Since that day, I was daily tortured under the pretense of training.

The day after I was accepted, Shishou brought me to another building behind the dojo.

Different weapons were placed on shelves, I curiously inspect them while he was looking through a dusty cabinet.

“Catch, little girl, these should be suitable for you.”

Instinctively holding my hand out, I catch two short wooden swords reminiscent of ninja swords in old movies.

Hey, damned old man, they could've hit my face, you know?! Give me an earlier warning, would ya?!

Examining them, one is about the same length as the Shoto I used yesterday while the other is a third longer.

That’s a drastic decrease from the Daito which had at least double the length.

“A Daito is too big for you, girl, it slows you down and increases stamina consumption. These two should suit your figure. Now, come at me and adjust your style.”

We start sparring again after I ask Manager-san to help me out.

We went on for hours only interrupted by the rare snack break in between.

The damned old man didn’t let me eat much to prevent stomachache, I believe he just wanted to resume torturing me quickly though.

“Okay, girl, that's it for today. Although you didn’t improve much, you have gotten used to the new swords and we can start combat sparring tomorrow.”

Glancing at the clock, I am astonished to find that I lasted an entire hour longer than yesterday.

Shishou notices and casually answers my doubts.

“Of course, you’re gonna last longer, girl. You’ve got the basics down and you’re using lighter swords, the stamina waste is much less than the first time.”

I hum in acknowledgment while going over my memories of yesterday.

Indeed, I wasted a lot of time just changing stances yesterday, then more went into perfecting my strikes, trying to output more damage with less power.

Today, I only needed to adjust myself to shorter swords and rely on speed instead, while yesterday’s experience became a shortcut that avoided several mistakes.

“Well, c’mon already, dinner’s gonna get cold.”

That was all it took for me to disregard any pain and rush after him like a starved zombie.

 

The days went by as my sparring with Shishou became more exhilarating.

Instead of me just attacking him he defends, we would engage in one-on-one duels where he would lower his strength to match mine.

He would also use some surprise attacks and unexpected movements from time to time, every spar was like opening a Christmas gift.

Our bond as master and disciple became more solid over time, as we started getting along like a grandfather and his granddaughter.

I once asked Shishou about his connection with my mom and I got a very cool story in response.

My grandpa had helped Shishou’s daughter-in-law out of a tough situation before, the same he had done with grandma.

Shishou is someone who takes family very seriously, so he promised my grandpa one unconditional request under the condition that it doesn't affect his family, but grandpa never actually used it.

So Shishou wanted to get rid of his debt by testing me, never expected he would find a rough gem though.

Umm, grandpa? Are you perhaps the second coming of Spiderman or something...?

Just how many people did you save?! And I get the feeling most of them were women too...

As for why just testing me can offset such an expensive favor, it has to do with Shishou’s reputation and how his dojo normally operates.

The first dojo master was born during the early 1200s, the earliest era of samurais, he was a great fighter who killed hundreds of enemies for his lord, so he was honored with the Kensei title, literally meaning Sword Saint.

At that time, samurais were not all about honor stuff and the one who could kill more foes was naturally better.

The first dojo master retired after receiving an injury in one of his battles.

His lord wanted to repay such a loyal minister, so he bestowed upon him a relatively vast piece of land beside his castle.

But the sudden change in the dojo master’s life was unacceptable for him, he had become good friends with the lord over the numerous battles they participated in, so he asked his friend to build a large dojo on this land.

The lord, puzzled by this request, expressed his doubts about his friend’s intentions.

It turns out the first dojo master wanted to use his remaining time to train samurais for the lord, helping his old friend the best he could.

The lord was astounded by such a display of a minister’s loyalty and a friend’s support.

After accepting his request, he awarded the dojo master with the Kensei title and left orders for his descendants to always befriend the loyal dojo master’s descendants as long as his family exists.

It was a soul-stirring story, yet I never understood why someone would have such unswerving loyalty for another.

A proud smile formed on Shishou’s lips hearing my inquiry.

“That lord was someone who lived with his soldiers. Whether it was food or drink, joys or sorrows, victory or defeat, fight or flee, he shared them all with them. His personality was more of a close captain than a faraway lofty lord, this inspired great loyalty and support from the soldiers serving him.”

