36 Coming Clean

"Before I tell you about why I train so much, I should start by telling you more about my past. As you already know, my parents died and I was raised by my master. I don't remember how I ended up with him, but I remember everything I learned under him.

I was able to learn a lot of things in the first 4 years of my life. To be honest, a lot of what I learned was imprinted onto my mind through magic. So at a young age, I knew as much as a scholar. That's the reason why I know a lot of things and why I speak the way I do.

The rest of what I learned, I learned like everyone else. The biggest example is magic, imparting knowledge of magic to others is too dangerous. Magic works differently for each person, and what works for one person may not work for another."

"That explains a lot, I always thought it was strange that you spoke like an adult at times. I also found it strange that you knew about things most people don't know about. Now I want to know what things you learned how to do using that strange magic."

"Besides learning how to read and write, I also learned how to make medicines and poisons. Thankfully no one has gotten too hurt, sick, or poisoned, so I never had to show off my skills. If for some reason we ever need a doctor, I have the qualifications to act as one."

"I was always worried that someone would get sick while we are traveling. It is rather comforting to know that even if we are far away from a city, the person will be fine and can get the help they need. Now that I think about it, we never had to buy much medicine."

"If I had the time I would usually replace the medicine that was used, got old, or was just defective. I also made sure we had a set amount of medicine available in case of emergencies. It wasn't that hard to do because the plains are filled with all sorts of useful herbs."

"Any other useful things you are hiding from me."

"The rest of what I learned through that method isn't that helpful in normal situations. Do you count knowing advanced arithmetic and the noble etiquette of many countries as useful? They could have their uses, but as I said earlier I haven't had the chance to show those skills off."

"Why would you need to know the etiquette of many different countries?"

"My master raised me to be a knight and what kind of knight would I be if I did not know any sort of etiquette."

"I thought your master was a mage. Why would he raise you to be a knight?"

"Well, it was sort of implied that he was raising me to be some sort of knight. He imprinted knowledge of etiquette, music, art, and history. He taught me how to fight using various weapons, but focused more on swords and spears.

He taught me a lot about military strategy, things like how to come up with and how to properly apply offensive or defensive battle tactics. How I should conduct myself on certain battlefields and what my priorities should be.

Very dangerous knowledge, but that's why he made me do one more thing. My master made me swear some oaths, one of them was to live by a certain code. The code is very similar to the code of knights, but with a few key differences because magic is involved.

He mainly did this to make sure I won't use what he taught me for "evil" intentions. Other than that I have the freedom to live however I want to. With all of that in mind, I believe that he was guiding me on the path of knighthood or something similar."

"I don't think I can see you as a knight, you're too devious to be a knight. That's not important, now there is another thing bothering me. I understand your master could imprint knowledge into your mind, but how did you learn all of that at a young age."

"I'll be honest I did not learn all of what he told me, I just did my best to remember everything he said to me. If it was something really difficult to understand, I wrote it down word for word in my diary. I still don't understand some of the things he told me.

For example, the lessons he gave me on using weapons and fighting were beyond my understanding. To truly understand and properly apply what I learned, I need the right experiences. The advice you gave me was very helpful in that regard, I'm very grateful for that.

That should explain to you why I improve very fast when it comes to things relating to combat or using weapons. I have a clear idea of how to do something, I just can't do it yet or I'm not used to doing it. Either way, I believe it's just a matter of time before I know what I'm doing.

What else should I talk about? There are a lot of things I can go over, but I think I have an idea about what you are going to ask next. If I'm wrong, I'll just wait until you ask the right question."

That just confirms what I thought about him, he won't say anything unless he is asked. Why do you have to be that way? Doesn't matter I think I know what question to ask.

"From the looks of it, your master has trained you to deal with all sorts of problems. Why did he feel you needed to know all of those things? I mean he went through the trouble to imprint all of that knowledge into your mind.

Even if you didn't understand a lot of what you were taught, you were still able to learn it quickly. I believe with your talent and intelligence, there wasn't a need to rush your studies. So why did your master believe you needed to know all of those things immediately?"

"I have been waiting to get this off my chest for quite some time. This relates to the first few questions you asked about me pushing myself to improve in such a short amount of time. I can't give you all the details because I swore an oath, but I'll tell you as much as I can.

I lied about my master being dead he is still alive, but I'm not sure for how long. I know he is approaching the end of his life. I know he had an ulterior motive for teaching me all of these things, but I appreciate it all the same. You see my master has a very important mission.

He is making sure that whatever he is guarding never sees the light of day. My master imparted all of this knowledge to me for a couple of reasons. My master can't leave the area he is guarding, so that means he needs someone who can take care of things for him.

As you can tell by now, I am that person and he even gave me a mission to complete. As for what I have to do, it's related to my master's mission."

"Well can you tell me what this mission is? What exactly is he guarding? Can you tell me more about what you have to do? I don't understand why you have to be involved? Is this something you want to do or something you are forced to do?"

"I would tell you if I was able, but quite frankly that's not on the table. I swore an oath that I would not tell, even if I could there is this spell. If I try to break my word, the spell cages me like a bird. I speak in rhymes every time I want to be sincere, this is starting to be a pain in the rear."

"What was that?"

"So he put that spell on me, I knew he would have a countermeasure in place for that. I tried to tell you about what we are guarding, but the spell forces me to speak in rhyme the more I attempt to tell you the truth. I hate the effect, but I can't argue with the results.

I'm glad there is no way for me to accidentally reveal the truth. So I can't tell you what we are guarding, but I think I can tell you what I have to do for my mission. I'm sure the spell won't activate. What I'm doing is important, but I haven't done anything yet.

I'm not strong enough to assist my master, so my current job is to grow stronger until I get to that point. I do want to help him out, I am very grateful for everything my master has done for me. The knowledge he gave me is priceless and I simply want to repay this huge debt."

"That makes me feel better, I thought this was something that was forced upon you. If this is something you want to do I can't stop you. I know by now you'll always find a way to do what you want. It's better for the both of us if I just support your decision from the beginning.

So what do you have planned? We both know that you are not the type of person to wait for something to happen. Especially if it concerns something you want to do immediately."

"I thought about it a lot, and I decided that I will leave the tribe for some time. What I need now are experiences and a new viewpoint. What better way to get those things than to leave Sacae and see what the rest of the world has to offer."

"Morgan, remind me how old you are again?"

"I am 14 now, and I was planning on leaving when I turn 15."

"I was 15 when I went on a journey of my own. I want to tell you to stay, but I know how important my journey was to me. I experienced a lot of things, those experiences made me the man I am today. Most importantly, leaving Sacae gave me the chance to meet my wife.

I don't know what you are hoping to find out there, but I do want you to find it. We have been talking for some time now, we should finish the rest of our shift. We always talk more about this another day."

"I would like that."

==============

Support level C attained.