Chapter 6: 6. If You Hold Me Like That...
Unlike my first day at the training camp, when I had been unable to sleep, I woke up refreshed after a perfect night’s sleep and stretched luxuriously.
Seeing the soft light filtering in through the window, it seemed the sun was about to rise.
When I opened my door and headed out to the wooden veranda, I found my master sitting cross-legged.
The gentle light on her face and her hair fluttering in the dawn breeze made me stare at her blankly.
My master’s fox ears perked toward me.
"Qi flows through all things beneath heaven."
It would have been rude to say, ‘So suddenly?’ so I simply decided to listen.
"It naturally flows through humans, and through the wind that climbs mountains and rises into the sky..."
Wind gathered at the tips of her elegantly outstretched hands.
"It flows through the streams that carve through rivers and make their way to the sea..."
As though soothing the wind as it darted wildly about, she gathered it in her hands and pulled it in. It quietly seeped into her body.
"Qi also flows through the earth that brings life into bloom."
A hazy vapor rose above her twitching white ears.
"With every breath we draw and release, we borrow the qi of heaven and earth to move. Therefore, when refining qi with the body as one’s furnace, one must always be grateful to nature."
The mist became a flower bud glowing softly, then blossomed in full.
The sight was so ridiculously masterful that I clapped along in appreciation.
Clap clap clap clap!
"Wow!"
A swell of pride rose in me at the same time.
‘That’s my master!’
My master smiled happily and sprang to her feet.
"The training will be arduous... Have you prepared yourself?"
"Yes!"
"You will not grow strong overnight. Are you confident you can endure?"
"Yes!"
"Good! I shall give you but a single spark. Nurture it until it sets the world ablaze!"
"Yes!"
She was adorable.
Her proudly raised chin, her tail wagging furiously, and the glances she kept sneaking at me.
‘So this is what she’s like?’
Seeing my master put a hand on her waist and grin smugly, I could not help but laugh.
As we looked at each other with pleased smiles, my master cleared her throat.
"Ahem! We shall begin training at once! One hundred laps around the yard!"
Well, running was the universal rule of training.
I obediently nodded and began running around the yard.
My master smiled and nodded as she sipped tea that had somehow appeared in her hands.
"Huff... huff..."
"You still have fifty laps to go~"
I had thought it would not be too difficult since the yard was not large, but...
Tap tap tap tap... whoosh...
"Huh?"
As I kept running hard, my feet gradually began to lift from the ground and my speed started to increase.
Whoooosh!
My master, who had been gracefully sipping her tea, went wide-eyed.
"A lightness skill...?"
Even the sensation of stepping on the dirt in the yard vanished. All I did was swing my legs, and my body shot smoothly forward.
I wondered whether training was supposed to work like this, but I could not control it either.
As I raced along at that speed, my master suddenly appeared and grabbed my shoulder.
"Flying Over Grass! No, that’s not it! Walking on Empty Air!"
I regretted not reading more martial arts novels...
"Pardon?"
My master swished her tail and began feeling all over my body.
"Your qi is still at the beginner level, and you have no internal energy... How is this possible?"
"Master?"
My face reddened in embarrassment, but my master gripped my shoulders and shook me vigorously.
"Child! How did you do that just now? Have you ever learned martial arts?"
"Master... I’m getting motion sick..."
"Didn’t you say you had no memories? Does your body remember? But I definitely sensed no martial foundation! And with that little qi, how could you walk on empty air?!"
It felt like words I could not understand were being hammered into my head.
Breathing heavily, I shouted at my master, whose eyes had turned frightening.
"I-I don’t know how I did it!"
"W-what?"
"It just happened while I was running! Actually, not long ago, I was being chased by a black slime—"
"You just ran?"
"Yes!"
My master’s expression grew grave, and she thrust her hand into thin air.
"????"
‘An inventory? A subspace?’
From that magical space, my master pulled out two wooden swords and handed one to me.
"Here. Try copying the movements I make."
"Ah, yes."
Holding the sword without quite knowing how it had happened, I stared blankly at my master.
"The swordsmanship I’m about to show you is the Three Talents Sword... I’ll explain it later. First, Mount Tai Presses Down!"
Whoosh!
She straightened her waist and brought her sword down from above.
Swish.
When I copied the simple movement, my master nodded and assumed the next stance.
"Sweeping Away a Thousand Armies!"
A horizontal cut with her arm extended straight. Following her, I swept my wooden sword to the side.
"Immortal Points the Way!"
This was simple too. Step forward, put strength into it, and thrust. It was just a stab.
As I stood there with my arm outstretched and stared at her, my master put a hand to her chin and spoke.
