Chapter 28 Old Man’s Advice

“Don’t you get it? There’s something you still lack, young one.”

Josiah didn’t like hearing those words, but after witnessing the difference of power between him and the old man, he couldn’t exactly protest.

“Who are you? How can’t I use my sword? What exactly is going on here?”

“As I said, I am a former employee of Mirild.”

Josiah was far less suspicious of his words after witnessing him fight.

‘The form is indeed very similar to Thomas’. The way they both fight is the spitting image of each other, but Thomas never went that hard. Was he holding himself…? I thought I was getting close to beating him on our spars. This all suddenly feels like a big lie.’

“You asked why you couldn’t manage your sword properly. This should be obvious. Look at the wound on your right shoulder.”

“What about it? You did that! And it’s not like I hadn’t faced anything worse before.” Josiah always had the potions back home if he ever wanted to heal himself quickly.

“Yes. I did it on purpose. This kind of wound is different from the ones you’ve suffered before. It’s only a small cut, but it draws the blood out with pressure. It’s going to heal quickly, but it modifies the flow of your blood for a while.”

Josiah understood.

‘I see. I use my blood flow to control the properties of my bloodbound weapons. It’s so natural that sometimes I forget about that. Thomas told me to maintain calm and control myself, but if I’m fighting on my edge and my blood is spilling like crazy the weapon isn’t going to do sh*t.’

“This also explains how I did that crater on the floor with your sword. It’s not because I used the bloodbound powers of it, that’s just my actual strength.”

“!?”

“This is the power of someone who has complete control of his blood flow. Weapons are heavily based on the control, so it’s only natural that the good fighters learn how to control it properly. And that’s something you don’t have.”

“But… Thomas never told me about that.”

“Of course, he’s training your form first. After all, you’re only seven.”

“Eight.”

“That’s right, eight. And furthermore, Thomas won’t teach some kid off the farm such a strong skill. If someone opens his mouth about it, Eneris is going to come for you for sure. If you want to get stronger… Strong enough to help your mother, o young one… You are going to have to mind your choices. Learning the art of the sword on your own is not enough. And are you really going to be able to perfect it at a school in the neighboring town?”

“The army…? Do they learn about this kind of thing there?”

“That I don’t know, but if a soldier ever wants to study his ways to become a better fighter… Rest assured no one is going to stop him. In order to help your mother, you need three things: the sword; the blood and the voice. You need to be able to control your sword, to control your blood flow, and to control your manners. Only politically you are going to be able to retrieve your throne by right.”

Josiah grabbed his sword and cleaned his clothes.

“That’s it, I’m done. I’m going back.”

“What? Got mad you lost, o boy?”

“You show out of nowhere and start talking about mom. If you wanted to retrieve the throne so badly, where were you all those years?”

“…”

Josiah pointed his finger at the old man:

“Listen up, you old fart, I’m never going to subject to receiving orders from the empire, you hear? Never! I'm going to do things my way!”

“Do what you say, but mind my words. You are not going to be able to get better with the army after you.”

‘Humph.’

Josiah turned his back and moved back home, leaving the old man standing there, in the middle of the street.

“And that now… Old guy beats the sh*t out of me and wants to teach me a lesson? Tch. If he wanted to tutor me he should have started sooner. I’m going to have to have a talk with Thomas when I get back home tonight.”



It didn’t take long to get back home, but Thomas wasn’t there as he always was. Josiah arrived home, had the time to treat his wounds, shower himself in the barrel bathtub but Thomas didn’t come. In the end, he had to dinner on his own. It was pitch black outside after he was done with everything.

‘Old guy surely is taking his time today. What’s up at the farm? No one takes care of the animals during the night…’ Josiah pondered.

Out of mild curiosity, he went to the area outside of the house and heard some exasperate voices talking frenetically. A group of farmers was sighted not so far from there, about a hundred steps away maximum. It was a small group of five adults who worked on the farmsteads. He recognized Thomas as one of them.

“There you are!” Josiah muttered. “Know what? I’m not doing anything, so I’m going to check what the fuzz is about.”

When he arrived next to the group, they were talking about putting the things in order before ‘The Magistrate’ came.

“And this time they are going to be collecting the taxes as well. If their part isn’t separate when they arrive they might…” The man stopped talking as he saw the little boy arriving. As everyone turned to him he felt in the need of saying something:

“Hey Thomas, I already had dinner… What’s going on here?”

Thomas answered:

“The Magistrate and some soldiers are going to come to town tomorrow. It was a busy day here today. The empire has a lot of demands, you see.”

“That Magistrate? Again? What does he want? Is he going to go after children to join the army again?”

“He might. But the reason the army sent him here is twofold: the monthly tax collection, and to take care of business. The empire had bought a large number of cattle six months ago, predicting the outcome of the year, but in the end, we are having a hard time meeting the agreed amount. The worst part is we don’t believe the Magistrate is going to agree on us simply giving back part of the money…”

One of the men in the group said:

“We suspect he might want to trade something they want as excuse… Something akin to his own preferences… Who knows what that sadistic mind of his is going to come up with?”

Josiah already anticipated: ‘they ‘are’ after people for the army after all… I bet he is going to ask for more orphans as a double-trade. We ‘handle our temporary services to the empire’ and as a result not only we earn the glory of making part of the royal army but they also ‘forgive’ our debts…’

“We’re done here. Shall we go?” Thomas said to Josiah, who agreed.

In the end, Josiah didn’t have the mind to ask Thomas over what Benson told about his mother and the bloodstream control abilities. The night passed fast and the dawn came in the blink of an eye.

The day The Magistrate had promised to return had come. It was going to be a long day.