The Abysmal Territory

[4] The Start of the Training

As everyone is busy in the construction of the new village. 

“I will be as great as my Dad,” Teiko proclaimed to himself.

“Ehh? Someone as weak as you?” A person heard him and made an argument.

“Reto?!” Teiko was startled. 

Reto is also one of the children in the village that is the same age as Teiko. 

“You heard me. But what I just said will become a reality,” Teiko added.

Reto laughed. “Even if you train your hardest for a whole year, you cannot even compare to me. And you want to become like your father, the one of the Geniuses?”

“But it’s obvious that you cannot beat me, I’m the best swordsman of our age,” Reto added.

“Really? You are?” Out of nowhere, Taiya talked.

“I-I mean, I’m saying… I’m the male best swordsman of our age. I did not include you in my statement,” Reto stuttered.

“Hmmp!” Taiya just ignores what Reto added.

A voice from afar was heard where the children were. “Hey kids! Are you fighting over there?”

It was Dalton, the best swordsman that was left in their village.

They are being cheerful, though it’s obvious in their eyes that they are still suffering. Dalton talked to himself.

“No, we’re not fighting, Dalton-sensei,” Reto said.

“Hey, what do you mean ‘Sensei’? You guys don't need to practice swordsmanship anymore.” Dalton said.

“Please, Sensei! Even if you only train me, that’s alright,” Teiko begged.

Dalton scratches his head. “Well even if you say that, we don’t need to fight anymore, so maybe I’ll just teach you to be a hunter rather than a swordsman.”

“Why not just train them? Our village has enough work forces for us to get through and besides that, Toya said you should help them with that,” the village chief interjects.

“Well if you say it like that, guess I got no other choice,” Dalton replied.

“Yes! Thank you, Dalton-sensei! Thank you, Village Chief!” Teiko jumps in joy.

“Hey, hey, Sensei! I’m included in that, right?” Reto asked.

“Of course, anyone who wants to join us will be welcomed,” Dalton answered.

The news spread across their village and children ages 10 to 15 years old signed up to join the training lessons that were held by Dalton. Fortyseven children enlist for the training which is almost half of the children in their village. 

Even though almost no one was inspired to fight monsters aside from the twins and Reto due to the reason that most of the parents of other children were afraid that their child would get hurt, the village chief and Dalton were not surprised with this number and reason behind that is the legacy that Toya left in the village.

The new village is already safe from monsters so the parents are assured of their child's safety. Even if they would learn how to fight, they wouldn’t endanger themselves.

I will prove to them that I can be a hero, too! Dad, just watch over me and I will be as strong as you did. Teiko thought to himself. 

The day of the training started.

“Alright, listen everyone! We will start with basic training; proper breathing, proper movements and proper handling of weapons. Get a stretching partner first and follow everything that I’ll say,” Dalton said to his students.

“Eh?! Basic training? Boring, I want to learn advanced techniques already. I already mastered the basics,” Reto proclaimed.

“Really? If you really do master that, then you should not be on the ground everytime we spar,” Taiya said.

“I’m just kidding. Hey Ben, let’s go do some stretching!” Reto said to avoid Taiya.

I was not able to master the basic training before, but if we’re here in a safe place, then I’m sure I'll be able to do it. Teiko thought to himself.

“Hey, my stupid brother. Let’s start stretching and don’t think so much there,” Taiya said to his brother.

They finished stretching as to what Dalton had instructed.

Dalton started teaching different breathing techniques. They spent more than an hour practicing.

“That’s all for that part, we will practice that every session so try to always practice it on your own. Apply it even if we are practicing different things or even just doing normal chores,” Dalton said.

The next thing that Dalton taught was the proper stance, he inspected every student so he could make sure that everyone understood him. He taught movements afterwards, from footing, walking, and transitioning to another stance. Many students couldn’t catch up with teaching but Dalton expected this. Selected students excel at everything that Dalton taught since they have previous experience in swordsmanship.

Then for their last lesson for the first day, Dalton showed some moves that he got.

“Since everyone wanted to see how true swordsmen handle a sword, I’ll show you some of my skills,” Dalton said.

Everyone cheered as they heard the news.

Dalton holds his sword firmly. Everyone gasps as they watch what skill Dalton will show.

Dalton slashes a dummy target; it is cut into three pieces.

“Wow! What’s with that aura? It’s coming from him,” Teiko said.

“What do you mean by aura? Are you getting more stupid as time goes by?” Reto said.

“That blue thing coming from him? Are you not seeing that?” Teiko responded.

“Are you losing your mind there?” Reto said.

Dalton saw that the two were arguing. He said, “Is there any problem there, Reto and Teiko?” 

“Hear this, sensei. Teiko said that you’re glowing with a blue aura,” Reto responded.

Everyone laughed after Reto spoke.

“It’s true? Did all of you didn’t see what happened?” Teiko said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Teiko. But we need to wrap up our session today,” Dalton replied.

Am I really the only one that could see that. Teiko thought to himself.

Teiko looked at everyone and stopped at Taiya.  He said, “Taiya, did you see th-.” 

“Hmp!” Taiya expressed, making Teiko unable to finish his sentence.

“Hey, sensei! We didn’t even see what you did there. It’s so fast that I could only see you slashing then three cuts already happened,” Ben said.

“Oh, that! I did that on purpose. That’s what you could do if you would pay attention to all of our sessions,” Dalton replied.

Everyone was determined after Dalton said that.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s wrap everything up, get your partner and do some cool down. After that you could go back to your houses. Eat as much as you could then sleep with the right number of hours,” Dalton said.

“Sensei?” Reto said.

“What is that, Reto?” Dalton replied.

“We still don’t have a house so that means we can’t do that,” Reto teased Dalton.

Dalton made a big sigh. He said, “I mean your respective tents. Reto you should focus on getting better than toying around.”

“Yes, sir!” Reto said as he saluted Dalton.

The students go back to their tents including Dalton. The food that the villagers will eat will be distributed to them since the job of other villagers were preparing food.

Teiko and Taiya were already in their tent waiting for the delivery of food.

“Hey, stupid brother. It seems that no one noticed that aura other than the two of us. So for now, let’s keep it to ourselves and investigate it on our own,” Taiya said.

Teiko was shocked that he unintentionally hugged Taiya after he realized that he’s not the only one seeing the blue aura.

“Stop! Stupid brother! What are you doing?!” Taiya said while struggling to escape Teiko’s hug.

After a little while, Teiko releases Taiya.

“I’m just happy that I’m not the only one who could see that, I’m so close to believing that my eyes deceive me or that I’m just really going insane,” Teiko said.

“You’re really insane, stupid brother! Let’s just see if Dalton-sensei will also release that aura tomorrow, if he didn’t know it himself then that means that it will be a hard task for us to learn that thing,” Taiya replied.

“You’re right, I just hope that we can make progress on our own,” Teiko said.

Tomorrow! I will do my best! I’m looking forward to doing this training. Teiko thought to himself.

As the food was delivered to them, they ate and prepared for sleeping.

“Hey, brother. Could I sleep besides you? I’m missing Mom and Dad,” Taiya said.

“For sure,” Teiko replied.

Teiko moves aside to make room for Taiya. Taiya lay down in the bed and hugged Teiko.

Teiko looks at her for a moment then hugs her with his one hand. 

He looked up and thought to himself, “This will be hard for both of us. But I’ll make sure that I will become strong enough to protect my little sister as her big brother.”