Water God Leda

The sun gradually sank below the horizon.

The sunset dyed the outlines of the towering buildings gold and red, shadows spreading from the depths of the alleys, while the clamor of the bustling streets still showed no sign of stopping. Hilde crossed the broad avenue paved with stone slabs, following the direction Isolte had pointed out earlier.

Before long, a fairly sizable wooden compound came into view.

Its whitewashed walls looked clean and solemn in the twilight, and above the tall gate hung a dark wooden plaque. Even from some distance away, Hilde could clearly make out the Water God Style emblem carved into it—a simple longsword encircled by intersecting streams of water.

This was the place.

She quickened her pace, almost breaking into a run as she reached the front gate of the dojo.

It was evening now, and most of the businesses that had been lively during the day had already begun to close. The Water God Style dojo was no exception.

Linus, who had just seen off the last student, was about to shut the gate.

"Please wait!" Hilde called out.

Linus stopped what he was doing, his gaze quickly sweeping over Hilde.

"Training at the dojo has finished for the day. We are closed," Linus said, his tone still reasonably polite. "If you have business or inquiries, please come again tomorrow."

"No, I, um..."

Hilde steadied her breathing a little after the hurried journey. Without saying much more, she took the letter of recommendation from an oil-paper envelope carefully protected in the inner layer of her traveling bag.

"Please trouble yourself to deliver this letter to the Water God."

"Oh?"

Linus froze for a moment.

He took the letter from Hilde. There was no noble's wax seal on it, and the paper was rather coarse in quality.

Perhaps it was a letter written by some minor noble from a remote region.

Should a letter like this really be handed directly to the Water God?

Linus hesitated, then slid the door, which had already been more than half closed, open again, leaving a gap wide enough for someone to enter.

"Please follow me."

"All right, thank you."

Hilde bowed slightly, then turned sideways and stepped into the dojo.

The front hall of the dojo was quite spacious. The floor was laid with dark wooden boards polished smooth enough to reflect a person, and the air was filled with a faint fragrance of wood, sweat, and a scent mixed with something like mint. She had originally thought it would be a place thick with the smell of sweat, but it seemed that had been her own stereotype.

The walls were snow-white, hung with several calligraphy scrolls written in vigorous strokes. Most of them bore single characters such as "stillness," "flow," and "guard," or short phrases about insights into swordsmanship.

On the weapon rack to one side, dozens of practice wooden swords were neatly displayed, along with a few real swords.

Passing through the front hall, Linus led Hilde into a room off to the side.

"Please wait here for a moment."

"Yes."

After Hilde took a seat, Linus turned and walked deeper into the dojo.

The enormous training hall that had been noisy during the day was now empty, with only a few ever-burning lamps casting quiet halos of light in the corners, illuminating the smooth floor.

The air still faintly held the smell of rust and straw mats.

He crossed the silent training hall and proceeded down the corridor along the side. Portraits of past figures hung on the corridor walls, looking somewhat solemn beneath the dim lamplight. His footsteps echoed clearly through the passage, and at last he stopped before a plain zelkova door.

The door was ajar, light spilling through.

Linus knocked.

"Linus? Come in."

A calm, slightly aged female voice came from inside.

Linus pushed the door open and entered.

It was a simple tea room.

Water God Leda Lia sat seiza on a cushion behind the tea table.

She was around sixty, her silver hair tied into a meticulous bun, but her eyes were extraordinarily clear and composed. She wore a dark gray casual kimono, her posture relaxed.

"Water God."

Linus stepped forward and presented the letter with both hands.

"A young girl came to the front hall and asked me to deliver this letter to you."

Leda glanced at the letter, her brows lifting slightly.

She casually opened the seal, and then saw the familiar handwriting on the paper.

"Hm. To think it's from that fellow Augusta..."

Linus stood quietly with his hands lowered. The only sound in the room was the soft rustle of the letter paper being turned.

After reading it, Leda gently set the letter back on the table and pressed one corner down with a paperweight.

She looked up at Linus. "The girl who brought this letter—is her name Hilde Greyrat?"

"Yes."

"How old is she?"

"Around seven or eight. Definitely under ten."

"Was anyone else with her?"

"No."

Leda nodded slightly, thoughtful.

Augusta valued his friendship with her, and the last time he had recommended talent to her had been more than ten years ago.

