbies."

With yet another sigh, Amid put down the chart where she had already written all the answers when she first examined him. "Do I need to keep going?"

"I don't get your point."

"You are slowly killing yourself."

With a tilt of his head, he stared back at her. "I am slowly getting stronger, is what you mean."

"You are in great fighting shape, yes, but your health is what you are dismissing."

"So what do I have, then?"

Amid's shoulders slouched as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I do not know. There is no name for it. However, there were some cases of people who seemed fine one moment, then they fell unconscious and woke up with a lack of energy and motivation. Usually, those cases involved people who overworked themselves for long periods of time, then just...seemingly burned through their energy, just like that."

He took a moment to let the words sink in. "...So, what's the cure? The price doesn't matter."

"There is no cure." Amid replied and unfortunately, he knew she was not lying. "It is not a physical sickness. I heard from the others that before I even joined the Familia, there was a wealthy merchant who had the same symptoms as you. He had the money to buy an Elixir, but even that did not cure him. It was one of the few times my Familia's competence was questioned…"

"There must be something though, right? I'll take it, no matter the risks."

"There is nothing, Fuzen. Get it in your head already."

"...Then how did that merchant get better?" Fuzen asked, having noticed that Amid did not specify he died.

"After letting his family take over his business and retiring, he gradually got better."

"Define 'gradually'."

"Two years."

As soon as she replied she knew he would make that face, the one where not a single ounce of his irritation was hidden. With a click of his tongue he stood up from the chair, turning towards the door. A hand grabbing the back of his collar stopped him from leaving. "We are not done."

"...Even if I wasn't the one who will grasp the Heavens, I am still an Adventurer. I don't have two years to waste."

She sighed, once again. It was turning into a habit because of Fuzen, she noticed. "I know. But even if we discard long-term treatment, there is still short-term treatment which we can try out."

With strength he did not know she possessed, the Doctor turned him around and removed both of his swords from their place at his hip. She did not fail to notice the twitch in his eye as he extended his hand. "Those are my swords. Give them back while I still ask nicely, Amid."

"I will." She nodded, placing both swords on her desk. "In one week. This is non-negotiable."

"...I am not amused."

"Neither am I." She replied with a nod, sitting down and grabbing a piece of paper, writing down something on it. "As your Doctor, I prohibit you from any sort of extreme physical activities. That means no training, no fighting, no Dungeon diving, no sparing. I also prohibit you from any sort of work, and from activities that would be mentally straining. I don't know what you are doing in that District, but you are not allowed to do it for the next week."

Even as the sound of crackling electricity reached her ears, the Doctor simply continued writing her letter. When she was done, she placed her stamp on it then folded it in two. "Here. My letter for Captain Finn. I have not specified what is wrong with you, but I wrote that you are not fit for action for the following week."

She explained calmly even as the highly dangerous and unstable youth in front of her stared cold daggers at her. "...And what, pray tell, am I supposed to do for one week then?"

"Live." Amid replied casually. "Wake up. Eat breakfast. Go for a walk in the park. Spend some time with friends. Take a nap. Go back home. Eat dinner. Read a book. Take a bath. Go to sleep. Repeat."

Fuzen's annoyance only grew thanks to the casual tone she took, unable to stop himself from gritting his teeth. "I am a warrior. A swordsman of the Lightning Sword Style. Raised by a God of Warriors. The one who will grasp the Heavens. And you are telling me to...what? Live like a civilian for a whole week?"

"Yes, I am." She nodded. "Think of it as a change of perspective, if you will."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I wish you good luck finding a new Doctor. Because I would bet my life that any other Doctor would rather end their careers themselves than have to deal with you as a patient for one single hour, you stubborn child."

Never, not even when his mental state became unstable, had Fuzen felt a greater urge to strangle the woman in front of him to death as much as he did right now.

"What?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "You want to rip my face off, too?"

Those words alone managed to calm him down. "...You know I would never do that."

"Then you know where the exit is." She replied as she extended the letter she wrote to him. "Don't forget to give this to Captain Finn. And come for a check-up every two days."

Fuzen stared at the letter for a long second, then at the silver-haired girl in front of him. Her amethyst eyes stared back at him without an ounce of hesitation or fear in them. "...You are using the fact I appreciate you against me. That is...low."

"...You can hate me for it if you want, as long as you do as I say."

'Like I could ever do that...Damn vixen…'

With a click of his tongue he reached out, only to grab her wrist instead of the letter. "Then you take a day off, too."

"W-What?"

"You're using the fact that I trust you and cannot hurt you against me. I do not appreciate that. You will take a day off, too."

She looked at him, confused. "What for?"

"You said I should spend time with friends. I don't have any. You are the closest to it. So you'll do." He replied with the faintest trace of a smirk on his lips, using the same words she said as well. "Non-negotiable."

"Fuzen, I am a Doctor. I can't just-"

"Non. Negotiable." He repeated. "You're the Dea Saint herself. You can take one day off."

A long second of silence followed as the two stared at each other, neither blinking. Finally, Amid let out a sigh. "Fine."

"I'll be back in two days for your check-up, then." Fuzen replied with a nod as he grabbed the letter and placed it in his pocket. "Decide which day you'll take off by then." He added before opening the door and leaving the room.

…

…

…

He was obviously not happy about this. Telling someone like him to rest for a whole damn week was no different than telling him not to breathe.

However...the truth of the matter was that he felt...no, he knew that he could not perform as he needed to for his duty. Even now, he still needed to use his Ki to force his body to work. Forcing his legs to walk, forcing his arms to move.

It was not a long-term plan: his pool of Ki was finite.

He could not fight like this. Against weak Monsters, he could win, sure. But once he stepped foot into any Floor past the 9th one? Or if his Familia were to launch an Expedition?

He would be about as useful as an old lady equipped with a ladle and nothing else.

Truly, he hated it. Feeling weak. Being weak.

However...dumb as it sounded, he also didn't want to worry Amid anymore. She...deserved better. Even if he was just one single patient, she deserved not having to worry about him.

'One week...One whole fricking week...Haaaa…'

It was just one week.

One hundred and sixty-eight hours.

Ten thousand and eighty minutes.

Six hundred and four thousand seconds.

He could simply count the seconds down until the week was over. Most probably he'd go half-insane in the process, but that was nothing new for him.

One…

Two…

Three…

Kill me…

Four…

XXX

His walk to the Twilight Manor had been uneventful, as was to be expected.

Without his swords, however, he had felt...strange. Being that exposed and out in the open without his usual means of attack was a harrowing experience, to say the least.

Deep down, he knew there was no reason to be alert. Even if all the civilians on the street decided to jump him at once for whatever reason, a single wave of electricity would kill them all. All he needed to do was to stomp the ground once and he would snuff them all out.

Even if a few managed to survive, his hand to hand combat skills were sufficient to take care of even Adventurers, let alone civilians.

He was safe, he knew that much. However...the lack of a sword at his disposal still managed to instil a sense of paranoia in him. At some point, he even felt as if someone was glaring at him.

Usually he would use his ability to sense the life force of beings around him to figure out if that was the truth, but out on a street where dozens if not hundreds of people moved all around him...Well, it was unreliable to say the least.

Had he continued to sense that glare on him even after stepping foot on the property of the Loki Familia, he could have counted it as simply his mind playing tricks on him. However, the fact it had stopped a few streets before he arrived at their Home probably meant someone was actually watching him from somewhere.

Then again, that was hardly anything new. Even just other Familia in Orario could be doing this. Checking out competition, or whatever. He'd act upon it if it persisted.

'Haven't been here in a while…A week, I think?' Fuzen thought to himself as he walked past the open gates and stopped to look at the building in front of him.

Loki Familia.

Already a couple years had passed since he joined them. Luckily he had been smart enough: he knew his worth and as such both times he joined, instead of simply submitting to the will of the Goddess, he had made a deal with her both times.

That is what the strong were entitled to. Among their ranks, he was a full-time member with the advantages of a semi-retired member. That is why he could be gone for days sometimes while dealing with problems in the East District.

It had been almost two years since he joined...and yet, he knew he was not one of them.

They followed their own path, and he followed his own. This was just a temporary alliance, really. They made use of his power, while he made use of their utility. Reaching the Deep Floors was no easy task, even for him.

Even if that were not to be the case, he felt how the others felt around him. He had felt the stares when he was eating in the dining hall. Those people understood that he was different than them.

He didn't hold it against them. They were still a good Familia.

Loki, for all her shenanigans, was actually a good Patron Deity. Despite being a damn drunk and lecherous creep.

He respected the Captain, even though he was too manipulative for Fuzen's taste. But the man was strong and he knew how to lead his Familia. That was more important, anyway.

The Vice-Captain...she was a dangerous one. Even though there were few things he would chose over his goal, she was unfortunately one of them. If it ever came down to him or her, Fuzen would choose Riveria, ten out of ten times. He hoped it would never come to that.

Gareth...He was like that one uncle you liked but you weren't particularly close to. Though Fuzen had no idea about any of that, being raised by a God of Warriors and all. But he respected the Dwarf's strength and wisdom.

As for Ais...though he owned her a life debt, Fuzen would be lying if he said he liked the girl. She was too dumb, too dense, too self-centred and too used to getting her way, thanks to everyone around pampering her either because of her strength or her looks. All of those traits, Fuzen did not like.

Besides that, despite being older than him, she was obviously his inferior in wisdom, intellect or life experiences. He obviously respected her strength, but he didn't like her as a person one bit...yet unlike him, she was at least a good person. That was the only reason he allowed her anywhere near Alya.

Tiona...was just Tiona, and he wasn't particularly close to either Tione or Bete, though he felt the faintest trace of a warrior's bond with the Werewolf.

As for everyone else, well...they were cordial at least, though if he had to be truthful, he actually liked the members of the Second Group.

For all his short-comings, Raul was not really someone you could hate. Anakitty was a reliable young woman. Alicia was the one who best personified what having a big sister would be like...for everyone else, that is. Taking the age gap in-between them in consideration, that did not really count for him. Line for her part was about as kind a person as one would expect a Healer to be, and Cruz and Narvi, well...those two were at least reliable.

Indeed, Loki Familia was a good Familia.

Far better than his last one, at the very least.

But that was about it. Nothing more, nothing less.

With one foot in front of the other he entered the building and made his way to the room that was his Captain's office. Chances were, nine out of ten times you would find him in there.

And indeed, as soon as he knocked on the door, that proved to be the case. "Ahh, Fuzen. Dropping by, are you?" The blonde Pallum voiced as he lifted his gaze, immediately noticing the lack of swords at the youth's hip. "What happened to your swords?"

"Haaa...Stolen by a vixen, unfortunately." He replied with a sigh, reaching for his pocket and extending the letter to the Captain. "For you, from Amid."

With a raised eyebrow the Captain grabbed the letter and read it once over. "...What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"...Please don't ask."

"...I see. Taking in consideration Amid herself said a week off is required, and neither Potions or Spells would work, otherwise she would not need to write this letter…" A moment later he looked up, a smirk of all things visible on his lips. "I guess there is nothing we can do."

The damn Pallum was enjoying this, knowing full well how much Fuzen hated standing idle. "Captain...I'll hit you."

"Haha...Sorry, sorry. Well, the next Expedition is not planned for quite a while yet, and everyone is just partying up and training in their own ways right now or taking a moment to gather their strength. I'd say this is a good opportunity for you to do just that as well, is it not?"

"You sound like Amid. I do not like it. With that said, I will be leaving now."

"Oh right, Fuzen. I heard Loki mentioning a Status Update for you a while ago. Why don't you see her before you go?"

The youth looked back at his Captain. "You know I won't allow any Status Upgrade to take place for me for the foreseeable future. Loki should know it, too. If that is all, I will be going. You'll find me in the East District if my presence is required." Wasting no more time, as he was aware his Captain was busy, Fuzen left the room with a bow of his head.

'...What Adventurer doesn't seek progress? Truly now…' The Pallum shook his head as the boy left his office. For all his intelligence, more often than not he failed to understand the youth or the reason behind his actions.

Still, this worked in their favour. Going by his words, he did not intend to visit the Familia Home during his one week of inactivity.

This meant they could proceed with their plan, while Fuzen was none the wiser.

Finn couldn't help but smirk at the turn of events.

Yes, this worked out just fine.

They'd get the jump on Kenshi himself, yet…

XXX

''So...What now?' He asked himself as he stood outside his Familia gates.

The letter had been delivered. And he had agreed to Amid's terms: seven days of rest.

Rest...What did that entail, really?

If you went really deep down the rabbit hole, everything one did was simply work in the end. Yet he was not allowed to 'work', to quote a certain Doctor. Did this mean he should just sit down and not do anything for an entire week?

Amid had not done a very good job in explaining what he was allowed to do.

'Then again, I didn't ask either…'

With a shake of his head Fuzen simply decided to walk right down the street. Perhaps providence would be granted to him given time.

It was weird.

Too weird, really.

Even before he arrived in Orario, every single waking moment he was awake Fuzen had spent in pursuit of his goal to grasp the Heavens.

Daily sword training and Ki expansion.

Daily practice of Techniques.

Dungeon diving.

Killing Monsters.

The Monster Rexes.

The Ki awakening ritual.

Altena.

Sakda the Were-Jaguar.

Mikoto.

Hell, even the East District and the loaning company they would establish had their places in his plan.

Every single moment, every single day.

Everything was for the sake of his goal.

Everything was with purpose.

And yet now he walked without any such purpose.

What was he to make of this…?

With one foot in front of the other, he walked down the street towards the Babel. That wasn't his destination as he was 'prohibited' from going to the Dungeon. Matter of fact, he had no destination.

Lost in thought, he soon reached the large plaza at the foot of the Babel. However…

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! POTIONS! BUY YOUR POTIONS, BE READY FOR THE DUNGEON! SPEND SOME VALIS, SAVE YOUR LIFE IN A PINCH! HAHAHAHA!"

'Noooope.'

Hearing the loud red flag further in the plaza, Fuzen quickly spun on his heels and walked the other way. That was one headache he did not need today. Or on any day, for that matter.

The expressions of the people walking him by, the chatter of the groups that were engaged in conversation and the glimpses of normal lives he saw through the windows of the houses he walked by, Fuzen took them all in as he simply walked on.

'So Raina started a fight with her neighbour because she drank too much at work...I wonder who Raina is.' He thought to himself after passing a group of people, friends perhaps, talking about some woman called Raina.

As he pondered on that woman and wondered how bad the fight turned out to be and if anyone got hurt or killed, he remembered a certain word from a book he read months ago, but never finished.

Sonder, if he remembered correctly.

It's meaning...a feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and real as one's own, in which they are the central character and others, including oneself, have secondary roles or no roles at all.

Why did that woman get so drunk?

Why did she pick a fight with her neighbour?

Why did they fight?

If he knew the answers to those questions, would it change anything, for either him or that woman, whoever she might be?

'Hmm...I should finish that book someday.'

Having walked a good distance away from the plaza, Fuzen considered what he might do next.

There were a few stands and restaurants nearby...but he was not hungry.

He also spotted an antique shop further down the street, but that was not really something he was interested in.

Neither was he interested in the clothes shop, or the shop selling household items…

It was then he remembered there was a park about a ten minutes walk from where he was. A moment of respite...He hasn't even been walking for a full hour yet, and still he was slowly getting tired.

What was that, if not pathetic?

With a sigh he decided on it, anyway. Might as well take a moment to collect his thoughts, so he made his way there. To no one's surprise, there were few people in the park.

It was not even midday, after all, and with how shifts worked most people would still be at work around this time of day.

There were a few kids, younger than him, playing some sort of hopping game in the distance. A few old people, sitting down and enjoying the nature around them. And more litters of pigeons than he could count, spread across the entire park.

A scene of peace.

Of serenity.

He did not belong here.

If anything, it slightly annoyed him.

'Rest, she said...You'd think that after knowing me for so long, that damn woman would know better.'

He sighed yet again. How many times had he sighed today already? He had lost count. Day by day, he felt more like an old man despite his chronological youth.

'...This is some bullshit.'

Another sigh, but this time he needed about a second to open his eyes after they closed. A wave of tiredness washed over him. The bench he was sitting on, despite the hardness of the material, felt incredibly comfortable.

Eyelids felt heavier by the second and he was barely able to keep them half open.

This was nothing if not weakness.

Fuzen tried a myriad of mental mantras to keep himself awake, repeating them over and over in his head.

Stand up. Don't fall asleep. Use your Ki and energise yourself. You're nothing. Open your goddamn eyes. Shock yourself.

It didn't help, however. He could neither use his Ki nor shock himself before his eyes closed for good and his head dropped. Hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees, he fell asleep.

...

…

…

The first thing he did when he woke up again was to curse himself. Falling asleep in a public space where anyone could attack him was the height of stupidity for a swordsman.

He deserved a beating for such a blunder. In fact, he would have Raiju beat him up later for it, as much as he hated giving that damn lizard power over him.

Awake but unable to yet open his eyes, he took a moment to put together everything he could deduct.

The temperature dropped, so a few hours must have passed. Enough for the sun to set.

The surrounding area was relatively quiet, so it must have been either dark already or he was somewhere else. Underground, maybe. No, there was humidity to be felt, nor closed off air.

The sound of someone's footsteps on paved ground reached his ears. More importantly, he felt a person's warmth against his chest and right cheek.

He was being carried, on someone's back.

Had someone been foolish enough to kidnap him? He would rip them apart if that was the case, limb by limb.

At least that is what he thought as he prepared to discharge some electricity and fry anyone in a twenty metre radius around him, but as his senses fully returned to him he kept himself from doing so.

After all, the Ki signature he felt from the one carrying him was all too familiar.

'What is she doing?' He asked himself as he managed to open his eyes ever so little. Indeed, it was night time now. And indeed, Yua was carrying him on her back.

The realization that she was touching him made his stomach churn immediately. Even if she was just trying to be nice, even if the circumstances were such that she was left with no other option than to carry him...he would have rather she left him alone than touch him.

At this point he wasn't even simply angry.

No, he was angry, disgusted and sickened all at once.

He began to gather what little strength he could muster, hoping to jump off her back and be rid of her touch. His effort was short-lived, however.

It wasn't because of something he heard or felt. Instead, it was something he smelled. A faint yet sweet fragrance coming from the woman carrying him on her back.

He knew that fragrance...but he couldn't say from where.

But he knew it from somewhere.

From somewhere long ago.

That warm, soothing and comforting fragrance…

'So calming…'

That was all he could think before his eyes closed once again and drifted off to sleep. Unlike before, however, this time falling asleep felt...right.

Logical.

Safe.

Why exactly, he could not say.

He had never felt this before.

Whatever the case he knew what he had to do the next morning: thank her.

What for?

...That, he also needed to figure out.

XXX

1st Day...

"Isn't this far enough already?" Asked the older yet also the more impatient of the two.

"Have you already forgotten what type of fish we are looking for?" Replied the younger yet also calmer of the two.

"I remember."

"Then shut up and row."

The older one sighed and continued rowing.

After waking up from a rather...calming sleep, Fuzen had decided that if he was going to be forced to rest by the damned Doctor, he might as well see it as a task and do his best.

Now, he didn't really know what relaxing or taking it easy meant, but there was one activity he remembered doing outside of training back when he was much, much younger.

Back when he was young enough to be naive. Before going through hell and back during his one year training. Before awakening his Ki and becoming a swordsman.

Fishing.

It was only normal, really: he had grown up in a fishing village by the coast.

So that is what he decided to try and do on his first day of rest.

As his luck would have it, he stumbled upon a certain laughing maniac on his way through Orario. And after talking for a minute and getting to know that Seiji was just on outdoor selling duty today, he had asked his old acquaintance if he wanted to come and fish with him.

Running the idea by Miach, Seiji's Deity, they got the thumbs up on this.

So after a quick ride on Raiju to Melen where they bought the necessary equipment and bait, and also got the local Fishing God's blessing to fish, out of politeness and not necessity, they loaned a boat and started rowing.

As for what they were looking for...that would be trouts.

Because Fuzen wanted to prepare fresh fish for Alya.

'Grilled trouts with salad and couscous...Yeah, that sounds like a good, balanced meal for her. Well, her and Yua. And the others. Haaa...I need to catch a lot of fish...'

And so, with a nod to himself, Fuzen continued rowing as he checked the water for spots where trouts could be. He wasn't exactly a fishing expert, neither now nor in the past, but he still remembered where they could be found.

Given the temperature of the water, they would be somewhat deeper than in colder seasons. Weed beds would be their usual spots: it provided cover and safety while feeding. Besides that, spots with stumps, large rocks or logs. Taking that in consideration, rowing around the shore.

Cloud cover had to be taken into account, as well. The shadow from the clouds would limit visibility for any of their natural predators.

"Bruh, lets just fish already." Seiji finally broke the silence after rowing silently for a while, following Fuzen's lead. He was obviously getting bored with the younger boy's calculated approach.

"Shut up and row."

And so, for about forty-five minutes, they simply rowed until finally, Fuzen was satisfied with a spot near the shore. "This is good enough. Seiji, throw in the bread a distance away."

"Finally…"

Using the bread they bought in Melen as bait to lure the fish out, they waited for a few minutes to see if anything would come up. Luckily for them, it seemed like more than just a few trouts came closer to the surface. "Seems like they are plentiful here."

"Yeah. I go worms, you go krill?" Seiji asked. Those were the only two types of bait they bought for this short fishing trip.

Fuzen nodded, already grabbing a krill and hooking it up. "Sure."

And so finally they prepared their fishing rods, their bait and then cast. All that remained was the wait.

To Fuzen's surprise, Seiji actually managed to keep quiet so far, never raising his voice or laughing as he usually did. Then again, it might have just been the excitement of going fishing. Though he had been born in a fishing village, his former condition had kept him from going fishing.

"...Hey. This is your first time fishing, right?" Fuzen asked.

Seiji gave a nod to the question, not taking his eyes off his bobber. "Sure is. I have observed people fishing before, so I know how to cast and stuff, but this is the first time I do it myself, yeah."

"...I see."

The silence continued a few minutes longer before Seiji spoke up. "To be honest, I'm still surprised that you of all people decided on doing this, or that you invited me."

Fuzen understood where his old acquaintance was coming from: this was indeed unlike him. Even he could not imagine the disappointment his former God would have for him if he were to know he was out here, fishing peacefully instead of continuing on with his duty as a swordsman until his dying breath. "...Yeah. You and me, both."

The silence continued for a minute longer. Then, finally, Seiji's bobber was pulled underwater. "The bobber!"

"Pull, you idiot. Not with your full strength, though. Otherwise you'll rip its head off."

Giving a short, serious nod Seiji rose to his feet in the boat and began to pull, trying his best to manage his strength.

"Pull, then let go, then pull again. That'll tire the fish out." Fuzen decided to advise the older boy as he kept changing between looking at his own bobber and Seiji's. He used that advice and in about half a minute, he had pulled the fish out of the water. It was about the length of his own forearm.

"Fuzen, look!" He held the fish up, a large stupid grin visible on his lips. "I caught my first fish!"

The swordsman gave a nod. "Mhh. Now take the hook out of its mouth and place it in your keeping net." Naturally, they had also bought two keeping nets and tied them to the boat, to keep the fish fresh until they went back to shore.

Seiji nodded and began doing just that. Silence returned once more, but it did not last for long. "Hey, Seiji."

"Hmm?"

"...Good job. On catching your first fish, I mean."

The look Seiji gave him as she slowly turned his head towards Fuzen could only be described as wide-eyed and shocked to the edge of bafflement. He slowly reached out and pocked Fuzen's cheek with one finger, a finger that was quickly slapped away. "The hell are you doing?"

"Ahh, sorry...It was just creepy, that's all."

"...Are you trying to mock me?"

"Nah, bro. You just never congratulate anyone, that's all. You feeling alright?"

