Seeing the carriage Ike was quite surprised, usually he only saw oxen carts bringing supplies to the town. Filled with questions he heard Miss Babcock say “Please get in Ike, we can’t let our elder wait on us”. Opening the door to the carriage he saw her sitting there, reflexively he tried to jump backwards. Unfortunately for Ike Miss Babcock had been expecting this and unceremoniously he was pushed inside. Stumbling into the carriage he barely managed to sit down without hitting Master Reese. Ike felt a bit more comfortable when he saw Miss Babcock sitting down next to him.
“Driver, take us to Ilesha” Master Reese said, “Hello Ike Spalding, it’s a pleasure to finally meet u. Miss Babcock here was quite upset when she came to visit me. I’m pretty sure that she will not make the same mistake again. Now while I do believe her, I still would like to see it”.
Wondering about what Master Reese wanted him to do, Ike heard Miss Babcock say “Ike, Master Reese wants u to summon a radiant fish of renewal for her”.
Seeing that there was no place to draw a summoning figure, he started to picture it in his mind. Next step was to picture the image of his little fish in his mind. Summoning without the summoning figure to look at was a bit more difficult but he managed it nevertheless. Opening his eyes he could see the radiant fish of renewal flying around in the carriage. The light of the fish brightly lit up the carriage allowing him to clearly see everything in it, but what struck him most was the wrinkled face of Master Reese.
“It’s indeed a radiant fish of renewal.” Master Reese said, “Although it is a bit on the small side. Miss Babcock told me you taught yourself how to summon it only using the image from the encyclopaedia?”
“Yes” Ike said, “It took me about eight weeks to learn how to summon it.”
“That’s a pity” Master Reese said, “That’s way too long for it to be of any practical use”.
Ike couldn’t help himself and proudly said “If I had to learn it again I could probably manage it in a few days, a week at the most. I would have tried others but there weren’t any other compatible spirit animals in the encyclopaedia”.
“Interesting” Master Reese said “Now be quiet I want to take a quick nap before we arrive in Ilesha. Oh and dismiss that fish, if u keep it up nobody will believe I’m an old woman”.
Dismissing his summon he started to look outside, there wasn’t much to see apart from the grasslands all around him and the trees off in the distance. The trip to the village of Ilesha took them about an hour, but instead of riding into the village the driver stopped the carriage just outside the village’s gates. Having stopped Ike could hear the driver loudly announced the arrival at Ilesha which woke Master Reese. Seeing her grumpy mood Ike was happy it hadn’t been him who had woken her.
“Now Miss Babcock go deliver this urgent letter to Master Owen” Master Reese said, “Although it would be best if u could deliver it to her husband and make him give it to his wife. We can’t have u being forced to tell her everything just yet, it would spoil the surprise.”
Ever since this morning things weren’t making any sense, but he had just gone along with the flow. It wasn’t as if he could have done anything else, but just from this conversation he felt that Master Owen would be another troublesome person like Master Reese. It would be best to know what was going on, therefore he said “Master Reese, could u explain to me what is happening?”
He could feel the pressure of Master Reese’s stare, trying to keep his cool he stared back. Time seemed to stop moving forward, it became harder and harder to stare back into those cold black eyes. But Ike didn’t dare to stop, he felt that this was some kind of test which he couldn’t afford to fail.
He blinked, it just happened. The pressure from Master Reese’s stare disappeared immediately and he knew he had lost but had he also failed the test? Looking back at Master Reese’s face he could see a faint trace of a smile.
“Not bad” Master Reese said “There seems to be some willpower there despite the lack of ambition and initiative. Although I’m sure you will be taught about those things”.
While Master Reese’s faint trace of a smile felt kind to him the smile she showed him now made him dread his future.
“Now Ike Spalding” Master Reese said “As too what is going on it is very simple, one of the elders of our little magic teaching town abused her position to give to her grandson the first rank. This wouldn’t be a large problem if both female martial artists had similar strengths. However one girl is an exceptional martial artist while the other one is average at best. So now the three of us are simply traveling to the martial arts teaching town to see the martial arts tournament they hold to determine the ranks of their martial artists”.
