The Author's POV

As my sword tore through the air in front of me, I noticed a trickle of sweat running down the side of my face.

It had been a while since I practiced with the sword, and I sort of missed this feeling. The discomfort, which I subjected myself to on a regular basis in order to improve my strength, was not something I particularly enjoyed. I much preferred this to that.

Swoosh—!

It had also been a while since I started sweating during my training.

Swoosh—! Swoosh–!

"I think that's enough for today."

A voice called out from the back, and I stopped.

I turned my head, and as I did so, my eyes stopped on Grandmaster Keiki, who was coming in my direction. He was grinning to himself in a relaxed manner.

"You've been training like crazy for the past few days; I think you should take some time to rest."

He tossed me a towel, and I grabbed it.

I wiped my face and stabbed the sword into the ground.

"You see, I don't really have much time left here."

Matthew's words weren't clear before, but I could feel them now. I had the distinct impression that I did not have a lot of time left to enjoy life in this world.

"I want to learn as much as possible before leaving."

He didn't exist in my world, sadly. If there was a time when I could learn from him, then it was now.

I couldn't afford to waste a single second.

"You're leaving? Where to?"

The news appeared to take Grandmaster Keiki by quite a bit of surprise. It seemed as though he hadn't expected my sudden departure.

'He looks better.'

When I looked at him, he appeared to be in much better shape than when I had first found him, and that made me smile.

"I'm going back home."

"You don't live in Ashton City?"

Thinking of my world, I shook my head.

"No… I live quite far away from here."

A place only I could reach.

"Oh."

Grandmaster Keiki nodded his head reluctantly.

"That is unfortunate. I really wish that you could have spent some time with my family. If only I could, I'd be happy to put you in touch with them, but..."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's alright. I appreciate the gesture."

I wiped the side of my face with the towel.

The situation of the three Grandmasters was still a little sensitive. It wasn't so much that Octavious didn't want to absolve them of their wrongdoings; rather, it was more that he found it difficult to persuade the general public of their crimes.

At the same time, the Protector also existed. If he could do it, then it was going to be a long and slow process.

One that may take months or maybe even years, and sadly, during that time, they wouldn't be able to visit their families.

shifted the conversation away from

else you suggest I take

"Oh."

lit up, and he

the course of the past week. You are going to need to keep practicing the fundamentals over and over again. Please

paused for

you seem to have quite the hang of, your basics are the only thing that

sword from the ground and slashed

Swoosh—!

is to it. Keep slashing until you feel as if it's second nature to you. Once you get that done, everything will become much easier for

the sword

"I see…"

took the sword from his

slash, and

sounded easy enough.

"Anything else?"

"No."

He shook his head.

time. The same can be said for the two other forms of swordplay. The Gravar

"I understand."

threw the towel to the ground and took a

the other two sword arts should also be easier.. not just

lot of sense, and I found myself

so much, I neglected to

quite good—they weren't perfect, and at this

paused for a

more to do with the fact that I have only lived in

time, then I was

A pity I didn't.

Swoosh—!

the

***

Thump—!

landed with a thud on a small target approximately one hundred meters away from the location where the

in

I really talented

was far away. It was currently riddled with

to hit the target for a week and had

rather depressing to

This was hard.

"Huh."

a

his words. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn't feel suited for the

'It's still too early.'

another deep breath and calmed herself

very light pull. As

quite clearly. This

always had good

when she couldn't even hit the target

Creak—

bow creaked slightly as she pulled the string. Feeling the wind around her, she

the air around her

Thump—!

transpired in that instant, despite the fact that

if time had slowed down and all she could see was the

in the most delicate way possible, before finally coming to rest against the yellow mark

"…"

the target, Amanda

several times as she tried to make sense of what had just occurred in her head. When she finally succeeded, her face became flushed with excitement, and she

"Yeasss!"

had never experienced anything like the rush she felt when she realized she had finally hit the target; it was so exhilarating