Inside the training dojo of the mansion, Matteo was defending for his life in a sparring match. His opponent, one of Thomas subordinates Raphael, did not give him an easy time as he delivered a powerful strike to his knee, followed by a swift kick to the midsection to end the round.
"And that's another win for me," Rapahel celebrated. Matteo hung his head in frustration. Even after all these years he was still at square one. Thomas had even given up on expecting more from him as well, as he preferred to remain in his office doing paperwork instead of watching him train. It was the only reason Raphael was even there.
After a while, Matteo got up once more and stood in his fighting stance, the only thing he had really managed to get the hang of after all these years. "All right, begin!" Raphael commanded. He spent most of the fight waiting for Matteo to strike first, but he could tell just by the look on his face that Matteo had no such plans, or at least, had no idea where to even begin.
'All right, come on come on!' Matteo tried motivating himself. And it worked. He found the will to attack again as he charged his wooden blade at Raphael. But much like always, his steps were too slow, he left himself unguarded and his overall movements were sloppy and passive. This carried on for the majority of the fight. Raphael dodged, blocked and parried every attack without breaking a sweat, before sweeping Matteo's legs making him fall face first back to the floor. He then smacked his outstretched bottom for the finishing blow.
"I win again". Raphael sighed then bent down next to him. "Has your father ever told you about the farm house?" Matteo replied, "No." Raphael thought for a few more seconds before continuing,
"Well, at the farmhouse there's a girl who's around your age, maybe younger and as right now, she's as strong as your average adult soldier. And she's only going to get stronger. She just started planting her first Spirit Seed as well, and it's quite a powerful one. As it stands right now, you're just a little bug compared to her, and if the two of you ever fought she would squash you quicker than you could say your own name. Are you going to let her do that to you? Are you going to let that random little slave girl be stronger than you, Lord Matteo Dumont?"
Matteo stared at him with a hanging jaw. To think somebody so strong could be his own age, or even younger! And he was still only twelve! Not knowing how to respond to that, Matteo just scratched the back of his head and replied, "I don't know". Raphael sighed, "I see". He got up and put his wooden sword away. "All right, training's finished. You can rest now". He left the dojo and went straight to Thomas' office.
"Excuse me, General". Thomas looked up from his papers, "Ah, Raphael. How was the training? Did he improve at all, or is he still useless?" Raphael sat on one of the chairs, "Still useless. The boy still cannot manage a good swing, but worst of all… he fights like a coward, and not even a good one. He charges head first into every attack without a single method to his madness, not to mention how he's always flinching or running back afterwards, even in the rare occasions where he manages to at least create some kind of opportunity." Thomas sighed whilst covering his face, then Raphael made a suggestion.
"You know, maybe we should just try and teach him a new style. It's been clear for years now that our battle style is just not compatible for someone like him. Not only is he too small, but he's also way too weak. Both physically and mentally."
"I don't understand", Thomas complained, "The boy is clearly gifted intellectually, but his body is just so pathetic". Raphael agreed, "Maybe we should just keep him on the strategy side of things. Maybe instead of trying to strengthen what's weak, we should try to further sharpen what's already strong". Thomas cut him off, "But that alone is not enough. A strong mind means nothing if your body is too weak to protect it", he took out two cigars from his drawer, "That brat on the farm is fast on track to mastering our style, what can't Matteo do the same?"
"Maybe because he doesn't want to kill you", Raphael joked. Thomas took those words in and asked, "Do you think she can do it?" Raphael thought it over for a few seconds, "Well…", then burst out laughing, "No way! She will definitely be a monster in the near future, but she will never be that strong!" Thomas laughed with him as he finished lighting his cigar. After that, the two went back to discussing civil and military matters.
***
We now turn our attention to a large lake at a small village in one of Callistéa's rural areas. A group of small children were playing around in said lake, having loads of fun splashing each other around. One of the boys there ended up finding a very beautiful Suhana flower, a flower with silver petals that glow during the night, a rarity in these parts of the kingdom.
He took the flower off its stem and ran back to the other kids, where he gave it to a girl wearing a purple dress stained in brown. "Here you go Kamo. I, uh… got you this flower". Kamo took the flower with a delighted smile, "Wow, thank you Ruji!"
Ruji blushed and looked away, trying not to make it a big deal. Unfortunately for him though, the other kids did not have the same plans, "Oooh la la! Ruji just gave Kamo flowers!", one of the other girls teased. "Ooh!", the others joined in.
