Chapter 3: To The City [SUN]

Autumn passed and I am officially 11 years old. After a whole year of harsh training due to my impulsive request, it is finally time for me to head to the city and be an independent boi. I won't lie, I am really hesitant to go. Why should a youngling be going on an adventure when they can barely even feed themselves. Sadly though, this is how the world works. Either the youngling becomes an adventurer by 11, or they end up with other professions such as merchant, blacksmith, miner or other kinds of typical jobs. Some people do prefer to avoid joining a guild as you need to pass a test before the guild officially accepts you in. The good news is that according to grandfather, they will usually take good care of new recruits to ensure their survival as long as they can. Often accompanied by a team leader of higher rank to supervise them.

And so, began my graduation ceremony by my grandfather. It is morning time and grandfather had asked me to sit directly opposite of him. At first, we talked about the years we spent together which is approximately 11 years now. He reminiscence the good ol days but today is the day where the young bird leaves the nest. Grandfather smiled at me before placing his hands on the floor and kowtowed to me. I was completely taken aback by his actions and quickly told him to raise his head. He refused and said the following words to me; which I embed in my mind till this very day.

"My boy, I am so sorry that you are forced to become an adventurer as it is the only thing that I am capable of teaching you. I am unskilled in other trades that may help lead you on a different path and for that, I am deeply sorry. I am fully aware that I am no replacement for your parents, and I have no experience in raising a child properly," he raised his sobbing face. I had never seen grandfather so genuinely sad before.

"On the day they found you, I was at a loss on what to do with you. You were just a baby. I am so sorry my boy, I am so sorry," he bowed once again.

I thought I had heard him whispering about something miracle but I ignored as it felt irrelevant. I was obviously sad and tears were naturally flowing from my eyes seeing him acting this way. Deep down, I already knew what I wanted to say to the man in front of me who willingly raised me up. He is extremely old now, possibly at the age of 90 by now.

"Ojii-san, you had no obligation to raise me yourself yet you did. You could have left me with a foster family or an orphanage, but you chose to raise me instead. You raised me to be man I am today. You might not be my parents, but you will forever be my one and only family that I have today. I promise I will come back every spring to inform you about my adventuring tales. I will make you proud of the boy that you had raised. And for that, I thank you, Ojii-san," I bowed to him the exact same way he did.

I deeply respected him for willingly raise me for these past years. No doubt I certainly believed that he had held back with his training despite my request, but I do feel myself getting stronger within that one year of insane training.

We raised our heads and gazed at each other. Both of our faces were a mess filled with tears. I stood up and rushed over to give him a hug. The thought of being separated from him certainly hit me right in the kokoro. He seated me down once more as he was not yet finished with the ceremony. He reached to grab one of the floorboard and pulled out a couple of them. He took out something long wrapped in cloth. He unravelled it and it was a sheathed katana. Wait, maybe not a katana as it looked kind of short compared to the one he is using.

***

"Is this the valuable item that you were referring to, daddy?" asked my daughter.

"Ah, it is not. While technically yes, it is one of my most treasured item, but it is certainly not the one that defined my path. Now, try not to interrupt the story too much as people might get angry, my dear," I told my daughter.

"What people?" she asked while looking around.

"Uh, just some people peeking in," I told her.

"Are you ok, daddy?" she asked me while tilting her head.

"Yes, I am fine. Let's continue," I said.

***

"This kodachi belonged to your father. This was the weapon he wielded when he fought with the Demon King. The guild was able to find it from the battlefield and personally handed it to me. And now it's yours. Wield it with pride, my boy," he handed the blade to me with a smile.

I reached out with both my hands and held it. Holy smokes, why is it so light? It's like I am holding a feather!

"W— wow.. it barely weigh anything at all. How is this even possible?" I said out loud due to my astonishment.

Not a moment later, the rumbling of a thunder could be heard outside. That's weird. I was certain the sky was clear earlier. As I felt strange hearing the thunder, I turned to look out the window. There was barely any dark clouds that I could see. It is a bright and shiny day with not a tinge of lightning and it does not look like it will rain anytime soon. I turned to look back at grandfather who was strangely staring at me with close attention. He smiled and nodded to himself as though there was something assuring in the way I behaved earlier.

"Did something happened, Ojii-san? You seemed to be in a good mood," I asked him while tilting my head.

"It would seemed that Inazuma had accepted you to be his next owner. Use it with pride, my boy," he smiled.

Inazuma? This is the kodachi's name? Is that why I heard thunder earlier?