The first thought Ike had was that there was nothing simple going on. His second though was why he was dragged along to see the tournament. While his third though was focussed on the importance of ranks. He was missing the puzzle piece right in the middle, so Ike said “What is the relation between the magic ranks and the martial arts ranks”
Seeing the shocked expression on Master Reese’s face he knew he had asked something incredibly stupid, but at the same time he hadn’t the faintest idea why. He could see the shocked expression disappear, being replaced by a laughing Master Reese.
“I wonder who is responsible for this oversight” Master Reese said, “The ranks of both matter because a male magician and a female martial artist with the same rank are placed together in a single team. Those teams will not change and it’s not uncommon for them to last a life time.”
Ike could feel his mind spinning, this little bit of information was the key in making sense of the things that had happened. He could vaguely hear Master Reese say something, after focussing his mind he heard her say “… artist you will be teamed up might depend on what actions you take today”.
Thinking over this last sentence he saw Miss Babcock take the seat next to him again.
“It’s done” she said.
“Good” Master Reese said “Driver to the martial artist town now. Miss Babcock Ike had a very peculiar gap in his education let us hope the one responsible isn’t in this carriage. Now the both of u have something to think about, so be quiet and let me sleep again”.
Instead of driving straight through the village they were driven along the wooden wall. Ike hadn’t seen Ilesha in years so he paid close attention to the farmlands they were passing and the many two story houses who could be seen above the wooden wall. One building in particular drew his attention, as it was the only one made out of stone.
Soon the farm fields and village of Ilesha were left behind. Ike tried to start a whispered conversation with Miss Babcock but Master Reese seemed to be a very light sleeper. Not wanting to risk waking her up he spend the rest of the trip in silence starting out of the window.
Instead of stopping outside of town like they had done in Ilesha they drove straight into town. Arriving at the town square the carriage stopped and the three of them got out. Looking around Ike could see a big round building, it was close to two stories high but oddly enough it didn’t seem to have a roof?
“Come along Ike” Master Reese said as she started to walk in the direction of a restaurant on the edge of the square. Instead of going to one of the tables out-front Master Reese took them deep into the restaurant away from prying eyes.
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She took a whole table for herself, while he and Miss Babcock were left at a nearby table. Curious he tried to see what Master Reese was writing but the distance was too far. He started talking to Miss Babcock about various things but she wouldn’t tell him anything useful. This probably was because of Master Reese sitting in ear shot distance.
After lunch the three of them left the restaurant to go to the big round building also known as the martial arts coliseum. They weren’t the only ones who were going to watch the tournament matches today and it took them quite a while before they were allowed to go inside. Ike looked in amazement he had never before seen so many people at the same time. The three of them managed to find a spot off to the sides of the entrance. After they were seated Miss Babcock started to point out important people to him.
First Miss Babcock pointed out Master Whelks a young man sitting in a luxurious box opposite the entrance of the coliseum. Next to him were Master Owen and her husband, they were both in their fifties or sixties from what he could see. Miss Babcock also pointed out some representatives from various lords and merchant organizations, apparently they were there to scout and recruit upcoming talents.
With a clank the large doors of the entrance were closed and Ike could see the young Master Whelks getting up. “Welcome” Master Whelks said “To the finals of this year’s ranking tournament. The first match will be between Richard currently ranked fourth and Evan currently ranked third. The winner of this match will get the third rank. Now begin!”
At the same time Ike heard Master Whelk’s last words a gong was echoing through the coliseum. Both boys started to move immediately, they were faster than he thought possible. It took them just a couple of seconds to clash in the middle of the 25m circular stage. Squinting his eyes he could make out their movements, Richard was aggressively attacking while Evan was just defending. He could see that Evan under the barrage of attacks from Richard started to move backwards moving closer and closer to the edge of the stage. People were now holding their breaths as they could now see that if Evan was pushed back just one more step he would leave the stage and lose. Suddenly Ike saw Evan catch Richards’s incoming fist and pull hard on it. The two were now moving towards each other however the surprised Richard didn’t prevent Evan slipping past him, in one pull reversing their positions. With one solid backwards kick he hit Richard who was out of balance on the edge of the stage. In this one overpowering move Evan had ejected Richard out of the area and won.
