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An Otherworldly Scholar - 22
🕑 Added 2023-06-19 21:59:15 +0000 UTCI was suddenly awoken by the knocking on my bedroom’s door. Despite how little sleep I had, I jumped onto my feet and reached for my shotgun, fully alert. Visions of intruders breaching into the orphanage and taking the kids had swarmed my dreams. This time, no one stormed into my room.
There was knocking again, firmly but not violently.
“I’m awake, enter.” I said as I tried to control the wild beating of my heart.
Elincia opened the door but, instead of inviting me to have breakfast with her as she usually did, she entered the room and closed the door behind her. The elven woman was dressed in her white night robe with a woolen shawl across her shoulders. As usual, she didn’t show any signs of just getting out of the bed.
“Firana hasn’t come back yet. I just checked her room and the bowl of food we left her is untouched.” Elincia announced the bad news with a weary voice. “I fear the city guard has caught her. Holst would’ve told the Marquis that Firana is a promising swordsman.”
It was the third day since Firana’s escape and Elincia was at the brink of panic.
I cursed under my breath.
We were facing a dilemma. We could go out to the town and search for Firana but we would leave the orphanage undefended if the guardsmen appeared to conscript the rest of the orphans. However, if we played it safe and Firana was indeed in danger, she would be sent to the frontline without us being able to protect her.
“You should look for her.” I finally said.
Even if Firana ran away on her own, she was still one of Elincia’s kids and it was our job to protect her whether she wanted it or not.
“What if the guardsmen come to the orphanage? They know you are a Scholar, Rob, there’s no way you can dissuade them. The guardsmen know I have a few Hunter skills so they will be more reluctant to do anything rash in my presence.” Elincia replied.
The guards didn’t know anything about my makeshift [Mana Blade]. To them I was merely a low level Scholar without any meaningful offensive skills. Elincia was right, the guards would probably pick a fight with me thinking they would easily win. Then, things would escalate.
“We might be reading too much into Holst’s actions. Maybe the patrol last night was just a coincidence and they are not going to force the orphans into the army until they reach the age.” I put my hand on Elincia’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly.
“Or we are correctly reading the situation and the Marquis is going to abduct them if we don’t hand them over.” Elincia replied.
“Maybe. What’s certain is that Firana needs us right now. You go find her and I will hold the fort.” I said with a firm voice.
Elincia didn’t seem completely convinced.
“I don’t want to put that kind of weight over your shoulders.” She muttered.
“If the guardsmen come, I’ll do what I have to do to keep the kids safe.” I replied, looking her directly in the eye.
Elincia was ready to fight to the bitter end for the kids but so I was. Despite the brevity of my stay, the orphanage was the only place I could call home in this world. As old and shabby as it was, I wasn’t going to let the guardsmen stain the sanctuary Elincia had created for the kids.
“Are you sure?” Elincia bit her lip, indecisive.
“As sure as the sun rises.” I replied.
My father would’ve been proud I found something to fight for.
Elincia placed her hand over mine and nodded.
“I’m glad you are here, Rob.” The elven woman quickly said before decisively walking to the doorway.
Elincia headed back to her room and, a minute later, she left the manor dressed in her adventurer’s attire. I silently wished her luck and got dressed to prepare breakfast.
Giving the kids a good impression was essential, as a large part of learning was made by imitation. Back on Earth, my thesis professor used to say that male teachers were extra important for kids who didn’t have father figures at home, consequently, we had to act accordingly to the task.
I hoped I was up to the task.
My wardrobe wasn’t particularly large, only a couple riding trousers and a few old shirts. As with everything inside of the manor, the clothes were good quality but they were old and washed-out by usage and time.
I cast one last glance at the shotgun in the corner of the room and put the two remaining shells inside my pocket as a sort of lucky charm.
