She dashes for the small group of goblins, and just before she makes it, she unsheathes her sword with a perfect Iaijuitsu technique and strikes down three of them. Limbs go flying across the white beach sand, and all I can think of is, we have to clean that or take some out of our pay to have it done.
Great.
Esmeralda is my mentoree and has been for the last year. I wonder if this is another reason why Rinako doesn’t like me being a mentor? She’s human, young, fit, works very close to me, and wouldn’t you know it loves everything about Lycans and our culture. She even follows the path of Bushido. That’s something special as i don’t follow the code.
A lot of people from other cultures dug our style, but a lot of them were fakes. Not Esmeralda, she was the real deal. All you have to do is watch her wield that sword of hers, and you will know that she is a real samurai. Each step has a purpose, each strike hits its mark, and she makes you think that her katana is attached to her as fluidly as she uses it. s
She’s now getting starting on the last of the smaller goblins. If they hold true to their patterns, their leader should be out any minute now. I shade my eyes while I trying to enjoy the view of palm trees blowing in the breeze and the waves crashing in. The sound of it all would be so peaceful if it wasn’t for the multitude of yelps and screams. But that’s the line of work we’re in.
“Senpai-Yabe, am I doing good?” She asks, wiping the blood from her blade.
“Why do you even ask anymore, Ezzy?” I say with a sigh. I reach for my lunch that I stashed away.
“I want to make sure that I become powerful like you, of course.” She smiles.
“Are all the goblins dead?”
“Ano, Yes,” she says, looking around for more survivors.
“Are you bleeding,” I say, finally getting my sandwich free of the box.
“No, not a scratch.” She says, overly chipper.
“Then, you’re doing fine,” I say, biting into my avocado bacon club. Got to say this part wasn’t bad. I could just sit here and let her do all the work and get paid for it. It is especially lovely when I have a nice sandwich to go with it.
“I don’t see the leader anywhere, Senpai.” She says, taking a seat next to me.
“Give him time, He’ll be here.” I offer her one of the snacks I have. She blushes and waves it off.
“I can’t accept that Senpai, That’s your food.” She says, then grabs an onigiri, rice ball, from out of her lunch box. Yeah, this is definitely one of the reasons Rinako doesn’t like me working as a Mentor anymore.
It didn’t take much to see why either, Esmeralda is beautiful. Native to Los Mitichas and Human meant she had that sun-kissed skin and beautiful Human accent. She also took care of her self more than most warriors did. I mean, we all try to eat right and stay fit, but Ezzy was still a lady in many senses. Her silky black hair was always done up, which is a feat in itself as her helmet would generally mess it up. She didn’t wear makeup, the work we did would make that pointless, but she did other self-care things that made her beauty stand out. Somehow she even managed to keep manicured hands. That’s probably why she eats so much onigiri, all her money is going to the nail shops. I chuckle to my self and wipe my mouth after the last bite of my club.
Ezzy stops mid-bite, her body tenses, and she looks in the same direction that I hear bigger footsteps.
“Good, you’re starting to gain higher perception. Take your time with that last piece though, you have time.”
“Umm, yes, Senpai,” she says neatly, biting away.
“You know you could just call me Yasuhiro like everyone else, right?” I say, glancing in her direction.
“I could never.” She says, turning beet red and looking away from me. Ugh, she’s not making this easier on me.
Just as predicted, once Ezzy was finished with her rice ball, a big ugly goblin comes strolling up the beach. Donned with some scrap armor that he more than likely took off of someone else, he’s holding a giant ax. He looks around and sees all of the little goblins scattered about the sun-warmed sand and screams.
“You die!” raising his ax over his head, snarling at us. This was the worst part of the job. I’ve heard all these lines before. I mean, I’ve been doing it for about ten years, so I thought eventually someone would come up with some new material: Nope, same old same old.
“You want me to take this one?” I offer. She just shakes her head then hops off the rock we’ve been using as a bench and jog over to him. I really don’t know why I offered it. I guess I’m just bored. Ezzy moves around his attacks with such ease and hit at his weak points with grace and skill. She even parries one of his massive ax swings. That’s impressive, seeing as how she hasn’t begun to tap into her power. That means that soon, she’ll be strong enough to rank up to an A-class Slayer and finally be on her own.
All in all, that will just mean I’ll have to take another mentoree and possibly have the talk with Rinako again about joining the LMPD. Neither of which I’m too thrilled about. Seeing as how the city decides who I’m paired with, they could give me another young and beautiful girl, that will cause more tension between Rinako and me. Or I can take my chances and maybe get some desk job. Blah.
