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[LN] Volume 1: Chapter 4.5

Volume 1 Chapter 4.5

The Realization of the Escapism, and the First Step Part 5

Translator : PolterGlast

After the classes ended, Nozomu immediately rushed back to Shino\'s hut.

He was really anxious about the final exam and did not want Anri to pursue the previous matter any further, but he was also a little concerned about Shino\'s behavior, who had told him to return immediately.

He was also concerned that the battle with Tiamat might have some effect on Shino.

The fact that she had never tried to approach Arcazam before, but had followed him to the town, saying she was there to escort him, was also bothering him.

By the time Nozomu arrived at Shino\'s hut, he found her enjoying a cup of tea on the porch of the hut.

On a plate beside a teapot filled with tea, a cookie made of flour, which was not particularly rare on the continent, was placed as a complimentary snack.

"Oh~, you\'re here Nozomu?"

Shino, upon noticing Nozomu\'s arrival, waved at him.

Nozomu, who had been worried about her condition inwardly, was taken aback by the sight of Shino with a cup of tea in her hand and her cheeks bulging like a squirrel\'s with cookies.

"Shisho, what\'s the matter? As I said in the morning, the final exams are coming up soon, so if I don\'t start preparing for them, I\'ll be in serious trouble."

"Now, now, don\'t say that. Just stay with me for today. Don\'t call yourself a man if you don\'t accept an invitation from a beautiful woman like me~."

Nozomu\'s expression of bewilderment became tense upon hearing his master\'s unexpected remark. His mouth tightened into a straight line, and he turned his gaze on Shino as if he were staring at something fishy.

"...... Shisho. Have you been drinking sake in the daytime?"

"Of course not. I\'m sure you can tell just by looking~."

Shino\'s mouth contorted in dissatisfaction over Nozomu\'s words, but her every word was strangely wavering.

Nozomu tilted his head at his master\'s words and actions, which were like a small boat rocked by the waves, and picked up one of the cookies and sniffed it.

The cookie, with dried fruit kneaded into the dough, smelled of strong alcohol. Looking closely at Shino\'s face, he saw that her wrinkled face had become slightly flushed.

"Shisho, what are these cookies?"

"Hmm? I saw these cookies at a stall when I was in town, so I bought them. I couldn\'t find such delicious cookies in my hometown, you know~."

"So this is the cause. Shisho, you must be weak on alcohol ......"

Alcohol is inseparable from confectionery in terms of preservation, aromatization, and flavoring. Nevertheless, even if alcohol is used, the amount of alcohol contained is usually not enough to make one intoxicated.

Nozomu\'s expression turned indescribable at his master\'s unexpected weakness.

Meanwhile, Shino, drunk and in a good mood, took Nozomu\'s hand and made him sit next to her.

"Forget about that, come on, why don\'t you sit down beside me?"

"O-o-ouch! Shisho, don\'t force my joints, you\'ll break them!"

From Nozomu\'s mouth came out a shriek of agony due to the intense pain.

Perhaps it was an instinctive action, but Shino\'s arm was covered with a faint glow of Qi.

Naturally, arm strength strengthened by Qi could easily destroy a person\'s joints.

The fact that she could instinctively adjust her arm to the perfect amount of force whether or not Nozomu\'s joints would be broken showed how skilled she was and how accustomed she was to beat Nozomu.

"Ugh ...... what a terrible master."

"Again, address such words to your master ....... Do you even have the slightest bit of respect toward your master?"

Nozomu, who was forced to sit down, stroked his aching wrist and had tears in his eyes.

Shino, on the other hand, was puffing her cheeks out in dissatisfaction over her complaining disciple.

Nozomu, too, looked displeased at Shino\'s lack of apology.

Perhaps it was because he had cried after the battle with Tiamat and revealed his feelings in front of her. The distance between the two of them, who had only been master and disciple, had definitely grown closer.

It was a very delicate distance that could neither be called friend nor family.

However, they had lost a certain reservedness and were now able to speak more frankly toward each other. It was a way of interaction between people that Nozomu and Shino had lacked for a long time.

"Or course, I respect you. If only my master hadn\'t said something so vicious and deceitful."

"Wait a minute, who are you calling a deceitful person? Besides, when did I ever say anything like that?"

"Master, you\'re lying when you say you\'re a beautiful woman. You are a former beauty!"

However, it was by no means always appropriate to be so blunt.

