Book 1. Shifting Winds. Chapter 11. The Bright Future. (Part II)

“I don’t know how will he take it, but I will tell him,” Laien said with a smirk, looking forward to Shire’s reaction to this message. Since there was some kind of past relationship between his master and Rudford, the words would probably provoke Shire to do something constructive… hopefully. That, or he would get forced into ‘sparring’ with his master and roughed up as he had two times before; once for walking him up with a bucket of cold water when he had been sleeping, completely drunk and the other time when he failed to wake Shire up and ate the dinner on his own and left.

“That being said,” Laien mused with a sigh, pushing these annoying memories away. “He was checking if my body suited to spear wielding, eh?” he thought to himself, finally getting the point of these brief exercises he just did. Truth to be told, he already began heavily anticipating the moment Shire would start teaching him how to use a spear. Since Rudford said that his body was suited for it, then maybe he also had a better talent for this kind of a weapon compared a simple sword.

“You should spend at least half an hour per day on stretching,” Rudford advised straightforwardly. He wanted to tell Laien to sit back down so he could take the table and the wine out, but he changed his mind due to the troubled expression which appeared on Laien’s face.

“Half an hour, eh?” Laien said resignedly. That would be a bit problematic and not because he didn’t want to do it, but because…

“What’s the pro-, ah, right,” Rudford began saying, but then laughed helplessly; hadn’t he just said so himself? “Come on, let’s go,” he said with a smile and stood up, then looked over his shoulder to see if Laien was following.

“Go? Where to?” Laien asked, hurrying after Rudford. What exactly could have come to Rudford’s mind that he would want to bring him somewhere at the moment’s notice? Did he want to have him meet someone, have him talk with the Grand Elder…? Show him something important…?

“What do you mean where to?” Rudford smiled wryly. “Obviously to my training hall so I can show you how to stretch yourself,” he said carefreely and chuckled at Laien’s surprised expression. Was it really so unexpected of him?

But well, as far as Laien was concerned, the enjoyable conversation he just had with Rudford was pretty much unexpected to him to begin with. He would never have thought that Rudford would casually offer to show him how to stretch; something that he could have easily had someone else do in his place. Rudford was a Great Master, someone at the very peak of the cultivation world! Yet, he would go out of his way to show him how to stretch? In this these circumstances, how could he not be surprised by this?

“Lighten up a bit, aren’t I supposed to be your ‘elder brother’?” Rudford teased as the two of them left the room. He noticed the embarrassed look on Laien’s face and laughed merrily, then tousled Laien’s hair. At first, he had taken the request to become a martial brother of Laien’s with some distance, but just by talking to the youth for a bit he warmed up to the idea. His little sister was a little hard to deal with, but chatting with Laien was much simpler and more pleasant that he might have expected.

Although it wasn’t like him to get embarrassed so easily, Laien kept silent for a good minute while walking at Rudford’s side. He never liked to think about his parents… his relationship with Tei’ru had never been close and Master Shire… was Master Shire. He wasn’t truly close to any adults, so when he realized that he really likes Rudford, he became slightly nervous about the future. He wouldn’t want to get attached to an adult, only to get disliked by him for whatever reason…

“Why so quiet? You nervous about something?” Rudford asked as they were walking down the path leading to his secluded training hall.

The building was fairly big, but not too big. It resembled an old style dojo and most importantly, was surrounded by hundreds of trees and a lot of natural greenery. For someone pondering upon the mysteries of Tranquility, it was an ideal place.

“No, it’s nothing,” Laien replied and shook his head. “I just didn’t think that you would treat me so… nice,” he said quietly, for the lack of a better way to express his worries.

“Hm?” Rudford smiled amiably, wondering why Laien suddenly became so meek. He had a few guesses, but instead of trying to dig about it, he tried another approach. “Have you forgotten our deal?” he asked cheekily and reminded. “I wouldn’t be nice to you if I didn’t like you, so you don’t need to be so stiff. I honestly think you are a very fine young man,” he ended up reassuring and suppressing a laugh a second later as once again, he managed to make Laien feel embarrassed. Quite surprising, considering that it was the same body who dared to challenge the disciples of his Red Dragon School to duels and had no problems fighting in front of thousands of spectators.

