A week went by before I knew it and it was time for my first day of school.
I didn't feel as nervous as some of my peers, since it was technically my second go through school, but I was still a bit uneasy. In my previous life I had been homeschooled so I had only heard tales of public school through anime, TV, and interpersonal stories. Also, it was entirely possible that dwarven school was completely different from human public schools. It didn't matter either way though, there was no way for me to get out of going.
"Are you ready, Kvalinn?" Zikruk called out from the entrance of my home. "We are going to be late if you don't hurry!"
Zikruk was at my home this morning to guide me to the school building. One of the things I had apparently inherited from my previous life was my sense of direction, which was so bad back then that I could easily get lost in a grocery store or parking lot. So we had struck a deal for him to make sure I didn't lose my way in the dark roads of the underground town.
"I'm almost ready. Just need to pack a few more things." I hurriedly shoved writing materials and some cookies into my bag and went downstairs. In this world, writing materials such as pen and paper were prohibitively expensive, so I was using a makeshift pencil made out of charcoal and a shaved piece of wood for paper.
"Hurry! Let's go!" Zikruk led the way at a fast jog. I didn't get to see too much of the town I had grown up in due to the pace he set, but I could see that the town was relatively small. With no buildings bigger than a couple stories and they were all made of stone. I couldn't see much else about the town due to it being so dark. Dwarves were created with keen night vision but we still needed some light to see, and down here, there was only the personal hearth fires and business forge fires lighting the streets.
The school was near the center of the town, right next to the Thane's keep. I found out later that the school used to be a side building for an ancient city keeper to hide his mistresses in, but the Thane of a few generations ago had converted it into a school for teaching young dwarves, to raise the literacy and survival rate of children. It was a novel idea for the dwarves to attend a school, instead of learning from their parents as the tradition of the ancestors commanded, but after a few centuries people were slowly getting used to it, and one or two branch schools were opening in other small towns under the mountain.
"We made it! I finally get to go to school!" Zikruk excitedly sat down at a desk near a lantern and I took the seat next to him. Since the entire city was underground there were no windows and the only source of light were hanging lanterns in each classroom and hallway.
"Sounds like you are excited to attend." I remarked as I began unpacking my writing tools.
"My older brothers have told me a lot of stories about their time here, so of course I'm excited! I'll get to learn the runes, how to fight, and maybe I'll meet someone to marry here. My oldest brother, Dhovag, actually met his wife here in this very classroom!" Zikruk looked around the room and seemed to be taking mental notes on all the girls in the class.
"Mind if I sit here?" It was Bekhi, the girl who had asked for me to craft a dagger for her at the youth center. At first I assumed she was talking to Zikruk, since I had never been popular, or even noticed, by girls in my previous life. But when I looked at him, he was staunchly ignoring her.
"I don't mind at all." I smiled at her as I pushed out with my foot the old wooden chair next to me for her to sit down. "Unfortunately though, I haven't had time to make the knife you requested yet. According to my father, the one I made at the youth center would be too dangerous for either of us to even hold onto, let alone use."
"It's ok, I looked through what I brought down here and there wasn't anything I could trade anyway." Bekhi shrugged it off, but it was clear she still wanted more weapons than just her hammer.
"So the Elder called you a 'surface dwarf' the other day. Does that mean you grew up above ground? What's it like up there?" I was a little nervous about talking to a girl for the first time in a while, so I decided to go with an easy line of conversation. Plus, I was curious about what the outside world was like.
Bekhi's face lit up, but her eyes took on a nostalgic look. "Yep, I grew up in the town of Vesturhildrun, it's a small town that's mostly populated by the shepherd and farming clans. It's very nice, especially when the sun is out and the wind is rustling the grass in the fields. I miss the sun."
"That does sound nice. Hopefully I can visit it someday and see the sun and grass."
"Wait, you've never seen the sun and grass before?" Bekhi was more than a little incredulous about my last comment. On the other side of me, Zikruk chuckled.
