The Academy’s Sashimi Sword Master

It was the day Ryozo picked up a bow for the first time.

Tiiing.

The arrow lodged itself right on the borderline between the 10 and 9 points of the target.

“Impressive, young lady!”

“Did you see how the arrow flew? The speed with which it cut through the wind was reminiscent of Saki Yoichi, the ancestor of the Saki clan, Saki-nim!”

“It’s a blessing for the Jeolgung house, a true blessing!”

The servants of the Saki family showered Ryozo with praise for her skill. They didn’t stop lauding her.

Even strong men could barely pull the longbow, yet she, the moment she picked it up, had hit the mark.

Ryozo, inwardly proud, glanced at the Saki clan head who was watching her.

He kept his withered gaze fixed on the target. Without looking away, he spoke to his daughter.

— Ryozo, how many points do you think that arrow is worth?

She couldn’t open her mouth easily.

It was really right in the middle of 10 and 9 points, trembling between the two. It was hard to say it leaned one way.

The young Ryozo barely moved her lips before answering.

“…Nine points.”

— What is your reasoning?

“I’ll try harder until I hit ten points.”

The Saki head finally uncrossed the arms he had kept tightly folded.

Swoosh.

He extended his hand, and Ryozo shut her eyes tightly.

The next instant, a warmth brushed the top of her head.

— That is the correct answer.

It was the first and, in truth, the last time she ever saw her father smile.

— Remember this, my daughter. More than being optimistic, choosing self-criticism brings you closer to the right answer.

“…Thank you for the advice.”

— Ten years from now you will enter Joaquin Academy, but I will tell you beforehand. Since its founding, the founding hero has always emphasized the attitude of not compromising. To yield for comfort is to go against the founder’s will. Push yourself until you become the best. That is how you will find your answer, Ryozo. And then the founder’s blessing will be with you and you will enjoy eternal glory.

“I will strive to meet your expectations, father.”

— Ryozo.

“…Forgive me, clan head.”

……

It was already a blurry memory in her mind, but.

“The correct answer.”

That was the phrase that struck the bull’s-eye of her heart.

Her father’s recognition.

Looking back, she realized that in her adolescence she desperately yearned for that paltry recognition.

Until she met you.

***

“Father.”

Ryozo crossed her arms over the counter and sank her small chin into them as she spoke.

“May I tell you something for a moment?”

“In front of me you don’t need permission to speak, unless it’s about that boy, Geom-Ma.”

Ryozo smiled softly.

The lone light of the lamp fell upon the two.

“…I’ve always had the kind of personality where I need to know the correct answer to everything in order to feel at ease.”

Ryozo had been like that since she was a child. When something obsessed her, she investigated it to the very end.

That’s why Saki Kojima of the Saki family had set his eyes on her.

When that tenacity turned into “strength as a heroine,” he thought his daughter would achieve a prominent position in the world of heroes.

“But it wasn’t long before I came to a truth that was too important in this world. And that is that not everything in life has a correct answer, right? Especially when it comes to people.”

When she understood that truth, Ryozo was only seven years old. She hadn’t even entered elementary school yet, but already felt the void of a reality that didn’t fit together like a puzzle.

She grew up bearing all the expectations of the Saki family.

Even if she achieved impossible feats for someone her age, her father was never satisfied.

If she perfectly completed the tasks he imposed, she thought that was the correct answer.

“…But it wasn’t the answer, I was only rotting inside.”

Since childhood, Ryozo’s heart was worn down. Far too early she was soaked in weariness toward life.

The “correct answer.”

Chasing that impossible goal that could never exist in a single person’s life, she ended up in that state.

“He was a miserable father.”

Even when Ho Ah-Hyun insulted her father, Ryozo only gave a faint bitter smile.

Because it was true.

“Yes, he was truly a bad person. Not only did he separate me from my mother forever, but he always wanted me to be the best. He brainwashed me into thinking that being the best was the correct answer.”

Being the best equaled the correct answer.

That was once Ryozo’s view of the world.

“But as you know, I was not the best as a heroine. I realized that soon enough. And as soon as Abel, my family, appeared, my true lack of talent was revealed.”

The Lady of the Sword, Abel, was a talent of the highest level in her time.

Though overshadowed by Geom-Ma and Leon, most evaluated her as someone whose potential even surpassed the Sword Master.

“To my father, I turned out to be an incorrect answer.”

Suddenly turned into a mistake, Ryozo could only rely on her wit.

“No, in truth it was an escape.”

Thus she set out on another search for answers.

If her strength was a mistake, then at least with her intelligence she would find the true answer.

“But…”

Ryozo let her shoulders drop a little more, relaxing them.

“The conclusion I reached is that, from the very beginning, not everything has an answer.”

To debate between 9 and 10 points on the target made no sense.

What mattered was that, for the first time, she had stood properly before the objective.

That she had faced the problem. That was the essential thing.

Ryozo continued.

“These words could become another contradiction if I call them the correct answer. So I’ll just say they are a solution… or perhaps a wisdom of life.”

“You matured too soon.”

“One could say so. But…”

Ryozo paused for a moment before speaking again.

“Not as much as Geom-Ma.”

She remembered well the first impression she had of Kang Geom-Ma.

It was very intense.

At first, he was someone who got angry easily.

He got angry quickly and calmed down quickly.

