Martial Arts Worlds

After returning the broom back to the cleaning closet, Kiernan went straight to his room and closed the door, but the sound of music and laughter seeped through the ceiling.

'Is this why Arakawa Raizen doesn't live here. It is very rowdy.'

Kiernan thought to himself.

While he was cleaning, Arakawa Raizen walked out of the dojo and, without saying a word to him, left through the front gate.

The rest of the instructors lived on the fourth floor, but they didn't seem to mind the noise, as there was a silent hour starting at 10 p.m.

After the silent hour started, any noise during the night was completely forbidden, and if someone made noise, they would be tied to the garden's tree for the remainder of the night.

Kiernan sat down on his bed, and from his inventory, he checked out the Duelist's Map for fun as he wanted to know just how strong people in the town were.

And what he saw made him gasp, as it was something he didn't quite expect.

While Yokai Dojo had quite a few large red circles, mostly on the fourth and third floors, there weren't any crazy ones.

'Quite many Martial Masters and few Martial Grandmasters—I guess the instructors of the fourth floor are all Martial Grandmasters.'

It was quite hard to make sense of every red dot and circle, as there were over a hundred people inside the dojo, but he understood that there wasn't anyone under Martial Champion.

It was crazy, as he had gotten used to being among the strongest, wherever he was in New Rakuya, but in here, his rank was only average at best.

He then zoomed out on the map and saw the entirety of Dusk Town—he immediately focused on four enormous circles.

'Martial Kings… I know there are four really strong dojos in Dusk Town, and I guess those four are the masters of those dojos.'

Kiernan thought to himself, and he thought it was unbelievable when he looked at the map—the amount of red dots overwhelmed him.

'With quick calculation, I think there are over a thousand Martial Champions in Dusk Town—close to a hundred Martial Masters—and a few dozen Martial Grandmasters.'

Kiernan was about to return the Duelist's Map back to his inventory, but he then saw another place with red dots—it was inside a mountain cave.

'Why would there be people there… and almost ten of them? Strange… strange…'

He frowned and then put the Duelist's Map back where it belonged—to his inventory.

…

The morning's waking call echoed throughout the dojo, and sleepy-eyed students quickly rushed over to the shared bathroom to do their morning routines before training.

Walking down the second floor's hallway, Junior Instructor Tanaka walked over to Kiernan's door and opened it wide with a slam.

"Wake up! You have work to d—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Tanaka frowned as there was no one in the room, and it was perfectly clean with the bed even made.

'What in the world? Did he not sleep here? Hmph, was yesterday's work too much for him that he quit after one day?'

Tanaka shook his head, but then his ears perked up as he heard the sound of sweeping coming from a slightly ajar window.

He walked downstairs, came to the front porch, and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw Kiernan sweeping the yard.

"Young Kiernan, when did you wake up?"

Tanaka asked in surprise.

"Sensei."

Kiernan stopped sweeping with the broom for a moment and bowed towards the junior instructor.

"An hour ago. I thought about starting early today so that I can be done with the yard before it starts raining. The weather app showed that it should rain all day, starting in a few hours."

Kiernan said.

"?!"

Tanaka's eyes widened in surprise, and he was quite impressed that he would think ahead like that.

"Not bad—the yard is looking good enough. We need you to change the tatami mats for today's indoor training, as, like you said, it should rain soon…

"Take these old tatami mats over to the storage shed and grab the new ones."

"Right away, sensei!"

Kiernan, with the broom in hand, headed inside, leaving Tanaka alone outside, impressed by the young man's attitude.

'Breath of fresh air—the other students always hated chores and would even drag their feet, but this one's attitude is refreshing.

'Is he putting extra effort into his cleaning so that he can become an official student faster? Well, I don't know, but I like it.'

…

Drip! Drip! Drip!

Rain poured down from the dark clouds, and the students had taken shelter in the dojo, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the spacious room.

While waiting for their instructor to arrive, they whispered with each other and laughed occasionally.

Kiernan swept the stairs while perking up his ears to listen to the conversations and heard some people whisper about him as well.

It was not nice things.

'They really don't like outsiders…'

Kiernan finished sweeping the third step, but at that moment, he saw white, delicate feet stopping in front of him at the fourth step.

He raised his gaze, and his eyes widened in surprise as gray eyes stared back at him, looking mesmerizing yet full of curiosity.

"Ah, my bad."

Kiernan stepped aside, and Aoi stepped down the rest of the steps, still not saying a word, and took her place at the front of the students, sitting cross-legged close to where the instructor would sit.

She was sitting right next to Gunwoo and Dante, who greeted her with nods and then also turned silent.

'Not talkative, huh?'

Kiernan shrugged his shoulders, and while sweeping the floors, the rest of the instructors came down the stairs and brushed past him.

Shuffling of the feet sounded as all one hundred students stood up, bowed at a ninety-degree angle, and then sat back down in unison.

"With the rain interrupting our training for today, we shall have our weekly Horse Stance Competition today!"

The Senior Instructor said with an almost sadistic grin.

"Ah…"

The students groaned in annoyance as it was the moment of the week that they hated the most.

Tap… tap… tap…

At that moment, everyone heard one more set of footsteps, and they all turned to the stairs—at first, they only saw Kiernan, but then a person appeared from the second floor.

"Master Arakawa!"

Instructors and students all bowed in the old man's direction.

Master Arakawa smiled and motioned for the students to just sit down.

"I am just here to watch~ Horse Stance Competition, hmm~"

Master Arakawa smiled curiously, rubbing his chin, and then turned to the choreboy Kiernan, a curiosity twinkling in his eyes.

"Kiernan. Why don't you continue the cleaning tomorrow and participate in the competition?"

"Wha—"

The instructors were really surprised, and the student's eyes turned sharp, even becoming quite hostile.

They didn't like more competition.

"Uh, sure."

Kiernan leaned the broom against the wall and sat cross-legged in the back room, but he could sense the hostility coming from the students near him.

'I don't know what Arakawa Raizen is thinking. Does he want me to get killed?'