It was the beginning of the year K417, meaning that I was now 12 years old.
I was still quite young, but with my enhanced growth, I now stood at the height of most adult women, so it wasn't the worst.
It was a regular morning, and with Master Reida having tasked me with clearing the snow from the dojo's outer paths before my training with Teacher Kale, I was doing exactly that, using some fire magic to help speed up the process… at least, that was before I overheard the arrival of an unexpected guest.
"I don't need a guide! Just let me in!"
Hearing a young girl's shout from the front entrance, I found myself focusing on the familiar voice, turning to look at the scene.
That tone… it wasn't exactly the same, but I swear I had heard it before… but it couldn't be, right?
I walked over to the front entrance, wanting to get a look at who exactly was invoking such intense nostalgia.
"But still, I can't just-"
"Why not? I'm not here to cause trouble!" the girl said, interrupting the guard.
My eyes widened as the girl came into view, her blue hair flowing down her leather jacket.
"Then what are you here for?" the guard asked.
"I'm here to see Vincent!" she said, her gaze looking off to the side as her eyes came into contact with mine. "Wait… Vincent!?"
It… really was her.
She looked older, with her face having lost much of its baby fat, and while she hadn't grown much taller, her body was much more toned.
But those blue eyes… that smile… and that blue gem earring still attached to her left ear…
Yeah, there was no mistake.
She was definitely…
"Nina…" I said, a smile appearing on my face. "What are you doing-?"
She instantly disappeared, a cloud of snow exploding from where she had just been standing as I felt her slam into my chest an instant later, her arms wrapped tightly around my body in a hug.
Fast… yeah, she had definitely grown.
"Vince! Vince!" she said, rubbing her nose into my chest as she took a deep inhale. "Haa… It's… really you."
I decided to ignore her… interesting method of greeting me.
"Yeah… it is," I replied, wrapping my arms around her in turn. "But… what are you doing here?"
Don't tell me… she didn't run away from home, right?
"Can I not just enjoy this for a moment," she asked, looking up at me with a pout. "Or do you not care about our reunion?"
"No, I do, but-"
"Then this is fine!" she replied, leaning up to give me a small peck on the lips. "I've… missed you, Vince…"
I was left in a momentary daze at the sudden kiss, but I quickly snapped out of it as she returned to nuzzling my chest.
"I… missed you too," I said, averting my eyes.
Well… that answered one question.
In the two years we had been apart, it seemed that Nina's affection for me hadn't changed.
Actually, from how easily she did that, I could even say it had only gotten stronger.
I guess the saying 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' held some truth.
But still… that left the main question I had.
"How did you get here?" I asked, looking back down at her.
Thankfully, this time, she decided to actually reply with an answer.
"I rode on a horse! Father got me one before I left, just like he did for you," she replied, gesturing to the brown steed standing outside the front entrance. "He's quite well-behaved."
"Well, that's wonderful, but it isn't what I meant," I said.
"Ah, right… well, do you remember the condition that Father set for me to come join you?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was for you to become a… Sword Saint…" I said, slowly realizing what had happened, as Nina nodded her head with a proud smile.
I knew that from her initial hug that she had gotten much faster than before, but I didn't think it was to that extent.
But if what she was implying was true, then…
"Yep! I am now the Sword Saint Nina Farion, and I even have the coat to show for it," she said, looking down to show off her leather jacket with a fur trim on the sleeves and neck. "It's a little big, but I'll grow into it."
It was similar to the one her father would wear when we trained outside the main town, and I had to say, it did look quite good on her.
But what she said…
"Wait… to show for it? What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Huh? When you become a Sword Saint, you're supposed to receive a leather jacket from Father… oh," she said, suddenly realizing why I was confused.
Yeah… it seems that I hadn't gotten the memo.
"I had no idea about that tradition… I thought people just liked wearing them in the Sword Sanctum," I said.
It wasn't like I cared too much about the tradition, but still… a new, good-looking leather jacket would have been nice, especially for the journey here.
