A hero who wants to help others wants to live a normal life - Chapter 59

Chapter 59   Invitation to Training

“Wow. For something you called ‘weak,’ it’s pretty lively here.”

The dojo they arrived at was quite spacious, and inside, the disciples were gripping bamboo swords as they fought.

However, even though they were holding bamboo swords, their movements were not typical of kendo. It seemed more like swordsmanship. It was rough, to say the least.

“Did Daigo say that again?”

“Even if there are people here, it’s still true that this is a weak faction.”

“He’s saying that, but to begin with, there aren’t that many martial clans. Among them, this one is weaker in influence, but it has decent recognition and a fair number of disciples.”

Ah, so that’s how it is. I guess that makes sense. With this many people around, it can’t be just some ‘lame’ family.

Well, even though it’s well-known, I hadn’t heard of them before, but it’s probably just famous within martial clans. The only martial clan I know other than the Kiriya family, is… Oh, recently, I learned about the Hoshiguma family. I think they’re a martial clan too.

But I wonder what rank the Hoshiguma family holds? I know they’re a difficult family, but I’m not aware of their status within the upper class.

“Is that so… Oh, what about the Hoshiguma family?”

“The Hoshiguma family? They’re a martial clan too, but… hmm.”

Mika seemed to be struggling to answer. Is it really such a complicated family?

As I wondered, Daigo, with a hint of exasperation, answered in her place.

“The Hoshiguma family is special. Even though they’re a martial clan, they don’t teach others. They only train their own bloodline and send them out to do various things… You could think of it like a mercenary dispatch.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much how it is. So, even though they’re a martial clan, they’re considered a different category from places like ours.”

So even within martial clans, there are differences like that. Well, from what I had previously researched, they did seem to be a family with a reputation for slaying many monsters. I guess it’s because they operate like mercenaries.

“I see. Well, her skill was pretty unique, after all. It seems like it’s passed down only within the family.”

“Ah, the ‘Oni’ skill, right? That’s a rare one.”

There are plenty of skills that enhance strength for battle, but something like the Hoshiguma’s ‘Oni’ form is unusual.

“If it’s rare, does that mean there are others like it?”

“Yeah. A famous one would be the Gokitsugu. They’re also descendants of oni, but unlike the Hoshiguma family, they’re a more friendly clan.”

“Go-ki-tsu-gu? …I have no idea what characters that would be. But I get that it’s a skill found in some places. What does ‘friendly’ mean in this context though?”

“Friendly? It’s not like the Hoshiguma family has any enemies, right?”

“Yeah. But the Hoshiguma clan has a strong independent streak. On the other hand, the Goki-tsugu family runs a hotel and provides training grounds for people who fight monsters, so there’s quite a difference in how they’re perceived and evaluated.”

Ah, that makes sense. It’s only natural for their reputations to differ. It’s not about which is better or worse—both families are contributing to society—but human perception inevitably changes based on those factors.

“Still, they’re really going at it with those swords.”

“Well, unlike kendo, this is a fight to the death with no rules, so things are bound to get intense. But hey, it’s pretty impressive, right?”

“Yeah, it reminds me of some training I did before.”

I’d never want to go through that again, but there’s something oddly nostalgic about this atmosphere.

“You did some training before?”

“Yeah, well, just a little. When I became a ‘Blessed One,’ I was forced to learn some self-defense—just enough to protect myself. It’s been useful, though.”

Inori had physical enhancement abilities, so she could fight even without technique. But all I can do is grow extra arms, so it’s not much of a benefit to me personally. Even the extra arms are useless if I can’t control them. That’s why I had to get some training from a martial family. The previous head of the family personally trained me, too.

I’m grateful for it and it’s been helpful, but back then, I was going through a rough time, and I was still just a kid. The training was harsh, and I had a lot of resentment towards it. Now I understand it was necessary, but I still have a bit of a mental block about it.

“I see. Well, that makes sense. After all, you’re a valuable ‘Blessed One.’ It’d be a problem if you died easily.”

“It’s easy for the ones giving the orders.”

I get why they do it, but I wish they wouldn’t talk about it so casually. I’d prefer if they’d go through the training themselves and then say, ‘It’s necessary, so you should do it.’

“By the way, which family was it?”

“It was in a place called Kamiarizuki. Do you know it?”

As soon as I said that, both Kiriya and Mika widened their eyes in surprise. What’s with this reaction? Do they know the family?

“Know it? You trained there?”