Since both of them were originally failures at communication, their blunt words could be offensive to others.

"...... alright, sit still."

Shino took on a devilish expression and put her hand on the katana that was propped up on the edge of the room. At the same time, a visibly deadly atmosphere rose up from her body.

The wild birds in the forest let out a cry that resembled a scream and flapped their wings in unison, trying to get as far away from this place as possible.

It was scary as hell. With these thoughts in his mind, Nozomu was sweating cold sweat in front of his master\'s figure.

Her hair stood up, and her appearance was that of a hideously man-eating ogre. Considering her hometown, we should say Yasha.

(B-, but, I will not stay down forever!)

Nozomu, who has lost his restraint due to their growing closeness to each other, was also fired up as he recalled the torture he had been subjected to in the name of training.

He was always beaten to a pulp by the slightest joke, and even his tsukkomi was met with a technique that would kill him instantly.

She could control the amount of power whether to kill or not, but she could not control her actions according to the situation at all.

Shino who refused to accept this law of equivalent exchange needed to be taught to hold back. Otherwise, Nozomu would never get out of the stupid habit of fainting on a daily basis in his daily life.

"E-, even I can\'t just bow down to such an unreasonable master forever either- ......"

But before he could finish his declaration of war, *Shing!*. A sound of a katana being drawn could be heard, and it was pressed against his neck.

"What\'s wrong?"

"...... No, it\'s nothing. Shisho, you\'re beautiful today too~"

Nozomu, in the face of his master, who was spewing flames, even his declaration of war was silenced, and he surrendered with all hands raised.

"Hmph!"

"Ouch!"

*Smack!* Nozomu\'s head was hit with a fist.

"Good grief, you really don\'t understand women\'s feelings, do you? ......"

"Ouch, Shisho, did you say something?"

"Nothing. Well, come with me for a second."

After a brief pause from their little quarrel, Shino abruptly began to talk about something out of the blue.

About her homeland. About her family. About what she had been doing since she arrived on this continent.

She also wanted to hear about Nozomu\'s stories, and although he was a little hesitant, he began to tell her some of his old days.

The life in his home village, his parents, the incidents at the school, his broken relationship and downfall, his encounter with his master, and his training days.

Although some of his stories were things that Shino already knew, she still wanted to hear them.

She nodded her head and kept listening happily as if she wanted to relive it all over again.

She would simply say a few words to the disciple beside her as if she were memorizing them for herself so that she would never forget them.

Their conversation seemed to be very ordinary.

Where is your hometown? How is your family? What do you like?

Such ordinary conversations. They had never exchanged even such ordinary conversations.

She taught him by the katana, and she talked to him by the katana.

Katana, Katana, Katana.

That was all Shino had ever taught him, and that was all Nozomu wanted.

It was a relationship that would make others feel a little sad if they heard it. However, Shino thought it was what most suited them, and smiled wryly.

Perhaps that was why. Walking the streets of Arcazam as an escort and having just a normal conversation like this were both very refreshing.

Above all, she was glad to see her disciple\'s expression changing after hearing what she had to say.

She had thought that she would never again exchange words with people with this kind of feeling.

No, she was intentionally avoiding doing so.

Just as Nozomu unconsciously ran away by using "desperate training" as an excuse because he was "dumped by his girlfriend" and "felt confined and unable to break out of his current situation", Shino also ran away and turned away from "getting involved with people" because she was "betrayed by her family".

(I have no qualifications to criticize my disciple ......)

Shino smiled self-deprecatingly, saying that she was truly a failure.

At the same time, she felt immense gratitude toward her disciple, who admired such a failure of a master.

Despite what he was saying with his mouth, even the insensitive Shino could see that Nozomu placed his trust in her. This disciple, like Shino, is a person who thirsts for human connection.

(If I had been born a few decades earlier. If I had not suffered from this disease ...... I would have wished to continue to accompany you.)

Shino\'s heartfelt wish. But the bond between them was not that of lovers, but that of teacher and student.

She was a little regretful of that, but still, there was one last thing she could leave behind in Nozomu\'s heart.

It\'s good enough. Just this is enough. There is not much time left.

(I\'ll give the place beside you to someone who can walk alongside you.)

She pushed down the slight ache tingling in her chest and looked up at her disciple, who was sitting next to her.

She had always thought of him as inexperienced, but he was much more mature than she was.

The sun was already setting and the scenery around the hut was turning red before she knew it.

