Chapter 8- After the Decisive Battle
I opened my eyes to a gentle warmth caressing my cheek.
As I came to, I realized that my body had been laid out flat. It would appear that I had fallen asleep.
Within my rapidly clearing consciousness, I could hear the sound of dry wood crackling.
Lead by the sound, I turned my head and saw a bonfire just a small ways away.
Surrounded by timber, there was a decently-sized flame burning.
It goes without saying, but this far into the mountains, in a place that one could only reach deliberately, a fire was a rare thing.
In that case, who—well, I already know—started the fire?
“…I lost, huh.”
“Oh, you’re awake?”
I grumbled at the person who started the fire as I lifted my upper body and turned to him.
The person in question seemed to be on the other side of the fire. Chester had a dubious smile as he tossed wood into the fire.
…Dammit. A large gap had developed between us. I couldn’t help but grit my teeth.
For me it was a life and death battle where I gave my all, but it looked like Chester still had strength to spare.
The proof was that he even lit a fire while I laid unconscious.
If more evidence was needed, there wasn’t a spot on my body that didn’t hurt. All of that was caused by one strike. He put in that much magic into one strike, yet still had enough magic power to treat both of our serious wounds.
There was already a gap of about 20 years before I was reborn; after I was reborn, there was another 12-year blank.
I did not mean to use that as an excuse, but… even while I was dragging my feet, it would seem that this man raised his skills considerably.
“Utter defeat…right?”
“Yeah. Between myself, who has never stopped training, and a child’s body, this result was to be expected. You still haven’t gotten used to your body, right? It was a small change, but your techniques have lost some of their edge.”
After that, there was silence for a while.
…To be honest, it was frustrating. It was so frustrating that I clenched my fist to the point that it bled .
I thought I had polished my understanding. I had even raised my magic power to the point that it hadn’t diminished, even when compared to my previous life.
And yet, this was the result.
The short arms and legs of a child’s body. Even if I did have a greater understanding of the truth, I still could not get used to the techniques I had instilled into my previous body.
That feint that Chester used at the end—if it had been my previous body, I think I would have been able to catch his hand as it pa.s.sed by. Even if Chester had moved an instant faster in order to avoid that, I think I would still have been able to react.
But, after it was all over, those were nothing but what-ifs; the result would not change. I intended to accept my defeat.
In a duel where I gave it my all without underestimating my opponent, I lost. It would not have been strange to lose my life foolishly; I clenched my teeth harder .
I couldn’t help but feel jealous of my longtime rival, who had stepped into greater heights. While I had lost years of my life, he grasped at his life with martial arts.
He is at a place closer to ‘the strongest’ than I. That made me incredibly jealous.
“Say, you.”
“What?”
“Just what do you intend to fight when you polish your martial arts?”
Most likely, at least in the underground world, there was n.o.body that could match Chester. The underworld is vast but even so, finding somebody that can fight evenly against him would be hard.
In which case, for what goal does this man fight?
I got curious and tried asking him …Though I already know the answer.
“…Who knows? I’ve never even thought about it. Though I did lose my motivation a little when you died. I polish my martial arts because I have to. It’s just something that I do everyday. I think of it like that.”
–That’s right, there is no such thing as a reason. A goal is only an unreliable four letter word.
In the end we are all the same. We martial artists who couldn’t give up on being the strongest are all like this.
“What about you?”
“I had never thought about it either.”
“I bet. Well, that’s how it is, isn’t it?”
As I thought. For some reason, I suddenly went weird and laughter leaked from deep in my throat.
As for Chester, maybe he was satisfied by my answer and started laughing heartily.
Aah. It was frustrating. I was frustrated at myself for being satisfied even after I went all-out and lost.
“I’ll win next time. I’ll make that mug of yours kiss the ground.”
“Ha, come at me anytime. I’ll keep winning, and when my life expires, I’ll quit while I am ahead.”
Good grief. Sharp tongued fellow. But I definitely won’t let him do as he pleases. Before he goes, I’ll fight him ten times and win ten times.
…Hmm. I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. A close friend is a good thing.
“Now then, should we eat? I caught a bird.”
“You even did that? …good grief, how about aging a little, you old man?”
Looking at Chester so spry for his age, I couldn’t help but sigh.
I couldn’t picture Chester growing weak with age at all. The phrase ‘active for life’ really suits him.
Watching Chester impale the meat with a sharpened stick, I was thankful for my longtime rival’s strength.
——————————————————————–
“Hawbeber…I know ids somewhat laid to ask but, how did you turn into dab state?”
“…. Seriously late to ask. Well, whatever, I’ll tell you in detail.”
It was at the moment that I was about to bite into the grilled bird.
