After Five Long Years

Five Years Later.... 

"Arlen are you ready?" 

"Yes father!" Holding a wooden sword in my hand, I tried to mimic the offensive form I'd seen so many times before. Hearing my response, the man before me smiled just a bit, enough to covey his intentions. 

"Then.....let's go!" Tightening his grip on the blade, he dashed forth, kicking up the once trampled grass from beneath his feet. As he dashed towards me, his shadow flickered across the lawn as if it was being blown by the wind, and as soon as he was in range, he unleashed a horizontal slash with his wooden saber. 

"Gckk!" Performing a vertical block, I was barely able to withstand the force of the blow, not even realizing the sliding motion my feet were now making as my body slid across the solid ground. 

"Not yet!" 

Keeping up his hot pursuit, he closed the distance once more and initiated a flurry of horizontal thrusts that I was barely able to defend against. Left, right, shoulder, thigh, hip, collarbone....One after the other, fearsome blows rained down on me like meteors, and the towering figure unleashing them held the same enthusiastic grin throughout the entire exchange. Despite the immense force behind each blow, their impact lacked both tension and power, so I could tell he was holding back the majority of his strength. What was even more surprising about all this was the fact that he'd been fending me off with just one hand. 

"This is bad..." Those words escaped my lips as I hastily leaped backwards using the force from the man's last piercing motion. 

Sensing my intent, he whipped around behind me, aiming to land a critical blow the moment my feet hit the ground – I heard the whistling of the air behind me, and on pure instinct I shifted my head to the side and swung my blade in an upwards slash, barely deflecting the incoming horizontal blow. 

I caught a glint of his shocked expression just then, and it soon morphed into an ecstatic smile. 

"Mmhm, you really are improving!" I heard him say that as my body fell to the ground with a tumbling motion, hurriedly rolling over, I grasped the wooden blade in my hand once more, ready to continue my assault but by the time I'd raised my head, the tip of his saber was only inches away from my face. 

".....I concede....." Uttering those words, I had no other choice but to renounce any lingering hopes of victory. 

 ************

"Ahahaha that's my boy!" 

Hugging me ecstatically, Michael proudly expressed the level of pride he'd been feeling thanks to my recent progress. We were both wearing sleeveless training gear resembling "T-shirts" right now, so our bodies were quite sweaty but this much was par for the course at this point. 

"Dear don't you think that was a little too much?" Stepping through the front door and entering the courtyard, my mother, Shiina Vesper wore a peeved expression as she approached us. Though she had aged over these last few years, it was completely unnoticeable in any regard, unlike my father Michael, who'd now grown a stubby beard. 

"Haha....I did get a little too excited but that's only because of the progress he's making. I mean, did you see that last counter!?" Glancing at my sour expression, she crouched down and gave me a hug. 

"It's fine Arlen, at this rate you'll be winning duels against your dad in no time." She gave me a compassionate look that was in perfect synchrony with her voice, but her compassion was probably misplaced. 

"He needs to know what losing feels like so he can keep on improving." Cutting in, Michael held a dominant posture as if basking in his victory. 

"Well, he is getting pretty good, so I see your point." 

"Yeah, one day I won't be any match for you, so just keep training hard." Placing his hand on my head, he held a proud stare as he left that sentiment and promptly began to do some stretching motions. 

"Now then, I think it's about time for me to head out." 

"I've already finished your breakfast; would you like to eat it here or are you going to take it along with you?" 

Glancing at her, Michael carefully chose his next words. 

"As much as I'd love to indulge in your delicious home cooked meals, I need to set out a soon as possible, there's quite a bit done today you see." 

"O-oh, I see....." 

"Yeah, next time for sure." 

"T-then I'll at least go get some tea ready for Arlen." Unable to meet Michael's gaze, she promptly whipped around and headed back the way she came. While I still had yet to fully grasp the intricacies of their relationship, I understood one thing...As time progressed Michael had slowly become a master at this. Now, he was undeniably the one in control. 

As I stood there blankly observing the end of their charade, he turned towards me and formed a smug grin, and I could see the faint glitter of his pale white teeth shining through the stubby beard. 

"Hehehe...don't let it get to you Arlen, this is only your two hundred and twenty seventh loss but one day you'll be as good as me....." Walking towards the mansion, he left those words lingering in the air, clearly to cement my defeat even further. 

But, it had inspired the opposite effect....At some point a smile had begun to form on my face. 

It wasn't because of what he'd just said but rather - The thought of utterly dominating this human in mortal combat one day had sparked a feeling of glee inside me. We had begun doing these sparring sessions only two years ago, and in that time, I had indeed lost to him two hundred and twenty-seven times. Losing to a single human that often had left an indelible mark on my pride. "By the way Arlen, why don't you go and take a shower?" 

"Alright father, I'm on it." 

Calling out to me from the front door, the man issued a command disguised as a question. 

