Emperors War

"I"ll see how much energy you have left tomorrow....hmmph!" Mavis mumbled under his breath. Of course seeing the young boy full of vitality and giving his teacher a hard time would only put a smile on Mavis"s face but he couldn"t let the boy know that.

He didn"t need Vance to tell him, as someone who had spent a lifetime training, he was also someone who already knew. The boy was special. Mavis already knew that part of his job as a teacher is to keep the boy grounded, as a salt of the earth kind of person. The boy truly represented the old saying "one step in the wrong direction will cause you a thousand years of regret."

What teacher would want to lead a genius like Aker astray? Could you imagine in the future sitting around telling the story of being his teacher and as your bragging point you get to come out with "All that good stuff over there is his other teachers but that over obnoxious bad att.i.tude, I taught him that."

No.no.no.no that is no can do. Earlier when he was telling the boy that a mans got to brag, Mavis meant that with every fiber of his being. Teaching the kid to be humble, cultured, and elegant if they decide to go that route will belong to Vance, Dr. Life & Death and whoever else....but teaching the kid to be a man who steps up strong, owns his mistakes and pushes forward will be Mavis.
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A man shouldn"t brag unless he"s built the credibility to brag, and if he can"t currently brag then he should be building his credibility until he can. No one likes a bragger but everyone loves a winner.

"That boy pulled a stunt like that...what did he have to brag about on his way out with only his 20% hit rate? I will make it so you can"t act like that, you"ll see!" Mavis finished his thoughts out loud turned around picked up his hammer and started swinging a semi-evil grin on his face and the thought of the torture he was going to put Aker through.

Little did Aker know that his playful comment with his teacher on the way out would result in Mavis deciding he would work him to the bone.

Walking back out to the foray Vance walked side by side with Aker as he lead him to the cafeteria. If the armory, medic center, and gate that lead to the arena was on the north end of the foray then the cafeteria would be on the furthest south side away from everything else that was going on.

"How was the forge? What did Teacher Mavis have you doing?" Vance asked seriously wanting to know. While Vance was very excited about the fact that both Dr. Life & Death as well as Mavis were willing to teach Aker he was also concerned.

In Vance"s mind he was Akers Master and the others were just helping him. He was the one who would decide on how to shape and mold Aker and they were just leaf"s in the wind that were teaching him very specific skills. Him being the master was decided before he had even met Aker, much less aftermeeting and getting his consent.

He wanted to hear what both Dr. Life & Death and Mavis were teaching just in case Aker was hearing something that was counter intuitive to what he wanted him to learn.

"He had me swinging the hammer. Swing the hammer he said. Listen with your heart he said. I could barely hit the ingot, I was a total failure to be honest. Most of the time I didn"t even understand what he was talking about. He kept having me look at the fire and he would say what do you see? What do you see? What do you see?"

The frustration was evident in Akers words. He was not bouncing up and down excited like he was when he finished up in the medical center. There was clearly not as much of a connection with the blacksmithing as there was with the medicine.

Honestly Vance couldn"t offer any a.s.sistance one way or another. Vance had also studied medicine in his time but he didn"t do any blacksmithing at all so he had no way of knowing anything about it. Through his life he counted on the services of blacksmith more times that he could count so Aker having someone who was willing to teach him was his advantage. There was only merit in learning how to blacksmith so he would continue to encourage him in that direction.

"I can"t honestly say I understand what Teacher Mavis is talking about either but I do know that Teacher Mavis is one of the top blacksmiths on this side of the galaxy. I have even heard that he is capable of creating low grade magical armor and weapons although I have never seen him do it. Organizations from all over the galaxy would give up significant resources if it meant they could get Teacher Mavis over to them, and someone like that is willing to teach you personally. He did it of his volition, as far as I know he has never taken an apprentice on before so you should feel honored by it. While you may not understand his methods and reasons I am positive that he has reasons for his methods. Stay with it, from the blacksmiths I have known in the past it took them years and years just to reach the basic level of a blacksmith."

Vance gave a long winded answer to Aker to keep him motivated with blacksmithing. Vance could certainly hear the desire of Aker"s to give up on blacksmithing and focus his attention on medicine.

"Master, I understand, even if I don"t like it, it is something beneficial for me. Even more, Teacher Mavis even put his heart into taking me to be his apprentice and is willing to teach me. For that, all I need to do is put in the effort."

Aker"s words reflected the fact that he understood what Vance was trying to convey and with Akers words Vance felt that his long answer previously was not wasted.

"Still doesn"t mean he doesn"t make sense when he talks....just swing the hammer. Use your heart....what do you see in the fire? Hmmmph! I"ll show him tomorrow when I just keep calling him teacher until he stops talking in riddles."

Aker"s mumbles traveled into Vance"s ears and Vance couldn"t help but shake. Wasn"t Vance just satisfied with himself that his words weren"t wasted on the boy. Wasn"t he just feeling glad that he had explained in such good detail why it was a good thing that Mavis took him as a personal apprentice?

If they weren"t already to the cafeteria Vance would have slapped Aker over the back of the head.

"Ho..ho you finally made it over here with the little fellow did you Vance?"

An elegant looking man in his mid forties called out to Vance as they walked up to the area where the seats were for the cafeteria. The man was wearing an ap.r.o.n that was spotless, had long red hair and stood just under 1.9 meters with gla.s.ses. He looked like a scholar or at least that was the impression he gave Aker.

