The day after.

The sun shone brightly high up the peak of the sky, brilliantly illuminating the buildings beneath the overstretching carpet of the blue horizon. And just beside the said buildings, a circling yard surrounded by a high fence was currently being occupied by two people.

"Hyah!"

"Fuooh!"

"Hwahh!"

A black-haired young man stood at the center of the field, swinging his fine wooden sword for the thousandth time. Droplets of sweat poured down from his forehead and the heavy stench of his body exuded the surrounding air. His both arms continued to persistently slash through the wind even though it was already heavily trembling because of fatigue.

"Fuuuoh!"

Kaiji tightly closed his eyes and firmly bit his lips as he still incessantly slashed.

'...Nine hundred fifty-one.'

'...Nine hundred fifty two.'

'...Nine hundre...'

'...Nine... hundred ninety-nine...'

"Hyahh...!"

"That's enough."

An aged voice rang out.

*Thud*

Kaiji's body collapsed down the ground, his intermittent breathing now gradually turning stable.

"Finally..."

Kaiji rolled his body and faced himself towards the sky, smiling to himself.

Old Morth nodded his head in satisfaction and threw a sack of water to him. "Good."

"Haha... Thank you, master." Kaiji immediately accepted the water without any hesitation and placed it right away over his chapped lips.

"This is enough for the day." Old Morth said while placing his wooden sword upon an empty slot inside the wooden rack filled with different types of weapons- some of them were made by wood while some were forged steels. "I hope you're not thinking of giving up now because tomorrow and all the days after tomorrow will be spent with you training in this routine."

"..." Kaiji had a blank look for a moment before he laughed. "I won't give up. My body wasn't just used to training like this yet but after some several weeks I'm sure I wouldn't even break a sweat with just this." He said confidently.

"That's nice." Morth chuckled at his statement. "I like students who doesn't gives up."

Kaiji chuckled as well as he propped himself up and slowly stood on his feet. He faced at Morth and lowered himself.

"You can leave now." Morth nodded in contentment as he reminisced the past when he had still been teaching Simonne when he was still a kid. 'You're just like him.' He thought.

Kaiji nodded at his master's words and was about to leave, however a voice just then resounded from afar.

"Kaiji!"

A young looking girl with a chestnut-colored hair and a pair of brownish eyes waved at him from a distance.

It was Saki.

She was wearing a simple blue one-piece dress that accentuated the curves of her body. A summer hat lay at the top of her head along with a pure white flower with elongated petals and a distinct yellow-tipped anthers. Wearing the brightest smile she could ever muster, she hurriedly ran before him.

"Oh, Saki?" Kaiji wiped the sweat off his forehead and disposed back his wooden sword at the weapon rack. "What brings you here?"

"U-um..." Saki averted his gaze and fidgeted. "...I heard from Simonne that you're still quite unfamiliar with the places inside the town..." She paused as she tried to peek at his face, but eventually, averted again. "D-do you want m-me to introduce you to the town? B-but i-it's fine either way if you don't want to!"

Kaiji looked back at her in surprise. "...The town?"

"Y-yes.."

"Come on then!"

"E-ehh?!"

Kaiji grabbed one of her hand straightaway as he excitedly led her to the entrance.

Upon their quick disappearance, Morth faintly smiled to himself and sighed as he shook his head.

'Youth...'

---

'Wait, I forgot to wash myself...'