I walked southward toward the dojo, guided solely by intuition. While doing so, I quickly dismissed the pop-up message confirming that Kalistra's elbow to my ribs had inflicted "-1 Heath." I didn’t see a map inside my head, per se. Instead, I felt a hunch pushing me to walk south for a few blocks. Then, I felt compelled to make a turn and a block later I found myself approaching the walled compound of the dojo. However, standing in front of the door and between the two stone statues was . . . Gendun!
The little boy’s face was downcast and it appeared that he was crying! When Amelica’s son noticed my presence, he quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.
I approached my young friend. I ignored the pop-up that just appeared when I reached the stone statues. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked with great concern. I could see that Gendun’s eyes were red and puffy.
Kalistra stood behind me but kept silent. Her eyes gleamed with great interest in our interaction.
Suddenly, the young boy’s eyes turned angry. “Vern is a liar!” he yelled in a sudden outburst.
Pedestrians on the street turned their heads toward him. When they saw that nothing was happening to the boy, the people continued on their way, discounting this outburst as a mere temper tantrum from an unruly child.
“Whoa! Take it easy! Calm down! You don’t want the Watch to come here and arrest you for disturbing the peace!” I said. I consciously made sure I was a step back from the boy and didn't make physical contact with him; I didn't want the common folks to think I was attacking or abusing the boy and then have them call the Watch to arrest me! “Tell me what happened,” I said in a reassuring tone of voice. I figured that if I could get Gendun to continue talking, he will eventually calm down.
“Vern told me to come here. He had arranged for my apprenticeship at this dojo. I don’t want to be a swordsman! I want to take over the tavern when Vern retires!” Gendun spat out his angry words like bullets. He stomped his left foot on the ground in a huff.
I knelt down in front of the boy and slowly grabbed his hands. “What did your mother say?” I asked.
“She said he’s the boss. And she’s perfectly fine with me doing an apprenticeship in swordsmanship,” Gendun replied.
“Ahem!” the cat girl finally interrupted our conversation. It was about time for Kalistra to start discussing the details of the arrangement she had made with Vern.
We both turned our heads simultaneously to look at Kalistra.
Remembering our conversation during breakfast, I believed that she wanted an introduction as that was the proper decorum. And Kalistra was surprisingly old-fashioned in that way in keeping with decorum and tradition. I quickly rose to my feet and introduced my teacher. “Gendun, this is Kalistra, my teacher in swordsmanship. She is also the Heir to The Butterfly School of Swordsmanship,” I added.
Kalistra approached the boy. “Vern made a request yesterday for me to accept you as my apprentice and I agreed. I will be your teacher as well,” she revealed. “Also, I think you misunderstood why Vern made this arrangement. It’s not that he doesn’t want you to take over The Noble Lady. Instead, he is preparing you for that eventuality. Vern is respected as the tavern keeper because he is also a fearsome warrior. Any patrons who behave poorly at the tavern will be tossed out by him. No one dares to challenge him because of his fearsome fighting prowess with his battle ax. In order for you to gain similar respect from the patrons, you will also have to develop your fighting ability and be recognized for it. My dojo is among the finest schools for swordsmanship in the kingdom and our students are well respected as melee fighters. If you graduate from our school, the patrons will respect you. So think of this apprenticeship as Vern’s way of grooming you to take over The Noble Lady,” she suggested.
Gendun’s face lit up with a bright smile.
I looked at Kalistra and nodded. Aside from Gendun's desire to inherit the tavern, I believed there was a second reason why the boy was so angry: he thought Vern was abandoning him. I still didn’t have all the information regarding the boy’s father and what happened to him, but Gendun probably thought his father abandoned him. Since Vern was like a second father to the boy, it was easy for Gendun to assume that he was being abandoned again. I tussled over the boy’s unruly blonde hair and he laughed.
“I’m happy that this misunderstanding has been cleared but we need to enter the dojo NOW. Unless you can open the door, please stand aside and allow me to do it,” Kalistra said.
Gendun tried to open the heavy door but it wouldn’t budge at all. When he looked at me, I shook my head and shrugged. He then turned toward the cat girl and sulked.
I folded my arms and waited patiently.
The boy looked at me and mimicked my pose.
Kalistra rolled her eyes and opened the door. She had a bad feeling that she had taken on a second troublesome pupil.
When Gendun walked in, his head turned from side to side as he tried to take in the scene inside the compound. It was much bigger than he expected. He saw a number of students already in the courtyard, either meditating or practicing some stances.
Kalistra turned to face us. "Lawrence, please scrub the spot by the pond with your lemon. Gendun, please follow Lawrence and stay with him. I'll be right now," she instructed us. She then walked over to talk to some of the students in the courtyard.
"Come on, Gendun. You heard your teacher. Follow me," I said and started walking toward the pond.
The young boy matched my stride and stayed by my side, as ordered.
When we reached the small pound, I took out the small dagger from its sheath at my waist and carefully cut the lemon in half. I then knelt on the ground and started scrubbing at the spot where I had vomited yesterday.
"What are you doing?" Gendun asked as he watched me work.
"Cleaning the ground," I replied succinctly.
"But why?" the boy asked. "You're only cleaning one particular spot," he pointed out.
I looked up from the ground and sighed. There was no point for me to hide it from Gendun since he will find out from the other students anyway. "I threw up at that spot yesterday," I said quietly.
"Ewww!" Gendun frowned and started to back away from me.
I was quite amused by his reaction considering the fact that the first time I met the boy, Gendun was offering to empty my chamber pot. I guessed that he was accustomed to doing chores at the tavern. I dismissed the thought and returned to my own chore. "Kalistra made me run twenty laps around the dojo. By the time I finished, I was totally exhausted and I ended up vomiting my lunch," I recalled.
