The Martial Unity

“Papa hasn’t come home yet…”

Ria gazed at the sky from their spacious balcony with a yearning melancholy in her amber eyes. The winds in the evening sky brushed past her hair, causing it to sway while her clothes fluttered. Ria recalled her father telling her that he would come back soon, only to disappear for weeks altogether. She had noticed his absence right away, feeling an aching pain in her chest at his disappearance. She enjoyed her father’s presence, his attached affection for her, and how much fun they had together. She especially loved it when she commanded him with ‘whoosh,’ he would lift her up in his arms and take her somewhere new in the blink of an eye.

“Oh dear Ria…” Amare emerged on the balcony, her eyes softening as they fell on her young daughter. “Mama?” Ria turned around towards her mother with a yearning expression. “Mama, where is Papa? When is he coming back?”

“…I’m sure he’ll come back soon, my precious baby.”

“Ria isn’t a baby.” “Yes, you’re such a smart girl.” She kissed her daughter on the forehead, picking her up. “Papa will surely come back soon.”

Ria’s lips curled downwards as her amber eyes began tearing up. “Ria wants papa…”

Amare felt her heart breaking at those words as she pulled her daughter closer and into her heart. “I’m sure he’s thinking about you all the time, my precious baby.”

She gazed into her daughter’s eyes.

“Papa loves you so much.”

Ria sniffed as her expression softened. “Ria wants to go whoosh with Papa.”

WHOOSH

Out of nowhere, Rui appeared before them out of thin air, teleporting back home.

Right in front of Ria. His Martial attire fluttered as he landed gracefully on the floor of their home, while his translucent body grew auburn with the light of the twilight sky permeating through it.

Her amber eyes lit up as her face bloomed with a cheery excitement.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, my precious baby.” He smiled at her sweetly.

“Papa!” Ria immediately leaned towards him, stretching her arms out towards him. “Papa, you came back!”

Rui lifted her in his arms, burying her in his chest as he hugged his precious daughter with all his heart. Her little arms and legs clung to his body as she savored her father’s familiar, calming presence.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes as her lips quivered, before gazing up at him with a sniff. “You were gone for so long… Ria kept waiting…”

“I know, Ria.” Rui hugged his daughter warmly. “Papa… has some very important work to complete.”

He gazed down at her, wiping her tears. “But now he’s back, ok?”

She sniffed, nodding, before returning to enjoy his presence.

Rui spent the rest of his day with his daughter and Amare. He indulged in her attachment for him that didn’t allow her to separate herself from him too much. He took her out for their sightseeing rounds, showing her brand new parts of the Kandrian Empire and the Panama Continent that she hadn’t seen before.

He indulged her every request, chatting with her about a variety of random topics that piqued her curiosity.

“Papa?”

“Yes, my precious baby girl?”

“Are you made of glass?”

He chuckled at the question as the cool evening winds in the skies about the Kandrian Empire washed over him, gazing at his daughter with loving eyes, with the vast expanse of the Kandrian Empire beneath them.

Over the past five years, Ria had grown more accustomed to heights, no longer bawling over them as she once used to.

“Why do you say that?” he asked, testing her.

“Because…” she murmured, shifting her gaze to his ethereal body. “You’re transpar—transpara—transparent.”

She got the word in her third try, evidently proud of herself for nailing such a complicated word.

“Wow, Ria is so smart.” Rui kissed her on the head with a proud expression. “But Papa is not transparent. Papa is translucent.”

“Tr-Translucent?” she muttered with a displeased tone of voice at having to encounter yet another complicated word. “Mmm, it means that light can only partially pass through my body.”

“…Ria doesn’t understand.”

“You’ll understand when you start going to school tomorrow,” Rui gently told her. “Then, you’ll learn more about the world.”

Schooling years had become mandatory and essential in the Kandrian Empire and in most parts of the Panama Continent over the past five years. Compared to the past, during Rui’s time, when education was shoddy.

He recalled being taught by Lashara the basics, only for it to eventually stop. There had been no public schooling back then, and it wasn’t particularly necessary to make a living, either.

But in a rapidly advancing world, a knowledgeable and skilled population was a necessity. The education system even featured a Martial aptitude discovery path to filter out students who possessed a serious talent for martial arts, overseen by the Ministry of Martial Art and the Martial Union.

“School…” Ria muttered, her head placed against her father’s chest. She had been told that she would have to go to school every day from the following day. A concept that she still didn’t quite grasp. “Yes, school,” Rui smiled at her. “You’ll be able to learn many things. You’ll be able to meet many new kids your age. You’ll be able to make new friends. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Ria’s amber eyes lit up at those words. “Yes! Ria wants to go to school!”

Rui smiled at her lovingly, kissing her over the head gently.

“I love you, Ria. Papa loves you more than anything else in the whole wide world. In the whole wide universe.”

“Ria loves Papa too.” “I’m glad to hear that.”

They spent a lot of time together that evening as Rui indulged in her every request, making sure that his daughter’s heart’s desires were fulfilled to the fullest.

WHOOSH

When he returned from their little sightseeing tour, she was already asleep, tired from the exciting evening. She dozed off in his arms peacefully, protected by a domain that ensured that nothing would disturb her.