Classes continued and every morning they had different bouts such as swordplay, hand to hand combat, and sumo wrestling. In the end the result was the same for all different forms of combat, Aias was the winner in all his matches making him revered by both the other children and their caretakers as a genius.

Every day after eating lunch he went to the wilderness to gather more herbs to sell.

Now was the day Aias was going with uncle Laue into town to help with an errand. Aias had for the past days diligently worked to gather things he could sell. He also managed to sell most of it making himself 14 silver and 8 copper.

In the Antrim kingdom they use the currency called hameri, which is divided into five different values. Copper, silver, gold, platinum, and gems. The first four go up in worth with 100 of one can be converted to the next. Gems however are different, it takes ten thousand platinum coins to make up for one gem.

Gems are though not something even nobles will handle without care. They are only used for large business transactions.

Hameri is a currency used in many countries and kingdoms but its worth is different in each one. So a silver in Antrim may only be worth a few coppers in another kingdom.

……

Aias was waiting by a cart him and uncle Laue were going to use for traveling into the city.

He saw an old man walking towards him, as the old man got closer he greeted Aias, “Hello there little Aias it’s time for us to go”, Laue came up to Aias with a smile on his face.

Uncle Laue was kind to the children and trusted by the institute as he is the second strongest warrior in it.

Laue was once a strong warrior who fought for the Kingdom and had a high rank in the army however now he was a simple caretaker in an orphanage. Though all in the institute knew why he chose to stay in this orphanage instead of fighting for the kingdom. It was because during a kampaign he fought in in the past his family’s hometown was attacked by bandits and destroyed. The destruction and killing was brought on his own beloved children, so he chose to help train the future generation of those who lost their parents to war.

“Yes uncle Laue, I will help with what I can”, Aias replied knowing full well there was nothing he could do to help in any situation. If enemies came his strength would be insignificant, if it was a business deal they were going to he would be of no help as he had no clue about those transactions, all he could do was be there and try his best not to get in the way.

“Good, good”, uncle Laue said with his smile broadening, he was happy to see Aias reply in such an honest way.

…….

As they were traveling into the city on the cart, they talked about current events in the orphanage.

“Did you hear that senior Bartal was promoted to lieutenant in the Redblade corps the other week?”, uncle Laue asked Aias wondering if the information had spread to the younger classes yet.

“What! He’s already a lieutenant for an army that big?!”, Aias exclaimed in awe and admiration.

Aias knew who Bartel was, he was another child from the orphanage who had left at the age of sixteen to become an officer for the army. Now three years had gone by and he was already a lieutenant for an army, and the army wasn’t small ether it was the Redblade corps. They were well known for being strong, and elite among the different army bands.

They continued talking until they had finally come to the gate of the city. Uncle Laue stopped the cart and began presenting himself to the guards. The guards at the gate recognised him, but they still had to go though a quick look at his traveling papers to reassure that everything was accounted for, and document who was traveling into the city.

After Aias and uncle Laue had entered through the city gates and were traveling on the streets of the city Aias finally decided to ask, “Uncle Laue where are we going now, what is it we will be doing today.”

“We will be buying something very special and I want to hear your judgement on it”, uncle Laue said as he was looking around at the different store’s windows seeing what they were presenting.  

Aias became excited but he also heard on uncle Laue’s voice that he wasn’t expecting Aias to do anything. He was of course fine with this, Aias was but a young boy, what could he help with anyway.

After a few minutes of traveling uncle Laue stops the cart.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Here we are, the Harahan beast shop”, uncle Laue called out looking at the gigantic building they had stopped by.

Harahan beast shop was a well known store for buying monstrous beasts, something done in order to train against beast attacks while in a safe environment and also for, “Alright Aias we will be buying some beasts in order for training beastmasters”, uncle Laue explained.

Aias knew what a beastmaster was, they are people who have beasts fight alongside them. Normally you can’t befriend a beast however beastmasters use a special soul connection inscription which allows them to either gain control of a beast’s mind or connect with it.

As they walk into the store and were about to start looking around one of the clerks working there comes up to them and asks if they would want a guide to give explanations of each beast. Uncle Laue agrees and so they begin looking around in the different enclosures.

“My name is Khasan and I will be your guide for the day. Any questions you may have concerning the beasts, you can direct towards me and I will do my best to answer”, the guide presents himself respectfully to both Aias and uncle Laue.

Khasan began by asking what they will be using the beasts for and started marking down on a clipboard what Laue requested.

After Khasan had gotten a full explanation of the type of beasts the institute was looking for Aias and uncle Laue were brought to an enclosure which was like a large pit deep into the ground with a metal grate covering it.

“Down here at the bottom of this enclosure there is a beast known as Kjil serpent, they are not very hostile or wild and are fairly easy to train with while still being quite strong, how do you feel good sirs?”, Khasan enquirers eagerly.

Deep in the pit they could see a large serpent with a body length of roughly thirteen meters, its thickness looked to be almost a whole meter, the white scales which covered its body appeared strong like thousands of small shields unbreakable even to the mightiest of blades.

