When the dust settled, the people saw the Old Master standing between the two fighters with Raymond's fist in his hand.
"Do you intend on smashing his frozen arm to bits?" He asked.
Raymond stayed silent for a second before responding.
"I warned him he might get injured."
The Old Master nodded, then glanced over at the young Prince who lay on the ground exhausted.
He grabbed the boy's arm, then carefully channeled his own mana through it, and the ice began to melt off.
"Thank you Master." Sito said in relief.
"Raymond, join the rest of the group. Sito stay here."
"Yes, Master," they both said.
Before leaving, Raymond faced Sito and stuck his hand out.
Raymond was a very prideful man, but he wasn't spiteful or arrogant. He was able to admit defeat and knew that it was only his own fault that he lost to somebody so much younger than him.
He knew he had to train even harder to live up to his father's expectations and to be worthy of the Machin name.
"You surprised me, young Prince. You've proven yourself worthy of being our leader, and when the time comes, we will follow you to the ends of the earth. You have my word."
Sito took his hand and shook it.
"I hope I can count on you when the time comes, Raymond. We need more capable men like you."
The two boys nodded, and a brotherhood was formed.
The Old Master smiled and turned to face his students. "Now who's ready for the young Prince's punishment?"
Everyone cheered as they ran to grab the practice slugs.
Since Sito started training, his punishment had become a sort of 'end of session' tradition that involved the other students throwing slugs at him for 15 minutes as he tried deflecting and dodging them.
"Enough. Line up." The Old Master yelled as the one-sided dodgeball match came to a close.
"Training is done for now, you all did very well. Now go cultivate and do not be late for the evening session or else you'll end up in worse shape than young Sito here."
The students bowed. "Yes, Master!" They shouted before jogging back to their barracks.
-----
Behind the glass of a tinted viewing booth in the arena.
"The boy is improving at an astonishing rate, Your Majesty. He reminds me of you when you were his age." The old scholar said.
"Gideon, you know very well that although I was formidable at his age, I was not even half as good a fighter as he is now." The King replied.
Even though his face was stern and calm, the scholar could hear a hint of pride in the King's voice.
"Well, he is your son, after all. I can only imagine how powerful he will become after his awakening."
The King couldn't help himself and smiled as he stood from his seat.
"When he awakens, he should inherit both affinities of the Meridius family just as our ancestor Kazer once did. Once that happens, I will personally train him to be the strongest King in the history of our family and he will truly become a force to be reckoned with."
The King looked at the scholar as a hint of greed flashed in his eyes.
"If your… experiments, keep yielding fruit, then nobody will be able to oppose us for long."
-----
"Sito, come with me"
"Yes Master"
Sito followed the old man out of the arena and through some corridors before arriving at the armory.
'Shit, this can't be good. What sort of idea is he cooking up now?' Sito thought.
The guards at the entrance slightly bowed as the two walked past them and entered the armory.
Sito had been in the armory several times, but each time he entered it he couldn't believe his eyes. Not only was it bigger than the arena, but the variety of weapons surpassed his wildest imaginations.
"How long are you going to ogle around like a fool for, boy?"
He snapped back to reality.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I bought you here, are you not?"
"Are you going to give me another lecture about the security of our nation? Or maybe equip all the other students with weapons to beat me since you always seem so hellbent on getting me killed?" Sito replied.
The old man smiled. "For someone so young, you sure have a way with words, young Stio."
The old man let out a sigh before continuing.
"The reason I brought you here today was not to lecture you or to beat you. Although it pains me to admit, your skills in unarmed combat have far exceeded any that I have ever seen before for someone of your age. And because of this, I have decided that you will begin training in armed combat."
Sito's eyes widened. "Does this mean-"
"Yes. I've brought you here so you can choose the weapon you wish to wield. Keep in mind that although we will touch on all the most common weapons, the one you choose today will be the main weapon that you will train with for the rest of our time together. It will be at your side at all times and become an extension of your own body. Before you leave my side, I will make sure to hammer it into the very fiber of your being. This is not a decision to make lightly, understand?"
Sito bowed his head, "yes, Master". His excitement was bursting through the seams.
Normally, trainees of other masters and academies don't officially start training in armed combat until the age of 10. So Sito thought he'd have to wait another 3 years and never expected that his master would show him favoritism.
"Good. Now go pick the weapon you wish to wield. Make sure you choose wisely and I will be here if you have any questions, young Sito"
"Yes, Master!" Sito said before running off.
-----
'Man, I don't even know what half of these weapons are.'
He was currently looking at a weapon that resembled a bladed staff and seemed to bend and elongate using the momentum of the swing.
"That, young Sito, is a yorin"
"Ah! What the hell, old man! Someone needs to put a cowbell on you"
The Old Master chuckled.
"You know, very few people choose this weapon and even fewer manage to wield it properly. I usually steer students away from the yorin for that very reason."
"However, considering that you can use both hands without favor for one over the other, it would actually suit you quite well."
"Are you saying I should go with a two-handed weapon since I'm ambidextrous?" Sito replied.
"You should choose as you please, young Sito. All I am trying to say is that you have a gift and it would be a shame to see it go to waste."
'Hmmm. He does have a point, but I don't want to limit myself just yet. Let me look at all my options first, then I'll decide.'
"Let me keep looking for now. I want to see all my options first."
