Baxter and Toto

I spent my entire summer in the nearly empty halls of Elendria. I felt absolutely no desire to return to Lore—especially when I heard news that Iris planned to go back there and show off her new boyfriend Dante. The last thing I wanted was to bare that humiliation, even though a big part of me wanted to deeply see my mother again who I knew was worried sick about me, my pride ultimately kept my stationary.

I dedicated myself to training and perfecting my skills with the katana and of entering the Spirit World. Toto watched over me as I practiced, still uncertain and confused on what I was doing but she still was very supportive nonetheless.

The kind and tough dwarf female even sparred with me a bit and she was no weakly. Her skills with an axe was something not to underestimate and she utilized a lot of wind magic into her strikes. I tried to go into the Spirit World to slice her mana but I met the same ultimately disappointment with Annie and Damien—the Mana, which took the form of a whale was too strong for me to cut.

In the end, our duels ended with me on my ass but I was proud of myself for being able to land a few hits before getting knocked down.

“Ha!” I yelled triumphantly while I was on the ground breathing heavily. “Finally managed to take out a piece of your hair!”

“Thanks for that!” Toto grumbled. “Now I’m going to look like a maniac for at least a few days!”

“Few days?”

“Dwarf hair grows fast. Anyway, what you are planning to do once school starts?”

“What do you mean?” I questioned as I stood up. “I’m going to continue training and learning like before.”

“Even with all the drama and nonsense that will come after your whole thing with…with Iris?”

Toto hesitated on saying the name of my ex-girlfriend. She wanted to be considerate of my feelings which I greatly appreciated.

“I don’t give a damn about her or anybody else. I still want to be a Holy Knight so I’m gonna keep training and keep getting stronger!”

Seeing the determination in my eyes Toto smiled happily and nodded.

“I honestly believe that too! You are the strongest Null I’ve ever fought!”

“Have you fought any other Nulls besides me?”

“Huh? Um…actually no—but my point still stands! I don’t know any other Nulls as strong as you!”

‘Hm…I’m almost tempted to tell her about the Tortoise,’ I said in my head. ‘Actually…I wonder how strong I am compared to them…’

“Anyway I pray that God gives you nothing but good luck for this semester! Sadly I won’t be around much…”

“Huh? You’re not gonna be here?”

“At least not for the fall semester. Got some stuff going back at home near Mountains of Oňï—so I need to be there.”

“What’s going on?”

“My…”

Toto folded her arms and let out a heavy sigh.

“My…my father is dying.”

“Really? W-what happened?”

“Well, he’s getting old. He’s almost a thousand years old,” Toto stated. “The doctors estimate that he will breath his last near the end of November so…”

“…I’m so sorry Toto…”

“Heh…it’s okay. I knew it was coming eventually…”

“Is…is there anything I can do?”

“What exactly can you do?”

“I don’t know—anything! What do you want me to do to help you feel better?”

“…Keep training and getting stronger.”

Toto strolled up to me and gently grabbed my right fist. My hand was completely enveloped his her massive muscular hands.

“Never stop trying to reach the top and prove those high noble bastards on their comfy seats wrong! Show them just how strong Baxter Ale is!”

I could not help but grin as I slammed my chest with vigor.

“Easiest task you could ever give me!”

The two of us did nothing but laugh and talk for the rest of the day. And a few months later, I saw Toto leave in a carriage. She wore a massive cloak and looked very anxious.

As the school semester started, I did nothing but train. I ignored the rumors and mockery of the other students and teachers and continued on the path of getting stronger. Despite that, I still felt like I was getting even close to even the weakest magic user. The power of zen was not growing in anyway.

But I believed I had as much time to get to the bottom of that power.

At least that was what I thought…until the faithful day of October 15th when a special ceremony was happening at the center of the city.

There I committed the most foolish action which completely trained the trajectory of my life.