Back then, that boy had been called... Paul, was it?

Augusta had originally intended to raise him as his successor.

He had indeed been a rather talented boy. Unfortunately, with that personality of his, there was no way he could have devoted all his energy to swordsmanship. In the end, he would only have let his talent go to waste.

That man did have a good eye.

"Go tell her to come to the dojo tomorrow morning. If she can pass the assessment, we'll take her in."

"Assessment?"

Linus froze for a moment.

Did the dojo have a rule like that?

"Just go and tell her."

"Yes, Water God."

"Also, has Isolte made any progress in her swordsmanship lately?"

"Everything is going smoothly."

At the mention of Isolte, a smile appeared on Linus's face.

"She possesses astonishing talent and never slackens in her training. From what I've seen, among those her age, I'm afraid there's no one who can match her. Perhaps in the future, she may even have hope of becoming the new Water God."

"Is that so? Then I'll personally test her after some time."

"I'm sure she will surprise you."

"Go on, then."

"Yes."

The brief conversation ended there.

When Linus returned to the side room, Hilde was still sitting upright where she had been.

Her pale golden hair fell to her waist, and the loose collar of her white cotton shirt revealed the clean line of her collarbones. Her water-blue eyes were clear and bright. A pair of white tights wrapped around her slender legs, which were pressed neatly together, and her skirt fell at just the right length. Only the sword hanging at her waist made her already small stature seem even more petite.

Judging by appearances alone, it really was hard to imagine she was a child from the countryside.

"Ahem." Linus cleared his throat.

"The letter has been shown to the Water God. You may go back for now. Come to the dojo again tomorrow morning, and you will be assessed then."

An assessment...

I hadn't heard there was something like that.

Still, it didn't matter.

Hilde rose and nodded slightly.

"Then I'll take my leave."

"Take care."

Linus watched Hilde leave, and only after her figure disappeared at the end of the street did he remember something.

This child had probably only just arrived in the capital.

Did she have a place to stay?

"What? It costs two large copper coins just to stay one night?"

"Is this robbery?"

Hilde stared at the price list the innkeeper had posted, dumbfounded.

"Fair prices, no cheating young or old."

The innkeeper was long used to reactions like Hilde's.

As the royal capital of Asura Kingdom, prices in Ars City were not something other regions could compare with.

"Kid, you just arrived in the capital, didn't you? Prices are just like this here. Mine's already on the cheap side, and I even provide hot water. You should be grateful."

"..."

Hilde turned and left the inn with a dark expression.

Unwilling to give up, she made a round through the city, only to find that it really was just as the innkeeper had said: the inns nearby were basically all at that price.

In fact, the inn she had picked at the very beginning was actually a little cheaper.

"I'll stay for three days. Can it be cheaper if I don't need hot water?"

"I can knock one small copper coin off each day for you."

"..."

Hilde gritted her teeth, counted six large copper coins out of her purse, and handed them to the owner, then got three small copper coins back.

As for hot water, she could handle that with magic.

Saving even a little was still saving.

After getting the key, she carried her meager luggage and pushed open the door to her room. The furnishings inside were extremely plain and simple: a bed, a table and chair, and a clothes rack. Other than that, there was nothing else. She casually tossed her luggage into the corner, then threw herself onto the big bed in the inn room.

The moment she relaxed, fatigue came surging up.

"Haah—"

Hilde let out a long sigh.

This was her first day arriving in the royal capital.

First she got lost, then she was shocked by the prices in the city, and after that she ended up owing a favor to that child named Izolte.

What even was all this...

Even with Hilde's maturity, she could not help starting to miss her hometown just then.

"Grrr—"

Her stomach issued a low protest.

Hilde got up helplessly and opened her luggage, just about to take out the dry rations she had not finished before to fill her stomach, when she suddenly saw the bread Izolte had given her earlier. The bread's toasted fragrance seeped through the wrapping bag and into Hilde's nose, making her swallow unconsciously.

Izolte Cruel...

As Hilde ate the bread, she recalled what the child had looked like then.

Though she had accepted it at the time, Hilde did not like owing favors.

She had to find a chance to pay it back.

Come to think of it, that child seemed to have been carrying a sword too.

Could she also be a student at the dojo?

That night.

For the first time since coming to this world, Hilde had a dream.