"Ha! Before last week, he hadn't even seen the outside of his house. Let alone the surface world that no proper dwarf needs to see." Evidently Zikruk had to include a derogatory remark about the surface in his quip towards me. I made a mental note to ask my father later if all dwarves held this aversion towards the surface.
Bekhi did her best to ignore the verbal jab, but she still imperceptibly flinched a little before giving me a shy smile. "If you want, I can tell you all about my home town over lunch. Maybe you'll be inspired to make me a better weapon from my tales."
"I look forward to hearing about your hometown then." I returned her smile with one of my own, although I could feel Zikruk glaring daggers at the both of us.
Before we could talk anymore though, the teacher entered the room and all the students fell silent before his gaze. He was a tall dwarf of around 4 and a half feet tall, with a balding head, but his eyebrows and beard more than made up for the deficiency. They were exceedingly bushy and pure white, his beard reaching down to his shins. It might have been because of the excessively unruly eyebrows but it appeared that he was eternally disgruntled.
"Greetings, first year students. I am Rongrim Loremaster of the Scholar Clan. For the next ten years I will be teaching you the wisdom of the ancestors in the form of history, runes, and simple math. Since today is your first day of school, we will keep things simple with introductions. Each of you will come to my desk and demonstrate you know the correct greeting meant for an Elder. Failure is not an option."
Elder Rongrim's voice rumbled through the stone room like a slow moving but dangerous avalanche. He let his eyes slowly pan over the students, making sure that each of them got the unspoken message that he would not accept lazily given or sloppy greetings. Once he was sure that everyone in the classroom was completely under his control, he gestured at a student in the front row to begin the introductions.
One by one, the students left their desks and gave their name and clan to Elder Rongrim. If they were from crafting clans, like the weapon, armor, and jewelry clans, they would give the Elder an item of their craftsmanship. And if they were from more esoteric clans like the merchant, scholar, and warrior clans, they would show him a sample of their work or training. These gifts weren't just a symbolic apple on the teachers desk, the title of Elder meant that a dwarf was either extremely knowledgeable, or extremely powerful, but most of the time it was both, if the Elder felt you weren't worthy of learning from them they simply wouldn't teach you. So it was extremely important to display to the Elders that you had talent and were worthy of their ancestral wisdom.
Since Bekhi was from the Shepherd clan, her gift to the Elder was several mutton sausages and some lamb jerky. My mouth watered at the sight of the tasty food and I instantly knew what she could trade for my weapons! This town was deep underground, and the only meat that ever made its way down here was either smoked or salted to high heaven to keep it edible through the weeks of travel it took to transport down here.
Since I was sitting next to her, I made my way to the front once Bekhi returned to her desk. Pulling out my hammer, I respectfully gave the ceremonial greeting, and presented him with one of the best steel daggers I had ever crafted.
After scrutinizing the dagger for several minutes, Elder Rongrim set it aside with a sigh of disappointment. "I received a very interesting letter from Elder Threrburk last week about your abilities, Kvalinn. Please see me after class so we can discuss them in greater detail."
Bowing politely, I returned to my seat.
"What did you do?" Zikruk whispered to me in concern. "Did you somehow insult Elder Threrburk when I wasn't around?"
"I don't think so. Maybe he just wants to ask about the knife I made at the youth center. I didn't make one for Elder Rongrim since my father said it was too dangerous."
"You didn't give the Elder the deadliest work you could give!?" Zikruk asked incredulously, and also a bit too loud.
"Zikruk Aundarordson!" Elder Rongrim bellowed. "Do you have something that you need to say to me or the class?" Zikruk hurriedly shook his head. "Then keep silent in my classroom!"
It took quite some time, but eventually all the students had gone through the introduction process with Elder Rongrim. A couple of my peers had fumbled their lines, or given inferior gifts to the Elder, so they were going to be staying after school to clean as punishment.
Once the last student had returned to their seat, Elder Rongrim stood up with a grunt and some grumbles about old age. "Now that the introductions are complete, get to know your fellow students. They will be your companions for the next ten years of your lives. And when the king sounds the call to war, you will find comfort in knowing that your comrades went through the same training as you, and can be trusted to hold the line."
