„You haven't changed one bit, Gin."
*Neigh*
'Can't really talk to a horse, huh? I need to get her dagger back. Is it in the weaponry maybe? Do they even have a weaponry? Master Henka's room was filled with weapons and armor...'
I searched for Kagami and the rest. I followed the faint traces of Mana that I had sensed at the place where I had last spoken to the group. I decided to follow the trail with Gin.
As I got closer to an area with trees, the wild Mana traces grew stronger. When I finally reached them, I saw all of them fight with their swords while reinforcing their bodies and their blades with Mana. They seemed to only use the Mana for their bodies, not for their Salan ability.
My arrival was noticed right away. All of them threw a short glance at me. But they continued right away. All that was left for me to do was watch them. Their techniques were on par if not even greater than mine. The advantage of being able to use both hands could be seen pretty clearly. They also did not fear the others' blade strikes. In the many fights I fought after the impact, some opponents would blink or flinch when faced by my blade. Getting to the point where your mind accepts the danger of a sharp blade was hard. All of them had gained my respect immediately after I saw that.
Without the need to talk, they were able to form small groups every once in a while to fight the other formed group. Their chemical reactions were on point too. The only thing left that could blow my mind, was the reveal of their Salan abilities. My whole body itched while waiting to see one of their abilities.
After 2 hours of constant fighting, they had stopped. Most of their Mana-Cores were empty at that point.
I approached Kagami who struggled to take a proper breath.
"Always control your breathing." I reminded him.
"Y-Yeah...."
"So... Why didn't you use your Salan abilities?" I asked all of them.
"We... Aren't Bearers. That's why." Kurona answered.
My mind was blown, but in a bad way. It was unusual for such skilled individuals to remain without a Salan ability. Something did not feel right.
"You lot like to surprise me. I feel like you will develop your own abilities some day. But what matters is your will and your individuality. Try to be more unique. Not to be like each other." I blindly said from the top of my head.
'Sometimes an idiot gains the greatest wisdom by a genius' small talk.'
The words I had said didn't seem too significant to me. But for them, a babbled advise seemed to have given them great value.
All of them started to think after what I'd said. Then they started to nod at each other.
„Uncle Kiyoshi, Ryoto, Aunt Daitan and Osamu. They're all different from us. They use the same technique as us but train differently." Kagami said.
„The thing that drives them might be the hunger for power. Though loyal to the family, they want to be the strongest here. Talking about that, how does the succession happen?"
„What do you mean by succession?" Shun asked.
„Who gets to be the next Family head?"
„The strongest…"
„There you go. They are ambitious and their parents are supportive. Osamu receives training by her mother. Ryoto by his father. You on the other hand are the sons of and daughters of ignorant fools. I don't mean that in a bad way though. In short, you aren't ambitious enough. I have a goal I want to achieve. What is it that you want to achieve? Are you intimidated by Osamu and Ryoto, because they have Salan abilities and you don't? Ryoto even has 2 Mana-Cores."
***
Back at the stables, Kagami's father was still there, taking care of the horses.
"And? How is she?" He asked.
"Nothing's changed."
"You see, when someone marries into the family like me, they're assigned a job that they excel in. For me, it's everything that revolves around horses. For Chikako's husband, it's the garden. And for Daitan's husband, it's the armoury. Saburo's wife is responsible for the cleaning together with my wife. And Chikako is responsible for the kitchen. Kiyoshi's wife, who tragically passed away at Ryoto's birth, always used helped out in the kitchen before passing. We tried to take extra good care of Ryoto, but he was always distant, just like he is now." He explained, getting a little bit too comfortable.
"Take care of Gin for me." I said, leaving Gin with him.
While walking back to the estate, I wondered where the weaponry could be. When I'd used Galaxy-Sight, I wasn't able to see a room where weapons and such were stored except for Master Henka's. I entered the estate and looked for Uncle Saburo. When I found him and talked to him about it, he said that the armoury was right in the middle of Henka estate and Takeda estate.
"Also, Daitan's husband works there. And just like her, he is a bit.... you know." He said, making a circling motion beside his head, trying to tell me that Aunt Daitan's husband was kind of weird too.
"I can't lie, I somehow knew her husband would be a bit similar to herself." I Joked.
„Tell me about it…"
It was already dark, so I wasn't sure if the armoury would even be open at the hour I would arrive at. I decided to wait for the next day. Back at my room, many things came to mind. The piece of paper that Pantera had imbued with her Mana was still in my old cargo pants' pocket. I just needed a communication scroll to contact her. 'Why did they even take the dagger off of me?'
***
I woke up when the sun was rising. I had plenty of energy for the whole day. I made my way to the kitchen, curious to know when the food was getting served.
"Excuse me, Aunt Chikako." I knocked at the kitchen door.
"Who is it?"
"Niam, Hangaku's son."
"Oh, yeah. Come in. What are you doing here? Breakfast will be ready in an hour or so. Why don't you go drink some tea with the men?"
"Will Master Henka be present?"
"Most likely. I heard that Kiyoshi and Ryoto had come back after hearing that you woke up. If you're lucky, they might be sitting at the garden too."
"I think I will join them. Thank you." I bowed.
"No worries. Let them know that breakfast will be ready in an hour."
It wasn't the noise of conversation that got my unyielding attention, it was the the traumatizing aura the was being emitted from the garden. 'Is that what a proper 2 Mana-Cored Bearer's aura is like?' I questioned, still walking towards the garden.
I opened the last sliding door with my Salan ability, expanding my own aura, placing multiple gravitation points around the men in the garden.
"How early do you wake up? I feel like a sloth waking up so late." I said.
Master Henka, Uncle Saburo, Uncle Kiyoshi, Kurona, Osamu, Kagami and Uncle Kiyoshi and his son were in the garden, drinking tea.
My attention was solely on Uncle Kiyoshi and Ryoto.
Uncle Kiyoshi had long, night-black hair and light-brown eyes. He had a long mustache that mixed with his chin beard. His eyebrows were furrowed and hid his eyes. He wore a white and orange Kimono, while his sword was on his left side, unlike the rest of the Henka.
Ryoto had short, messy, black hair, red eyes that looked at me with great interest, and he wore a crimson-red Kimono. His Katana was also on his left side.
Everybody seemed to realize that there was an unspoken rivalry forming between me and Ryoto, so they kept silent until one of us spoke.
"You seem to be strong, Ryoto." I said.
"Since you came, breaths were a lot harder to take, Niam." Ryoto said.
Facing each other, we grinned from ear to ear. 'If Aunt Daitan saw, she would think we were as crazy as her.'