“Uh, thanks,” Laien said in a troubled manner and scratched the back of his head. It was quite awkward to be said something like by a great Master, but overall, it wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

“You unexpectedly have a cute side to you,” Rudford said without thinking. When Laien gave him a slightly angry look, he chortled and tousled his hair. “I’m done with secluded training for the time being, so I’m thinking of training with you regularly if you are up for it that is,” he mentioned lightheartedly, peeking at Laien out of the corner of his eye.

It took Laien a few seconds to process this information, as at the moment he was feeling a bit too happy to be thinking clearly, but when he did, he responded eagerly. “I’m totally up for it! How often?” he asked with a wry smile, his natural cheekiness returning as the worries about being disliked by Rudford dissipated somewhere along the conversation.

“We will see,” Rudford said with a laugh, amused to see how quickly Laien returned to being his usual self. “I pushed off all the matter of the school on my little brother and Roderick for the past… uh, practically ever since we established this school…” he began saying, but then smirked and gave Laien a meaningful look. “So I don’t think it will be that much of a difference if they handle everything for a few more years. Worry not, we will have a lot of time, as long as you can keep up and don’t disappoint me, okay?”

“Yeah,” Laien nodded energetically, this time not getting disheartened over the mention of proving himself. He would simply give his best and be himself; if everything would then turn out well, it would be great. If not, it wouldn’t be the end of the world either.

“Good,” Rudford nodded contentedly, not failing to notice that this time the look in Laien’s eyes reminded confident and bright. Given that the boy lost his parents, it was natural that he would overthink some matters. However, it was very good that he had strong enough character to get over these things without any long-lasting drama.

“I suggest that we have some wine and sweets as we stretch, what do you say?” Rudford suggested as the two of them entered that spacious, empty hall with smooth, wooden floor.

“Great idea,” Laien responded with a wide smile. This day had simply been so amazing so far and the best part was that it didn’t even end yet.

---

“It sure ended up being more than half an hour, though” Laien commented merrily as Rudford was showing him the way to the quarters assigned to Siana.

“More like two hours,” Rudford said with a smile, gazing at the moon slowly wandering through the clear, starry sky. He had enjoyed chatting with Laien and one way or another, went from showing him proper ways to stretch to introducing the best ways to train his body and even got talked into sparring with him for a while; without any weapons, as Laien was curious about new ways he could use his whole body while fighting and not just rely on the blade in his hands. If he hadn’t called a stop at one point and told Laien to get a good sleep before tomorrow, they would have likely stayed at the training hall for most of the night.

“I must say, you do grasp new moves and techniques very quickly. One day, we will make a powerful martial master out of you,” Rudford praised not for the first time, in his heart feeling a little amazed that someone who specialized in spiritual arts could also have this degree of potential for martial arts. Previously, it had been a vague feeling, but now he was sure; in the future, Laien would become an astonishingly powerful dual expert!

To be able to befriend a crouching tiger at the young age and develop a close relationship with him was something that many people could only dream about. After all, not many had enough foresight and luck to recognize the hidden dragon as after he would reveal himself, it would become considerably harder to establish a brotherly relation with him.

Hearing Rudford praise him, Laien only glanced at him with a smile. He was happy, of course, but he didn’t really know what to say to that. ‘Thanks, I will do my best’ didn’t sound well enough for him to consider, so he didn’t say anything.

“Worrying about your appearances again?” Rudford asked wryly, having gotten a good hang of how Laien was thinking during the last few hours. “If you have the ability and act to make best out of it, it’s fine to be a bit arrogant. Just a bit, though,” he said with a laugh and almost habitually tousled Laien’s hair.

“Mm,” Laien exchanged a glance with Rudford, then said lightheartedly. “Thanks, I will train hard I become as strong, or stronger than you, elder brother.”

Rudford chuckled, thinking that Laien grasped the ‘a little, but not too arrogant’ part really well. “Oh, looks like not only we are out this late,” he commented, spotting four people walking in their direction from the opposite side of the path.