Elder Rongrim resumed his seat, and while the other kids around me began chatting among themselves, I went to the front of the classroom. I just hoped I wasn't in too much trouble on my first day of school.
Picking up a piece of parchment from his desk, Elder Rongrim looked at me with furrowed brows. "Kvalinn Ekgorsson. According to this letter from Elder Threrburk, you were able to create a runed weapon in under thirty minutes without any casualties or damage to the youth center while using a regular forge. Normally this would've been discounted as the gods playing their usual tricks. However, your fathers exclusive merchant, Aundarord Silverbasher, recently applied for a license from the Thane to sell runed weapons, and your father provided over a thousand runed arrowheads of varying power to the warrior clan. Obviously you have the ability to create runed weapons, and while the dagger you provided to me earlier is of excellent quality for someone your age, it's clearly not the best you can do."
I swallowed nervously, not knowing if I was in trouble for being able to make runed weapons or for not giving one to the Elder. I was also a little unsure if it would be wise to give a weapon to a teacher that could only make you drunk and marinate your meat. Before I could say anything though, Elder Rongrim continued.
"After consulting with Elder Thrikrondromm of the rune smith guild, he entrusted me with this." Elder Rongrim took a worn and ancient piece of parchment from his desk and carefully slid it toward me so that only I could see it. But since I still couldn't read this world's language yet, I couldn't understand it. "This is from his sacred runebook. It contains precise instructions on how to craft the rune of sharpness. Since I have yet to teach you how to read runes, we will work together until you have memorized these instructions."
We spent the next half hour going over the parchment. Elder Rongrim would read out a portion of the forge song, and would keep repeating it until I had it memorized. He would then move on to the next portion and the next and the next. It was fortunately rather short for a forge song, but it was still an annoying way to memorize something. I resolved to learn how to read this world's writing as soon as possible so that I wouldn't have to do this again.
At the end of the break time, Elder Rongrim stood to address the class. "Break time is over. Follow the assistant teacher to your next class. Physical Education and Combat Training."
One of the students from the scholar clan raised his hand. "Honored Elder, why is combat training necessary for those who aren't part of the warrior clan?"
Elder Rongrim glared sharply at the student for a minute before replying in a low growl. "When goblins tunnel through the city floors, or humans attack the walls with towers and battering rams, will you join your fellow dwarves in defending your family? Or will you cower under your desk like a weak beardless halfling?"
More than a little intimidated by the Elder's answer, and embarrassed by his friend's teasing looks, the student withdrew the question and followed the group in cowed silence to the training room.
The classroom we were taken to, resembled the training area from the youth center, with both practice and regular weapons of all shapes and sizes lining the walls, and shields ranging in weight, from usable to absurdly heavy, were stacked in the corner.
Our teacher for this class was barely old enough to be called an Elder. His beard was still mostly black with just a sprinkling of gray hairs. He also appeared to be much more fit than any Elder I'd seen so far with bulging muscles that could be outlined through his clothes, but what really caught your attention were his eyes. They were cold and calculating, seemingly evaluating how much of a danger each one of us presented in the blink of an eye, and the fastest way to kill us.
"Greetings, young recruits. I am Elder Dworhick Stoneshield of the Warrior Clan. In this classroom you will be taught how to hold the line of the defense, even when confronted with hulking monsters many times your size. You will be taught how to fight, how to kill the enemy trying to kill you, and how to stay calm, even when your comrades die beside you. But remember this always, dwarven blood is precious, and not to be wasted in fights that you cannot win."
Elder Dworhick's introduction was given in a challenging tone, just waiting for a student to speak out of line. But his voice remained as cold as his eyes. He assessed the threat of each student with a single glance, and dismissed each of them as harmless.
"Just like in Elder Rongrim's class, you will introduce yourselves. But after providing your name and clan, you will then use your hammer and take a single swing at me so that I can assess your abilities."