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The boy folded his arms. "How could you become exhausted by simply running around this school?" he asked skeptically.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough," I replied. I looked up and glanced across the courtyard. I saw that Kalistra was still conferring with some students. "Let me tell you a secret," I said quietly.
"Yeah?" Gendun's gray-blue eyes lit up.
"When it comes to training her students, Kalistra is pure evil," I revealed.
"I don't believe you," my companion shook his head. "She's been coming to The Noble Lady for a few years now. She's always been nice to me."
"Ah, is she your type? Are you interested in cat girls?" I teased him mercilessly.
Gendun's eyes bulged at my questions. His face was downcast and he started blushing furiously.
"I'm sorry for teasing you like that," I quickly apologized as I messed up his hair; it was starting to become a bad habit for me. "Well then, you're lucky that Kalistra has agreed to accept you as her apprentice. My understanding is that she accepts very few students," I noted.
"Really?" his eyes lit up again. His chest puffed up at the notion that the boy was special to Kalistra.
"Yup!" I nodded while trying hard to conceal my grin. Alas, I failed and quickly lowered my head to hide my grin. I got back to my feet. I just finished scrubbing the spot and it smelled clean. "I need to get a bucket of water to wash off the lemon juice. You need to stay here in case our teacher comes back. If we're both gone, she will be mad at us and make us run forty laps. I don't want that to happen so I need you to stay here. Can you do that?" I requested.
Gendun nodded. He didn't relish the notion of running forty laps. Now that he had more time to look around the dojo, Gendun realized that the place was HUGE. The enclosed area was easily triple the size of the tavern. Kalistra's family must be rich to own this much space, even if the location was down south in the less wealthy part of town. If he had to run forty laps around the dojo, then HE will be the one puking today and he didn't want that to happen.
"Good! I'll be right back!" I promised. I started jogging toward the well. As I passed by the other students I bowed my head respectfully. Since I just joined (albeit unofficially) yesterday, these students were my seniors. Sooner or later, I will be training either with them or under them. Thus, it was important for me to show proper respect to the other students.
Some of them nodded back to me while others simply ignored me.
I reached the well in short order. Without the limitation of the exhaustion status, I discovered that I was able to withdraw a full bucket of water. I emptied three-quarters of it into the empty bucket and hurried back to the pond. When I arrived, I saw that Kalistra was talking to Gendun.
I approached them silently. When I got close to the two, Kalistra's ears twitched and she stopped talking to Gendun. Oops, she heard my footsteps.
My teacher turned around to look at me. She saw that I was holding a bucket of water. "Well? Hurry up and finish your chore!" she ordered. This was why she hated teaching humans; they were too slow in obeying orders and doing chores!
I slowly emptied the bucket and rinsed the floor. Then, I returned to the well and left the bucket near the well. When I got back to the pond, Gendun was gone.
With her attention and focus solely on me now, Kalistra immediately made a party request with me. When I accepted, she started reviewing my player status. Her eyes gleamed and widened at my updated screen. Her eyes flattened and her tail whip lashed. Finally, the cat girl's eyes burrowed into mine.
As I stared into those pale-green, inhuman eyes, I thought that I detected a hint of fear. Nah, it must have been my imagination. After all, how could a master swordswoman who could instant-kill me be afraid of a level one human? I must have been mistaken.
Finally, Kalistra spoke up. "Lawrence, please tell me everything you did after you left the dojo until now," she ordered.
I obeyed and started recounting the events. When I finished, my teacher's whiskers twitched.
"I might be going crazy but I'm starting to believe that you're really not from this world," Kalistra admitted quietly as her ears bent down. "Your rate of progression is simply too fast for an ordinary human. I have never heard of a middle-aged human still at level one. Nor have I heard of anyone gaining TWO innate abilities so quickly. Your magic detection ability, in particular, is highly sought after. If you ever need to find a job, that ability alone will get you hired at the auction house, or with a merchant family or the magic guild. And now, you have acquired a legendary divine blessing, too. This is simply too much for me to take in," she shook her head in disbelief.
My eyebrows shot up at her assessment. "Why would a luck-based blessing be considered legendary?" I asked in puzzlement.
My instructor's ears perked up at my question. "Well, according to legend, Merlin himself received this particular blessing once. With this blessing, he was able to achieve a number of legendary feats. He created a very powerful war staff in his workshop. He created new spells including the ability to clone himself. And . . . he was rumored to be the father and creator of the animal people. Thus, many pursuers of the crown are desperate to acquire this blessing because they believe that it would enhance their claim to the crown by claiming to be Merlin's successor," Kalistra explained. Suddenly, her ears flattened again and her eyes narrowed at me. "Please tell me you're not pursuing the crown," she pleaded.
I scratched my chin. "Um, actually I am," I grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, for the love of Kallimon!" Kalistra winced. "You humans are all alike! What makes you so special that you should be our next King? Why are you pursuing the crown?" she demanded to know.
"I think that is the way for me to leave this world," I said quietly.
"How do you know that?" the cat girl retorted.
"Intuition," I answered succinctly. "Just like the way I was able to locate the dojo on intuition alone," I added.
Kalistra stared into my eyes as if to peer into my soul. She saw no hint of madness within my eyes. It was as if I truly believed what I had just said. "I need to consult my papa," she said quietly. "In the meantime, I want you to meditate here, by the pond, until I return," she ordered.
I walked around the pond until I reached a dry spot on the ground, sat down, and started meditating.