The Laughing Swordsman

Willow brought Apollo over to a school. It was the school that he was supposed to be going to but never did.

Willow looked at Apollo.

"Do you know what this place is?"

Apollo tilted his head.

"No, what is it?"

Willow smiled.

She thought she might get a special reaction from Apollo by bringing him to school. From what she heard, it seemed that Apollo hated school.

"This is your school!"

Apollo nodded.

"Ah, ok!"

Willow's face twitched.

"...We are going to go inside!"

Apollo jumped up and down.

"Ok! Ok!"

Willow blinked sporadically.

"...Why are you so excited?"

Apollo giggled.

"It sounded like you were excited! It must be exciting if you think it is!"

Willow was left speechless from Apollo's reasoning. She was wondering if her approach to this was wrong.

"Haha... it is exciting."

Apollo smiled.

"Then let's go!"

The school was quite a large place. At the moment, classes were in session, so the hallways were mostly empty.

Willow recalled a middle-aged man's voice.

"Ah yes, I am the teacher of class four and Apollo has yet to show himself before me. That kid is so ungrateful."

Willow led Apollo down the hallways. The walls were made of white stone and the place was very clean.

Apollo was circling around Willow as she walked. Since the hallways were wide, Apollo wasn't obstructed on his journey.

Willowed looked at the top of doorways at their numbers.

Once she saw 'four', she stopped.

"Hey Apollo, let's go here!"

Apollo giggled.

"Ok!"

A middle-aged man was lecturing inside the classroom. Some of his hair was black, while the rest of his hair was grey. He was in a black suit and holding a wooden staff.

There were many kids sitting at light brown stone tables that were installed into the floor. All the kids were paying close attention to what was on the blackboard.

Once Willow and Apollo walked in, the middle-aged man turned to Apollo, with a frown on his face.

"Seems you finally showed up, Apollo."

Apollo nodded.

"Yeah, I'm here!"

The middle-aged man turned towards Willow with a smirk on his face.

"It seems you are his supervisor?"

Apollo giggled.

"No, she's my mommy!"

The whole class turned to look at Apollo, most of them were confused gazes while others were of apprehension.

The middle-aged man's eyebrows furrowed and pointed at Willow.

"You are..."

Willow cleared her throat.

"I am simply watching over him for now. He wishes to call me his mother for a reason I do not know."

The middle-aged man opened his mouth then closed it. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

"Whatever, why don't you take a seat? We are currently learning about the earth spell called 'Tunnel'."

While Willow pushed Apollo into a seat, the middle-aged man continued his lecture. There was a diagram on the board with various annotations on it.

Apollo was looking around the classroom. He could not be bothered to listen to the teacher.

Whenever Apollo's gaze would land on a kid, their head would tilt away.

The middle-aged man could easily tell that Apollo wasn't listening. He stopped lecturing and walked over to Apollo.

"I don't care if you don't have any talent in magic. If you come into my classroom, you will listen to my lecture. Otherwise, leave."

Apollo laughed.

"Hehe, you aren't as good as mommy at teaching! Why are you acting so proud?"

Willow tapped Apollo's shoulder. She hoped that Apollo would realize he messed up how he addressed her.

However, Apollo simply smiled.

"Hey mommy!"

The middle-aged man's eyebrows furrowed. He suppressed his anger with a deep breath.

"And what exactly did your supervisor teach you?"

Apollo smiled dreamily.

"How to swing my bokken!"

Apollo lifted his bokken high in the air and the red tassel jiggled about.

A few people in the classroom couldn't help but laugh despite their best efforts to suppress them.

The middle-aged man's hand clenched on the staff until his knuckles were white. He was sure that Apollo was making fun of him.

The middle-aged man's grip on the staff began to settle. Once he simmered down, a smirk appeared on his face.

"Well then, since you seem so confident in yourself, why don't you have a spar with one of my students? They actually put in the effort to learn, using their time wisely to learn rather than trouble the townsfolk."

Apollo did not catch on to the middle-aged man's passive aggressive remark. He simply giggled.

"Wow! They sound like such great students, it may be hard for me to win!"

The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, don't try to get out of this. We are simply having a friendly spar. Wouldn't it be nice to gauge the difference between my students and you?"

Apollo looked up toward Willow.

"Would that be a nice thing?"

The corner of Willow's lip twitched.

"I suppose?"

Apollo nodded with a big smile.

"Yes, it would be a nice thing!"

The middle-aged man smiled.

"Haha, it's settled. Come on class, we are having a new event today!"

The kids stood up from their desks and the middle-aged man led everyone outside.

Once the middle-aged man reached a large stone platform next to the school, he stopped. The stone platform was made for the sake of sparring. It had enough room for four people to comfortably spar at the same time but was covered in snow.

The middle-aged man casted a spell. A gust of wind was stirred up, blowing aside all the snow covering the platform.

"Alright Apollo, why don't you get up there?"

Apollo smiled.

"Ok!"

Once Apollo stepped onto the stone platform, the middle-aged man clapped his hands together.

"My students, which one of you wishes to spar with him?"

The kids looked at each other, it seemed nobody wanted to fight Apollo.

The middle-aged man frowned.

"I'll buy you dinner if you win!"

Still, nobody was too enthusiastic. However, someone still raised their hand.

"I'll go."