The cafeteria itself consisted of six windows on the south wall of the foray. Above the windows was the menu that all of the people who worked The Pit could order. As Aker looked at the words on the menu he found that he could read them but he didn"t understand what they were.

Taramasalata

Dolmades

Moussaka

Kolokythokeftedes

Neither Vance nor the scholar paid any attention to Aker"s confused face and they just continued talking with each other.

"Ya, we were fortunately able to make it over today. Are you glad to see us?"

Vance asked back without hesitating the scholar replied back.

"Who would be glad to see you. Do you know how difficult you are making my life. Yesterday it was cook the Kulga and today its show some boy how to cook. Maybe I should just stop working here and work for you?"

The scholarly man rebuked Vance"s words. As Aker watched though he could tell that the scholarly man was not being serious with Vance and was clearly joking. Were these two friends?

Looking at the two of them as they communicated, Aker found it hard to believe that the two would be friends. Vance was clearly of the warrior cla.s.s or to put it bluntly a fighter. While it was true that he had an indescribable majesty to him he also had a plethora of scars and more importantly his glare clearly conveyed that he had battled and killed countless of times. Someone didn"t develop that presence without a mountain of corpses. They say anything worthwhile is built on a solid foundation and in this case even when Vance was not exuding his killing intent Aker could feel it. Perhaps it was because Aker had now been through a few battles himself? Either way Aker shuddered at the thought of what Vance"s killing intent would be like if he actually put it out there for Aker to feel.

The scholarly fellow gave of a calm and pleasant feeling that made you want to be around him because it made you feel better. It was a lot like visiting flower fields and blossoms back home. While it didn"t offer any real value, people flooded to it just to be in its presence, to soak in the tranquility and hopefully provide some color to their lives. Just by standing by Vance"s side while in the presence of this scholarly man Aker started to feel some of his burden be released.

"So this must be the boy then, is he worthy of my teachings? Has he ever cooked before? Will he destroy my kitchen?" The scholarly boy looked down at Aker and asked the questions he was thinking aloud. It was obvious from the tone and the fact that it wasn"t really directed at any one that he wasn"t asking either one of them. Perhaps he was asking fate?

Aker couldn"t help but think "if your going to ask fate for answers wouldn"t it be better to ask more profound questions such as why am I here, or what is my goal?" after thinking that for a second Aker then corrected himself "hahahaha I am here to get revenge and my goal is to get revenge so perhaps his questions to fate are better than my questions."

While he was lost in thought over something so trivial again, Vance was staring him down. Couldn"t Aker understand that he was taking on another teacher. Wasn"t it obvious that he would be teaching him how to cook? Weren"t the questions that he was asking aloud the indicator that Aker should step forward and greet him as his new teacher?

"You would think after the third time the boy would not mess this up. How is it even possible to mess it up so different every single time. Is he really staring off into nothing as if though his mind is pondering over something idiotic and pointless?" Vance"s thoughts were running rampant as he glared with even more intensity at Aker. He didn"t want to have to do something to remind Aker once again to greet his teacher.

"He"s doing this on purpose to upset me...there is no other answer!" Vance continued to watch as Akers face reflected confusion as if though he didn"t understand something it changed to a face of self mockery. Finally after having enough he reached his hand back getting ready to swing it forward and knock the sense back into Aker once again.

Aker feeling the hand go back suddenly came back to his senses, took a step forward, bent over and announced "Aker greets Teacher!"

Vance was confounded. He stood there with all of those silly looking faces as he mused over something and Vance demonstrated patience because he didn"t want to look the fool by having to remind Aker. The instant he finally forced himself to make Aker acknowledge his new teacher he stepped forward out of Vance"s reach and greeted him beautifully.

"He"s doing this on purpose to upset me....there is no other answer!" Vance once again thought that Aker was toying with him.

"Shall I take this little one and bestow the beauty that is culinary art? Oh...I just don"t know if I should expose myself to this rugged and rough way of living. Vance over there your such a roughen, clearly anyone that calls you Master is going to be an ill mannered one."

The scholar took advantage of the situation to grind in the mistakes that Aker had made. Perhaps mistakes is not the proper term but it is fitting because clearly he knew how to greet his new teacher. He also understood the intention to make him the new teacher, he just waited until he was forced to do it.

The scholarly fellow had a smile that did not hide his intentions to poke at Vance. He started to laugh out loud when he saw Vance"s face turn red from embarra.s.sment.

Had he ever had a day where his face had turned red so many times out of embarra.s.sment? Was this the second time? The third? Fourth? He had lost count. Can you lose count of the number of times?

"Sampson we already had a deal, even if this kid has two left thumbs and feet for hands you have to teach him. He also has to be capable of cooking his own meals and you know why."

Vance clarified with the scholarly man named Sampson that they had already reached an agreement.

Splendidly ignoring Vance"s words Sampson looked down at Aker and said "should I teach you how to cook?"

Without any hesitation Aker responded "Yes, I am excited by the prospect Teacher Sampson!"

Truly Aker didn"t understand why he needed to learn how to cook. He also wasn"t to particularly excited about being able to cook either but clearly Vance thought it was important and while he had been being mischievous today he understood Vance"s intentions. He needed to relay his sincerity here.

"Then how about you make a meal?"