Master

Taking two steps forward, the forest stream flowed right at my feet. I knelt by the bank and dipped my hand into the water, which was churning with white foam. The force of the current was stronger than it looked; if I were to jump into the middle of the river, I would surely be swept away.

I cupped the clear water in my palms before it could drain away.

“Phew!”

The freezing river water soaked my cheeks. After enduring the bone-chilling cold for a moment, I lifted my face from my hands; the biting wind now felt much more refreshing.

I had probably only slept for about two hours yesterday.

Shaking my head, I leaned down to stare at my reflection in the river.

“Have I… become like this?”

How unkempt does a person become after a month without grooming? My long braid, once neatly styled, was now frayed and splitting. My sleepy-eyed face was smudged with dirt, though fortunately, the weight loss had sharpened my features. I could still pass for a woman for now, but as I get older, cross-dressing will likely become difficult without makeup.

I am… fifteen now, aren’t I?

Leaving the river’s edge, I sat down on the pebbles by the bank. Staring through the white mist of my breath, I watched the few stars still flickering in the sky, lost in thought.

When was the first time I dressed as a girl?

—I’ve finally pined for your return! My daughter!

Ah, right…

My homeland, the ruins of the Toras family. To seek out the secrets of the past, I returned there after my grandfather passed away, carrying the only letter he left me and everything related to my father. While I was agonizing over how to scale that mist-shrouded mountain, by sheer coincidence, I ran into a crazy old man.

I used to be obsessed with Jade Arts.

As long as I held the jade tight and spoke the incantations that twisted the laws of reality, I could manipulate everything as I pleased. Before the talent appraisal, I had always looked forward to seeing what kind of sorcerer circuits my body contained. Fire? Water? Earth? Or perhaps dual elements?

The irony was that after spending every day studying scrolls and researching spell structures, the day of the appraisal arrived…

—To be honest, Wright, your body does not possess a single “Jade Circuit.”

When that cruel reality fell from my teacher’s lips, my young heart finally shattered.

I went through so much after that… I had to give up Jade Arts, give up so much… but the heavens didn’t abandon me just because I lacked talent.

—With you back to lend a hand, we can go home right away! Now, instantly, immediately! I’ll go grab the tools!

The man I met on the road back to my hometown—that eccentric middle-aged man. When I saw him use machinery to pry open a massive boulder blocking the mountain gate, I was profoundly shaken.

So, things this powerful could be achieved in this world without using spells.

—Um, please take me as your apprentice! I want to learn!

I can still remember how clumsily I knelt on the ground to beg him.

And Master…

—Aaaah! My Leni! You’re finally willing to inherit my craftsmanship!

“Hahaha… right. So it started back then.”

It has been nearly four years since then.

Master, who mistook me for his daughter, taught me everything he knew. Master… yes, he was my father’s best friend. Through him, I was able to glimpse the silhouette of the man my father was.

Staring at my calloused hands, I slowly clenched my fists.

It was everything Master taught me that has kept me alive until now. The craftsman’s skills… and even the cross-dressing I refined just to keep him believing I was his daughter.

“Thinking back, I used to hate it so much at first.”

I remembered a book I had read out of boredom that mentioned raising the Adam’s apple to produce a female voice. To learn more from Master, I threw away my dignity as a man and practiced my female voice every morning at dawn.

“Then at night, I’d shout, ‘I’m a man!’ or something like that.”

I gave a helpless, dry chuckle, but it didn’t last long.

Master…

I called out to him in my heart once more, but now, that man is gone.