"*sigh* Sorry, I can't actually describe it, father." I said with a long sigh.
"That's...fine. I won't ask about it. Anyway, you have proved yourself to be ready to leave the city." My father said with a defeated expression.
"But you are prohibited to travel anywhere too far away." He said with a stern expression.
"...Father, I have "heard" that the Empire is gathering children from the entire country for "something". May I take a look at it?" I said with a smirk.
"?! You have sneaked into my office, didn't you?" At first, he was surprised but then he asked me with narrowed eyes.
"Yes! You have a lot of nice books there!" I said with an innocent smile.
"...You-! I guess you are starting to rebel but it's given with your rising age. But why do you want to go take a look?" He asked me with a curious look.
"Heh, I have "heard" of the contents. I want one of the kids that will survive and of course, I would definitely not mind if I could participate too. After what I have "heard" in your office, it seems that others are starting to take our family lightly. Its time to show them that without our family, the Empire would slowly crumble, hehe." I said with an evil grin.
"*sigh*...I have never imagined that your time would come so fast but...I can accept it, I will let you go and I will also inform the ones who are overlooking it, to give you permission to take 1 surviving kid back with you. But be careful about who you will select, you can't just select the most talented one!" He replied with a serious expression.
"Don't worry, I am not someone who would just look at the talent." I said with a satisfied smile.
"...Come with me, I want to give you something since you have managed to defeat me." He said and gestured to me to follow him.
...
We returned back to the mansion and we went to the father's office.
"Here you go..." He fished out a sword from the secret stash that was hidden behind the small uninteresting painting hanging on the wall and gave it to me.
I was already aware of that secret stash but I never looked into it because I didn't really have any motive to do it.
The sword itself was extremely light like how my daggers in my previous world. The blade was sharp only on one edge but it wasn't curved blade as katana's blade. The hilt of the sword was in the shape of Phoenix, having its wings serve as the crossguard. The length of the blade wasn't exactly long nor short, it was an extremely suitable one-handed weapon for someone like me. But probably the most eye-catching feature was its bloody red blade.
It feels extremely good in my hand...
"Do you feel anything?" My father asked with a curious expression.
"Huh? Nothing in particular, what is it? Is this sword a Teigu?" I woke up from my daze while I was observing the sword and asked my father with a small smile.
"...I don't know, this is our family's heirloom. But I can assure you of that blade's toughness and sharpness and of course, great resistance towards the fire. It's unknown how was this sword forged since it's extremely resistant to a high-temperatures. One of this sword's features is that you can fight or block even with its durable scabbard. Apparently, if you will also feel a connection to the sword you can also make the scabbard stuck to the sword and you can use it as a blunt weapon against enemies that are resistant to sharp weapons." My father explained with an excited expression.
"...It's just a bit shame that you don't practice Phoenix swordplay...but you are practicing your own swordplay and you are Phoenix, so it probably won't hurt this sword's feelings, haha" He said with a little sad expression before he started to laugh to get rid of that sad mood around him.
"Why are you giving it to me since it's our heirloom? Aren't you afraid that I will lose it, father?" I asked with a teasing smile.
"I will strangle you if you will lose it. But as for real reason...I think that you are worthy enough to wield it...not to mention that it was just gathering dust here...but first, follow me!" He said with narrowed eyes and gestured me to follow him.
We went to the cellar below the mansion.
When we descended stairs, I immediately noticed a man in ragged clothes being chained to the wall inside the cell.
My father didn't say anything and unlocked the door of the cell and entered the cell.
"Who is this man, father?" I asked when we stopped in front of the man with a taped mouth so he couldn't speak.
"Akashi...if you truly want to venture outside of this city then you have to learn to show no mercy to your enemies. You might think that killing some Danger beasts or animals is easy but taking human's life is much harder. I want you to kill this man with your new sword" My father said with a cold tone while looking at the man whose eyes were completely horrified.
"What did he do?" I asked my father with my poker face.
"Good question, this scum was discovered by your mother's guards. Apparently, when she was taking a walk outside, he was found following her but that's not all, we found also cases that are related to him, mainly sexu-" My father was explaining and my eyes slowly became cold as I was looking at the man and when he wanted to mention sexual harassment, my hand was even faster than his words.
"?!" My father was surprised by when he saw that man's head rolling on the ground without him being done with an explanation.
"I have heard enough." I said with my poker face and when I wanted to clean my sword I found out that it was actually absorbing the blood.
...Not even experience from this one.
---
'Where did that resolve come from? Was it because I mentioned Ember? ...I can't actually tell but I guess this is a good thing, as long as he can kill anyone for his family or himself, there is no need to worry about him becoming naive. I just hope he won't be deceived by the beauty of women once he will grow up.' Jun thought with a forced smile while looking at all the blood on the ground.
---
"Well, good work, you should get some rest. You still have more than a year before they will start their plan. I will let you know when you will have to leave the city." My father said while patting my shoulder. He was probably thinking that I might get some trauma from my "first kill".
"Yes, father." I nodded at him with a grateful expression and left the cellar.
When I left the cellar, my mother was already waiting there, looking at me with a worried expression and when she saw a bit of blood on my hands, she immediately stood up from her seat.
"Sweetie...Are you all right?" She approached me and asked me with a worried expression.
"Mother, don't worry. I am no longer kid who needs to be protected by his mother. Our roles reversed and this time, I will protect our family." I said with a serious expression.
It feels weird to say that I am no longer a kid when I am only 8 years old...
"...I am feeling so bad for you to have such an expectations on your shoulders but on the other hand, I feel extremely proud to have a son like you, Akashi! But please remember that you can always depend on your mother, no matter what!" She pulled me into a hug and started to cry with a happy smile.