A sigh followed, one accompanied by a slightly annoyed frown. "I congratulate people. When it's deserved, that is. If it happens rarely it just means the people near me don't try hard enough at whatever they are doing."

Seiji felt a laugh coming, but he kept it to just a chuckle so as to not scare the fish away. "Sounds like a perfect 'You' response."

"Screw off and keep your eyes on your bobber."

With a sneer Seiji did just that and the two boys continued to sit in silence, keeping their eyes open for any movement.

"...I'm sick." That tranquil silence was broken by Fuzen a few minutes later.

The surprise in Seiji's eyes was evident. Whatever it was because of Fuzen admitting such a personal thing or because of him being unable to imagine his friend ever being sick however, he could not say. "What?"

"It doesn't have a name, apparently. Dea Saint told me I need to rest for a week, however. Today's the first day."

"What's the sickness like?"

"I...feel tired. Keeping myself awake right now, it...takes all the focus I have." That was about as close to the truth he could go without revealing the secrets of Ki to the other boy. "Walking is tiring. Talking is tiring. Getting out of bed in the morning is a battle. Breathing, no matter how much of it I do, never seems to fill my lungs. Yesterday, I sat down on a bench in the park and fell asleep ten seconds later. I...have no energy."

Seiji listened in silence as Fuzen spoke, both focused and yet surprised his old friend revealed such private information with him. "...I see." That was all he could say in return. "...Sorry. I'm not very bright. You told me all that, so...do you want me to do something?"

Fuzen threw him a short look from the corner of his eye, his expression unchanged. "What do you think?"

This was exactly the kind of reply Seiji had feared. Fuzen wanted him to think. That was, by all means, not his forte.

'God damn stone faced shorty...Haaaa...Let's see...What do I think…? Hmmm…'

Surprisingly enough, for once in his life, the answer to the question at hand came to him rather quickly. All he had to do was remember how Fuzen had acted back when he was still bed-ridden with sickness.

And that was, he had done nothing.

He had not pitied him.

He had not laughed at him.

He had not treated him any differently from anyone else.

That memory brought a small smile on his lips. "I see...Well, it would be weird otherwise, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. It would."

"Then I'll just be myself."

Fuzen nodded. "Yes. Still, this one week of rest aside, nothing will change the fact I am both a swordsman of my school and an Adventurer of my Familia. Sickness or not, I will fight again soon. So if I die, write back to them."

Seiji understood where he was coming from. "Can't you write a will yourself?"

The snort that came out of the younger boy almost made Seiji raise an eyebrow. "I ain't no bitch. I fight to win, always."

And that, too, Seiji could understand. Writing a will would be like accepting the fact that he would lose. "...Okay. You can count on me."

"...Obviously."

With a chuckle Seiji went back to fishing, as did Fuzen. The silence took over once again, only the sound of the gentle waves and the flap of the nearby birds taking flight to be heard.

A few minutes later, however, Fuzen's bobber got dragged underwater. "Ayo, Fuzen! You caught some-!" Before he could finish, however, Fuzen pulled his rod backwards with his right arm alone and the fish which got hooked was dragged out of the water in a single, smooth motion.

The older boy stared in disbelief as the fish flew in the air, then it slowly began to fall towards them. Fuzen simply stretched his left hand forward and caught the fish by its spine in his grasp.

"...What the hell was that?" He asked, still in disbelief.

The younger swordsman had already begun pulling out the hook from the fish's mouth, a fish that was about as long as Seiji's whole arm, so he did not look up. "What do you mean?"

"That. That just now. What about the pull, give room, then pull again stuff you told me about earlier?"

"That's obviously beginner stuff. If you know how to calculate your strength and the tension of the wire, pulling a fish out in a single motion without ripping it in half is an easy enough feat."

"I want to do that, too! Teach me!"

"You are incapable of such finesse and control. Forget it."

"Oh screw you! I want to show off to my Captain someday!"

"The fact you only want to learn in order to impress a woman is already a big enough reason not to teach you." Fuzen replied as he grabbed the fish and threw it in his own keeping net before casting away and keeping his eyes on the bobber.

The other boy wanted to argue back, but going by his friend's expression, learning that cool move was obviously not something achievable this time around. With a defeated sigh he sat back down and stared ahead.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"...So how's your...'thing' with Erisuis-sama going?"

Given how fast Seiji turned his head around at Fuzen, it was honestly a miracle he had not broken his neck. "Wut?"

"What?"

"Bruh, now you are really creeping me out…"

"It was a simple question. You can choose not to answer."

"You are never interested in other people's affairs!"

"Other people's affairs are irrelevant to my duty. That does not mean I am not slightly interested in some of them on a personal level."

Seiji scowled. "That does not make it any less creepy…" He shook his head and sighed, then a warm smile took over his expression. "Well...things are going well. She is more comfortable with me now. Her cute tail swings left and right ever so often when our eyes meet, and the intonation when she says my name changed a bit from a few months ago...Hehehe."

"...I see. She has returned your feelings, then?"

"Well...No. In case you haven't noticed, she is head over heels in love with my God…"

"No, I noticed. It is rather hard to miss, even for someone like me."

"Bruh, aren't you supposed to be on my side? If you say that you're gonna bring my spirit down."

"I am only on the side of the Lightning Sword Style."

"Of course you are...Well, with that said, there were a few moments, uhh…" Though he got excited about sharing stories about his beloved Captain, Seiji knew all too well Fuzen would not be interested in any of them, and so he stopped blabbering.

The younger swordsman, however, noticed this. "...We have time. Talk. I will listen. If you at any point require my opinion, I will try to give it."

Surprised but not declining the offer, Seiji continued to talk about the moments with his beloved Naaza as the two of them kept their eyes on their respective bobber.

Was all of this a big waste of time?

Yes, probably.

Was all this helping him get stronger and closer to his goal?

No, not at all.

Was it a bad experience?

To that, however...Fuzen could not say No, but he could also not say Yes.

It was simply...something new.

Time would answer that question for him.

XXX

2nd Day…

It was already the second day of his week of rest, first light still about an hour away. Fuzen however was already up and ready, having both eaten breakfast and brushed his teeth.

Not because he couldn't sleep, that was not the case. Rather it was because after yesterday's dinner where they had cooked the trout he caught, he fell asleep shortly after. A moment that would bring him shame as a memory, falling asleep like a damn kid with a full belly, but it was what it was.

Well, at least it played into his plans for the day.

With his morning preparations done he donned his turquoise haori and walked along the porch to the back of the mansion, on the lower floor. There, a room had been given to a certain individual.

That individual, of course, was none other than his apprentice.

"Mikoto, I'm coming in." He voiced before sliding the door open. It was something done mostly out of politeness and manners, however: he already knew the girl was fast asleep and wouldn't wake up if a Minotaur were to roar in her ear.

Walking inside he glanced down at the girl, the fatigue from yesterday's training visible on her face. It was only natural: between the physical training and the daily technical lessons on anatomy, myology and the history of the Lightning Sword Style she was now part of, her tiredness was more than understandable.

He would know. He had been in her shoes just a few years ago. And still, his training regime for her was not even as intense as his own had been.

"...Mikoto." Reaching out he placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her ever so slightly. "It's time for your training. Wake up."

Usually it was Raiju's responsibility to wake her up and oversee her training, as he was too busy with other matters. That is not to say he was negligent of his apprentice, as he could still overlook what the dragon did by sharing vision with him.

But today, he would take a hands-on approach himself.

With patience in his heart he continued to shake the girl, hoping she would wake up soon.

However, she turned around not long after he began his effort, her back turned to him.

For a moment he simply stared at her. Then the twitch in his eye began. Not wasting time he grabbed her shoulder once more, having opted for what he would call 'gentle persuasion'.

Which was simply shocking her awake with a jolt of electricity.

"Grrrrhhhhhh!" The girl's eyes shot wide open as her body jerked and her muscles spasmed, and even the teeth in her mouth clattered at the couple of moments of actual shock. And then, as soon as it came it also went.

"...I said wake up twice. Do you perhaps need a couple more lessons in discipline, I wonder?"

The girl, now fully awake and with her heart racing, looked up at him with widened eyes, his face being the last thing she expected to see when waking up. "M-Master?"

"Correct. I will be overseeing your training today. Make your bed and then go do a handstand in the garden." With those words said he left the room and went back to the kitchen, brewing himself a cup of tea.

Once that was done he grabbed his cup and a low hanging table from his meeting room and went after the girl. Mikoto was in the garden, doing a handstand just as he instructed her to. Without any warning he placed the small table on her soles and jumped up, taking a seat on it as the girl gritted her teeth at the extra weight she was now forced to endure.

Barely out of bed and with an empty stomach, Mikoto wobbled from side to side, her fingers already digging into the ground for what little support she could hold onto. Yet no matter how much she shook, the boy did not fall down. Instead he used his own weight to counter Mikoto's unstable form, leaning left when she wobbled to the right or forward when her legs began to lean backwards.

"M-Master…I can't…hold on…" She barely managed to voice.

"I have not finished my tea yet. Be quiet."

And so he simply continued to sip his tea while the girl beneath him struggled to not throw up, every single muscle fibre in her body tensing up to the limit. This went on for a good half an hour until the last drop of cold tea had been sipped.

"That is enough." Fuzen voiced as he jumped down and removed the table, allowing Mikoto to fall down to the ground. She was already drenched in sweat and unable to catch her breath. Placing down the tea cup on the porch Fuzen walked around the house and grabbed a bucket of water he had filled the day before.

Walking back to the girl he threw the whole bucket on her, his idea of helping her cool down. "Your uneven huffs and puffs are a disgrace. Sit down and use the breathing technique. I want you to get your breathing under control within the minute."

Knowing better than to keep her Master waiting the dark-haired girl sat up with crossed legs and placed her palms on her thighs. Then closing her eyes, she began.

Inhale…

One, two, three, four…

Exhale…

One, two, three, four…

Inhale…

One, two, three, four…

Exhale…

Simple as it may have been, this technique was indeed efficient and her heart rate lowered significantly before the minute was up.

"Good." Fuzen gave a small nod. "Now…" Then he walked behind her and got on top of her back.

Mikoto looked over her shoulder at him, unsure what his intentions were. "Master, what are you…?"

"It's time for your morning run." He said nonchalantly. "So run. Your usual route, now."

Though she already dreaded having to carry his weight as well while on her run, Mikoto did indeed knew better than to complain in front of her Master. With an inhale she grabbed his legs below the knee and started out into a jog, leaving the mansion and making for the closest tower connected to the wall surrounding Orario.

By now the people living in the East District were already used to seeing the girl on her daily run, sweaty and panting. However, the fact she was carrying her Master, and subsequently the people's Young Master on her back did draw far more stares than usual.

However, Fuzen did not care and Mikoto already grew accustomed to ignoring such stares. She was way too tired for any of that. She had been way too tired for months now.

And so her usual route began.

In truth, all that was asked of her was for one single lap. Any normal person would think this to be reasonable.

Indeed, one lap did not sound like much…But in true Fuzen fashion, what he asked for was a whole lap around Orario.

The largest city in the world.

From a girl who no longer had a Falna, was malnourished and was worked to the bone, seven days a week.

'This is fine.' He thought to himself as he stared at the horizon all while the girl carrying him heaved and fought herself just to put one foot in front of the other. 'This much is needed.'

His own generation's training had been rushed and amped up to eleven out of sheer desperation and necessity. That is why all those he had grown to call friends died one after the other.

That is why he was the only one unfortunate enough to live through it.

MIkoto was different: she was older than they had been. Stronger, both physically and mentally. More experienced, having already been an Adventurer for some time.

But Ki was not so forgiving a power that everyone could just awaken it. Even though she did not need to go through what he did, she nonetheless needed to experience despair. It was only at the lowest low that the power of Ki would truly awaken.

So far, the training had worked well: her body, while thinner, was stronger than before and her resolve had been tested many times over.

All that remained now was to slowly but surely throw her into a pit of despair, one she would either climb out of through willpower and grit…or one she would succumb to and lose herself into.

Whatever the outcome, it would all depend on her.

Almost three hours later Mikoto's lap finally came to an end.

She finally reached the tower closest to the East District again, though not even she knew how she had managed it. Just the usual daily run made her feel as if her lungs and legs were shredded apart, but Fuzen's added weight made that feeling even more painful, if that was even possible.

But she had managed it.

Somehow.

And the moment she ran past the wooden gate leading into Fuzen's mansion, she collapsed on the ground, unable even to breathe.

Everything hurt.

The muscles in her legs felt as if they had ripped apart. Her lungs burned and even inhaling air was not something her mind processed. Her throat was parched and her clothes drenched in sweat, sweat she had been unable to produce anymore after the second hour into her run, as even the water she was allowed to drink per day was rationed.

A bit disgusted by the sweat covering his chest but happy with his apprentice's willpower, Fuzen got up from her back and grabbed another bucket of cold water, splashing it all over Mikoto. "Get up. You may rest for five minutes."

Feeling just slightly more awake thanks to the icy cold water she was splashed with, Mikoto began pushing herself up, though it took her a full half a minute to just stand up. Following Fuzen to the garden in the back, she took a seat on the porch while her Master shooed away the housemaids who engaged in garden work.

True to his word, he took a seat beside her and allowed Mikoto to rest for a full five minutes. Though such an amount of rest time would be laughed at by anyone else as a mere joke, for Mikoto this made the difference between being able to go on and not.

Once the time was up Fuzen grabbed one of the training swords he had nearby and handed it over to the girl. "One thousand sword strokes. Orthodox style. Don't take longer than an hour. After you are done, you can eat."

Though her expression gave away just how much she wanted to do as he told, Mikoto gave a simple, tired nod and grabbed the sword. Dragging her feet a bit further away from the porch she raised the sword above her head, spread her legs and then took a step forward, bringing the sword down.

Then again.

And again.

Contrary to popular belief, performing one thousand sword strokes in one hour was actually achievable even for regular people.

An hour contained exactly three thousand six hundred seconds. With correct form, breathing and rhythm, if one was able to perform one stroke every three seconds that would come down to one thousand two hundred strokes in an hour. Give or take a few moments of catching your breath, one thousand repetitions was more than achievable for anyone with enough grit.

He was going easy on her, to say the least.

Was this really the right approach?

'...Well, the training after lunch will make up for it in intensity.'

Knowing full well that his apprentice had the proper technique down, Fuzen walked back inside, making his way to the bathroom where he took a quick shower and changed his clothes. As much as he appreciated his apprentice, having the smell of her sweat on his clothes was not among what he counted as proper.

Once that was done with, he made his way back to the kitchen where he brewed himself another cup of tea and sat down at the table. He then closed his eyes, and…

Sluuuurp

Enjoyed his tea while expanding his Ki zone to sense the Ki signature of everyone present on his property.

A few of the women living with him were out in the garden, taking care of the plants. A few others were in the storage room, probably taking stock of the food. Riko, his only officially hired house maid, was up in the bathroom, probably cleaning.

Alya, the poor thing, was in the study, together with the tutor hired to teach her grammar. He knew she didn't quite like languages or grammar, but this much was necessary. She would get an education, whatever she wanted to or not.

One by one he pinpointed where every resident of his mansion was.

Cleaning.

Gardening.

Learning.

Everyone was going on with their day.

Engaged in work and tasks, however menial.

Living their lives, however uneventful.

He stared down at the cup of tea, his own eyes staring back at him. "A peaceful day…is it?"

Sluuurp.

Deciding that was enough standing around Fuzen stood up and began to prepare food for Mikoto. Usually this would be taken care of by Riko, but he had already told everyone the night before he would take care of her today.

A single bowl of rice and one of the fishes he caught the day before. Slightly more than she had gotten so far. Not a lot of food, but just barely enough.

Just barely enough is all she needed in this chapter of her life.

Placing the food on the table in the kitchen he made his way outside once again. The hour was almost up, and if Mikoto had been practising her strokes as he expected her to, she should be done any minute now.

Crossing his arms he examined her form and her breathing from afar. As expected from someone raised by a God of War, there were little to no faults in her swings.

Indeed, even though it was only the basics, she had been trained well.

However, there was just one thing he simply could not understand.

'...Her breasts are huge.'

Indeed, that is what the young boy did not understand. Mikoto was only three years older than him, meaning she was fourteen at the moment. Or maybe she already turned fifteen, he wasn't sure exactly. Yet despite her young age and despite the fact she had not been fed properly in months, they were still huge.

'How do they not get in the way…?' He asked himself with a tilt of his head. It had actually been a question he asked himself for a while now. 'I really should find a book detailing the inner workings of the female body. I'll need to know everything about this girl if I am to train her properly…Mhh.'

He gave himself a nod, silently observing his apprentice.

Up and down.

Up and down.

Up and down.

Up and down…

"M-Master, I'm done with the swings…"

Up and -

"...Mhh. Go wash your face. Food is ready." The girl nodded and dragged herself inside, all the while the boy shook his head in disappointment. "Haaa…And I'm supposed to be the Master here…Stupid biology."

With yet another sigh he made his way inside and waited for the girl in the kitchen. As soon as the girl joined him, her surprise was quite obvious on her face at the food waiting for her.

"You are wondering why I am letting you take breaks and why I am giving you this much food?" Though she flinched a bit at being that easy to read, Mikoto nodded. "Well…Take a seat first."

As she did that he took a moment to figure out how to put his thoughts into words. In all honesty, his own trainer, the old sack of shit he wished death upon one too many times, had never bothered with comments or constructive criticism.

In a way, that had worked just fine: Fuzen himself was the example of this.

And yet, Mikoto was not him.

Was it really alright to expect the same growth from her through the same treatment?

"...Your training."

"What about it, Master?"

"Well…You're doing….well, I guess? Or rather, you've grown, I think?" Though he had decided on a more positive approach, he was already regretting his decision.

'This feels weird…'

Seeing the girl's eyes sparkle with determination made it all the more weirder. "I've…grown?"

"Well, something like that. Mhh. You've advanced enough that we can slowly move on to the next part of your training." He wasn't lying: he had used the few hours they had been together today to try and gauge out if she was reaching for that hidden power inside of her. And to his pleasant surprise, the girl was indeed unconsciously tapping into that unawakened Ki within her when her physical and mental limits kicked in. It was just barely, no more than touching it with the tip of her finger. But he felt it, the ripples she provoked within herself just with that fingertip. Just enough to allow her to take that 'one more step', and another, and another.

"I see…"

"Don't be discouraged. We will obviously move on to the second part of your training gradually, not instantly. However, some changes need to be made." He pointed at the food in front of her. "First off, we will gradually lower your food portions every couple of days. As for why…well, you already took theoretical classes with Raiju, have you not? You answer it."

The girl narrowed her eyes, racking her brain for the answer. She had indeed taken the classes…but those classes were always after her physical training and most of the time she had to fight just to stay awake or until Raiju slapped her with his tail. "Uhh…Because Ki can be found in all living things in the Lower World?"

At that, Fuzen nodded. "Indeed. Naturally, the nature of Ki found in plants and animals is far more simplistic and less complex than the inner, fluctuating Ki of complex-minded and self-aware mortals. Once you reach a level somewhere comparable to mine in Ki manipulation, you can unconsciously absorb that simplistic Ki and convert it to your own resonance, turning it into a part of your own Ki instead of different Ki from outside sources. But for individuals like you, who are yet unawaken, such conversion is impossible. The reason why we will gradually lower your food is because we want you to be as much 'yourself' as possible."

"I understand, Master…"

"...Well, as someone who has gone through the same process, I can tell you that having to train intensely for whole weeks on an empty stomach is a hellish experience…but it will allow you to tap into your inner Ki far more than through any other method. After all, Ki is life force. And that life force wants you, its host, to stay alive. It will provide for you, minimally as it may be, in order for you to survive so it can continue existing within yourself. It will be hard, yes, but not impossible."

It had indeed been a strange experience even for him. Going hungry for weeks, your stomach caving in and churring every so often. Feeling that you simply have no energy to take another step, but then having something inside of you give you just an ounce of energy when you are at your absolute limit.

As if someone wets only your lips with water and allows you to taste food on your tongue, allowing you to remember that such things will be yours if you would only swing your sword one more time.

If you would use your weak muscles just one more time.

If you would only take one more step, just one, single step forward.

'Weird experience, indeed…' He thought to himself as his apprentice began eating, weak fingers barely able to hold onto the chopsticks.

"...We will start the changes to your training the day after tomorrow, Mikoto."

"Not immediately?"

"No. For today, you have just one more exercise left. Then in the evening you will accompany me to a meeting."

"A meeting?"

"Yes. With Takemikazuchi Familia."

Her reaction at the mention of her former Familia had been just about how he had expected. "Really?! But…Master, did you not say that I am not allowed to see them until my training is over?"

He tilted his head at her, the mildest form of annoyance visible on his face. "I changed my mind. Now shut up and eat."

With a weak smile she nodded and picked up her chopsticks again. Seeing her Familia again, now that already filled her with joy. And her Master had said she had just one more exercise left for today. Mikoto didn't know what it was, but how hard could it be?

She would just grit her teeth through it and then she would get to see her beloved friends and God again.

…

…

…

'Oh no…'

Whatever determination she had mustered before was rapidly slipping away, her face growing paler by the moment.

Right after she had eaten Fuzen had summoned Raiju and told her to get on, then without any warning he had blindfolded her.

That was already worrying.

Why did she have to be blindfolded?

And if they rode on Raiju, that meant whatever he had planned for her would take place outside Orario.

But what?

Climbing mountains? Wrestling bulls? Or more running?

All those thoughts slowly started to disappear from her mind as fresh, seaside air reached her nostrils.

'Surely not…'

Then the dragon came to a stop, no longer flying forward. "Okay, we are here." Her Master voiced. "You can take your blindfold off."

She hesitated for a long moment, then slowly took off the piece of cloth. Then, another moment later, she opened her eyes.

'Oh no…'

And as she looked down, all she could see was the beautiful blue water of the Lolog Lake. The lake near Orario that was big enough to almost be considered a sea. The lake that connected to an actual sea.

She looked left, then right, then up ahead: there was water as far as the eye could see.

"M-Master…What exactly…are we doing here?"

"Hmm? We are here for your training, what else?"

She gulped hard, the spit going down her throat feeling like a stone. She tightened her hold on the dragon's back with both her hands and her knees. "And what exactly…does this training entail?"

"You are going for a swim."

A swim. When put that way, it didn't even sound that bad. "And how long should I swim?" At that he simply stared back at her with blank eyes, and the girl shook her head from left to right. "N-No."

"Get in the water, Mikoto."

"No! This isn't funny, Master!"

"Yes. It is not funny. It is training. So jump…while I am still asking nicely."

She shook her head again, lowering herself down to hug the back of the dragon as tightly as she humanly could. "No!"

"Rebellious, are we? Just so you know, I had to do this during stormy weather, with my hands tied to a boat all the while having to avoid sea stacks so as to not get my skull split open, then getting hit over the head with an oar by my trainer whenever I tried to climb aboard the boat. I am having you do this untied, on a sunny day with no obstacles. So get…" he approached her and with a single hand grabbed onto her clothes, pulled her up and then threw her overboard. "In the fricking water already."

As Raiju was hovering just a few meders above the water she immediately hit the surface, taking a second to swim back up. "M-Master! Anything else, please! Anything else but this!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the boy stared down at her, unflinching. "It will be midday in half an hour or so. And there's like, ten or fifteen kilomeders to the shore. If you swim like you've never swam in your life before, you'll make it to land in six or eight hours."

"Humans can't swim for that long!"

"Obviously. But you are not just a Human, are you? You're an Initiate of the Lightning Sword Style. So swim…if you want to see your Familia again in this lifetime, that is."

"There's Monsters in this lake!"

"I know."

"So what am I supposed to do?!"

"I dunno, pray?" He asked back with a tilt of his head and a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, I still have an appointment with my Doctor today, so I'll be going now. Once you reach land just stay there, I'll find you."

"W-Wait!"