I unsheathed Inazuma and took a peek. The blade was green while the blunt portion was darker in colour. The guard was a basic circular shape while the hilt was wrapped in green with a hint of gold around the diamond shape wrapping. A simple yet beautiful blade that I am still using to this very day.

I proceeded to wear the kimono dougi and hakama that was prepared by grandfather for this very day. It was certainly comfortable indeed as it was light-weighted and easy to move around. Sadly, it does not offer me any form of protection. I slotted Inazuma at my hip and stood at the entrance. Are these the only thing that I will be bringing along for my journey? I thought I would be bringing a backpack with me filled to the brim.

"Hold up, boy. Here are some coins for you to bring along. You might want to purchase another blade and some armour protection when you reached the city. Try to avoid using Inazuma if possible," said grandfather.

I understood his concern. The lesser you use your blade, the higher it retains it's sharpness. Only use your main weapon when fighting with a tough opponent. Use your sidearm for the others. Of course you will still need to maintain it well whenever possible. Oiling your blade is essential for any swordsmen. I opened the pouch to check what was in the content. There were only 12 gold coins inside.

"Just 12 coins? Can I even afford to buy anything with these?" I asked without knowing the value of these. 12 coins does not seemed like a lot of money. I, of course, had not idea about the value of these coins and currency types of this world at this point of time.

"You will live, my boy. So long as you do not spend it mindlessly. Don't spend it on women, mind you!" he consoled me.

I had no interest in women at this point of time. 11 years old heading to the city alone with the possibility of living with other sweaty adventurers; not to mention for the next few years. This was my main concern right now. What if my roommate has a bad hygiene? Or some hoarder? Or likes to bring women into our room every night?! I shudder at the possibility. But there is no point in worrying about it. I will face it head on when the time comes.

"I will be heading out now, Ojii-san. Do take care of yourself," I bowed to him one last time.

"Do take care, my boy. Be safe," he smiled as he waved me off.

Hence began my journey to the west. No wait, I meant to the city. Well, the city was technically northwest from my location if my brain compass is accurate. I began my long walk to the signpost that I saw last year when grandfather brought me along to exterminate the green dragon. I seriously hope there is not another dragon there right now. I will close my eyes and run to the city directly for all I care!

As I was thinking to myself, Q poked his head out from the ground. He was biting another letter in his mouth. I am fairly certain that it was not for me so I crouched down and spoke to him.

"Q, you have to pass this directly to Ojii-san. I will be heading to the city. Help me keep an eye on him in the future, alright? Do let me know whenever he is unwell or something," I said to him.

Seemingly understood what I told him, he burrowed back into the ground. Must be an important letter, I suppose. Ah well, onwards to the city~

As I was getting closer to where the signboard was, I heard some commotion up ahead. There was some loud clashing of metals and people shouting. Just when I wanted no trouble throughout the journey. I quicken my pace to see what the commotion was about. And that was when I met her.

***

"Who? Is it mommy?" asked my daughter curiously.

"One of the potential, you can call it? Let's not spoil the surprise, shall we? Try to guess who is mommy in this story," I said to her.

***

Now, where was I? Ah yes, that was when I met her. And him. Two individuals around my age were surrounded by a group of adults. The boy had spiky red hairs while the girl had silver silky hair with emerald colour at the tip of her hairs along with a ponytail. An extremely long ponytail mind you. And what is it that she wearing in front of her eyes? It looked like two circular objects tied to some sort of frame.

I counted the number of adults and there were 5 of them. I sneaked in closer but made sure to remain hidden among the bushes nearby. I do not want to jump the gun and assumed that the adults are in the wrong. Maybe the kids were playing around and caused some trouble for the adults by accident? Even so, there is no need to unsheathe your weapons against kids, right?

"Hand us your money and we'll let you live. You are heading to the city to become adventurers, right? I bet you two are loaded," said one of the adults.

"Oh yea, give us your money and we might let you live. No promise with the elf though. I bet she would fetch a good price for those nasty nobles," said another adult as he licked his lips.

Alright, my bad. These guys are thugs. No questions about it.

"Let us go and we won't hurt you. This is my final warning," said the boy.

He seemed like a strong warrior for his age. It was not all talk from the way he held his short sword and his calm demeanour. The female elf was quiet as she held her dagger at the ready. Sadly though, she is using it defensively rather than the boy who was ready to strike.

"Alright, this is going nowhere," said one of the thugs as he grabbed the elf's arm and started dragging her away.

Piak!

He was immediately smacked in the face by the boy who swung his sword using the blunt side. The thugs started to retaliate back. One of them swung his weapon at the boy's back but he was ready for it. He held out his sword and blocked the axe. But another thug swung his weapon towards the boy's back. There is certainly no way he can block two weapons being swung at him at the same time.