Wait, is that goblin trying to run from Ezzy? That didn’t take long. I guess ‘run’ is a relative word, she sliced up much of his legs so, hobble was a little more appropriate. While the goblin was fleeing, she sheathes her katana, and then her body starts up with a red aura. For the love of the ancestors, here we go. I place my hand to my face and prepare for the inevitable.
“Do you think you will get away from me foul beast! You will not live on to spread your vile corruption any further! You have terrified the people of Los Mitichas for too long. Your day has come goblin. Now you face the might of my divine skill. Kami no kuni no seigi no sutoraiki!” She shouts, then dashes past the goblin, taking his upper half with her. She pauses for dramatic effect. Well, I guess I did say I was waiting for some new material. But that’s not what I had in mind.
“Really!?”
“Did I do something wrong, Senpai?” She says, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
“Justice strike of the Kingdom of God? I’m taking away all of your anime.”
“No! That’s mean Senpai.” She shrills and flails her hand at me.
“You do remember we have to clean all of this, right? Or do you not mind handing over pay for someone to clean it?”
“Ano…,” She looks around timidly. “Oh yeah, kind of forgot about that part.” She laughs lightly, rubbing the back of her head.
“Ugh, we’re going to be here all day trying to get rid of all the blood you got everywhere. Get as much of it as you can in a big pile, I’ll see if my magic can’t do the trick.”
“Umm!” She gives me a big thumbs up, then runs off to follow my orders. At least she didn’t get any of it on me this time.
She works quickly, even using her powers to pull all of it together in as neat a pile as she can. Once done, she skips over to me, happy with the work that she’s done.
“Is this good?” She asks, clasping her hands together, clearly awaiting praise.”
“Yes, that will do nicely, give me a second to look through my spells,” I say, I take a heavy breath then opening the secret compartment to my armor to pull out my tablet. I Go through it to see if I have any better spells than freezing it all and pushing it out to sea. If I get caught doing that, there could be a fine, but what are the chances of that? I’d probably melt before it did any damage anyway. I put my tablet back and get ready to cast the spell. I’m so happy we moved away from the old spellbooks.
Conjuring the magic from the arcane source, I use the correct hand gestures and recite the words. Once I’ve done it all precisely. I feel the tingle of ice magic come over me, I envision my goal, and force it into the world. My freezing spell works, and it looks as if most of it encapsulated in the ice shard I create. I make my way over to it and, with a little bit of magic, fire it off into the sea in an empty spot.
I turn and face Esmeralda. She is avoiding my gaze by looking down and playing in the sand with her feet. I’ve never will understand how someone as powerful as she is so frivolous. I’m a bit jealous and a bit sadden. I miss my youth where nothing mattered but the thrill of the fight, but eventually, she will have to grow up, and that’s a sad sight.
“Come on, Ezzy, let’s go grab something to drink before we pick up another mission.”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“I’ve not been mad at you since…” she cuts me off.
“You told me you would forget about that!” she yells, waving her hands around.
“So yeah, no. I’m not mad. It’ wasn’t as bad as I thought. Take the picture so we can get out of here.” She gives me another nod then grabs her camera from her sac she kept nearby. I’m so happy we can take pictures now. I do not miss the days of lugging around monster parts in my pouch.
What’s this, My phone is ringing. I grab the earbuds from my neck guard and answer.
“Hello? This is Yasuhiro speaking.”
“Hello, Senor Yabe. This is the school.”
“Is everything okay!?” My heart kicks into full gear.
“Hako is fine, just in a little trouble is all.”
“Oh, no. What did Hako do?” I say easing on the feelings but still not in the clear.
“We’d rather you come down to the school so we can discuss it.”
“Call her mother, I’m working at the moment.”
“We did, Senor Yabe.” I gulp, and my heart goes back to full throttle
“And… you didn’t get an answer?” My voice cracking in the fear.
“No, we called a couple of times, actually.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I say, not giving her the chance to say goodbye.
My heart racing, I turn to Esmeralda. Her chipper smile meets mine as she returns after gathering the pictures.
“I have to go.” My urgency must be scaring her, she takes a step back.
“What’s wrong, Senpai?”
“I have to get Hako-chan from school, and my wife is not answering her phone.”
“Do you want me to go and check on Rinako-san while you go get Hako-chan?”
“Would you?” I can’t believe she offers.
“Of course, you’re more than my Senpai, you’re my friend. I’ll head right over there.”
“I owe you one, Ezzy.” She just nods, then her red aura comes back, and she dashes off. Using her power like that is going to burn through her stamina, but it is useful.
I calm my nerves and try to take a breath, once I clear my mind a little, I get a clear picture of the school in my head and check through my arcane eye I had set there to make sure the coast is clear. Perfect, I will myself there then prepare for the news.
Yaoguai 2
IJC Writing 