“Grand Elder, his two disciples and Siana?” Laien said aloud, recognizing the faraway group without any effort.

“He’s got good eyesight,” Rudford thought quietly. It was pretty dark and the four were over one kilometer away; it wouldn’t be strange if a practitioner below the Realm of Heroes was unable to see from this kind of distance.

After two or three minutes of walking, their two parties met in front of the gate leading to Siana’s quarters.

“Congratulations, old friend,” the Grand Elder spoke up as the first one, having long since noticed the kind of clothes Laien was wearing and after getting closer to Rudford, having also noticed the change in Rudford’s cultivation base.

“I assure you, it’s all my pleasure,” Rudford said with a laugh and glanced at Laien briefly, causing Roderick to raise his eyebrows. Did his old friend really take this much of a liking to this boy?

“It looks like you are going to play favorites, huh?” Roderick said with a laugh. After Rudford finished his talk with Siana, he didn’t have a nearly as happy look on his face as he had now.

“Big brother, you also became Master’s disciple?” Siana asked, despite herself in quite a bit of disbelief. She didn’t want to negate Laien’s talent… but it was her time to shine! It was unfair…! Or so were her first thoughts, before she realized how stupid and pointless it was to be jealous of Laien. If she wanted to show off before him, it wouldn’t be done just by becoming a disciple of a powerful person, she would need to become just as powerful herself!

“He too?” the fourteen-year-old youth murmured, finding the events of today to be quite ridiculous. When he had been coming here with his elder sister and Grand Elder, he didn’t think that Rudford would come out of seclusion and actually accept two disciples after refusing to take even one for one hundred years…!

The sixteen-year-old girl eyed Laien, curious as to why the Great Master Rudford accepted him as his disciple. Just like her little martial brother, she had no reason to be envious of Laien or Siana. She already had an excellent teacher, but still, she would have liked to know what exactly Rudford saw in Laien for him to appear so satisfied about his choice.

“It somehow happened,” Laien said carefreely, leaving it up to Rudford whether he was going to introduce the Grand Elder and the two of his disciples to the kind of deal they made. For the sake of convenience, it would perhaps be best to let everyone think he was simply Rudford’s disciple, at least for now.

“So, that means we will be staying here together, right?” Siana inquired, excited enough to completely forget to properly greet Rudford; not that the man in question really cared.

“I talked with elder brother, so we are going to get joined quarters for ourselves,” Laien replied happily, realizing that he allowed his tongue to slip only after completing the sentence. Although in his defense, he really didn’t expect to so quickly get used to calling Rudford ‘elder brother’…

“Elder brother?” the Grand Elder chuckled and gave Rudford a questioning look. How exactly did that kid coax him into this kind of relationship?

“Ugh,” Laien looked at Rudford nervously, but thankfully, Rudford didn’t appear to be angry with him.

“I already got used to having you call me that, so let’s not revert to ‘Master Rudford’ anymore. There’s no need,” Rudford said casually, by this point caring little if the information of him treating Laien like a martial brother got out. “Don’t go telling everyone, though. They can learn at their own pace,” he brought up with a smile, making Roderick feel a bit shocked and causing Roderick’s two disciples to be at the very least amazed by this strange development.

“I think we need to have another chat,” Roderick said with a laugh. There was no way he would wait until morning for Rudford to tell him what exactly happened. He was way too curious about it.

“That won’t be a problem,” Rudford replied merrily; his face beginning to hurt from all the smiling all laughing he did today. “As for you two,” he began saying while looking at the two siblings. “It’s important for children to get enough sleep, so you should get going. We managed to keep you occupied for a bit too long, but I don’t want to see you waking up at noon,” he said in a tone suggesting that is strongly advising for Laien and Siana to do as they were told, but not quite going as far as ordering them to do it.

“Sure,” Laien agreed very easily without getting angry over being called a child or anything, but only because Rudford had a certain degree of authority in his eyes. Were it some random adult who spoke to him like that… Laien would have at the very least ignored him and at most, he would have gotten into an argument just to make a point.