The Elder's statement caught all of us students off guard. So far we had only used practice hammers and weapons at the youth center for training, using the hammers we used for work or ceremonial greetings felt dangerous to us. Elder Dworhick just scoffed at our hesitant and questioning side glances.
"I've taken blows from goblins, trolls, ogres, minatours, human champions and giants. Beardless children are of no danger to me. So give me your best blow! Starting with you." Elder Dworhick pointed at one of the students on one side of the room with his hammer, and the introductions began.
As per his instructions, after giving their name and clan, and presenting him with a gift, each student took their hammer that was normally used only for the traditional greetings and swung at the Elder. He took each blow on his shield and grunted comments on the students strength to an assistant who took notes for later.
When it was Bekhi's turn, she delivered a blow that caused Elder Dworhick's brow to twitch in surprise. "Well done for a surface dwarf. I am starting to understand your admittance to this school a bit more. I look forward to seeing what you can do after a decade of my tutelage, Bekhi Mubrimssdottir."
Bekhi bowed respectfully, but I could see that she was still annoyed at the label of surface dwarf. Although it was clear that the Elder didn't seem to mean it with disrespect in mind.
After giving my own greeting, I swung my hammer with all the strength I had accumulated over years of working at the forge. It did not provoke the same reaction from the Elder though.
"Kvalinn Ekgorsson. You are slightly stronger than your peers, but attack like you are in front of your anvil. Your opponent will not patiently stand still while waiting for you to strike. You need to learn flexibility."
As I returned to the group, Bekhi leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I can teach you how to fight if you want." I grinned in acceptance, but before I could thank her, she shyly continued. "But only if you make the weapons for the fight. I bet if you custom make each weapon for me, I'll be able to fight better than ever!"
Once the introductions were over. Elder Dworhick gave us some time for lunch before ending the school day. Since we were just first year students, our education was going to be very basic, and all the advanced classes would only become available once we were fifth years, or ten years old.
Over lunch I chatted with Bekhi about her hometown, much to Zikruk's annoyance and dismay. He was still doing his best to give her the cold shoulder and was trying to convince me to do the same, just because she was a 'surface dwarf'.
"So, Bekhi. What's it like living on the surface? Do you have any machinery to help you survive up there?" I was hoping that there might be something technologically advanced on the surface of this world to satisfy my tech cravings. Heck, at this point I would have settled for a simple Franklin Stove.
"Machinery?" Bekhi cocked her head at the unfamiliar word, and unintentionally dashed my hopes to pieces. "I'm not sure what you mean by that, since none of the engineers guild lives in Vesturhildrun. But life up there is very fun. My mom makes delicious foods from fresh meats and produce from the fields, and my dad goes out hunting for monsters to keep the town safe. He taught me everything I know about fighting!"
Bekhi then launched into long and slightly rambling tales about her life and family. They were more than a little childish, but considering we were both five that was understandable. It was still nice to hear that this world had a sun that shone brightly over fields of dark green grass, with normal sounding streams and trees. Although she did mention several monsters that sounded both dangerous and very unpleasant that only existed above the surface.
After a very fun and enjoyable lunch of chatting, Elders Rongrim and Dworhick dismissed the students and sent most of them home. The ones who had messed up their greetings or had given inferior work to the Elders were taken charge of by Elder Dworhick. As for myself, Elder Rongrim bellowed out to me.
"Kvalinn Ekgorsson! Follow me." I had to half jog to keep up with the Elder's rapid pace as he led me through several halls lined with classrooms full of older students working with their teachers. "Several of the Elders are still teaching their classes, and since you are the most exciting thing to occur in this town for centuries they all want to see you at work. So we will be waiting in the staff break room until they are finished. I'll continue to assist you to memorize the forge song until then."
Eventually we reached what Elder Rongrim had called a 'staff break room,' although to me it looked more like a feast hall. With giant casks of ale lining the walls, and a long table piled high with empty plates from this morning that servants were still cleaning up despite it being after lunch time.