But he did not wait. No, instead the serpentine dragon took off to the skies once more, leaving her stranded in the middle of a sea-sized lake.

Mikoto's heart raced in her chest as she frantically kicked her legs to stay above the water, inhaling and exhaling a couple of times in quick succession.

Behind her was the Babel, the structure tall enough for her to see. However, though that might have looked like a good enough direction to follow, she had grown somewhat accustomed to how twisted her Master was.

Indeed, swimming towards Babel was the easiest as she could keep that in her sight and not swim in circles, but she had no doubt the reason he had her blindfolded was so she would not know the distance to the tower.

If she had to guess…he probably dropped her off to the far west of Orario. Fuzen said there was around ten to fifteen kilomeders to the shore…so Orario was probably even further away than that.

Swimming towards that direction was exactly what she was not allowed to do.

Never take the easy path, is probably what her Master was trying to tell her.

So with that in mind and literally out of any other option, she began swimming. Any type of failure right now would result in nothing but her death.

With her tears washed away by the water splashing her face, she moved forward.

She needed something to hold on to see this training through.

Hope, something.

She tried to think of better times.

Childhood memories.

Her Familia.

None of that helped.

However, on this day Mikoto did learn something new. A new emotion that was powerful enough to wash away the fear and doubt in her mind. An emotion that compelled her to see this training through.

"Hah…Hah…Hah…MASTER, YOU SHORT BASTARD!"

…

…

…

It was now evening and the young swordsman was waiting outside of his mansion, arms crossed around his chest. This being the second day of his rest, and seeing how he had agreed to it, a visit to Amid had been necessary.

That went better than expected. She had asked a few questions. Typical ones, really.

How he was feeling.

How he was sleeping.

What he was doing in his free time.

Things of that nature.

They had even shared a cup of tea afterwards. That made him feel…thankful.

Fuzen had thought for sure that the Doctor disliked him now, seeing how she had approached him after what he did to Ishtar Familia. At least that is what it had felt like.

But if she was still willing to be his Doctor, and even share a cup of tea with him, that was probably not the case…right?

Which was weird in its own way.

He was more than aware that most of his actions against other people were frowned upon, as they usually involved slicing, cutting or chopping someone or something up. In the Ishtar case, Amid had made it clear she was all but happy about how he had brutalized the Amazons.

No doubt anyone else who knew of what he had done felt the same way.

Yet she still did not push him away.

Was she simply that kind, true to the title bestowed upon her by the Gods? Or did she actually not care that much unless it involved her own Familia?

Fuzen decided to push such thoughts to the back of his mind as the ones he had invited to the District approached him in the distance. The Familia of five and their God.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation despite it being on such short notice, Takemikazuchi-sama." He offered a bow, one which was returned by the God.

"Don't mention it, Kenshi. Your letter said you had something you wished to show us?"

"Indeed. It's a bit further to the north. May I ask that you follow me there?" Neither the God nor his Captain denied it. "Thank you. Just a moment…" Fuzen walked past the open gates, to the right. A moment later he came back with Mikoto over his shoulder, the girl no more alive than a sack of potatoes. "Right this way."

"Uhh…What happened to Mikoto?" Ouka, the Captain, asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Hmm? She is just a bit tired, that's all." In return the girl managed to just barely lift up her gaze at her Familia, smile weakly and lift up one hand before her head fell down once more. "See? She's still full of energy."

Though both the mortals and the God wanted to argue against that statement, they decided to simply follow the young swordsman instead, though their worry for their comrade was visible on their faces.

"How is Mikoto's training going, by the way?" The Warrior God asked about a minute into their walk, and for a long time afterwards Fuzen simply kept silent as he walked on, humming lightly to himself as he pondered on the question.

A bit later he reached out and lifted the girl's bangs from her face: she was out cold. "...She's amazing. She…can pull through it, most likely."

Those words of praise, coming from a swordsman even Takemikazuchi acknowledged, brought a smile to the lips of her comrades. "I see. That's great, then."

"Mhh. She's weak, physically and mentally. She is good with the basics, but she's not exactly a fast learner or smart. And she's not particularly talented, either. But she has willpower, more than anyone would think. In a way, someone like her is exactly who the Lightning Sword Style school was established for." With a nod to himself Fuzen looked over at the Warrior God. "I'll see to it that your Child grasps her potential. That much, I can promise."

The God could sense the honesty in the boy's words, and so he nodded. "I'll leave it to you, then."

With that out of the way they continued to follow Fuzen as he led them up the street to the northern part of the East District. About ten minutes later, they had finally arrived, or so Fuzen told them.

All the others could see was an old housing complex, obviously no longer in business. Despite that, however, it didn't look too bad or damaged.

"Is this what you wanted to show us, Kenshi?"

"Indeed." The boy nodded, handing the Mikoto-sack to Ouka. "Your Familia is still staying at that inn, correct?"

Takemikazuchi nodded. "Yes."

"Then, why not make use of this building, instead?" He asked as he pointed at the housing complex. "As of yesterday, my people have finally managed to get this complex and the surrounding property from the city administration. It legally belongs to me. So take it off my hands."

A moment of silence passed between the God and his Familia.

Indeed, this was the very property Fuzen had tasked Yamamoto with procuring. Though it was located in the East District, meaning his District, the former owner had sold it to the city in order to get enough money to move away from Orario.

And in all honesty, it had taken them a while to get their hands on it. Not because it was too expensive, that was not the case, but rather because the city administrators did not want to hand it over. The old man had guessed it was because they did not wish to appear weak in the face of the one District which seemed to have united without their notice.

A bunch of assholes, really.

However, what they failed to understand is that in Fuzen's eyes, you were either his equal or underneath him.

And the city administration was not his equal.

They had finally gotten that message after some persuasion and handed over ownership of the housing complex to them yesterday, while he was out fishing. As soon as he came back and heard of this, he sent a letter to the Takemikazuchi Familia as his plan could finally proceed.

"Kenshi, we don't have the money to buy it…"

"No payment is required. I wish to give this land and this home to you."

Instead of the Patron God, Ouka spoke next. "What for?"

Fuzen met the larger man's eyes, a silent moment passing between them. He remembered Yamamoto's words of how he needed to learn to make more of an impression on people who did not benefit from knowing the full extent of his plans and intentions, and decided to act on it.

Lifting one foot off the ground, he slammed it back on and sent a short wave of Ki through the ground. All those present, their God included, felt the weak tremors in their bones and teeth. "In days of past glory, for one to be accepted and nurtured by the Lighting Sword Style was not only an honour to the individual themselves, but an honour to their mother, their father, their brother, their sister, their family and their village of birth. Such was once the glory of my martial school that our hands did not only extend to those we deemed fit to learn our secrets, but also to those who have made that individual into his worthy self. That is what I wish to extend to your Familia, the ones who have had the greatest impact on her, the one I deemed worthy of my school's teachings. My apprentice."

He wasn't even lying. If one were to find out all that Fuzen had been made to go through just to become a Disciple, they would think his school was one full of cold-hearted bastards. But that had not been the case just a decade ago.

In the past, they had been more.

A kinder, more humane martial school that cared for its Initiates and Disciples, as well as the families of those very same people.

A side of the Lightning Sword Style Fuzen had never gotten to see, nor would he in this lifetime.

His generation's purpose was another one.

The Warrior God, too, knew he was not lying.

Though he had only heard little about them as they were located on the other side of the island country, he had heard many years ago about them. And he had heard that they indeed functioned as Fuzen had described. "That is very kind of you, Kenshi. But surely you want at least something in return from us?"

At that, Fuzen nodded. "Yes. Unlike the families of my past seniors, you are a Familia of warriors, too. So instead of paying me back with Valis, all I ask for is one favour."

"And this favour would be…?"

"When your members are not adventuring in the Dungeon, I ask that you keep an eye out on my District. Patrolling…no, that would be too much to ask. Instead, all I ask is for you to help my people in case they are ever in need of help."

The Captain of the small Familia did not fail to understand the implications. "You want us to fight other Adventurers in case they cause trouble?"

"That is not what I asked for. All I asked for is for you to help my people. We unfortunately do not benefit from the same presence of law enforcement members from Ganesha Familia as other Districts. Forget rowdy Adventurers, help is slow to arrive even if a fire breaks out, or anything else of that nature. As for Adventurers who have ill intentions…you do not need to fight them. Just get my people out of harm's way, if it ever comes to it. I will be the one to kill whoever picks a fight with my District. With me."

There was not a hint of hesitation in his words. "You mean that." Takemikazuchi stated more than asked.

"Yes. There were two Familia operating in this District before I extended my protection as a Tsuwamono over it. They harassed the citizens and sold them off as if they were not fellow men, but animals. All members of those two Familia are dead now."

"If you had done that, the Guild-"

Ouka's words were cut short before he could finish. "They know better. They all know better."

A moment of silence fell over them, but it was soon broken as the Warrior God approached the boy. "Just to be clear, this does not put us under Loki Familia's debt?"

"I am my own person. I may be part of Loki Familia, but my actions are my own. And this District is mine, not Loki Familia's."

A smile followed as the God extended his hand. "Then let me be the one to accept your offer, Kenshi."

Fuzen nodded and returned the handshake. "One of my people will come over tomorrow morning with the necessary papers to transfer legal ownership to your Familia. You may spend the night here if you wish." He looked over to Ouka, who was still carrying Mikoto on his back. "Oh, and I allowed Mikoto to have a day off tomorrow."

The God raised his eyebrow at that. "You did?"

"Mhh. Catch up with her, or something. However, please do remind her that she is not allowed to share anything about her training or what she has learned from me with anyone, her Familia included."

"Don't worry, Kenshi. I know what the bond between Master and Apprentice is all about."

"Mhh. With that, I will take my leave now. Have a good day, Takemikazuchi Familia." He said as the others nodded at him.

"Thank you for this offer, Kenshi. We won't forget this." The Captain added.

"Don't worry about it." Fuzen voiced as he walked past the man, touching Mikoto's arm and sending a jolt of electricity up her arm.

The girl's eyes shot wide open immediately, thrashing around on her comrade's back as if awakened from a nightmare, her arms mimicking a swimming motion. "Land! LAND! Get me out of this damn water!"

And so he walked away, leaving his apprentice's Familia to deal with her and her new-found phobia.

'That's about it for today. Now then, what should I do tomorrow…?'

XXX

3rd Day…

Sleep.

As much as some people liked to think that the superhuman Adventurers were above mortal concerns like eating and sleeping, the truth couldn't be further from the truth.

Sure, their enhanced status as blessed individuals did help them push on in times of great danger, no matter how sleep deprived they were, but the truth was that even high-Level individuals required just as much sleep as unblessed ones.

This was the case for one Ais Wallenstein, as well.

She quite liked sleeping, too.

She hadn't in the past, at least not more than someone who saw it as necessary, but ever since that fog in her brain went away all those months ago, ever since that heaviness in her chest disappeared, she had come to enjoy sleeping.

However, this time…

Poke.

Something felt different…

Poke. Poke.

Something was trying to disturb her sleep…

Poke. Poke!

"Grrrhhh…Just five more minutes…" She voiced half-asleep as she forced her eyes shut and turned around in her sheets.

Poke!

Just then she felt something cold and hard press against her right cheek, the smell of cold metal reaching her nose a moment later. She slowly opened her eyes, noticing the metal, blunt chape of a scabbard pressing against her cheek.

"Your sense of danger outside of the Dungeon is abysmal." A monotone voice spoke and she looked up through half-lidded eyes.

"...Fuzen?"

"Indeed, it is I."

"What…are you doing here?"

"Waking you up." The boy said, matter of fact as he placed the katana back at his hip, where it belonged. Then he threw some clothes on top of her: a pair of casual pants and a simple white blouse, as well as a pair of simple leather boots. Ais knew those clothes: they belonged to her.

"W-What…?"

"Get dressed." He added as he lifted up a backpack for her to see, placing it besides the bed. "I already packed your clothes and jacket. But I'm not unhinged enough to touch your underwear or socks, so pack those yourself."

By now Ais sat up, still half-asleep and barely holding back her instinct to rub her eyes. "You packed…my clothes?"

"I said your sense of danger is abysmal, have I not?" The boy shot back with a tilted head. "I've been moving around your room for the last ten minutes."

"...Why?"

"Shut up and get dressed. And pack your socks and underwear. Enough for two days. I'll wait outside your door."

And with that he simply walked out.

"...What?"

Her sleepy mind was still unsure of what was going on, and for a moment she wanted to force herself to think this was all just a weird dream so she could go back to sleep. Looking out the window, she could see it was barely first light, after all.

However, she pushed herself up and stretched her arms in the end, if for no other reason than her curiosity at what the young swordsman had in mind. She took off her pyjamas and put on the clothes Fuzen prepared for her.

'He really went through my clothes…didn't he? I don't know how to feel about that…'

Once she was done changing she went and packed the things Fuzen mentioned into the backpack, then grabbed it with one hand after sliding her rapier into her belt. "...I'm done."

Fuzen, who waited patiently outside her door, simply nodded. As soon as she closed the door behind her he slapped a sheet of paper on it.

'We'll be gone for a couple days. Don't worry, I don't intend to hurt her.-Fuzen'

That is what was written on that sheet of paper.

"Where…are we going?"

"Be quiet and follow me." He replied and walked up to the end of the hallway, where a window was opened. He jumped through and landed on Raiju, the dragon waiting patiently in his small form, just about three horses' length, hovering below the window. "Come on."

Though she hesitated for a moment, Ais decided to jump onto the dragon as well, and they took flight a second later, heading east. "Fuzen, where are we going?" She finally asked her question after a minute of silence.

"Trip."

"A…trip?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You're starting to get annoying."

His rude tone did finally manage to hit a nerve in the blonde swordswoman, too, and she pouted as she stared at his back. "You're the one who dragged me out of bed…"

The stare he threw her over his shoulder was enough to break her pout and make the girl look away. Though as of late their relationship was nowhere near as tense as before, they were not exactly friends, either.

Not because of a lack of trying from Ais's side, but rather, because of Fuzen. As much as he tried to, he was not able to completely let go of his childish grudge against her.

"Haaa…It's a family trip, Ais."

"...Whose family?"

Just then the dragon began to descend, his long form slowly touching the ground of Fuzen's back garden.

"Yours."

Before she could speak again the sound of hurried steps approached them and she turned her head towards the source, the form of the little girl rushing out of the house. "Aiiissss! You're here!"

Ais had just enough time to react and catch the girl who threw herself in her arms. "Hey, Alya."

A moment later Alya jumped down from the hug. "Ais, Ais! Fuzen and I are going on a trip! A trip! He said he'll ask you to join, too! You're here, so you're coming too, right?!" The little girl asked as she jumped up and down, the excitement visible in her sparkly eyes.

Air-headed as she was, Ais understood that Fuzen, despite packing her things and everything, still left enough room for her to decline the offer if she so wished. Alya's words were proof of that. She could just say she was here to see them off.

And yet…"Sure. I'll join you." Ais nodded with a smile and pat Alya's head for a moment. From the corner of her eye she also noticed Fuzen nodding in her direction. "But…The Guild. Don't we need permission…?"

What he whispered next, just loud enough for her to hear, surprised the Sword Princess. "Screw 'em." He shrugged. "They don't need to know we are gone. And if they find out, what are they going to do against the Sword Princess and Kenshi? If they try anything funny, I'll cut them."

Indeed, Ais could imagine him storming the Guild with his sword in hand, not caring about consequences or public opinion. That was indeed something he would do. "...Okay."

"Let's go eat breakfast. We'll set out afterwards." He voiced and walked towards the building. "I'll make home-made Jagamarukun."

At the sound of that, both blondes snapped their necks in his direction, barely containing the mouth watering feeling they received. A moment later they both rushed after him.

'...Predictable.'

…

…

…

With the means of flight available to them, leaving Orario had proven to be no obstacle at all. Quite logical, seeing how those gates meant to check people who were leaving or coming meant nothing to a flying dragon.

Unknown to Ais, people from the Guild and Ganesha Familia had already complained about this in the past , having seen the young swordsman fly out of Orario to Melen or the surrounding hills and mountains, but all such complaints were shut down.

Not by Finn.

Not by Loki.

They had been shut down by Fuzen himself.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"There are penalties for leaving-"

"Why?"

"Because Adventurers are not allowed to-"

"Why?"

"It is simply the rules-"

"Your rules are stupid. I don't follow stupid."

Try as they might have, neither of the two factions could persuade him to stop his unauthorised leave, and his glare had been enough to stop them from any attempts of slapping a penalty on him.

In the end, Royman himself had said that it is fine, as long as Fuzen never tells anyone outside his Familia that he does not have a signed permission to leave. The old Elf was not happy, of course, but he had noticed Ouranos's interest in the boy and in all honestly it was better to have the one boy who humiliated a country all by himself on their side.

And so it was that he could come and leave at any time.

For about an hour, the three had flown north of Orario, past the steep inclines of the Beol Mountains, and further north until some vast plains became visible. It was there that Fuzen told Raiju to descend.

Each of the three grabbed their backpacks and jumped down, Raiju leaving back for Orario. He would take care of the East District, and be there in case Loki Familia had need of him.

Alya looked to her left, then to her right. A large smile appeared on her face as she rested her hands on her hips. She wore a pale blue long-sleeved shirt, beige shorts, a black bucket hat and black boots, all clothes Fuzen had bought for her the day before. "Adventure!" The little girl shouted excitedly as she lifted her tiny fist in the air and ran ahead, Fuzen and Ais following her at a walking pace a moment later.

The Sword Princess silently took in the vast plains and hills surrounding her, some bare, some filled with patches of flowers, wondering exactly how much time had passed since she was in nature, outside Orario, last time. No such memory came to mind.

All she had ever known since she was seven years old was the Dungeon and the walled city. "Why…did you do this?" She asked after a long minute of silence.

"Because being cooped up in Orario all the time is not good for Alya's growth." Fuzen answered, having taken more than just a few seconds to answer. "That is what I have realized."

Not good for her growth. That was not something Ais herself would have ever considered. A faint smile appeared on her lips: it was good that Alya had someone to think about what was best for her. "I see…"

"Wipe that smile off your face." Fuzen voiced. "While this trip is indeed meant to familiarize Alya with the world outside Orario, you're here for a reason, too."

"What's that?"

At her question he simply placed his left hand on her back, and the Sword Princess could feel the current of wind around them change. Before she could say anything else, Fuzen pushed her forward. "Go and find out for yourself."

A moment later she was flying through the air, the current of air having lifted her off her feet. She tensed her muscles and performed a forward roll, landing safely on her feet a few dozen meders ahead of where she had just been.

Honestly, the way he had already mastered her Wind Magic to such a degree that he could make a person fly without hurting them was slightly off-putting.

"Wowww, that was amazing!" The girl to her left shouted with awe in her voice, but that did not last long as she lifted her hands a moment later, showing Ais two handfuls of flowers. "Ais, look! I picked flowers! Aren't they pretty?!"

The Sword Princess stared at the flowers for a long moment: besides the daisies she had no idea what the others were called. Just yet another reminded of how much time over the years she had spent in the Dungeon. "...They are, yes."

"Aren't they?! And they smell nice, too! Here!" The girl more or less pushed them into Ais's face, the older girl having no choice but to smell them. And indeed, they smelled nice.

A single moment later the young girl froze as she felt a shiver running down her spine, turning her head slightly to the side at the approaching Fuzen. His stare…She knew it. It was the stare he used when scolding her.

'Behave.'

That is what he was telling her.

"S-Sorry…"

"Hmm? What for?"

Alya shook her head and grabbed Ais's hand, pointing at the hill ahead, where the country road they were on led next. "Never mind, let's go! I want to see what's behind that hill! Come on, Ais!"

Getting pulled by her hand, there was not much Ais could do besides give a short nod and follow after the girl.

This had not been what Ais thought she would be doing when she went to sleep last night. She had not thought she would go outside of Orario, away from the Dungeon.

She had not thought someone would be holding her hand today.

But all those things did happen. And overall…it was not bad.

It was not bad at all.

From there on they continued their walk for a few more hours, eventually reaching a meadow beside a beautifully clear river, where they decided to take their first break. Setting their backpacks aside, Ais and Alya took off their shoes and dipped their feet in the cool, fresh water as they snacked on the food Fuzen had prepared for the trip.

The boy himself was a distance away from them, leaning on the grass with his arms crossed around his chest, his left hand holding his trusty sword just in case he needed to draw it at a moment's notice.

Alya herself, young as she was, had not really noticed that he was actively keeping his distance away from them, but Ais had.

In truth, the Sword Princess still had no idea why Fuzen had brought her on this trip, or even what he meant earlier when he said she was here for a reason, too. Well, he was generally someone she could not understand at all, so that was not much of a surprise.

Once they finished their quick snack, the two girls put their shoes back on and strapped their backpacks on, ready to move on ahead. "Fuzen, shall we go?" Ais asked as the two approached the boy, but no response came.

It was when she got a bit closer than Ais finally noticed it: the boy was fast-asleep, and there was a huge frown on his face. Ais had never seen anyone frown in their sleep. No, more importantly…she had never seen her fellow swordsman asleep.

Not in the Dungeons, while they were on Expeditions. And not at the Twilight Manor. Ever. The most she knew of his sleeping pattern was that he went to sleep later than most, and woke up earlier than most.

"...Fuzen? Are you…asleep?"

Again, no answer came from him. How was that possible? Ais knew for a fact his senses were sharper than most people's, even among their Familia. He should have been able to easily hear her call out to him.

'What's…going on?'

Alya, however, was still too thrilled about being outside the city and had little patience to wait. Bending her knees, she decided to wake him up, Alya-style. "Fuu, wake up!" A moment later she jumped and landed horizontally on him, the impact enough stimulation for the boy to open his eyes.

"...I said you'd get spanked if you do this again, did I not, Alya?"

Unfortunately for the girl, she only remembered him saying that after jumping on top of him. Ais could notice how the colour began to drain from her face at that realisation. However, instead of spanking her, Fuzen simply stood up, pulling Alya to her feet, too. "If you are done eating, let's go."

"Uhh…were you sleeping just now?" Ais asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"I was meditating."

"...No, but-"

"What part of 'I was meditating' did you not understand?" His frown was enough to make the blonde swordswoman raise her palms up in a gesture of peace, and the group of three continued on, ever forward. Ais, however, could still not let go of the image of him sleeping with that frown on his face out of her mind.

Just two hours later the group of three reached a small village, one with fields of crops around it as far as the eye could see.

"Whoooa! It's a sea of gold! Fuu, it's a sea of gold!"

"...Yes. It seems this village has grown quite a lot of wheat and barley."

"Hmm? It's not the same?" Alya asked, looking around at the crops to the left and right of the path leading to the village, trying to discern any differences.

"No, they are not the same. Look here." Fuzen voiced, reaching to grab one of the crops. "This here is barley. Do you see those long bristles that resemble hair? Wheat doesn't have them. Another way to tell the difference are the seeds. Look closely: the outer layer of barley is fused to the inner seed. For wheat, they are loosely fitted."

"Ohhh…I see it now…"

Ais herself had not really known the difference herself, as she had never really paid attention to crops…or anything that didn't involve Monsters or the Dungeon, really. She was thus thankful Fuzen was the one doing the explaining.

Reaching the village, the trio were looked at with interest by the simple villagers: neither Ais and Alya's golden hair was a common sight for them, nor Fuzen's foreign traits and clothes. However, the stares only lasted for a few moments before they were greeted in passing, and soon after Fuzen got into talks with a middle-aged woman who invited them over to eat.

That is how they got to eat rabbit stew and enjoy a glass of fresh milk. Fuzen paid for their meal with roughly the same amount of Valis the woman would make in a month's worth of work and then bought some ingredients from the village, as well as some flintstones, before they moved on.

