15 15 Challenging The Hōzōin Temple (1)

"Then I dare you to turn around," Suzaku said after the others wrapped around a towel, except Reni who didn't mind. She looked at Otto skeptically as she didn't believe that he wouldn't lust on their figures. And was confident in her womanly charms.

"..." By the time Otto finally turned around, he thought he would be in heaven, but he unexpectedly felt weird at himself.

"Eeek. I have to admit that he's the first person who might be more beautiful than an average woman." Shigune said while blushing, looking at Otto's face.

"Yeah no kidding, if he had stayed quiet he would've fooled me by mistaking him for a girl." Sae agreed as she couldn't help how he managed his hair routine.

"So how do you feel?" Suzaku crossed her arms towards Otto who didn't seem to be showing any reaction, as her breasts pressed up against each other.

"Nah." He just shake his head, as he felt strange that he wasn't feeling anything about these beautiful women, especially Lavinia and Suzaku who both had big boobs and butts.

"He must be lying right?" Shigune just giggled and thought that he was just pretending to not look like a pervert in front of 2 beautiful girls.

"No?" Otto just shrugged as he wrapped his towel around his waist before he got out from the onsen. Because he could no longer bear the atmosphere with him being the subject as well as what he's currently feeling.

"Ara? Where are going?" Lavinia showed concern and thought that the girls bullied him to leave the onsen.

"Bye, have a great night." He muttered before disappearing into the hallway of the establishment.

"What a weird guy..." Shigune said before the Suzaku just sighed in annoyance.

"Don't tell me you're mad that he didn't even react a single bit to your body?" Sae looked at her since she was part of the Himejima clan. If her clan were to hear about her showing off her body to a stranger, she would certainly be punished.

"What? No!" Suzaku thought that her friends were starting to think of her as some sort of a slut.

"Fufu- now now... Don't fight." Lavinia's breast came in between the two as she calmed the both of them.

"Ano- Reni, didn't you feel uncomfortable when he stared at you?" Sae turned to Reni who didn't seem to be bothered being looked at by a random man. Even though she knew that Reni was someone who had a habit of sleeping half-naked in someone else's room, she never expected that Reni wouldn't mind strangers looking at her body, adding to the fact that she's even oblivious to her sex appeal.

However, they still didn't know how Otto wasn't faced by their bountiful bodies and just left like it wasn't a big deal.

Meanwhile at Otto's reserved room...

Otto was curled up alone in the corner of his room and thought that he was cursed.

"Why..." He muttered. "Why isn't it standing up!?" He thought of something about lewd scenarios with those girls in the onsen, but still couldn't make it raise.

"Why are you fixated on making it standing it up?" Brynhildr said as she didn't know why he was like this.

"I mean isn't that size good enough for a woman? If that thing would grow bigger that would certainly terrify them." She commented as she imagined how she'd take it with her body... Before realizing what on earth had she thought and went silent for the remainder of the night.

"No... There's no way I have it." Otto refused to believe he had erectile dysfunction at a very young age and had just hoped that the cause was just the trauma of his past.

Throughout the night Otto just stayed in the corner having no sleep because he was busy researching his problem...

...

"You look in pain." Brynhildr looked at her master.

"A..." His mind became absent for a second for no reason before he walked around Kyoto mindlessly to find where Nangou Torajirou lived since the letter didn't mention any notable address.

"Do you know he lives?" Otto asked Brynhildr expecting no for an answer.

"You're seriously asking me?" She replied in a blank tone.

"Figures..." He sighed and asked around the locals about nearby Dojo or temples where the old man could be, after all, he's an old geezer so it's natural that he would be in some traditional places like those temples, right?

Otto visited several temples in Kyoto before he arrived at the Nara Prefecture where he is now standing in front of a huge temple.

"Houzouin Temple?" He became interested and went inside the temple, but was stopped by the Temple Guards.

"Stop. No, go in." They said in broken English since Otto looked like a foreigner.

"I can speak Japanese," Otto said, and they immediately spoke Japanese.

"You can't enter here young man." The bald monk respectfully said to Otto.

"Why?"

"The temples are currently off limits to the outsiders."

"Can I challenge the master?" Otto said as the monks in front of him looked like martial artists just by judging the staves around their backs.

"Huh?" It took the monks by surprise as to why this kid wanted to challenge the master of the temple.

"No kid, the master's time is too precious to be wasted on playing with you." The monk didn't give Otto a chance and drove him away.