We found a clean portion of table and Elder Rongrim produced the parchment with the forge song from a metal case that was used to prevent creasing the valuable paper. The next several hours were spent in mind numbing memorization of the minutiae involved in crafting a Rune of Sharpness.
"Elder Rongrim." A loud voice called out from the entrance. Turning to see who it was, I saw a dwarf who must have been older than Elder Rongrim by several centuries judging by the beard length and thickness, but was somehow more sprightly and alive. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was helping my latest assistant get to the physicians hall."
"Greetings Elder Thrikrondromm." Elder Rongrim got up and bowed politely. "Is the student alright? If this keeps up, then the Thane may be forced to cancel your class and contract due to lack of participants, and I don't know of any other cities in Einangrad that would accept you."
"It's just a simple fractured wrist, and not even on his primary hand." Elder Thrikrondromm remarked dismissively. "Hogrid should be able to return to classes tomorrow."
Elder Thrikrondromm then caught sight of me respectfully bowing and partially hiding behind Elder Rongrim. "Is that the youth who managed to create the new magic rune?"
Moving to the side to fully reveal me, Elder Rongrim nodded and pushed me forward to introduce myself. I was more than a little nervous about meeting a dwarf who was so old and respected that even the Elders bowed before him, but there was no escape for me.
I took out my hammer to give the traditional greeting. "Greetings honored Elder. I am Kvalinn Ekgorsson of the weapon clan. May the ancestors see fit to bless our meeting today."
"Hmph, this generation of students is polite so far. Elder Rongrim, is he ready to attempt crafting the rune?" Elder Thrikrondromm only acknowledged my greeting with a dismissive grunt. As a beardless child, that was more attention than would normally be paid to me by an Elder of his age and distinction, so I wasn't offended by him ignoring me.
"Yes, Elder Thrikrondromm. I believe Kvalinn has the forge song memorized, however, since a youth of his age has never been asked to craft a rune before I cannot say if he will be successful."
"He better be." Elder Thrikrondromm grumbled. "Nearly every teacher will be attending the rune crafting, and if he fails, all the Elders here will hold a grudge against him for wasting their time."
The two Elders then began discussing school matters, leaving me to continue memorizing the verses. After hearing what the Elders expected of me, I worked with renewed vigor to make sure I didn't mess this up. Having all my teachers hold a grudge against me for the next ten years did not sound like the best school experience, so I was going to do my best to avoid that fate.
Over the next few hours, the rest of the teachers of the school entered the break room in groups or one by one, bowing respectfully to Elder Thrikrondromm before joining the conversation. So far as I could tell, he was the oldest dwarf in the school and highest on the pecking order among the teachers.
Eventually Elder Dworhick entered the break room, and since he was the last teacher who would be attending, Elder Rongrim banged his beer mug on the table to attract everyone's attention.
"Elder Dworhick, will any other Elders be attending?" When the muscular Elder silently shook his head, he continued. "Very well. If everyone would follow me to the rune forge. Kvalinn, come over here."
I quickly ducked between the Elders, and after dodging beards and beer bellies bigger than I was, I managed to make it to the side of Elder Rongrim. Once he confirmed I was next to him, he began walking through the hallways and down several flights of steps.
With each flight of stairs we went down, the temperature got hotter and the amount of doors lining the halls grew fewer. Until we finally reached a large door with several warnings to not enter, both written and drawn out in elaborate pictograms.
Elder Thrikrondromm took a large key that looked like silver but seemed to gleam in the dull light out from beneath his beard and opened the door. All of us were assaulted by a wave of heat, like a broiling oven had just been opened. If I had still been human then I probably would have sustained first degree burns from the hot air alone.
"Follow me, lad." Elder Thrikrondromm took the lead into the room, and several of the Elders followed behind us. Those unable or disinclined to withstand the heat waited just outside the door.
The room we entered was similar to the forge waiting for me at home, with a variety of tools hanging on the wall and heaps of fuel in the corner. The main difference though was that there was no fireplace for melting the iron, and the anvil rested on a platform above a giant fire pit that was the source of the heat.
