4 A Steady Start

The sun rises as Ziro lays asleep in his bed. Much to Ziros' surprise, he is awoken by the noise of two small sounds of metal clashing outside. He steadily gets up and walks out of his room, rubbing his eyes to watch from the window as he watches his father and brother sparring with a sword that Dakon had bought.

The blade was sharp but he was careful, his father didn't have much training with a sword but he knew how to use it and had beaten away a couple of monsters in his time. So his father was teaching the young child how to swing a sword and defend himself. Dakon was only thirteen at the time and he still could defend himself pretty well, he had been training for some time now since he was eleven.

"You can't slack now, pick up the pace." His father would command him, wanting to push him because one mistake in a battle could be all it takes to lose his son. Ziro watched from the window as he ate the breakfast his mother had prepared for him. Thinking about how one day he could train with them too, but for now, he had to develop his body and grow.

He could still watch and learn, even the basics were extremely important. So he continued to watch, he had seen them training for some time now, but he was more interested now after his new dream had come to his mind.

Dakon swung his sword with both hands on the handle, swinging it over his head downward with some strength behind it. His father responded by swinging the sword with his right hand from his left side hip and swinging it diagonally to hit the side of Dakons' blade. He stumbled to the side from the force hitting his blade but stood up straight quickly and got back into a stance to prepare himself.

Makarov approached and followed up with a downwards slash towards Dakon to see how he would react to the same situation. Dakon was too slow to get prepared to knock and parry the blade away so he tilted the blade sideways and took the hit straight on using the blade as a small shield. Getting knocked onto his back as the father put more force into it. Holding out his hand to pick him up, Dakon chuckled and grabbed his fathers' hand standing back up.

"I have a long way to go, don't I?" Dakon asked looking for an honest answer from his father, his father nodding his head in response. "You won't be much at the start, but if you keep going every day and learn more as you go then you will be strong enough for the guild." His father replied, giving him an honest answer. They both went back inside, calling it a day to keep their energy to tend to the farm later.

Dakon smiled as saw his brother awake, seeing he was better than how he was doing yesterday after the test. Sitting at the table together with the family at their breakfast and Ziro read the book he got yesterday, swinging his legs while he sat and read away. The book wasn't much detailed but it still told about the legendary fights the mystical man fought.

His quick feats of strength and speed in battle were something so intriguing to Ziro because that's exactly what he wanted to be. If he was too slow a magic caster would cast a spell to hit him directly and he would be gone in seconds. If he wasn't strong enough he would be crushed by monsters bigger than him. If he didn't think fast enough he would be dead without even noticing a rogue bandit behind him. These thoughts clouded his mind and he learned from it, even putting scenarios in his head of him fighting legendary beasts such as minotaurs and ogres to see how he would react in those situations.

Of course, it was just his imagination and not much to go from, as the monsters could react very differently depending on the situation. He still had an idea of how they would look and fight from seeing pictures of them on bounty boards and books inside the town. His imagination ran wild, as the strong warrior inside his head rushed with no prevail at the minotaur with a black bladed katana at his right side, his left hand unarmed to react quicker.

Sliding under the minotaurs inhuman-sized club, slicing at the legs as he went between them. Finishing it as the minotaur dropped to one knee, kicking off the ground and turning to slash to the side at the back of the minotaurs head, cutting through the neck of the monster. Without realizing his mother had been calling for him as he read and was lost in his imagination.

"Stop daydreaming and help me with the dishes dear." She called for him, shaking her head with a smile as he finally woke from his thoughts. He giggled as he put the book on the table and rushed to help his mother wash the dishes.

His brother Dakon saw the book and gave it a read, Dakon wasn't much better at reading than Ziro but he still could read fairly well since his mother used to be a teacher before moving to the farm to become a stay at home mother. Dakon read about the legendary warrior whose strength in swordsmanship was unparalleled, reading more into it seeing what Ziro had been intrigued so much by in this book that he had been reading it every day.

As Ziro finished helping his mother he saw Dakon reading the book he got for his birthday, sitting next to his brother as he read together with him. His older brother even asking from time to time about what a certain word means in the book and his little brother explaining it to him. His father saw them and chuckled at how well they got along and close they were.

"You boys enjoy yourselves and help your mother if she needs help, I'm gonna go tend to the farm alright?" The father would say as he stood up, grabbing some farm equipment as he walked out. The kids nodding with smiles on their faces as they continued to read together and the mother hummed to herself while she knitted some clothes for the upcoming winter. Small things such as socks and gloves that would help them save money for food in the winter.

While the father took care of the crops and plants he noticed a wagon going past with some adventurers riding along. One adventurer on his horse had a broken shield and seemed bruised across his chest and face from the way he sat up, seeming in pain. The other adventurers on the cart would be laying down bleeding in multiple areas, with an arrow in one of their legs.

The father could tell it was an ambush by their faces, the distraught and sorrow on their faces showed they lost someone and couldn't go back. Escaping barely with their lives, Makarov shook his head as he continued to work on the farm. He knew to be an adventurer and mercenary was a hard job with consequences to come with such a dangerous job. But having to swallow the fact it could be one of his sons coming back on that cart would break him.

As he finished up he watched the sky slowly turn dark, enjoying it for a moment the peaceful noise of the night drawing near. The family calling it a day and going to their beds to rest, the father falling asleep almost instantly on the bed from being so tired, while Ziro continued to read his book next to candlelight while his family slept soundly asleep.