Chapter 4: 3 - °What Spending Money°
Coming from his entranced state, which helped him gain enough focus to have witnessed some of the exchange of blows from the legends, Gin couldn't help but wonder how far he would have flown if he had been the one at the receiving end of that kick. He would have probably been blown away to the Ice Desert or further than there. He gulped and looked at Flower, who, surprisingly, was also looking at them. Well, not them, Gin figured and turned his head in the direction of Flower's lust-filled gaze. It was his mother.
Due to Flower's abrupt pause, Kiri took advantage of the situation. He sheathed his greatsword, quickly leaped towards Flower, and tackled them down. Flower's dagger flew from their hand, shortsword still firmly grasped, but seemingly useless as they released an "umph" when they landed on the stone ground. Kiri straddled Flower, grabbing their collar in the process, and raised his fist to punch them, but before he could start, he was interrupted by Flower's sudden persistent smacking.
"Hey, hey, hey," Flower said as they reached up and smacked Kiri's face several times, "You beast, look over there!"
Flower's bobbing head was motioning towards Gin and his parents. Kiri looked over, his gaze swiftly passed Gin and his father to be locked on to Sari.
"Oh my..." Kiri gasped.
"Right?" Flower released a sly laugh.
Not wasting time, Kiri stood, kicked Flower on their abdomen, and dusted himself as he made his way to the Ena family, walking away from Flower's groaning figure with a swagger, his eyes staring intently at Sari.
"My Lady," said Kiri with a bow and a smug smirk on his lips when he reached them.
Sari didn't look displeased, which didn't surprise her companions much, but what she merrily responded with, did: "Son."
Flower, who had been clutching their stomach from pain, started howling with laughter as they struggled to get up. That one word left them in stitches simply because, in simple terms, Kiri was just shoved off the pedestal of being a suitor.
"Son?!" Gin and Sato cried in unison.
Sari couldn't help but roll her eyes at the two oafs beside her. She loved them to bits, but their subconscious unwillingness to get into the arts of throwing shade had always baffled her.
"My lady, you are the most beautiful star I have ever laid my eyes upon. It would do me great honor to be with you for the rest of my life." Kiri knelt with his hands over his heart; the most common gesture of one seeking to court another.
'The hell? Such drastic changes!' Gin stared at Kiri in astonished rage. He wondered if the man before him was truly Kiri the Wanderlust because nothing in the news of the legends had mentioned him being an insufferable flirt!
"No, it would not! My mother doesn't need such nonsense! Also! She is married! Stay away!" Gin said protectively, shaking his fist at Kiri as if the pebble of a fist would have done terrible damage to one of the 5 legends.
"I see, experienced are we?" Kiri smirked and wiggled his thick eyebrows at Sari, who looked lovely with her sweet smile, her hand holding onto her cigarette with much grace.
Gin almost choked on his spit as he gawked, unable to understand the audacity one could have.
"Are you rich?" Sato suddenly asked Kiri.
"Why?" Kiri asked in confusion with a small tilt of his head, eyes still on Sari.
"Because you'll need to be rich to satisfy her greedy little appetite. I'm the husband, for your information." Sato grunted, throwing a withering look at Sari.
Gin looked at his father, abashed by his nonsense. He was the one that was supposed to keep his mother safe?!
"That shouldn't be much of a problem. I am the so-called prodigy, hm, legend, if you will. Also, I'm quite strong." Kiri gloated as he stood, raising his eyebrow suggestively.
"I don't care if you are the stuff of legends or butchers! Stay away from my mother!" Gin demanded furiously. In the background, Flower was finding it hard to breathe, laughing as hard as they were.
"Oh, hash with you," Sari laughed and waved at her son and husband with her cigarette in hand. Gin and Sato alighted their cart to get away from her, as was her intent.
Before Gin could fume some more, he caught sight of Il San walking towards them. His gait was slow but purposeful. He looked mighty, his wrinkled face showed that the elder was filled with wisdom and tenacity. As he neared them, Il San sent a sharp glare towards his students before looking back at the family of three. Gin turned fully to look at him, straighten his back, and clamped his mouth shut. His father had also noticed the Master's approach and went to meet him halfway through the yard.
"Sir," Sato bowed towards Il San, "I hope you are in good health."
Gin followed his father briskly, and behind him was his mother. Her cigarette was extinguished and hidden somewhere, a small smile on her lips. They both bowed deeply to Il San when they stood in front of him.
