129 Chapter 129: Miyamoto Musashi

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Province of Harima, Nihon

March 5th, 1620

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Erik approached the dojo with excitement written all over his face. Who could blame him? He was going to meet one of the most famous swordsmen in history. By his side, was one of his wives, Joan. The woman had gotten very curious about the abilities of this swordsman that her husband wanted to meet with and decided to follow him on this trip. For the occasion, she was wearing one of her more light dress armors and had a long sword attached to her hip. If not for the fact that they were in a country that had a different culture, Joan would not look out of place if one ignored the fact that she was a woman wearing light metallic armor. It helped too that Erik had cast a 'Notice-me-not' spell over her, so anyone without enough power would just ignore the fact that she was wearing metallic armor.

Erik walked into the property and was greeted with the sight of a middle-aged-looking man sweeping the area, who stopped when he saw Erik. The man looked at Erik with caution. Foreigners were becoming a sort of a problem nowadays by trying to impose their customs on them. But even if Erik looked like a foreigner with his red-blond hair and stormy blue-gray eyes, he was wearing the garb that was used by the nobles of Nihon. And technically speaking, he was a noble of the country, but not one 'entitled' by the mundane ruler of the lands. Amaterasu had given him her token so he could demonstrate that he was a trusted person to her.

"Hello, stranger, how can I help you?"

The middle-aged man said to Erik while stopping his sweeping, ignoring completely the fact that Joan was by his side. Erik looked at the man with a small smile and gave him a small bow.

"Hello. My name is Erik Ravenclaw, and I am looking for Miyamoto Musashi. The information that I got said that he resided here in this dojo."

Erik said to the man in perfect Japanese. After his evolution, languages were not a barrier for him anymore. His gift of understanding and being understood by animals aside, all High-Humans, that is, Erik, Selena, and Joan, could speak and read all human languages. It sure was something very similar to the skill that Angels and Devils had. And very useful too.

"I am Miyamoto Musashi."

The middle-aged man replied while giving Erik a small bow. Erik raised one eyebrow at that and looked at the man again from top to bottom.

"No, you are not."

Erik replied to the man, who got shocked when Erik didn't believe his claim.

"And how do you know that I am not Miyamoto Musashi?"

The man asked Erik, who gave the middle-aged man a small smile.

"You sure look like and port yourself as a swordsman of high caliber, but, how can I say this…"

Erik replied to the man while entering a thoughtful mood.

"He is not sharp enough."

Joan replied from Erik's side and for the first time since they entered the place, the middle-aged man, who claimed to be Miyamoto Musashi, noticed the woman by Erik's side.

"Exactly! You are not sharp enough. Thanks, Joan."

Erik said to the man and then looked and smiled at Joan, who answered the smile with one of her own. He then looked back to the middle-aged man, who was now looking at Joan.

"See what I am talking about? You have not even noticed my wife by my side, who is an splendid swordswoman herself!"

Erik said again to the middle-aged man in a boasting tone. He was very proud of all achievements from his wives. The middle-aged man then looked again to Erik and squinted his eyes.

"And what do you want with Miyamoto Musashi?"

The middle-aged man asked to Erik. He was now looking at the man in front of him with other eyes.

"Just want to meet the person whose fame as a swordsman reached my ears."

Erik said to the middle-aged man.

"Ah, and my wife will probably want to test herself against him."

Erik added. Joan, who was still by Erik's side nodded her head at that comment from Erik. She knew that she had left behind the 'human tier' in her sword skill some time ago, but she wanted to see the skills of this swordsman who interested her husband. The middle-aged man looked at Erik with calculating eyes and then looked at Joan. He then gave a small nod of his head and turned to walk to the nearest building. He propped the broom that he was using against the building's wall and turned again to the couple.

"Follow me. I will lead you to where Miyamoto Musashi is training."

The middle-aged man said and started to slowly walk around the building complex. Erik and Joan looked at each other and started to follow the middle-aged man. They walked behind him for a good five minutes. In this time, they reached the back of the dojo complex and walked in the small woods behind it. After some walk, they reached their destination and what he saw was not something that he was expecting. In the middle of a big clearing, swinging a sword like there was no tomorrow while fully focused on it was a young woman with luxurious black-purple hair tied in a ponytail. Said hair was now sticking to her back because of the sweat that covered her body. As pants, she was wearing a classical garb used by men, while her upper body was naked, being covered only by bandages that were tightly wrapped around her chest. Her strikes were precise and elegant, with no deviation from the previous one. It was like she was a machine doing repetitive work. Her body was exuding this… aura that yelled 'sharp' at anyone with enough developed senses. Her concentration on the task in front of her was so great that she didn't notice the visitors. The middle-aged man was going to call the woman's attention to them but was stopped by Erik's hand who rested on his shoulder. The middle-aged man looked at Erik and saw him negatively shaking his head. Erik then looked back at Joan and nodded at her. The swordswoman smiled back at her husband and stepped ahead of both men. She then took a drawing instance put her hand over the hilt of the sword that was attached to her waist, at the same time exuding her own aura of sharpness flow out of her body. The result was seen in an instant. The woman, who was until now swinging her sword in concentration, immediately snapped her head back to where Joan was while taking the sword in her hands in a defensive stance. That result got a smile from Joan and Erik.

"Oh… It seems that she is the real deal."

Erik commented, letting go of his hand from the middle-aged man's shoulder. The middle-aged man was looking at the scene in shock. He knew that when Musashi was training, she was in a world of her own, and it was very difficult to bring her back without being cut when touching her. The gods were his witnesses in his tries. But the man, better say the woman in front of them did it without even saying anything. Just by taking a drawing stance and touching the hilt of her sword was enough to call Musashi from his training. Joan nodded her head to Erik's comment.

