"HEYAAA....!!!"

Another sparring with my father. just like any other day

clank! shriiin!

Both our training swords are striking and parrying each other, sliding with both swords in contact.

The twelve-year-old me doesn't need to think hard about what kind of moves my opponent use and what move I should counter it with, I just do it naturally like going with the flow.

I just hope it's not because I grow accustomed to my dad's movement.

"Not bad, Reinhardt!! but how about this!! "

Tang! clang!

Surely not. He always changes his style like... every move, which makes it hard to fight him...

and that is why he is the leader in Distorted Jewel.

Clang! Shriieek!

there is an opening! now time to end this battle!

"I'm gonna win this time dad!"

I do a large swing from the left aiming for his flank.

"Nope, not this time Rein!"

He slides forward and sweeps me right in the feet. that sweep destroys my balance and makes the ground move fast toward my face. nope, MY FACE is the one moving quickly toward the ground.

Splat

" Dampened cursing!!!"

my face is planted in the soft ground......

dang it.

"Bleargh! puh! Dirt in my mouth!!"

"Hahahaha! good! good! you can hold on for five minutes against me! you certainly have grown much!"

five minutes? it feels longer than that though...

Because-

*creak!* "EOUUCH...!"

how can my body hurt all around from only five minutes?!!

"Brother's skin turn blue!"

"Lily! since when!?"

without me realizing it, Lily is already behind me.

"since you kiss the ground! but I already saw the fight since the start from afar"

"err... didn't you have your own training?"

"finished!"

well, that's kinda fast... yeah, my lil' sis is quite a prodigy in the subject of magic after all. she already can use advanced tier magic now!

I'm proud of my cute little sister

"good job dad! great sweep! brother's face went straight to the ground!"

...also a bit irritated...

"hahaha! of course! I'm not gonna be defeated that easily!"

he laughs with his head high... dang dad.

"but your brother sure is quite strong now. he can officially become a member of the Distorted Jewel and should be able to do some quest now."

"eh? really dad?! I can do quest?!"

"Yeah, but that's after you passed my test."

what test? beating you? hell no. I have more chance of wiping dozens of goblins rather than that. maybe equivalent to a few hounds or an Ashuraguma.

nope, the last one is almost the same as the first one.

"What kind of test, dad?"

"hunting an ashuraguma"

. . . . . . . .

...well, what luck...

"ARE YOU KIDDING??!!!"

"brother blow up! ahaha!"

"Nope, not in the slightest. for your own survival, that should be the least you could do before becoming a legitimate mercenary by my standard.

sure there are many mercenaries out there who can only do less, but their lives are theirs to tread. for you, my son, this is my gift"

dad rarely gives this kind of serious talk...

"...aren't an Ashuraguma could kill me too?"

"The question is, what can't kill you? even merely cooking can kill you if you are careless. at least I can help you if you're in danger now"

"...point taken"

until now, I never have actual mortal combat. sure I hunted a few goblins, slimes, and kobolds before, but those guys are so weak and dumb I can cut them in two without using much power. well, it being always one-on-one is also a factor I guess...

without experiencing actual mortal combat, anyone can make a slight blunder that will end up killing them. that is one among many factors why many young, talented mercenaries died without leaving even their name.

and even with it, the chance of death is still high. Just not as high as without it.

Let's just accept it. At least this time dad is here to help me when I'm in a pinch

"Not like I'll accompany you, though. you do your job while I'm here taking care of the band like usual. I'll at least drag your corpse back here if you blunder that badly"

. . . . . . . . .

"WHAT KIND OF IRRESPONSIBLE PARENT ARE YOU??!!!"

"brother explode again!! hahaha!"

"back at you Rein. are you, my son, really that weak? question yourself"

that comeback really makes me speechless...

sure he trained me till my bones are all cracking and my muscle tearing apart, but he already calculated all of it to make sure I wouldn't die from the training. I take that back, he already calculated ALMOST all of it. there is a time when we do sparring and my leg got broken by his training sword because he slipped. it was such a blunder that mother kicked him from the house and forced him to sleep in the forest for three days.

but an actual mission isn't as merciful as that.

"...can you at least give me some help me even a bit?"

"I'll give you my prayer from here"

"...something more significant? That actually, directly helping?"