"A-Actually, Father told me why… he said you were too tiny when you became a Sword Saint, so if he gave it to you right away, you would quickly grow out of it," she said. "But he said he'll give you one when you return, once you're a grown adult!"
Well, I guess that made sense. It would be a shame to throw it away after just a few years of use.
Plus, now I had a reason to return to the Sword Sanctum past Gal's wishes.
But then again… it was equally possible that Gal had just forgotten.
"Then I guess I have something to look forward to… Anyway, since you're here, I should at least introduce you," I said, releasing the hug. "Let's get your horse into the stable, and then I'll take you to Master Reida and Isolte."
"Okay! Then let's- wait… who's Isolte?" she asked, eyes narrowing as a threatening aura began to radiate from her form. "Is it… a girl?"
Haa… yeah, this was definitely going to be an interesting day.
—
"I am Isolte Cruel. A Water Saint, and Vince's best friend," Isolte said, introducing herself with a forced smile. "Nice to meet you."
"And I'm Nina Farion, a Sword Saint, and Vince's childhood friend," Nina replied, her eye twitching as she did so. "Nice to meet you."
Despite the seemingly friendly greeting between the two beautiful blue-haired girls, there was an unmistakable tension in the air between them.
And I wasn't dense enough to be unaware of the reason… that being yours truly.
Well… it was better than them using their swords, so I guess I couldn't complain.
"Ahem! Well, while I would like to officially welcome you to the Water God Style dojo, I have some training to do with Vince," Isolte said, grabbing onto my left arm. "Some… private training."
Nina raised her chin in defiance as she moved in.
"I see… but I doubt that Vince would want to separate after we only just reunited," she said, grabbing onto my right hand. "After all, we need to get… reacquainted…"
Her voice suddenly trailed off, and looking to the side, it seemed that she had turned her focus onto my body… the body she was currently openly groping.
"Vince… I should have noticed it before, but… you've grown… and very nicely at that," she said, running her hands up and down my arms before she moved to my chest. "Yes… very good…"
Just what had been put into her brain during our time apart?
And why was she doing this out of nowhere, in front of those two no less.
"Y-You! Vulgar!" Isolte stammered, cheeks red with embarrassment. "Touching a boy like that… like it's nothing!"
"Oh, but it is nothing… at least, compared to what we've already done," Nina said seductively, her lips inching closer to me. "Like this…"
She then proceeded to kiss my ear, which… tickled quite a bit.
No… it wasn't just tickling… it was more like-
Nope!
I did not plan on awakening puberty right now, much less because of these two playing around.
"All right, that's enough," I said, pushing both of them away. "When I pictured you two meeting, I imagined the topic being focused on swordsmanship. Not… whatever this is."
"Hmph. That's because you decided to cheat on me," Nina said, crossing her arms.
I did not cheat on you, I was literally ten when I left, and we aren't even officially lovers.
"Womanizer," Isolte added with a pout.
I have only really talked to two girls my age my entire life. Three if you included Princess Ariel. So I don't think that was a very fair assessment either.
"Haha! You three are funny!" Master Reida said, obviously amused at the display. "Nina, you said your name was? You can stay here as long as you want. There are plenty of open rooms in the girls' dorm."
"Ah, thank you, Miss Water God," Nina said, bowing her head. "And you don't need to bother with setting up a room. I can just share with Vince."
Uh, hold on.
"Just call me Reida," Master replied, shaking her head. "And unfortunately, I don't think I can quite allow that. I'm supposed to support my granddaughter, after all."
Isolte eagerly nodded her head, pleased with her grandmother's decision.
"Hmm… I guess that's fine," Nina said before turning to me. "More importantly… Vince!"
"Yes?" I asked, hoping she wasn't about to say something troublesome again.
Isolte was already staring quite hard at the two of us, and I didn't want to make things even worse.
"It's been two years, and I've become a Sword Saint during that time," she said, resting her hands on her hips. "What about you?"