Cheers and applause could be heard in the coliseum, after the sound died down Master Whelks stood up announcing Evan as the winner. Both martial artist were still in good shape and both managed to leave the circle on their own.
“Now the fight we have all been waiting for.” Master Whelks said, “Between Jack currently the best and our runner up Rudi. These two youngster are so evenly matched that a single mistake could lose them the match. Let us wait no longer, begin!”
At the sound of the gong both boys flew towards the centre of the circle, both not slowing in the least as drew closer to each other. Both were positioning themselves to get a kick or a punch in just before the inevitable crash in the centre. Ike saw them collide but both of them had tensed all their muscles just before the collision causing them to be bounced back. Looking at them while they started to circle each other it was difficult to tell who was less injured. Jack sported a bloody nose while Rudi had a large bruise on his upper leg.
The fight wasn’t over yet and as they drew nearer each other again, kicks and punches were flying across. Ike could see that both of them only defended crucial parts on their bodies, while for any other part of their bodies they would take the blow and punch and kick back as hard as they could. As the fighting went on both bodies got covered in more and more bruises, Ike couldn’t help but feel that both of them would soon reach the end of their endurance. Before that moment would come creating a bit of distance between them and they started to circle each other again. Jack was the first to attack, it was a daring move running towards Rudi and leaping into a flying kick. Rudi narrowly dodged the kick but at the same time he managed to execute a perfect punch at Jack’s lower jaw. Seeing that Jack wasn’t getting up, the crowd erupted in cheers, shouting “Rudi … Rudi … Rudi …” over and over.
At the same time three women dressed in white rushed into the circle, two tended to Jack while the third inspected Rudi carefully assessing his injuries.
When the sound died down Master Whelks stood up again and said “Congratulations Rudi. Excellent performance many a martial artist can learn a thing or two from the ferocity and fighting power displayed by this year’s tournament winner.” These words elected another round of cheers from the crowd before Rudi and Jack left the circle.
“Who are those women in white, who just ran in like that after the fight Miss Babcock” Ike said.
Unexpectedly Master Reese answered him, “Those are healers. Normally they only check a person injuries onstage and then heal the person offstage. Although if there any good as healers they will leave the bruises alone, can’t teach anyone to be more careful if it doesn’t hurt first”.
Ike inwardly thought it wasn’t surprising that Master Reese was so set on hard physical labour as a punishment method.
“Next up is the match between the only two female martial artists of this year’s generation” Master Whelks said, “Melissa ranked first will fight Jacky. Jacky has yet to win a single match against Melissa but perhaps today inspired by the last match she will rise above herself”
Ike could hear Master Whelks finishing up his speech but his full attention was on the girl limping into the circle. She was Melissa and she was a sight from sore eyes. If you would call her injuries bad u could barely call Rudi and Jack’s injuries; injuries. But looking into Melissa’s eyes even with the large distance between them he could feel her fighting spirit and desire too win.
Two of the three nurses wanted to rush in to help her but the third was holding them back. At the same time a low whispering sound filled the coliseum. Hardly anyone knew what was going on and theory after theory could be heard in the whispers all around him. Next to him he could feel anger starting to build within Miss Babcock.
He could hear Master Reese say “Cool your anger Miss Babcock. I didn’t do this, I only explained to Carla and Johan Shepard that I wouldn’t overrule the official ranking. They chose to do this for their daughter future”.
To go that far just to have their daughter be teamed up with him, Ike could barely believe it.
Meanwhile Master Whelks was staring at the stage and in particular at Melissa who was almost too injured to walk let alone fight. Ike was also solely focussed on the two girls on stage so he and practically everyone else in the coliseum didn’t notice Master Owen ordering Master Whelks to start the fight.
Hearing the soft sound of the gong, Ike knew the fight had started.