"Yes" I returned the hug and just shortly said with a smile.
-----1 year and a few months later-----
With much more freedom given to me, I was able to spend more time in the forest outside of the city, hunting Danger beasts. I always went there with Ichika since she was my bodyguard and finally with my charisma above 20 points, I was able to form a party with Ichika. Ichika described that feeling as if she was somehow connected to me and she also told me that she was slowly getting stronger. I noticed that she wasn't even taking any XP from me so there must be a fixed number of people available in 1 party. She asked me what is that and I simply said that I granted her some kind of blessing or whatever.
---
[Name: Akashi Phoenix (Age: 9)
Title: King of Sloth
Class: Assassin (Lv. 9; +13 Agi, +7 Int, +4 Str, + 2 Cha) 691/2560 XP
Special Class: Fire Monarch (Lv. 6; +12 Cha, +10 Int, +9 Const) 121/320 BXP
Health: 300/300
Energy: 655/655
Strength: 20 (24)
Agility: 24 (37)
Intelligence: 22 (39)
Constitution: 18 (27)
Charisma: 15 (29)
Free Stat points: 24
Classes: Young Noble (Lv. 4; +5 Cha) 12/80 XP, Warrior (Lv. 4, +7 Str, +3 Const) 3/80 XP
Special Classes:
ACTIVE SKILLS:
[Absolute Dominance - When facing the formidable foe, show no fear, instead show your arrogance. + 40% to every stat, fire intensity, and explosiveness]
[Phantom Strike - Blink towards your enemy, the maximum distance is decided by your Agility (10 energy)]
PASSIVE SKILLS:
[Child of Fire - Flames love you as its own child. You are protected by the fire itself, whenever someone uses long-ranged attacks, flames will protect your body from projectiles even without your consciousness but you can still stop them if you want. This isn't ultimate defense!]
GOLD: 2315
SILVER: 125
---
I didn't make much much progress in making money because I was mostly burning down my enemy so I didn't get any loot to sell but at least I was able to level up my Special Class.
...
Anyway, today is finally the day I am going out to participate in "exam"
No matter how many times I tell myself that it's the exam, it feels incredibly funny. More or less it's just bringing up numerous children together and weeding out weak to quickly discover talents without spending too much money.
"Sweetie, be careful outside, please" My mother said with a pleading voice while she was adjusting my black uniform together with a red tie.
"Yes, I will keep my eyes open all the time, plus I also have a bodyguard with me." I said with a helpless smile facing my mother's worried face.
"*Be careful, there are many strong people and there is also a Teigu wielder where you are going. He can also manipulate his body in unimaginable ways like using his hair as needles and many other things.*" My father informed me and I nodded with a serious expression.
Against someone like that would be better to use my flames instead of close-quarters combat. But he still has a Teigu...he will be annoying opponent if he will decide to pick up a fight with me.
"I am going, everyone, goodbye." I said and waved at everyone who was standing near the gate to our residence. Almost everyone who were working in our mansion came to say goodbye and wish me luck.
...
...Finally out of.
I thought and put my left hand into my pocket and my right hand on the hilt of my Phoenix sword. It wasn't about me being on guard...Sword's position was simply good and resting my hand on the hilt which was in perfect height was comfortable.
As I was walking towards the exit gate out of the Capital, I noticed some strange girl with long blue hair and blue eyes walking from the direction of the gate, her skin was snow white which means that she came from the north. She was definitely older than me and she was wearing some strange clothes on her, she looked like she just came from some kind of tribe instead of a normal village.
However, that wasn't the reason why she caught my attention...I simply feel that she is quite strong.
---
'Hm? Why is that guy looking at me? Is he trying to pick a fight? ...Actually, now that I look more closely at him, he doesn't look like a spoiled noble brat, he is definitely strong! It's really rare to meet someone with a noble vibe who is also strong. But his eyes are kinda strange...why vertical pupils? Plus that bored look in his eyes...' The girl noticed Akashi's stare so she returned the stare but neither of them broke the eye contact.
---
As we walked past by each other, our eye contact was finally broken and I simply continued forward without looking behind, at least, that's what I wanted to do...
"Wait!" I heard a feminine voice behind me.
"Yes?" I said disinterestedly and turned sideways with my bored look in my eyes. Ichika also stopped and waited right next to me while quietly observing the girl.
"What's your name? Are you from the Capital?" She asked me 2 questions that slightly surprised me since I thought that she would bitch about me looking at her or something like that.
"Akashi, and Yes" I said waiting a few more seconds after that if she wanted anything else.
"..." Maybe is waiting for me to ask about her name...I don't want to make it even more awkward than it already is...
"And you are?" I asked with a weird expression.
"Esdeath! I can feel that you are strong, let's have a spar one day!" She extended her arm towards me and formed a fist with an excited smile.
Heh, what a maniac...
I thought but couldn't help but form the same smile as she had on her face. To think she would be able to smell out my strength and even challenge me right after that...
"Oho, be prepared for a loss, little girl" I said with a smirk and bumped my fist into hers.
"Hah?! It's clear as day that I am older than you!" She immediately exploded after hearing my comment.
"Maybe but your response still shows that you are a little girl. Being angry about a few words regarding your age from someone younger instead of being angry at the fact that I told you that you will lose...incredible. anyway, I must go, for now, you are quite interesting so see you later!" I said with a teasing smile and turned back to the front to continue my way out of the city.
"...See you later, don't you dare run away!" She shouted at me before turning around, continuing in her own way.
Heh, strange girl.
I thought while glancing at her back from the corner of my eye with a small smile.