Time had passed since the Hoshimi family had asked Ras, the 8th Hollow Hunter, to become Miyabi's swordsmanship instructor.
Once his wife Arais's rehabilitation treatment was fully complete, Ras immediately came to the Hoshimi family and became Miyabi's instructor.
And today was the day to meet Miyabi, who had grown to some extent.
Arais and Ras headed to the mansion in a car prepared by the family.
Upon entering the mansion, Ras and Arais were shown around here and there by the mansion's servants.
While politely pretending to learn about the already familiar mansion once more, Ras spotted a dignified-looking child in the distance.
The child, who seemed to be watching Ras himself, was led away elsewhere by the family's retainers or servants.
Not long after, while touring the mansion, Ras was guided to a certain training ground within the estate. Almost without thinking, he was handed a wooden sword,
and before him, some unidentified fellow had finished preparing for a spar, pointing a wooden sword at him.
That unidentified fellow shouted at me.
"So you're the new swordsmanship instructor for the Hoshimi family!! If you weren't here, if I beat you,
I would become this family's swordsmanship instructor again! Have a match with me!!!"
Hearing that, Ras understood what the guy was talking about.
The guy was the one who had been dismissed from the instructor position because Ras had become the new instructor.
Thus, the family's retainers and servants witnessed the spar between Ras and the man on the spot.
Having grasped the situation, Ras sighed, and at the signal to begin the match,
he charged forward and engaged.
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Miyabi was, as ever, wandering around inside the mansion looking for her mother.
In the midst of this, she saw an unfamiliar man, and Miyabi stared at him for a moment
before, not long after, being guided by the family's retainers and servants to the mansion's training ground.
There, Miyabi saw the family head and the man she had just seen standing, and
soon realized the family elders were present around them. The family elders felt displeased that Miyabi's former instructor
had spoken of wanting to fight and defeat The Black Hound—a close friend of the third family head—without any prior discussion.
However, not long after watching the spar between the instructor and the man, they all swallowed those words and became wholly focused on the match.
Miyabi, too, the moment she saw the spar between the former instructor and the man, stared as if her soul had been sucked out.
To that degree, the spar between the instructor and the man was fierce, intense, and beautiful, like a brightly blooming flower
before a violent storm, so the retainers silently watched the match from where they stood,
simply gazing.
*Clang!! Clang!!!*
A sound that definitely shouldn't come from wooden swords clashing continued to ring out incessantly.
The man and the instructor focused on each other for a long while, swords crossed.
The retainers and Miyabi were also completely absorbed, lost in the spectacle.
For hundreds, thousands of exchanges, the instructor and Ras conversed through their swords, sharing a dialogue of steel.
And in this fight, neither side gave ground; they exchanged blows equally and faced each other in silence,
but those with some insight into swordsmanship could perceive it...
That The Black Hound (Ras) was holding back...
In the midst of this exchange, the wooden sword finally couldn't withstand the pressure and shattered. Seeing the broken sword, the retainers
felt regret at the sight, and the instructor, as if convinced of something, told the family's people that he would acknowledge Ras
taking on the role of Miyabi's swordsmanship teacher today. No one showed any objection to this statement.
Miyabi was delighted that such a person had become her daily swordsmanship instructor, and that day,
Miyabi saw with her own two eyes what a God-given talent truly looked like.
However, as Ras had his own work to do, he expressed his stubborn will to only be
a daily instructor once every few days. And so, Ras
became Miyabi's swordsmanship instructor.
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The day Miyabi received training from Ras...
Miyabi continued her training through simple sparring, swinging her sword at Ras numerous times.
He continually gave precise feedback on the sword swings or stances Miyabi executed.
He pointed out Miyabi's problems, but Miyabi couldn't keep up with the endless stream of
feedback coming in. Each time she sparred with Ras, she felt the issues and
quickly accepted the feedback, but
as the feedback came in even faster than that, arriving as if pointed out by a god,
digging deep, she felt amazement and understood what kind of God-given talent Ras possessed.