"Then. Shall we begin our last training?"

She took a regretful glance at the sun, which was disappearing behind the trees, and said these words as casually as if she were going for a walk.

◆

The last training. Nozomu looked puzzled, not understanding the meaning of the word.

"Umm, Shisho ...... what do you mean by last?"

"Exactly as it sounds. This is the last training I can offer you."

However, despite his disciple\'s bewilderment, Shino\'s demeanor was the same as usual.

With an air of aloofness, she hopped down from the porch and strode to the garden of the hut where she had always done her training.

Her steps were the same as usual. But Nozomu felt an inexpressible sense of unease as he watched her back.

"As I said! What do you mean by "last" ......!?"

"Your last training will be ...... to seriously kill each other with me."

Nozomu could not understand what his master was saying.

The words that he could not understand were spinning around in his head like pulleys that had lost their gears.

"W-, what are you talking about? Shisho, don\'t make such a bad joke."

Ignoring the questions of her disciple, who could not hide his agitation, Shino stood in the center of the garden and slowly readied the sheathed katana at her waist.

Her eyes, which should have been relaxed by the idle talk just a moment ago, were already tense and her body radiated a heavy air of dominance.

"Shisho, please answer me."

"I\'m not going to say anything. What is the point of asking every single reason from someone who really wants to kill you?"

"Shisho!"

Nozomu nevertheless kept on asking his master.

Nozomu has been trained so much that he understood that it would be foolish to keep on asking her. In the face of her dominance, it was easy to see that she was serious.

However, whether his heart could accept it or not was another matter.

"Please answer me! What do you mean by \'the last\'? And what are you thinking, that we should kill each other!?"

She said nothing. Instead, she showed her intention with clear actions.

Just as Shino\'s body seemed to blur for a moment, a ferocious killing intent struck Nozomu.

The next moment, she was already right in front of Nozomu. The katana sheathed in its scabbard was drawn, and she came at Nozomu\'s neck at a speed that did not even allow her to be perceived.

"~!"

The defensive instincts that were already ingrained into the core of his body made Nozomu respond to the swift, godspeed-like strike.

Reflexively, he bent down and rolled on the ground as if to escape from the place.

Shino\'s slash cut through the air, but she used the momentum of her sword swing to unleash a roundhouse kick.

Nozomu quickly raised his right arm to block the kick, but the kick, reinforced with Qi, was so heavy that he was blown away and slammed into a tree at the edge of the garden.

"Guh ......."

Nozomu frowned at the pain running down his back, but he bit his lip, jumped back from the spot, and drew his katana to prepare himself for the follow-up attack. He raised his voice again as he held up his katana.

"Shisho, what on earth are you trying to do!?"

His master still said nothing, but simply and quietly pointed the tip of her katana at him.

Although her lips were closed in a straight line, her eyes declared loudly that she had no intention of speaking.

Nozomu gritted his teeth at Shino\'s refusal to say anything.

His master was always like this. She would make one-sided assertions without allowing him to ask any questions during training, and if he objected in any way, she would make him do twice as much training, which was beyond unreasonable.

However, even though Nozomu had experienced such training, he was clearly feeling something strange about the way Shino was behaving now.

(This is strange. Shisho might have done things that \'could kill me,\' but she had never really tried to \'kill me.\')

But now she was directing her dense killing intent at Nozomu, and the earlier strike was also aimed at his neck.

While Nozomu was readying his katana in confusion, suddenly Shino\'s presence fizzled out and her figure blurred again. Immediately afterward, a powerful killing intent was released from the left side of his body.

"Kuh."

Nozomu reflexively boosted his Qi, applied physical strengthening, and raised his katana.

Immediately after, an ear-splitting metal clash sounded.

Nozomu miraculously blocked Shino\'s slash, but she continued to unleash a barrage of blows in rapid succession.

A downward slash at the left shoulder, a lateral slash at the left side, an upward slash at the right side, and an upward slash at the left side. A storm of extremely precise slashes was launched in a fluid and smooth movement.

The storm of slashes, which could not be imagined to have been released from the old woman\'s slender arms, dealt a shock to Nozomu\'s arms as if Shino had also physically strengthened herself.

Nozomu intercepted the deadly slashes, retreating little by little as if to escape from the pressure of the slashes that came in succession.

His knees, hips, arms, and entire body worked together without waste to parry his master\'s blade.

