Closing his eyes and letting his mind travel without chains, the image of Princess Sui's face popped before his eyes. The beautiful eyes of the Princess of Tentochu looked at him closely, transferring positivity and sending a message of hope.
His entry into a guild, the future mission to the Blackvault mines. All this had never made him forget the promise he made to Sui in that Goldhaven dead-end street.
He knew that Sui Nishiyama, the Emperor's only daughter, would stay by that open window, no matter what happened. Under the tree that had assisted her childhood, she would wait to see Yoichi.
"You have already asked me this question, and I have already told you my choice, supreme Ryutaro. We were in front of my Sensei when I accepted," he confirmed. "Anyway, I still haven't figured out what kind of training you're talking about."
Ryutaro closed the book with both hands. Moving with his usual slowness, he placed it back on its shelf. The old warden dusted off his long red tunic with his wrinkled hands and fixed his headgear.
"Takamori is an exceptional warrior. If he teaches you how to fight, I will teach you my spirit cultivation technique", he affirmed, crossing his hands behind his back.
"Cultivation?" Yoichi inquired. The young tamer was always attentive to everything that was going on around him, but he had never heard of that word beyond Ryutaro.
"You will face your ego until you defeat it. When you are ready, Ildriss's true power will be unlocked, and, together, you will shine in the glint of its flame."
Ryutaro's profound speech instigated his interlocutor. Although Yoichi had an always-thoughtful way of behaving and never tended to exaggerate, the awareness of having such great power that he could fulfil his every dream made a smile appear on his face.
"And Kenji? What happens when Kenji levels up and evolves? It's going to evolve, won't he?" he asked.
"As far as I know, dragon-type demons follow the normal evolutionary stages of everyone else. So the answer is yes, it will evolve." Ryutaro answered the second question first, knowing that the first one was the most delicate.
"I'm not sure the world is ready for a dragon, boy, not after all this time. However, what I told you about the immortal Emperor Gonshiro is all true: according to ancient legend, the flame of a dragon is the only weapon capable of killing him," the monk continued. "Some will support you. Others will hunt you down and try to kill you. The job that Takamori and I are going to is to train Tentochu's best warrior."
Yoichi's got a load of Kenji. The little dragon unconsciously looked back at its tamer, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
Suddenly, Yoichi's stomach began to grumble. A severe cramp due to hunger forced him to bend from pain.
*grooarg* - "I beg your pardon, supreme Ryutaro, but... after sleeping for three days, I desperately need to eat something" he confessed. Showing sincere displeasure at interrupting that serious talk, Yoichi tried to maintain eye contact with his second Sensei.
"It's all right, boy. As promised, you can return to your guild's headquarter. Whenever you want, the Dojo will be here, waiting for you. And along with it, so do I", Ryutaro firmly replied. Slowly raising one arm, the hand coming out of the wide sleeve of the tunic pointed at the front door of the room.
Yoichi leaned further forward, turning the hunger cramp into a heartfelt bow. "Thank you, supreme Ryutaro. I'll come back to the Dojo as soon as I can," he stated, taking his leave.
"I hope so, Yoichi. I really hope so," Ryutaro spoke in a low voice. Step by step, the old watchman came up to the window. Without adding anything else, he looked with interest at the warriors in the arena.
When Yoichi left the gatekeeper's private room along with Kenji, he found himself in front of a wooden wall, about a meter from the door. That incredibly cramped space was the wall of a corridor that continued on the left.
Being the way to go, the young tamer deduced that it was the one that would lead him to the exit of the Dojo. After the first and last bend of that short corridor, a narrow staircase appeared before him.
Without hesitation and with his stomach grumbling nonstop, Yoichi descended the three flights of stairs separating the building's top floor from the floor below.
A square room, much larger than Ryutaro's opened in front of them. Throughout its perimeter and centre, dozens of monks and warriors were intent on meditating in absolute silence.
Thanks to its feline paws, Kenji was able to walk without causing any sound; on the contrary, Yoichi's legs, still aching because of the acupuncture, clumsily moved one after the other.
Striving not to bang his feet on the wooden floor of the Dojo, Yoichi walked to the next stairway. Three large rectangular horizontal windows were arranged on each side of the room, letting in a good amount of light.
Like those in the gatekeeper's room, the walls and floors were made of black wood and carefully clean. Although that sacred place was very busy and ancient, everything seemed new and brilliant, thanks to Ryutaro's scrupulous care.
The meditating men were sitting on the ground, on mats similar to that of the Dojo's guardian. Next to each of them, a jar with incense.
Their legs were perfectly crossed on each other, and their barefoot feet were hanging off the floor. The forearms rested gently on the thighs, and the hands were so relaxed that they looked like tree leaves.
Respecting the religious silence of that ancient and sacred practice, Yoichi walked on tiptoe to the staircase, accessing the floor below. Not having thought about what the Dojo looked like from the outside, the young tamer had not realized that there were five rooms used for meditation.
The floors areas increased towards the base and decreased towards the top of the building. The smallest of them was Ryutaro's.
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