Chester, who already had his mouth stuffed with food, asked with a voice that was barely understandable.
Don’t talk with food in your mouth. After saying that, I also bit into the bird.
The bird grilled over a fire released a fragrance that made my appet.i.te swell more than usual.
Even though it lacked salt and spices the small almost made my mouth into a fountain, almost as though it triggered a primal appet.i.te.
It had been grilled just right. The surface was coated in oil, and the bird’s skin crackled at the touch of my fingers. The moment I put it into my mouth, the skin gave off the texture of a thin baked pastry and dissolved.
After the fleeting sensation of the texture on my cheek I was a.s.saulted by meat juices—one could only exclaim ‘this good?!’
It was the ultimate soup from the grease between the skin and the meat melting. A great wave of flavor followed immediately after the flaky skin. My cheeks relaxed, and from that opening drool begun to flow out from my mouth.
I was so enthralled by the bird that I even forgot that Chester had said anything.
The skin melted comfortably in my mouth while the meat gently came apart. The meat was laced with the ultimate meat juices–
Before I noticed it, I had eaten a whole bird. I was not a very big bird but my old self from my past life it was far too much for me to finish.
…Hmm. Must be what they call the growth period in children. It had been a long time since I felt such a strong appet.i.te. Having been able to satisfy that with delicious food, I was enveloped in an incomparable sense of satisfaction.
“You really devoured that. Where you that hungry?”
“Thanks to this body. Now then, shall we begin?”
Chester ate his bird slightly slower than me and smiled at the sight of my way of eating it.
Well, it was a liveliness unthinkable in my past life… Though, more than me, the fact that Chester—who had pa.s.sed one hundred—could also eat a whole bird was worth talking about.
Putting that aside, why was I blessed with such a coincidence?
“To be honest, I have no idea. I can’t say anything other than that, before I knew it, I was entrusted with this body.”
“Well, I have lived a long life but I have never seen or heard of such a thing. If I had to say, I would say that you are the only one. Can’t think anything other than that it was good luck.”
As I thought, even Chester who had lived for so long had never had an encounter like this.
I looked at my hands unintentionally. There were no callus or scars. They were the smooth, small hands of a child.
“But, it really is enviable. No matter how much you have gotten rusty, to be able to able to come back to life without forgetting anything. Hey, aren’t you the strongest 12 year old?”
“Stop it…but, I don’t want to lose to some 12 year old.”
“I would imagine. Even if it was only a mere hundred plus years, you put your entire life into cultivating those martial arts. You would probably feel depressed losing to some 12 year old kid.”
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});“Mere? From my perspective, I am more jealous at you elves that can say ‘mere’ when talking about 100 years.”
“At this point, you are an elf too, aren’t you?”
“You’re not wrong.”
The surrounding became completely dark and we were enveloped in silence.
The sound of beasts off in the distance felt loud.
“I made a disciple.”
Amidst the silence, a voice cut through the darkness.
“A disciple? You?”
“Yeah.”
There was a reason why I asked that.
A long time ago, Chester said ‘The Prime fighting style is something that I created’ and turned down many people that hoped to become disciples.
It was something that approached the strongest, made with great effort. Chester said that doing something like teaching it someone else was not right. Just what brought about the change of heart?
“Didn’t you yourself say that you wouldn’t take disciples?”
“That’s what I intended… but, seeing Alma doing her best to spread the Shijima techniques after you died, I felt a little jealous.”
Chester scratched his salt and pepper head expressionlessly.
“I thought, ‘If I die, what would be left behind?’ You left behind Alma, but I had nothing. I felt an odd sense of pressure.”
Chester continued without my encouragement. His face looked a little lonely.
–What would be left behind, huh? Since I had Alma, I hadn’t worried about it, but—what would be left behind, without me becoming the strongest I could be. It was not as if though I had never thought about it .
I guessed that he had more to say, so I remained silent.
Just as I expected, Chester continued.
“But there was no one that measured up. You and Alma kept coming to mind, and I kept thinking that I couldn’t teach the Prime fighting style to someone of that level but… just recently, I finally found a successor. And I thought, ‘the times are changing’. That mine and your time, was up, and that it was time for the new generation.”
“Weren’t you planning to remain active for life?”
“Of course. I have no intention of retiring at this point. But that successor is the problem.”
“What do you want? You picked the successor yourself, right? What’s the problem?”
“…too strong.”
At that moment, Chester had an extremely happy smile.
…too strong? Enough to make him say that much?
“Did you say too strong?”
“That’s right. The brat just turned 15 but, this disciple has unbelievable talent. Enough to make my jealous and think, ‘when I was that age…"”
Despite the tone of his words, Chester seemed happy.