So that’s why, huh... Well, I can't relate much as I can’t imagine myself willingly submitting under someone else.

It just feels... off.

I wanna be free and do whatever the hell I want, being Loyal is not an option unless it’s temporary and with benefits attached, just like my deal with Alkreya.

After finishing the story about the dojo origins, Shishou then explained how the dojo works in modern days.

Every dojo master trains personal disciples or his own children up to a specific proficiency, after which they are sent to different cities and start or take over dojo branches that have been set up over the years.

Apparently, that also applies to me after attaining the required skills should I desire it.

When a trainee is deemed competent and talented enough in those branches, they are sent to this main branch to go further on their path with a highly regarded master.

Accordingly, bypassing this entire process through the test, and getting one-on-one training with Shishou is more than enough to consume the favor.

It turns out that training with Shishou is such an unreachable goal for others requiring countless hours of hard work to remotely get close to.

Realizing just how great the opportunity mom provided for me was, I am more determined to give it my all.

 

A couple of months later,

I’ve been training with Shishou every day for a while now; My technique has become as refined as possible for my petite body and weak strength.

The sparring sessions are halted until I grow older, Shishou has instead started guiding me on the way of body arts.

As a matter of fact, Shishou actually has exquisite mastery of all sorts of weapons and body arts as I’ve witnessed during our spars, he can use all types of swords ranging from katanas to epees.

His mastery over body arts is incredibly biased towards eastern types though, as such arts are mostly family inheritances with incredible variation between different cultures, unlike swordsmanship techniques which share the basic movement sets.

My schedule now includes something akin to a reduced Saitama daily exercise routine.

It was seamlessly incorporated though, my spars with Shishou strengthened my stamina and physique quite a bit.

The frequency of dead fish impressions I’ve done over time has almost become zero.

There's no need for Aikido classes in the future as well, and mom acquiesced to it out of trust for Shishou.

Enough of that for now, today’s time for another stop on my life road.

It’s time for the elementary school entrance ceremony, yaaay...

Ahhh... this is gonna be boring.

The only pro is  Aiko being admitted to the same school, I hope we also get into the same class.

Finishing my breakfast, I pick up my backpack and go on my way after greeting Mom.

“I’m heading out.”

“Take care, sweetie. Your bento’s inside the bag!”

Ohhh, I wonder what she prepared me for lunch!

My parents were relieved to let me go out by myself after witnessing the results of one of my spars with Shishou, or that’s what I thought at the beginning.

With the increasing strength of my senses coupled with my super intuition, I discovered someone secretly following me some time ago and locked onto them using my sphere.

At first, I thought it was another kidnapper stalking me and was preparing to strike him down, but it quickly became apparent that the bad guy look is nothing but a disguise.

Additionally, I felt no malice towards me, so I curiously observed him for a couple of days which led to me discovering that he was stealthily protecting me under the orders of my parents.

Normally, this would come off as limiting my freedom, but I understood why they did it and let it go.

Yes, I’m a hypocrite for my loved ones, deal with it.

As a matter of fact, the school’s quite close to home, so it only took a couple of minutes.

Our neighborhood includes most facilities within walking distance except for a kindergarten.

You can imagine my surprise when I found out that Heishin High School where Kumoko attended was only 3 Blocks away.

You rock, Alkreya!

Setting foot on school grounds, I set off in the direction most people are heading.

My sphere starts picking up the presence of people a second later.

While the school grounds are quite large, they are still mostly included in my range.

I had wondered about the reason my sphere isn’t expanding with body and soul growth before, but Manager-san informed me that it has expanded by a large margin, just that I can’t utilize the extra range due to my brain being too weak.

It’s the soul-body problem popping up again... I need to advance to a higher species or condense a soul body to fix this, so It’ll have to wait.

Manger-san confirmed that it will expand quite a bit when my body matures though.

Stepping into the gymnasium, I spot Aiko waving at me from what I assume is the new students' gathering place.

Waving back, I start moving toward her position, but I stop in my tracks as I glimpse a few familiar faces in the crowd...

Hooh, more cast members, is it... I'll still not use my previous knowledge to judge them, that knowledge is from more than 20 years into the future.

Maybe this won’t be such a boring place, after all.

Grinning, I resume my steps and greet Aiko, we haven’t seen each other since I started my training, and I’ve missed her voice.