"Well, I can give you tips at a later time. Except if you want to go now?"

"Nope! Later please!"

Who the heck wanna go toward a battle to the death without any preparation? Sure, 'ready' is just a myth, but not doing any preparation is the same as suicide.

"Brother can surely do it! Brother is strong and I'm sure brother will come back alive!"

"Lily..."

I can't help but smile hearing that. This, cute little sister!

"Maybe lost an arm or a leg, but will surely return alive!"

. . . . . .

"...Lily"

dang your poisonous little mouth...

"Anyway, you should quickly go to your mother, Rein. You don't want to make her wait, believe me. Also Lily, now get ready for your training"

"Ok, I'm going"

"Yes, dad!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Right on time, Rein! A bit later and I'll chase you with spells”

I shudder hearing that. What my mother means by 'chasing with spells' isn't searching me with a spell, but more like 'i'll chase you around while slinging spell at you' kind. And yes, it happens several times a month because dad is a bit... 'Too enthusiastic' in training with me in those times. But those times, I ran together with him so there is another target to shoot other than me. but if it happens other than that... it's just another stamina training for a whole day, but with less mercy...

"It's because dad told me that now I can start doing some quest"

"Really? he did? I, as your mother, personally think that you aren't ready to go taking some quest with your near-abysmal magic prowess. but if your father already approves of your strength, I don't think you'll have too many problems. As far as I can see, your physical prowess is quite good after all"

Mother sometimes takes a look at my training when the talented Lily finishes her magic training early. So of course, she knows about my physical strength even if it is only a little.

"Yeah, but he said I need to pass his test"

"Hmm... What test?"

"Ermm... beating an Ashuraguma, one on one"

I can see her brow wrinkled a bit...

"That... I'll talk with your father later. For now, let us review your training"

I rarely see her expression change. But when it changes to a noticeable degree like this, that means she reaches the peak of her emotion. Usually, the most you can get from her is only some wry smile or a cold stare. But I once saw her in a full bloom smile at the time Lily was born and still haven't forgotten it after all this year...

"Yes..."

But this grim expression... dad's gonna get a hell of a night later...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day goes on until dinner time come

"Dad, be ready"

"Ready for what?"

"you will know soon..."

from his confused looks, he doesn't know what would happen to him. but neither do I, or more like, I don't wanna know. May he rest in peace...

"Dear, we WILL have a talk, so make time after dinner"

Mom's icy glare pierced through to dad, and turn his face pale. He then looks at me with a desperate head gesture that says what happen?! what did I do?! Which I can only answer with a slow headshake.

stay strong, dad!

And let's have a good night rest! yes, except you, dad, maybe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night dad didn't sleep in the house.

oh, yeah. speaking about houses, almost all the members of the distorted jewel make a house in the base. and the base itself is in the middle of a dangerous forest called the forest of origin. named as such because it was rumored that this is where the tree of origin, the world tree, resides.

The forest of origin is dangerous because it's where many monstrous creatures live, like Ashuragumas, drakes, and many others. Small fry? of course they exist too, like goblins and such. Mostly as fodder for the stronger creature tho...

Mmm... this talk isn't about distracting me from my father's poor appearance, hugging his knees while sulking in front of the house, certainly not.

"Rein, come here for a bit"

from inside the house, mother calls me.

"yes?"

"I and your dad had talked about the challenge your dad talking about yesterday. and I, exasperatedly, agreed that you need some kind of trial to prove that you're ready and strong enough to not get killed as soon as you venturing the world by having an actual experience of beating something stronger than yourself"

Man... I can't help but frown hearing that...

As a mercenary, life is the most important asset that one's own, so most of them aren't willing to challenge something without a near-guaranteed winning chance. But as expected, the world wouldn't always go on your way. Maybe a meat-eating worm will ambush you when you're taking a dump on the road. And yeah, that happens. It's so ridiculous it was remembered as a kind of fairy-tale.

mother continues her explanation

"But as expected, Ashuraguma is an upper-class creature with enough strength to uproot a tree with a single swipe and agility that didn't match its large frame, so I'll give you a choice. do you want to try hunting one in the wild, or do you want to fight one in the training ground? there's of course a catch in either choice, it's either- "

"Stop, Emi, don't tell him"

Father stopped mother's explanation.

dang it, father! that's the part I want and need the most!