From what they gathered from the villagers, they would reach a forest if they continued on foot for another two hours or so. It was past midday when they arrived at the village, so with that in mind, reaching the forest was possible before dark.

They would spend the night in the forest, then move on the next day to reach the mountains further down their path, hiking it before getting picked up by Raiju. Unaware of the mental link between master and servant, Ais had inquired about how Raiju would find them, but Fuzen simply told her not to worry about that.

The walk to the woods was uneventful, but relaxing. They had reached it sooner than they thought and so the trio had a bit of time to spare looking for a good spot to spend the night.

One such spot had been a clearing they stumbled upon by accident, a rather large one which was free of dead wood and filled with patches of woodland flowers and some berry bushes.

"This will do. I'll get a fire started." Fuzen nodded and went to the middle of the clearing, digging out a hole with his hands before looking around for stones.

Ais, meanwhile, followed the younger girl around as she inspected the surroundings, stopping in front of a bush with black berries. "Ais, can I eat those?!"

The Sword Princess took a moment to consider the question, but no matter how long she looked at the berries, all she could see were black currants. "...Yeah."

"That's a deadly nightshade." Fuzen, however, was not of the same opinion. "They are safe for blessed individuals like us, but poisonous to normal people, Alya included. Unless you want her to vomit, become delirious and probably choke to death."

Ais's lips pulled in a thin line as she looked at the boy, then down at the ground. "S-Sorry…"

"...I saw some twinberry honeysuckle on our way here, a two minute's walk back that way. The ones with the red flowers, which grow in pairs. Those are safe to eat." At the sound of that Alya's eyes sparkled with excitement, grabbing Ais's hand and leading her back the way they came.

The Sword Princess looked back at the boy, who was staring at her over his shoulder, his glare silently telling her that if she screwed up and gave Alya the wrong things to eat, she'll have to answer to him.

A scary thought, indeed.

Luckily, Ais had found the ones Fuzen had described and after she and Alya had their fill of berries, they returned with some for Fuzen, as well.

To Ais's surprise, it seemed he was still trying to get that fire going. "Fuu, are you still trying to make a fire?" Asked the little girl.

"Yes. The wood and branches around here are a bit too damp."

"Why not use a spark of your Magic?"

"That's not the point." He replied. "Nothing can be learned from that. Now stop bothering me." The boy added as he was hard at work with the flintstones.

Alya hummed and went to inspect the nearby flowers while Ais put down her backpack and sat in silence with Fuzen. A few minutes later the little girl came back with two handfuls of flowers in her hands, as well as some placed in her hair.

However, the moment Ais had dreaded the most happened next. "Ais, what's this flower called?"

Questions.

If this was anyone else, they could probably answer such questions with ease. However, for Ais, a maniac obsessed with Monsters, such questions were outside her pool of knowledge.

She knew of roses. Everyone knew what a rose looked like. And she knew a few others. By a few, she meant three. "Uhh…That's…" She tried to think of the name, but nothing came to mind. Even worse was Alya's expecting gaze, the little girl looking up to her to answer her question and her child-like curiosity.

Fuzen observed the struggling Ais for a second before sighing. "That's a Bluebell."

"Ohhh…because they look like little bells." Alya giggled at the comparison before lifting up another flower for Fuzen to see. "And this one?"

"That's a wood anemone."

"And this one?"

"Primrose."

"And this?"

Red campion."

"And this one?!"

"Toothwort."

And so, one by one he had identified each and every flower Alya asked about, leaving Ais surprised and slightly jealous at his knowledge over such trivial things. When the girl went to collect some more flowers, she decided to ask him. "How do you know so much…?"

The stare he gave her could not have been any more bored. "...I read books. Educational ones, not useless ones like romance novels or hero tales. You should give them a try. I have no doubt grains, flowers and berries are not the only things you haven't the faintest idea about."

Against that, she could not say anything. "...Sorry."

A moment of silence fell over the two, then Ais heard him let out a short sigh again. "...You're still human."

"...What?"

"No matter how hard you try to convince yourself otherwise, you are still human. You are not a doll, and you are not a symbol of anything. You're just a girl. It's fine to not know everything. And it's fine to make mistakes, as long as you learn." A moment of silence followed, Ais noticing the faintest sight of a frown forming on his brows. "At least, that is what Loki Familia has taught me so far, I think."

She was surprised that he out of all people would say such things, but a smile nonetheless found its way on her lips. "Fuzen, what happened? You're…kind?"

"...If you are in need of an ass-whooping, just tell me. I am more than glad to oblige."

Memories of the past immediately sent a shiver down her spine and the girl raised her hands, head shaking from left to right. "I'm good…"

It wasn't long before Alya returned with even more flowers and she immediately got behind Ais without a single word, grabbing the older girl's hair and braiding it, or at least trying to. When she was done with that she grabbed the flowers she picked and stuck one in each knot in the hair. "There! Now Ais is even prettier!"

A light blush formed on the Sword Princess's cheeks at being called pretty, looking over her shoulder at the loose braid. "...Thanks, Alya."

"Hehe~ Fuu, you're next!"

Ais immediately thought just how bad of an idea that was. While her fellow Familia member had shown great patience and restraint so far, she was well-aware just how much he hated physical contact with anyone else.

And yet, to her great surprise, the boy simply sat still and continued working with the flintstones while Alya undid his high ponytail and began braiding his hair as well, also sticking as many flowers in it as she could once it was done. "And done! Hehe, even someone as stuck-up as Fuu can look cute once I am done with him~"

"...I'll spank you."

"I-I didn't mean it! I didn't!"

Just as the little girl worried about the colour of her butt cheeks, another spark fell down on the leaves Fuzen placed inside the camp fire, one of them finally catching fire and producing smoke. He quickly leaned in to blow on the embers, adding the driest leaves he had on it.

Within the minute they had fire. "Yay, you did it!"

"Obviously. That takes care of that. You two, give me your waterskins. I'll go find a water source and fill everything up, then I'll make a potato stew. Ais, you'll help me."

Helping with cooking, now that was something she could do. As long as it only involved cutting the ingredients. "Mhh. Okay."

Having gathered all their waterskins, Fuzen reached into his backpack and took out a ball, the same one they usually used when playing wind ball. "Alya still hasn't done her daily control training yet. Why don't you assist her while I'm gone?" Fuzen asked, throwing the ball to Ais.

"Okay. Alya, let's play."

The girl nodded and cheerfully ran a distance away from Ais, turning around and waving when she was ready. Ais threw the ball up, then flicked her wrist and created a current of wind, letting the ball hover above her palm for a second before sending it to the other girl with a slight curve.

Alya used her own current to slow the incoming ball down and then added her own twist to it, sending it back at Ais.

Slowly but surely they began to send it back and forth, getting into the rhythm of the game.

It was not a bad way for the little girl to get used to her wind powers: the ball itself was not heavy so it required minimal power output, meaning Alya could continue doing it without getting tired, and yet she did need to gauge the speed and power of the incoming ball in order to counter it with a current of her own.

Too strong and she would send it flying. Too weak and she would be unable to stop it, possibly getting hit in the process.

Fuzen had indeed thought of a good way for her to train her powers, surprisingly enough.

'...She improved. She can produce wind currents faster than a couple of weeks ago…' Ais thought to herself as she observed Alya, a grin visible on her face as the tip of her tongue stuck out from one corner of her mouth.

Her progress was indeed good. Back when Fuzen first introduced her to the girl, she could barely create wind strong enough to force someone a step behind. Now, going by the progress made in control, Ais had no doubts the girl could easily throw an adult down on their butt.

'Maybe thinking only about combat scenarios is not what I should do…'

As their game went on, there in the middle of the clearing with the orange light of the setting sun on them, Ais couldn't help but smile a bit at the sight of the focused Alya. She was so joyful, so full of life and dedicated to living every moment of the present to the fullest.

A memory of the past flashed in her mind.

Her mother's smile. Her father's warm hand. A gentle breeze upon her skin as she rested on the soft grass with her parents by her side. Another life, long forgotten.

Then came the darkness, blocking out the sun with its world-engulfing wings.

Ais bit her lip as the memory flashed through her mind and that moment of burning hatred led to her mistake. The ball came back at her with a curve from the left. She saw it and brought her right hand over to the left.

Had she been in her right state of mind, she would have simply created a vortex of wind around her palm and shot the ball back at the girl with a curve of her own.

But she was not in her right state of mind.

The fingertips of her index and middle finger touched the ball and absent-minded as she was, she sent it back to Alya in a straight line. A crunch and a yelp later, the little girl was lifted off her feet and thrown on her back as the ball collided with her face.

"Ahh." That was the only sound which escaped the Sword Princess's lips as she realized what she had done.

A moment later, her heart sank as she looked at the motionless body, her mind knowing that she should rush and check on Alya but her legs froze in place.

To her great delight Alya twitched and sat up a few seconds later, but the river of blood that gushed out of her broken nose made the Sword Princess flinch. "A-Alya…" Ais voiced as she took a step closer.

She stopped, however, when she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Nnnghhh…" Try as she might, the girl could not keep the tears from forming in her eyes. "Nggghhh…" A change in the wind happened as she bit on her lip, trying her absolute best not to cry. "Nnngghh…" Finally, a pulse of wind shot out from the little girl in all directions, extinguishing the campfire and forcing Ais to bend her knees in order not be pushed back.

And then it finally happened.

"Waaahhhhh!"

With a loud cry not unlike that of any child when they got hurt a strong gust of wind shot in all directions, this time lifting Ais off her feet and forcing her back a good distance. Then another pulse, even stronger.

'What…is going on?' Ais questioned herself as she put her arms up, just barely able to keep her eyes open. She knew this girl who was alive thanks to a power she did not fully understand was able to use the same Wind Magic as her, and her mother before her.

But something of this scale should only be possible with a Chant, and a moderate pool of Mind to draw from.

Alya had neither.

Despite the miraculous way in which she was 'birthed', she was just a child, both physically and mentally.

So then how was she able to use Wind Magic of this magnitude?

By the time Ais was asking herself that question the intensity of Alya's emotions swelled up and slowly but surely, she was becoming the eye of the storm. A wall of wind separated her from Ais and the nearby trees began to shake violently from side to side. Within seconds they were swept up, roots and all, flying aimlessly in the tornado which the little girl began to form around herself.

But that was not all.

No, the intensity and sharpness of her wind was so strong, those very same trees were both cut and split in two whenever her cries became louder. Moments later, Ais's arms which she held up began to sting as well, small cuts splitting apart skin and muscle whenever she got hit with a strong gust of wind.

'Just how strong…is she?'

Pushing those questions aside, Ais tried to think of a way to make the girl stop whatever she was doing before it escalated even further.

Tensing her body she forced herself to take a step forward, then another. Unfortunately, the force she fought against was strong indeed and any steps further than those two proved to be difficult to make.

This sort of raw, unfiltered natural phenomena…It was something Ais had no experience facing. She had Stats high enough to withstand many things, but she knew that if she relaxed for even just a single moment, she would be swept aside and forced to drift aimlessly in the tornado Alya was creating with her at the centre.

"Alya! Please, stop! I'm sorry!" She shouted as loud as she could but her words did not reach the crying little girl at all.

The sound of crackling electricity reached Ais's ears next and her heart sank for the second time within the minute. 'Oh…He's going to kill me.' She thought as she looked to the side, seeing Fuzen rush out of the forest in a straight beeline for Alya.

He was not spared the ferocity of the phenomena in front of them and with each step he took closer to Alya the more cuts began to appear on his exposed skin, most of all on his face and hands. A few pieces of trees flew in his direction, as well, but with the right timing he back-fisted the logs aside, his eyes focused solely on the crying girl.

Before long he arrived at the twirling wall of wind, even Ais noticing just how much effort it took him to stay on the ground. A moment later he reached through the wall, uncaring about how much he got hurt in the process.

FInally he arrived at the eye of the storm and kneeled down, grabbing Alya's hand in his. Whatever he said to the little girl, Ais had no idea. The tornado was too powerful for her to hear. However, within just a few short seconds the wind catastrophe began to dissipate, the trees which had been ripped off from the ground falling down all around them.

Only Alya's uncontrolled sobs could still be heard in the silence of the early evening, but even those were silenced as Fuzen kneeled in front of her, popped her broken nose back in and then threw a Potion he had brought along on her, healing her instantly.

"I am disappointed in you, Alya." He voiced next and even through the dimming daylight Ais could see how the girl paled at the words, not able to raise her gaze.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"We talked about this. Unless your life is in danger, use of your unstable wind powers is prohibited. No exceptions."

"I-I just-"

"'You just' nothing. Be quiet."

That shut the girl up immediately and Fuzen proceeded to cut one of the fallen trees nearby into small pieces, then carved the ground in with a stomp. He then placed the chopped up wood inside and with a spark from his fingers ignited it all. With another swing of his sword he cut one of the trees horizontally and lifted the piece up, placing it down near the new campfire. "Sit down, Alya. I'll go have a word with Ais. I'll be nearby, within sight of you, so don't panic."

As he started to approach her, Ais froze in place, the memory of a very brutal moment in their relationship playing again in her mind. "A word?" He asked as he walked past her, towards the deeper woods.

Ais had no choice but to follow him, the tension as they walked enough to make her feel as if hands were slowly tightening around her throat. Once they were about a hundred metres away from the campfire, Fuzen turned and stared at her. "You hurt Alya." That wasn't a question or an inquiry: it was a fact. One he was not pleased with.

"I'm sorry…"

"...Explain to me how I could not leave you alone with the girl for five short minutes before you messed it up."

Those words stung far more than Ais liked to admit. "We were playing…I lost focus for a second, and…threw the ball back at her with my physical strength, instead of using my wind."

That made him raise his eyebrow at her. "You…lost focus? The Sword Princess? Level 5 individual? Executive of Loki Familia? You lost focus?"

"Y-Yes…"

He sighed and crossed his arms. "Let me guess: some memory in that empty head of yours surfaced which led to you losing your focus?" Slightly disturbed by the accuracy of his question, Ais lowered her head. A tired sigh followed a moment later. "You do realise the only reason I have not physically hurt you yet is because I am aware that I forced you to come along on this trip, correct? I might have formulated my offer in a way which gave the impression of a choice, but we both know there was no such choice available for you."

Those words sent a shiver down the girl's spine, being forced to remember a very, very bad memory involving the young swordsman…

It was only the sound of something cracking that made her lift her gaze only to notice Fuzen's fingers digging into a nearby tree, ripping apart bark and wood alike. With a turn of his wrist he pulled out a chunk of it, as much as could fit in his hand. "This is the power people like us possess." He voiced as he held the chunk of tree up, slowly squeezing it until the water inside the wood began to drip down to the ground. "Wood, stone, metal…All those things normal people need tools and technique to carve out, to cut and to shape, we can do it with our bare hands. That is the power of Adventurers. Of Falna. And for us, what is even easier to rip and crush with our bare hands besides wood, stone and metal…Are flesh and bones."

Of course, Ais was aware of this. Even a simple Level 1 Adventurer was leagues above a normal person in terms of strength, speed and endurance. She could also figure out where he was going with this.

"It may have been just a ball you threw at her…but depending on where it had hit her and how strong the impact was, her neck could have been broken. A broken neck either means paralysis or death." He threw the crushed wood to the side and approached her, looking up into her eyes with a stare that could freeze hell, not once but twice over. "You hurt the person I owe my life to."

The tension between them was heavy enough to cut with a blade as the two simply stared into each other's eyes for a long, long moment. "But…that is not even the worst part." He added and noticing Ais's confusion, he sighed and pointed to Alya in the distance. "Ais. Who is that?"

"...Alya." She answered plainly, not getting what he was trying to get at with that question.

The look of disappointment on his face couldn't be any bigger at her answer, however. "...That's your family, you daft cunt."

Ignoring the insult thrown her way, Ais took a long moment to look at the young girl sitting by the fire in the distance. Of course, Fuzen had explained everything to her months ago: the basics of Ki, how Alya came to be, how she manifested…Hell, just looking at the girl was enough for anyone to figure out they were 'related', since she was literally just a smaller version of Ais. But…For some reason, thinking of her as family…It was hard.

Maybe it was because of this that Ais had barely managed to bring herself to visit the young girl…"Ahh." And just like that, it dawned on her. This trip, and the distance Fuzen had kept throughout the day from her and Alya, always walking behind them and only speaking when necessary…"You…are trying to make us become closer?"

The tilt of his head showed that he was not pleased with the change in topic. "What, you want me to pat your head for figuring that one out?" She ignored the rude remark, if for no other reason than she was surprised. Surprised that someone like Fuzen would go out of his way to try and plan something like this. Then again, it was not like she truly knew him even now, years after he had joined. Nobody truly knew. But this…it felt like something out of the ordinary for him to do.

"...Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do this?"

A scoff escaped him at the question. "Duty, why else? That girl saved my life. I owe her a life debt. Unfortunately…she is not an adult. If she were, all I would need to do is make sure she is safe. But she is not an adult. She is a child. Thus, my duty extends to overlooking her growth, as well." He crossed his arms, eyes staring at Alya in the distance. "...She needs someone in her life. Someone to care for her. Family…or the closest possible thing to it."

She turned her head to him. "...Aren't you already doing that?"

"You're a moron." The sheer disappointment in his voice hurt her. "I am her caretaker, nothing more. I provide her with a roof over her head, food and an education, and I discipline her when she gets too bratty or arrogant. That is all I can provide her with."

This time around it was Ais's turn to tilt her head in confusion at him. "...Sounds like what a family would do to me."

"...I have killed hundreds of people until this point in my life, and I am not even twelve winters old yet. The fact that you are comfortable with someone like me taking care of her is all the proof I need to not allow you to take care of her yourself." A long sigh escaped his lips. "No…Even if your competence wasn't under question, taking care of her openly would reveal Alya's existence to the rest of the Familia. Explaining how that came to be would be…difficult. I will take care of her, until she is an adult and can make her own choices in life."

"Then…What is there left for me to do?" Ais's question made sense: if he would take care of her, then what else was there?

"Everything else." The vague answer drew the blonde's attention, but Fuzen did not meet her gaze. "Ais…Do you have happy memories of your childhood? Before you took up the sword?"

A rhetorical question, naturally. He had glimpsed into her past already when he linked his mind and soul with hers, back then. Yet even so the question brought a faint smile to Ais's lips. "Yes…"

"Then, your parents…Did they only provide you with food, a home and education? Was that all they ever gave you?"

Slowly, Ais began to understand where he was coming from, what he was trying to say. "No…No, of course not."

"Then there's your answer."

"You want me to give her…love?"

"Obviously."

"But…my heart's already…"

"It's beating, isn't it? What could possibly be wrong with it?"

Despite his casual words Ais knew he understood exactly what was plaguing her thoughts. That stare of his told her at least that much.

That is why, before she could speak again, he continued. "You're a moron."

"What…?"

"I said you're a freaking moron. You're childish. Immature. Stubborn to the point of annoyance. Even worse than a kid, you kick your legs and pout when you don't get your way, despite being a young adult already."

Ais didn't know why, but each word that came out of his mouth hurt more than the last.

"You have no common sense. You have no gift for strategy, despite being an Executive. You jump into battle with no regard for your fellows, selfishly driven by your own wants and desires while completely disregarding everyone else around you."

By now Ais felt her head lowering, her cheeks pouting-...Just like he said she did.

"But it's fine, because you are Ais Wallenstein. No matter what you do, everyone turns a blind eye to it because you are the Sword Princess. Because you are beautiful. Because you are strong. Because you are tragic. You are pampered to hell and back: I blame Finn, Gareth and Riveria for that, as well as Loki. They never did anything more than slap you lightly on the wrist when you were a brat, from what I understood."

That wasn't true, is what Ais wanted to say. But looking back on it…Saying that would be lying.

"I don't like you. But…" A pause followed as the boy hesitated to utter the next words. "You…are a kind person, and you care about those close to you, in your own little dumb way. That makes you far more qualified to be in that girl's life when she needs that certain 'someone'."

"Oh…" She needed a second to process the fact that a compliment came out of his mouth.

"Mhh. Ais." He looked up at her. "Your parents are dead. There's no changing that." In all other instances, Ais would have entered a very rare state of anger at the sound of her parents being mentioned. And yet, this time, she could not: the calm tone he spoke with showed not a tinge of mockery or arrogance. He was simply stating a fact, nothing more. A fact she was very aware of. "However…Out of everyone, you alone have gained something." He made a head sign towards Alya, in the distance. "Is that not worth something, at least?"

She knew that. She knew that thanks to him, she had gained something precious. But…that did not make anything easier. "It's hard…"

"Of course it is."

"No matter how hard I try not to…My mother's face always overlaps with hers."

"Is that not something to be happy about?" He asked, arms still crossed around his chest. "It means a piece of Aria, however small, still lives on in that little body of hers, as well as within you."

A long silence followed as Ais processed the words. "Do you really think…I can do it?"

"No." His bluntness, as always, did not fail to cut deep. "But I think you should at least try. You owe both that girl and yourself at least that much."

She nodded, then inhaled and exhaled. "What…do I do?"

At that question he simply shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. I'm not exactly an expert on human emotions and interactions." Noticing that his answer made the blonde crestfallen, he continued. "...You did hurt her. If…If I were in her shoes right now, I'd feel betrayed. Hurt. And…I'd probably want you to…hug me. Tell me you are sorry. Promise that it will never happen again. Probably."

That much, at least, made sense to Ais. She nodded slowly, mostly to herself, and took a step forward before looking back. "Will you come with me?"

"I don't make it a habit of intruding on other people's family matters. I also talked too much and my throat hurts." He added, rubbing the long scar on his neck. "I'll take a walk around, make sure there are no Monsters or dangerous wild animals nearby."

She hummed in return, walking forward towards the campfire Alya was sitting at. The moment she was close enough for the little girl to hear and see her, Alya looked up, only to look down again. "Where is Fuzen?"

That question hurt a little bit more than Ais would have liked to admit. "He'll be back soon." A long silence followed as Alya simply stared at the flames while Ais pondered on her words. In the end, unable to formulate her own words, she decided to use Fuzen's advice. "Alya…I am sorry for hurting you."

"..."

"I promise it will never happen again."

"..."

"Can you…forgive me?"

The question hung in the air for a moment as golden eyes looked up at her. Then a pouty face stared back at Ais, two little arms extending towards her. "...Hug."

"H-Huh?"

"Hug."

Though slightly surprised that this had happened just as a certain someone had told her a mere minute ago, Ais nodded and grabbed Alya under the arms, lifting her up as the younger girl wrapped her arms around the Sword Princess's neck, burrowing her face in her neck.

As Ais rubbed Alya's back, she could only think of how strange this felt. She had never hugged anyone in her life before, at least not in the capacity of an 'adult', yet it felt…right. As if this is how it was meant to be.

There was an unusual feeling of comfort in the act, a feeling of both pain as well as joy spreading in her chest, something she had never felt before.

'A little sister…was it?' Ais asked herself as she ran her hand through the girl's blonde hair. It was quite overwhelming, in all honesty. Sure, she had known of Alya's existence for quite a while now, but despite that, or perhaps because of it, Ais had avoided her unique relative.

But there was no more running possible now. Fuzen himself, the caretaker of the girl, had asked her for her intervention. And perhaps, for once in her life, it was finally time to take responsibility outside of her Familia on her shoulders.

Would she be able to do it? Would she be able to be a positive influence on a little girl, still wide-eyed and clueless about the world?

Ais didn't know.

But, at the very least, she would try her absolute hardest to make it happen-

No.

She would not try, she would make it happen.

Somehow, some way, it would happen.

She would make sure of that.

Shifting her position ever so slightly to hold better onto the girl in her arms, Ais noticed Fuzen from the corner of her eye. He had not gone patrolling just yet, instead staring in her direction.

Though her eyes were good, as was to be expected of a Level 5, it was both too dark and too far away for her to make out his face. Ais could only notice him staring in their direction for a long, long second.

