A Day of Subtle Humiliation

Seconds later, we were out of the bedroom.

From our viewpoint, the scene changed as before, with the environment being rewritten, and we found ourselves in a place that looked oddly familiar.

It wasn’t hard to recognize the study, full of bookshelves and lights. Above us was the chandelier, and not far away were the table and sofas.

What made the most sense to me now was how strong Mineruva must have been, as this place only existed because of one of her abilities. I still didn’t quite know how it worked—but I was jealous!

I’d love to have my own secret out-of-bounds hideout too!

“Is this your home?” Lupa asked, impressed beyond measure.

“Sort of. It’s the closest thing I have to a home, since I’ve spent most of my time here.”

Now, walking around, I could feel the mirror-smooth wooden floors beneath my feet, and smell the scent of thousands of old books. Everything was as bright and shiny as when I had seen it from outside, yet being in it for real was even better.

Something was different though. On the table in the center, there was now a bowl filled with homemade onigiri.

“What’s that?” Rumel pointed at them. “Looks yummy!”

“A token from Michio-sama. A snack from his world called onigiri. Have some before we go on!”

The cat-girl didn’t hesitate. She jumped and dug into the bowl, taking ten or so onigiris. She brought us some too, and as I bit into it, I started to tear up.

A little taste of home... She nailed the seasoning, too!

“It tastes heavenly!” Lupa exclaimed with a full mouth.

Rumel was already on her second one, too distracted to speak.

Meanwhile, I spotted how not far from us a curtain pulled aside all by itself, revealing a door behind it. Walking up to it, Mineruva grabbed the handle and opened in.

Perhaps my eyes were deceiving me, but before I could see what lay behind it, I caught a bright white glow behind the door for a second.

My gamer experiences flashed before me. The times when I was asked to find ways to break out of a game’s level, just so others could fix them up. I managed to break through the most unexpected corners into the void beyond the level.

This was just like that, up until the light faded, revealing…

A huge room with tatami mats and shoji walls?!

It’s as if we’ve entered yet another world within a world! It was a whole training room, with long wall decorations, pillars and lockers full of every kind of martial arts weapon.

And all in the design of a Japanese Dojo with some Leclaire elements.

I felt at home right away, while the two girls were more freaked out about how we got here.

“How does this place not match the other room?” the cat-girl asked.

“The short version: it’s magic. Long version: this place is inaccessible though ordinary doors, only by teleportation. I control it, so I can create extra rooms if needed. This one is in Mido style, which pretty much contradicts an elegant academic study.”

Yeah, I’m so downright jealous…

“We’ll train here throughout today and tomorrow morning before we leave. I’ll help you as much as I can, starting with introducing you to someone.”

Mineruva took a few steps away, but before we could ask, she motioned us to wait.

She held out her hand, the Soul Index appeared out of nowhere.

She used it immediately, saying the invocation.

“Guardian of the Seaside Throne, come forth!”

No sooner had I understood who this someone was than a figure glowing in jade appeared in front of us.

And that’s when my mind went full blue-screen from the shock.

The figure was a ghost-woman dressed in an amazing samurai armor, holding a katana even cooler than the real thing! She looked at us with a piercing and imperious gaze as the three of us waved at her.

“These are my friends I told you about! Rumel, Lupa, and Michio,” Mineruva said. “I called you because you might be able to help us improve fighting precisely, using swords.”

“I see,” she said, thinking. “What’s the reason behind it?”

“There’s someone out there about to plunge the Tessalian Empire into war and we want to stop her. We have one and a half days to prepare before we act.”

The samurai nodded, then turned to us and bowed deeply, kneeling even.

“Akemi Gozen at your service! I’m a warrior from Leclaire's past, and I gladly take part in your cause!”

Did she just say Gozen?!

I immediately bowed in response, my head touching the tatami mat. “It's our pleasure, Noble Lady Akemi!”

I seemed to have startled both the girls and Akemi, but I had my reasons.

‘Gozen’ was a title for women in historical Japan who were respected warriors or nobles! Take Tomoe Gozen or Hangaku Gozen for example. In today's standards, they were basically celebrities!

“Heh, you’re respectful beyond reason, and you know the Mido traditions too… I’m fascinated, Michio-kun!”

She said my name!

