"Yours is a blessed soul," the grandmaster said. "To have two of the greatest heroes teach you, you must have a great destiny."
"I'm just trying to find out who I am," Damien replied, "and I don't know if I'm the kind of person who can become a hero." He reveled in his own grandiloquence. It felt so comical for him to say it, like from some fantasy books.
"That is true." The old man hummed, eyes taking in the strange boy. "Are your studies over under our master?"
"No. I'm here on vacation."
"How much have you studied? What else is there for you to study?" the old man has a rare smile on his face as he stroked his beard.
"Like...like..." he has no idea what else is there to study. It was a nightmare for him to learn under the old coots but he persisted since he wanted to become stronger. He cursed every moment and didn't even think about his remaining training. Was just happy to get a long-awaited vacation. "I believe magic is where I'm weak now since I spent more time with the old pervert, and since the old hag particularly didn't like me for some reason. I steered clear of her."
"Alright, it is decided then," the old man slammed his fist on the table and stood up, startling Damien from his daydreaming.
"Wh-what is decided?" He asked the old man. He didn't give much thought to the talk and now he missed what the old man was saying.
The grandmaster reached out and clasped Damien's hands. "From today, you'll be my student. I'll teach you magic. The arcane art was sought after by many and failed by more. You should be grateful, little one."
'What the fuck?!' Damien thought, not quite believing his ears.
What was his question? Then he thought it must have something to do with the pervert. A sibling-student kinship or something?
"Uh...no." Damien denied the old man, thinking about the way he was going to teach him. There was no denying it would be like the old hag or the pervert since he learned under him.
"Wh-what?" The grandmaster himself was shocked since there was no soul that wouldn't jump on this opportunity. He even thought the kid was going to jump up and down in happiness. Young and old mages would've killed a thousand people just to trade a conversation with him and this kid just rejected him. 'He, indeed is special. I wonder what else does master see in him?'
The knights were shocked at the proposal and then utterly baffled at the quick rejection. Which sane soul would reject such an opportunity?
"Are you sure, kid? This will only help you. You could rise to the top." The Grandmaster tried one last time.
Damien took a deep breath and looked the grandmaster straight in the eyes. "I am sorry, sir, but I'm not interested in learning magic. I'm not good at it and I don't want to learn. But then again, thank you for thinking highly about me. For thinking I'm worthy of your teachings," he slightly bowed his head.
The Grandmaster slumped back to the chair and sighed deeply, feeling disappointed that an opportunity to please his master has failed. "It's okay, young child. Your words speak for your worthiness. Since you didn't see me as a worthy master for you, I can only shake my head at my incompatibility." he shook his head.
'This old geezer? He doesn't have any plan to release me, does he?'
The knights sucks in an air of unison as they heard the old man, they thought about what the Grandmaster wanted them to hear and Damien awaited to hear the words.
"You dare insult him?!" one of the younger knights roared, unsheathing his sword from the scabbard. "You would not insult him when your head rolls on the ground, princeling."
"Calm yourself, my son," the grandmaster said, raising his hands to calm the raging knight. "As I said, it is fine. This boy has spoken for himself and I cannot change his mind. If he is not interested, he isn't interested."
"Are you sure, grandmaster?" another knight asked, eyeing the boy with suspicion. "If he is just a brat, we can beat some sense into him."
"Like I said, all is..."
"You might have to be reborn to just even touch a strand of my hair, arrogant knight," Damien cut off the old man, glaring at the knights. "But I'll give you a fair warning this time, sheath your sword, knight and let us all forget this happened. I'll forgive you for your folly. But if you ever lay a hand on me, I'll make sure you regret it."
The young knights were infuriated by his words and pointed the blade's end toward the young master. "I'm a sworn knight to the Grand Magical Judiciary, personal guard to the Grandmaster himself. To insult him is insulting me. To threaten me is questioning my ability. Damien Von Zadkiel, I challenge you to a duel. Yield now or prepare to die."
Damien snorted at the words, 'Challenge me to a duel?' Did he even know who he was talking to?
"Challenging me? You?" He snorted at the kid, which only infuriated the kid more.
"That's enough, Barnie," Arcoss cut in, placing a hand in front of the raging young knight. "Forgive this kid, young master. He's just excited to be in this position."
Barnie, the young knight, snorted in contempt but did nothing to further jeopardize his position.
Arcoss was a good man, but he wasn't having it today. "Even if you are the Grandmaster's personal knight, you don't have any authority to mock a nobility from the other kingdom. If my father or the King himself were to learn about it, it would start either another war or that kid's head will roll on the ground."
Arcoss didn't really care about the consequences, he was just glad Barnie didn't want to lose face. He also didn't want to embarrass the boy in front of the Grandmaster and his knights. "any punishment could be done to satiate your honor," Arcoss said, looking at the Grandmaster.
The Grandmaster nodded.
"Oh? Is that so? Grandmaster, you want me to be your apprentice, right?"
"Yes, young master, what of it?" The old man asked, feeling hope again.
"I'll be your apprentice if that self-proclaimed knight over there defeats me in a fair duel. But if I win," His voice lowered to a whisper, a whisper that was heard by all. "He'll have to leave the knighthood, forever."
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om