Then, finally, he turned around and disappeared into the forest.

However, for some reason…The sight of his retreating form, in that one instance…it looked painfully sad in Ais's eyes.

…

…

…

Suffice to say, the next day of their trip had been far less destructive or eventful and by the time evening was around the corner the trio had already flown back to Orario, first dropping off Alya in the East District before bringing Ais back to the Twilight Manor.

Fuzen could have simply told Raiju to bring her there alone, but he felt like accompanying her for the duration of the short trip, if only as a customary gesture for agreeing to come with them on the trip.

"Thank you." The Sword Princess said as she jumped off the serpentine snake.

"It's hardly anything to be thankful for." Came the reply.

In a rare show of emotion, she smiled at him. "For the trip. And for everything you did. Thanks. My mistake aside…I had a good time."

"...Mhh."

"Let's do it again someday."

He replied with a scoff and a sigh. "Like I'd willingly take care of two airheads again. I'll let you borrow Raiju, so next time make it a family exclusive trip, only."

At the sound of that, she even laughed a bit. "So you do trust me that much, after all?"

"...Right." A long sigh followed. "In the end, I guess I'll have to tag along whether I like it or not…" Shaking his head he looked at Ais, being silent for a moment. "My week of rest will be over before long. I'll have to pick up training afterwards. Come by and keep Alya company when that happens."

"I will."

"Mhh." He gave Raiju a pat and they began to ascend into the air again. "...Good night."

"Good night."

XXX

5th Day…

'I call bullshit…' Was about the only opinion he could have on the matter at hand. Having come back from the two-day trip the night before, he had decided to go take a stroll around town after checking things out in the District.

One would normally think that, with how big Orario was, it was easy to overlook people you knew, or that bumping into them was a very rare occurrence.

Obviously enough, however, that line of thought would be wrong.

"...Don't you have work or something?" He asked, looking to his right and meeting green, feline eyes.

A smirk appeared on her face. "You don't actually think we work every day, all day, do you?" Asked the Cat-Person. "Mama Mia might be harsh, but she's not the devil…Well, not yet anyway…"

Chloe Rollo.

Out of everyone he called acquaintance, she was up there on the weird scale, no doubt about it. That didn't mean he hated her. Fuzen was aware of her weird 'peculiarities', but as long as she just kept her fantasies in her mind and didn't touch any kids, he was content to live and let live.

Well…there was also the fact she was kidnapped and came dangerously close to being hurt because of him in the past, and the one instance where she stood up for him…And the fact that she didn't judge him or his actions.

After all, the stench of death was almost as heavy on her as it was on him.

Well, to sum it up, his feelings towards her were a mix of gratefulness, familiarity and guilt.

A long sigh escaped the woman's lips as she walked side by side with him. "I still need to work the night shift today, though. Only a few hours of free time for this cat to stretch her paws, nya~…"

"I see. Should you not make the most of your time, then?" He asked, hoping she would agree and leave him alone.

Instead she simply smirked. "You don't have to be so obvious about your intentions."

"I told you before, didn't I? You need to find people your own age to hang out with."

"It's fine, isn't it? Mew aren't exactly a social butterfly meowself."

Now it was time for him to sigh. "Didn't you have anything planned out when you headed out today?"

"Not really? I just wanted to stretch mew legs, nya~"

'This woman's hopeless…' The thought crossed his mind as he regarded her for a long second. He had already paid her back quite some time ago, so he didn't own her anything anymore, but…"Fine. I'll accompany you for a while. But if you so much as think about making me go through one of your shopping sprees again, I'll cut you."

She laughed in response, remembering the deathly glare he threw her way the last time she had him accompany her shopping. "I won't, I won't~ It's not like I have the money for it anyway."

Had she said that roughly two years ago when he first stepped into Orario, he would have thought nothing of it. But even Fuzen, with all his obsessions and single-minded pursuit could learn new things, even if they were not related to his goal.

That was a conversation started right there, good enough for their walk together to be less awkward. "...Is working as a waitress not making your ends meet?"

"That's not it. The pay is good enough to cover everything I need, especially since I am a live-in employee, but it's not exactly a comfortable pay either, nya~"

"...I've seen your room. You're not exactly a frugal woman. You like expensive things."

"Hey, nothing wrong with wanting to live in comfort, is there?"

"No…To each their own. It is not for me to judge you. But it is the middle of the month, so I imagine you bought something expensive as soon as you go your pay and you are penniless now?"

The way her tail shot upwards in a straight line was more than proof enough of the accuracy of his words, not even to mention her expression. "T-That's not true, nya~..."

'So easy to read…'

"...If there's anything you want, I'll treat you today. Only today."

"SWEETS!" The reply came faster than he had time to react, the woman placing a hand on his shoulder as she pointed in the distance. "There's a sweets shop nearby! Let's go, let's go~!"

Usually when making an offer like that, people would politely decline, or only make use of the offer for necessary things they needed but had no means to procure them at the moment. This woman, however…obviously enough, that logic did not apply to her.

"...You're quite shameless, aren't you?"

"Hey, mew did offer~"

With a shake of his head, Fuzen followed the overly-excited adult to the shop she mentioned. Luckily, there were enough seats around for them to choose from, and so they sat down. "What to order, what to order~?" Chloe muttered with a hum as she looked through the menu, obviously unsure what to go for.

Fuzen, meanwhile, sat silently with his arms crossed. The truth was, he wanted to order some eclairs so badly his mouth was already watering just from thinking about them.

But he was a Disciple of the Lightning Sword Style, not to mention he hadn't even trained for the last few days. Indulging right now was not deserved, not to mention the fact he wasn't alone.

While he was unfortunately very aware of the fact that he was literally and biologically just a kid, he loathed being seen as one through association by preferences. Being a kid was the absolute lowest trait that defined who he was. What he was.

"Hmm? Aren't mew going to order anything?" Chloe asked as she noticed him just standing there.

"No."

"Oh, mew don't like sweets?"

"Mhh."

It wasn't long before the waitress came around to pick up their orders, and Chloe was already ready. "I'll have two chocolate lava cakes and a peanut butter parfait~"

'This damn cat…That cake isn't cheap at all and she goes and orders two of them…Shameless down to the tip of her tail.'

"And what can I get you?" The waitress turned to him next.

"Orange juice."

"Would that be all?"

"Yeah…" He nodded, looking towards Chloe to see the cat with a wide smile on her lips, her tail already wagging left and right behind her at the prospect of the lava cakes.

'…Right. This dumb cat didn't judge me before either, did she? She's not exactly respectful, but she doesn't treat me like a kid, either…'

"Uhm. Actually, I'd like to order some eclairs, too."

"What types would you like?"

"Bring me four chocolate ones, three pistachios, three with salted caramel and two with raspberry, mango, apricot and coconut, respectively." For a long second, both the waitress and Chloe were deadly silent. "Uhh, that would be all."

"O-Okay." The waitress nodded and walked away, leaving the two to stare at each other in silence for another long second.

"...Well, I guess I know what sweets mew like now, after all."

"I don't like them." Fuzen stated, holding her gaze. "I love them."

"I stand corrected, then~"

Fuzen nodded. "Keep it to yourself. Not even my own Familia knows my preferences."

This caught her attention. "Oh? So why tell me then, nya?"

"Because you don't judge." Came the blunt reply.

Chloe hummed for a moment, placing her chin on her palm. "Do mew get judged often?"

"Probably. I doubt anyone else my age has done the things I have."

She nodded, as that was the understatement of the year. "But it doesn't matter, does it nya~?"

"No." Fuzen sighed. "But it is nice to know at least someone doesn't see me as abnormal or heartless."

"Easy there, kitten~" She replied with a mischievous smirk on her lips. "Mew almost make it sound like mew are appreciating me~"

"I mean, I wouldn't go that far. You're still a cat who shamelessly lets a kid pay for her expensive orders."

"Well, think of it as gaining experience early on, kitten~ With that face of yours, mew will be paying a lot of bills in the future~"

Fuzen couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her words. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing~"

'Talk about a weird woman…'

It wasn't long before their orders came up, the cakes and parfait for Chloe and two plates with eighteen eclairs for Fuzen. "This is so good, nya~" Chloe exclaimed as she scooped out a spoonful of the first lava cake, letting the warm chocolate melt on her tongue. "Thanks again for this, kitten~!"

"You could show your appreciation by not calling me that, Chloe." He replied, still deciding on which eclair to go with first. After a long moment of pondering, he decided to go with the mango one.

"Nah, I'll keep calling mew that~"

"...Isn't chocolate bad for cats? Then by all means, feel free to order a few more cakes."

"I'm not an actual cat, nya!" She hissed back at him before focusing back on her cake. They ate in silence for a minute before her eyes fell back on him. "So, what's the deal with the eclairs?" She asked as he just finished six of them. "Any particular reason mew like them so much?"

"I told you, I don't like them: I love them. As for why…I enjoy how they are both soft and creamy. And of course, there is also their significance."

"Significance, nya?"

"Well, it goes for any sort of sweets, really. But for someone to come up with the idea of eclairs, they must have led a peaceful, content life, right? You certainly wouldn't be wasting time inventing sweets if all around you there was only chaos, mayhem and murder. No matter how bad your own experiences in life are, sitting down and enjoying an eclair, or any type of sweets for that matter, that's only possible because someone else has lived a much better and brighter life than you. Somewhere, at some point in time, despite your own bad life experiences, someone was carefree enough to invent all types of sweets. I…like that thought."

"I see…That's certainly one way to look at it, nya~" Chloe nodded, staring at her cake for a long minute. While she was learning how to wield a knife before even being taught how to read, someone in the world was happily experimenting with new sweets ideas. "I think I like that, too…"

"Mhm…Here." He voiced as he grabbed one of the four classic eclairs and extended it to her. "You can have this one. The classic ones are the best, after all."

Normally, one would think that a normal person would simply voice their gratitude and take the eclair. That is what a normal person would do in that situation.

But obviously, Chloe was not normal.

So instead she smiled and leaned in, taking a bite out of the eclair Fuzen was extending to her. "The best indeed, nya~"

"...What the hell are you doing?"

"Enjoying the eclair mew gave me, nya~"

"Fricking take it from my hand, you dumb cat, don't make it look like I'm feeding you."

And with a smirk on her face she leaned in again, taking another bite of the pastry. Annoyed at her antics Fuzen threw the rest on her plate, already glaring at her as if she were an enemy. "Don't do that ever again."

"Oh, but sweets served by cute kittens are just the best, nya~"

"I'll cut you."

Suffice to say, having the Kenshi threaten you without a hint of sarcasm in his tone was enough to put even a former assassin in her place, and so the reminder of their stay at the shop was spent in silence.

…

…

…

"That sure hit the spot nya~!" The woman exclaimed as they left the sweets shop and continued on with their walk, the movement helpful for digesting all the unhealthy food they just ate. "Thanks for paying, kitten!"

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"Don't sweat the small stuff~"

"I swear, you are incorrigible…"

A chuckle escaped her throat at the word. "Mew knows it! Now, I still have around two hours left until I need to start my shift, nya~..."

"Anything else in particular you wish to do until then?"

"Nah, just walking is fine. A cat's gotta digest her food after all, nya~"

"As you say."

Without further words they simply continued walking down the street, mindful not to stray too far away from the location of the Hostess of Fertility. It was nice, in its own way. If Fuzen had been out on a walk with Seiji, Tiona or anyone else he associated with, chances are they would have kept talking and talking and talking, over and over again.

He didn't blame them, it was simply in their nature.

But he did enjoy the fact he and the cat-woman could take a stroll without the need for constant words.

However…there was one thing that was bugging him. At first he decided not to bring it up, as it was her decision to lead the kind of life she did at the moment. However, thinking back to the time she got kidnapped because of him…He felt like he should at least point it out.

And so, while they walked side by side in silence, he discreetly reached for a coin in his left pocket and from his waist flicked it at her.

Not a normal flick, of course, but one with enough strength to lodge itself fully into the brick wall of a nearby house and fast enough to be unseen by anyone else walking on the street.

"What was that?!" Chloe asked as the coin flew past her face, the Cat Person having just enough time to see it fly past her. She had neither felt the pseudo attack coming, nor did she react to it in time.

"Your senses…they are dulled." Fuzen replied as he came to a halt. "I flicked that coin in your direction to figure out your reaction time. It is subpar."

"What the hell did mew do that for?"

A good question, for sure. Despite their interactions so far the two of them were little more than strangers or acquaintances. It was not him right to test her. And yet…"When I first met you, your steps were quiet enough for me not to hear them. They were focused, silent and deadly. That is no longer the case."

Chloe winced at the words but said nothing in return. It was true, after all: she had hardly trained, let alone fought, since becoming a waitress. Her skills and senses were dulled.

"...I don't know your past, nor your reason for choosing a civilian life. However…one who has picked up a blade and used it will never be able to abandon it. You can sheathe it, but never abandon it."

"Where is this all coming from, nya?"

Slightly annoyed that she was not getting what he was hinting at, Fuzen sighed. "I'm telling you to save your own tail the next time you get kidnapped. You can't do that as you are right now."

A moment of silence passed before a very big smirk appeared on Chloe's face, the woman covering her mouth with her hand. "Worried about me, are mew~? Or maybe, feeling responsible nya~?"

Twitch.

Twitch.

"Go die in an alley for all I care, you stupid cat." He replied before moving on. "But, if you ever feel like honing your skills, I'll spar with you. That much, I can offer."

"Well, I'll keep it in mind, kitten~"

Twitch.

"...Actually, I will take back my offer."

"Can't do that now, kitten~!"

'Truly and wholly a hopeless cat…Haaa…'

XXX

6th Day…

Finally, his one week was almost over. Just two more days to go, then he could pick up the sword again.

Though he already looked forward to going back into the Dungeon and train again, Fuzen couldn't say that the last few days hadn't been…unique, in their own little ways. Sure, he had absolutely hated the restrictions Amid had placed on him in the beginning, but that hatred had turned into contemplation somewhere along the way.

In his past he had never been allowed to take 'time off'. To walk the path of the sword was not a job, it was a lifestyle as much as it was a duty.

But, over the last few days, he had realized that he had missed some things in life as well, being as single-mindedly focused on his path as he was.

Was this discovery important to his goal?
Probably not.

Did it change the actions he would take moving forward?

Certainly not.

And yet it was refreshing to discover some new nuances in life, too. At least that is how he could describe it best.

Today was one such day, too. A nuanced one.

Back when this week first started, he had coerced Amid into taking a day off too, just to get back at her for restricting him. Today was the day they would meet.

Once he had taken a quick bath and brushed his teeth, Fuzen put on his usual attire and headed out. It was still early, barely the seventh hour of the day. Apparently Amid was actually a morning person, so they decided to meet early, at a café in the southern part of central Orario. It was Amid who decided the meeting place, as she frequented that place, at least as much as her work allowed her to.

He himself had never stopped by, but he knew the place from passing by. So he made his way there, which took around half an hour from his District.

Arriving at the café, he didn't see Amid outside on the porch and a quick scan for her Ki signature told him she was not inside, either. This meant it was up to him to decide where they would sit, as he was the first to arrive.

Was she the type of person who enjoyed a drink inside a cafè, or outside?

He didn't know, but the weather was nice and the street wasn't crowded enough for the passing chatter to be annoying, so he took a seat at an empty table to the left side of the entrance into the establishment, where he was easy to spot.

Not knowing when Amid would arrive, ordering at least something to drink seemed like the right choice to him. He didn't want the staff to think he was just taking up a place for nothing.

'Juices, teas, beers…Hmm. Coffee…I never had coffee before, have I? Although I've seen the Captain drink it all the time…'

As he pondered on trying out something new, one of the waitresses already came up to him. A Half-Elf, by the looks of her ears, and someone who just oozed positive energy through her smile. "Good morning! What can I get you?"

"A coffee, please."

At his order, however, she hesitated. "Dear customer, we do have juices and teas…"

Fuzen raised an eyebrow, unsure why she was bringing up other refreshments when he made his order clear. A few moments later, he realized she was unsure about giving him, a kid, coffee. He had heard some people could get addicted to coffee in the past. "Ma'am, I'm taking on Monsters for a living. I can handle a cup of coffee."

"Oh, an Adventurer? Forgive my rudeness…"

"...No, it's alright. You were looking out for me. That is appreciated. But I simply want to try a cup of coffee for the first time."

"Understood. Would you be interested in our breakfast items, too?"

"I'm actually waiting for someone. We'll order when she arrives."

With a nod the waitress took her leave, coming back a few minutes later with the drink he ordered. He was of course provided sugar and milk, but Fuzen decided to try and taste the coffee as it was first.

Suffice to say…

'...People drink this willingly? I'm sure this could be used as a method of torture…'

He was not impressed in the least. Or better said, he had to fight the urge to make a disgusted face at the first sip of the bitter drink.

Though his opinion of the widely beloved drink was already as low as it could possibly be, he decided to add some milk to it before taking another sip.

'...Huh. So just adding some milk actually makes it drinkable now? Fascinating.'

Finally he added one teaspoon of sugar to it, already intrigued by how the taste would change now. And so he took yet another sip.

'...What the hell? It's delicious. This would go great with some eclairs…How does a drink go from cruel torture of the taste buds to delicious this quickly, with just two added ingredients?'

Fuzen thought to himself as he added another teaspoon of sugar, making the drink even better than before. Indeed, this was the nuance he realized he had missed so far, all thanks to the last few days of his life.

While only focused on his path and his goal, figuring out something like coffee with milk and sugar was delicious would have been impossible for him, as he would have never wasted the time to try it out.

Leaning back into his chair, he began to take small sips of his coffee as he scanned the area around him.

It was still rather early, yet the nearby streets were already starting to get filled with crowds of people. None of them looked to be Adventurers, yet they were just enjoying their day.

Were they unemployed?

No, most of them looked to be doing alright, given the state of their clothes and the way they carried themselves.

Then why were they just taking a stroll at the dawn of day?

Did all of them work the night shift?

No, then they would be sleeping until at least midday.

Flexible work hours?

He barely heard of anyone having 'flexible' work hours in Orario or any other place, though, so that couldn't be it.

'Civilian life must be pretty harsh, too…'

His thoughts drifted back to a time when he ran away from home and ended up in the capital of the Far East. In order to get food, he found work with some builders. They had obviously been sceptical about taking in a 'street rat', but thanks to the Falna he still had on his back they had hired him as a worker after noticing his strength, making him carry equipment and materials.

It wasn't long before the master craftsman noticed he had a good head on his shoulders and a steady hand, so before long he was helping out by cutting wood down to custom sizes.

Eastern style of house building was quite different from the one used in Orario, after all, making use of wood and exact holes and cuts which were then used to slide the frame into. No nails or metal was used: just tension and geometry.

Well, that is about as much as he remembered of that time, really. Everything else regarding that time was too muddy and distorted by the amount of blood he had spilled afterwards.

All he truly remembered was that he had worked from dawn to dusk every day without pause, for around five or six months, for what was the equivalent of around five hundred Valis a day.

'...Harsh life, indeed.'

"Morning." A voice called out to him from behind and he noticed Amid standing to his left side, wearing a light brown blouse and a dark brown skirt which ended a few centimetres below her knee, her hair tied up in a high ponytail, not unlike his own style. "Hope you didn't wait long?"

"...Morning. And no. Been here ten minutes, at most."

"I'm glad I wasn't late, then." She nodded and took a seat opposite of him, setting down her bag which he recognized as the one where she kept all her equipment.

'Seems like she likes to be ready. Well, it works in her favour today.'

"What are you drinking there?"

"Coffee."

"Fuzen, I don't think coffee is what you need right now, given your state…"

"Relax. I just wanted to try it out once, as I've never had it before."

"Oh, I see. So how is it?"

In true Fuzen fashion, he kept it simple. "It was disgusting at first. I added milk and sugar. It became good afterwards."

However, his response seemed to get a quiet chuckle out of the Doctor. "I see. Have you already eaten?"

"No. I waited for you."

She gave a nod and they called for the waitress, both ordering something light to eat: sandwiches for Amid and a tuna salad for Fuzen. It seemed like neither of them were big eaters first thing in the morning. "Until our orders arrive, do you mind if I ask you some questions?" The Doctor asked, as today was the sixth day of his rest week and she had told him to visit her every two days to discuss his condition.

Unfortunately, she had been rather busy on the fourth day, having to clear up a mess her Patron God caused, so they only spoke briefly back then.

"Sure. I don't mind."

"Right. You mentioned you went on a trip two days ago. What was that like?"

A roundabout question, one he had somehow expected. As his Doctor, she wanted to know if that trip had been good for him or not. But that was not what that trip had been about. "...It was okay. I went hiking with two…acquaintances. On the first day we had Raiju bring us somewhat close to the destination. We walked through some fields, stopped at a village, then made camp in a forest. On the second day we hiked up a mountain, had a picnic at the top. Then we came back."

"That sounds lovely. Did anything particularly noteworthy happen?"

"No…Yes. There was a small…fight, if you can call it that."

That seemed to get her attention. "Oh? What happened?"

"The other two that were with me had a bit of a…falling out. It didn't last long, however. They made up pretty quickly. The need for my intervention was minimal."

"I see. And how was this trip for you, personally?"

Now that was a much harder question to answer. "...Okay, I guess. I never went on a trip or a hike before, so I couldn't compare it to anything from the past even if I wanted to."

"Well, was it peaceful? Relaxing?"

Fuzen thought about how he had needed to look after not one, but two kids all throughout those two days. The memory invoked neither a feeling of peace nor of relaxation within him. "...Not really?"

Though he noticed the raised eyebrow, Amid did not pursue the matter any longer than needed. "Then, how were you physically during those two days?"

"Tired." A sigh followed his reply. "On the first day, we took a break by a riverside after a few hours of walking. I fell asleep while the other two were having a snack. From that point on, I mostly just focused on trying not to fall asleep again."

"And now?"

"It's manageable."

"Would you say the last few days of rest have helped it become manageable?"

He took a long second to mull over his reply, his eyes locking with Amid's. "...Yes." Though he was still tired from dawn to dusk, he could not ignore the fact that he didn't need to use as much Ki anymore to keep himself awake, and his body did feel…better. More rested.

This brought a smile to the girl's lips. "I see. I am glad to hear it."

"Mhh. I'll…try to make use of this knowledge you gave me moving forward."

"That is all I can ask for, Fuzen. I understand that you are an Adventurer and that your life is one of fighting and surviving, but…The mortal mind and body needs regular rest. Please always keep that in mind."

"I will."

Their conversation fell into lighter topics from then on, and for a bit Amid even began to complain about her God and some other matters related to her Familia. Fuzen supposed she had few chances to let it out all usually so he simply listened quietly to her, nodding and replying whenever he thought it was necessary to do so.

It was, after all, the least he could do for the one who had never stopped helping him.

Once they had finished their meals, he insisted on paying for everything using the reason that she had taken the day off at his request and the two moved on, walking in the direction of the city centre.

At Amid's inquiry about what they should do next, Fuzen took her by surprise as he asked her to allow him a glimpse into her life. It was not a planned request, either: Fuzen had no idea either what you were supposed to do on an occasion like this.

The desire to see a glimpse of her life came to him unexpectedly. Even so, Amid had agreed to do just that, and so the walked side by side as she led him to a bookstore she frequented whenever she could.

One who specialized in taking lives.

Another who specialized in saving lives.

Even so, neither of the two saw the irony of it.

The rest of the day went on just like that, with Amid bringing him to different places that were important to her professional life.

A bookstore where she looked for new books on medical practices, followed by a visit to a shop that sold rare herbs found on the surface which were still necessary for the brewing of Potions. They had even visited a blacksmith who specialized in forging components for prosthetics.

All throughout, Amid had explained to Fuzen how all those shops helped her in her practice of medicine and healing, giving short explanations and answering his questions whenever he had one.

