With both her hands on the floor, Akane-san woefully hung her head.
She and Selen just finished their match in the village’s training grounds. Despite Akane being quite the powerful individual and performing almost toe-to-toe with her opponent, Selen’s pride as the village’s hunting group leader pushed her to emerge victorious in the end.
That being said, Selen did not make use of her magic in the fight.
By the way, I secretly registered Akane-san as a villager and appraised her.
Name: Akane
Age: 17 years old
Village Bond Level: Low
Suitable Occupation: Warrior
Gift: Samurai Sword Techniques
She had the [Samurai Sword Techniques] Gift. Unlike the regular [Sword Techniques] Gift, it probably involved the sword techniques peculiar to the samurai.
“You’re quite strong. There were a few times I could have lost back there. The swordsmanship of the east is nothing to sneeze at, I see.”
Selen praised Akane-san’s strength.
On the other hand, Akane-san spoke with her lips trembling.
“I fought as the representative of the samurai, and I…lost! And it was after I was given this incredibly sharp sword! This is inexcusable!”
Ah, here it comes.
“At this rate, people of the west will think we samurai are weak…! Never mind for my whole life, this disgrace will remain for generations to come! Now that it has come this…”
We needed to stop her as soon as Akane-san made a move. Without me even saying so, Selen and Philia readied themselves to move at any moment.
“I must commit seppuku to apologize!”
Thought so!
We had collected all of her daggers beforehand, so Akane-san was now trying to disembowel herself using the katana she held.
Before the katana can touch Akane-san’s stomach, Philia-san’s arrow made a direct hit on it. That caused the katana to be knocked off Akane-san’s hand, twirl in the air, and then pierce the ground.
Selen immediately set off to collect the katana.
“Akane-dono, there is nothing praiseworthy about how cheaply you treat your life.”
“Yeah, what Philia says. If you’re that upset about losing, why not just train to make yourself stronger and get revenge? I’ll accept your challenge anytime.”
“Mhh…”
Without any blade to use in disemboweling herself, Akane-san reluctantly accepted Philia-san and Selen’s complaints.
“After you’ve become stronger from training here, I think you should also try crossing the mountain range again.”
It was a lot faster to get stronger when training in the training grounds I built with my Gift.
<<Training ground: A facility for the practicing of magic and martial arts. Increases one’s improvement rate. It also has a feature that prevents injuries.>>
Like that, Akane-san stayed in the village for a while. But then…
“I want to see the other side of the mountains!”
In line with Selen’s recent whims of asking us to travel to all kinds of places like the sea and the desert, she declared so.
We had traveled to the monster-infested mountain range many times before to hunt wyverns, but we had never tried to go beyond it and cross to the other side.
“What kind of place is the eastern side of the mountain range like?”
I asked so to Akane-san.
“At present, there are 3 major nations there. My own Edou, the nation of the samurai. The nation of commerce, Ōsaku. And then, the nation of faith, Kyou. Our nations had been in an era of constant war before, but for a while now, we are enjoying an age of peace and harmony.”
There seemed to be minor nations as well, such as Iruga the nation of the shinobi; Anui the northern naiton; Ryukkyu the southern islands nation, just to name a few.
At any rate, it was a foreign realm we almost had no information on. If possible, we wanted Akane-san to come along with us as our guide.
“As I was unable to cross the mountain range on my own, I cannot do something as shameless as going back home.”
However, Akane-san rejected us like that.
After saying she would rather disembowel herself and die rather than to go back home right now, I naturally backed down from convincing her.
“Hmm? Now that I think about it, wasn’t there another person who is from the east…?”
A realization came to me.
If I’m not mistaken, much like Akane-san, that other person also usually wears unusual clothes…
“Ahh, I remember now. They’re in Alec-san’s adveturer party. Gai-san!”
TL note: I’m no expert in geography of any kind, especially of Japan, but here are what I believe to be the equivalents of the places mentioned here
Edou is a reference to, well, Edo which is now called Tokyo.
Osaku is a reference to Osaka
Kyou is a reference to Kyoto, Japan’s old capital.
Iruga is a reference to Iga
Anui is a reference to the Ainu people, who are known residents of Hokkaido.
Ryukkyu is a reference to Ryuukyuu Islands. Maybe you’ll be more familiar if I mention Kyushu