"I believe I have enough skill." Lucio said seriously, trying to sound as confident as possible.
"I'll be the one to test that!" Han said as he threw a fist at Lucio.
The punch was fast and it closed in on Lucio's face instantly. Lucio's reflexes kicked in and he moved his head to the side but the next fraction of second, immense pain assaulted his abdominal area. He looked down and saw Han's Knee planted on his stomach.
Lucio was still processing what had happened when he felt his head forced downwards and Han's other knee greeted his face warmly. The greeting was a bit too "warm" for his liking as he felt his vision blur for a moment.
"You are too weak to be a hunter." Han said as he handed Lucio a piece of cloth. "Take this and wipe your nose. I didn't expect you to be this weak."
A second passed as Lucio stared at Han and shouted in anger "WHY?!!" and blood from his nose splattered onto the ground.
Han simply smiled and said "If you lost to an old man like me, you have no chance of being a mercenary. The world is a harsh place and a weak mercenary will never be hired. As for hunters, you need to have good senses and reflexes but those are still useless without strength."
Lucio stood silently as he stared at Han. After a few seconds of thought, he replied "What am I supposed to do then, become a merchant?"
"No, You are supposed to become stronger, you idiot." Han sounded angry. "Men who give up without trying are absolute trash in society. Let me ask you something Samael, who do you think is an inspirational man? Someone who faced a hundred men by himself and died after defeating most of them or someone who ran from the battlefield?"
If someone asked Lucio what was the most logical person, he would say that it was the man who fled from the battlefield. But the more inspirational of those two was the man who fought a hundred enemies.
Lucio sighed and said "The man who fought a hundred enemies."
"Yes. You are too skinny to be an inspirational man so go do some work and eat more. I'll let you stay in my house for the week and you can leave for Silver moon with Gary's family. I'll give you time till the end of the week and test you with the other "Warrior aspirants", so prepare well."
"Okay …" Lucio said and refrained from asking what a "Warrior Aspirant" was. He had to make conversations and warrior aspirant was a good way to open up a conversation. Lucio's mind was functioning on overdrive as he planned his actions to meet his goal.
Han nodded, finally satisfied with Lucio's compliance "Let's make breakfast then. Do you know how to cook?"
"Yes." Lucio replied and went inside the house, only to come back empty handed "Where is the kitchen?"
Han felt like slapping himself. "Where are you from? You don't even know that we cook outside the house?"
"Oh I don't know where I'm from. My mother was a pleasurer and her group was ambushed by a few bandits. Well…. I don't even know who my father is and my mother is dead. I know how to cook, but since we always travelled, we usually set up a camp at night and prepared food that was needed for three meals. I don't really know how people in villages lived their daily lives."
Han's expression softened and Lucio could see the pity in his eyes. 'Now he probably won't force me to do random things.'
"Oh well, You had a rough life huh….. that's good. Go get the embers from the fireplace inside and throw it in the centre of those stones. Oh, and use these two sticks to pick up the burning charcoal."
"Okay." Lucio said and sighed 'Looks like I still have to cook for him.'
The embers were brought and Han placed some small twigs and some rough jute on the burning red charcoal. Then he gently blew at it and smoke flew out from the bundle of twigs and jute. A few seconds later, it caught fire and Han placed some chopped up pieces of wood on top of the fire.
He placed a pot on the stones which prevented the pot from falling into the wood and poured in some water from a barrel nearby "Bring the mushrooms you collected and get some chillies from our neighbour's garden."
Lucio quietly walked inside and handed the mushrooms he brought to Han, who directly threw the mushrooms without cutting them. Lucio gave up as he saw Han seriously cooking 'Food is food after all…..'
Lucio was about to bring some chillies when a boy of around Samael's age walked towards them. "Hey grandpa Han, mother said she needs jerky, the smoked one."
Han nodded without looking at the boy and asked "How much do you want?"
The boy glanced at Lucio and turned back to Han when Lucio noticed his gaze.
"Um…. about the worth of a kilogram of salt?"
"Hmm… okay. Bring me some chillies from your garden as I get you the jerky."
Han said and walked towards the house, only to stop midway "Mark, tell your father to come meet me. I need to talk to him about something."
"Okay Grandpa Han." Mark said and ran to his house.
Lucio stood there silently as he wondered how these villagers separated help and trade. From what he noticed last night, the village was like closer to a giant family of about twenty to thirty people.
Mark ran back with a handful of chillies and placed them on a slab beside the cooking pit. He looked at Lucio for a while and couldn't contain his curiosity.
"Hey, my name is mark." He said as he extended his arm towards Lucio, his thumb pointing towards Lucio with his other fingers closed.
Lucio simply stared at him 'What is this guy doing?'
"Hey, my name is mark." Mark said as he extended his arm towards Lucio, his thumb pointing towards Lucio with his other fingers closed.
Lucio simply stared at him 'What is this guy doing?'
Han came out and looked at the two boys standing opposite to each other and frowning. He chuckled as he walked towards them and said "Mark just wants to be friends with you."
"Oh okay… My name is Samael." He said as he ignored the outstretched hand.
Mark gave up and asked Han for the jerky and turned around to leave.
"Samael here is participating in the warrior's trial. He only accepts strong people as his friends. So Mark, I want you to beat him up for me."
"Don't worry Grandpa Han. I'll show him what a warrior means." Mark said as he walked away without looking back.
Lucio stood there, mouth agape, unable to believe what had just happened in front of him.
But before he could say anything, Han opened his mouth "Mark always wanted to be a mercenary so he's been training for almost six years, but he could never see my punch flying at him. You dodged it when the punch was a surprise….."
Lucio stared at the man in front of him in annoyance. Han grinned widely as he said in an excited whisper "What do you think will win, Hard work or sheer talent?"
***
Lucio stood in front of the hot oven. He was currently inside the village bakery where everyone's bread was baked by one family. He had finished his breakfast and was advised by Han to work at the bakery for 5 days in the morning before sunrise"
Since that was Lucio's only task, he was free to do anything for the rest of the day. He decided to work out and do pottery to earn some money for his daily meals.
Lucio walked to the village's only potter. Han had told him that the man had lost his wife to some disease and he never had children.
The potter's hut was located at the outskirts of the village. The hut was quite small compared to Han's, but the store room was huge and the amount of flat land that surrounded the house was also a lot. There was also a cuboidal shaped structure a few meters from the hut, which seemed to be made of bricks.
Lucio walked to the hut and knocked on the door. A few seconds later an old man opened the door and looked at Lucio and spat "What do you want?"
"I want to learn pottery." Lucio said and the old man's reply was to shut the door on his face.
Lucio silently stood there and sighed. He turned around to see Han walking up to him and went on a full alert. Han looked at Lucio and asked "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to learn pottery."
To which Han frowned "Pottery doesn't make you strong."
"I want to earn money for food." Lucio said as he looked at Han.
"Why do you want money for food when I'm giving it to you for free?" Han asked. His voice filled with annoyance.
"Huh?" Lucio stared at Han, confused.