Miyabi continued to actively accept all the endless feedback,
growing so rapidly that she could feel her swordsmanship skill increasing at a tremendous speed.
She wished this time could last forever, but as Ras was a daily swordsmanship teacher hired by the family,
she soon realized this time was finite. Miyabi felt deep regret at that fact and
devoted herself endlessly to the improvement of her swordsmanship. Miyabi asked Ras:
"Um, Teacher... Couldn't you stay with the family a little longer??"
But Ras smiled and said to Miyabi....
"Kid... I have my own work to do too...."
At those words, Miyabi felt regretful, but Ras gave her a simple trinket,
leaving her with a memory as he concluded his work as the daily swordsmanship instructor.
Having finished his instructing duties, Ras returned home with Arais,
who had been talking with Miyabi's mother.
And so, Ras spent a happy day at home, thinking he would return to his ordinary daily life, but
Miyabi had no intention of letting him off so easily...
"Teacher!! Please teach me!!"
Miyabi came directly to my (Ras's) house, even though it wasn't a training day, as I was about to head to work the next morning.
She asked me (Ras) to be her swordsmanship teacher again today and to train her.
I endured this from Miyabi for a week, and (Ras) I, subjected to this, eventually
ended up giving Miyabi extra training separately.
Since my wife decided to run the company separately, seeing my wife who told me to trust her, Ras
entrusted the company to his wife and, even on his days off and even on days without appointments, once again became
Miyabi's swordsmanship instructor.
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Having kneeled to Miyabi's strong request and determination, Ras went to the mansion again today to teach Miyabi swordsmanship.
The mansion's retainers and servants greeted Ras comfortably, calling him the swordsmanship teacher.
In the midst of this, Ras met Miyabi's mother.
"Ah! Hello, Miyabi's mother.....??"
Ras immediately greeted Miyabi's mother, but
Miyabi's mother watched me for a moment before opening her mouth with difficulty and saying something shocking.
"...Please... I beg of you... Make Miyabi give up the sword...."
Hearing that, Ras's brain stopped for a moment before he came to his senses and asked for the reason.
The mother, confirming no one else was around, explained why she wanted Miyabi to give up the sword.
The explanation Ras heard was roughly this:
In the past, during the doljabi (first birthday grab), Miyabi chose a knife. Miyabi, who chose the knife, smiled very brightly and
was happy, but Miyabi's mother did not want Miyabi to hold a sword. She wanted her to grow up
as an ordinary child, not walking the path of martial arts, but
Miyabi continued to take an interest in blades. With her innate, outstanding talent, Miyabi
had lived until now without letting go of the sword, and also persistently tried to approach
a certain decorated sword blade in the house. Each time, Miyabi's mother stopped her, but Miyabi never
gave up, so her mother was troubled when I appeared, and
now, she was asking this of Ras, who felt like her only hope..
While listening, Ras thought of his own daughter, Kali, and what came to mind was....
"Father!! I've cut off the bugs' heads and come back!!"
"Father!! The trash from The Middle was too noisy, so I mashed them all up and came back!"
"Father, the Black Cloud Society was acting up, so I smashed about half of them and came back!!!"
"Father, The Ring Finger messed with the Jae Association, so I broke about half of their artworks and came back!!!!"
Nothing came to mind except Kali, who always showed Ras what she had done as a troubleshooter, as if wanting him to see it, in a refreshing manner...
Therefore, Ras didn't know what to think. Each time, Ras had always cheered his daughter on, so
this time too, he intended to ask Miyabi about her own will, but the mother looked at Ras
with a truly earnest expression, and eventually unable to withstand her gaze, Ras decided to raise the intensity of the training to try and make Miyabi
give up. Hearing that, the mother said even that would be good, thanked him, and then
left. Ras ended up devising a plan to increase the training intensity and make Miyabi quit...
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But Ras had no idea just how tenacious a child Miyabi was....