In the five years I'd been here, I had decided to continue my progression through this world just as any normal human would, for now at least. My top priority was actually regaining my memories, if that was even possible, but if I went around talking about my reincarnation then things would obviously get more difficult, and so in order to navigate this world with a greater degree of freedom, I decided to play the role I was given and that included addressing these people, my "parents" by their desired titles. 

"Young master..." Calling out to me from a good distance away, Lewis carefully approached me as if I was some stranger. He too had aged over the course over the last five years, but unless my eyes were deceiving me then I couldn't say for sure that I'd noticed any difference. He still kept that stern expression on his face no matter the situation and no matter what time of day I saw him he would always be wearing the same jet-black butler outfit. 

Extending his hands towards me, I humbly took the items he was now offering – A white towel and a glass of water so cold it almost seemed like the entire thing would melt under the rays of the sun. 

"Thanks Lewis I really needed these." 

Wiping down my sweat after gulping down the glass of water, a sense of rejuvenation filled my body as I handed both of the items back to him. 

"What time is it right now?" 

The moment I'd asked that question, the man reached into his chest pocket and brought out a small device – a "pocket watch." The hands of the device now indicated that it was 9:23 a.m. It was quite a convenient device indeed. 

"So that means....thirty seven minutes until she gets here then?" 

I had muttered those words to myself, but Lewis decided to reinforce the fact, nonetheless. 

"Precisely young master, your tutor will be here in thirty seve- now thirty-six minutes. I see you've gotten better at telling the time....truly exceptional." 

"Ehehe....It wasn't too hard..." 

Lewis' expression hadn't changed, but his aura had certainly ceased its initial daunting impression, at least for now. 

"Well, I'm running short on time, so I'll go take a shower and get ready now!" 

Walking off towards the house, I left him with those words, but despite retreating from the scene of my defeat he still had time to get another word in. 

"Shall I prepare your change of clothes?" 

"No I think I can manage that much." 

Looking over my shoulder, I saw him give a gentle bow. As I fixed my gaze on the large structure that seemed to be getting even bigger as I approached it, I truly began to appreciate the scale of the construct. 

It was now my new home and given my current size it loomed over me like the very clouds in the sky. I wouldn't be able to see past the top even if you stacked my body on top of itself ten times over. The house itself was nestled in the center of the Vesper property and despite its size, it only spanned a fraction of the total land it now occupied. 

The vesper property itself held the vague shape of a large circle, and the house was nestled closer to the back of the property, it was painted in a mix of intersecting blue and white colors that complimented each other down to every last painted corner, and the only signs of wood to be seen here were the ornate polished doors one often took for granted. I was certain that there were six rooms on the ground floor, but as for the upper segments, it still wasn't completely explored territory for me. 

Some of these rooms were even "off limits" as instructed by my "parents" so only time could really tell what the rest of this building had in store for me. 

The sprawling courtyard brandished in front was where our sparring sessions were often held, and the plants that occupied the space were a bit strange to say the least. The grass was normal, but it was cut so frequently that you'd think it lacked the ability to grow past four inches tall, but other than that there were a variety of dwarfed trees growing fruits and berries ranging in color from pink to purple that were placed around the perimeter of the courtyard as a form of decoration. 

As I opened the front door, a familiar scent tickled my nostrils, and I hastily made my way towards my personal living quarters....or simply "my room". I had been told by others that it was a clean space but bland in design, the only things here were my bed and all the books neatly arranged on the single shelf standing by it. 

Quickly grabbing a change of clothes, I promptly headed towards the nearest "bathroom". The human need to cleanse themself within the confines of a private room honestly made no sense to me, but as for right now it was considered crude to do otherwise. 

As I opened the slightly screeching doors, I began to take note of this body's still developing features for just a brief instant. It wasn't something I'd done often but rather an action spurred on by a sense of pure joy. Since I could now finally use my own two feet to see myself in the reflective pane of glass affixed to the wall, although this notion only applied to my head down to my shoulders. 

This vessel looked incredible fragile; the face I now wore seemed like it didn't belong to one who could fend off the raining assault of blows dished out by Michael just minutes earlier. 

The hair on my head was both short and spiky, the strands of it were dyed in a blue sheen similar to both Shiina and Cynthia's, except it held a much, much darker hue. My face on the other hand appeared quite round and perfectly fit the confines of my features, perhaps because my body was still developing, the manlier aspects of it hadn't become as pronounced on my face as of yet. 

Looking closer, I could see trace aspects of both Michael and Shiina's features subtly peering out but even more surprising than that was the lilac color reflected by my Irises. Cynthia had mentioned the fact before, but it was now undeniable, their purple hue had seemed to only get brighter over the years. 

Somewhere along the line, I had grown quite fond of this appearance, I didn't remember what my previous form looked like, so this was the only way for me to truly confirm my physical presence in this world. 

I felt an unusual emotion as I prepared to commit to the day's activities, because today I would finally be getting this so called "tutor" the key to sharpening my magical abilities and as that thought ran through my mind, soon after my body was enveloped in steam.