Siana, who understood her big brother’s behavior patterns quite well, was surprised to see how obedient Laien got before Rudford… but she didn’t say anything about it. She didn’t take much of a liking to Rudford, but if Laien did, then she could only be happy for him.

“Have a good night, Master Rudford,” she said politely and bowed her head lightly. As a result, Laien gave her a curious look, but also gazed at Rudford and said “Good night, elder brother.”

“Yeah, good night,” Rudford said with a light smile and followed the two siblings with his gaze as they walked to the gate and went onto the grounds of the little mansion that was temporarily assigned to Siana.

After the siblings disappeared, Rudford looked at the two disciples of Roderick’s and briefly considered asking the two to try hanging around the siblings, but quickly resigned from the possibility. As much as it would be nice to get the siblings to accommodate into the new environment, there was little point if he were to be the one babysitting them. As the elderly would often say, it was often best to leave the matters of the young generation to the youngsters themselves.

“You are free to do whatever you want,” Roderick said to his two youngest disciples. “As I already mentioned, we will be staying here for a few months, so apart from our regular training sessions, you can do as you like. Just remember not to cause any trouble,” he reminded, his gaze very apparently shifting to the sixteen-year-old girl.

“You don’t need to worry. We will behave, master,” the girl reassured with a smile, but Roderick smiled helplessly and shook his head.

“I wish I could believe that. Just don’t go too overboard, okay?” he said with a chuckle, then nodded at his two disciples and walked away with Rudford.

“So, what are going to do?” the sixteen-year-old girl asked with a mischievous smile. He liked to train, but working so hard was always making her pent up a lot of stress. Without some method to relieve it, she would simply go crazy from overworking.

“I guess you’d want to check out what interesting there is to do in this city, right, elder sister?” the fourteen-year-old asked and suppressed a yawn. After the long journey, he would have very much liked to go to sleep, but he wouldn’t want to miss out on hanging out with his elder martial sister either.

“Right,” the girl chuckled and led the way. “Let’s stop by the dormitories, I’m sure there will be some people who can show us around,” she suggested, used enough to partying to know where to look for some fun.

---

“Big brother,” Siana spoke up as the two of them were about to enter the house.

“What is it?” Laien asked and looked to his left, only to get startled as Siana all of the sudden jumped at him and hugged him around his neck.

“Congratulations,” Siana said merrily, feeling extremely happy at the prospect of living in the Red Dragon School with her big brother. With them both becoming Rudford’s disciples, they would certainly have nothing to worry about from the Valius family or the Cail family Laien told her about. Finally, they would be able to enjoy cheerful, carefree life…!

“Thanks,” Laien said simply and hugged Siana back, his face flushed a little. He didn’t know if he was just growing up, but he couldn’t shake off the thought that Siana was smelling really nice. Thinking back to the morning, he wondered if he would be bold enough to change in front of her again or if he would find it a bit embarrassing, after all.

“We both did great today, eh?” Laien said while letting Siana back onto her feet. As he gazed his little sister’s beautiful smile, he ended up unable to resist hugging her. “Now that I think about it, I didn’t have a chance to tell you how incredible it is for my little sister to have a great talent for martial arts,” he said with a smile and added simply, for the lack of the better words. “Congratulations to you too, Siana.”

“Mm,” Siana muffled a happy laugh into Laien’s shirt. It felt so good to be hugged and praised by her big brother; if possible, she would have loved to stay like that forever.

“Say, big brother. Elder Roderick said that every private quarter has its own baths with the access to running water,” she brought up, then after a few seconds took half a step back and looked Laien in the eye, her cheeks blushing with a clear shade of red. “So I just though…” she said quietly, looked to the side and asked. “So, want to take a bath together?’

Laien swallowed involuntarily, thinking about how cute Siana sounded and looked right now. There should be no problem with them bathing together; they were siblings, after all. However, there also was this something telling him that neither he nor Siana was looking at each other as simply brother and a sister. But yet…

“Why not, I guess,” he replied while scratching his head and looking somewhere into the distance, his face feeling really hot for some reason.