“Get your training sword and let’s begin,” she gestured toward the lockers, then looked at the knight-girl beside me, smiling. “Ah, I see you already have your weapon of choice! Good to see a fellow warrior!”

“I do my best!”

Meanwhile, I picked up a sword from the locker and nearly fainted. Even as a dummy sword, it was insanely cool, like something from a cosplay set! It was made of blunt metal, so I couldn’t get hurt using it.

I went back to get started, but then I felt a bit lost in thought.

How are we even going to train with her?

“Mineruva? If Akemi-senpai is part of the Soul Index, which is yours, then is she allowed to actually fight us, or would the System not allow it?”

Akemi lowered her head slightly, and I had a feeling my question was valid. There was no denying that Akemi was loyal and honorable, but she must’ve felt frustrated about not being able to use her skills to the fullest.

“No, it wouldn’t,” Mineruva admitted, a little scowling, but then continued with unexpected confidence. “But while you were sleeping, I came up with an idea to allow Soul Index spirits to fight without my direct involvement.”

Seriously, did I sleep that long? Everyone already found solutions to every problem while I was stuck in nightmare mode on repeat!

“You’re joking.”

“Nope! We’ll test it right now,” she took a long breath and gave an order to the samurai. “Guardian of the Seaside Throne, for the time of this training, I give you freedom to act however you wish! May your own moral compass guide you in your freedom!”

Huh? What did that do?

Akemi slowly raised her katana and looked at her reflection in it. Funny, even I could see my own reflection in it, it was so clear.

I gazed around the room, not sure what would happen. Then, in the dumbest way possible, I held my sword in front of me and waited, barely breathing.

Lupa also took her fighting pose, a way cooler one than whatever I did.

“The System doesn’t allow me to use you for fighting, but it should allow me to give you free will regardless of orders. Want to try?”

Akemi smirked and smoothed her arm over the katana, then pointed it at me, ready to attack.

“Defend yourself, Michio-kun!”

“Uhm…”

A second later, the samurai leapt toward the two of us, and casually crashed into us like an entire freight train.

CLASH!

Our swords echoed the sound of the impact, and I could even see some tiny sparks as she blew her first attack, while Lupa staggered to stand her ground.

But I couldn’t.

I instantly got slammed into the wall ten meters away, my ears exploding from the wild whiplash, not to mention this was my first time in this world dealing with intense pain.

“Ow…”

◆ ◆ ◆

Don’t worry, that was just one of many times I smashed into that wall that day.

I was eliminated first, my sword sliding across the floor. Lupa fared slightly better. She went down with the second blow.

“First round, you’re out!” Akemi announced excitedly. “Get up, let’s start the real training!”

Excuse you?!

Thus began the most painful Friday of my entire life so far, where every minute I was defending myself to no avail, running for my life screaming, and ending up in the wall with sore limbs every time.

Anyway, after the fiftieth wall smash, I was too messed-up to keep any kind of count, only wondering how I was able to get up each time and not curl up into a fetal position.

Mineruva must’ve been a total nutjob for figuring this out, though it couldn’t have been that hard. I would’ve figured that one out... Eventually!

Akemi was given full autonomy in our training, and the System allowed it! The samurai could act as she pleased, so Mineruva’s inability to fight wasn’t a problem anymore. She was now free to fight us in true Berserk Mode!

She was able to come at us from the other side of the room in literally three steps, and this wasn’t even her full strength! At this point she was just being gentle.

Yeah—gently sending me flying in the air.

This went on for hours.

In the first hour, I thought my problem was with the stance, so I tried every possible position, must’ve felt like I was rehearsing dance moves. I had no success, even when I was the one attacking her.

“Ack!” I hit the floor in a tumble after she leaned away from me with fearsome speed. Behind me, Lupa tried the same thing, but only succeeded in falling right on top of me.

How many tons could that armor weigh?!

“Gods, that’ll leave a mark…” Rumel squeaked from the side like she was in the same pain.

“Sorry!” Lupa got up quickly, but I still felt the mark on my chest.

We started running in the second hour, still not realizing it didn’t solve anything at all.

“We’ll surprise her from both sides!” I whispered to Lupa. “If she comes at us, we split up!”

“Okay!”

No. It didn't work.