The kitchen was empty and cold so I rekindled the fire using my mana. Other than producing a mana blade, sparks, and heating water, there was not much I could do yet. I already knew mana could interact with the world like a small particle which opened a lot of interesting applications. I just had to find time for experimentation, which was going to be hard for the foreseeable future. Even figuring out how to heat water had taken me a ridiculous amount of time and thought.
I copied Elincia’s routine the best I could. Breakfast was meager, just a small bowl of gruel and the occasional infusion of aromatic herbs. We had to find a way to make money fast if we wanted to maintain healthy nutrition for the orphanage.
I made a mental note to ask Elincia about Farmer skills later.
“Good morning, Mister Clarke.” Ilya yawned in the doorway of the kitchen, still in her pajamas. She stumbled into the kitchen and sat in the chair nearest to the stove.
“Getting up early?” I replied, pouring a splash of water into the gruel.
“I figured out I could get up a little earlier to help Miss Elincia with breakfast. Lately I have been feeling more energetic, even with the physical training.” Ilya yawned again, betraying her own words.
It was a sweet gesture but I rather Ilya focused on herself. I made a mental note to reduce the amount of tasks on her shoulders.
“Can I ask you a question, Mister Clarke?” Ilya watched me cooking from her seat, her feet hung a few centimeters over the floor.
“Whatever you want.” I replied, trying to prevent the oatmeal porridge from sticking to the pot. I missed non-stick kitchenware.
“How old are you?” Ilya asked.
“How many days does the calendar have here?” I mindlessly replied as I scraped the sides of the pot.
Ilya glanced at me as if I was an alien trying to abduct children.
“Three hundred and sixty divided in four months of ninety days each. Yours don’t?” Ilya asked, concerned.
“We measure people’s ages with a hybrid lunisolar calendar.” I said with a stone-cold face, expecting the weird words to be enough to prevent further questions.
That was one of the best worst lies I had told to date.
“Anyway, I’m twenty eight or twenty nine. I’ll need paper to make a better calculation.”
Ilya was bewildered by the revelation and, for a moment, it seemed she couldn’t find the right words to articulate whatever sentence she was thinking of.
“I thought you were younger.” Ilya finally said.
“Because of my appearance or because of my behavior?” I inquired with a smug grin, knowing I had caught her thinking not-so-flattering thoughts about me. A sprinkle of public embarrassment was an infallible method of adjusting a kid’s social compass.
Ilya’s face turned into a deep shade of red, which was surprising considering her natural tone of skin was a smooth light blue.
“It’s because you wouldn’t punish us. We thought you were still a Scholar apprentice.” Words stumbled from Ilya's mouth as she tried to excuse herself.
I made a mental note to erase any trace of Holst’s hand in the orphanage.
“I don’t think mistakes should be punished. If you think about it, it would be stranger to do things perfectly from the start than making mistakes along the way.” I replied, putting some oatmeal into a bowl. “I will not punish you for making mistakes, but I will if you act violently, berate, or try to humiliate your companions.”
“I would never do that!” Ilya slammed the table as she stood up.
“Of course you wouldn’t. You care about the orphanage as much as Miss Elincia.” I put the oatmeal bowl in front of her, smiling. Ilya was a good kid. “Eat and then go wake up the younger ones. I’ll check on Zaon and Wolf.”
After breakfast, and at least a dozen questions about Elincia’s whereabouts, the orphans and I headed to the backyard for the morning class. Zaon, Wolf and Ilya had already cleared the plot for the new farm and now they were discussing the best way to plant it.
“Wolf! You are in charge of the morning drill.” I said. “Same as every day, laps, stretching, and sword drills. The five master strikes and the four guards. Remember to be mindful with the alignment of the blade.”
Wolf, Zaon, and Ilya walked to the esplanade with their training equipment. Without wasting a minute, they started doing laps around the backyard. My former students back on Earth had serious trouble with self-motivation. Maybe it was an ailment of the modern education system, the product of having a bunch of kids sitting on their asses for hours.
Seeing the older orphans fending for themselves, I turned around to deal with the younger ones. Elincia’s ankle-biters.
