'Tama is surely something that defies reality.'
Lucy commented, as the memories of what happened a month ago surfaced in his mind, particularly the light-blue haired Tama Artist who appeared out of nowhere when the mountain cat was killed. With a snap of her fingers, the beast exploded into chunks of flesh, and with another snap, every human soul was teleported to the top of a giant eagle.
'Can I defeat such a person? The idea of it sounds so stupid. I can't settle with only killing my cousin, who is the only samurai among my mother's relatives!'
Lucy shook off these thoughts, reminding himself that nothing is eternal except feelings and emotions, even the sun takes a rest once a day. All he must do is wait for that small chance to appear, and he would finally get his mother's revenge.
With a clear mind, Lucy continued to swing and strike his new silver otsuchi in the air, creating large gusts of wind around the paved training ground. (1)
Unlike the others who came with him, Lucy used a hammer, so no one was willing to exchange blows with him. At the end of the day, he would train alone in the vast training ground, which was possibly filled with over a million people.
Time passed, and the only sounds echoing through the training ground were the clash of blades and the breathing of men, with faint arrow whispers.
When the sun began to set, casting a golden glow over the landscape, a loud drumming sound echoed through the military camp, and almost everyone rushed out of the training ground with their weapons in hand.
The remaining individuals, however, were waiting to receive their daily initiation from the samurai, and soon Katsura and his henchmen arrived, swinging their whips and making crisp sounds echo in the air.
"You know the drill! Everybody, line up!"
The group lay on the ground, and the three samurai took turns whipping them before leading them to the wheat field for further punishment. After that, they were brought for another round of whipping.
This had been their new life since arriving at the camp. However, one of them suddenly snapped after feeling a whip lash against his delicate behind.
"Why are you treating us like criminals?! You're the ones who told us to kill that beast, yet you shifted the blame to us to save yourself! That I can understand, but why do you have to keep punishing us for it?!"
Even though his words were right, Katsura couldn't help but snicker in disdain, "Why am I doing this? It's because of him!"
The group turned their gazes to where Katsura was pointing, and to no surprise, it was Lucy. However, the reason Katsura gave was unexpected.
"That idiot over there punched a Tama Artist in the face! If you should really hate anyone, hate him for bringing you through the mud!"
The moment Katsura's words faded, he left the group with his henchmen, leaving them to gaze at Lucy with emotion-filled eyes. Some were ferocious, but most were filled with gratitude for his bravery, punching a Tama Artist was one of their long-term goes.
However, the group didn't ponder much about, as they headed to the cafeteria, run by seven old women who spent their days cooking porridge with lumps and baking hard bread. Somethings like fruits and meat were scarce, only available when the groups went to war against profound beasts or the next village.
The groups received three pieces of bread each, and as the last group, the newbies received a generous serving of porridge - the old ladies knew their struggles and showed compassion.
After dinner, they headed to the sleeping shed. The lucky ones had their seniors save them a spot near the middle, like Tsukino, who had already blended in with the other girls in the regiments. Shinji hung out with the archers, while Sora chose to sleep at the far edge of the shed, where the harsh night winds blew.
She slept on her belly due to the pain on her back and decided to strike up a conversation with Lucy, who slept at the end of the shed without a blanket.
"Lucy, how do you manage to stay calm all the time?"
Lucy kept his head buried in his arms and replied, "I don't argue with stupid people. I just shrug it off and say, 'you're right'."
Sora scoffed, "But that's completely irrational and wrong..."
"You're right."
Sora's face twisted in rage, "Did you just call me stupid?"
"You're right."
Sora's words caught in her throat, and she could only puff out her cheeks before looking away and tuck in the giant blanket, as she drifted off to sleep.
It was a dreamless sleep, but when the morning drums signaled the start of the day, Sora woke up to find Lucy gone.
"He's gone to train again... poor guy, I wonder if his girlfriend knows how much he loves her."
Just then, she saw the ends of Lucy's kimono approaching and pulled herself out of the blanket to listen to the murmurs around her.
"What's going on?!"
"The sun isn't even up yet!"
"Why did they wake us at this ungodly hour?"
Sora looked west and saw the pink moon about to set, and Lucy's cold expression sent warning signals to her mind.
'There must be an emergency! No, it is time for the newbies to take their first mission! How can I forget that our death contracts are already signed?!'
...
1 - Otsuchi - this is a giant wooden hammer used for banging doors in feudal Japan (shaped like a mallet), but here I made it metal and silver.