Ch21: Shimotsuki Village

Currently it was the start of June, the weather was great, the temperature was ideal for a nice day on the beach.

In the small port at the edge of the village, a marine ship was docked. It stood between some much smaller ships, showing its grandness and importance.

The villagers who saw it were startled. Marines never really came here.

From the ship, a lone man went down. He looked like a healthy teenager, with a smile on his face, with yellow eyes and brown hair, combed into a ponytail behind his back. He clearly wasn't a woman, which could be noticed from his body build. He lacked bigger hips, but had broad shoulders filled with muscles. They weren't bulky, rather they clung to his body, which made noticing them harder when he wore long sleeved shirts.

He had a small backpack, which he only held with one arm, the other being in his pocket.

From afar, he seemed excited, with a hint of being relieved, like a man who finished a long journey.

After a while of him looking at the beautiful landscape, full of greenery and life, he saw the villagers in the distance.

He walked towards them, intending to talk.

"Hello!" He greeted them happily, waving at them. Doing a quick count, there were almost 11 villagers. Few of them had swords strapped to their belts.

"Stranger, what do you seek here?" Asked the oldest of the bunch, a man looking to be in his mid 40's.

'Ok Caden, don't fuck this up.'

Reminding himself, he proceeded to explain his purpose. "Of course. I heard about this village while traveling. Supposedly there's a dojo here that teaches the way of the sword. Once I heard people praising it, so I went on a journey to find it and hopefully join it."

The man looked at him and asked with a bit of suspicion. "Then why were you on a marine ship?"

'Hmm, be truthful or be convincing. I don't know if they will believe I got sold as a slave to then escape and beat up a pirate with a bounty.'

"Oh, my ship was attacked by pirates. Fortunately, a marine ship came by and saved us. The bad thing was that our ship burned down and we had no way to go back. The marines graciously took us where we asked to be escorted."

"So you told them to take you here?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, so you don't intend on harming our village?"

"NO! Absolutely not! I want to learn the sword, not attack normal people."

Hearing his words, most villagers heaved a sigh of relief, no longer holding their palms on their swords.

"I will believe you young man. If you want to stay there, then you must convince the elders."

Hearing that, Caden agreed and went with the people.

On the way, he made small talk and observed the environment. The mountainous terrain blended perfectly with the green shades of trees, making a calming atmosphere all around.

From talking with the villagers, he learned some things. For example, they have two elders that make decisions for the village. They had three before, but earlier this year one of them died. After asking who it was, he heard a tale about a man who came here years ago and helped save the village from bandits. He later became a part of their community, teaching swordsmanship to those who were willing, making them capable of self-defense.

"But what was his name?"

"It's the same as our village name. Shimotsuki Kozaburo."

"Wow, so he must have really changed the village, right?"

"You have no idea, kid."

Talking like that, they finally reached the main building where the elders worked.

Leaving Caden with the others, the oldest man left to inform the elders of Caden's situation. 

This village is pretty remote, not being a part of any kingdom makes it a less desirable place to visit for many merchants or other tourists.

The last time they saw any outsiders was years ago, so they decided to stay alert.

After a few minutes, he was allowed inside. Here he met the elders. It was a man and a woman, both with white hair, but overall looking healthy. The man had a sword on his belt, while the woman appeared weaponless.

He spent some time talking to them, explaining his circumstances and how he intends to join the dojo. He also mentioned wanting to buy a house here if he gets accepted.

They weren't too happy with that, but for now accepted him.

Caden was shown an inn, where he booked a room for a month.

Next, the same man from earlier showed him the way to the dojo, before leaving him to his own devices.

Although he appeared to be left free to do whatever he wanted, he was being spied on by a few members of the village's defense force, which the man from earlier is a member of.

The man walked towards them. "Keep an eye on him for now."

"You got it, boss." Answered a young voice, belonging to a youthful man with a sword. With a nod, the boss left.

Caden meanwhile went up to see the dojo, which was sitting on a hill at the side of the village.

With heavy steps, Caden went there, still marveling at the beauty of the world around him. He often did that before, but stopped after he saw everything once.

'I will have to write something about this village. Even if it will be only for myself, I don't want to make problems for them.'

Thinking about stuff, he finally arrived.

The dojo had a tall brick fence around it, making it impossible to peer inside without climbing it.

Going along the road, he arrived at the entrance. Stepping inside, he saw that it consisted of 3 buildings.

Looking around he didn't see anyone, so he slowly entered, going to the front door. As he was about to knock, he heard shouts coming from the back.

Interested, he went around and arrived at the backyard, consisting of yellow ground and no vegetation. On the sides he saw some grass, but other than that it was bare.

