"Shall we begin?"
"Begin what?"
"From today, I'll also be teaching you how to fight."
Finally! Master was going to teach me combat. I had waited a long time for this. An Elestar who doesn't know how to fight is like a mage who can't cast spells.
"First, I'll teach you hand-to-hand combat. Later, we'll move on to sword fighting. Actually, we'll fight."
Wait… I'm going to spar with Master Valorant? He'd destroy me in a second! I hoped he would go easy on me, or else this wouldn't even be useful. Anyway, I followed him to see what would happen.
We arrived at a clearing in the forest, a good spot for combat.
"This place will do. Let's begin training here."
Master removed his outer robe. Despite looking old, his muscular body told a different story. His arms were like those of a man in his prime. Maybe it was the clothing making him look stronger? Either way, he looked powerful.
"Attu, you attack. I'll evaluate your skills based on that. Come on, attack!"
I didn't argue—I rushed forward, aiming a punch at his face. Master simply caught my hand. Then he let go and said:
"Too weak. Too slow. Try again."
I charged again. This time, he didn't even grab me. He just stepped aside and tripped me with his foot.
"You need to learn how to stay on your feet."
I fell face-first into the ground, then stood up again. I was starting to get angry. My face was showing signs of rage. I attacked again—this time more deliberately, stopping to throw the punch.
But this was nothing to Master Valorant. Without dodging, he simply grabbed my arm and used his own weight to flip me, slamming me onto the ground.
"Better than your last strikes. That's enough for today." he said, putting his robe back on and walking away.
Why did he end the session so quickly?
"Why stop now? We barely started. You haven't taught me anything!"
"Did you forget something?"
"What?"
"Calmness. Rage has already taken hold of you. We'll continue tomorrow." he said, walking back toward the hut.
Hearing those words, I realized I really had lost my temper. Rage is the true enemy. An Elestar must face their own fury before they can defeat any opponent.
I acknowledged my mistake and sat down right there to meditate and concentrate. After a while, once I calmed myself, I began practicing attack moves using my arms and legs, just as Master had taught me.
As night fell and the forest grew dark, I returned to our hut. As always, Master was sitting by the fire. I sat silently beside him.
Without saying a word, he handed me a bowl of food. I also stayed silent and began to eat.
At that moment, a question popped into my mind.
"Where did you learn to fight?"
"Why are you asking that now?"
"I've been meaning to ask for a while, but I didn't know how to bring it up."
"You can't learn something like that in one place. It comes from years of training. I've been learning ever since I was a child, all the way until I became a general. Even after that, I never stopped learning."
"You were a general?"
"Yes. I once led an entire army by myself. Now I'm retired. My former student commands the army in my place."
"I have another question."
"Go ahead."
"Every day, you disappear somewhere. Why?"
"I keep checking if there's any message from the messenger birds."
"Why?"
"After you'd been here for about two weeks, I had a hunch that the demons might cross the border again. If one or two came, I could handle them. But what if an entire army showed up? That's why I've been documenting daily events for my student."
"So that's why you disappear at night too?"
"Yes. Because demons, like vampires, can't move during the day. The sunlight burns them. That's why they only move at night."
"I didn't know that. Why do they burn in sunlight?"
"No one knows. It hasn't been explained yet. But you could call it punishment."
"Punishment?"
"Perhaps for their sins. Demons kill and eat people. Not only that, they can also turn humans into demons. All it takes is a ritual and a few drops of blood."
"I didn't think demons had so many abilities."
After I said that, Master fell silent for a while. And before I realized it, I had fallen asleep by the fire, waking up only when morning had come.
I stood up and looked around. Master wasn't in the hut or nearby. I figured he had gone somewhere on business and began my morning exercises. I ran through the forest, did push-ups, and practiced my strikes.
Around noon, while I was meditating in the forest, Master returned. His clothes were different.
"Where did you go?"
"I had somewhere to be."
"Shall we start training, then?"
"Yes, soon. Let me drop these things off at the hut first."
He showed me the items in his hand.
After returning from the hut, Master sparred with me. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't land a single hit. Master easily countered all my strikes and threw me to the ground. Eventually, I even learned how to fall with less pain and mastered the best ways to land. But I became exhausted just from all the falling.
"I'm done. I have no strength left."
"What, is falling over and over tiring?" he laughed.
"Did you just laugh?"
"Yes, why?"
"You haven't laughed once in the past month. I'm just surprised."
For the first time, Master had laughed in front of me. It showed we had grown closer.
"Now stand up and take the training stick. We're starting sword training. I'll be teaching you both hand-to-hand and sword combat."
Finally, today we were going to start sword fighting! It seemed like Master was excited about it too.
"Begin!"
I stepped forward and tried to strike from above with the stick. But before I could even lift it, Valorant had already closed the distance. His stick was pressed to my neck. And so, we continued training until nightfall. That evening, we sat by the campfire outside the hut.
"You did well today."
"How? I didn't even touch you once!"
"But not once did I see anger in your eyes today. You've learned to control yourself well."
"Of course! I realized my mistake yesterday and have been trying not to lose my temper."
"Calmness is an essential trait for a warrior. No matter the situation, always remain calm. That way, your mind won't get clouded, and mistakes will be less likely. And—I have a gift for you."
"Really? What did you bring me?"
Hearing this, I became very excited. Honestly, I didn't expect Master to do something like that. He went into the hut and returned with a bag. Sitting by the fire, he began pulling things out of the bag. Inside were clothes, which he handed to me.
"Come on, try them on!"
I was thrilled by the gift—especially the clothing. Master had given me a black cloak, a white collarless shirt, black pants, and a pair of boots.
"These are a gift from me."
"Really? Thank you so much!"
"You've been wearing the same outfit for a month. I thought it was time for a change."
"But how did you even get these? We're in the forest, and the city is almost two days away…"
"I sent a message through the messenger birds asking for supplies. I brought them back when I went out scouting last night."
"So that's why you weren't here this morning!"
Master then pulled out a piece of cloth and handed it to me.
"Put this on."
"Why?"
"To test something."
I tied the cloth over my eyes, unsure of what Master had in mind.
"Is it on?"
"Yes. Now what?"
Master had me blindfolded, but I could still sense the surroundings. Then he asked with his right hand raised:
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
Still blindfolded, I faced him and answered:
"Five."
"Now turn around and tell me how many fingers I'm holding up."
I turned around. Though I couldn't see, I already knew the answer.
"How many fingers?"
"Two."
"Now start walking forward. Keep answering until you can no longer tell."
I did as he said. For every correct answer, Master told me to take one step forward. When I had reached about ten meters, I could no longer sense anything.
"I can't feel anything now."
"Now I'll throw a rock at your back. You have to dodge it. Understood?"
"Yes."
Master picked up a pebble no larger than a fingernail and threw it at me with full force. I sensed the moment he released it and dodged by ducking.
"Enough, come here!"
"I've never seen anything like this. Can you actually see your surroundings with your eyes blindfolded?"
"Yes. I can."
"How exactly do you see?"
"When I put on a blindfold, I can see everything around me. But only within a limited range."
"What about your actual eyes? Can you see with them too?"
"Yes, I can see things in front of me as usual."
"Was there anyone in your family who was an Esper?"