"I've become a Water Saint and a North Saint," I explained.
While I had taken Auber's advice to not introduce myself as a North Saint to most people, it was fine if it was Nina.
"W-What? That's… actually, that's just like you," she said, smiling to herself. "Then… should we show each other our progress?"
I felt a small smile creep onto my face.
Just like old times, huh?
"I was thinking the exact same thing," I replied.
—
I watched the battle aura surge through Nina's legs, and with the crack of the air, she suddenly rushed forward.
But, with her being so easy to read, I was already prepared, my sword twisting to the side as it deflected her blade.
Battle aura rippled across my blade, transferring the momentum and battle aura from her strike as I twisted my body, striking her with the flat side of my sword on the stomach.
Thankfully, she activated her battle aura to defend herself, so I didn't end up breaking anything… but the force alone sent her tumbling back across the ground.
And so, yet again, I had come out the victor.
"Dammit… I thought that things would be different now," she said, grimacing as she stood up. "You've really gotten better, Vince."
"I have… but don't sell yourself short. In terms of speed and power, you're not that far behind me now," I said, sheathing my sword. "The main thing is that you're too predictable. You're so easy to read that even an Advanced Water God swordsman could dodge."
But while I said that… it wasn't as easy to read as I would have thought.
I could tell from her battle aura what she was going to do, but it wasn't completely clear… almost like it was lacking in intent.
Odd.
"I see… Father did say I needed to reduce my set-up time," Nina said, furrowing her brows.
"Yeah… but I'm impressed. I honestly didn't think you could learn the Longsword of Light in only two years," I said, tilting my head. "Actually… how did you get so good?"
I knew she had the potential to become a Sword Saint, but considering she was still at that rank once Eris arrived, I assumed she only reached it once she was 15 or so.
"Well… after you left, I devoted myself solely to training… and with you gone, Father was able to focus most of his efforts on me," she explained. "Ah! And I also helped Jino with his training. It was a good way to cement things in my mind… like some sort of outside perspective."
"Yeah… training other people does that," I said, frowning a bit.
Jino… I knew that name.
I had only met the boy once or twice, as he had only really begun training in swordsmanship a little before I left, but I knew him from the main story.
The future Sword God who usurped Gal Farion… and Nina's future husband.
Or, at least, he should have been.
But now that Nina had left the Sword Sanctum… fate had definitely changed.
"Hey, Nina… what do you think of him?" I asked.
"Hm? Jino? Well… I guess he's like a little brother?" she said, tilting her head as she answered. "His father, Timothy, is who used to teach me before Father took over my training, so I used to spend a lot of time with him… at least, before I met you."
A little brother…
"I see…" I answered, looking down to the ground.
I was surprised to find how relieved I felt at her answer… at the fact that she held no romantic feelings over her supposed future husband.
I guess Nina's affections had taken their toll on me.
And I suppose that led me to the next thing I wanted to talk to her about…
"Hey, Nina… you know, I've been thinking about leaving here soon," I said.
Honestly, I was lucky she had come when she did, as if she had come a month from now, I would have probably been gone already.
I was definitely holding off, but now that Nina was here… well, I think it was time that I start heading out.
"Huh? Why?" she asked, tilting her head. "Oh! Did you want to return home?"
"No… not yet," I said, shaking my head. "I want to explore more of the world, like what I said when we were kids… so, do you want to come with me?"
Her eyes widened before she eagerly nodded her head.
"Of course! The two of us can finally go on an adventure!" she said, walking up to me with puckered lips. "So, it's only natural to seal it with a-"
"Nope. None of that," I said, placing my finger on her lips to stop her kiss. "At least for now… wait until we're both adults."
I mean, I was only twelve… I hadn't even had my first wet dream yet.
I knew that we liked each other, but physical affection of that level still felt a little too soon… plus, it still felt wrong to do such things with her.
"But I know adult things now!" she replied, her voice muffled as her lips were still pressed against my finger. "I asked Timothy's wife, and even your mother, and they taught me all about what to do in bed!"
