The Arks - Chapter 414

Meanwhile, once they left the meeting room, Tomoe carried Mavislin to her bedroom. But was stopped by Bryan, who had finished bandaging his wounds.

“What is it?” asked Tomoe, holding the Valkyrie closer to his ċhėst.

Bryan started at Tomoe intently. Tomoe sighed and walked past the Slayer.

“If you want to chat with me, let’s not do it in the hallway. There might be unwanted listeners,” said Tomoe, going into the room.

Bryan nodded and went into her room, locking the door. Tomoe carefully placed Mavislin onto the bed. Tucking her in carefully, Tomoe noticed that the area was quite sparse, say for the plushies lying around. Bryan had planted comfortably on the ground, waiting for Tomoe.

“So, what do you want to chat about?” asked Tomoe, sitting in front of Bryan.

“You promised to train me. Lady Roydon said that it was for my swordsmanship,” answered Bryan, looking at Tomoe.

“I used to be quite the swordsman but I guess it has been quite a fair bit of time since I held my blade again. Not sure if I am the best to train you…” answered the Kitsune.

“Didn’t we promise to do so, back in Albion?” asked Bryan, confused at Tomoe’s sudden change.

“I’m just saying… I am quite rusty, not the prime state I once was. If I can get back my memories from the previous realm, I would probably be a better teacher for you. For now, I think Baldwin would be a better option,” said Tomoe, sighing.

“Are you kidding me?! There’s no way that I’m asking him to train me! That’s a death sentence!” protested Bryan, eyes struck with disbelief.

“You might want to keep that to yourself, lest the NAgry Man hears that.”

Bryan covered his mouth.

“Are you sure about training with me? I’m giving you one last chance to back out. I think you are the most informed about my kind. We are creatures of trickery, using anything to our advantage to win a fight,” warned Tomoe, gazing at Bryan with strict eyes.

“Yes, I will not falter just because you are a Kitsune.”

Tomoe sighed and reached into his inner kimono. He pulled out a katana with a blue handle and hilt. His scabbard was black and Tomoe drew to his full height. Bryan looked at the sword in awe as Tomoe drew out the blade slightly. It did not look like an untouched sword.

“Mavislin should be safe here. And I won’t train you over here. Let’s step outside,” instructed Tomoe, opening the window.

“Hold on…” said Bryan, effectively stopping Tomoe.

The Kitsune raised his eyebrow in question.

“Do you remember your full name?” asked Bryan.

“Why would you like to know that? It is not going to help you in your training…” asked Tomoe, with his tone sounding sad.

“Well, if you were truly the ‘Tomoe’ that I have read about and known… It’ll be easier to tell your fighting style so I can adapt it. However, I still need to confirm it because, in the legend, the Tomoe I read about was an Onna-musha… ‘A female warrior’,” reasoned Bryan.

“She was known to be quite the warrior, being a master of both the blade and bow. I read that she braved through many battles, even commandeering a force of three hundred men to fight against two thousand samurais. She won that victory as well.”

Tomoe closed his eyes and turned to face Bryan. Walking towards the human, he gave a powerful flick onto Bryan’s forehead.

“Ow! Why’d ya do that for?!” asked Bryna, rubbing the sore spot.

“She is ‘Tomoe Gozen’. She was human. Do I look remotely human or female to you?!” asked Tomoe, shaking a fist at Bryan.

“Well, you mentioned you came from another realm, another Universe, right? So I thought you might be the version of ‘Tomoe Gozen’ in your realm. Things can happen but your legend is still true,” answered Bryan, slightly scared of the fox spirit.

Tomoe sighed and faced away from Bryan again. It had been something that he was afraid to dwell on. His past as a being in another realm. If he could remember that, he would be free from the shackles that bound him now. And yet, part of him didn’t want to remember.

It was like an unseen force stopping him from finding the truth.