One of the boys shouted, "Just ask her to marry you already!"
"Yeah, we all know you have a crush on her!" another boy added.
"No I don't, shut up!" Ruji exclaimed, fists clenched and face as red as a tomato. "And we also know that Kamo has a crush on Ruji too!" The girls said. Now Kamo was red like a tomato too, "N-no I don't!"
But…
"Ooooh, she's blushing!" The other kids laughed.
"That's it!"
Ruji grabbed Kamo's hand and walked away with her. "Come on, Kamo. Let's go". But that didn't stop the teasing, it only made it worse,
"Ooh, now they're holding hands!"
"Where are they going?"
"Maybe they're gonna go and kiss!"
The girls squealed. "Let's go follow them!"
The remaining kids all decided to follow behind Ruji and Kamo to see what they were about to get up to all by themselves. Speaking of those two, they walked around the lake to the other side where they hid in the bushes. Now alone, the two stood in complete silence, shooting awkward glances at each other before turning away in embarrassment. "S-So… thank you for the flower", Kamo said with her hands behind her back. "Oh, it's… not a problem", Ruji replied while scratching the back of his head.
"I just thought it was really beautiful, so I gave it to you because…"
"Because what?"
Ruji pressed his eyelids shut, "Because I think you're really… beautiful". Kamo got even redder than before, and failed to suppress her smile, "Thank you". They went back to awkward silence while the rest of the kids hid behind whatever they could, just enjoying the spectacle before them.
Things were getting a little bit too awkward for Ruji though, as he started looking around for something to start a conversation with. Then, he noticed…
"Is that a dead bird?"
Indeed it was.
Right there laying flat on the ground next to him was a small brown bird…. Or at least what was left of it. Its flesh was completely torn apart and its bones were mangled and sticking out of its body in all directions, as if someone or something had ripped them out one by one and stuck them back in trying to fix it. It should have been a disgusting or even scary sight for them, but… "Cool! Hey Kamo, come look at this!"
Kamo crawled closer to look at it, her eyes sparkled, "Wow". Ruji grabbed a nearby stick and tried poking it repeatedly. All the other kids came out of hiding to have a look for themselves, letting curiosity get the better of them. "Whoah, it looks so… dead", and "Ew, that's disgusting!", were the two reactions amongst them.
But none of them could take their eyes off it. As grotesque as it may have been, it wasn't exactly something they saw everyday. After a few seconds of staring, one of them noticed something running through the bushes. "Ah! A rat!"
The others flinched away, but Ruji was able to get a closer look at it, and saw that, "It's not a rat!"
Ruji picked it up in his hands, and showed everything that it in fact was not a rat. "But still, it looks so scary". One of the girls whispered as she slowly backed away. And with good reason too. The strange creature they had found was unlike any animal they had ever seen or heard about before. It had four paws like most animals, but the most striking of its features were the uncountable number of large boils all over its body, which made it look hunched. The second was that it had no fur and was reddish-gray in colour.
And its third and final feature was that all its face had was a mouth, with no eyes or nose, only a mouthful of small teeth. "I think it looks cute", Ruji said as he moved his face closer to the creature, examining it with great focus. One of the boys had an idea, "Guys, let's keep him as our pet! I mean, we basically just found a new species, we have to take all the credit before some else does! Maybe we'll be rich!"
Another girl added to that, "Yeah, but… what are we gonna call it?"
"Hmmm?" They all thought in unison.
"Ooh, I have an idea!" Kamo exclaimed, "Let's call it… a Lurkynn". The others thought it over before deciding, "That's not bad. Let's use it".
Kamo pumped her fist in excitement. "Okay, now for this little guy's name," Ruji said. "But wait, is it a boy or a girl?" One of the girls asked. Everyone just shrugged. "Well then I guess we'll have to give it a name that works for both boys and girls," Ruji suggested. They all thought again for names for this… Lurkynn, and one of the boys got an idea.
"How about we call it… Biscuit? It's cute and it works for both boys and girls".
"Oh, yeah. Biscuit… I like it". They all agreed.
After that they spent the next few minutes deciding who would take Biscuit home and how they would rotate the caretaking responsibilities. They also devised a plan to try and convince their parents to let them keep Biscuit, then took the Lurkynn and ran back to their original spot to resume playing.