"Welcome to the rune forge, Kvalinn." Elder Thrikrondromm proudly stated. "It is the finest one in the mountain of Einangrad. It's where I have crafted powerful runes for Kings and Thanes to defend our homes from both goblin and man. Since you were able to craft that rune of beer with a simple anvil at the youth center, I'm curious to see what you can do with an anvil specifically made for crafting runes. May the ancestors smile upon your efforts."
After handing me the dagger that I had presented to Elder Rongrim earlier today, Elder Thrikrondromm moved to the side. A couple teaching assistants then entered, one started shoveling fuel, while the other started pumping the bellows, further increasing the already hellish heat in the room.
When the ambient temperature in the room was at least a hundred and fifty degrees, and the anvil above the fire was glowing red, Elder Thrikrondromm told me to begin.
Taking a deep breath, I made my way up the stairs to the platform above the fire pit, and started singing the rune song. It was a bit difficult, maintaining my breathing, keeping the beat with my hammer, and singing the song, all while attempting to survive the inferno below me and ignoring the dozens of Elders staring at me. But I somehow managed it, and to ensure that the rune was created successfully I pushed in quite a bit of magic from my rune of forging.
The only thing that my hundreds of hours of anime and light novel had proved useful for in this world, was getting a good mental image my magic. And after hundreds of practice runes with the crossbow bolt heads, I was able to manipulate it fairly well.
With the final hammer blow to the knife, I felt the usual burning sensation along the rune lines on my hand and my magic forced itself into the blade. A rune that I had learned today was the rune of sharpness, carved itself into the hot metal.
Quenching the blade in water, I bowed and handed it over to Elder Thrikrondromm, then I stumbled and nearly collapsed from exhaustion before Elder Rongrim caught me. The day of tension and stress caught up to me.
"Well done, Kvalinn. Few children your age would be even able to survive up there, let alone work on a weapon." Elder Rongrim then handed me to one of the Elders who gave me a cup of cold beer. Looking at the bottom of the mug, I saw a slightly glowing rune was keeping the beverage cool. I made a mental note to learn that rune later.
Elder Thrikrondromm spent several minutes examining the blade with a pair of runed spectacles before mumbling some instructions to an assistant. He then spoke to the Elders. "The blade definitely has magic runes inscribed. However we still need to determine its power and abilities. Elder Dworhick, as the youngest among us, you will be the one to test the knife."
A few minutes later, the assistant who had left, returned with several other assistants carrying test dummies and extremely large and heavy shields. These shields weren't ones you would fight with, but resembled blast shields that the bomb squad would use.
The test dummies were arranged in the forge room, then the assistants hastily retreated up the stairs, while the Elders formed a shield wall at the doorway. Leaving only a few small cracks between the shields for them to peek through.
Taking a deep breath, Elder Dworhick flexed his fingers around the knife handle before swinging it experimentally a few times. Seemingly satisfied with the feel of the weapon, he began testing it on test dummies who were wearing armor made of different materials. Leather, bone, iron, and steel were all effortlessly pierced, but it failed to scratch the mithril and runed steel armor.
Once the tests were concluded and the dagger placed in a specially made sheath, Elder Thrikrondromm addressed the Elders in a grave and solemn voice.
"Today, we have witnessed the unthinkable. A young boy, barely past his fifth winter, was able to create a runed weapon. Such a feat has never occurred during my thousand years of life, and I suspect that it has not been done since the gods first forged our ancestors from iron and molten stone. If Kvalinn can do so much at such a young age, then it is our duty to teach him to the best of our abilities so that when the time comes for him to craft celestial grade weapons, he will survive the encounters with the gods."
There was a series of approving murmurs of agreement from the Elders, interspersed with promises to personally train me if I entered their class. Evidently I had made a good impression on the teachers.
Elder Thrikrondromm turned to me with scrutinizing eyes. "Kvalinn Ekgorsson. Study hard with Elder Rongrim to learn your runes, and once you can read and write in the language handed down to us by the gods, come to my class and I'll begin teaching you rune crafting several centuries before your apprenticeship would normally begin."