What the fuck did you do, Mom!?
"T-That's great, but… just wait until we're older," I said, lowering my hand. "We can do all that stuff when we're adults. Besides, I doubt I can even do anything right now."
"But… they said that with the right technique, any man would pounce," she said with a pout. "Then… am I not cute enough?"
Haa… and now I had to make sure she didn't feel insecure…
"No, you're plenty cute… I just doubt that those 'techniques' were meant to be used on a twelve-year-old," I said, turning away. "Anyway, if you want to go with me… then we need to prepare. I need to inform everyone, and we need to gather supplies."
"Ah… right!" she replied, pumping her fist.
Travelling with Nina as she was now… I had a feeling there would be some trouble.
In more ways than one…
—
With Nina here, I now had myself a travelling companion… so it was definitely time to leave Ars.
We would head down south on the highway, possibly visiting places on the way, before we eventually reached Shirone Kingdom, where I would save Lilia and Aisha after the teleportation disaster appeared.
If I wanted to reach Shirone Kingdom by the start of spring, when I assumed the teleportation would happen, I would need to leave in a few weeks… but that was assuming that I was using the pace Helios and I had near the end of our initial journey.
With Nina with me, I couldn't exactly heal her horse along the way as well, so we would need to go as soon as possible in order to make it on time.
And to be able to leave… I had to tell the one who had taken care of me for the past two years.
Let's just hope this didn't end up messing up my plans.
And after explaining everything to the Water God…
"Hm? You want to see the world? Yeah, that's fine. You can go," Master Reida said with a calm smile. "Young kids like you always rush into an adventure, so I already expected this."
Wait… it was that easy?
I would have assumed that I would need to beg or something…
"O-Oh… I thought you would be harder on me," I said.
"You're my student, kid, not my slave. And besides, I'm not even teaching you right now," she said, narrowing her eyes. "But that brings me to my next point… you have to tell Kale."
"Of course. I was already planning on doing so," I said, nodding my head.
"Well that's good. But don't be surprised if he gets upset. He rarely takes on students, and he likes you quite a bit," she said, waving me away with her hand. "Now get out of my office. Thanks to you, I have things to organize."
"R-Right. Thank you again, Master," I said, performing a quick bow before I left.
Thankfully, I knew that at this time of the day, Teacher Kale could always be found in the library, as he enjoyed reading quite a bit.
So, once I arrived, I wasn't surprised to see him laying down on a couch, a book resting on his chest as he lazily read through it.
"Teacher Kale," I said, interrupting him.
"Ah, Vincent… what is it? Did you need something?" he asked, looking over at me.
"Yes, actually… I've come to inform you that I will be leaving the capital," I said.
His eyes widened as he sat up.
"Leaving the capital… how soon?" he asked, his tone concerned.
"I… was hoping by the end of the week," I said. "It's not because of anything bad… I just want to explore the continent a bit more, hopefully heading down south. I have already informed Master, but I would like your permission as well."
Kale put his hand to his chin, thinking over the information.
"Next week, huh? That is quite soon indeed," he said, narrowing his eyes. "But still… if Master has approved of it, then I have no qualms. You are on the path to learning the technique, and you have all the knowledge to continue training it."
"Thank you, Teacher," I said, bowing my head.
Indeed… over the past few months, I had gone through numerous exercises with him to learn Flow-Divination Eye, though two drills were the main focus for my training.
The first was a delayed commitment exercise, where he would begin a strike, and I must call out whether it was a feint, a shift to a different target, or a true strike before it happened.
This allowed me to read the difference between feints and actual strikes through intent and body language, and also about the point of no return for strikes, where I had to commit.
The second one was quite simple, as it was just sparring without battle aura, and with weights to slow me down.
This way, I had to read his body to predict his moves, and since I was restricted in speed due to the weights, I had to rely on prediction to stand a chance against him.
