“How long must I be a Gate Keeper?”

“Till you are defeated.” Mizuki replied with a vile smile.

“I accept your terms.” Sora replied swiftly.

***

"Hohoho...you are praising me too much!" Sora replied, with both his hands on his waist - as he arrogantly laughed on with all the admiration he was receiving.

"I am glad you are on our side.”

"You should be...by the way are we prepared to leave?" Sora asked as he looked around – everything was the way it was before he had left them. Then tent, the sleeping bags….all of it was lying exactly as before – completely untouched.

The four disciples began fidgeting in alarm – they were so completely engrossed in the stories of Sora that they had forgotten about packing. Nobody spoke. They did not know how to respond – Crayford’s Lesson #07, never give excuses to Sora. However, that was preceded by lesson #05, never give Sora an opportunity to find something wrong with your work. The four disciples would not normally panic about something as trivial as packing but after hearing stories of the tyrannical and merciless Sora - how could they not break out in cold sweat?

In Crayford’s stories, Sora was a vicious wolf stalking his prey for an opportunity. A single fault was all he needed to pounce upon them….Sora would normally behave very nonchalantly around strangers but around associates and friends - he was strict.

“Crayford….your disciples are lacking in discipline and training.” Sora complained as he stared at the four disciples who were staring at the ground – avoiding eye contact with Sora. Crayford’s Lesson#39 – never make eye contact with Sora. The four disciples had no clue where to look – or how to avoid Sora’s gaze. Therefore, all four ended up staring at the ground.

“We were listening to stories about your greatness…we did not realize…” Boze began explaining.

Claire face-palmed herself – why did he bother explaining.

However Boze did not continue for long, he immediately stopped when he saw Sora raised his hand up in the air and make calling gesture. The disciples flinched in fear as though they were expecting a beating….but nothing like that happened….instead several hundred goblins appeared from the shadows…ninja goblins?

Don’t tell me we have to fight these goblins with our hands tied up as punishment for not listening to him. – the four disciples thought the same thing, as dread clouded their faces. Crayford told them of a story, where he failed to kill a boss – for the next five weeks Sora made him fight monsters with his hands tied behind his back….after that hell, Crayford never used his legs to kick a monster.

Contrary to their expectations, Sora did not instruct the disciples to fight the goblins. Instead, he asked the leader of the goblins a simple question. “Goblin, are we ready to depart?”

“Yes, perfectly punctual Almighty. We are ready to depart.” The goblin replied with a bow.

Are we being compared to goblins? – The disciples wondered. There was another story, where Crayford was reminded every day for a month how a frogs wart had more brains than him – that won’t be so bad, right?

“Then, why are those tents still out?” Sora angrily asked as he pointed to Crayford’s tents.

The eyes of the four disciples nearly popped out. Why is he asking the goblin that? Those are our tents!

Were the goblins responsible for packing Crayford’s equipment? – No. Did Sora ever instruct them to pack their equipment? – No. Then, was is reasonable for Sora to expect the goblins would pack Crayford’s equipment? – Definitely not.

However, rather than arguing back, the goblin immediately collapsed into a dogeza position and began apologizing with tears running down his cheeks – “How foolish of me to think I was done packing! Please forgive me compassionate Almighty! Have mercy on my soul!”

Sora raised his hand and the goblin instantly stopped pleading for mercy and forgiveness. The tears stopped flowing and the goblin was absolutely expressionless – like a statue. It almost made the previous melodramatic scene appear unreal or even an act.

“Crayford what do you think?” Sora asked with a grin in his voice, as he displayed the power of his ‘excellent’ training.

Crayford smiled back hesitantly, “As expected of Sesnei, training monsters to such a high level.”

What did you do to those poor creatures? Crayford wanted to ask but did not dare to do so. Even though the Goblins are monsters, Crayford couldn’t help but pity them. If it were him, he would have ended their misery with the swing of a sword but now that Sora had his eyes set on them - their pain would continue for all eternity.

The four disciples secretly prayed for the early deaths of the Goblins. The goblins would have been happy to know that the four disciples cared for them so much.

“Then that settles it! I will be training your disciples!” Sora declared.

“Eh?” Crayford’s jaw nearly hit the floor. How was that the conclusion of anything?

“You do want my help against the Empire, right Crayford?” Sora asked with a hint of a devilish voice.

“Yes…” Crayford murmured but then he stopped speaking. Crayford get a hang of yourself! Don’t get swallowed in by his pace! He only wants more servants! This is just like him in the past! For him disciples are nothing more than toys!! Don’t lose those disciples – otherwise they will be completely broken when you get them back! An alarming thought rang inside Crayford’s head.

“But Sensei, don’t you have enough servants?”

“Servants? Yes, I have plenty of servants.” Sora replied happily as he stared at the sad goblins.

“Then, surely you don’t need to train my disciples?” Crayford added on.

“Crayford, do you want to win against the Empire or not?” Sora asked impatiently.

“I do…” Crayford hesitantly replied.

“Which is why I must train them!” Sora declared.

“But I am already training them! This dungeon is a training mission for them!” Crayford hurriedly replied.

“Oh? It’s a training mission? And how exactly are you training them?” Sora asked with a sarcastic tone.