By midday they had even stumbled upon a stray dog with a wounded leg which Amid healed using her Magic after which they enjoyed some ice-cream as Fuzen led them towards the East District.

"Time sure passed quickly, didn't it?" Amid asked as she looked upwards, noticing that it was already midday.

"Yes. I am thankful that you agreed to my request. It has been a very…interesting experience."

That brought a little smile on her lips. "I am glad you think so. Though, I have to ask…why are we going to the East District now?"

"You'll see." Was all he said back as the two continued their walk in silence. Twenty minutes later they arrived at his house. But Fuzen did not invite her inside, instead bringing her to the back garden where Raiju was waiting, along with a katana and a jacket. "Here, put this on." The boy said as he handed the jacket to Amid.

"...Why?"

"We are flying outside of Orario."

"...But why?"

"You'll see."

Fuzen gave a nod and Raiju transformed into his middle form, big enough to carry a few people on his back but not big enough to be visible from high up in the air. Grabbing the katana he had bought for only fifty thousand Valis, he placed it at his hip and jumped on top of Raiju's head.

He would much rather have his trusty swords forged by Tsubaki, but those were still in the possession of the silver-haired Doctor, so until the week would be over a third-rate weapon would have to do.

"Fuzen, I can't just leave Orario whenever I want. I'm still part of a Familia, and the Guild-"

"We will be back by evening." Fuzen sighed, remembering the conversation he had with Ais before they went on their trip, which started similarly. "While I understand the need and importance of rules, I do believe the Guild's rule of requiring permission to leave is both stupid and absurd. The city won't go up in flames just because a few Adventurers are not present for a few hours. So get up here already."

Though still reluctant, Amid put on the jacket she had been provided and with a sigh climbed up on the dragon's back, hands firmly placed on the scales of the magical beast. It was not her first time flying with Raiju, but she could not help the feeling in her gut whenever she was hundreds of meters high in the air.

A moment later the dragon took flight, first flying just a bit higher than the rooftops of the nearby buildings, then going higher and higher as they approached the wall surrounding Orario. Looking down, she was made aware once more just how used the people of the city had become to the sight of a dragon flying over their heads.

She remembered when Fuzen first unlocked his Magic and the people were still whispering fearfully on the streets about being uneasy, but now it seemed like they were actually looking up to seeing him fly, especially the children.

Once they flew past the wall Raiju ascended higher and higher until it got chilly enough for even the Level 2 Amid to get slightly cold. "Thanks for the jacket." She said to the boy who stood casually on top of Raiju's head, looking into the distance.

"Don't mention it."

"So where are we going?"

"Impatient, aren't you?" He looked at her over his shoulder. "We are on our way to a village. One of many, actually."

"Any specific reason why?"

"...You'll see."

With that he made it clear that he would not speak any further, so Amid sighed and instead opted to take in the sight of the horizon, stretching out for hundreds of kilometers into the distance.

Back when she was a little girl she had dreamed of flying on a winged horse through the skies, yet never in her life would she have guessed she would one day actually get the chance to experience flying, even if it wasn't on a winged horse.

"...It's beautiful." She uttered absent-mindedly as she stared into the distance, a faint smile making its way to her lips.

"...Yeah. It is."

The rest of the flight was rather quiet, with both simply taking in the scenery as they approached the first village on Fuzen's list. Once they could see the village in the distance, Raiju began to descend a good distance away from it, near the edge of some woods.

"People in Orario might be used to seeing a dragon flying around, but I doubt the same applies to villagers out in the boonies. I'd rather avoid creating a mass panic, so we'll walk from here."

Amid gave a short nod: it made sense, after all. "Okay. Though I'd still like to know why we are here…"

"It might have been a quick flight for us, but this village is a three day ride away from the nearest town. They don't have a pharmacist, let alone a doctor."

At the sound of that Amid's eyes widened a bit as she began to understand why they came all the way out here. "You want me to provide my services to them?"

"It's what you do best, no?" With that he told Raiju to meet them on the other side of the village and began to walk towards the main road, Amid shortly behind him. "If you are worried about your Familia's image, I'll pay for any and all treatment you provide."

"No, that's alright. I also dive into the Dungeon and help wherever I can when I have the time for it…"

"I told you before, that is not something a non-combatant like you should do."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"...Mhh. At least do that when I am around. All you have to do is ask and I'll escort you."

"Worried for my safety, are you?"

"...Obviously. You yourself said no other Doctor would ever take someone like me as a patient. For the sake of grasping the Heavens, I can't have you expire before I do."

A soft giggle was her response as they continued walking, ever coming closer to the village. Once they arrived they asked for the village elder, and Fuzen proceeded to tell them that Amid was a Doctor currently on a journey and that he was her bodyguard. Then he proceeded to ask if any villager was in need of healing and once the village elder replied in the positive, he asked him to gather all those Amid should look.

Thankful for their visit, the villagers quickly brought a table and a chair for Amid in the villager centre as people began to gather, all in awe at the beauty of the young lady who appeared out of nowhere.

One by one, they all proceeded to tell them of their wounds and ailments, though thankfully none were severe: a sprained ankle, a cut on the hand from a sickle, back pain from a couple of elderly people, a few people with fevers and a cold, some minor infections from untreated cuts and lacerations…Just about what you would expect from people who worked from dawn to dusk to make a living.

Though Amid had brought her bag with her, she knew her resources were limited, even though her Magic was not. But healing Magic was not always the answer, even more so when she didn't know if those people would become reckless after making a quick and full recovery. With that in mind, she opted to write prescriptions and recipes for those who needed to heal naturally over time.

While she worked Fuzen simply stood to her side, arms crossed across his chest as he eyed each and every individual who approached Amid. While he had little doubt anyone would be foolish enough to try anything funny on a travelling Doctor, as her self-appointed bodyguard he needed to take every possibility into consideration.

Even if he was tired, his sword arm was still quick enough to cut down a dozen people in less than the blink of an eye. Luckily, it did not seem he needed to show Amid such a sight.

Ten minutes passed.

Then fifteen.

Then twenty five.

One by one, all the people who were out working in the fields began to gather in the village centre, having heard of the Doctor who came to lend her services and of her beauty which could rival that of a Goddess.

Though he wasn't exactly sure what a date out with friends-...acquaintances was supposed to be like, Fuzen knew this was certainly not orthodox in any way. For a moment, he had wondered if he should have kept their activities to Orario alone, but seeing the smile on Amid's lips washed away any such worries he might have had.

The girl wasn't exactly very expressive, they had that in common, but here she showed a smile she had not shown while working at the Pharmacy owned by her Familia. Perhaps it was the lack of responsibility weighing her down, or the lack of a need to keep up appearances.

Whatever the case, she seemed to actually take joy in helping those in need, outside of rules and unburdened by business. A quick scan of her Ki told him her feelings were genuine, too.

'That's good. I did feel bad about having her take a day off just because of my stubbornness…maybe this will make up for it.'

With that he continued his vigil over the Doctor, unmoving from his spot by her side. Well, there was something that was bothering him, but he decided not to look in that direction. Given enough time, maybe they would just go away by themselves-

"Uhh, excuse me?"

But of course, fate would have it another way. Fuzen barely managed to hold back a sigh as he turned his head to look to the side, at the group of three kids. In truth, they had been hiding behind the corner of a house and staring at him for about two minutes now and he just hoped they would just move on. "What?"

One by one the three approached him. At the front was a Human girl that could not have been older than seven winters, with a Human boy of roughly the same age to her left side and a Chiranthrope boy of slightly larger build and age to her right. "Are you an Adventurer?"

"That is correct. I'm Fuzen Katsumi, an Adventurer from Orario."

At his answer their faces lit up and they came even closer. "Then, are your swords real?!"

"...Obviously."

"Can we see them?!"

"No."

"Ehh…Why not?"

"Swords are not toys meant to be drawn for the mere act of displaying them." As soon as he gave his answer, three pairs of puppy eyes started in his direction, silently begging him to change his mind. Unfortunately for them, living together with Alya has raised Fuzen's resistance to puppy eyes exponentially. They could beg him all they wanted, it wouldn't change a thing. "You have your answer, now leave."

He was about to shush them away, but noticed Amid's stare linger on him. Though she was tending to the villagers, they were close enough for her to hear the conversation. And so she looked at him, then at the group of kids and then she nodded, focusing her attention back on the villagers.

'...Haaa. She wants me to entertain them.' Letting out a sigh both in his mind and for real, he pulled out his chisa katana and extended it towards the girl. "You can draw it, but don't you dare swing it around."

With a sparkle in their eyes, the kids quickly gathered around the sword as the girl drew it from the scabbard, all three of them in awe at the reflection from the blade. It must have been their first time seeing a real weapon, even if it was a third-rate one.

The Chiranthrope boy was the first to lift his gaze from the blade back to Fuzen. "E-Excuse me, can i ask-"

But before he could finish, the older boy cut him off. "Introduce yourself first."

"E-Eh?"

"I already introduced myself. If you want to ask something, introduce yourself first. Being a kid from the boonies is no excuse for a lack of manners."

Quickly understanding what he needed to do, the oldest of the three straightened his back. "M-my name is Herrik." The other two also quickly introduced themselves: the girl was called Katiah and the other boy Loyce. "Uhh…How did you become an Adventurer when you are just a few years older than us?"

A question that went unanswered for a long, long moment.

After all, while Fuzen strongly believed in simply telling the truth, no matter how unpleasant or brutal it was, he also knew Amid would not appreciate him scaring little kids. Telling them that it required self-sacrifice, pain beyond imagination and to walk on the corpses of your own friends if needed was not something he could tell them…not while Amid was in the vicinity, anyway. "...Willpower."

That answer seemed to do the trick, if the look in their eyes was anything to go by. The girl, Katiah, spoke next. "W-We want to become Adventurers, too!"

"...Why?"

"Adventure!" All three answered in unison with a joyful tone in their voices.

Twitch.

Twitch.

His eye twitch going unnoticed, Fuzen took a second to let their answer sink in. "...You are over-romanticizing. Adventure is just a small part of an Adventurer's life." Well, he said that, but it wasn't like he knew what 'adventure' was to begin with. Descending into the Dungeon that had been explored a million times over for a thousand years, just fighting Monsters and gathering materials was not something he himself defined as 'adventure'. "Most of the time you are just going to train, if you want to live that is, cater to your Deity's countless wants and needs and get covered in mud and blood as you get pitted against waves after waves of Monsters."

Despite his words, however, the spark in their eyes did not seem to diminish. "We are still going to become Adventurers! No matter what!" The cheeky girl replied in turn.

'You'll die trying.'

That is what he wanted to tell them, but managed to hold back. He wasn't their friend, nor their family member or their mentor: if they wanted to die young in pursuit of a fake impression of adventure, they were free to do as they wanted. Their choice was their own, even if he knew that naive, starry-eyed country kids like them would be taken advantage of the moment they stepped foot in Orario. Chances of them dying as beginners diving into the Dungeon were also sky high.

Even so, it was none of his business. "...I see. Work hard, then."

With that he hoped to end the conversation, but his luck would not have it. "U-Uh…Could you show us your power?" Asked the tailed youth.

"...What?"

"W-We've never seen an Adventurer before. Not a lot of people pass through our village. So, if you could…"

By now even the usually calm Fuzen was starting to get slightly annoyed. He knew normal kids could be cheeky and demanding, but as his exposure was limited to mostly only Alya, he hadn't built a resistance to kids yet.

'I want to tell them to scram already. But, I am a member of Loki Familia. And a Disciple of the Lighting Sword Style. Neither my Familia nor my school would shush away those kids. Haaa…Expectations…'

"Miss Teasanare." He called out to the Doctor, gaining both her attention as well as that of the gathered village people. "I'll go find a spot where I can show those kids the power of an Adventurer. I'll be gone for a moment. If anything happens, scream. There will be some lightning too, probably, so please reassure everyone that they are not in any danger."

With that out of the way he signalled the group of three to follow him as he moved away from the center of the village, making his way towards the main road. "What do you three know of Adventurers?"

The shy one of the three, Loyce, spoke for the first time. "T-They're strong."

"...Sure. Why is that?"

The girl, Katiah, stepped up next. "The Falna from the Gods, right?"

'I mean, there are other ways to obtain strength, too. People are so quick to forget the true and tested olden ways…Haaa.'

"Well, true enough. Then, what exactly sets an Adventurer apart from ordinary people?"

At that question the three exchanged looks, then shrugged. Well, not exactly a surprise. They were kids, after all, and they lived out here in the middle of nowhere. Even if they were literate, which Fuzen somehow doubted, books and learning material would be a luxury in such a small village. Their knowledge of Adventurers probably stemmed just from word of mouth and stories told at night. "Four things: an elevated physical and mental state, granted by the Falna, and then Skills, Development Abilities and Magic. Do you three know what Levels are?"

Herrik nodded. "The higher the Level, the stronger the Adventurer, right?"

"Yes. But do you know exactly how much each Level increases the capabilities of an individual?"

As the three all shook their heads, Fuzen began a short series of demonstrations for them to see what an Adventurer of each Level would roughly be able to do. For Level 1, he simply jumped up on a nearby roof in a single leap.

For Level 2, he grabbed a fist sized stone and crushed it in his palm, the stone shattering into countless pieces.

For Level 3, he had the three run up some one hundred meters away from him on the main road, then ran up to them in record time, their unblesses eyes only able to see his approach in three steps: him starting to run, him reaching the halfway point the next second, then him standing in front of them a moment after that. Leaving the village and thus Amid's side was not something he had done carelessly, of course: while walking he had Raiju turn into his small form and keep an eye on her from the skies.

Finally, for Level 4, Fuzen noticed a boulder nearby that was roughly as high as his chest and lifted it up with both hands, showing them how relatively easy it was to lift a couple hundred kilograms, then threw the boulder up and cleanly cut it in half.

Luckily, even in his tired state the Ki control needed to regulate and both decrease and raise his abilities to those of each Level had not been hard to achieve, even if he had not done it in quick succession for quite some while now.

A demonstration of Level 4 feats was the limit he would give the youths, however. Not because he couldn't go any further, because he could, but rather because they didn't need to see anything above that. Most Adventurers would go a lifetime without reaching Level 3 or 4, after all.

As for the three youths, well…their jaws practically fell to the ground as they watched Fuzen, someone only a few years older than them, perform feats they only heard of from the bedtime stories about Heroes and Adventurers. "Whoa…He really lifted that huge boulder above his head…"

"I-It's cut in half…"

"Could we do that too if we received a Falna…?"

Overhearing their chatter, he turned to them with a slight frown on his brows. "Don't become arrogant. Receiving a Falna is nothing more than getting the right to stand at the starting line, nothing more. Orario is filled with Adventurers, and yet the majority of them don't ever rise above Level 2 despite years and years of diving into the Dungeon. True growth only happens through training, dedication and pain, and the sacrifice of both time and comfort."

Whatever his words got through to them, Fuzen did not know, but they at least seemed to mull them over and try to understand their meaning. That was a lot more than most kids their age would do.

"Now, besides physical strength, what else gives an Adventurer an edge while fighting Monsters in the Dungeon? If you paid attention, you will remember I told you the answer just a couple of minutes ago."

The shy boy, Loyce, answered. "Uhh…Skills, Abilities and Magic, right?"

That is correct. What do you know about them?"

Unfortunately, they could not answer that question, their knowledge was too lacking. So for the next couple of minutes, Fuzen gave them a small summary of what Skills and Development Abilities were, how most Adventurers gained them as well as the distinction between the two.

When it came to Magic, however, he went for a practical demonstration, mostly because he wanted to see if his body's condition affected his accuracy. His eyes focused on a spot about one hundred meters away, Fuzen reached out to his connection with Raiju, Mind and Ki merging as one as he lifted both index and middle finger up. In a flash, a bolt of lightning struck the spot he was focusing on, leaving the three kids awestruck.

Well, two of them. The little girl screamed and closed her eyes as she squeezed the life out of the Chienthrope boy. It was quite obvious she did not react well to lightning and thunder.

"You can summon lightning?!"

"Yes." With a nod he pointed his index and middle finger in the distance and discharged a bolt into the distance. "I can emit it from my body, too."

"That's so awesome!"

"It's not awesome, it's lethal. Back to topic, however, remember that Magic is as unique as there are people in the world. There are no two spells which are the same or work the same, and unlocking even just one Spell is seen as a huge boon to the Familia you belong to. You could say being able to use Magic increases your worth as an individual fivefold. Few people ever get to have their own Spells however, and your survival in a fight against a Spell user will depend on how quickly you can figure out the mechanics behind said Spell, and how to counter it. Lastly, you unfortunately cannot choose whatever you want it or not: if you unlock a Spell, you are stuck with it. You can't make it disappear."

"But that's good, isn't it?"

"...Depends on your perspective." Fuzen sighed as he began walking back towards the village, signaling the three kids to follow him. "Well, I have done my job of teaching you rudimentary knowledge of being an Adventurer. With this, we are done."

Though they seemed sad at the notion, the three kids nonetheless nodded and thanked him for everything. "Thank you for your instructions, Big Bro Fuzen!"

As soon as that title reached his ears, Fuzen remembered that ever-laughing awkward guy who never stopped calling him 'Bro' and his hand immediately went to grab the shy boy's head, lifting him up with one hand as he continued walking forward, a frown on his eyebrows. "I ain't your bro, kid."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

With a shake of his head he let go of the boy. "One extra piece of advice: most Adventurers are not kind people. I'd even go as far as to say a good chunk of them are not good people at all. That goes even more so for Deities. Keep that in mind, if you ever step foot in Orario wishing to become Adventurers."

"Sir Fuzen-"

"Do I look like a Sir to you? I'm only two heads taller than you."

"...Uhh, what Familia are you part of?"

He had not intended to actually say what Familia he was from on this little trip of his guarding the Doctor, but…he saw no actual backlash from revealing that to three kids. "Loki Familia."

The three kids nodded at the answer, and the silence continued for a long second until the shy boy, Loyce, screamed out in shock. "Loki Familia?! That's the Familia led by Braver, isn't it?! The Braver!?" By now it wasn't just Loyce whose eyes were sparkling with excitement, but also the other two.

'Captain is pretty famous, huh? Also, this kid should decide whether he's shy or not already...'

"That is correct."

"That's so awesome! Hey, what's Braver like in person?! Is it true he can command a whole army while fighting at the same time?!"

"...That would be true, yes. As for how he is…Captain Finn is a demanding person, but he's also hard-working, himself. He does not accept people who are not willing to improve themselves into the Familia."

Their eyes seemed to sparkle even more at that information, obviously excited to hear about someone they only heard about in stories from a person who actually knew him personally.

Watching them, Fuzen began to remember something from his past. Something he had forgotten, or better said, buried in the depths of his mind.

That's right, back then his friends had similar expressions on their faces when their training began and the road to power seemed so short in their young eyes. Granted, unlike those three kids, their eyes sparkled with much darker desires back then: vengeance, anger, hatred…Not something as innocent as hearing about one of their heroes from someone.

But…the expressions, they were the same.

If he had died in place of any of them, what would his friends have done in his place?

The answer to that question came to him shortly, and he let out a small sigh escape his lips. "...You three. Do you really intend to become Adventurers?"

"Yes!" None of them hesitated in their reply.

"Even though you know it could lead to you being hurt?"

"We'll become Adventurers, no matter what!"

"...Right. Do any of you have a piece of paper and a pen at home?"

"H-Huh? What for…?"

"I'll write you a letter of recommendation for Loki Familia, if you're that hell-bent on becoming Adventurers."

The world stood still for the three as they processed what Fuzen just said before the biggest smile imaginable began to show on their faces. "You mean that?!"

"Question my genuinity again and see what happens. I said I'll do it, so I'll do it. Pen and paper: do you have it?"

Herrik nodded and jumped up and down, soon followed by the other two. "I have some at home! Please, this way! Hurry!"

"Don't rush me."

'You shitty brats.' That part, however, went unspoken.

Before long Fuzen was at Herrik's place, the house empty as his parents were in the center of the village getting checked on by Amid, writing letters of recommendation for each of the three kids. Originally he planned on only writing one, but there was the chance one or two of them might die or wake up from their childish dreams by the time they could travel on their own, so instead he began to write one letter for each of them.

When he was done he grabbed all three letters in his hand and stood up, holding them out to the kids. "Here you go." They thanked him and reached out for their letters, but he pulled them back at the last second. "You don't seem to understand."

"W-What do you mean…?"

"By writing you this letter, I am putting down my word that you three are not going to be a liability to my Familia in the future. I don't care if it takes you five, ten or fifteen years to make use of these letters. If any of you puts as much as a smidge of shame on my name and goodwill through your actions or words…I'll kill you."

Young as they were, the three still understood that the threat was genuine: they felt it in their very bones. The person in front of them wasn't someone to be taken lightly, even they understood that much.

Yet, despite the sweat on their faces, all three of them reached out for the letters. "Thank you."

"...I doubt you'll be thanking me once you realize what you are wishing for."

Another sigh escaped his lips as they left the house and headed towards the village center, the three kids smiling with grins big enough to split their faces in two. Whatever his decision was a good one, Fuzen did not know.

Despite his own young age, he had proven his strength and battle instinct many times over. Both Loki and Finn appreciated him for what he brought to the Familia. Sure, he was not an Executive or anything like that, but a letter of recommendation had some weight behind it.

Even with how fickle Deities were, he doubted Loki would have any actual reason to turn down the three kids in the future. Which in turn meant their future as Adventurers in one of the strongest Familia in the world was more or less guaranteed if they still harbored the desire to become Adventurers in the future.

Was this really okay, though?

He decided on it simply because of a memory they instilled within him, but they were about as useful as the next group of kids: neither talented nor special. He also had his hands full with the East District and Mikoto herself, so he would not provide them any more help.

But then, they would not be anything special if any of them decided to truly pursue their dreams in the future and reach out to his Familia.

'They are the kids of farmers, so they'll have their hands full helping out their family the more they grow up. Is there anything…?'

It did not take him long to figure it out, however, and he turned to the three. "Hey. There are other villages nearby. How many hours would it take to reach the closest one to this village on foot?"

The three took a moment to ponder on the answer. "Maybe like…one and a half hours?"

"That'll do. You three, starting tomorrow and until you set out, wake up one hour earlier and run to the nearest village first thing in the morning."

"E-Eh…? Why?" The Chienthrope boy asked.

"You idiot, do you think some village kid like you will just shine as Adventurers from the moment you receive a Falna? Do you think you are that special? You are not. But at least you know what you want to do from an early age, so use your time wisely and prepare for that which you seek. Stamina is the single most important attribute to any Adventurer: whatever you are fighting, diving into the Dungeon for whole days or weeks or running away from danger, you'll need stamina. So run. Run every day like your life depends on it. When that gets too easy, fill a bag with stones and carry that on your back. When that load gets too easy, increase the weight. When you are not running or working the fields, learn how to throw stones, axes and knives, and ask your village elders or nearby hunters to make you bows and learn how to use those, too."

Though they looked taken aback by all the requests he made of them, the kids nonetheless found it within themselves to nod in return. "W-We'll do our best!"

"...You better. That's all the help and advice you will get from me. You are on your own from now on."

Without further ado he made his way to where Amid was, the doctor having already finished her check-ups by now and engaging in conversation with the villagers. Saying their goodbyes the duo left the village and walked down the road until they would be out of sight and Raiju could pick them up.

"You were gone for quite a while. What did you and those children do?" Amid asked.

"...Nothing much. I just showed them what an Adventurer is capable of and gave them some advice, nothing more. They apparently desire to become Adventurers themselves in the future."

"Oh, I see…" She nodded with a smile on her lips. Going by the amount of time he had been gone, she figured he did more than just give them some trivial advice.

"More importantly, I hope my idea has not been a bad experience for you? I mean…I kind of planned this whole thing without your approval…"

Consideration.