I was still far from being able to beat him, but I could now defend against him for quite a while, all thanks to increasing my combat prediction.
And finally, there was the peripheral vision training, where I would spar with Kale while constantly looking at the ground.
This forced me to read his strikes with only my peripheral vision, which would help me get used to surprise attacks outside of focus, and also helped me read more of my opponent than what I was focusing on.
That one wasn't easy, but I could already tell that how I viewed my surroundings changed, having gotten much wider both in and out of battle.
But through it all… it still wasn't enough to learn the complete technique, but Kale said I was close.
According to him, there would be a time where everything just 'clicked', and once that happened, my entire view of the battlefield would change, and I would have mastered Flow-Divination Eye.
But until then, I would have to remain a Water Saint.
"So… you're leaving the capital," Kale said, looking at me with a smirk. "Did you happen to tell the young lady?"
Ah… Isolte. Right.
"I told her of my plans… but not that I was going to leave soon," I said, looking away.
"Then… you know what you need to do, right?" he said.
"Yeah…" I muttered.
I had to say goodbye to Isolte… and I already knew that it would be quite difficult.
—
I arrived in front of the familiar wooden door, and while I had grown used to entering thanks to our numerous nights of studying together, today… it wasn't so easy.
Yeah… this was going to be a difficult conversation.
Because I knew that Isolte wouldn't want me to leave… and frankly, I didn't want to leave her either.
Just like Nina, Isolte had found her way into my heart… even though I didn't plan on addressing that complication until later in life.
I rapped my knuckles against the door.
"Is that you, Vince? Come in!" Isolte said with a cheerful voice.
Huh? She seemed pretty… happy.
Weird… not like it was a bad thing, but she had been pretty moody ever since Nina arrived, so I was kind of confused.
But unfortunately… I don't think she would be staying cheerful for long.
Anyway… let's do this.
It's my decision to leave, so I had to deal with the consequences.
I took a deep breath and opened the door… only to immediately be confused at the scene.
"Vince, I was wondering when you would come over," Isolte said, looking back as she tied a strap of her bag. "I just finished packing my things."
"I can see that… but why?" I asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going with you," she answered, crossing her arms. "Grandmother recommended me to join you in order to experience more of the world, but I wanted to join you regardless."
…Excuse me?
"She… she did? Master Reida did?" I questioned, confused.
Was this what Master Reida meant by 'needing to prepare some things'?
"Indeed, she did. Though she did request that I return after a year so that she can check my progress," Isolte said, her smile curving into a frown. "But aside from that… you did something bad."
"I did?" I returned, raising my eyebrow.
She wasn't going to complain about Nina again, was she?
"Yeah, you did… what did you think you were doing, leaving me without telling me first? And going only with that girl of all people," she said, shaking her head before she gave me a shy smile. "But… I'll forgive you. After all, we'll be sticking together for some more time, just like you promised."
"Like I promised… didn't I say that the promise didn't count since you became a Water Saint?" I asked.
"Hmm… I suppose that's true… so, give me a new promise," she said, stepping towards me as she grasped my hands. "Promise that you won't abandon me. Ever."
Isolte's eyes stared into mine with more intensity than I had ever felt from her.
Okay… what was with her?
And promise to not abandon her forever?
That… it's not like I planned to, but that sounded very… intimate.
"W-What is that meant to-"
"Promise me," she cut me off, gripping my hands even tighter.
Under the heat of her gaze… I felt any resolve I previously had crumble.
"I… promise," I replied, internally sighing.
Isolte flashed a beaming smile at me before she let go, returning to her packing as she began humming a tune.
I really was weak to the pretty girls that I liked…
—
A couple of days had passed, and with our planned departure, things had moved fast in the time we had.
The first order of business was to register the three of us as Adventurers, so that we could secure funds on the way, and also to serve as identity, since we were leaving the Asura Kingdom.
After all, while Isolte had quite a bit of savings thanks to her noble lineage, she didn't want to take all of it on our journey. And besides, even if she was fine, Nina and I were completely broke.
