#6- Eiran of Aldraril

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"Your student?!"

I look at him, astonished, as my brain slowly realizes the seriousness of his proposition.

"You heard right. I want to take you as my student to make you a Royal Knight."

I hesitantly open my mouth, "Why me?"

"There are a few reasons for my decision, but the first one is because my Prince asked me."

I stare blankly at him. This must be some kind of joke, right? No one in their right mind would make such an important decision based on the statement of an eight-year-old boy. This must be knightly humor that escapes my comprehension.

"You shouldn't joke about these things," I reply coldly.

"Do you think I would joke so easily about a matter as serious as this?" he asks before waiting for my response.

'He expects me to accept this simple reason?' I think with aberration.

In front of my stubborn silence, he sighs and consents to develop his train of thought. "His Highness Kallias has always been curious about everything. He used to escape his apartment to wander in the gardens."

'How is that related to me?' I yell internally.

"One day he stumbled upon the training ground," he continues, lost in his memories, a faint smile on his lips. "We only noticed him an hour later. His eyes were shining with excitement, and he asked to attend swordsman training with me as his mentor. You see, Raven, even though he expressed an insatiable curiosity, he never showed any signs of excitement; it was the first and the last time. Since he was too young at that time, we refused but promised him to teach him once he reached his tenth year."

As he talks, I slowly start to understand the denouement of his explanation.

He turns his scarred face and looks into my eyes with a strange emotion-an emotion a diamond miner would have if stumbling upon something other than his purpose but as equally interesting.

"But when he described in detail what happened to him, the part when you came to save him, he had the same expression he had on the training ground."

My heart skips a beat, and I take a few seconds before asking carefully, "So you chose me because I am entertainment for your precious master?"

'A twisted reason, but not unimaginable like whatever reasons that pushed Loreiley to kill me and Sorin.'

"No, because he and I saw your potential."

I quickly raise my head, "What potential? I can't handle a double sword properly, and if the Prince didn't intervene during our fight, you would have ended my life. I may have the potential to become a respectable mercenary, but my training is not compatible with the knight's one."

"How could you possibly know that?" laughs Eiran, "I am the first knight you ever met. You only heard of me through baseless rumors that those frustrated mercenaries spread."

I straighten, annoyed by his remark, "How do you even know that you are the only knight I ever encountered?"

Technically he is right and wrong at the same time.

"Which sane or clean person would venture themselves into a mercenary village?" he asks rhetorically.

I don't answer; there would be no use in it.

"You don't know me, Raven, because if you did, you would know how talented you are. Of course, I would've beaten you! I have far more experience and strength than you and your family have. Well," he corrects, "your mother would give me some serious work to deal with."

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