"Thank you for agreeing to our selfish request and taking our son under your wing for these three months," Sari said pleasantly.
The shifting mood in the front yard caused Gin to suffer a headache. One moment he was seeing a voracious fight among legends, and witnessing the Divine Art! Legends he had only heard about and never seen even once when he had visited the Distant Jade the few times he had. To his disgust, said legends turned out to be leeches! Then the situation changed again to have all formalities remembered!
'Wait! Divine Art?' Gin froze.
"Gin, greet the Master," his father reminded him.
"Yes! Greetings, Master! Thank you for having me for the next three months. I will be under your humble care," Gin stated in a fluster, his bow becoming even deeper. A mumble of something unintelligible and a fit of laughter followed it assaulted him from behind making Gin want to claw at his ears.
"Rise," Il San ordered, not at all perturbed by the antics of his students. "You will have your room in the south wing. That is where my disciples used to reside. Everything you need should already be prepared. One of my servants will take your things in with you and show you to your room."
"Yes, thank you, Master," Gin bowed again.
"From now on, you will call me Master in its truest sense. You might as well learn a thing or two while you are under my roof," Il San uttered in indifference.
It took Gin a second to form a reply as he doubted his ears, but he knew he heard right. When what the Master said registered, he was pleasantly surprised by the opportunity. Learn a thing two from Il San, the Master of the legends? Not many would have been able to get such an invitation, and he wouldn't be so unwise and to reject!
"Yes, Master!" Gin grinned as he answered. But, his joyous feelings were interrupted by the low chuckles from not only Flower but Kiri as well.
He knew he was acting naively, but he was excited by the prospects of an experience that didn't cost him much, especially in terms of his livelihood. Even if the elder wanted to teach him the art of throwing rocks, Gin would still have flown to the high heavens for receiving such an honor!
Was Gin a lover of the Fighting Arts? No, not at all. The life on the farm had molded him to love the life of slow days and consistency. The work was arduous, true, but it gave him enough leeway to experiment on his hobby of being an independent scholar on the chronicles of literature. If he had wanted to pursue the Fighting Arts he would have signed up with the military.
He wasn't sure if his family moving would grant him the same lifestyle, but he believed in time he would find a rhythm. As dubious about the move as he had been, when he thought of the large selection of scrolls and bound books of his favorite writers available in the capital compared to the town or city, he felt it was worth it. To Gin, learning how to fight presented neither pros nor cons. However, he had learned through the bitter experience of reading some lackluster collections of tales about heroes performing very impractical heroic fits, which had at one point predominantly circulated the city, that learning Fighting Arts could bring a whole host of problems. Problems he would personally not enjoy dealing with!
Gin also didn't deceive himself with the thoughts of learning the Divine Art because that was a pipe dream in the longest and thinnest of pipes. The Divine Art was no folly to be regarded so lightly, especially its tutelage. On top of it all, Gin had little interest in the Art, so he would be happy with simple lessons, something that could help him maintain his fitness since he wouldn't be doing any farm work, some defensive moves if he was lucky.
"Sir, we have a long journey ahead of us. We will have to leave your gracious presence," Sato informed with a joyous smile.
"Worry not. Go, go. The roads get crowded at this time of the day," Il San nodded.
Indeed, Gin's parents still had a day's journey ahead of them, a journey made longer due to the traffic of carriages and carts transporting various goods. When they reached the city, they had another two weeks of travel to reach the Royal Capital. The faster they got to Janln City the better since they would have enough time to prepare for the long journey.
Luckily for them, they had, barely, enough hired workers. 10 strong and quick hands that his father could 'spare from the tight budget', worked hard alongside Gin and his father on their 50-acre farm fields that had produced last year's fourth-highest number of bushels in Enwa. Said harvest had been exported to the Agriculture Bureau and as a reward, the family had their production tax reduced by 4 bags for the coming year. Half the workers were to join and assist Gin's parents in the city the following day with the remainder of their things to start the long trip ahead.
Since Gin's assistance wasn't required due to the availability of the farmworkers, it was decided he would stay with Il San instead of joining his parents. And, him staying behind cost less as his father had one mouth less to feed.
After bowing again, Sato and Sari pulled Gin towards the cart to take his simple belongings.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
RedNuru
RedNuru ^o^
'Divine Art' title was for short-term usage, but it stuck, so here we are!
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