Without waiting for Kaelum to respond, Karrow turned to get back to work, leaving only a few words behind. “Remember, don’t give up. If not for yourself, then persevere for me!” Then he was gone. Karrow could never know how far these few simple words would carry Kaelum in the future.
Kaelum got back to work hauling the heavy timber, but with one small difference. He had a big smile on his face. He thought of the rough man he had seen a few times over the years, usually when he had been caught stealing food. He usually only saw Karrow from afar and he had only made real conversation with the man for the first time over the past few days.
As the sun began to set, Kaelum realized that they were finished for the day. Karrow brought him over to one of the wagons and they hitched a ride back to the city’s western gate while sitting atop the lumber.
Once they hopped off, Karrow dropped two ten-copper coins into Kaelum’s hand. He was about to correct him when Karrow waved his hand.
“I got the amount right, I meant to pay you for yesterday’s help. The amount you carried yesterday was far more than expected of you.” Karrow explained.
Kaelum’s eyes threatened to tear up again as he said his thanks. Karrow just waved him on, saying.
“Oh yeah, from tomorrow on, you’ll be working on your own. You can just grab your pay from Old Miller on your way back.” Karrow pointed at the man who had been driving the wagon. Old Miller waved with a smile in response. He was a kind-looking older man.
Kaelum remembered that Karrow was the captain of the city’s guards, he probably couldn’t afford to be spending his time hauling lumber all day. Kaelum’s heart warmed, Karrow didn’t have to help him out personally, he probably could have gotten some random guard to show him the ropes. But he did it personally, it was little things like that, that showed how kind Karrow was behind his rough demeanour.
After pocketing his pay, Kaelum headed back up the streets of Arum, hearing Karrow call after him “Don’t forget what I said earlier!”
As he walked down the darkening streets back to his home, Kaelum thought for a while. After thinking it over for a day, and with Karrow's encouragement, Kaelum came to a decision in his heart and his steps turned more confident, filled with purpose. Kaelum wanted to help Tiela, but he knew he couldn’t become a knight. At least, not on his own.
Kaelum walked to his home, his stomach grumbling. He had eaten the two apples he had pocketed while he was working, but he hadn’t eaten anything else today. He was used to going without meals for days, but he had burned a lot of energy today, both with the physical labour and with his breathing technique. Remembering the rat from last night, he dug around and found it in his cupboard. It didn't smell that bad so he started a small fire outside and pitched the rat above it in a skewer. It was nothing fancy, but it was a fair bit of almost fresh meat.
While the rat was being roasted, he tried to calm his nerves before calling out to Tiela. He had no idea why he was so nervous now. We’re just gonna talk and I’ll tell her about my plan he thought.
Tiela? He asked in his mind. She didn’t respond and after a while of getting no response to his attempts to talk to her, he thought she must still be hiding in his soul space deep in thought or she was simply ignoring him. If he wanted to talk to her, he would have to enter his soul space and see her face to face. Knowing that he now had to actually talk to her in person did nothing to lessen his anxiety.
Only this time he’d be using his own mana to get there.
He mimicked what he had done a few times before, entering his soul space after a few moments of effort. He was greeted by a surprised Tiela, it seemed she wasn’t expecting to see Kaelum.
“How… How did you get in here without my mana?” She asked incredulously.
Glad to have a bit of small talk, and excited to talk about his mana, Kaelum explained “I used my own mana, I’ve been using the breathing technique all day and I have some of my own now.”
“Oh,” said Tiela, realizing that with him performing physical labour, it was a very ideal way to cultivate mana. Exercising your body helped the mana flow faster and increased your gains, while also helping to repair your muscles. Killing two birds with one stone. The most ideal way to train would be to perform the breathing technique while doing combat training, improving three aspects at once.
“We need to talk,” said Kaelum. Choosing not to beat around the bush, he bluntly repeated what they had heard in the morning “The princess has left Arum.”
Seemingly caught by surprise by the question and Kaelum’s sudden confident tone of speaking, Tiela only responded “Mm.” while chewing her lip. She had been thinking about it all day, but she still wasn’t sure of anything yet. She feared what his next words would be.
Kaelum said, “I have no idea what we should do, but I don’t think we’ll accomplish anything if we just follow her around trying to sneak into her room.” Noticing Tiela’s ever-darkening face, he continued “I think I might have an idea though.”
This caught her by surprise once again. She had been trying to think of a way to meet the princess and how to convince Kaelum to help her all day, but she hadn’t thought of anything. Here Kaelum was, not needing to be convinced to help and even saying he had an idea of what to do!
She was so surprised that it took her a moment to find her voice before she asked “You want to help me?”
Kaelum said in response “Well that brings us to the next part. I have to ask something of you first.” Looking deep into her blue eyes, Kaelum asked with all seriousness “Will you become my master? In exchange, I’ll help you change the future.”
Shocked for the third time, Tiela thought of what he just asked her. He wanted to become her student. She wasn’t even thirty yet, she didn’t feel old enough to become someone’s master. Masters were usually old people with white hair and profound temperaments.
Though, it did make sense for Kaelum to ask. If he had Tiela training him, he was basically getting a watered-down version of her own royal training. With it, he was sure to become a powerful mage in the future.
Tiela asked Kaelum while staring deep into his eyes, trying to discern his intentions “You truly want to become my student?” A thought struck her that he might just want to use her to become a powerful mage, it’s not like she could do anything if he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, after all.
Kaelum nodded, explaining “After thinking all day, I thought up a brilliant plan!”
He said with excitement “If you become my master, you’ll train me to be a powerful knight and since you would be my master, your trouble would be my troubles. So naturally, I’ll have to help you change the future!” Kaelum’s mature tone from earlier completely dissipated with his excited explanation of his 'brilliant' plan.
She laughed at hearing what he said, Tiela couldn’t believe that she suspected this naive kid might try to deceive her. Hearing his words, she realized the weird logic he was using. Rather than saying he wanted to help her, he framed it as a student fulfilling their responsibility by helping their master. She didn’t know if he was trying to avoid embarrassing her, or himself. But she smiled at the thought. It seemed he was deep in thought all day trying to find a way to help her without actually admitting to helping her.
Coming to a decision, Tiela looked deeply into his eyes before saying “Kaelum. I, Tiela of Kassivir would like to take you on as a personal disciple. Do you accept?” Initiating the disciple acceptance ceremony that was commonly used throughout the continent.
Kaelum didn’t seem to know what response to use, so she nudged him on, saying “You’re supposed to bow and reply with either; I do, master. Or nay.”
Receiving her advice, Kaelum hurriedly bowed and replied with a smile “I do, master.”
As if suddenly remembering something, Tiela’s first disciple hurriedly uttered a farewell and left his soul space. Curious as to what he was doing, she watched Kaelum take his skewered rat off the fire, just before it burnt.
Tiela had no comments that night while she felt Kaelum’s dinner through their shared senses. However, for some reason, she felt that it was one of the best meals she had tasted in years.
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