In the center, he saw two figures fighting.

One of them was a small boy, with green hair, wearing a dark green shirt and pants together with a white belt, holding two swords, as if they gave him an advantage.

The other was a girl. She had short, dark blue hair and large, dark eyes. She wore a light pink shirt, dark maroon shorts, and brown shoes. She only had one sword, but held it with grace.

They fought with each other, delivering a strike, dodging or parrying. Although the younger boy seemed to have an advantage, in the end he was defeated by the girl.

Slowly exhaling, she put down her practice sword, before speaking to the boy.

"Looks like I won again. I think it's the 1457th time already." She wipes off sweat on her forehead, before adding. "When are you going to give up?"

"Never!" Shouted the boy, getting up from the ground. "One more time!"

As the boy got ready to charge at the girl again, a sword appeared from the side, stopping him in his tracks.

"Kids, that's enough for now. We have a guest." Said the man. He was wearing glasses and a gray kimono with a black belt. His hair was black, similarly to Caden he had it in a ponytail behind his head.

The three of them turned towards Caden, judging him with their looks.

Green hair noticed his muscles, thinking about how his are still so small, vowing to one day have better ones than Caden.

Kuina looked at him, but lost interest after not seeing any sword on him.

The older man only looked with a smile, squinting his eyes all the time.

"Hello boy, what brings you here?" He asked, like a grandpa asks his grandkid about his day.

"Hi Mister, I'm looking for the master of this dojo."

"Hmm? Why do you look for him?"

"I want to learn the sword."

Hearing that, the man slightly opened one of his eyes, scanning him up and down, before nodding to himself.

"Well, have you ever used a sword?"

"Ehm, never. I didn't have a dojo in my hometown, so I never tried using one."

Slightly nodding, he said. "Well, hold this one and show me how you would swing it."

He reached out and presented him with the girl's sword.

"Hey! That's my-"

"Don't worry Kuina, he won't break it, right?"

"Yes, I won't. I promise to treat it gently."

Although Kuina wasn't pleased with this, she reluctantly gave up and looked at how he would perform.

The boy also looked, although not interested in somebody who doesn't know how to use a sword.

Caden took it, before taking a stance and swinging a few times. The man instructed him every so often.

"Ok, now try from up to down. Great, now from the left to the right. Ok good, lastly make an X pattern in the air."

Seeing his moves, the man exhaled, seemingly losing interest, before saying. "Well, from what I saw, you don't have much talent."

Caden's expression fell, with his small dream of being a badass swordmaster in the future gone. "Can I at least learn something for self-defense in the future when I go out into the world?"

Hearing that, the man shook his disappointment off. "If you still want to learn, then I will teach you."

"Thank you, my name is Caden."

"Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I'm Shimotsuki Koshiro and this is my dojo." He showed around with his hand.

"This is my daughter, Kuina." He pointed at the girl.

"Hello." She said, disinterested.

"And I am Zoro." Said the boy.

"Hi, I will be in your care." Saying that, he went together with Koshiro inside to talk about his training.

They both decided that he will train there like every other student, coming before noon and learning for a few hours every other day.

He was also told to go get a uniform made in the village, as Koshiro didn't have one that would fit him. Most children here were smaller than him and those his size already took all of the available ones.

With that, Caden spent the next hours observing how Kuina trained together with Zoro. Today apparently they were the only ones here, with the other students being busy with life.

He also tried his hand at other practice swords that were put around, believing that working the muscles needed for swinging long things will be beneficial even if he has no apparent talent in the sword.

The children both noticed how he swung the sword without resting for a while, which made them respect his dedication.

Later, he left the dojo and went to the village to look around and get familiar with the place. He visited some shops, went to a library and overall spent his time talking with the villagers.

Most of them reacted coldly to him at first, but after hearing that he was accepted as a disciple in the dojo, they quickly warmed up to him, chatting with smiles on their faces.

He also learned where to go if he wants to buy a house. He visited the place. but it was already closed for the day.

'Well, I will check it out tomorrow. Hopefully they will be open. I don't want to spend all my time here living in an inn. Although it isn't too expensive, I have little privacy there, with the constant noises from the restaurant part of it below.'

Yes, the inn also functioned as a restaurant. It only made sense, with how little tourists or other people come here. The innkeeper has to make money somehow, right?

The day was coming to an end, so Caden went back to the inn, walked to his assigned room and sat on the bed.

His money was still there, lying under the bed in a corner. Glad that he wasn't robbed on his first day, he went to sleep happy with how productive the day was.

~2049 words

A/N: 

If this story interests you, please throw some stones in my face. Anyway, thank you for reading and have a nice day.