Time slowed down at this point. Perhaps it was just from my perspective. I rushed out from the bushes and ran to help out. As I was running closer, I saw the elf girl using her body to protect the boy from the incoming attack. Why isn't she using her dagger?! Seeing this happening before my eyes, I ran even faster and unsheathed Inazuma.

Clank!

A loud clashing sound of metal hitting one another rang through the air. Phew, looks like I made it in time. I was genuinely surprised that I was capable of running such a distance in such a short matter of time. Not to mention stopping the blade before it sliced her. And yes, I blocked the blade using the blunt side of my kodachi. Grandfather made sure to beat this knowledge into my brain.

When you know full well that you are blocking an attack, always use the blunt side to prevent chipping of your blade. Always remember this as it is extremely important in a life-or-death situation, boy. The sharper blade always wins!

Yes I remember, grandfather. Your teachings will always come screaming back to me whenever I do something wrong.

The elf girl opened her eyes and made a squeak when she saw my kodachi's bladed side in front of her. Making sure she was fine, I turned and glared at the thug who tried to kill her. How could you willingly hurt this beautiful elf? The thug was surprised to see me appearing out of nowhere to block his blade.

"W— who the hell are you? Do you want to di..," that was all he could say as I swung Inazuma towards his left rib followed by the topside of his neck when he got down on his knees clutching his side. I used the blunt side, of course. I am not some cold-blooded murderer even knowing they are thugs. But man, is Inazuma super light. It is even lighter than the wooden sword that I had been using for training all my life.

The other thugs were slow to react to my sudden appearance. I guess they were stunned that I appeared out of thin air. The boy took advantage of the situation and retaliated against the other thugs seeing as the elf girl was safe. He swung his sword to the back of the knee of the thug who swung the axe at him earlier. He then smacked his sword on the thug's back which caused him to faint. 3 down, 2 more to go. Or, so I thought. The other two ran away as fast as they could upon seeing that 3 of their comrades were down in the dirt. Upon making sure that the two thugs had left instead of calling for backup, the boy turned and bowed to me. The elf girl followed suit upon seeing the boy doing so.

"Thank you so much for saving us. You really saved our hides when we were outnumbered by those damn thugs. We are indebted to you," said the boy.

"T.. thanks for saving us," said the elf. She seemed like the shy type. Which made me admire her even more for her bravery in trying to stop the blade using her own body.

"Don't mention it. I was just passing by when I saw the both of you needed help. It's nothing, really. Think nothing of it," I responded back with a small bow.

"Well it is certainly not nothing to me as you saved our lives. Are you are heading to the City Of Pines as well? That is where we are heading. Fancy travelling together if you don't mind our company? Us youngsters should stick together," said the boy with a warm smile as he held out his hand for a handshake.

His smile was genuine and really makes you smirk when you see it. I guess I don't mind some companions.

"Hey. I— I'm not a youngster! I am already a 110 years old!" shouted the elf girl.

I'll admit, elves are still a mystery to me even having met so many of them throughout my journey. They have similarities to humans aside from their long pointy ears but their physiology is completely different to us. Meeting humans are like a fleeting memory for them when they can live up to 10,000 years. What is a century for them? A walk in the park? I guess for their species they need to be around a 110 years old to be considered old enough to be an adventurer.

"Alright, let's travel together," I returned the boy's handshake.

"Name's John Gladiolus, she's Lily Moonshine. What's yours?" asked the boy.

"Zen Hawthorn, a pleasure to meet you two," I replied him with a smile.

I was surprised when their expression changed from joy to fear in an instant. Did I smiled awkwardly or something? Or was it something I said?

"Y— you're a Hawthorn? Are you one of the nobles?" John questioned me.

Nobles? I doubt nobles live deep in the forest eating stews or soups. What is he talking about?

"No, I am not. I live in the forbidden forest with my grandfather ever since I was born. Unless you consider that as the life of a noble?" I replied.

"I… see. I guess you are not one of them. Sorry for being suspicious," said John.

"Nah, it's nothing. Think nothing of it. I am a stranger after all that appeared out of nowhere. It is natural for you to be suspicious of me," I said.

Thankfully we managed to clear the odd misunderstanding because of my name. We left those fainted thugs by the roadside since we did not have any ropes with us. We proceeded to travel together towards the city, chit-chatting along the way until something unexpected happened.

Hear me out when I say that there are certain things in life that you will never be ready for. And what's worse is when it sticks to you like a bad trauma. Despite all these years, I still shudder whenever I thought back on what happened the very first day I left my home.