The letter read…
Dear Xavier,
By the time you are reading this, I will have already left. I know you are upset with me for leaving without uttering a single word, and I am truly sorry ~
I tore the paper into pieces and burned it. I didn't accept or need his pity or even his apology.
With that, I continued living my life without a master. But after the fight I had the other day, I came to a realisation, the world beyond this household was far more dangerous than I had imagined. And so, I continued my training, determined to grow stronger.
The more I trained, the more I felt as though I was being watched. The feeling made me anxious. Every time I surveyed the area, there was no one. I thought perhaps someone was hiding or concealing their presence, so I even cleared the grass around me, but to no avail. Strangely, the feeling only appeared when I was training. Because of that, every time I trained, I focused on finding whoever was watching me. I did this every single day.
Until one day, I tried something different.
Instead of limiting myself to sensing people, I expanded my awareness to objects and that's when I realized it.
It was my katana.
Out of fear, I approached it. As I approached a simple black drawing of a dragon appeared on the flat surface of the blade. I lifted the katana and examined it closely, the marking was on both sides of the blade. That wasn't the only difference. Before, the katana had been rusty, old and so dull it couldn't cut anything. But most of the rust was gone and the blade was slightly sharper than it previously was.
That was when I came to a realisation. Thanks to this sword, I had learnt a new skill that allowed me to sense objects, humans and even nature itself. I immediately rushed to retrieve the letter, then it hit me. I had burned it. I had never felt that level of stupidity in my life. With that thought, I ended my day.
The next day…
I decided to take my training to the next level. I began using my katana regularly, trying to treat it as an extension of my arm. It was much harder than I expected. Due to the katana's light to medium weight, I had to completely adjust my control. Katanas are light, which makes them fast and that speed leaves plenty of room for mistakes.
Later, I trained with dummies and learned an important lesson; to use a katana properly, precision is everything. Without the correct form, cutting through the dummies was difficult. And without a master, finding the right form was even harder.
I really regret burning that letter, I thought.
I also realized that without proper edge alignment, cutting anything was impossible. My master had taught me nearly every way to kill a man with a regular blade but never with a katana. He always said I wasn't ready. Worse enough, he constantly reminded me that I couldn't rely on close range combat alone.
"You must also be good at mid‑range and long‑range," he used to say.
To grasp even the most basic principles on my own took three to four months of consistent training. During that time, I noticed something strange, the more I trained and improved, the dragon symbol on my blade became more complex. It was still simple, without a full body, but the single line that formed it grew more refined.
One day, I decided to rest.
As I reached for a book on the shelf, I suddenly sensed five people entering the area. They were heading straight for the house. Their presence felt hostile I could also sense that they were heavily armed. But I still held onto a bit of hope, convincing myself that they might only be armed for self defence.
Even so, I prepared myself and picked up my katana just in case, waiting for their arrival.