“Since Miss Elincia is busy, I’ll take care of the morning class today.” I announced.
The group reacted with a mix of excitement and surprise.
“What will we learn?” Ash raised his voice over the orphans’ muttering.
Ash was a human kid of ten or eleven years of age and the leader of the younger children in the absence of Ilya or Zaon. Outspoken, mischievous, witful. Elincia had warned me about him. As the natural leader of the group, he could disrupt the whole class without much effort.
I had to get him on my side at all costs.
“What do you want to learn today?” I asked back, adopting a gentle smile.
My answer took Ash by surprise. All the ears that were attentive to my answer now were focused on his, who was suddenly turned into the center of attention.
“I want to learn how to fight like Wolf and the big kids.” Ash said with a smug grin on his rounded face.
The orphans nodded in agreement as they exchanged excited glances. I read between the lines and came to the conclusion Elincia had forbidden any kind of fighting between the younger ones.
“Is that what everyone wants to learn today?” I asked out loud.
“YES!” The orphans chanted back.
“Are you sure?”
“YES!”
Luckily for Ash, I was a bit of an unruly teacher myself.
“Alright, let’s go to the shed to see what we can use.” I said with a wide grin as I led the way to the shed with a small army of orphans swirling around me.
As much as this was an improvised lesson, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do with the kids. After teaching for years and years, a teacher ended up developing an instinct to plan a class along the way much like a musician improvising a song.
“Not running! Following me!” I clapped my hands loudly to get the attention’s group.
I already knew what implements were on the shed, so we returned to the backyard with several wooden swords, shields, and practice bows and arrows. Everything was loaded into an old hand cart to avoid the kids from starting swinging prematurely.
We returned to our corner of the backyard as the older orphans got ready to start with the sword drills. They were doing well on their own, so I focused on the little ones.
“Alright, little people. Swords and arrows are no game, they are true weapons of war. Even if these are made of wood, they can break your bones, so we are going to set some basic rules.” I said after I managed to sit the group in front of me and with their backs to the training session of the older ones. “Rule number one. It’s forbidden to swing or shoot at your companions. You have to be mindful of your vicinity while practicing with the sword and arrow. Rule number two. It’s forbidden to make fun of others. We can laugh and have a good time but we have to be mindful of others' feelings. Rule number three. While training we don’t use full force. We are not doing this to win some game or competition, we are doing this to learn. Understood?”
As expected, the group yelled a generalized ‘yes’.
“Well, if everyone understood, there would be no problem if I ask what the rules were, wouldn’t it be?” I asked with a mischievous smile. As expected, the kid’s jolly faces were overrun by anxious glances.
Neither me nor any good teacher enjoyed creating anxiety among the students but very few teachers made sure if the students really understood the instructions before starting exercises. It was needless to say that without clear instructions a teacher couldn’t expect great results.
“Ash, tell me. What was the second rule?” I asked ‘randomly’. A few kids started laughing but a quick glance was enough to silence them. “Someone wants to help him? Yes, Shu?”
The sleepy harpy girl had raised her hand almost instantly.
“It’s not allowed to make fun of others.” She said, confidently.
I thanked her before continuing with the next question. “Nokti, I’m going to ask you, so start remembering the rules. What was the first rule?”
I bit my tongue too late as I forgot Nokti and Virdian didn’t speak yet. However, the snakefolk girl mimicked as if she stabbed her twin brother, then she profusely shook her head while gesturing her arms in an ‘x’ motion. Consequently, Virdian, fell to the ground with the tongue hanging from his mouth.
The fact they couldn’t speak didn’t mean they couldn’t understand.
“Good. As Nokti demonstrated pretty well, hitting your companions is forbidden.” I held my laugh. The twins were just precious. “Now, someone please revive Virdian so we can continue with the lesson.”
“I want to be a Healer when I grow up!” Shu jumped on her feet and slowly walked towards the fallen snakefolk kid.
