It had been a few weeks since school had begun after October break. Demund was glad life began to become more exciting. His grades were excellent; he had 100s in almost all of his tests. All his hard work and effort—his days training and studying with Enariss, his gameless and entertainment-bereft nights, his daily visits to the library—they were all paying off. And he loved it.

To outsiders, Demund’s life would appear to be emotionless, like a machine carrying out his program. He had nothing entertaining going on and he had no hobbies. He was the definition of a model student who did everything the school told him to do and more, taking time to understand and study the material.

That wasn’t to say Demund disliked his life. He enjoyed it very much. Though most of the day was spent studying and exercising, his studies with his friends and hanging out with them at school let him be content with his life. Now, if a person besides Demund experienced his life, they would find it very boring and bland. Where were all the games? The internet? Social media? How did one enjoy life so much without a personal hobby?

What they wouldn’t know was that Demund had 7 days in another world. 7 days to rest and enjoy his life within a fantasy. It was like having a 6-day weekend with 1 day of school. How amazing was that?

And tonight, that weekend had gotten very exciting.

〄 〄 〄

In the country of Melern (and all the other human countries), every fifth birthday was significant for a child’s growth. The first 5th birthday signified that the child would now grow up into a healthy adult. The second 5th birthday signaled the child’s first step into society. The third 5th birthday designated the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood.

Today was Rother’s 10th birthday. The fifth day of the ninth month of year 324. If he was a noble, there would be a celebration in his honor, and guests from all over would come to drink to his future. It was the age when families started to eye other people’s children as potential marriage partners. The children themselves would have their first dance in front of everyone to see. Truly something romantic and dreamy.

But Rother’s father was a soldier. He was training to become a soldier. And soldiers did not engage in petty balls.

Nay; they celebrated with sword fighting.

The main fighting arena of Danark’s Swordsmanship Training Academy was filled with guests from all over. Rother’s friends, his teachers and instructors, even the Headmistress herself were all seated on the seats waiting for Rother to emerge into the arena. Nobles also loved to come watch the birthdays of the students. They could eye out potential bodyguards from these events and sponsor them when they grew up. And since Rother was the son of a well-known fighter in the Academy, the place was teeming with excitement.

Rother was currently preparing for his duel with his father and mother helping him into his attire. Shaden was on the side, watching in anticipation.

“Alright, you look so handsome, Rother!” cried Melsei as she did her finishing touches on Rother’s outfit. All of it was made out of fine leather. The coat was embroidered with silver thread, Melsei’s own craftsmanship. The pants were plain as they could be along with the shoes. The purpose of the attire was to accentuate Rother’s body as he sparred. It wasn’t meant to display wealth or status, but skill.

“Stop it, Mom,” Rother said. “I’m nervous here!”

“I know, but you look so great!” said Melsei. “Wouldn’t you agree, dear?”

“You look perfectly fine, Rother,” stated Garthan. “Remember your training. I know you can do it. I’m not going to go easy on you.”

“I’d be angry if you did, Dad,” said Rother. “Today’s my day to show off!”

“That’s the spirit!” said Garthan as he patted Rother on the back. “Melsei, take Shaden and go to the seats. We’re going to begin soon, and you want the best view, don’t you?”

“Of course. Let’s go, Shaden,” said Melsei as she took Shaden by the hand.

They soon arrived at the top and went down to the reserved seats for them. Shaden looked around. There was a lot of people here. A lot of rich-looking people too. Was his brother more popular than he thought?

The crash of a gong silenced the stadium as the drums began to play. The slow but increasing drumbeats filled the room, tensing up the atmosphere. Surprised whispers were heard from all around. This was the beginning of ‘The Fires of Taash’.

In a way, the 10th birthday for the students of the Academy was like a concert. After choosing an adult to spar with, a student would practice a specific swordfight to display at their birthday. There were a diverse number of swordfights you could choose from, and they all involved the student himself/herself along with one adult who would spar with them. Each swordfight’s difficulty varied and choosing the more difficult ones would earn you a good reputation. However, if you failed, you would become a laughingstock.

‘The Fires of Taash’ was one of the extremely difficult ones. It was something that even the 15-year-olds had a hard time mastering. Yet the rhythm of the swordfight continued to play and echo through the building.

Shaden had been aware of the swordfight. His brother and father always went out at night to practice it for many months. But seeing this reaction from the crowd raised his opinion of them even more. He had never seen them practice it, so he became even more excited. This was what he had been waiting for.

The drum beats became even slower. Finally, Rother emerged from the front entrance of the arena with his wooden sword in hand. The crowd cheered loudly. Rother walked slowly around the floor, gracefully bowing as he swung his sword around a few times for show.