Had anyone told her that the boy she met back then, cold and detached, would show signs of consideration for others, she might have believed them but not without letting out a small laugh in return, which she did now as well. "I had a great time, Fuzen. Thank you for asking. Being able to treat people freely after spending so much time in Orario…It was a great experience. And I have you to thank for it."

The sight of that gentle smile of hers captured his stare for a moment longer than it should have, but he quickly composed himself and looked straight ahead. "You have nothing to thank me for."

"Oh, I think I do, actually."

Inhale…

Exhale…

"T-Then…next time you have a day off, tell me and fly you off to treat people again."

That was quite shocking to hear: Amid had a hard time imagining the boy pushing aside his 'training time' for any one person. "Are you sure?"

"Because it's you…yeah, I'm sure."

The awkward silence that set in was quickly interrupted by Raiju coming out of the woods, ready to take them to the next village, and Fuzen for once thanked the lizard for it. Fuzen could do many things: fight strong opponents, brave the Dungeon, outsmart people many times his age, remain calm and battle ready in dire situations.

The one thing he could not do, however, was keep his calm and act like Fuzen Katsumi when the Doctor was beside him.

XXX

7th Day…

It was finally the end of his week of 'rest', a week that had been unexpectedly longer than most other weeks in his life so far.

He and Amid had arrived back in Orario around ten o'clock the day before, just perfect enough a time for Raiju to not be seen as he flew over the walls surrounding the city. After walking her back home he returned home as well, dead tired from all the walking.

In truth, he had no plans for the day. He had made no promises to meet anyone, nor was there anything he needed to do today.

When he woke up in the morning he actually decided on doing some reading after breakfast, at least as much reading as his brain would allow him to do before he felt like falling asleep again.

But of course, he was Fuzen Katsumi.

And nothing ever went as planned for him.

As soon as he finished eating and was about to go to his room for some reading, a runner from the District came by with a message: someone from his Familia came to see him. With yet another sigh escaping his lips Fuzen made his way to the restaurant this person was waiting for him at.

Naturally, everyone in his Familia knew where his mansion was, but in order to keep them from seeing Alya and complicating things, he had asked them to not visit him directly at home. This request was backed by the explanation that those women who lived at his house were still very jumpy around people they did not know.

Not the entire truth, but also not a complete lie. They did not take well to men or Adventurers in general, which only made sense given the fact entire years of their lives had been hellish because of them.

However, out of the twenty-three women, only a few of them had symptoms that severe. Most of them, like Yua, could go out shopping and they had little trouble talking with people…as long as those people were from the East District, that is.

Nonetheless, the fact that he did not completely lie stood, and except for some unhinged people like Tiona, everyone accepted his reasoning and agreed to meet him outside his mansion if the need ever arose.

He knew it wouldn't be a long-term solution, but for now it worked to keep the others from seeing Alya. Explaining how she came to be would be…a highly awkward conversation. He was still working out on how to ever explain it without revealing the secrets of Ki usage.

'Just another pain in my butt to worry about…Haaa…'

Shaking his head he opened the door to the restaurant where the person was waiting for him and as soon as he stepped inside, he noticed a certain red-head Deity jumping on top of the table she was waiting at and plunging towards him. "Fuuuzeeennn~!"

With a twitch in his eye he took two steps backwards and raised his arms, catching the Goddess so she wouldn't land on her face. The damn woman smirked, knowing that unlike the others he wouldn't let her fall and wrapped her arms and legs around him like a koala. "Loki-sama, it's disrespectful to step on tables. Also, unhand me before I fry you to a crisp."

"Aww, come on~ Let your Goddess hug you~"

Sparks of electricity already began to flicker to life all around his body. "Three…"

Loki quickly got the hint and pulled away from him, a smirk still on her face. "Come on, don't be like that~"

"...May I ask what the reason for your visit is, Loki-sama? Has something happened?"

"Yes, something has happened! Listen to this:" She dropped to her knees, looking defeated. "All the others are bullying me!"

"...That is nothing new, now is it?"

Actual tears began to fall down her cheeks as she looked up at him, grabbing his shirt. "No one will spend time with me, and everyone ignores me when all I want to do is talk with them! I have become an outcast in my own Familia! Nobody likes meeeee!"

'Gods, talk about an ugly crying face…Urgh…'

"So what do you want me to do about it? I can't exactly force them to like you, you know? I mean, I can, but my ways wouldn't exactly be humane…"

"You're the only one I can turn to, Fuzen! You're a good boy, unlike the others! Show me that I am still the Goddess of this Familia! Spend some time with me! Please, I'll do anything!"

By now he was actively pushing her face away from him, trying to keep her tears and snot from wetting his clothes, ignoring the weird stares the staff and customers of the restaurant were giving them. "For Heaven's sake, woman, there are people here. Stop embarrassing yourself."

But of course, she did not stop. "Fuuuzeeennnn!"

"God damn it, why do I have to deal with an unhinged person like you?! Fine, fine! I'll spend some time with you! Stop crying and wipe your nose already, woman!"

A split second later the Goddess was already up on her feet, no signs of her former tears to be seen. A big smile split her face in two as she opened the door and stepped outside. "Kay, let's go then~"

"...Where are all those tears you were shedding just a second ago?"

Ignoring his question Loki grabbed him by the hand and yanked him after her. "Don't worry about that~ Come on, let's have some fun~"

'And I'm already regretting this…'

From the East District Loki had him follow her all around Orario, window shopping every five minutes for an entire hour before she decided she was hungry and walked half the city back to the same restaurant she once brought him to, where they served ribs. Though Fuzen had a suspicion she wanted to go there mostly for the dark rum they served and less for the food.

Naturally, Loki had no money on her so Fuzen had to pay for everything.

Twitch…

Following her late breakfast, Loki decided she wanted to do some actual shopping and they walked half the city again until they arrived in a part of town where a lot of classy shops were located. Then she began to terrorize the clerks with her needs and wants as Fuzen sat down on a chair, arms folded across his chest as his foot tapped against the floor.

"You wear the same outfit everyday, why do you even need fancy clothes?" he had asked, about half an hour into the shopping.

"Come on now, don't ask a lady why she needs clothes or shoes, lil' Fuzen~"

And so it began: from long dresses to short dresses, corsets and casual wear, Loki held nothing back as she tried outfit after outfit, two clerks having to see to her simply because of how quickly she changed from one outfit.

"How's this?!" She asked her Familia member as she came out of the dressing room, wearing a long intricate black dress with no shoulder straps and high heels.

To anyone else, she might have looked like some high-class rich woman. To the boy, however…"You look like a moron, no matter what you wear."

"Challenge accepted, then! I'll find something that will leave you speechless yet~" And so, she went back to the dressing room.

Twitch

Twitch…

"Are you even going to buy anything?"

She poked her head out at the question, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe~?"

That answer had both Fuzen and the clerks let out a long, tired sigh.

After around one and a half hours of trying on clothes Loki decided she wasn't actually going to buy anything and they left the shop, the clerks no doubt cursing them both for wasting their time.

From there they continued to walk until they walked by a theater and Loki noticed that a play would be held in forty minutes, and so she decided she wanted to see it. Left with no choice, Fuzen paid double the price for last-minute tickets and he had to wait with her until it would start.

Loki, being herself, laughed her butt off at the comedic play which once again earned them the angry stares of the entire theater hall.

Twitch.

Twitch!

Two hours later the play finally ended and Fuzen sighed as he hoped for a moment of respite from his unhinged Goddess. However, it wasn't long before Loki stumbled upon a group of Deities she knew while they were walking, and another hour passed by as he was forced to follow the group to a café where they chatted about the most mundane and useless things a sentient being could engage in conversation with. Payment for Loki's drinks was, once again, covered by Fuzen.

Luckily, the other Deities had things to do and he was forced to listen to their bullcrap for only one hour.

'I'm so done with this bullshit…'

Though his mind was filled with ways about how he could kill Loki, Fuzen did not fail to notice a certain group of people in the distance which caught his attention. "Hmm?"

"What is it?"

He pointed in the direction he had seen the group. "I'm pretty sure I just saw Lefiya, Tiona, Alicia and Seiji over there, but they ran away as soon as I looked at them…"

Loki froze for a single moment, but her smile quickly returned to her lips. "Are you sure you didn't mistake them for someone else?"

"No, I'm sure it was them. They were holding some sort of boxes in their arms, and ran away the moment I noticed them. That's rather weird-"

Her arm wrapped around his neck as she forced him to start walking again. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing!"

"But-"

"They're on their periods!"

"Wait what? But Seiji's a guy-"

"Hey, look! That stall is selling skewers! Let's go buy some, I'm famished!"

"You just ate at the theater-"

"Be quiet, you!"

"You can tell me to be quiet when you pay for your own food, you shitty Goddess."

"What was that you said?"

"I said you are a shitty Goddess who lets kids pay for her tabs."

"Le gasp!"

"Don't vocalize your own shock."

Though both Loki's words and the group's actions were weird, Fuzen knew better than to think too deeply about his dumbass acquaintance or his dumbass Familia's actions, so he let it slide.

After Loki stuffed her face with some skewers she wanted to go drinking, but Fuzen put his foot down and turned down the idea. The one thing he really did not want to deal with was his Goddess as a drunk mess, because he knew for sure he would squeeze the life out of her.

Her idea of a good time turned down, Loki however came up with something else, and while it was not as annoying as her being drunk…

'Why am I part of this Familia…?'

"Yipee!" The Goddess spread her arms to the sides as they flew through the air on Raiju, embracing the chilly cold of the high altitude wind as they soared through the sky.

Yes, she wanted to fly, out of all things.

When Fuzen heard her request, his initial response had been 'Okay, let's go to the top of the Babel and I'll throw you down', mostly because for her to get her wish, they would need to walk through half the city once again, for the fifth time that day.

Naturally, Fuzen could simply call Raiju over telepathically, but that would then reveal his ability to talk to the lizard through their minds, a secret no one else but the two themselves were aware of.

So instead, they had to go all the way back to the East District, where Raiju 'just so happened' to run into them while patrolling the District.

It was fine, though. Fuzen had told Loki this was absolutely the last thing he would do with her for the day, and she had agreed. All he needed to do was put up with her moronic ass for a bit until she had too much of the cold wind and asked to go back.

"I'm the Queen of the skies! Hahaha!" Her idiotic remarks and laughing did not make things any easier, however.

"Stop moving around so much or you'll fall down."

"It's fine even if I do: I know my knight in shining armor will catch me~"

At her words Fuzen looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes bloodshed and twitching, leaving no room for doubt about what he would do if she were to truly fall.

"Okay, maybe not…Hey now, calm down or you'll pop a vein…"

'How about I strangle you until your fricking eyes pop out instead?'

Though he wanted to vocalize those words, Fuzen had grown enough to know when threats should be used and when they should just fade into nothingness. With a sigh he collected himself, looking straight ahead as they flew over pastures and mountains, Orario already no longer visible behind them.

"Hey, Fuzen."

"What?"

"How are you?" The question came as a surprise, enough for him to look back at Loki. The goofiness was gone from her features, her scarlet eyes staring intensly back at him, yet not judging him, either. "I heard from Finn that Amid had you take a week off."

"...It's nothing. You don't need to worry. If I ever reach a physical state of being where I would be a liability to the Familia, I would be the first to make that known. You know that."

"I know. But you didn't answer my question."

As insufferable as she was at times, Fuzen could also not deny the fact that Loki was a good Patron Deity. She was someone who goofed around a lot, but knew when to step up. Because of that, he felt forced to at least be truthful to her. "I'm…not fine. But it's nothing to be worried about. I'll figure it out. I promise."

Though a bit saddened that he wouldn't reveal more, Loki nonetheless smiled and nodded back at him. "I see. We're here if you need help." She voiced before letting her hand rest on his shoulder. "I'm here if you need me."

He stared at her hand for a long moment, then back at her. "...I'll keep that in mind."

"Mhm! Then, let's fly-!"

"And how are you?"

Now it was her time to be confused by the question. "What do you mean?"

"...You know exactly what I mean, Loki."

She did.

And as his words awakened those memories she tried so damn hard to forget, her facade began to crumble as her mind was flooded by the emotions she first felt when her mind linked with Fuzen's, emotions that an immortal being like her should not have been capable of feeling.

Pain. Misery. Envy. Anger. Madness. Delusion. Self-loathing. Hatred.

Hatred.

Hatred!

Hatred!

HATRED!

All of them, all at once!

Cranked up to eleven, twenty, fifty, a hundred!

Too much emotions, too much for anyone to bear!

They filled her up, ripped her apart piece by piece, taking away everything she thought made her who she was, replacing every fiber of 'Loki' with their intensity!

She had thought herself powerful, sane, in control: under the weight of those overflowing emotions, she understood that she was in fact tiny. Insignificant.

Her arms slowly wrapped around herself, her teeth biting into her lip until it drew blood as fingernails scraped against skin and muscle until it tore them apart, rivers of blood dripping down her arms.

Her whole body tensed as much as it could, but even that was not enough to quell the painfully searing sensation in her chest, the heaviness in her throat.

She wanted to scream, but knew that no amount of screaming would ever come close to what she needed to let out.

She wanted to rip apart, either herself or someone else, but knew that no amount of ripping would ever come close to what she needed.

Hatred.

There was so much hatred.

So much, she neither understood where it could possibly come from, nor how there could possibly be so much of it.

But it was there. She was drawing in it. Sinking inside of it. Getting devoured by it.

She hated it!

She hated everything! The world, other people, herself!

She hated the sensation, most of all! The emotion itself!

There was too much of it! So much that it hurt!

So much that it evolved into misery, pain, anger and madness, all at once!

She just wanted it to stop!

Just stop!

Stop!

STOP!

She would make it stop, even if she had to kill hers-!

Her thoughts began to disperse as Loki felt a hand gently resting on top of her head, her mind clearing of all distraction soon after. Finally, it was quiet. Serene.

Even her body felt warm, despite the chilly altitude they were flying at.

"W-What…?"

Fuzen stared back at her, the same nonchalant expression on his face as always. "Well…that answers my question, I guess." He sighed and removed his hand from her head, reaching into his potion pouch and extending a healing potion to her. "Here. Drink it."

Loki blinked a few times at him, unsure of what he meant. Then the pain began to set in, amplified by the cold wind. "Awww! It hurts, it hurts, IT HURTS!" She looked down and realized that she had clawed at her own arms, five long gashes visible on both of her upper arms.

Her fingernails had dug deep into her own skin and flesh, ripping it apart halfway to the bone.

Rolling his eyes at the sight of her freaking out, Fuzen stood up and pulled the lid of the potion out before grabbing Loki by the back of her head, yanking her head backwards and forcing the potion down her throat.

The effect soon kicked in and in mere seconds the wounds she inflicted on herself disappeared as if never there. "Better?"

"...Better." She whispered back with a sigh before meeting his gaze. "Sorry."

"...What for?"

"I didn't want you to see that. It's getting better, I swear. I can sleep at night and stuff. But, just now…"

Fuzen understood what she was trying to say and cut her off. "It's fine. I'm used to my face awakening unpleasant memories in others. You don't have to apologize."

"...Some Goddess I am…"

"You are the best Goddess you could possibly be. At least, that is what I think."

Those words managed to get a bitter smile out of her. "Is there really nothing-?"

"No. There isn't."

"I see…" She nodded weakly in return. "Does it ever get better?"

"For you? I think so. They are not your emotions. You just need time."

"And for-?"

"No."

"...I see." The more she asked, the more powerless she felt. However, she knew that asking was the very least she could do. "Is this what it means…to be mortal?"

Her question went unanswered for a long, long moment, but Fuzen finally shook his head. "No."

Of course, she knew that much. If that was common among most mortals, the suicide rate would be hundreds of times higher than it was at the moment. "...That bad, huh?" The chuckle that she managed to let out was pure bitter. "How do you manage?"

Instead of answering her question, Fuzen took off his haori and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You talk too much." He voiced as he turned his back to her and sat back down on the flying dragon, eyes looking straight ahead. "Though you are also insufferable, you are at your best when you are a carefree goof. So focus on that instead, Loki-sama."

An attempt at caring.

That managed to bring a small smile back to her lips. She'd smite anyone who dared to say her stone-faced brat wasn't capable of caring for others…minimally as it may be.

"...Okay~!"

"Mhh. Should we head back, Loki-sama?"

"Yeah…Let's head back."

…

…

…

Some twenty minutes later they were back in Orario, having landed back into the East District.

Meeting Loki happened at around ten o'clock, and now it was close to five. He had endured his Goddess's presence for almost seven straight hours. Fuzen was not one to pat himself on his back, but this time around, he allowed himself to do just that.

Still, he wasn't done just yet.

Raiju landed back into his District in order for him to go back to patrolling the streets, but Fuzen couldn't possibly let Loki walk back to the Twilight Manor by herself. While Loki Familia was well-known and well-liked in general, that did not mean they didn't have enemies.

Though he doubted anyone was truly foolish enough to try and harm their Goddess in plain daylight, he knew better than to underestimate humanity's stupidity.

All he needed was to walk her back home, then he could finally be rid of her and enjoy the rest of his day in peace.

However, as they neared their Familia Home he began to notice something out of place. "...There are no guards."

"Hmm? Oh yeah, you're right…" Loki hummed in agreement as they approached the front gates of the Twilight Manor.

It didn't make sense.

The Level 1's of their Familia all had to take turns standing guard at the front gates in a rotation system which Captain Finn came up with. This system was in effect from seven in the morning to nine in the evening.

It was not yet nine in the evening.

And the only time when guards were not stationed at the gates was when they went on an Expedition…or when there was an emergency.

"Loki. Were there any signs of an emergency before you came to my District?"

"Hmmm…No, can't think of anything~"

Fuzen was sure that if an actual emergency had happened, Captain Finn would have sent for him. That did not happen.

However, he couldn't get the curiosity gnawing at his mind to get away, either.

Finally, he decided to follow Loki inside the Familia Home, and once again his suspicion only grew bigger. "...It's quiet."

Loki Familia had close to one hundred members. And all of them lived within the Twilight Manor. There was always the sound of someone walking, jumping, talking, eating or anything of that nature echoing within the building.

The notion of 'quiet' did not apply to a residence with one hundred members.

And yet, not a single sound could be heard.

Click!

In a single swift motion he drew his sword: it was not his main equipment, those swords were still in Amid's possession, but a sword was a sword. He could kill with it, no problem.

"Ehh? What? Is something wrong?"

"Be quiet." He told his Goddess as he closed his eyes and focused. With how tired his body and mind had been for a while now he couldn't quite extend his Ki radius to as much as what he was normally capable of, but it was still enough for him to figure out that there was not a single living being above them, below them or to their left.

However, he felt more than enough Ki signatures to the right.

"...The mess hall."

"What?"

"Shut up and stay behind me."

Slowly but firmly, he began to walk towards the mess hall. It was there he felt the signatures of many, many people. However, just like it was on a street full of passing people, he couldn't really make out who the signatures belonged to. They were too close to each other, overlapping and canceling each other out.

They got closer and closer, and Fuzen noticed how the doors to the mess hall, which were usually wide open, were closed shut. From behind he could hear soft murmurs and light sounds, but nothing that would help him figure out what was going on.

"Fuzen, I'm scared~"

"Just be quiet and stay behind me."

They whispered to each other as they stood in front of the doors. Without wasting anymore time, Fuzen raised his leg and kicked the doors wide open, ready to attack-

"SURPRISE-!"

Crackle!

As soon as the doors swung open the sound of small explosions could be heard as the room was filled with many different colors, each no bigger than a snowflake.

His instincts kicking in, Fuzen raised his index and middle finger and pointed forward towards the largest concentration of people he could see. Just as the electricity began to travel from his core to his fingertips, he realized that he knew everyone in that group of people.

A split second later, he realized they were not enemies.

Just as the bolt of lightning was discharged from his fingertips, Fuzen managed to raise his hand through sheer force of will in order for the attack to hit the ceiling in the far back and not the people.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..Surprise~?" Loki broke the awkward silence as Fuzen stared at his Familia, while his Familia stared back at him.

With a twitch in his eye, Fuzen looked left and right: the whole mess hall had been decorated with balloons, colorful pre-strung banners, paper honeycombs and metallic swirls. The tables were filled with food and he saw more than just a couple of barrels of drinks in the distance. "...What is the meaning of this?"

"It's a surprise birthday party~" Loki answered as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Whose birthday?"

"Yours, silly~"

"...Today's my birthday?"

"Yeah. You know, it's the 21st? Of the fourth month?"

"...Wait, how do you know when my birthday is?"

At his question a single couch could be heard as a certain someone stepped out from the group of people opposite of him. "Yeah, about that…" Seiji said sheepishly.

The glare Fuzen threw at him was nothing if not murderous. "You."

"Yes. Me. Sorry…"

"You had one job, Seiji. One. Job."

"I'm sorry, okay?! Your Goddess doesn't exactly take 'No' for an answer once she is onto something!"

Shaking his head at the older boy's idiocy, Fuzen sheathed his sword, his eyes still shooting glares at everything and everyone. "I do not understand. What exactly is all this supposed to be?"

Loki blinked a couple of times, unsure about his confusion. "Well, like we said, it's a surprise birthday party-"

"I heard you. I do not know what the meaning behind all this is supposed to be. What is the meaning behind it? What are you celebrating exactly? What is with all of those decorations? What about the cost of putting all this together? Is it rude if I pay you all back for all the work, or rude if I don't? Is there anything specific I should do, or anything specific I should not do?"

One after the other, he shot question after question, barely giving anyone time to answer any of them. Having had enough of him being dense, Loki nodded to the nearest group of people and jumped on Fuzen's back, arms and legs wrapped around his body.

"What are you doing?!"

"Now!"

At her signal eight Familia members rushed towards him and grabbed him by the arms and legs, lifting him into the air as soon as the Goddess jumped back. "What is the meaning of this?!"

The group smirked and began to throw him up into the air, catching him again, then throwing him up again. All the while, the larger group all started in unison. "Happy Birthday to you~!"

"UNHAND ME, YOU PEASANTS!"

They did, however, not unhand him. They continued to push him up into the air until the others finished their song, then forced him to sit down at the table.

"To answer your questions…" Loki voiced as soon as he was seated. "You just need to have a good time, birthday boy."

A good time…That was not something he was familiar with.

He had never celebrated any birthday, neither his nor anyone else's. He had turned twelve years old: why exactly that needed to be celebrated, he did not understand. It was not an achievement, nor something he had earned through his own hard work.

It was just…something.

Every time he had heard that a birthday party would be held for someone within the Familia in the two years he had been part of it, he made sure he would be deep in the Dungeon on that day.

It wasn't because he hated birthday parties. You couldn't hate something you did not know, after all.

However, he doubted his 'cheerful' personality would improve any sort of celebratory event. Yes, the reason he had avoided most parties within the Familia for two long years was because he knew himself well enough to know he would only sour the mood with his presence.

It is also why he kept his own date of birth a secret.

That was now gone, thanks to Seiji.

However…looking around the mess hall: the decorations, the food, the time it must have taken to put all this stuff together…Even someone like him could figure out this had not been just a hastily thrown together party. Even Bete was present, though he kept to himself by leaning on a wall, looking about as pissed as he always did.

'At the very least…I should accept their work, if nothing else.'

"...What should I do, exactly?"

Loki's smile grew wider as she made a sign towards the huge cake in front of him, with the numbers '12'on top, surrounded by twelve candles. "You can start by blowing out the candles."

He gave a nod and sat up on his chair to blow out the candles, followed by a round of applause.

It was then, however, that something clicked in his mind and he turned to Loki. "...Did you have me running around the town all day long following you so the others could set all this up?"

Before she could reply, the blonde Pallum stepped up. "That was actually my idea, Fuzen."

"...I see. Sorry for not being a very good…birthday person, then." He replied as he looked up, to the burn marks on the ceiling caused by his lightning. "...And for damaging the ceiling. I'll see to the repairs."