The group of orphans and I looked patiently as Shu hovered her hands over Virdian’s body and hummed slowly. Suddenly, Virdian opened his eyes and raised in the most frankenstein-esque way possible.
“I’m a Healer, not a Necormancer, silly!” Shu said.
“It’s Necromancer, silly.” One of the smaller kids replied.
This time not even I could hold my laughter.
I let them laugh for a while before trying to bring order back. If anything, Virdian was a natural joker, a thing that most orphans appreciated. I said most because there was at least one who wasn’t completely happy about not being the center of attention.
“Ash.” I called the boy’s name and the group went quiet again. “Can you tell me what the second rule is? Shu already helped you to remember.”
For an instant, panic took hold of his face.
“Not making fun of others.” Ash finally said after a moment of hesitation.
“Perfect. We are ready to roll then.”
Before anyone started rolling on the ground I started with the actual instructions of the exercise.
“Ash, Nokti, Virdian, and Shu. You will be the first group. Go and grab a sword and a shield. The rest will watch first, then we will exchange positions.”
In less than a breath, the four kids were armed with round shields and short swords similar to the roman gladius. They formed a line, ready for instructions.
The sword grips were a bit too wide and the shields too heavy, but that didn’t hinder their mood. Practicing footwork and striking at the same time might be overwhelming for the young ones so I decided to go just with striking.
“Today we will learn the basics of combat. First is the stance, shield feet forward, feet shoulder width apart.” I said as I examined the quartet’s stances. They were doing excellent.
Then we move to a basic cut progression. Right to left, left to right, stab, shield up. I made the orphans repeat the drill at the rhythm of my clapping until they figured out the steps.
Ash got the gist of it right away. Then the snakefolk twins, only a few seconds later. Shu, on the other hand, had trouble figuring out the movement of the wrist so I knelt beside her and had her slowly mimic my swings.
“This is tiresome.” Shu said once she mastered the combination.
Given the harpy’s build, she shouldn’t have more problems than the rest of the orphans but then I remembered she was surprisingly light. I wondered if harpies could fly when they reached adulthood. I made yet another mental note to ask Elincia later.
If anything, Shu was not a quitter.
“Don’t worry, Shu, you are doing great. We are almost done. Maybe a harpy’s best weapon isn't a sword and shield but a spear or a longsword.” I said reassuringly.
As humanoid as everyone was, every race had a different biology. Back on Earth,I was used to treating every kid the same but in this world things might be different. For instance, Wolf was just fourteen but he was already as tall as me and had more muscle than the average adult.
“Okay, kids. I’ll grab a shield and you will show me your cuts.” I clapped again to catch their attention.
At that moment, I caught movement with the corner of my eye. By the corner of the manor, Firana sprinted through the backyard, almost falling over the squash on the farm plot. The girl crossed the backyard as fast as an arrow and almost ran into me. There was clotted blood on her nose and chin, and the sleeve of her shirt was torn to shreds.
Firana hung from my shirt as she fought to catch her breath.
“Guardsmen.” She said just as a thunderous noise followed by the sound of the front iron fence crashing on the stone path deafened me.
A shiver ran through my spine but my body moved by itself.
“Ilya, Wolf! Take the kids into the manor and do not open the door under any circumstances! Zaon, to me! Bring me your sword!” I yelled in a rush, abandoning my calm teacher tone.
Everyone obeyed without question.
“Mister Clarke?” Zaon asked without being able to hide the fear in his voice. His face was pallid and his hands trembled as he handed the practice sword to me.
“I’ll go try to reason with these men.” I said as I adjusted the sheath of the dull sword to my side. “I need you to do something for me in the meantime.”
Comments
Ruathim
Let’s hope for a peaceful resolution! Bet he’ll be glad he brought the shotgun shells anyway though!
Dame
I'm glad Firana is back, but I worry she will not be allowed to stay. Kick their ass with words Rob!