Next, Garthan came out. He was dressed in black and was also holding a wooden sword in his hand. Rother had chosen him for his sparring partner. He too went around the stadium as the drumbeats slowed. The crowd cheered as both fighters faced each other, raised their swords and bowed. The drum music stopped as the fighters took their stances.

Sudden quiet filled the room. Rother and Garthan placed their eyes on each other. Rother took in a deep breath. He could do this. He knew he could.

The crowd watched silently and awaited the swordfight’s beginning. No one dared to make a sound.

Suddenly, the gong exploded with a crash and the two fighters leaped at each other. Everyone whooped and hollered as their swords finally crashed into each other. The drums started banging again, this time with much more vigor and speed. It was the beginning of ‘The Fires of Taash’.

Rother jumped back from his spot and took up a stance to dodge Garthan’s strikes. This was the first movement, ‘Rise of Ashes’. Garthan rushed in and swung his sword at Rother, who quickly moved his body to dodge the strikes flying at him. He ducked the first blow, sidestepped the next one, sidestepped the other way for the next, and dodged backwards by doing a backflip with his sword. The crowd exploded in applause at Rother’s skillful body movement.

It was Rother’s turn to strike.

Rother held up his sword and slashed vertically at Garthan, who sidestepped to dodge the blow. After missing another three strikes, Rother quickly proceeded to do a leg-sweep on the floor, forcing Garthan to jump up. Then with one giant motion, Rother chopped Garthan with a mana-infused strike, forcing Garthan to block it with his sword and be pushed backwards by the blow. This was the end of the first movement.

‘Rise of Fire’ would be next.

Shaden watched the spar with giant eyes. How did Rother move like that? How did Garthan move like that? How were they dodging the blows? How were they even swinging that fast? This was completely different from the elementary spars he saw back at Whitewater Village. Rother had grown tremendously.

Of course, the whole spar was scripted. Rother could only act so efficiently as he knew where Garthan would strike and dodge. If it was a real fight, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Still, he was ten years old. Everyone’s face was filled with awe as they saw Rother’s body movement. He was actually executing ‘The Fires of Taash’ perfectly!

Garthan raised his sword and took on a different stance. Rother, too, changed his stance.

Rother rushed in, his fingers tightly gripped around his sword. He slashed his sword skillfully and Garthan, aiming at his vitals and tendons. Garthan quickly parried all of the blows as they came to him. Right now, he was very proud of his son. He smiled to himself. His boy had grown so much.

It was now his turn to strike. He hit back Rother’s sword with a mighty blow, causing Rother to fly through the air, do a somersault, and land on his feet. Garthan felt joy again. Rother had executed the motion perfectly.

He raised his arms to strike again. Rother now took up a defensive stance. It was his time to block.

Garthan kicked the ground and flew towards Rother with his sword raised. He swung down mightily and grinned as Rother skillfully parried by letting the blow slide of his sword. Garthan quickly blocked a retaliation blow from Rother and continued to strike his son. Every time, his sword would harmlessly slide off the side of Rother’s. Rother was nailing the movement.

Garthan prepared himself for the next action. He brought his sword to his chest as Rother gave it a powerful kick, sending him flying back. Garthan rolled in the air and landed on his feet. Of course, he had pushed himself back for the sake of the swordfight. But his son’s feet held much power. He felt emotion well up inside him again.

Now was the hardest part. Garthan sprinted towards Rother with one swift push and sliced with great force. Rother had to be strong. Rother stood in place, feet glued to the ground as he blocked the strike with his sword. With a loud *crack*, Rother’s sword broke apart in two and Rother jumped backwards, dodging another blow from his father.

The final movement, ‘Tears of the Mountain’ would now begin.

Most of the crowd had stopped cheering. They just couldn’t. They were too focused on watching the match that they had forgotten what to say. Their eyes were glued onto the boy and his father as they skillfully and ruthlessly hacked at each other.

Rother threw away his broken sword and took up a stance with his hands raised. Garthan once again dashed towards his son and swung with the motions they had practiced. One mistake right now would be detrimental to Rother. But Garthan believed in his son. He swung without holding back as his son ducked, jumped, sidestepped, rolled, and kicked.

Finally, Garthan swung a destructive blow straight down at Rother. Rother sidestepped in the nick of time, kicking Garthan’s hands as his sword hit the ground. The impact from the kick and the sword hitting the earth forced Garthan to release his grip on his sword. Without a moment’s hesitation, Rother grabbed the sword away from Garthan’s hand and swung it down at his father, stopping just before it hit his neck. The third and final movement was now over.

Rother stood there breathlessly and looked at his father. He had done it. Garthan smiled. His smile grew even more. The drums finally stopped as Rother stood there with his opponent’s sword turned back at him.