“They are fighting at only a third of their original stren…”

“Useless!” Sora cut in. “The most useless training!”

“Eh!” The disciples could not believe Sora called their genius-Master’s training useless.

This was also the first time, in a very long time, that someone had called Crayford’s training useless. Calling it useless was like calling Crayford an idiot. For someone who was used to being hailed as this continents greatest genius, he wasn’t going to quietly accept it. “But this is the same training format, you put me through in Royal Road!” He angrily retorted. He was angry because if this training was useless then why was he put through it, whilst in Royal Road, in the first place?

“Hm….” Sora scratched his skull as he tried to recollect. “I do remember giving my disciple ridiculous

goals…could it be that you thought that was real training?”

Crayford clenched his fist in anger. “Do you have any idea, what I went through? I had to PK players while hopping because you tied my feet up together!!!”

“Hehehe…I remember that one, that was so funny. It was a boring afternoon, you have to agree with me that we all were thoroughly entertained after that….” Sora stopped speaking as he saw Crayford’s expression worsen and then made a complete U-turn. “But it was really important training. You learnt an invaluable lesson on speed….however that was basic training. Something like holding back and fighting, anyone can do. What I am suggesting is a hundred times more seve…a..advanced!! We can even call it special advanced training.”

Crayford kept silent for a while and thought about it carefully. Sora doesn’t act rashly, although no one can understand him, but he isn’t an idiot. If he is suggesting training, it must mean he has assessed my disciples to be weak and my training to be insufficient...but still….this guy sometimes goes crazy and requests for the impossible….if that happens I will end up with cripples….

Sora was irked seeing Crayford think about it for so long. “Then how about this, we will have your strongest and weakest disciple fight. Of course, it won’t be a fight to the death. Simple victory condition, first one to strike the opponent wins. I will coach the ‘weakest’ for five minutes and you can coach the ‘strongest’ for five minutes. Neither of us can say a word to the disciples after the five minutes are up. This is a fight only between the strongest and the weakest. If the disciple I coached wins, then all four will undergo the training I have in mind for them – without your interference. However, if your coached disciple wins then they will remain under your tutelage and I will not interfere in their training.”

Crayford still hesitated but eventually gave in.

“So who is your strongest?” Sora gleefully asked.

All eyes shifted from Sora to Claire.

“Tch…” Sora muttered. “And weakest?”

Tulda stepped forward.

Sora cursed under his breath. “I have the worst luck…I got the hairy gorilla and he got the beautiful fair white long legs…truly the worst luck…” Sora shook his head several times in dismary. Nonetheless, Sora grabbed Tulda’s arm and whisked him away to a corner. “Remember, five minutes!” he reminded Crayford – who was still suspiciously staring at Sora.

How could he possibly make Tulda win? He doesn’t even know her true strength! What can he accomplish in five minutes? Argh! I am always being sucked into his pace! He is just screwing with me! There is bound to be some trick!

***

“Master, Claire will not disappoint you!” Claire spoke first, seeing Crayford’s troubled face. “They will have to cheat for me to lose!”

Crayford shook his head in disagreement. “Would anyone accept such an underhanded victory? If they win like that would any of you be willing to train under him? There is no meaning in that kind of victory…although I can’t deny it that Sensei can be underhanded at times…. But the rules here have been explicitly been stated – it is a fight between the strongest and the weakest only. He went out of his way to make it very clear that nobody is allowed to cheat. He really does mean to prove that Tulda can defeat you with his own strength.”

Claire frowned. “Even if your Sensei is a genius amongst geniuses, what can he possibly teach Tulda in five minutes? Are there any martial art techniques in the world which can be taught in five minutes?”

Crayford nodded in agreement. “I know, Claire, there isn’t any way to become instantaneously stronger in five minutes…but it is exactly because he can achieve the impossible we must be wary of him. There are two kinds of geniuses. The first are those who are considered brilliant by ordinary folks. The second are those considered genius by the first kind. My Sensei is the second kind of genius. Sometimes, he acts dumb….actually he behaves like that most of the time…but in the grand scheme of things everything fits in so well…that you can’t help but question did he plan it all? Or was it a grand fluke? A fluke can happen once or twice but all the time? Claire, winning this match is not important to me but I want to see for myself his magic of making the impossible become possible…I want to see it once again…just thinking about how he will outwit me is making me excited…”

Crayford gritted his teeth and spoke with an evil smile, “Crush them, Claire! Tulda must have told him that you are an archer. So they would be expecting you to maintain distance. Therefore, surprise them with closing the gap….but this is Sensei we are dealing with….he might have expected us to close the gap…so we should most definitely maintain the gap! The moment the match starts create a gap and use launch a barrage of arrows. Then use the momentum to snipe out Tulda…be careful of sneak attacks or other tricks that Tulda might employ…if you feel suspicious then create a distance.”

Claire nodded. It wasn’t the first time she was sparring with Tulda. She naturally knew what she had to do. However, she was very receptive to her Master’s words of wisdom. Furthermore, this was the first time he directly advised her on a spar – how could she not be happy to carry out his will.

Claire glanced at Sora’s corner – Tulda’s face appeared to be red like a tomato.

***