"Try performing those movements I taught you in sequence."
"Yes!"
I had no idea what she was trying to confirm, but I did as I was told.
Swish, swish, swish!
"Hmm..."
Swish, swish, swish!
"Oh..."
Swish, swish, swish!
"Hm?"
Her little sounds of approval followed every swing, and it was making me strangely self-conscious.
It felt as though she was shouting, ‘You have no talent,’ inside my head...
When I kept swinging until sweat poured down my body, my master nodded.
"That’s enough. You worked hard. Hmm..."
Her ambiguous response as she tilted her head bothered me too much to bear.
"Master... if I have no talent, please tell me. I’ll humbly accept it."
My master, who had been lost in thought, waved her hands.
"N-no, it’s not that. Your talent itself is excellent. The position of your hand on the sword, the way your little finger grips the handle firmly, the natural way your back and legs follow through... It’s just..."
Huh? Am I good at this?
"For a child who was just walking on empty air, how should I put it... your swordsmanship feels rather plain?"
"I-is that so?"
"Yes. Your footwork contains a profound principle that even I cannot comprehend, but your swordsmanship is simply... simply good."
So, to sum it up, it seemed I was lacking special effects.
She did say I was good, but I did not know whether I should be happy about that or not.
When my master saw my face, she startled and squished my cheeks with both hands.
"D-don’t make that face! Your swordsmanship itself was excellent, you know? I-I was just so startled at first, so don’t worry about it..."
"I unnerstand..."
"R-right! Child, perhaps it’s because you don’t have an opponent. Let’s have a spar."
Master? It’s my first day today, though?
Perhaps my thoughts were written all over my face, because my master gripped her sword and smiled faintly.
"You need to get a feel for it, and sparring is the best way to make training fun. You can attack as hard as you like, so come at me!"
It felt a little like she was trying to distract a disappointed child with something else, but...
"Then I’ll begin!"
I could not help getting excited at the thought of sparring.
I attacked my master with the movements I had just copied.
Swish.
"That’s it~"
Swish.
"Very good~"
Swish.
"Hehe."
Even though I put quite a bit of strength into it, my master blocked and deflected my attacks as though she were watching an adorable child.
Her little words of encouragement embarrassed me, but protesting would make me seem like a real brat, so I just let it go.
Besides, her soft voice was pleasant to hear...
As she continued blocking my attacks, my master changed things up.
"All right, now I’ll attack, so try to block it. From above to below~"
Despite her gentle tone, the attack descending toward my head was quite fast.
Whoosh.
Since she had told me how she would attack, I raised my sword over my head to block it.
Crack!
The wooden swords collided with a crisp sound, and a thrilling sensation ran through my hands.
"This time, from the side~"
Whoosh.
Crack!
"Very good~ This time, a thrust~"
‘A thrust? How do I block a thrust?’
Should I knock the sword away? In which direction? To either side? Up or down?
It did not occur to me that dodging was an option. Panicking, I tensed up and tried to bat her sword aside when...
Shrrrriiiing!
"Huh?"
The instant my blade touched the flat of my master’s sword, my arm vibrated and bent at a bizarre angle.
My sword seemed to pull hers in, twisting her wrist, and my master’s eyes widened as her body spun around.
Whirl!
"Uh? Huh?"
After spinning repeatedly through the air, my master landed and swung her sword at the ground. The yard tore open in a long gouge with a terrifying sound.
Kraaaack!
I had no idea what had just happened. My arm had... Wait, what about my master?
"M-Master!"
My master’s eyes went wide as she dropped her sword from her hand.
"The principles of absorb, bend, merge, and rebound...? What is this... the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth?"
‘Absorb, bend... pardon?’
As I failed to understand what she was saying, my master came over and grabbed my shoulders.
Her tail wagged wildly, her eyes sparkled, and her face had turned red as her lips trembled.
Even so, she stamped her feet like an ecstatic puppy that did not know what to do with itself.
"Child! Where did you learn that?! No, that’s not it! Genius isn’t enough to describe you! You’re a prodigy sent down by heaven!"
My master wrapped her arms around my neck and began squealing as she bounced up and down.
Holy shit... My master’s enormous breasts began rubbing against my body.
"A genius! A prodigy! A heavenly monster sent from above! You’re my disciple! My disciple! Eek!!"
My master’s sweet scent washed over me, but before I could take more than a breath of it, pressure closed around my neck.
"Urk! Air... air...!"
"Harin! Are you watching?! Your sister has obtained a once-in-a-millennium opportunity!!"
There was no time to feel embarrassed by all her excessive praise. I could only desperately crave the dwindling oxygen.
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