Joyish laughing could be heard in the town center. Small children could be seen running around while pulling their smiling parents behind them.
However one child could be seen gazing at the happy children with envy burning in his eyes.
Noriko sighed he to wished for such a relationship with his parents. His mother was a kind woman but she was to I'll to leave the house and run around with him and his father...
His father was a busy man he was a warrior but also a leader and he had to insure the safety of the entire clan however this caused him to have little time for his family.
A hand gripped Noriko shoulder the hand was rough and hard. Noriko stared into the eyes of his father.
"Follow me."
The boy did so without hesitation, after a few minutes the two arrived at a small building. The building only had two rooms ,one room was the bathroom and the other was a mixture of a bedroom and kitchen.
Noriko was confused "Father why did you bring me here?"
The man said nothing he sat down at a small table and was quickly joined by his son.
The two sat opposite of each other and after what felt like years Noriko's father broke the silence.
"My son the world as we know it is changing, our enemies are improving and bettering their techniques while we are stuck in the old ways im afraid if this continues our nation will be forgotten."
The boy stared confused at his father and the man only sighed.
"It seems like you slacked of during the lessons you were given."
The man chuckled it was a strange sound and it shocked Noriko.
Nonetheless he continued
"There are five nations you know that much I hope. To the North lies the Frozen lands,to our south the mighty desert, to our east the swamp lands and finally to our west lies the capital."
Noriko nodded of as his father spoke.
"Each of these kingdoms are improving they are bettering their weapons,housing and reputation while we are going backwards all thanks to my foolish father."
Noriko frowned and wanted to stand up for his grandfather but his father glared at him.
"Before you try to defend him you should know he is not the saint that he acts like,he is a man of war he has killed thousands and manipulated even more. I am his son but he even tried to manipulate me ever since I was young so that I could become the perfect weapon."
Noriko looked shocked and was at a loss for words his father only sighed and motioned for the boy to get up. The man moved towards the north wall and opened up the floor board's he retrieved three books.
He handed the books to Noriko.
"These books are instrumental to your growth,the first one is the advanced knowledge of our clan and it's fighting style the second one is everything you need to know about politics and so on and the last one is a message that will lead you to your future open it when you are 16."
Noriko was a bit shocked but nodded and stored the books inside his clothes. The boy was about to say something but he was interrupted by an explosion.
The two men stared out of the window to see chaos.