Chapter 1: From Humble Beginning [SUN]

All I recall about my childhood days were mostly spending time with my grandfather in a small rustic wooden hut. I do not have any memories about my baby days whatsoever. As I said before, I did not reincarnate here so there should not be no memories pertaining to my previous life. Hang on, why am I even thinking about reincarnation in the first place? For some reason, the term Isekai is stuck on my head. How odd. As I was saying, normal humans usually do not remember their childhood memories much.

My grandfather was a wise and humble man. He is strict when it comes to sword training but other than that, he is a loving and wise old granddad to me. If I only have a word to sum him up, "Badass" I will call him. I once saw him beating up ten thieves simultaneously who tried to steal our firewood. He did it single-handedly without even touching his katana. I've only seen his katana once and wow was it beautiful. I once secretly sneaked into his room to take a peek at it and he walloped me up for it. It is a katana with a yellow blade. The hilt colour is in a light shade of yellow while the guard's design is really exquisite. I once asked him what is meant and he told me that it symbolises a fish that eventually transformed into a magnificent being. No doubt there will never come a day where I see that happening. Sigh.

He explained to me why I was beaten for trying to take a peek at his katana. According to him, when he unsheathes it, one must close their eyes immediately, otherwise a bright light will blind you instantly. Any opponent will be blinded for around 5 or 10 seconds which will leave them exposed to his attack. Well, closing your eyes during battle is exposing yourself to grandfather's attack in the first place. Either way, as I would like to keep things subtle, you're fucked. He once told me of his record where is was able to slay 20 enemies in his prime time within the timeframe of the light. That is some ridiculous Iaido skills to pull that off. And yes indeed, he tried to beat me into having the same level as him as well. How does he expect a boy at the age of 10 obtaining such skills in the first place?

Hence began my intense sword training at the tender age of 5. Apparently, my parents were known as accomplished swordsman or woman respectively. My father was known as "Light with a thousand slashes" while mom was "Beautiful Beastly Dancer". What shitty title did they obtain and how? Apparently, they obtain their nickname after some gossips came about which had gotten them famous. Fame was what resulted them in being called by their respective guild to participate in the war with the Demon King. All I was told is that both of them had perished during the war. However, before their deaths, they had turned the tide of the war to the favour of the opposing force which lead to the defeat of the Demon King. Why the Demon King decide to wage a massive world war is still unknown to me at this point of time.

I held my wooden sword with my sweaty hands. I've lost count in the amount of times I had swung with my petite hands over the course of five years now. All I know is that I had swung 2000 times now according to my count of the day which marks the end of my evening swings. As I wiped the sweats on my forehead, a creature poked its head out from the ground with a letter in its mouth. The creature in question is a hedgehog with a pink underside belly. These creatures are unique as they were chosen to deliver items or letters to its intended location. They can burrow into literally anywhere and reappear at any surface disregarding gravity or materials. Yet they do not leave any marks or holes of their burrowing thereafter. The holes that they emerged from will immediately disappear when they re-burrow. How does that happen is beyond my understanding. There are other creatures that fulfil this role as well and not just rodents. I reached out to grab the letter with my left hand as I was still gripping the wooden sword on my right.

"Thanks for delivering the letter, Q. And sorry about trying to hit you before last time," I apologised to him.

No name was given to the critter when I asked grandfather about it so I decided to call him Q as he often makes "kew" noises. You're probably wondering why I would actually hit this adorable creature in the first place. Yes, I know. I was young and foolish lad that caused grandfather to beat me up too. But I found out that these unique creatures are actually indestructible. They are literally immune to all sorts of attack and spells known to man. Sure they do feel pain but they won't be any wounds on them.

Q burrowed away after making a "kew" sound, leaving absolutely no evidence that he was ever there in the first place. I headed to the well for a quick shower before dinner. What a hot day. I headed in and sat opposite grandfather with a pot in the middle. As always, it is either stew, soup or porridge which I don't really mind as the taste is pretty good. I bowed my head slightly as I reached out to grab the bowl that was handed to me.

"You're 10 this year, aren't you boy?" asked grandfather.

"Yes, Ojii-san," I replied to him as I took a sip of the soup. Ah, warm soup sure hits the spot when cold wind comes as night approaches.

"I see, I guess you will be leaving for the city next year then," he looked at me with stern yet warm eyes.

He told me about this before during out training. At the age of 11, should you wish to become an adventurer, you must head to the city to join a guild. You will start out as a newbie but you will get to choose the path that you wish to take part in. Why become an adventurer, you ask? That is because you will earn much more while not requiring special skillset than let's say a merchant, weapon or armour smith, or others.

"Any suggestion on which guild I should join?" I asked him.

"Hmm," he put on a thinking face as he stroke his long white beard. I do not know why but it reminded me of a something that I watched before where it involved martial arts and an old dude would stroke his magnificent white beard in all its glory.

"Since I taught you in using the ways of the katana, there are two guilds that mostly uses it. The first would be the Light guild which your father joined. It prioritises in using Light spells which focuses on buffing allies and more importantly, yourself. Your father was specialised in buffing speed which was how he earned his nickname. The caster will always be the one benefitting the most from these spells, remember that. The other guild is the Dark Guild which is the opposite of Light. They mostly focuses on de-buffing their enemies whether by using tactics or spells," he said after some thoughts.

Either Light or Dark, huh? Why is it like some decision to become a bad or the good guy. I should check out on the other guilds and see what they have to offer.

"What about mom? Which guild did she joined, if I may?" I asked him curiously. Her nickname "Beautiful Beastly Dancer" does not scream anything into mind.

"Your mother? She was from the Viking's guild," he recalled.

"Pardon my words but your mother was an exceptional brute with tremendous strength despite her slim body frame. I always wondered who was the one who initiated the relationship. Despite your father being a powerful adventurer, even he could not match the strength of your mother. I truly hope that you do not find such a brute to be your potential wife, my boy," he warned me.

Do you really have to say it like that about mom?

I pondered on the thought about my father being beaten into submission by mom by kicking him in the butt. Now why would I even think of something like that, oh great, now it's stuck inside my head.

"I'm surprised you did not oppose to their marriage, Ojii-san," I asked him.

"Haha! I certainly did at first. But I eventually saw the passion in both of their eyes and gave in. They were truly in love with one another and most of all, they loved you with all of their hearts, my boy," he said.

"When you mother was pregnant, ah, that was the happiest occasion we ever had in celebrating. Their marriage brought both guilds together which is by right one of the rarest events to ever occur and they celebrated as thought the world is about to end. That goes to show how revered your parents were," he smiled as he took a trip down memory lane.

Seeing as though grandfather was still lost in his thoughts, I handed him the letter that was delivered by Q and passed it to him. He stopped smiling and his features turned grim upon looking at the envelope.

That is strange, I thought. Rarely do I see grandfather changing his expression like this. Especially since the envelope did not mentioned any names but just a fancy looking letter E.

He took the envelope, tore it and read the contents with a grim expression. My bowl was empty and I decided to refill my soup. A young boy like me is always hungry for more food. As soon as I wanted to take a sip with the bowl literally inches from my lips, grandfather spoke.

"We will be heading out tomorrow boy as it is going to be an eventful day. Wake up early and ready yourself for tomorrow," he said with a forceful smile.

I nodded to him and we began to finish up our dinner. There were some other small talks that were insignificant. It would seemed that grandfather's mood took a different swing as soon as he read that letter. I am certainly curious about the contents of it. I took grandfather's advice and retired early to prepare myself for the early rise tomorrow.