I remembered having a similar feeling when I first saw Alma’s talent.
Even though he was older than me, he had only just then discovered the joys of having a disciple.
I smiled at Chester, who was talking like he was boasting about his beloved kid.
“This kid will surpa.s.s me without a doubt. When I thought that, I got unexpectedly happy. I thought I’d gone senile. And? And? What do you think about the brat?”
…Isn’t he a little too excited?
I smiled at Chester all riled up like a little kid. Where did the mysterious atmosphere from just now go? …Somehow it got really dumb.
If the story continued like that, I was sure that it was just going to be showing off. They did say that the elderly could go on talking forever.
“There’s no way I would know… I only just recently learned how to read elven characters. I have a blank of 30 years or so. There’s no way that I would know about the disciple that you, who spends all his time in the underground scene, took in.”
“Yeah. You wouldn’t know, huh. Then, I’ll tell you! You wanna hear about it, right?!”
What a pain in the a.s.s. You weren’t like this. You were more… like a sharpened blade.
This was just like a dog without fangs. Just like a master long ago that had just had a grandchild.
…A master that just had a grandchild?
“Listen to this, it’s my grandchild! She learns everything I teach her perfectly, and when she learns a new technique, she runs to me saying, ‘Grandpa!"”
Gra-grandchild…? Just now, did that guy say grandchild?
I was speechless at my long time rival’s unexpected doting att.i.tude.
I thought he was like my master, but there was a reason for that, I guess.
No, to begin with—to begin with, this man–
“You were married?”
“Huh? At this point? I did that a long time ago.”
This was my first time hearing it. I thought he had nothing in his head except martial arts. He had a wife and kids, huh?
And what was more, he even had a grandchild.
“And this grandchild–”
“Wait. Wait. Is this going to take long? If it’s going to take long, sorry.”
“What? I was just getting to the good part…”
This is what was called a doting grandparent. After experiencing that with my master once, I raised my palm and tried to reign him in.
This ‘grandpa’s’ story would be long. I thought I had patience but looking at his puffed up chest this would be unbearably long.
Since it was my master, I had to listen to him back then, but Chester was a different story. I was not about to repeat that tragedy. Not again.
“Well, it’s fine. Let’s get down to bra.s.s tacks. I have a small favor to ask from you.”
I heaved a relieved sigh after being able to stop him in advance.
But… a favor, huh? I hope it’s nothing troublesome.
“…incidentally, if I were to refuse?”
“I will tell Alma your real ident.i.ty. I’m sure you’ll be busy everyday…? I doubt you will have any time to train…?”
Dammit. Happily grabbing on to peoples weaknesses…
I knew it. I knew that I had no choice but to listen either way. From the start I could only pray that it wouldn’t be anything troublesome.
“Say it. But, don’t ask for the impossible.”
“It’s not that bad. I have to change the topic back, alright?”
“…keep it short.”
It looked like the favor had something to do with this grandchild.
While getting a headache from all the confusing stuff, I thought about what was going to happen to me from then on.
Since, a troublesome guy held on to my weakness… There was no doubt that he would push troublesome things on me from then on.
I wished he would at least give me a break while I was at school, but… I didn’t know about that now. Well, at this point it couldn’t be helped. At any rate, I had to deal with the problem before me first.
“It’s just like I told you, my grandchild is a genius. This brat steadily takes in my Prime fighting style…Well, that’s not the problem. The problem is that this brat is too strong. There is no one from the same age that can compete with the brat.”
…Hmm? I see. Putting it that way, I can see were this is going.
For the time being, it seemed less dangerous than it was troublesome. Even so, I would decide after listening to him. Seriously, this d.a.m.ned doting grandpa.
“And, that’s where the favor comes in…It’s fine if it’s only occasionally. I want you to fight my kid. No matter how strong, the kid’s still not our match. I don’t know any kids that could match my brat other than you .”
The favor was exactly what I thought.
A grandpa trying to help his grandkid that can’t make friends.
…My, my. He had really lost his edge.
And what’s more, I got treated like a kid. Even if it was inevitable with the way I looked, it still made me feel weird.
“If that’s all there is to it, I’ll do it. You’ve really become a ‘Grandpa’, haven’t you, Chester?”
“Say what you will. You will be the same when you get a grandchild. You got a second life. It’s better if you don’t do something sad like staying single for life. All things considered, being married is not that bad, you know?”
“Is that so?”
“That’s so.”
Chester smiled wide at my fed up expression.
Did getting a grandchild really make you so mellow?
My appearance and Chester’s att.i.tude.
Both of us friends had changed a lot. We continued the idle banter.
The friendship forged by the fire of rivalry continued until the sky turned bright–.