“Don’t run, Michio-kun! The enemy won’t give you time to run!” Akemi raced after me at breakneck speed half a minute later, as I was almost in tears from hopelessness.

“Then what should I do?!” I shouted, before abruptly staggering and falling over as she slashed at me from the side.

As I fell, she jumped and pinned me down with her foot. She didn’t even flinch, and I was on the floor like a puppet yanked down!

“Precision is your goal, is it not? Then start paying attention!”

It wasn’t until the third hour that I understood that all along, she wanted to test what we paid attention to and what we didn’t, making sure she knew our moves and waited if we noticed anything.

Not that finding this out helped much, I just stopped stumbling and getting smashed as I let Lupa take the lead for a few rounds.

The knight-girl was better than I was, but somehow she wasn’t enough either, even though she was far more trained!

While I was usually on the floor, she kept going, trying to silently sneak closer to Akemi and pounce her at the best moment.

She, in turn, startled Lupa with a casual swipe, causing her to jump to the side to not get slashed, sliding away until she steadied herself.

“Great! Both the idea and the timing was right,” Akemi said. “But you’re attacking too predictably!”

Rumel rushed up to me quickly, a goblet of cold tea in one hand, an onigiri in the other.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m managing,” I said as she offered me the things she brought.

I couldn’t believe how good that tea was with the rice now when I was sweating.

“You’re a lifesaver, Rumel!”

“All good! Though I hope you won’t need much lifesaving. If you get hurt here, Mineruva will freak out.”

I looked at her trustingly as she stepped away, then I got up again.

As I watched that scene with Lupa’s surprise attack from further away, I didn’t notice it at first, but something clicked into place about it.

Akemi barely looked at her, startling her with a single motion where she didn’t even need to extend her arm far to slash.

Yeah, she was precise, and we probably had to learn a lot to win a single round against her. But still something bugged me...

Maybe it isn’t the actual body movement what’s important…

Akemi didn’t make any needless moves, probably because of her heavy armor which limited her movement. What we saw as a fast run was just a few leaps, everything else was almost stationary, plus she was deeply listening to the surrounding sounds.

But that hand movement!

She swung the blade almost effortlessly, and she always twirled in one place. She kept the sword at its widest attack-range while moving only when she wanted to get closer to us.

If I know she’ll only make the most needed moves, what if I just focus on her katana? Knowing its range, it should be easy to avoid it.

I spent the next few hours figuring out if this was true, or I was simply seeing things in my fatigue.

I didn’t care that I was out of breath and exhausted. We had a day and a half to strengthen Lupa and teach me how to fight well enough to help defeat Silaghi.

I had to use every minute to learn or try, hoping it wouldn’t go to waste.

My gamer senses were getting stronger as I realized Akemi really wasn’t much different from a boss, more so a boss of a tutorial. I sort of knew her mechanics, her habits, it was all there in front of me, I just had to notice it.

This time, I consciously tried every option, every combination, as if I was trying to solve the hardest section of a brand new game.

Just as Akemi was about to strike, I ducked just in time, but stumbled, barely managing to stand up. I turned around just as she tried to stab me, which I blocked.

Her repulse was very strong, my sword could barely stand the force of it, my legs began to slide backwards in an instant.

Lupa suddenly came around me and was about to stab from below, when Akemi gracefully jumped away.

“Good! Keep going!”

I had no reason to hesitate. In the following fights that day, it was as if I hadn’t paid the slightest attention to the outside world.

All I cared about was the katana. Its position, reach, and what she might do next with it.

It was truly a player vs. boss moment.

As she swung at us, I purposefully ran up to her again, and our weapons clashed with tremendous force, sending off a spray of sparks. I stood my ground, even though I could barely keep my balance.

I managed to push her back barely enough for Lupa to come and take my place, but our trainer knew what I was going to do, or so she thought.

Breaking free from the clutch, I threw myself to the side with my head low. Akemi immediately dodged her and stabbed at me, but it was too soon.

I successfully made her think I was going to attack from the side, and I was just barely outside the range of a normal sword-slash!

But she thrust at me, holding the blade with one hand, doing the exact motion that caught my eye before.

Except I struck first, giving me one chance to act.

With this slash, I managed to knock the katana out of her hand!