Miyamoto Musashi, who was awakened from her training session by Joan's sharp aura and automatically assumed a defensive stance with her sword, just now noticed the new presence in the clearing.

"Father?"

She said while looking at the middle-aged man and cocking her head to the side as if asking for an explanation. The middle-aged man gave her daughter a small smile and a small nod with his head.

"Musashi, you have guests that wanted to meet the famous swordsman. These are Lord Erik Ravenclaw and his wife."

The middle-aged man said to the young woman, throwing her in another wave of confusion. Her father was very protective of her. Due to her recently acquired fame, a lot of people were coming to her family dojo looking for the famous swordsman. Some were after the fame of defeating him, while others were looking to hire him. Her father took her name as a way to protect her from all these people. She then took a better look at the man and woman that were accompanying her father. The man was handsome, with foreigner features and hair color while wearing traditional clothes. The woman was another history. She was garbed for battle with a light armored dress-like armor and a sword attached to her waist. Musashi noticed that the woman's hand had never left the hilt of her different-looking sword.

"Nice to meet you, Miyamoto Musashi."

Erik said while giving the woman a small bow.

"Likewise, Lord Erik Ravenclaw."

The woman replied while giving Erik a bow of her own. Erik then looked at Joan and gestured at her with his hand.

"And this is my wife, Joan. As you have already noticed, she is a swordswoman and got very curious about the swordsman that I was going to visit. Imagine our surprise when the famous swordsman turned to be a swordswoman too."

Erik said to her while smiling.

"People don't want to say that they lost to a woman, so they tend to not divulge too much about Musashi's appearance, just her skills."

Musashi's father said, replying to Erik's comment. Erik nodded his head at that in agreement.

"Joan has the same problem back at where we live. In the tournaments that she won, nobody recorded her as being a woman. Just as being a knight of house Ravenclaw."

Erik said. That was something that really happened after the marriage contracts stopped arriving. Musashi and her father cocked their heads to the side at the new term. It was Musashi who asked first about it.

"Knight? Never heard about it."

The young swordswoman said.

"Knight is the term that we use for a person who is dedicated to defending the kingdom where he lives. They normally serve the King of the land directly or under one of the feudal lords."

Erik said in a resumed way.

"So, a samurai?"

Musashi said and looked with new eyes at Joan.

"Not a samurai. Like a samurai, yes, but knights usually have more freedom than samurai."

Erik replied. After all, no knight was as loyal as a samurai to the point of ending their lives with their own hands if they failed their Lords. Musashi and her father nodded in understanding. The swordswoman then walked to Joan, until she was just a few meters in front of her.

"Lady Joan, please fight me!"

Musashi asked while bowing her head and body to Joan at an almost ninety degrees angle and with her sword by her side. Joan looked at the young woman's resolution and gave it a nod of acknowledgment.

"Sure. But be prepared to lose."

Joan said and walked to one of the sides of the clearing. Musashi, who was excited about the fight, quickly walked to the opposing side and took her instance while holding her sword in front of her.

"Attack me with the intent to kill me, or this fight will not last."

Joan announced and unsheathed her long sword, holding it in front of her with one hand. Musashi looked curiously at the different-looking sword in Joan's hands. Her double-edged and straight sword was very different from a traditional Katana. For her, it was her first time seeing an occidental sword. Focusing back on the opponent in front of her and acknowledging the words, Musashi got serious and the atmosphere around her changed in an instant. She was going all out from the beginning. In a move that would look like a blur to any untrained and normal person, Musashi threw herself at Joan while attacking with all the skill that she could muster. But, differently from her expectations, Joan parried, blocked, or dodged every blow that was thrown at her with ease. Five minutes after the start of the fight, Musashi was already getting tired. She had never before gone all out for so much time. And for her frustration and excitement at the same time, she had never been even near touching Joan with her sword.

"Time to end the fight."

Joan said after noticing that Musashi was getting tired with the extended fight. Just after she announced, Joan started to swing her sword offensively, making Musashi hurriedly have to parry or block the blows with her sword. After some more thirty seconds of blow tradings, Joan put a little more strength in her swing together with a little of her vital energy and stopped her sword centimeters away from Musashi's face, freezing the woman in place

*clink-clank*

The sound of metal hitting the ground resounded in the clearing. In Musashi's hand was her sword. Or what was left of it. The rest of the blade was what had generated the metal sound when it hit the ground. Joan's sword had cleanly cut through Musashi's sword when she tried to block the last swing. Musashi had a look of shock and was fixedly looking at the sword that had stopped just centimeters from her face. It was a first in a long time for the young woman. Since long ago her father was not a challenge for her. It was not because her father was a bad swordsman. No, it was because she was that good and had long surpassed her father and master's skills. It was then that she started to roam the province while challenging every swordsman that she met. With that, her fame started to grow. But now… Now it seemed that she had found an opponent that could have easily ended her life. Yes, Musashi could see that the knight in front of her, Joan, could have ended her life since their first trade but was holding back for her sake. She was giving Musashi a lesson. There was always someone more skilled than you in the world.

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a/n: I am back! Very much rested now and ready to write more. Erik's goodbye to the Heavenly Dragon's hosts in the last chapter was in the year 1629, while his visit to Musashi, in this chapter ocurred in 1620. Nine years before the end of the las chapter. It was done this way to better piece together the characters.