The Life of A Swordsman and His Angel

Chapter 3

Tense. That's how Soraru would describe the current situation he was in. Right in front of him sat the Chief of the Forest, along with his wife and the Mafu's older brother. Mafumafu was just beside him, sure, but being in the same room with the most important people of the forest was very pressuring.

"So," the Chief began, "you were the one who saved my son?"

Soraru gulped. "Yes sir.."

The chief smiled and let out a hearty laugh. "That son of mine always somehow gets into dangerous situations, but still somehow gets by."

Mafumafu blushed at this.

"But more importantly, thank you for saving my boy. I am really grateful," the chief continues.

The chief's wife and Mafu's brother both smile.

"It was nothing really, sir. I only did what I felt was the right thing to do," Soraru replied.

"How modest! Don't worry my boy, also call me uncle instead of sir. I wouldn't want my son's precious friend to think I'm some strict disciplinarian."

"Ah, yes... Uncle,"the ravenette said meekly.

"The, let's all eat!" Uncle exclaimed as they all started to dig in.

"Eh Mafucchi, are you not gonna eat the carrots?" Soraru asked.

"Hnnn I don't wanna," the albino whined in response.

"But carrots are good for you."
"I don't wanna eat them still."
"But they're good for you."
"But I don't like them."
"But they keep you healthy."

"Arghh fineeeee," Mafu finally gave in. 

"Oh they're actually good," he said after having a small bite.
"See."

The two laugh and chuckle.

All-throughout the meal, the young duo chatted away and made lots of jokes. Mafumafu in particular with his puns, to which Soraru didn't find so amusing.

"But puns are 'pun'ny," Mafu exclaims.

"Well what you said just now didn't even make me chuckle."
"Meanie.."
"Instead of the joke, your cute reactions make me laugh."

A small, nearly invisivle, tinge of red tickled Mafu's ears.

"Shut up," said the albino.

Mafu's mother somehow caught a glimpse of the youngest's blush and giggle to herself.

'How adorable, my son,' she thought.

After a while, they've all finished eating and the maids have started clearing up the table.

"Thank you for coming here today, Soraru-kun," the chief said.

"Thank you for having me as well. The food was great," the ravenette replied.

The Chief, his wife and Mafu's brother left the room along with the maids, leaving Soraru and Mafumafu to themselves.

"Was it fun?" the albino asked.

"Yes, but I was scared out of my wits every few seconds."

Mafu laughed at that. "Was it that pressuring?"

"I'm sure you know~" Soraru remarked.

The two laughed together. Honestly, there's never a dull moment between them. They always know how to make each other smile despite not having known each other for that long of a time.

A year later.

"Soracchi~!! Hurry up~!"

"Just a sec! I can't go outside without pants!"

A year has already passed since they've met and they've only become closer and closer ever since. Also, Soraru was slowly developing a sarcastic way of speaking lately.

"Ahh, you're so slow Soracchi! We'll be late," Mafu complained.

"It's literally 6 am and training starts at 6:30, also I'm gonna collapse of exhaustion if you'd woken me up even a second earlier."

"Shut it with that tone, I never raised you like that~" Mafu laughed.

"I never knew I had such a brat of a mother."

"You !?"

Soraru laughed as he ran all the way up the great mountain. Followed by a raging Mafu, they reached the waterfall that was only a bit below the summit.

"I'm surprised you didn't use your wings this time."

"BakaSora, I was only taking pity on you, blehhhh."

"Oh you are so getting it later."

The two continued on messing around till they heard a stern voice call out to them.

"OI, YOU TWO! QUIT FOOLIN' AROUND ELSE YOU'LL NEVER GIT ANYTHING DONE!"

With that, the two stopped bickering and obediently shut up.

"ANY MORE OF YER YAPPIN AND I'LL SLICE OF YER TONGUES, YA HEAR ME?"

"YES, URODA-SENSEI!"Mafu and Sora shouted in unison.

"Good, now start yer warm up exercises. No restin' in between, got that?"

"ROGER!"

The two started doing their daily 100 push-ups and jog around the village. Yes, you read that right, that is their warm-up exercise.

'This isn't supposed to be sparta,' Mafu thought.

'This old man… Damnit,' Soraru angrily cursed internally.

Once the clock struck 7:30 the two have finally finished their warm-up. But that's just the beginning.

"Haa… Haa…"

"Have mercy… Haa…"

The old man snickered. "That's all yer got?"

"OF COURSE NOT/ AS IF!"

Training began from 7:30 to 9, or also known as before breakfast. Well, after those one and a half hours, they did break fast, or so.

They've already done multiple things in the short amount of time. Balancing on numerous bamboo poles, weight-lifting under a raging waterfall, and sparring with Uroda himself.

"WE CAN FINALLY EAT!"

"Haa… Finally…"

After their meal, of course, they continued their spartan training until lunch time.

Long after lunch, they finally started on their advanced magic lessons. Soraru picked body enhancing magic and Mafu did elemental magic. Two of the greatest wizards in the forest village were kind enough to teach them both, as per the chief's request.

They both did their very best till supper time, when they finally had to go their separate ways.

"You improved your control over fire today, Mafu-sama."

"Great job, Soraru-sama. You can now enhance the strength of multiple parts of your body."

And so, the two head down to the mountain together.

"Ahh so tiring…"

"We do this everyday, don't go acting like a whining kid now-"

"Rude!" Mafu interjected.

Soraru chuckled, "I'm only messing with you. Well, this is where we part, bye Mafu."

Soraru waved good bye as Mafu followed suit.

"Bye bye Soracchi~!"

The next day, the cycle of hellish training and grueling studying starts again. Up until the day the entrance exam for getting into the Royal Academy draws near.