Lupa was slightly behind, ready to attack again.

Damn, my senses were great! I finally managed to figure her out!

For a split second, I was quite pleased, up until I realized who I was up against. Akemi reached out with her other hand for the katana and caught it.

There was no way…

Once I spun around, perhaps hoping that we might still be able to attack, I was immediately met with the katana just inches away from my nose.

Like an emergency brake, I stopped just short of the samurai, her face grim.

M-Maybe a bow would help again?

Akemi could barely contain the laughter as she watched me die inside.

“Ha! You should see your face!” she had a good giggle, putting the blade away and patting my shoulder. “Maybe you’re starting to catch on to what’s really worth your attention. But you won’t get far by calculating my moves all the time.”

Lupa came up to us as she continued excitedly. “We’ll mix things up a bit! Now fight each other for a while!”

It was clear by this point that when a samurai asks you to do something, you’d better do it.

A little perplexed, we took up the starting position and rushed each other, which resulted in me struggling for almost ten rounds to start recognizing my opponent’s movements again.

And it was hell!

Lupa either kicked me from behind when I wasn’t looking, spun around me without me having a clue where or when she’d stop, or simply knocked the sword out of my hand. All of this about five times in a row.

It started over again, all the watching and learning!

AARGHH!

All I could do was parry, and thank goodness I could at least keep running, as Lupa was much slower.

I could see the look on Akemi’s face as she watched me, hands folded, to see if I could adapt to Lupa the way I did with her.

My senses focused on the sword again. I discovered quickly that Lupa, though slower, was able to move more gracefully, and wasn’t afraid to make insanely wild sword movements as she spun.

Must’ve been her armor. It was light and didn’t restrict her move-set the least.

By the time I managed to fight her while avoiding her tricks with success, it was afternoon already.

I felt stronger, tensing my limbs and precisely taking note of every movement.

Now it has become a natural feeling, as I had felt the same when I was playing games, only this time there was no keyboard, no cursor—just me.

I gripped my dummy sword tightly and rushed at Lupa, who dodged my first attacks, but with each dodge, she took a few steps back.

I aimed to stab, but my sword somehow missed and sliced into thin air...

Ducking this fast?!

“Great reflexes, Lupa!” Akemi praised.

I barely looked down before I saw her about to leap at me from below. To counteract, I dived backwards instead of clashing into her by accident, and with a feint I managed to make her miss me.

With this, I got behind her.

It was just the right time for a good attack! She couldn’t have been fast enough to reach me!

I was about to strike when...

◆ ◆ ◆

“Michio-kun!” a voice called out of the blue, catching me off guard.

At the worst possible time! I almost had it!

I was so tired! Why couldn’t I win even once?!

That familiar voice was coming from the doorway, and looking over, I saw Rumel waving and beckoning me to come and follow as she went inside.

What was it? She didn’t look gloomy, so nothing serious must’ve happened while we were fighting. Maybe it was time to eat?

Sheathing my sword, I stopped training for a bit and excused myself from Lupa and Akemi, leaving them to duel as I went over to Rumel.

We stepped into the study, and I noticed Mineruva going our way.

“What’s up, guys? How’s everything going?” I asked.

“We’re making progress in how we could use my medicine against Silaghi.”

“And there are some... unexpected developments too,” Mineruva added.

“Developments?”

Any development in our situation would equal stressful news, no?

“It’s just that there’s a fifth person who’d be willing to help in the fight,” Rumel chimed with enthusiasm.

That was… actually good news!

“It’s a bit my fault,” she confessed with a shy laugh. “Today I told her we were going to practice and she was adamant about joining. I mean, we’ll be using magic and swords anyway, so there’s plenty of room for an archer.”

An archer?!

That’s when I heard someone get up from an armchair. I shuddered. Not even noticing anyone else was here.

A figure stood up, wearing a medieval archer’s suit with light belts, a quiver full of arrows at her side. She held a huge, decorated wooden bow in her hand.

She smiled at us, and just like that, I threw my swordsmanship worries out the window, because now we had a freaking archer on our side!

“I do hope I’m not a bother… Haven’t practiced bow in a while, but I figured it might help with whatever you guys are up to.”

Plus, she was the kindest elf I knew.

“Oh, hi, Adiel! Perfect timing!”