"Then how can I challenge him?" Otto could just brute force himself into the temple if he wanted to, but chose not to. Because he wanted to become a respectable swordsman who could think with his head not a person with only muscle for a brain.

"Grow up and be strong." The monks sighed in unison. "Cherish your life kid, challenging someone isn't as easy as just saying words and fighting your opponent before you." The bald monk said seriously before bowing.

"If I can beat you can I go in?" Otto said persistently.

"Haaah fine if you lose, you will go back home." He said as he took a Bo staff since teaching him a lesson would drive the kid away.

"Where is your weapon kid? Surely you aren't planning to fight without one."

"But I don't have a wooden sword or a stick," Otto replied as he felt it wasn't good to pull out his bladed weapons since it was just a test.

"Give him a staff." The monks threw a staff that was as long as my height.

"Hope that would suffice. Here at the Hōzōin Temple, we don't use swords, only staves and spears as the temple teaches."

"I don't mind, now come." Otto took an amateurish stance which earned a frown from the practitioners.

"Then don't mind me. Amatabha." The monk repeatedly thrust his spear toward him but he easily dodged it.

To Otto, the strikes were slower than Ryouma or Budo. But for some reason, he felt that he was slightly getting pushed back.

*Dog Seller*

Otto spun his staff before thrusting it to the disciple monk as he was pushed away from the force.

"I win," Otto stated.

"Wait, I didn't know we could use magic!? That's a foul!" The knocked monk retaliated, feeling embarrassed that a kid defeated him.

"Now show me the way towards the master of this temple." He demanded.

"No way, I can still fight-"

"!!!" The monk wanted to stand up but was pressed down by a force behind him.

A bald young man appeared with an x-shaped scar on his forehead and was wearing a grayish-dark blue hakama with large white Buddhist beads around his neck.

"M-master Inshun." The monk said in a terrified tone.

"I can still fight him, I haven't lost-" Inshun knocked the monk out cold with a quick movement.

'He's fast...' Otto was surprised at his speed as it was on par with him.

"Master Ins-"

"Silence! Your worthless chatter disgraces the name of our Temple, and not accepting your loss? Where did the teaching go?" Inshun shouted at the monks.

"Are you the master of this temple?" Otto asked.

"Yes, I am the descendant of Houzouin Inshun, and is also named after him, I'm the 25th generation master of the Houzouin Spear Technique." He said nonchalantly.

"Then, can I challenge you? I won against the disciple monks here." Otto raised his staff to him.

"With your current skills... You won't be able to defeat me with just that." He stared at him seriously.

"I don't know where you got the confidence that made you think you can defeat me."

"I have beaten Ryouma Kurogane, in a duel." He replied even though knowing that the old man was dying during their duel. He still considered it as a win in his book.

"Ryouma Kurogane? Ah, that old man in the Kurogane clan... You must've fought him when he's on his last dying breath, and call it a fight. Right?" Inshun smirked as Ryouma was already 92 years old, so it wouldn't even matter if he had lost to someone.

"..." Otto didn't respond as it was true and was slightly irked by the fact that he was boasting about it.

"I hit right on the mark, didn't I?" Ishun gave him a serious stare.

"Leave, you're not even strong enough to be of a challenge to me."

"You wouldn't know until I tried right?" Otto wanted to test himself, whether or not he'd be truly good with the spear against a spear master.

"*sigh* You're wasting your time." He replied.

"Then why don't you try coming-" as his pole already blew past Otto who reacted late, as he slightly fell back from the sudden movement.

"Now do you understand, kid?" Inshun looked at Otto closely giving him a stare right to the eye. Which made Otto terrified, as he hadn't experienced the feeling in over 10 years... The feeling of death.

"Go home," Inshun said as he walked away from the shaken Otto.

Otto gritted his teeth, mad at the fact that he was shaken just from Inshun's stare alone.

He couldn't just simply accept defeat from that. Otto pulled the staff he was borrowing like a javelin thrower, as he shot it to Inshun who had his back exposed.

"Watch out, master Inshun!" One of the disciples spectating shouted.

"?" Inshun who had already known what Otto had done, casually blocked it with his staff without even looking behind him, before the thrown staff was blown up into pieces as a violent whirlwind crashed into Otto who tried dodging it.

*crash* *crash*

Otto successfully dodged it as he summoned up his Blade of Tathagata.

"Come, I've only let my guard down earlier." He pointed at Inshun who wasn't impressed by his behavior.

...

-Chapter End-