“Yeah. I didn’t interact with the other disciples; it was just me and the old man. Well, Inori was there too, so the three of us, I guess.”

It might have been more fun if I had others to train with. Maybe I could have made some friends. But since we ‘Blessed Ones’ weren’t supposed to be revealed to the public yet, it was all one-on-one lessons.

“You’re kidding…”

“Is it that famous of a place?”

“Famous? It’s not just famous. That’s the top martial family. I’m going there to train over the summer break too. It’s so prestigious that people from other martial families gather there every summer.”

“I thought you were being awfully boastful, but I didn’t realize it was such a high-ranking family.”

“The place was big, and they owned a mountain, so I figured they were rich. But, since they’re upper-class folks, I just assumed owning a mountain wasn’t that unusual for them.”

Still, to think they were such an important family… I used to call the former head of the family ‘old man.’ I hope that was okay. Not that I’ll ever see him again, but I wonder if he’d be mad if we did meet?

“But yeah, it makes sense. You wouldn’t entrust someone as important as a ‘Blessed One’ to just any family. Even if we were asked, we would’ve probably turned it down.”

“I don’t think I’m that valuable, but it feels weird to get such special treatment just because of the blessing.”

“Being blessed is pretty amazing in itself, though.”

It’s not amazing at all. I was just desperate because I was about to die. If anyone else were in the same situation, they’d probably get blessed too.

“Well, now that we’ve seen how boring my place is, how about we go have some fun?”

With that, Kiriya turned on his heel, and we followed him.

“Fun? What kind of fun? Tag?”

Mika suggested tag when she heard the word ‘fun,’ but is that really the first thing that comes to mind? I haven’t played tag in ages either. I stopped playing games like that with a lot of people around middle school, but now that I think about it, it does sound kinda fun.

“Cut it out. Don’t you get enough of that as it is?”

“Wait, you actually play tag?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, as part of training.”

Tag as training… I guess it makes sense. You’d be running for your life, and it would improve your skills in chasing or cornering enemies.

“How about hide-and-seek, then?”

“You’re doing that too, aren’t you? Come on, we’re not in elementary school. We’re high schoolers, so let’s do something more mature.”

Personally, I wouldn’t mind playing tag or hide-and-seek, though…

“Something more mature? What are you planning?”

“By the way, I’m still in middle school.”

If it were just the guys, maybe we could mess around, talk nonsense, or even have some inappropriate jokes, but with girls here, that’s definitely not going to happen, right? If Kiriya really goes there, I might have to rethink what kind of person he is.

“Relax, it’s nothing weird. We’re just going to play a game.”

“A game? That’s fine, but is that really what you mean by something ‘mature’?”

I guess it’s “adult” in the sense that younger kids might not have games, but these days, most kids probably have video games. I wouldn’t know, though—I wasn’t exactly a typical kid growing up.

“We’re not allowed to play games at home. Well, it’s not like they strictly forbid it, but there’s no time or space for it. And even when we do play, we have time limits, so it’s hard to really enjoy.”

“Yeah, with daily training and studying to keep up with, by the time you’re done, you don’t feel like doing anything else.”

Huh, I see. That sounds tough, but I can kinda get it. Those from prestigious families seem like they’d have stricter rules, though that’s probably just my assumption.

“Sounds rough.”

“Yeah, we’ve gotten used to it, but sometimes you just want to relax and play. So, we’re gonna play a game!”

He really wants to play, huh? Well, I’ve never really played games with other people before, so this might be fun in its own way. With that, the four of us headed back to the room.

“––Damn it!”

“Lord Daigo, I apologize for interrupting.”

We’d been playing for a while when a voice called out from outside the room. It was a woman’s voice, so it wasn’t the person who had guided us earlier. But it was clear that Kiriya’ family had multiple servants working for them.

Still, if they went out of their way to call him, something must’ve happened.

“What’s up?”

“You’ve received a call from Kamizuki. It’s regarding the summer training.”

“Oh, got it.”

Kamiarizuki? And training during the summer… could it be that Kiriya and the others will be doing some sort of training there over their break? If so, that sounds like quite a task.

“Sorry, I need to step out for a bit.”

“Yeah, take your time.”

“Alright… wait, what?”

Kiriya started heading toward the door after answering, but then suddenly stopped and turned back to us. It looked like something had occurred to him, but I had a bad feeling about it.

“Something on your mind?”

“Well… I just thought of something…”

He paused for a moment, then smirked mischievously before continuing.

“How about you guys come for the training too?”