“At the beginning, I only thought, what kind of guy is this?”

“Embarrassing.”

“Hmm, that’s not your fault, father. It’s Geom-Ma’s character. And just so you know, now I like that Geom-Ma.”

From that time on, for Ryozo, Kang Geom-Ma became a new enigma.

Why did he act that way?

He always pretended to want to avoid difficult situations, but in the end he shouldered all the problems alone.

Envy, jealousy, contempt…

He silently endured all kinds of negative emotions and still kept moving forward.

“That’s what I thought.”

But it wasn’t so.

Kang Geom-Ma didn’t just look straight ahead.

The more people walked at his side, the more actively he involved himself in everything.

“Because he had to protect.”

That was Kang Geom-Ma’s obsession. Even if he denied it, he cherished every bond. And he preferred to wield the sashimi blade himself rather than let others get hurt.

Others were fooled by his impulsive actions. But Ryozo knew that Geom-Ma was the most selfless person in the world.

He sacrificed himself, even hurting himself, in order to save others.

In the past, no one demanded it of him, and yet he fulfilled his duties as a hero.

“Is that perhaps the life with the correct answer?”

“……”

“I don’t know. But honestly, as family, I wish it weren’t like that. Abel and I always just wish he would let go of those burdens a little, that he would live more lightly.”

“True. If Geom-Ma had been an archer like you, Ryozo, he would never have entered Joaquin. Because he is someone who purposely shoots outside the center.”

Balor Joaquin vaguely understood why Geom-Ma suffered from that wound in his heart.

Even here, in this world, he remained the same.

“Sometimes I wonder, could it be that Geom-Ma deliberately rebels against expectations? That he strives to distance himself from the image of a perfect hundred-point Heavenly Sword that others want to see?”

“……”

“No, I don’t think so.”

She showed a faint smile.

“Geom-Ma accepts his own shortcomings. I think he believes that the moment he denies them, he will lose something very precious.”

Balor Joaquin, listening to Ryozo, hesitated.

‘What an admirable girl.’

Her intuition and insight admitted no comparison. Even Balor Joaquin, after countless regressions, had never seen such a talent.

‘So the only reason why the Kang Geom-Ma of this timeline was able to find the answer was you, Ryozo.’

Among infinite timelines, only the Geom-Ma of this world had transcended the outer gods and the God of the Sword. He had always wondered how he had managed it, and now he finally understood.

The people who acted as a beacon so that his tempestuous son would not stray onto the wrong paths. And at the forefront of those people was Ryozo, thanks to whom Geom-Ma did not lose his way.

‘…I feel like telling you.’

Balor Joaquin hesitated, but in the end opened his mouth.

“You want to know why that boy turned out that way, don’t you, Ryozo?”

Ryozo leaned her torso back slightly, then shrugged with a light smile.

Balor Joaquin asked his daughter-in-law, whose eyes showed a trace of melancholy.

“Do you want to know why he became that way?”

“Of course I do.”

But she added.

“However, even when I longed for the correct answer, I never wanted to look at the answer sheet. Much less now that I think in human relationships there are no correct answers. If I had an answer sheet before me, I would simply burn it. And besides, there’s Abel; it would be mean for me alone to dig into that.”

“Are you still competing with Abel?”

“With Abel I want to have a fair play.”

“Haha!”

Balor Joaquin’s laughter made the lamp sway in the air. Ryozo smiled with him.

“I plan to solve the enigma called Geom-Ma slowly.”

I want to know you.

I don’t want shortcuts disguised as explanations or add-ons.

Whether it’s a winding path or a steep one, I want to overcome it together with you, and thus create our own answer.

Even if that path ends up being a mistake.

Because an arrow straying from the target is not without value: it is part of the process.

And I intend to enjoy the process of reaching you.

“For an entire lifetime.”

That’s why Ryozo kept silent.

Even if it wasn’t a perfect ten-point answer, even if it was a missed shot, what she wanted was to contribute to your happiness.

“Well then, I think I’ve interrupted you too much already. I should let you go back to sharpening the blade, right?”

“Ah, this.”

Balor Joaquin tapped the edge with his fingernail.

It rang out clear and firm.

“I already said it before. I only wanted to do something because I was bored. From the beginning, this blade has never dulled.”

That was because Geom-Ma periodically treated it with the Blessing of Regeneration.

But what Balor Joaquin wanted to convey was not that reason.

“As long as no great disaster happens, it will not dull again.”

“……”

The founding hero was praising Saki Ryozo.

And of course, she understood immediately.

Balor Joaquin handed his daughter-in-law Murasame, the very extension of Geom-Ma.

“If that boy torments you or sometimes you don’t understand what’s going on with him, always come to consult me. Perhaps it’s favoritism, but pretending I didn’t hear your story would be too irresponsible.”

Ryozo humbly received Murasame in her hands.

The blue blade and the hilt still preserved intact the warmth of her father.

It had been a long time since she had felt the human warmth shared by an elder. Perhaps it was the first time since that day she fired her first arrow and received from Saki Kojima that sincere praise.

Ryozo held back her tears with all her strength, tightening her eyes and closing her tear ducts.

She didn’t want to show a pitiful sight in the middle of the night.

At least before this man, she wanted to appear as a dignified human being.

With great effort, she bowed her head.

“Yes, father.”

As she spoke it, she felt how the emptiness in her chest began to fill.