" The twins?" Kalci spoke with a confused look in his eyes. " Who are the twins exactly."
" I don't know their names, but that's what they are called in the letters from the spies." Tsucko walked to the desk where he was first sitting. Kalci followed and saw as Tsucko tossed a bundle of peppers onto the table.
" These the letters?" Kalci picked up a couple of the peppers in his right hand and began to skim through the words written on them.
" Yea...The king apparently had some concerns about the Emerald Kingdom. He has a decent number of spies over there.
" Do these spies know of the shift in leadership?" Kalci was scanning one of the letters. His eyes narrowed onto the words "The Biggest Threat" Under it it named off who was seen as the strongest in the Emerald Kingdom which included all of the 8 deadly swordsmen. A little further down the list in darker text standing out from the rest of the names " The Twins."
" They probably do know. Most of the Emerald Kingdom should know by now...It's not like I was trying to keep it a big secret to begin with."
" So we won't be getting any more letters than from these spies.[They'll probably start giving information to the Emerald Kingdom...That could be a problem."]
" I don't know, probably not...but It doesn't matter to me what they do."
Tsucko was standing in front of a massive bookcase made of oak wood. He took his pointer finger and ran it along the spines of multiple books as if searching for a particular one. Kacli clicked his young and tossed the letters back onto the table.
" These twins seem to be a big deal...Any clue on who they are?"
" I don't know much outside of what's been described in the notes." Tsucko's hand paused on the spine of a book that read the title. " The Takatori Families History." This wasn't the book Tsucko was looking for, but it had caught his attention. It was the first time he had actually seen a book specifically about the first Kings.
" I don't feel like reading through all those so why don't you tell me what you know." Kaclis's tone was slightly bitter. Tsucko knew he wasn't very good at reading and didn't like it all that much either. He had already decided to tell him before he even said anything.
"They're both 17-year-old boys sharing the same silver hair and eyes." Tsucko took the book from the shelf and walked back over to the table and tossed it on top of all the letters. He looked at Kalci making sure he was actually paying attention before he continued. " The thing that makes them special is the Hereditary magic they share along with the extremely high mana they both possess."
"What special about their Hereditary magic?"
" I don't know exactly what it is, but from the letters, they call it Takatori."
"...That's the last names of the first Kings. Right?" A teasing smile crossed Tsuckos face.
" Look at that you actually can read."
" Shut up of course I can...I just don't like to."
Tsucko stood averting his gaze away from Kalci to think for a moment. He didn't know exactly why the magic was being called that, but he had an inkling as to what it meant. Most magic was named simply by looking at it and what it could do...Mana wire was an example of this...
[" So Takatori must be..."]
" Got something?" Kacli asked seeing Tsucko lost in thought.
" Yea...It's probably called Takatorui because it's at least similar or maybe the same as magic the Takatori brothers specialized in."
" Uh...Isn't that impossible? From the things I've read at least, it says that only Yuka Takatori had a child, and that would mean all following generations would have been born here. So how would they get to the Emerald Kingdom?"
" Hmm? I would be skeptical if you were the one telling me this since you don't really read...but I've read the same"
[" Did he really have to pick at my ability to read again?"]
" Well, we can't assume they were completely honest or loyal. Good chance one of them snuck over to the Emerald Kingdom once or maybe a few times."
Tsucko understood from the history of his world that Royalti were never loyal to one woman...While he hasn't heard such things here it was more than likely the same. Meaning one of Yuka Takatoris' descendants had an affair in the Emerald Kingdom leading to the Twin's births.
[" But then why are they the first to have their Hereditary magic...?"]
" Are they gonna cause that much trouble?" Kalci asked seeing a confused look strung across Tsuckos face as he looked to the ceiling.
" I don't know...They are inexperienced but the Emerald Kingdom has always trained magic users in basic combat... They won't be a problem for me at least. [ Though something feels off."]
" What about me?"
Tsucko paused for a moment and thought. Kalci became displeased with how long he was taking to answer as he felt he could handle some kids in their teens.
" ...You tell me."
"....Huh?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
" Thwack! Thwump! Smack!"
Around 1 mile out from the capital city in a dense forest. The sounds of hand-to-hand combat could be heard echoing off the surrounding trees. The silver-haired twins had ventured out for some private training. They often would be surrounded by people interested in the so-called " Reincarnations of the Takatori brothers." So this gave them some privacy.
" Come on Zack...You seem slow." They have separated for a moment standing across from each other. They had nothing except sleeveless shirts and sweat pants rolled up past the ankles...No weapons either. They were limiting this to hand-to-hand with matching mana outputs.
" I'm just taking it easy on ya...but if you want me to try a little harder then I shall."
Without another moment of hesitation, Zack zipped in faster than most would be able to see. Throwing a right hook at Brandon who leaned back and swatted it away. Zack then followed with an attempted punch to Brandon's ribs with his left but was blocked.
Zack followed that up with a right knee attempt but Brandon predicted it and punched it down with his left fist. Following up he threw a palm strike at Zack gaining a little distance.
Following up the palm strike Brandon threw a left head kick that Zack ducked but using the moment Brandon carried it into a heel kick that Zack didn't expect. He blocked the kick barely but wasn't prepared for the force and was knocked off balance.
Seeing this Brandon went for a leg sweep with his right foot.
" SWISH!"
[" Oh! Nice one."]
Zack using one foot launched himself over the kick and grabbed a tree branch. Using it to swing himself over Brandon who was slightly caught off guard and rose to his feet quickly.
Zack landed in the soft leaves underfoot and had to immediately block a straight kick with both his arms. The force sent him sliding through the leaves a couple of feet away.
He then dodged a left from Brandon and saw an incoming right uppercut for the jaw. Leaning back he pushed his arm up and past his face leaving Brandon's right side wide open.
[" I Win!"]
" Fwip"
Brandon spun last second causing Zacks's punch to land at the bottom of the back. Not enough damage to drop him and now he was left unguarded.
"THWACK!!"
A spinning elbow right to the temple dropped Zack. Luckily he was able to reinforce that area with his mana but still...It was painful enough to make him call training for the day.
" Dam it!" Zack was sitting on a log with Brandon standing over him with a cold canteen of water offering it to him.
" Man...It's been a while since you've beat me in hand to hand huh." Zack looked up and grabbed the canteen angrily while avoiding direct eye contact.
" Shut it...How bout next time we do this with swords." Zack took an angry swig of the water before placing it on the log next to him with a bit of force.
" Sword huh...Then you'll definitely wi-"
" Hey, we found them."
A familiar voice called out to them...Reha in her usual outfit. Though there was someone else. They have met him, he was sent from the Kingdom of Aces as a type of freelance soldier. Zack and Brandon have spoken to him. He had orange hair and a slim but muscular body. His eyes were that of a defeated man...He also looked older than them....Much older.
"...Hey Reha and ummm...." Zack was having trouble remembering. Reha parted her lips to answer for him but suddenly Brandon interrupted.
" Oh, you're Caldo right."
" ...Yea that's me...I'm going to be your squad lead."