But in spite of that, Nozomu was still overwhelmed. Although they were both swordsmen of the same style, Shino\'s skill, physical ability, and experience were all superior to Nozomu\'s.

"Guh!"

Nozomu was hit by a powerful diagonal slash, unable to resist, and used his [Flash Step] to break away.

However, Shino also immediately activated her [Flash Step]. In the blink of an eye, she caught up with Nozomu, who was trying to break away, and launched a pursuit attack.

One blow, two blows, three blows, they clashed with each other\'s blades as they moved at high speed.

As twilight passed and darkness began to envelop the surroundings, only the trails of their blades, illuminated by the full moon, revealed their presence.

"Ha!"

"Fuh!"

Their movements, which had been linear, had somehow changed to curving movements that seemed to circle around each other.

Qi-jutsu [Flash Step・Curved Movement]

This is an advanced version of the Qi-jutsu [Flash Step]. An extremely difficult technique that requires a good sense of balance to completely control the momentum of [Flash Step] and delicate body manipulation to link all body movements without waste.

This technique enables complicated curved movements of the legs, which originally can only move in a straight line, but because it changes the direction of movement while moving at high speed, if the user were to lose his/her balance, he/she would be struck with great force to the ground and suffer a serious injury.

Nozomu and Shino used such advanced techniques without difficulty and continued to collide with each other while spiraling into the darkness of the night.

However, Shino was also superior when it came to fighting with [Flash Step・Curved Movement]. It was natural that Shino\'s [Flash Step・Curved Movement] was superior to that of Nozomu, who was under [Ability Suppression].

Gradually, he fell behind and was finally stopped by Shino, who had moved ahead of him.

"Damn!"

Once again, Nozomu was forced into a situation where he and Shino came to a halt.

She then removed the scabbard from her waist and carried it in her left hand, becoming a dual wielder and attacking Nozomu.

"Kuh!"

Aiming for an opening, Shino swung her scabbard with her left hand, targeting the torso.

Nozomu stepped back to avoid the scabbard that had been reinforced with Qi.

Shino\'s katana-jutsu is designed for actual combat. It is a comprehensive combat technique that interweaves not only katana-jutsu but also the sheath and taijutsu.

Depending on the situation, Shino would use whatever was available, whether it was a stone or a branch that had fallen in the vicinity.

The sheath, strengthened by Qi-jutsu, could easily break a person\'s bones.

With her dual-wielding style, Shino\'s blows became less powerful, but her attacks grew more concentrated, and her sword and scabbard were like the jaws of a wolf, closing in on Nozomu.

Nozomu also reflexively removed his scabbard from the sword belt at his waist and changed to a dual-wielding style. He was able to handle the stormy attacks of his master.

However, he was still being pushed back due to the difference in their abilities and skills. And when he could no longer intercept the attack with his dual-wielding style, he was caught by a blow from Shino\'s scabbard.

"Guaah!"

With a dull sound, Shino\'s sheath struck Nozomu\'s left arm.

Nozomu reflexively focused his Qi on the point of impact and tried to minimize the damage as much as possible, but the impact of Shino\'s blow was so great that his left arm became numb and rendered unusable.

Seizing the opportunity of Nozomu\'s slowed movement, Shino flashed her katana in her right hand horizontally in a single strike.

Nozomu could not intercept it with his katana in time. Nozomu forced himself to bend his body and somehow managed to avoid the slash, but this time Shino\'s kick flew at him.

Nozomu, finding it impossible to avoid, attempted to kill the force of her kick, even if only slightly, by leaping backward.

"Ugh ......!"

The impact on his abdomen was so strong that it turned his internal organs upside down, and combined with the fact that he had originally leaped backward, Nozomu\'s body was blown far away.

The situation seemed as if it were a repeat of the first bout. However, in reality, it was not.

This time, Nozomu willingly got blown away. Therefore, he was quick to take the next action.

While gliding along the ground, he whipped his aching arm and sheathed his katana.

At the moment his back was slammed to the ground, he took an ukemi stance (breakfall technique in martial arts), sent his Qi to the katana as he leaped backward, and extremely compressed it.

Half-hearted techniques would not work on Shino. Although the number of times he could use it was limited due to the amount of Qi he had, Nozomu put his hope in his most reliable technique.

[Qi-jutsu・Phantom]

A blade of extremely compressed Qi flew at high speed. It was supposed to land on Shino before he could even blink.

