𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐎𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧

Chapter 4

Yoshin didn't say a word, knowing she was right....he looked to the left and tried walking out of the shop. Arcadia stopped him by squeezing his wrist tighteragain. "Don't do anything stupid you hear! You could get yourself seriously hurt!" Yoshin's yanked his hand back, making her let go. "I should go, thank you for the bread, Arcadia..." Arcadia simply sighed and nodded as she saw Yoshin walk out of the shop. It was getting pretty late out but Yoshin had to make one last stop. "Well...I should make it quick." He thought to himself as he would walk into an alley he came to feed his friend, Jerry. It was a black skinny cat that was the only one that seemed to listen to him. He couldn't bring it with him though, it already had an owner, though his owner didn't treat him very well...but Yoshin couldn't do anything much about it besides feed him as much as he could. Since he had an extra loaf of bread, he gave him Half of one loaf and pet his head. "See you tomorrow Inky" he said in a present tone as he would give a small smile and walk away. "Well...I should be heading home" said Yoshin as he took a step out of the alley, then BOOM Yoshin hit a young girl while on his way out. Standing 5,6 she was dressed quite expensive she'd say. "Hey watch where you're going boy!" Said in an irritated tone.Yoshin felt somewhat irritated himself, but he simply stood up and continued to walk. The young woman felt herself getting more and more irritated as she'd yell out. "Hey, do you know who I am?!? Hey get back here!" The young girl shot up and ran to him. Yoshin paid her no mind, all he wanted to do was get back to what he called home. "Hey are you even listening to me! Helloooo!?!?" He simply kept walking, ignoring her. "What's your problem anyway! Who are you!" Yoshin would sigh and stop in his tracks. "Why does it matter so much to you? I don't even know you..." she would jump in front of Yoshin and say. "Why is it so difficult for you to just tell me!" He had a bored look on his face as he looked at the young lady. "Hmph, my name is Yoshin, are you happy now?" She chuckled and looked at Yoshin with a sassy look on her face. "Yoshin huh? What a dumb name, my names lu-" Yoshin cut her off by walking by her ignoring her once again. "How dare you- You little rat!" Yoshin's patience was getting thin. "Oi, lady are you going to follow me home?!?" She huffed and looked away. "Until you apologize, I won't be leaving! Look at my outfit! It's all ruined." He'd sigh and stop once again and turned to the young lady. "I am sorry you were in the way, is that what you wanted?" "uh? In the way?, you ran into me! I am Lux the daughter of the tohaan waing-''''jeez- I didn't ask for all that..." Lux, hearing what he said, began to get angry "You may not care but you will when you have to face the wrath of my family" Turning around Yoshin said in a serious tone "I don't care who you or your family are, I'm just trying to live the same as anyone else, let alone why would your family care enough to punish me for bumping into you when I have no title or land, what could they take from me anyways?" She was in shock as this was the first time someone talked down to her. "W-well I-..." "that's what I thought" he'd look up in the sky and see a full moon. "Tch...damn, I should get going!" Yoshin would start to pick up the past. After some time he'd finally arrive there. "Well, I'm getting pretty tired, I should get some rest." Yoshin ate a piece of the bread and then laid down. "Just what was that girl's problem anyway...hm..." he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning when he woke up, there was an unusual shadow blocking the light from the holes in his shelter, as if someone were standing outside of it. Once he got up and blinked the sleep out of his eyes, he walked out of his tent to see it surrounded by imperial guards ''Huh, that girl really wasn't playing around." One of the armored men began "On behalf of the Tohaan Waing family, you are hereby formally invited to a duel to the death with Lord Kellan Waing, on accordance you will be given weapons of your choice, if you are found cheating, you will be put to death unless stated otherwise. If you do not appear, the Imperial guard will not hesitate to hunt you down." In between two of the men was that little princess from before, Yoshin couldn't recall her name, with her nose stuck up in the air, all high and mighty.
It was only a small bother to Yoshin, he was quite used to pampered little girls such as herself putting themselves in the way of everyone around them, it was like they couldn't survive without the attention.
Yoshin hadn't been training as much, and going against a lord surely meant he'd lose. The armored men funneled away back into the city as Yoshin sat down on the ground next to his long extinguished campfire, folding his hands together he began to think, there must be some other solution to this, It wasn't that he was scared, only he had to come to terms with his situation, he was going to be beaten to a pulp if not finally killed, if he didn't find a solution.
An idea popped into his head, surely he didn't like it but it was better than the latter. He made his way to the royal manner that overlooked the small town, it must be a vacation home or something, no royal would live in it otherwise. He made his way up the extravagant stairs, each engraved with a unique character symbolizing the royal family's "Humble and caring nature." From his experiences with the family already, Yoshin had a hard time believing that. Once he made his way up the stairs, he came face to face with a huge mahogany door, the clasps looked to be made of gold and the platings were as well, they were smithed into ornate symbols, and on each side of the door were two miserable looking men, he made eye contact with one and the man opened the door. Upon walking inside, he laid his eyes upon an ancient, temple looking building, it had lanterns hanging off of horned shaped legs on the roof, the roof itself being made of tile the color of dusty emeralds.
The entrance to the building was heavily decorated, wax dripped from the hanging candles into gold bowls below. Rolling his eyes "What kind of decoration is that anyways.?" He walked up to an elderly looking man, dressed in a green and white robe. "Where can I find the princess?" the man, in a groggy tone, says "The princess isn't taking any visitors right now.." Footsteps quickly approached from behind Yoshin "Actually! I am now."
After the girl took Yoshin to a separate room, she sat down, looking at Yoshin with a sly smile "Come to beg for your freedom now Mutt?" Just the fact that this girl thought she owned everyone in the world got Yoshin irritated. "ACTUALLY, I came to make different arrangements, I do not want to fight, as I never learned how." It was a lie, but he didn't want to put in the effort to fight, let alone let people see his power. "I'd like to work under the Waing household until whatever debt you think I have, has been paid. Not only am I a hard worker but I am efficient at any task, and do not argue with whatever is given to me, on top of that I do not cause issues between staff or spread gossip, whether it be true or not." She laughed smugly "What changed your mind? I thought you didn't care about us"
He knew she was trying to get on his nerves so he calmly replied "I cannot fight, and I do not wish to live my life on the run for something as petty as this."

