Chapter 7: Leaving the Bird's nest (2)

During the battle, Reinhardt had imagined that his son's naivete would end up making him lose. He believed that Ryu would hesitate to move thus, jeopardising himself. 

Yet at the final interaction, something unexpected occurred. Ryu had skillfully used the moon's lighting to deceive Reinhardt's eyes, not only that but he showed incredible manoeuvrability as he spun mid-air almost inhumanely, and landing a blow to Reinhardt's face. 

Of course, he had countered it, but it wasn't something Ryu should've been able to do. Or rather it wasn't something he ever did before.

"What kind of father doesn't go a bit easy on his son? You slammed your sword into me!" Ryu complained as he got up, surprising Alice and the other two sitting by him. Reinhardt finally turned around, calming himself down at least on the exterior.

He may have seemed calm but he was actually thinking furiously of what could've allowed, Ryu, a 15 year old boy with no experience to be able to trick the expert was unheard of.

However, it was simple for an otherworlder.

Ryu as someone who has watched cringy shows and had his own delusional phase knew as a fact what kind of things he had imagined. He had only replicated his imagination into real practice, due to the fact that he had the ability to do so.

It was thanks to amazing calculative abilities that Ryu calculated the trajectory of the light that came from the moon, it was a circumstantial move but it had definitely work.

"Of course I didn't hold back, you were going straight for my head." Reinhardt retorted, which was fairly logical, to be honest. Alice however, was very confused as she looked back and forth learning of the moves.

"so? You bit my spear into dust!" 

This explains how the spear's tip was crudely broken and only the grip remained. 

In the split second of attack, as Reinhardt was caught off guard, he could no longer hold himself back as he opened his mouth and to Ryu's horror bit down on the blade, shattering with just his teeth. Whilst at the same time, whipping the flat part of his sword right into Ryu, sending him flying.

It was honestly lucky that Reinhardt had used his flat side of the blade, had he used the edges, Ryu would've been cleaved in two.

Sadly, however, the injury, whilst not that serious, knocked him unconscious with more than just a few bruises. It seems that the rest of the conversation would have to wait for another day.

1 day later

Ryu felt his eyes flutter after having been asleep for an entire day, as soon as he gained the feel for his body, pain flowed through his mind. 

"urk"

a groan barely escape, but his mouth which was so dry it felt like sandpaper, couldn't let out more than a slight whimper. He opened his eyes, adjusting to the scenery and realised he was back in his room. Immediately, he sat up.

But the abrupt movement caused him to feel yet another pang of pain as he got up, clutching the side of his abdomen. Regardless, he wasn't that bad in a condition where he couldn't even walk. So he got up and slowly walked to the door. Limping was the more accurate actually, he edged towards the door and laid his hand on the handle when...

"Are you awake Ryu?" a very loud female voice shouted while slamming the door open. It was Ayame. But in the process, she squished Ryu's hand into the wall.

Now under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be that bad if someone's hand got slammed against the wall, with a metal pin against it. But this was Ayame.

A super strong knight sister, that  brute forces everything. Of course, Ryu felt a very substantial amount of pain. He fell to his knee as he felt his knuckles make sounds which they really shouldn't.

"oh hey Ryu, what are you doing on the ground?" Ayame asked as if nothing was wrong. Either she was pretending or she was just unaware.

"ack, t-the.." Ryu tried to respond but got cut off.

"what's that?" Ayame asked leaning in slightly.

"the d-door..." 

"what about it?" She asked cluelessly. Seriously, was she messing with him?

"LET GO OF THE FREAKING HANDLE!" Ryu finally shouted as Ayame jumped back reflexively. She hadn't expected him to start shouting as she got closer, but thanks to that he was free.

Ryu grabbed his hand which had turned swollen and a bit red, as he massaged the bones softly. It seemed like he was trying to pet a bird or something but he was just trying to calm his own pain. 

"Oh sorry..." his sister shrunk back slightly, however, she recovered rather quickly. After all, what she was about to say took precedence. "Ryu. Father has ordered you to come to the study."

There it was. The main reason for her coming to see him. Ryu too got serious. After all, this concerned his freedom. Ryu nodded and followed closely behind Ayame. She tried to not to show her nervousness as to worry Ryu, however, it seems that she wasn't very successful.

"relax sis, the worst he'll do is kick me out. That's basically what I wanted anyways," Ryu shrugged.

 It may seem like he was making light of the situation, however, his point of view was anything but. He had no intentions of taking it easy, he had lost the battle. 

However, one thing it seemed Ayame was forgetting is the fact that it was never established that he had to win. The condition was to prove that he wasn't being naive, and to Ryu at least, he did considerably well by his standards.

