There laid a broken hoe randomly, one with a slightly crooked edge.
I picked it up and gave it a test swing once or twice using only my wrist.
“Hm.”
It gave me a familiar feeling.
A scrap of a stick, which I had been wielding day in and out, felt good in my hands.
I faintly hoped that I would just find her in this unused shed, but hopes alone didn’t get me anywhere.
There were no signs of people coming and going here, let alone Sofia.
“ …Guess I’ll go.”
I didn’t have the time to be standing around here.
I’d already decided what course of action I was going to do next, but only a little, there occurred a tiny detail that others wouldn’t be able to see, and it frightened me.
Being an unknown adversary to me, I’d never actually faced a monster before in my life.
I immediately understood that this was the most important factor surrounding my uneasiness.
But—
“Ha— haha. Hahahaha…”
As soon as I realized that I was frightened, the corners of my mouth began to twist into a hideous laugh that I didn’t want to hear.
This was not my vanity, not a pretense, not a scheme, but an outburst of my deepest feelings.
I couldn’t help but be amused by the fact that it was just as the swordsman who lives in my memory had been saying it, as if he was trying to engrave it into my soul.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Being afraid is what makes a swordsman a swordsman, and there is no room for growth for those who aren’t. The emotion that drives one’s growth is fear, and therefore, I approve of it. Do you think those who are frightened are weak? Declare anything you want, but I’m not going to change my mind. For what reason? Because this “fright” of yours will be my food… my nourishment. Alas! Thank you for allowing me to be frightened. And thanks to you,
—I would be able to climb even greater heights.”
The first emotion that came to mind was “fright.”
Most people wouldn’t be so positive about that emotion, but those feelings fueled my desire to be strong. That’s what I knew in my head.
And for that reason, I laughed.
I burst out with joy, amusement, and happiness.
“I’m going to affirm it. Indeed, this very feeling shouldn’t be dismissed. On the contrary, I should hold onto it with utmost importance.”
I felt scared, terrified.
So all the more reason for it to be diminished by my desire of wanting to be stronger.
“Yeah… This is not bad. Keeping on swinging my sword towards unseen heights hasn’t been so bad, but this feeling isn’t so bad too, after all.”
It was rather comforting.
My emotion, my “fear,” was wrapped up in joy, and a feeling of elation filled my body.
The only regret I had was that I wished I had a sword in my hand at this very moment, as I was feeling all this heat and excitement.
I gripped the stick with strong vigor, following my emotions.
“This is really… not so bad.”
I muttered to myself as I turned my back from the shed.
Getting farther to the village but closer to the river, I thought if Sofia was hiding anywhere, it’d be in that cave-like place where she said she used for shelter in times of rain.
I had a general idea of what to expect, and I started moving my feet.
Come and read on our website wuxia worldsite. Thanks