"Oh finally, you're here investigator."
Alexander instantly got out of the hot spring, as the air cleared--and his vision, though at first blurry, started to reform, he saw a short girl; this girl had black hair, pink eyes, and wait.... Cat ears!
"Tck... Of course you have a harem, you know it's unfair guys like you get harems--but me, I'm stuck here with nothing! No women, no men, nothing--while you sit there in your hot spring with bitches all over you."
The cat-girl started to rant with a fake frustrated expression, obviously she didn't actually care--well, it was obvious because if she did her tail would do a motion that signaled her anger; however, it wasn't moving at all.
"You, you are too erratic; this matter is serious, so please take it with more than a grain of salt, okay?"
Alexander tried to resist face palming himself at the girls attitude, and tried to move on from her jokes to the matter at hand.
"Well, if you're paying me then I guess I'll listen..."
The girl slightly calmed down at Alexander's reply, though she was a bit angry that he wouldn't put up with her humor; indeed, he was very boring.
"Basically--oh, by the way if any of this gets out, I will not hesitate to kill you. Anyway, a little devil from another world has appeared; I need you to find him, I don't care how long it takes, or if you only get even one hint--just find something."
The girl continued to listen, though she was slightly distracted and started chewing on her finger. Even when he said he would kill her if she leaked anything, she didn't flinch--obviously she wouldn't leak anything, she wasn't stupid!
"Yeah okay old man, so where do I start?"
Truthfully, the girl was slightly disgusted at the mans harem; she made it slightly obvious she didn't respect him much, as her voice carried a bit of disdain--though, Alexander couldn't care less. What did her respect matter? As long as she did the job, he didn't care; to be caught up on these useless matters, it was stupid in his opinion.
"Well most likely he is in the fourth or fifth realm, so start there first; the easiest would be the fifth, as it's way more peaceful--so yes, start there please. If you are able to find anything, even a clue--please do notify me."
The girl listened closely this time, without distracting herself; however, before she could speak up Alexander interrupted her.
"No response is needed, just quickly head out please; I don't have all day."
Alexander waved his large hand in a way that signaled her to leave, and then looked away from her--no longer paying her any mind.
The girl clenched her fists slightly, but then sighed and took out a small, green Relic; she activated it by crushing it and suddenly a bright, blue light beamed down from the sky onto her and she disappeared. A second later, she woke up in a forest.
She had entered the fifth realm.
...
After a couple days, it was time for Koji to resume class with his new teacher, Cecilia.
'I wonder how the other kids will be, well of course Ecchi will be fine.... I guess he's the only one I really care about, since it seems he'll be the only one I'll have much interaction with, though those kids really are young--even if they are mean to someone like Ecchi, they don't deserve to witness something like that. Poor kids, I hope they are okay.'
Koji sat with his head leaned on his hand, currently he was in the same carriage as before the incident; where him and Cecilia both sat opposite of each other. Right now, none of them spoke; though, the silence would not last forever as Cecilia hesitantly spoke up.
"Koji, I'm so sorry... You're only nine yet you had to experience that, are you okay?"
Cecilia spoke with a regretful expression, obviously she was still very shook up over that day, and also was worried that Koji--and of course, the others--were very traumatized by what they saw. No doubt, her care and worry for these children were beyond what most people would have; truly, she was a very caring person.
"I-I'm okay Ms. Cecilia, you saved our lives..."
Koji took his head up from his hand and looked directly at her with his eyes as he said that, and the mood turned into a slightly better one--at this point, the awkwardness was gone and they were speaking eye to eye.
It wasn't an act, Koji was completely genuine in his answer; extremely grateful, he was to Cecilia indeed.
"Well, if it makes you feel better Koji--today, we will truly start your training! Now, you won't start off specifically with Lightning Mantra; though, I know you are very excited for that, instead everyone will be sparring. This class, we are going to do a little representation of how things will be in the Academy; in the Academy, power rankings exist, so that's what we will have too! We'll assess everyone's strength today with sparring."
Koji's dark eyes lit up as he listened to Cecilia describe what would be happening today, and instantly his mind flared with thoughts and emotions; this would be great and bad at the same time. For starters, he may be able to improve his swordsmanship just by fighting, although he may also get hurt; also, he will learn how to defend against different combat styles--however, he will also have to take the time and learn how they work.
Indeed, this situation was very two sided.
Well, if it was viewed like that then it could be considered two sided.
In reality, this was a tool; no matter what happened, it was of great use!
For Koji, this was one sided! This situation would reap nothing but benefits for him and his future.
'Hehehe, I wonder how I'll compare to the other students; at first I wasn't very fond of fighting, though it is exhilarating--in fact, it's extremely fun if I'm not the one losing!'
'Eh, well I would be fighting with a sword--I'm completely inexperienced in that area, though I guess it may be fun, maybe I'll even be talented at it.'
While Koji may still be experiencing some grief from his earlier breakdown, he was for the most part back up on his feet.
"Ms. Cecilia, can you give me tips on how to fight with a sword?"
Cecilia perked up as Koji asked her this question, and had multiple answers ready; her hands flew into the air as she smiled and began to explain.
"Well, for starters--please, never be on the defensive end unless completely necessary, and while you're defending all you should be doing is looking for an attack! However, the most important thing in sword fighting is not technique, not your goal, not your will--it is your balance. The second you take a step back, you lose; the second you slightly stumble, you lose--the very moment that your eyes slightly drift, you are the loser! Now for technique, I simply recommend you always aiming for spots that are harder for them to block for now; for example, if your opponents blade is higher than their core, aim downwards; similarly, if your opponents blade is lower than their core, aim higher. Oh! Very important, while dodging a strike is risky, it is much more punishing than if you block one. So if you can, dodge instead of blocking."
Cecilia rambled on about multiple important factors of swordsmanship for awhile, flailing her hands around in the process--truthfully, if one looked close enough they could probably see sparkles in her eyes.
The white cloth that was covering her arms swayed in the air as her hands continued to move around erratically; despite her already explaining too much, she did not hesitate to say more.
"Also Koji, remember this--when you are using sword-"
However, Cecilia stopped as she felt the carriage stop, which meant they reached their destination.
"Oop! Well Koji, I guess that's all we had time for--I hope you learned something. Anyways, let's get going now."
Cecilia got up off her seat, and Koji's eyes couldn't help but drift to her ass as she bent over to slide open the carriage door.
'Ahh! Stop, stop she's your teacher..'
However, Koji still stared at her bottom; he observed every single curve, engraving them deep in his brain just as he had done with Lucy back then. Truly, he still was a bit of a pervert.
'Whatever, fuck! I need to focus on what she said to me....'
Though, Cecilia looked back and noticed Koji staring at her ass and her eyes widened in shock and disappointment.
"Ecchi! This little devil corrupted you didn't he?!"
Koji blushed hard and waved his hands around in the air defensively; this situation was not good, especially if Ecchi heard that and knew Koji was staring at his queen!
"N-no Ms. Cecilia it's not like that!"
Koji tried his best to calm the situation down before it got out of hand, and when he looked up he saw Cecilia staring at him with an expression of 'So when are you apologizing?'.
"I-I'm sorry Ms. Cecilia, I won't stare again..."
Koji slightly cringed as he apologized, but Cecilia's arms unfolded and she sighed, reaching out and gently grabbing his small hand and leading him out the carriage.
"It's okay Koji, just I hope you don't end up as bad as Ecchi--oh, and please don't be influenced by what he says."
Koji nodded as she spoke and was still a bit embarrassed at being caught checking her out; too bad, if he was Ecchi then he would have just continued looking!
"Alright Koji, we are here; prepare for the duels."