---
The gates of Xian'Zhou loomed before them, towering constructs of black iron and carved jade, etched with the history of a thousand battles. Kaito tilted his head back, squinting against the morning sun as it glinted off the polished metal.
"So this is the capital," he mused, hands tucked lazily behind his head. "Bigger than I thought. And louder."
The city sprawled beyond the gates like a living beast—pagodas pierced the sky, their curved roofs adorned with snarling dragon statues, while canals threaded through the streets like veins, carrying barges laden with silks and spices. The air was thick with the scent of sizzling pork buns, smoldering incense, and the ever-present tang of forge smoke.
Aiko jabbed an elbow into his ribs. "Quit gawking. You look like a country bumpkin."
Kaito yawned. "I am a country bumpkin. So are you."
"Speak for yourself," she sniffed, though her eyes darted hungrily toward the distant clang of steel. "I've been here before. Training seminars with the imperial guards."
Ren, standing a pace ahead, didn't turn. "The guards here are adequate. But their footwork is... predictable."
Kaito smirked. "Predictable, huh? You sound like you've fought them."
A pause. Then, Ren's voice, cool and measured: "Observation. Not participation."
Aiko rolled her eyes. "Of course, Prince Mysterious."
---
The market district hit them like a furnace blast.
"Move it, noble brats!" A porter shoved past, his yoke creaking under twin casks of molten glass.
Kaito dodged, nearly colliding with a fortune-teller's stall. "Hey, watch—"
"Ooooh!" The crone snatched his wrist, her nails like talons. "I see great laziness in your future! And... ah! A katana heavier than your sins!"
Aiko howled with laughter. "She's got you pegged!"
Kaito yanked free, tossing a copper coin. "Keep the prophecy, granny. I've got enough problems."
Ren was already moving toward a food stall, where skewers of something unidentifiable sizzled over enchanted coals. The vendor bowed so low his forehead touched the counter.
"My prince! The usual?"
Kaito blinked. "The usual?"
Ren accepted a stick of candied lotus root. "I come here sometimes. When the palace is... stifling."
The way he said it made Kaito's chest tighten. He'd never considered that Ren might need escapes too.
---
They wove through the bustling streets, dodging merchants hawking everything from enchanted talismans to skewers of candied scorpions. Kaito's gaze snagged on a dim alley where a group of ragged youths sparred with wooden swords, their movements sharp despite their threadbare clothes.
"Huh." He slowed, looking inside a dojo, watching as a boy no older than him executed a flawless disarming maneuver.
Twenty barefoot children drilled forms with sticks, their ribs visible through threadbare shirts. A scarred woman barked corrections, her own practice blade notched from decades of use.
"They're better than half the nobles back home."
Kaito's hand drifted to his family's crest—a silk embroidery worth more than these kids would see in a year.
Ren answered without looking. "Survival. The imperial exams accept commoners who place in the top ten. A ticket out of the slums."
Kaito's fingers twitched. They're fighting for their lives. And I complain about morning drills.
Aiko followed his gaze and scoffed. "No armor, no real blades, no real techniques. What's the point?"
One boy whirled, his wooden sword stopping an inch from her nose. "We don't need armor to whoop your pampered ass."
Silence.
Then Aiko's grin split her face. She snatched a stick from the ground. "Three moves."
The clash sent sparrows fleeing. Dust swirled as the boy pressed forward, his strikes crude but relentless. Aiko's counterattack never came—she just kept dodging, her smirk fading with each near-miss.
On the third pass, his stick tapped her collarbone.
"Told you," he panted.
...
Ren's hand caught Aiko's wrist before she could escalate. "We're expected elsewhere."
"Let me go. I will beat him until he wont be able to hold a sword for the rest of his life." Aiko shouted.
As they left, Kaito tossed his coin purse into the alley. It landed with a jingle at the instructor's feet, a month's allowance, and the only apology he knew how to give.
Her nod said more than words ever could.
---
The commerce district was a cacophony of haggling and hammer strikes. Kaito ducked as a harried apprentice nearly brained him with a half-forged axe.
"Watch it!" the kid yelped.
"You watch it," Kaito shot back, though without heat. He eyed the blade. "That's a terrible temper, by the way. The edge'll chip."
The apprentice blinked. "You a smith?"
"Nah. Just not blind."
Ren's hand clamped on his shoulder. "Focus. We're here."
Before them stood House Tetsurou's forge—a sprawling complex where the din of hammers was a language unto itself.
The roar of House Tetsurou's forge swallowed the market's chatter. Kaito's nose wrinkled at the stench of scorched metal—like ambition set on fire.
The head smith, a barrel-chested man with arms like knotted oak, wiped soot from his brow as they approached.
The head smith spat into the quenching trough. "Kurogane. Hakutake. And... oh." His bow to Ren could've cracked stone. "Your Highness."
Kaito leaned against an anvil. "We need gear."
"Need?" The smith's laugh shook his apron. "Or want?"
Aiko stepped forward, eyes gleaming. As Aiko slapped her palms on the workbench, she said. "I need a spear. Something that can handle my style."
The smith crossed his arms. "Style? Kid, you're what, twelve?"
She bristled. "I've been training since I could walk. I'll prove it. Test me. Right now."
The resulting spar left three apprentices nursing bruises and the smith nodding approval. "...Alright. Guandao it is. Wrought with sky-iron—light as a reed, hits like a landslide. Heavy enough to crush, light enough to dance."
Ren's request was simpler: "A knife. And this." He unrolled a blueprint of a staff that made the smith whistle.
The smith rubbed his chin. "That's Quán Clan work. But I'll forge the base."
Both Kaito and Aiko looking at each other curiously. unknown to what ren just showed the head smith.
Kaito, last, shrugged. "Katana. Light armor."
The smith eyed him. "You? light armor? Kid, you move like a sleepy tortoise."
Kaito's grin turned sharp. "Exactly. So make sure it doesn't slow me down."
"Aright, i will have it ready for you in a day. So come back around noon tomorrow" The smith said smirking.
---
As they left, a merchant's shout caught their attention:
"—monsters near the Silver Pass! Tore apart a whole caravan!"
Ren's steps faltered. Kaito frowned. "Silver Pass? That's where the training grounds are."
Aiko cracked her knuckles. "Guess we'll have something to test our new toys on later."
Ren said nothing. But his grip tightened.
Above them, the gate's hollow-eyed dragons seemed to grin.
---
End chapter 5