“How do you feel about it Aias does it seem like a strong beast?”, uncle Laue asks Aias in a somewhat joking manner.

But to his and Khasan’s surprise. Aias was looking intensely at the large serpent lying deep in the hole.

“This beast seems to be going dormant. It will most likely be docile for a while. So it should probably be easy to tame it”, Aias finally responded after a good minute of observing.

Both uncle Laue and the guide Khasan were baffled that he could tell something like this from just observing the serpent for a brief minute. Understanding that shouldn’t be possible for a child especially when the target was a serpent in a deep hole. Serpents are cold blooded creatures so when the temperature goes down they will cease movement and become sluggish like the one in the encapture.

Being able to tell that it was also beginning its dormanting period was something only someone who had a long time of experience with serpent beasts should be able to tell.

“You are correct it is about to begin its dormant period, may I ask how the young master was able to tell the serpents state?”, Khasan asked with great respect as he was puzzled over how Aias could observe something most experienced warriors couldn’t.

At the same time uncle Laue listened carefully as he also wondered how this young child had such powerful analytic ability.

“Well I have read a lot about Kjil serpents so i know the average feats of a Kjil however this one seemed kind of slow and sluggish in comparison so I deduced that it was ether bearing an egg or about to enter dormancy. And I don’t think you would sell a creature as it was about to lay an egg”, Aias claimed in a calm and collected manner.

Again the two men looked at Aias in astonishment wondering how it was possible for a child to have such an keen sense and also have taken the time to read about a specific beast.

They continued on with the showing of different beasts, every time asking for Aias opinion, and he would reply with his own analysis. Aias analysis were all fairly shallow in the eyes of professionals but this was a seven year old child without any real experience, so every time his reasoning was correct both uncle Laue and Khasan felt a need to gasp in awe of the boy.

………

After the tour of roughly 33 different beasts Khasan decided to show them into a neatly decorated office.

“I have shown you the beast we have that are good for beginners in beast taming. I hope you have found some of them satisfactory for your institutes training”, Khasan expressed with a large smile. His words should have been directed to Laue, a warrior who was well respected by even nobles and royalty in the capital. But when he said it his eyes and body were turned towards Aias a young boy of seven years with no experience in battle and no titles to his name.

Of course uncle Laue didn’t take it as disrespecting him but instead as appraisal of Aias, someone who wasn’t expected to be talented or knowledgeable.

“Oh we did find many good beast, I’m thinking quite a few of them should be good” uncle Laue told Khasan while dotting in on a paper which they were planning to get and what price he was willing to pay.

Meanwhile Khasan looked to Aias, “Little sir Aias, you seem to know a lot about creatures caught within the kingdom's borders while when we asked of beasts caught outside it you weren’t as sure, I’m guessing you have read up on beast in the institute's library? From what I hear there aren’t that many books concerning other kingdoms in it.”

Aias gave Khasan a polite nod and replied, “I do wish we had more books of beast, thinking of how it would be fighting them is so much fun.”

“How about I tell you something interesting?” Khasan said with a smile on his face.

Aias got intrigued wondering what could be regarded as interesting to someone in charge of caring for dangerous beasts daily.

Khasan saw the look in Aias eyes and began to explain, “You see recently there have been sightings of a Divine beast around this region.”

Aias didn’t know what a divine beast was but by the tone in Khasans voice and the powerful sounding name it was bound to be impressive. However just as he was about to ask what a Divine beast was uncle Laue stood up with a fearful look in his eyes.

“D. Did you say Divine beast.” uncle Laue stuttered out in a panicked voice.

“Ah yes but you don’t have to worry it’s not here to cause trouble, it seems to only be resting while on a journey.” Khasan told Laue with a reassuring voice. It didn’t stop Laue from trembling at the thought of the beast though.

After a moment of silence Aias decided to ask, “Um, so what is a Divine beast?”

“Ah I guess you don’t know about beast types or bloodlines?” Khasan wasn’t surprised, most books don’t cover the typing of beasts but only the descriptions of what they are, why to, and how hunt them. “You see we have divided every type of beasts into a list that goes: Wild beast, Magical beast, Monstrous beast, Great beast, and finally Divine or Demonic beast. Divine and Demonic beasts are the strongest beings in this world, some being able to destroy kingdoms all on their own!”

Hearing such claim Aias felt like his world was going to be flipped upside down. One beast that could destroy a kingdom filled with knights and warriors, armies and castles. And something like that was in their region at this moment. All his body could feel was fear, the little confidence he had gotten through the years of being number one in his class was instantly washed away by only hearing of what a divine beast was.

“Though you don’t have to worry. Divine and Demonic beast have intelligence even greater than humans and don’t have any interest in hurting humanity, the only time someone is in danger of it is when they offend it. They are often very prideful!” Explained Khasan reassuring Aias that there was no danger.

Aias quickly calmed down though he did begin feeling as if there was a greater presence looming over him, larger than life, greater than even the heavens.