"*gulp* I, i- umm I me-, ahem. I mean, discovering those catches is part of this trial. because a mercenary needs to be able to think about the pros and cons of his decision in a nick of time and make it swiftly. a tad bit of hesitation can end up threatening his and his crew's life. that's the reason why choosing is part of the trial"

but because of that interruption, mother glared at him and made him stutter. take that father! that almost makes me smirk a bit.

...unfortunately, other than the stuttering part, his word is sound.

A good mercenary needs to be able to make his decision swift and right. Else it can mean money spent in vain, opportunity thrashed, and lives could be lost. Nobody wants either of those. Of course, there are those who didn't abide by these principles, but those are usually the poor, the rash, or the dead, and I don't want to be included in either of their circle, especially the last one. and to make the right decision swiftly, one needs a good amount of experience in making one.

Father's words continue when mother's glare resides and urging him to continue.

"But you don't need to decide hastily on this. this is not a trial for a swift decision, but a trial for the right one. so we'll wait for you until the afternoon traini-"

"After dinner"

"-after dinner for your answer"

Even though it's still today, at least the deadline for the decision is pushed back a bit because of mother's wish, or should I say... order? anyway, I'm thankful for it, as contemplating a decision while training isn't exactly a good way of making a decision. 

but which trial should I do, huh? let's think about it thoroughly after training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good work for today Rein, take a rest now. "

"Haaaa, thanks mom"

Even though today is quite an important day, training intensity is the same as always, enough to give me a headache. But at least the magic training is more practical. I'm currently training how to efficiently use body strengthening. why body strengthening? because it seems that I have compatibility to continuous usage type of magic. Somehow, I can do it a lot longer than what should be possible with my meager amount of mana. 

"Clear your mind. Don't forget that we expect your answer after dinner"

"Ouch, I know. let me rest a bit"

"Okay then, I'll go back first. don't rest up for too long sweetie"

"Yes, mom"

Mother left me resting up in the training ground. Even though I only trained with body strengthening magic only today, all my muscles ache like the aftermath of a day of a non-stop marathon. Why do I know that? because I had done that before for stamina-building training that my dad thought up. The only difference is that with magic training, you can get a massive headache from magic power deficiency, so you can't just sleep the exhaustion of like mere physical training. And this also could be fatal if it happens in a middle of a battle.

And gosh darn, it really does not help me decide at all.

I have an inkling of what I should choose, but this headache stops me from mulling over the details. I'll just let this headache pass by....

....

...zzZ

....

...Eh? 

It's dusk already?! dang it, I fell asleep! why nobody wakes me up?! although the answer is most likely be 'why would we?', still... dang it! Dinner time is almost here and I still need to think about which challenge I should take for my official enlistment in Distorted Jewel.  I'm gonna mull over it on the way to the dining hall.

The first thing to consider is the goal of each challenge. I can quite imagine the goal for the challenge of hunting Ashuraguma in the forest, it is most likely be a full-blown trial course of survival, hunting, and fighting in unfavorable terrain. I need to survive in the forest while hunting for signs of Ashuraguma and hunt in between the trees. So yeah, full course. But I can't get the full picture about the one fighting Ashuraguma in the arena. Is it only for the guaranteed safety? Or is there something else I should achieve? Hmm...

Oh, I'm already at the dining hall...

Well...

Let's leave all worries behind and enjoy the food!

Today's menu is... 

Meat and veggies porridge! combination of meat (dunno what meat it is, but it is delicious) and herbs on a wheat porridge have a light and warm flavor that's good for your body. Stuffed bird the size of a toddler that wafted a tangy aroma! light green spintace and scrambled egg salad with a white sour sauce! freshly cut fruits and not to forget, freshwater too! a full-sized dinner for all the members of the Distorted jewel. With nothing I dislike, I ate a little bit of everything. Yum!

With a full belly, now what needs to be done is to decide. And I think there is only one answer that could satisfy me.

"Rein, now what's your decision?"

Father and mother come to the table where I seat, with Lily following behind with a smile on her face. 

"Yes, I have"

"So which challenge will you take?"

"I will do both"

""Eh?""