Without Ayame knowing, a grin threatened to surface on Ryu's face, but he subdued the desire as he stopped in front of the lavish wooden door.

It had intricate designs, one would instantly know of its nobility and high quality simply due to the frame. 

In the silent hall, a couple of knocks rung out and a voice from the inside boomed,

"enter."

A domineering voice. It was absolutely toneless, with a lack of emotions, a voice that was both intimidating and professional.

Ryu gulped audibly as he turned the door, which opened with a slight creak. As it swung outwards, it slowly revealed more and more of the room. A typical study really. A few three stack shelves on either side of the walls, neatly ordered by number and regularly looked after. The room had a slightly sweet scent, that calms the mind. In the middle just in front of the windows facing the outside, sat a wooden desk. It was particularly larger than the usual desk, but it made sense as it had to fit Reinhardt's large frame. 

"now..." Reinhardt said in a low voice, he sounded almost uncaring and threatening at the same time, "what do you have to say for yourself?" 

Ryu's face stiffened, he couldn't get a read on Reinhardt's intention, nor did he have a clue of what to say. Of course, he hadn't assumed he would win, it was rather impossible for him to win under those circumstances and with a body, he hadn't even gotten used to.

However, when faced with such a stern expression, he only realised how he had no idea of how to combat the presence of Reinhardt himself.

"...."

"You decided to fight against your calling, deciding to be an adventurer, what will you do now that you have lost?" Reinhardt asked eerily. 

His voice wasn't very discernable, he seemed relaxed but ready to kill based on Ryu's response. He was once more reminded of who his father was, Reinhardt Skyborne, the man dubbed the heroic knight. 

However, Ryu's response was one to shock them, "I feel like I proved my point during the fight," Ryu sighed as he crossed his arms. He didn't seem cocky or anything, but definitely exuded a sense of confidence. Meanwhile, Ayame and Alice were having difficulty comprehending Ryu's intentions.

It was understandably difficult for them to see his reasoning, after all, the behaviour of their child and sibling respectively was extraneous. An uncalculated variable which made no sense, he had never once acted in such a way before. 

While everything could be chalked up to the blessing, it was hard for them to understand why he would do such a thing. Not only challenging his father acting in a manner like this.

"...You did. You proved you would at the very least survive if thrown into the world of adventurers," Reinhardt admitted, a sense of relief filled the room before instantly solidifying into a heavy weight, "however, you failed to show that there is no need for you to go knight school."

It was a sudden change from a moment of acceptance, yet it was true. Ryu himself was aware and cursed the fact that he hadn't been able to get used to his body yet.

Magic would've played a big factor in the battle, had he been able to use it. However, since the body his was strange and unknown to him, he couldn't how to unleash his magic power. Ryu didn't know what to do to unseal his power. After all, the concept of mana flowing through his body from his internal core was a concept foreign to him.

He also wasn't able to claim that he could use magic. Since the obvious question that would rise would be 'why didn't you use it then?' To which he had no response.

Ryu and Reinhardt stared at each other for a second. They looked into the other's eyes to see their thought process. It was as a wise but sexist person once said "men exchange emotions through their blades rather than words."

As the atmosphere seemed to tense a bit further, it was abruptly interrupted,

"I have had enough!" A loud voice emerged, startling both Ryu and Reinhardt. Their heads whipped in the direction of the voice, to show the source of it.

It was Alice. She seemed to be on the verge of bursting, her face was red as if the blood vessels had all gathered in her head. Ryu managed to notice from the corner of his sight that his father had started to sweat profusely.

His attention however was torn away by a loud stomp from Alice, "you two are father and son! Why are you acting like you are about to kill each other?!" 

All in all, it seemed comparable to a child's tantrum. Except for the fact that Alice wasn't an easy person to calm and she would tear apart the house quicker than anyone else.

"w-what? No, I wa-" Reinhardt got cut off.

"you are his father, act with a bit more grace will you! What's wrong if the boy wants to explore a bit? You shouldn't limit him to being a knight only!" Alice pushed back Reinhardt as she loudly, and rather comically approached Reinhardt.

Her tiny hand banging against his metal armour seemed almost unnoticeable, but it probably felt like a shower of hammers being thrown from the perspective of Ryu.

"and you!" she turned to suddenly face her son.

"H-huh? Me?" Ryu repeated confused, why was he in trouble.

"he is your father, right? I understand he might be strong but that doesn't justify you trying to skewer his head." she lectured. And thus the two sat on their knees for a very long time, listening to their mother and wife rant.

No matter the generation or world, it seemed mothers were always fierce when it came to arguing.

Chapter end.