Three days later, the guests who visited before, arrived again. Only this time, they were not as nice as they were the first time that they visited.
"A duel? With Sayo?" Korishi, the current head of the Toketsuha Family and the father of Sayo asked.
"Yes! Of course. We of the most exalted and humble Tsurukusa clan have been silent for many years with how we, who have the most number of members who performed during the war 20 years ago were ranked lower than the Toketsuha family who fought only with the current family head and a few others on the front lines. You may have defeated many strong opponents, Lord Toketsuha, but I believe your members do not have the same class of strength as you and even right now, you have lesser members than ours. Which is why I told this to King Leon Skadi of our Skadi Kingdom and begged him to let me bring someone from the palace to judge the duel that I proposed to make it official."
"And that person will judge whether the Toketsuha family gets to keep their territories and rank or not, correct?"
"Yes, very much so!"
The man from the Tsurukusa clan answered gleefully.
The Toketsuha head could only close his eyes and sigh.
"But why Sayo?" Korishi asked, his voice still aloof.
"Well, you see we heard rumors about your youngest daughter, Sayo. About how she still has not awakened her elemental power yet. As we all know, everyone in the world awakens to their elemental power at a certain age and also after reaching a certain level of strength. Not awakening any elemental power is very rare even amongst commoners. Also, a noble house is always expected to produce a child with strong elemental prowess to carry out her noble duties and responsibilities. Her not awakening any elemental power while being born into a powerful family like the Toketsuha clan is a sign of weakness for not just your family but the entire nobility of the Skadi Kingdom, as well. It is kind of… disgraceful," slyly smiled the man.
It wasn't too long before the smile turned into chattering teeth as chills ran down the spine of the flabby guest from the Tsurukusa family while he shivered from the cold air that suddenly spread throughout the room.
"…U-uhmm Toketsuha Korishi-san, uhmmm… my last remark might have been a little off-base. I apologize."
Korishi was staring straight into the man's eyes as if looking straight into his soul while he talked but after the guest apologized he called out to the man wearing a blue haori who was also with them inside the room.
"…Komoya…is there anything you wish to say?" asked Korishi while glancing at his son, Komoya who had been sitting in a corner.
The young man took a quick look at the guest and said, "No, father."
A few seconds later, the room started to warm up again.
"Hmm. And I believe that having my youngest daughter fight who hasn't awakened any elemental power yet despite our ranking in this kingdom's nobility would prove your point that you are better than us, yes? Then, representative of the Tsurukusa clan, I believe that if I agree for this duel to happen, losing would mean that the Toketsuha family would lose its current noble ranking to the Tsurukusa family and all the benefits from the Skadi Kingdom that we are currently enjoying will be transferred to you, correct?" Korishi replied.
"Quite certainly, Lord Toketsuha."
"Then if we win, I believe I get to make you Tsurukusas whatever I want you to do, is that correct Tsurukusa's representative?"
"Well, that is if you win, Lord Toketsuha, hoho! and please… call me Kuso."
"Skadi Kingdom's Royal Court's Representative, is this correct?"
"…Yes, and please call me, Fujiki," the kingdom's representative replied.
"When will this duel happen exactly?" Korishi asked.
"Tomorrow, Lord Toketsuha," the guest replied.
Korishi looked at his son. His son then made a gesture of shaking his head. To which Korishi nodded.
"Since my daughter is still recovering from an injury she sustained while training, I would like to ask that the date be adjusted to the day after a week."
"Now, now, that is not fair, Lord Toketsuha," replied the guest.
"…"
After a long pause, Korishi replied, "…Tsurukusa clan's representative, you test my patience. I only ask that you let my daughter fight your representative for this duel after she has her injuries healed for her to fight at her best yet you reject it. Why? Do you want my daughter to fight you with a handicap? Do you want her to fight while she is already beaten? Are you trying to torment her? Isn't that quite unfair? Or…are you trying to instigate something here that might warrant unwanted action from me? We are talking about my daughter here, after all."
The room grew colder than before after the Kuso replied. Korishi's voice got darker as he talked with concern over his daughter yet his eyes still retained their expressionless stare toward Kuso, the Tsurukusa representative.
While shivering and rubbing his hands together, the guest replied to Korishi without looking into the eyes of the host.
"W-Well, Lord Toketsuha, our people practice and train every day even after the war ended and I believe your people are doing the same thing. Having the princess of the Toketsuha rest for a week after she hurt herself during her training while our representative still trains and fatigues himself even the day before the duel would be a massive disadvantage for us, wouldn't it?"
The man seemed to not want to take no for an answer. Korishi thought that denying the invitation for a duel now would be dishonorable to the entire clan who prided themselves as one of the strongest clans in the entire Kingdom of Skadi.
Korishi then looked at his son to which his son responded by only gazing back at him.
"…Very well. Give us at least 3 days," Korishi answered.
"Deal!" The Tsurukusa clan representative gleefully said while stroking the beard growing on his fatty chin.
Unknown to the knowledge of everyone present in the room, Sayo was eavesdropping behind the door.
She then left to pick up another wooden sword and went straight to their courtyard even though it was already dark.
Moonlight touched her pale skin and glistened with her sweat as she swung her sword and performed the forms and techniques that her older siblings and father had taught her before.
Her face full of gentleness looked straight ahead and focused on tempering her blade, silently making a vow to not dishonor her family on the coming day of the duel despite the fatigue and the pain of her injuries that made it a lot harder for her to move.
But the thought of getting stronger, while acknowledging how weak she is compared to the other people in her family, is the only thing that pushes her to train more.
She also knows…that she still lacks something in her resolve to grow stronger.
She had something to push her before.
But somehow…she forgot.
Sayo is known to be a gentle, kind, and sweet child compared to the coldness that her family displays, making people think that she might be a black sheep that never inherited anything from her family, not their trademark coldness or their talent.
As she silently swung her sword around with her hair tied to a ponytail swaying in the cold night breeze, her father, brother, and sister who had already shown the guests the exit, watched her from the distance.
The thought of stopping the youngest member of their family from practicing in the dark cold night never entered their thoughts…