"Don't worry about that." Finn let out a chuckle as he walked up to a table and retrieved two swords, one long and one short. "I believe those are yours?"

"My swords. But how…?"

"Amid said you deserve them back for being a good patient for seven days. She couldn't come to the party, but she wished you a happy birthday. Oh, and she left a card, too."

'So even Amid knew, huh? God damn it, Seiji…Haaa…'

Shaking his head he accepted the swords back, taking his spare out as he placed the two masterpieces where they belonged: at his side. Once this was over he would store the spare back in his room, but for now it could wait on the table.

"Now, before we start the feast, how about you come and have a loot at the presents, Fuzen?"

He raised an eyebrow at the Pallum's words. "What presents?"

"The ones we have prepared for you, of course." Finn laughed as he signaled Fuzen to come closer to a table filled with a couple boxes. The Pallum grabbed a long box first, handing it to Fuzen.

The moment he looked at it, the boy could already guess what was inside. Once he held it, he was even more sure thanks to the weight. He began to unwrap the present and once he did, he was holding a beautiful katana in his hand.

The length and weight were perfect, and once he drew the blade he knew it was a second-class weapon: the quality spoke for itself. Not quite high enough to be a first-class weapon, but still more than ninety percent of weapons out for sale in Orario.

"It was Seiji's idea." Finn voiced, a smile forming on his lips as he noticed how pleased Fuzen was with the sword. "We all pitched in to have it forged, so that is a present from everyone here. Amid included, of course."

'Everyone pitched in for this? Makes sense…Even if it's not first-class, even a weapon like this would cost a lot. Even if a hundred people were to pitch in, the individual cost would be…'

Even though he guessed Loki, Finn and the other Executives had probably paid a greater sum than the lower Leveled members, that still meant everyone else would have spent anywhere between fifty to seventy-five thousand Valis just for the sword.

He appreciated the gesture, even if he thought spending that much money for a simple present was too much. It was exactly because of his appreciation, however, that Fuzen decided to step forward and draw the sword.

Once the attention was on him, he inhaled and exhaled, then stepped up and began to perform a series of techniques as he advanced down the main path leading to the doors.

From breathing to movement to the angle of his sword and the force he swung it with, to the eyes of the others it looked as if he was both dancing and fighting an invisible enemy at the same time. This only made sense: what he was performing was an intermediate series of techniques from the Lightning Sword Style school, something an initiate like Mikoto would need years of training and practice to perform to a level like the one he displayed.

Once the final movement of the series had been performed he sheathed the weapon and turned towards the mess hall, bowing his head to everyone present. "I wish to thank you all for this present. I promise to use this sword both in daily training as well as when fighting on the frontlines for the Familia."

He wasn't lying, either: the sword was good enough to act as a replacement for when his main ones needed maintenance, and it was also a perfect choice for his daily sword training, which he would resume as soon as this seventh day of his rest week would be officially over.

Making his way back to Finn, Fuzen unwrapped the remaining presents.

From Riveria, he had received a book about the intercontinental journey of a wanderer she was a fan of, a book that had come out only recently and was hard to get a copy of. He had no doubt the book would contain many useful tips and knowledge about the world, so he thanked her for it.

From Seiji, he had received a set of training weights, enhanced to be much heavier than they looked. They would surely prove useful in his daily training, and so he thanked the older boy for his consideration.

From Finn he had received an intricate wooden chess set, no doubt the Pallum's way of telling him to focus on his mind, as well. Though he wasn't a huge fan of chess, it was nonetheless something he appreciated.

Gareth had gifted him a set of wheatstones for weapon maintenance, while Bete opted to simply give him an envelope with some money.

One by one he thanked everyone who had went the extra mile to pick a present for him besides the sword everyone paid for, and it was after he was done that the party began for real.

In true Loki Familia fashion, the planners of the party had also introduced multiple games to keep everyone entertained and Fuzen was expected to play in all of them.

This also allowed the Familia at large to find out that Fuzen sucked at playing Charades, the sight of him trying to stiffly imitate animals and objects for the others to guess resulting in a chain-reaction laughter.

As far as Poker was concerned, however, he was as good as always, even without really understanding the game. Nonetheless, he had destroyed the competition, the hardcore Loki and Gareth the most out of everyone, and his pockets were forty thousand Valis heavier by the time he was declared the winner.

Limbo, on the other hand, had proven to be a rigged game: those of shorter status like Finn had an obvious advantage in such a game. Fuzen himself was not all that tall, however he had only finished in fourth place. Finn had been the overall Limbo champion, with Tiona coming in second place for…very obvious reasons and to everyone's surprise, Gareth finishing in third place.

'...How? How did I lose to a Dwarf?'

That question would continue to haunt Fuzen for the remainder of the evening and later on become the motivation for him seeking higher levels of bodily flexibility.

One after the other the games kept on coming, hours passing by as everyone ate, drank and played. It was…not bad, that much Fuzen could say. "Hey there." Seiji approached him as he noticed Fuzen taking a short break from the main events.

"What?"

"I didn't really get the chance to say this before, but…well, sorry. For letting your Goddess find out your date of birth."

"...It's fine now. Don't worry about it."

"Mhh…Still…" Seiji looked around for a long moment: some people had gathered at the tables to eat food together, others were still very focused on playing games while a group of highly intoxicated members had started to sing songs a bit further away, raising their cups as some of them struggled to remember the exact lyrics. All of this brought a smile to Seiji's face. "It's not bad, is it? Compared to the past, this is…not bad."

"...It could be worse, yes."

"Hahahaha! You got that right! I swear though, you guys are lit as far as celebrating goes! Does it always turn out like this?"

Fuzen took a long moment to take the sight of the others in. "...This is the usual mood when your Familia numbers almost a hundred, yes. Lots of idiocy to pass around. It's contagious, too." The faintest trace of a smile appeared on his lips as he locked eyes with Seiji. "Though you don't have to worry about any of that."

"...What is that supposed to mean?"

"Try to figure it out by yourself." Fuzen replied as he stood up and walked towards the side door of the mess hall, which led to the outside.

"Ayo, where are you going?"

"Just to get some fresh air. Tap in for me, will you?"

With a shrug Seiji agreed and jumped into the next game as Fuzen stepped outside on the patio overlooking the garden, grateful for the moment of peace and silence. He appreciated what everyone else did for him, but he was still a very far away from becoming anything close to comfortable during such celebrations.

Leaning on the railing, he took a moment to stare at the sky. Hours had passed already: it wasn't yet late enough for the sun to set, but it wouldn't be much longer, either. Hard to believe all of this started at ten in the morning and now it was almost evening.

His thoughts then drifted to Alya, and the others who lived with him. While his Familia had learned of his date of birth, those girls did not.

'...Raiju.'

'Yes, my Master?'

'Go buy some cakes.'

'Oh?'

'Don't 'Oh?' me, you lizard. Go buy one big enough for Alya and the twenty five women back home.' Just then the annoying face of an unhinged black cat popped in his mind and he angrily tried to make it go away. '...Haaa. Make that two big cakes.'

'I'll see to it, my Master. In the meantime, how about you try to show me that imitation of a squirrel again?'

'...I'll skin you alive.'

With an echoing laughter the lizard's presence disappeared from his mind and he was left alone once more. It wasn't long before he felt a familiar Ki signature approaching him as the door leading to the patio swung open. "Hey there."

He turned his head to nod at the Amazon girl. "Hey."

Tiona approached him and leaned against the railing, humming as she looked up at the sky. "What'cha doing?"

"Just needed a moment away from the noise."

"Mhh…I hope the party was to your liking so far?"

He mulled over the question for a moment, not wanting to give her an answer that was too thoughtless. "...It has been nice. However, I doubt someone like me can truly appreciate the work behind it."

"Ahh…Well, just liking it is enough for us!" She replied with a smile, eyes looking back up at the sky. "Seiji told us, you know? That neither of you ever experienced a birthday party. So knowing that, we went all out!"

"...I see."

"Tione and I, we were the same, you know? However, once we joined the Familia and the others learned when our birthday was, they went all out to throw us a party. There was a lot of delish food, we played games just like we are doing today, everyone had a good time…It was the best! Personally, I enjoyed it as much as I did simply because I saw other people happy for my sake without strings attached for the first time. That is why I'll never forget my first birthday party!" She beamed a bright smile at him. "So…do you think you'll remember it, too?"

"...Yeah. I'll remember it for a long time to come, I think."

That earned him a big, happy smile from her. "Good, then! Well, you probably want to be left alone for a second, so I'll head back inside."

He turned his head towards her as she pushed herself away from the railing, ready to turn on her heels and go back inside. "...Stay."

"What?"

"I don't…dislike your presence, so stay if you want."

Surprised but nonetheless happy at his words, the Amazon girl nodded and leaned back against the railing. "I'll do that, then!"

"...Be my guest."

A couple of minutes passed by in silence as they simply stood there, close to each other. Fuzen himself was not quite sure why he had asked her to stay.

He wasn't social, and he wasn't exactly an expert on reading other people or their emotions. However, he wasn't that dense, either.

The way she kept trying to partner up with him for Dungeon dives, the way her smile would grow twice as big whenever he was present, the way her Ki flared up, not to mention her desire to 'see him off' whenever she couldn't accompany him into the Dungeon…

He wasn't an expert on people, but he only needed so many hints to put the pieces together.

But, they were both just kids.

Even if she was a couple years older than him, Tiona herself was just a kid, too. Those types of feelings, they would go away on their own given enough time. He was sure of it: the books told him that much, and every adult said the same thing.

Given enough time, she would grow out of it.

He certainly hoped she would.

Annoying as she could be at times, he did think she was a good person who deserved better than to waste her time with someone who had no interest in such…relationships, not now nor ever.

"...Hey, Tiona."

"Yeah?"

He stared back into her eyes, taking a moment to collect his words. "...You have terrible taste in men."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Eyebrow raised, she stared back at him for a long second, then two seconds, then three. As she finally began to realize the meaning of his words the slightest blush appeared on her cheeks as she avoided his eyes and looked back up to the sky. "Y-You think?"

"I know."

"..."

"..."

A short sigh from her broke the silence that grew between them. "...Geez, I thought you weren't good with reading people and all that…"

"Sorry to break it to you, but you are not that hard to read."

"...Are you making fun of me?"

"...A little?"

She couldn't hold back the chuckle that formed in her throat. "...So, hard No, then?"

"...I mean…we are kids. What exactly would people our age even do if we both agreed to it?"

The question seemed to be one she actually mulled over for a long second. "I don't really know…Stuff, I guess?"

Now it was his time to chuckle at her words, as surprising as that sight was. "Stuff is…a loose term, to say the least."

"Hey, you didn't say No, though."

"You and the others may think I'm just a crazy kid acting out of his league, but I take my duty very seriously, Tiona. And my duty doesn't allow for intimacy of any sort. It would be a distraction."

"So, if not for your duty…"

"...You are starting to put words in my mouth, as most adult women do when they want to get their way." He sighed. "Whatever it is the current me, or the version of me from five or ten years into the future, I am quite certain I will never be able to truly appreciate another person more than a comrade or acquiantance. It's not how I was raised. It's not in my nature."

"People change, Fuzen."

"Yeah…People do." Another moment of silence passed as he sighed and looked down to the floor, her casual words just now cutting deep. "Hey…Why do you think I am the way I am?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"My obsession with being to the point. Talking like an adult despite my age. Always acting calm, collected, not allowing any emotions to slip up. Focused only on my duty and goal. Why do you think I am that way?"

Her confusion only grew bigger as he continued talking, but she did her best to think on his question. "...You like to act cool?"

"...You're a moron." Though the words were meant as an insult, he couldn't keep back the small laughter that came out naturally at her reply. It didn't last long, however. "It's because…if I stop doing any of those things, Fuzen Katsumi would cease to exist. I would have failed my…role, and I would without a doubt disappear into obscurity."

By now Tiona was no longer sure what he was talking about. "What do you mean you'll disappear?"

"...Sorry. I know you are probably just confused at this point, but that is as much as I can tell you."

"Hmm…I mean, I am pretty confused right now, but I'm still thankful you trusted me enough to share that with me!"

"...I guess I did, didn't I?"

"You sure did~!" His eyes lingered on her bright, innocent smile for a moment longer than they should have. "Hehe, it's pretty funny, too~"

"What is?"

"In the books they always make those sorts of moments seem so complex and hard to get through, but we breezed through the subject with ease thanks to you."

"Uhh…Sorry for disappointing?"

"Nah, it's fine. I like it when things are easy and not complicated at all. Easier for me to understand, you know?"

That much, he would have to agree with. Unfortunately few things in life were easy or uncomplicated. "Yeah…I'm of the same opinion."

"So we do have something in common, then~"

"...Yeah. I guess we do."

Tiona nodded excitedly at that, her eyes never looking away from his own. "Hey, you didn't actually answer my question, you know?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you like me? Or do you dislike me?"

Fuzen had to do his best to keep his sigh in at the question. He understood what she was going for, and he didn't like it. "I told you, my duty keeps me from-"

"That wasn't my question, Fuu~"

She wanted to know what he thought of her, himself, without taking his duty into consideration. Did that really matter, though? It was merely a hypothetical. It seemed to matter to her, at the very least.

But those things…he didn't really understand them himself. He felt varying degrees of emotions for some people in his life, but those emotions were usually split between respect, admiration, toleration and disdain, with a little added appreciation for very, very few people.

Amid was the best example: he was pretty sure he had a crush on her, but it wasn't love in the same way most people would feel. Most of all, he admired the Doctor. For someone like him who had been moulded into something other than human, someone who had stained his hands with blood before he was even a kid, Amid represented hope.

She was human: a pure one at that, not guided by hatred or malice, instead she was simply a woman who enjoyed life, who enjoyed helping others and cherished life itself. His ability to sense Ki told him that much: that damn woman didn't hold a single ounce of malice in her heart.

That is why he respected her.

Admired her.

She gave someone like him hope.

And it is why he would murder the hell out of anyone who so much as thought of harming her.

In a way, he loved her existence more than he loved Amid herself.

Tiona, however…He didn't know.

When he first joined the Familia, he had disliked her. Disliked her childish antics, her habit of sticking her nose in his business.

But that was almost two years ago now. Since then, he had…gained some level of appreciation for her, most of all because she had gone out of her way to lift him up to his feet again when he had reached the lowest low in his life. "...You ask questions that would give you false hopes, Tiona. I am not in the business of giving people false hopes."

Her response, however, had been to poke his cheek. "That's not an answer. Come on, answer it~ Come on, come on~ There, and there~"

His eye began to twitch as her finger poked his cheek over and over again, a cheeky smile on her lips. Finally having enough, Fuzen grabbed her hand and locked eyes with her. "If you ask me whatever I like or dislike you, then…I'd have to say I like you. Probably."

To his surprise those words seemed to light her cheeks a bit on fire, the faintest trace of red visible. She pulled her hand back, turning her head to look to her right, away from him. "O-Oh, is that so…?"

"...I thought someone like you was beyond feelings of embarrassment, Tiona. You were the one who asked, after all."

"Hey, I'm a girl too, you know?!"

Quite unlike himself, Fuzen felt the corners of his mouth twitching upwards as a reply formed in his mind. He knew he shouldn't say it. The sensible thing would be not to. "...So I have been led to believe, yes." But then again…

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing…"

Despite trying to act insulted, Tiona quickly fell into a soft laughter as she got to see the slightest slip of character from Fuzen, a more relaxed and casual side of him he kept closely guarded. "You're a jerk."

"...That would be yesterday's news."

"Hey…" She called out to him as she drew closer until they were only a foot apart. Slowly, she began to get closer and closer, slowly enough that he could have stopped her or pushed her away. But, he didn't, and a moment later she placed a quick, soft kiss on his cheek. "Happy Birthday, Fuzen."

"...Thank you."

With a nod and a smile she pushed herself away and made for the door. "Don't stay out too long, okay? The party's far from over."

"Mhh. I'll come in in just a minute."

Once he was alone again, Fuzen allowed himself to finally sigh. This had been quite the day, if nothing else.

A lot of unexpected things had happened.

'Not all of them unpleasant, however…' He thought as he rubbed his cheek.

But…this was all still just a short-term distraction.

He was still within his mandatory week of rest for a couple more hours, so this much he would allow this one time.

Today, Fuzen Katsumi would 'party'. He would also bring cakes to the dumb black cat and to Alya and the others, once Raiju would finish purchasing said cakes.

And then, tomorrow, Kenshi would take the scene once again.

Such was the nature of his existence, after all.

'No, but seriously…How did I lose to a Dwarf in Limbo?'

XXX

At the same time, someplace far, far away…

How it had come to this, he did not know.

Their village, located on the hills of the northern continent, had been a peaceful place for as long as he could remember. They lived a quiet, content life, farming the land and taking care of cattle.

Security had never been a concern, either: the people of his village, men and women alike, were trained in the art of the bow and spear from a young age, generation after generation.

There were no blessed individuals in the village but their art of combat had been improved with each generation of new warriors, to the point where even other nearby villages came to them to ask for help when groups of Monsters migrated too close.

Both Monsters and bandits had fallen to their arrows and their spears.

Yes, they had lived a good, grateful life.

And he himself had been named the strongest warrior in the village. A title he had been proud to accept, a title that pushed him to train more, to become the best version of himself.

And yet, that life he loved and cherished…It was gone in a single moment.

They had come from nowhere, the group of monsters in human skins, asking to meet the strongest in the village.

Before he could even greet the strangers, first blood had been drawn.

The strangers attacked and his people began to fall one after the other. He had called everyone to arms, he had called for them to retaliate.

It had all been to no avail.

The monsters moved like lightning, their movement so fast human eyes could not trace them. Each could cut five men in the span it took him to cut just one bandit, and one of the strangers could even ignite his fellow warriors with a single snap of her fingers, setting them ablaze until only their charred bones remained.

His friends, his people, everyone he had known since childhood…Everyone had been dead within minutes of their arrival, the houses of his friends where he had spent many nights drinking and telling stories now in flames.

His own arms, arms he had been proud to wield the bow and spear with for the sake of his village were now a couple of feet in front of him, his brains still trying to process how they had been amputated in such a short time and without him even realizing.

Why was this happening?

What sins had they committed to deserve such cruelty?

What did they do to deserve all of this?

Falling to his knees, the warrior cried.

Not because of the pain, but because of how powerless he was.

He had thought he was strong, but that had been only an illusion.

Through the tears, he began to yell at the strangers. He cursed them, their families, their very existence. That is all he could do now: curse them.

A single slash brought his screams to an end, and the last sight the once proud warrior saw was that of his burning village before his head hit the ground.

"Geez, get a hold of yourself, man. Screaming in tears like a child…" The tall man muttered under his breath as he swiped his blade clean off the blood, then proceeded to walk towards a larger rock located in the middle of the village.

Sitting down, he closed his eyes and stretched his arms, inhaling deeply as he took in the smell of the village around him: it smelled of misery, loss, pain and hopelessness. All those things brought a smile to his lips. "Still…What a letdown. Everyone we raided on the way here said that the people of this village were strong, but they couldn't even put up a fight…"

"That is simply proof of your growth." A man dressed in a long, black coat and wearing a red mask resembling the visage of a pig monster replied from his side. "Even warriors of this calibre contribute to your strength, however little it may be."

"I know, I know…" The tall man waved the words away as he looked around: his people had finished cleaning the village and were now gathering the potential candidates for him, as they always did.

Before long all the remaining children in the village had been gathered and forced to their knees in front of him as the man analyzed them all with a critical eye.

Eleven kids remained, those who had not died within their burning houses or caught in the crossfire of the massacre, their ages ranging from children to teenagers.

"Hmmm…" It didn't take him long to separate the worthy ones from the useless ones. Only three of them stared at him with hatred and malice in their eyes, while the others were crying and trembling in fear, not a single hint of fight left in them. So he raised his hand and began to point. "Him, him and her. I don't need the others."

As soon as the order was giving his people moved with quick efficiency, six lifeless bodies falling to the ground as their blood soaked the ground of the very village they had been born in, while two bodies were set aflame with two snaps of a woman's fingers, their screams lasting for mere seconds before their bodies turned into sizzling pieces of meat.

So it was that eleven were cut down to three. Now that the culling was taken care of, the man leaned forward as he rested his arms on his knees, a dark smile forming on his lips. "Hey there~ I'm the guy who killed your mommy and daddy. Do you hate me now because of it?"

As they did not speak the same language the remaining survivors did not understand what he was saying, but it was not hard to figure out the fact he was mocking them.

"Haha, it looks like you want to kill me with your stares alone. That's good. That's very good." He made a sign for his people to lift them up to their feet. "That's the only reason I am going to let you live. Go on, get out of here." He made a sign for his people to back off and extended his hand towards the road that led out of the village. "Go and become strong and then come for my head. Live every day from now on seeing my face in the shadows! Entertain me with your struggles and then fall down at my feet like your mommy and daddy did!"

With tears in their eyes and with teeth grinding, the only three survivors of the village turned their backs to him and ran away, their lives now changed forever.

"...Well, that's taken care of now. Now it's boring again…" The man sighed as he looked up at the smoke-covered sky. "That reminds me, shouldn't Sakda report back by now? I sent him out to become stronger quite some time ago…"

The one who answered his question was the pig-masked man. "Sakda died months ago. I felt it through his Falna."

"Ehh, really? Why didn't you say anything, Elrik-sama?"

"You didn't ask, nor is it of any importance. He was simply weak."

The tall man hummed in agreement. "Well, he was the weakest among us. That's why I was going to kill him if he didn't get strong enough after his journey. Still…His Ki control was pretty good, and his [Bulwark] made him a pretty good sandbag, too…Where did I send him off to, again?"

"Orario."

"Orario, huh? So there's someone strong enough there to defeat our little kitten, Elrik-sama?"

"It would appear so."

"Was it that guy we heard about a while ago? King, or whatever his name was?"

"It could be possible. He is the highest level Adventurer in Orario at this time."

"Level 7, right? I guess that would be just barely enough to defeat Sakda…Alright, then." He nodded and jumped to his feet. "Let's go pay this King guy a visit, then. Weak as he was, I still made Sakda a member of our group. And we can't have people thinking we are weak, now can we?"

The masked Deity, however, shook his head. "No. It is not yet time for Orario to fall."

"Relax, Elrik-sama. We'll just sneak in and pay this guy a visit, then sneak back out. Besides, wouldn't it be a good opportunity to check the place out before we put your plan into action?"

"You are hopelessly stubborn…Very well. Orario is on the other side of the planet, anyway. It will take us months, if not a whole year to reach it."

"It's settled, then." The leader of the group nodded and made a sign for his people to follow him as they left the burning village behind them. "We're heading to Orario."

XXX

And thus the omake comes to an end.

Did you enjoy it? If so, which parts specifically?

It's been months since this fic had seen an update, so some reviews to get things "back to how they were" would be highly appreciated.

With how long my writer's block has been, I am also a bit worried that my writing style might have been affected. If you have seen any mistakes or inconsistencies, please do take a short minute to make me aware of it.

With that out of the way, I hope you liked reading about how a week off in the life of Fuzen has been. I tried my best to try and show his growth as far as his bonds with certain important people has been.

And yes, if you were still unsure: I made his birthday the 21st of April. With how stubborn he is, there was no other logical choice but to make him a Taurus.

On another note, Elrik is not someone I came up with myself: he is an actual Deity in Turkic mythology. Quite an interesting character, too. Check him out if you ever have the time.

With all that said, the peaceful times of Kenshi come to an end, however.

Starting next Chapter, we are back into the thick of it.

A boy can keep calm only so long before he gets the itch to Grasp the Heavens, after all XD

To everyone who still checked this chapter out despite the many months of inactivity, I thank you, and I hope to see you in future Chapters as well.

Peace out to all of you.

Kay bye.