‘The Fires of Taash’ was now over, perfectly executed.

The crowd finally realized what had happened and started screaming. The swordfight had been marvelous, absolutely stunning. They got up from their seats and clapped their hands furiously. Even the nobles were impressed at the young boy’s performance, whispering amongst themselves and ordering their servants to go fetch small gifts for the boy.

How amusing, thought the Headmistress. How wonderful. You kept true to your word, didn’t you Garthan.

Rother threw away the sword and hugged Garthan in a great embrace.

“You did excellent, Rother. That’s my boy.”

“I was so nervous!”

After a short hug, they turned to the crowd and gave them a large bow. The crowd’s cheering grew even more.

Shaden watched the whole thing with a giant smile on his face. Then he noticed that his mother was crying.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Melsei wiped away her tears and caressed Shaden’s head. “Nothing. I’m just so happy.”

He didn’t know why his mother would be so happy to produce tears over a birthday match. Usually, birthdays didn’t involve crying, right? Mothers only cried when they sent their children off, and Rother wasn’t going anywhere. So Shaden was confused.

If he knew his parents’ past, he would have understood.

〄 〄 〄

“To my son, and to his future!”

“To his future!” cheered the crowd.

After the match, everyone had moved to the great hall (aka cafeteria) where food and drinks were set up. To the side, piles of presents and money were stashed, given to Rother for his 10th birthday. The money would pay for the cost of the food and the celebration, so even the poorest of students could have a celebration without going broke.

Shaden was currently on one of the dining seats, watching his brother who was surrounded by various people. He seemed to be having a great time. And so was he. He chewed on a meatball and took a sip out of something like grape juice. He loved parties. They just brought so much food.

Shidey was sitting at his side, eating from the dish that Shaden had secretly snatched from the table. She was having her fill of the celebration, and she loved it. Shidey meowed happily as she stuffed herself with meat and cheese.

Shaden glanced around the room. There were rich-looking people among the crowd that surrounded Rother. Some even had their daughters with them.

How envious, thought Shaden to himself. Already, his brother was surrounded by ladies.

But from the corner of his eye, he saw his father disappear to the side. His mother was with Rother and didn’t seem to notice. Shaden was curious, so he jumped off the bench and went to the side where his father had gone. Shidey, thankfully, was too focused on her food.

Shaden silently entered the hallway and saw his father go into another hallway to the side of the corridor. He tiptoed as quietly as he could and stopped when he heard his father’s voice along with someone else’s. They were talking in low tones.

“Father,” said Garthan’s voice, “You observed today’s match, didn’t you. I didn’t think you would come.”

Father? His grandfather? Shaden had never heard his parents mention their parents. This was the first time a generation in his family above his parents had appeared. Shaden strained his ears to hear more.

“Hmph. You raised the boy well. Quite skillful of you to do so when you turned your back on your real family.”

The stern voice cut through the air like sharp glass. Shaden felt a chill go down his spine. This was no ordinary grandpa. There was an immense pressure that radiated from his accent.

“He isn’t even your true son…is he?” said the voice. “I can feel it. His hair tells it all.”

Not his true son? Were they talking about Rother?

“To run away from your family only to marry a—”

“Father.”

Shaden physically felt the temperature drop several degrees. His father’s tone was something he had never heard before. It felt like it wasn’t his father who was speaking, but rather, something deadly.

“He is my son. And that is a fact,” said Garthan, his tone returning to normal. Yet the cold air still remained.

“Hmph,” said the older voice. It didn’t seem to be affected by Garthan’s tone shift. “I have heard that you have another son, one with our blood.”

“He isn’t yours.”

“The line has to continue, Garthan. Our line. I had thought you would let go of your fantasies and accept your duty as you grew, but…”

The man paused momentarily. There was something scary about the air.

“You are still my son, my blood. And you will return. As will your son.”

“Hmph,” said Garthan. “We’ll see about that.”

Sensing that the conversation was coming to a close, Shaden darted into a nearby room and stressed his ears.

“Sooner or later, Garthan. Sooner or later…” said the man as he emerged from the side. Shaden held his breath as he heard footsteps pass the room he was in. He didn’t get to see the man, which was unfortunate. He continued to hide his presence until his father’s footsteps faded away into the distance.

After making sure that the coast was clear, he jumped out of the room and quickly returned to the Great Hall. Everyone was still there, and his father was now at the front with Rother. Shaden sneakily slid back into his seat next to Shidey, who meowed.

He wasn’t discovered. But he had heard a lot of big news today.

Oh well. It didn’t matter that much. He would deal with it when he grew older. Now was the time to enjoy the party.