Thankfully, we didn't need to start from the bottom rank, as with Master Reida's recommendation, we were able to take a short practical test to rank up to C, the maximum rank that we could get from the test.
The test itself was only available to those with a recommendation, and only in the larger cities, since there wasn't an abundance of smaller tasks that would allow adventurers to rank up normally, and there were staff that could actually proctor the tests.
I don't remember it being in the main story, but it made sense to have a test to speed things up.
After all, it would be quite ridiculous to have three Saint-rank swordsmen on the same tier as people who could barely hold a sword.
As for our party name… well, I left it up to Nina, since she seemed quite eager, and as a result, I was now Vincent, proud member of the 'Blue Fangs'.
And knowing Nina and Isolte's hair colours… well, I think I knew where the inspiration came from.
Anyway, the day after that, we focused on getting our supplies in order, and thankfully, Master Reida had bought everything we needed… which honestly wasn't much, since Nina and I already had supplies from our journey from the Sword Sanctum.
And so, with the Nina, Isolte, and me standing next to our respective horses, and our supplies strapped to the saddles… it was time to depart.
"So… you're finally leaving the nest, Isolte," Master Reida said, gently patting her granddaughter's head as she looked over to me and Nina. "I would have preferred if you were a little older, but if you're with Vincent… well, I think the three of you will be just fine."
"Thank you… Grandmother," Isolte replied, smiling as Reida stopped petting her.
While Nina was wearing the same leather jacket she had arrived in, Isolte was wearing a light set of plate armour, the regular equipment for Water God practitioners as they preferred having more defence even at the cost of weighing them down.
"And as for you, Vince… well, I think you're smart enough to keep them safe, but don't let anything happen to my granddaughter," Master Reida said, staring at me with sharp eyes. "Even if you are my student, I won't hesitate to cut you down if you hurt her."
That's quite the scary look… but it didn't really change how I felt.
I was planning on protecting Nina and Isolte the entire way… that is, if they even needed it.
"Of course, Master… there's no need to worry," I replied, feeling a cold sweat forming at her intimidation.
Even if she wasn't touching her sword… the Water God was still terrifying.
"Yeah… ah, and by the way, you didn't end up telling that princess that you're leaving, did you?" she then asked.
"Uh… no. I don't even think I could, actually," I said.
She was a princess, after all.
Besides, I don't think we were close enough for her to need that.
"I see… but she might come try to see you again. I bet she'll be sad to see that you left without a word," Reida said, giving me a smirk.
I wasn't sure what the smile was for, but… leaving without a word… yeah, I suppose she would be upset at that.
"Then… just tell her that I didn't forget what I said… and that I'll come back soon," I said.
Yeah, that was good enough.
"Is that so… seems like you two are somewhat close…" Master Reida said, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."
I don't know what that was about, but I didn't appreciate the glares I was getting from Isolte and Nina.
Did they think Ariel was a rival in love?
Hah, no… that was impossible.
That girl would be too focused on taking the crown… that is, if she decided to, which I assumed she would.
And besides, Ariel was a girl who would prefer having many other partners rather than being dedicated to a single one, at least from what I remembered.
"Then, I guess this is goodbye for now. Stay safe, the three of you. I'm not worried about someone beating you, but there are other dangers that can happen on the road," Master Reida said as I got up onto Helios.
"Don't worry. Nina and I are experienced," I said.
"Right… well, still, don't be an idiot," she said, turning away. "Go have fun with whatever you plan to do, Vince."
So she had noticed that it wasn't simply me wanting to see the world… well, I should have expected that.
Turning to Isolte and Nina, who were both on their respective horses, we shared a nod before we began trotting out.
It was still a bit surreal, to have the princesses of the two biggest sword style schools with me for this journey… but I guess I would have to get used to it.
And so, with that, we trotted past the main entrance of the dojo, officially marking the start of our journey south.
— End of Part II - Water God Dojo —