Chapter 29: Three Days
Three days till the bandits appeared to ask for tribute. Three days to train. Three days to help the School of Muramasa with its daily tasks.
Kazi became a self-appointed leader and chose roles for every person. Elena, Marta, and Aisha did the cooking, cleaning, and set-up some traps. John and Sun-young watched over the injured students. David stood guard outside to warn them in the event the bandits arrived early. Kazi himself went to chop trees with William tagging along. The trees that grew from the up-down were their targets as it would better preserve the forest. The students of Muramasa were very specific about it.
William was ecstatic about it. Broad-shouldered, he possessed a natural talent swinging the axe. Tiny chips of wood went flying as he sliced the branch like butter. Kazi was taller and less muscular, yet achieved slightly less success. Form seemed to matter plenty in wood chopping.
"Phoo!" Thwack! Another branch cut, William tossed it to the pile. His focus was on his strength and resilience, hence why it surpassed Kazi's despite William being Level 13, a whole three levels lower. "This is fun, isn't it?"
Kazi snickered. "For an axeman, it's probably fun. For the rest of us amateurs, it's just labour."
"Fair enough!" Thwack! "Being here is nice though! My grandfather was a legend, see. He was the real guy chopping trees down. My dad expanded the business and he still knew how to do it but—" Thwack! "He never got out often and when I got to middle school he stopped going altogether. Honestly, I used to be so jealous of my granddad. Nothing's better than the outdoors, eh?"
"But you still look up to your dad. That's good."
"Look up to him...I wouldn't say that. He was the...what's the word...aloof type. Always working, always—" Thwack! "...ignoring me and my mom. It's not like I hate him but there's no hard love either."
"Don't you miss anyone else in your life?" Thwack! Kazi failed to replicate William's incredible swings. He huffed and eyed the younger male from the corner of his eye.
"My mom and...that's really it. My mom."
Kazi's eyes swallowed his form. William's feet were shoulder-width apart and his right hand gripped the axe handle near the base, his non-dominant gripping the handle higher up. The wind-up though. That was where the secret was.