"Wha!"

But the reality betrayed him.

The moment Nozomu released his [Phantom], there was a bursting sound like burning charcoal popping at the exact midpoint between him and Shino. The extremely compressed Qi diffused and dispersed into the surroundings.

Looking closely, Nozomu noticed that before he knew it, Shino was in the same quick-draw stance as him and had her katana drawn. She effortlessly intercepted Nozomu\'s [Phantom].

Nozomu was taken aback by this unbelievable situation. There was no way she could have missed such an opening.

"~!"

"Crap-......"

Shino rushed forward with [Flash Step]. Nozomu hurriedly tried to pull the katana back, but clearly did not make it in time.

Then Shino\'s katana, which was already imbued with Qi, took the opposite trajectory from the previous strike and slashed across Nozomu\'s body in a diagonal slash. Fresh blood gushed out from the wound.

"Argh ...... guh!"

Nozomu kneeled on the ground, unable to put strength into his legs due to so much pain and the loss of blood.

What Shino did was quite simple. She canceled out Nozomu\'s [Phantom] with the same [Phantom].

But it was an unbelievable feat that would not have been possible under normal circumstances.

[Phantom] is a Qi-jutsu that is extremely difficult to see because it compresses Qi so thin that it is close to a strand of hair, and because it flies at a high speed.

In order to intercept with the same Qi-jutsu, the blade of Qi had to be released precisely on the same trajectory with no deviations.

Shino was able to do this without difficulty, which was far more difficult than threading a needle.

The difference in ability between Nozomu and Shino was obvious. Skill, ability, and experience. She was better than Nozomu in every way, and there was not a single element in which Nozomu could win.

[I can\'t win]

Nozomu was caught up in such thoughts, and his master\'s words echoed in his ears.

"Nozomu, release your [Ability Suppression]."

Hearing those words, Nozomu forgot the pain in his chest and let out a surprised voice, "What?".

"You know what I\'m talking about. The only way for you to defeat me is to release your [Ability Suppression]."

While holding the wound on his chest that was causing him intense pain, Nozomu agreed with his master\'s words.

Indeed, it was the only way for him to defeat her. He immediately understood that it was the only possibility he had.

At the same time, however, Nozomu\'s mind was flooded with that dream.

Tiamat inside the lake and the strong uneasiness he felt at that moment. Within the eyes of the chained Dragon King that he had seen in his dream, there was a firm determination, and vindictiveness that made his hair stand on end.

Could it be a characteristic unique to the spirit species? Perhaps even though its body is already destroyed, its soul is still intact and surviving inside Nozomu. And perhaps his [Ability Suppression] coincidentally suppresses not only its power, but also its soul?

Nozomu looked down at his own body, which was stained with his own blood.

He stared at the invisible chains that were wrapped around his dyed-red body.

His body remembered the feeling of the chains being ripped off.

Nozomu was convinced that even if his arm had lost its strength due to blood loss, he would somehow be able to rip it off.

"Haa, haa, haa ......"

But Nozomu\'s hand refused to move. He could not make a decision while breathing roughly, and could only keep staring at his blood-stained arm.

The only way to win against the serious master was to tear this chain to shreds. But if he did so, Tiamat would be freed.

"Are you still hesitating?"

Shino once again came at Nozomu with a slash.

Nozomu, being on his knees, raised his katana and managed to block the direct slash, but Shino took the opportunity to start mercilessly striking Nozomu with her scabbard and then kicking him.

"Ugh, guaah!"

Nozomu\'s entire body was in extreme pain and combined with the unstoppable bleeding, his consciousness was rapidly being drained away.

His vision blurred and his hearing became distant. As if he had fallen into a cold sea, the sensation in his limbs faded.

(Am I going to die here?)

Perhaps it was because he was fighting against Shino. The intense survival instinct that had overflowed inside Nozomu at the time of the battle against Tiamat was not welling up in his heart, and a sense of resignation was beginning to spread, as if to say, "If it\'s Shisho, so be it."

But then, Shino\'s face appeared in Nozomu\'s blurred vision.

Though his vision was obscured by the bleeding and he could not see clearly, he could see that his master\'s face was contorted in anguish.

It was as if she was stifling her remorse.

(Why are you making such a face?)

Just as this question popped into Nozomu\'s head, with a face that looked as if she was about to cry, she told him,

"Nozomu, I am going to die soon. It won\'t be long."

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