The Old man turned and sighed as he began walking away. "Do as you wish, Young Prince."
-----
After walking around for some time and weighing the pros and cons of each weapon in his mind, he finally came to a decision.
'After all.... why not?'
'Why shouldn't I be able to pick this one?'
'Well, although it's mostly wielded with two hands, it's not really in a way that being ambidextrous will be of any benefit at all.'
'Unless, of course...'
A huge, goofy grin appeared on Sito's face. "Master's gonna hate this idea so much. "
-----
The old master leaned forward on his cane and looked down quizzically at Sito.
"You're joking"
"Master, I'm serious. This is my final decision and I'm sticking with it."
"Boy. A katana is as fine a weapon as they come, but wielding two of them is nonsense. I am not training you to perform parlor tricks. I am training you to become a warrior fit to lead."
Sito stood firm. "I know"
The Master squinted. "Even in your case, Young Sito, the difficulty of dual-wielding blades is incredible and, in most cases, proves to be extremely inefficient."
Sito squinted back. "I know"
"And yet you are certain this is the path you wish to tread?"
"Yes Master"
The Old Man let out a sigh
"Fine. Fine. I can still smell your Mother's milk on your breath, yet you let the advice of a wise old man such as myself slip in through one ear and right out the other. I swear on all the old gods and the new at times you seem like a prodigal genius and at other times you seem denser than the stone we stand on."
He let out another sigh
"Now go put those back, you fool. They're as twice as tall as you are. We'll have the smithy make a pair of blades fit for the short arrogant Prince of Epiria."
Sito took off, laughing in excitement.
The Old Master stroked his mustache and stared at the boy's disappearing figure. 'If he does manage to pull it off, then he will definitely become one of the greatest warriors we've ever seen.'
-----
After a relaxing hot bath, Sito joined the servants in the kitchen to help prepare the meals.
"Young Prince, there's really no need to trouble yourself. Please go relax until we bring you your meal." said the Head Chef concerningly.
"Damien, you worry too much."
Damien the Head Chef sighed defeatedly. "If you get hurt on my watch, the King will have my head"
"If I get hurt on your watch, he'll never even know. He's too busy with his meetings and books."
The kitchen staff looked at Sito with pity in their eyes. It was no secret that the King and Queen treated the young Prince as more of an apprentice than an actual son.
Sito noticed and decided to try to lighten up the mood. "I really don't mind helping you guys out. It's honestly pretty fun," he said with a goofy grin and continued to chop up vegetables.
Yoko, one of the kitchen staff, giggled. "I've never met a kid who liked playing with a kitchen knife more than his own toys"
This instantly warmed the mood as the rest of the staff, including Damien, started laughing. They all talked and laughed while they finished making the meal.
-----
"So how was the training today, my Prince?"
"The usual. Except the Old Man tried a little extra hard to get me killed. Can you believe he made me fight Raymond?"
Aaliyah covered her mouth and chuckled. "Oh, did he now?"
"Yeah! and I woulda won if he didn't try freezing my arm off that bastard!"
She reached over the dinner table and patted his head as if trying to extinguish the competitive flame that was riling him up.
"There. There. My little Sito, you know as well as I that Lord Machin is no bastard. His father, Duke Wulfstan Machin, used to give your father a run for his coin back in their youth. And I hear that the young Lord is shaping up to be quite the formidable young warrior, just as his father was."
Sito looked down at his plate. "Yeah. If I had a core though, I definitely woulda won."
"Well, if you put him in a position where he had to use his magic to win, I would imagine that you did very well for yourself. Besides, there's no better training than fighting a stronger opponent. If you only train in battles you know you can win, it will only make you complacent and you won't ever improve."
"Now you're starting to sound like the Old Man." Sito grumbled as he stabbed at his vegetables.
Aaliyah propped her elbows on the table, rested her chin on her hands, and smiled. "You know you should start listening to the Old Master more. After all, he's retained his position for as long as he has for a reason."
Sito sighed, "I know. You guys are both right, but I dunno. What if I get a crap affinity when my core develops? Then it'll all be for nothing."
"First of all, as you already know, the scholars can roughly predict the outcome of what element, or elements, a child's core will enable them to use. And from looking at your family's lineage, they've already concluded long ago that you will most likely inherit both elements of the Meridius family, Fire and Earth. These elements alone are extremely formidable, as your Father the King has proven with his dominance in using his fire magic. However, when combined and truly mastered, these two elements can make armies quake in their boots as your ancestor Kazer Meridius once did when he founded this kingdom thousands of years ago."
"That being said, of course, although the scholars tend to be right more times than not, they still are far from being able to actually predict these things and they miss the mark plenty. So even if you do get a different element or elemental variant, such as nature, poison, or mist. You'd be a fool to think that it means all the training you did was for nothing."
Aaliyah gave him a soft smile. "My dear Sito, even the most unorthodox of affinities, when used properly, can be just as dangerous as fire and earth. This is also true for your adversaries, so don't you go underestimating someone just because they have an affinity that you don't think is dangerous. The only result arrogance and overconfidence will give is endangering you and the people you love."
They sat in silence for a moment as Sito processed everything she said.
He looked up to meet her warm eyes and smiled. "Thanks Aunt Lia, you always know just what to say."
She beamed a smile back at him. "Of course, my sweet Sito, never be afraid to come to me with any and all of your troubles. I'll always be here for you, my dear boy."