She snickered and said "Well then, you can start today, but do expect to be given harsh jobs, not from me, of course, but from my brother, who already does not like you." He bowed, still keeping his cool "Of course, I will not turn down any job no matter the difficulty." He began to leave the room but the girl called out "Ah ah ahh, I did not dismiss you." He went back, standing and staring at the wall waiting to be dismissed. "As for your first task, sweep around the whole manor, you have until dawn, or you may not have supper, we are very strict here after all, NOW you're dismissed."
Yoshin exits the room and follows a servant down to the servants quarters, searching for a broom, while searching he bumped into a person, upon turning around he met eyes with the girl from the bread shop, she looked surprised but gave Yoshin a sweet smile "Arcadia right?" She nodded "What are you doing here, Yoshin?" He let out an exasperated sigh "I made a deal with the princess, or whatever, that instead of having to duel the lord, I'd work until my debt was paid, my debt being god knows what, I don't even owe them anything but it was the only other solution I could think of." She tilted her head to the side, there was a part of Yoshin that found it cute, and her big eyes, he could almost get lost in them. He coughed, clearing his throat awkwardly "You uhh.. You wouldn't happen to know where a broom is, would you?" She nodded once again "Ah yes, I'll take you to the closet, it has all the bigger cleaning supplies that aren't able to be stored anywhere else brooms, mops, buckets." She led him to a dark closet and closed the door behind them. She lit a candle and looked through the mass of wooden handles until she found a broom, upon handing it to him, Yoshin's and her hand touched each others, at that moment he looked down at her, and she looked up at him, call it a spark, or maybe all his bad luck, but Yoshin leaned in closer to her, almost touching lips before another servant opened the door quickly, Yoshin shot away and held the broom awkwardly "U-Uhh, thanks, for the help, that is.." He said, before quickly walking away.
He couldn't get his mind off of what happened earlier, and got distracted when sweeping, upon noticing, he'd seen that he didn't have much time before his deadline for the task was up, and not having eaten breakfast, he didn't want to miss out on a meal he didn't have to hunt and cook himself.
He started sweeping quicker and tried as hard as he could to beat the deadline, but his hope was quickly fading, when suddenly Arcadia came out, with a few other servants, all carrying brooms "We noticed you were having a hard time so we decided to come and help" With their help, he was able to finish sweeping just before the deadline, though from a high window in the manner, the princess witnessed this, and was not happy, she stomped her way down into the servants quarters as Yoshin, Arcadia, and the rest of the ones who helped made their way inside. "Unfortunately-"
"Since he received help, Yoshin here will not be
allowed at supper, yes I didn't specify that he couldn't receive help, but on behalf of the lord, he will be punished, and his supper will be given to another."
Yoshin had figured that this would happen, though it still annoyed him. Arcadia nudged his arm "Meet me outside after you talk to her" she whispered. He followed the princess up to a room "What is that about, I haven't eaten all day and now you're just going to let me starve? I did the task did I not? Just because I got help doesn't mean it still wasn't done properly." She shrugged, sitting on the desk in the front part of the room. "Yeah, but I just felt like it, that's all, plus you can't fight it because you're just a peasant and I'm a princess, no one would take your side over mine." Yoshin simply waited to be dismissed. Eventually the girl dismissed him, throwing insults at him as he left the room. He made his way outside to Arcadia, she started to say "I don't know why she is the way she is, but come with me, I'll make you dinner at my home." She took his hand and walked with him out of the manor walls, they walked down through the town, talking about whatever they could think of. Eventually they made it to her house and she brought him inside, sitting him down "I'll make you something to eat."
After eating, Arcadia walked with him to the entrance of the village "I'll see you tomorrow?" Yoshin nodded and walked back to his camp, he flopped down on his makeshift bed and sighed, eventually fell asleep. Little did Yoshin know this was going to be a repeating process, and he sure as hell was not going to like it.