5 Apprenticeship

In a dead of night, surrounded by the stench of blood, Einhard sat in front of the fire.

He was deep in thought, the other slaves were still chained, Einhard was planning on releasing them in the morning, rather he completely forgot about them for now.

Einhard is free, but the future does not look promising for him, he is god knows how far from his original orphanage, not having anything to his name the best Einhard could hope was to go to another orphanage.

That's not something Einhard is really inclined to, there is no guarantee something terrible won't happen again, but the more he thought the more assured he became that it was exactly what he'd have to do.

What a scary thing the future is.

"You can't be relaxing like that here, you know?"

A feminine voice out of nowhere almost gave Einhard heart attack.

He quickly sprung to his feet and got ready to defend, Einhard scanned the area, but couldn't find anybody.

"Don't make such scary faces"

'Behind me!'

When Einhard made to turn around his sword was knocked out of his hands, grabbing the knife was also useless, someone caught his hands too.

"Now now, don't be so aggressive, I'm trying to help"

It was a hooded person, female judging by the voice, not very tall, but still dwarfing him.

Einhard was silent, but after some time he spoke

"...Who are you?"

This woman wasn't part of the group Einhard killed, she just came out of nowhere, being hostile was rather uncalled for now that he thought about it.

"That's not important right now, you and everyone in that carriage are in danger"

The woman spoke.

Einhard was confused, why were they in danger? there were no enemies left.

His confusion was quickly cleared up when he heard low growls from deep forest

"Blood spilled in the middle of the forest, of course, it will attract monsters"

The woman said calmly, but Einhard was anything but, encountering monsters now? what a timing.

"What kind of joke is this...?!"

Einhard couldn't help but groan out.

"Don't worry kid, didn't I tell you? I'm here to help"

She said without a hint of worry, which was kinda baffling for Einhard but considering the fact that he was disarmed not even able to as much rise a sword properly, it could be understandable.

And it was, she left, disappeared in the darkness of the forest and not even five minutes after she was back, the pitiful cries of monsters long silenced.

"Well, that does it"

Despite many questions brewing inside his head, Einhard released a sigh of relief, but even so, there was one glaring issue he now just noticed

"Didn't you just spill more blood? won't it attract even more monsters"

The woman simply looked at Einhard

"It will, now that you mentioned it"

She answered just as simply.

The felling Einhard was experiencing right now was indescribable, but it clearly showed on his face

"Now, stop looking at me like that, quickly get into the carriage, I'll take us out of this forest"

Einhard wasn't too eager to obey, but he relented nonetheless, the fact is that he won't survive this forest alone.

"...fine"

If this woman wanted to harm him there was nothing Einhard could do, the power difference was made clear from the start, better just relax and rest while he could

.

.

.

Einhard, just like everyone else in the carriage, didn't get much sleep, ignoring the violent shaking, the sound of monsters was outright haunting.

nonetheless, the night passe, they got out of the forest and the next town was vaguely visible.

As relieving as that was, it also heralded the start of Einhard's uncertain future.

What will it hold for him, the same life of an orphan or something new, none of the options looked very promising.

The problem with being orphan is not that it's terrible, EInhard's life up until this point wasn't all that bad, but it won't necessarily be as good from now on.

In the town, the mysterious woman talked to guard, it would seem like she has some authority, and all of the slaves were released as the victims of illegal slave-trading.

Einhard would be sent to a church, but before the guards could take him the mysterious woman stopped him

"I something to discuss with this one"

The guard didn't say much and agreed without much thought.

"What do you want"

Einhard asked without much emotion in his voice

"Don't be so cold, just want to talk"

On the contrary, her tone was carefree

Not seeing any point in refusing Einhard agreed.

"I've been observing that carriage for some time, I was planning to kill them once I've had enough information"

She began

"What, are you angry I foiled your plans? sorry, but I can't magically know when a stranger has plans"

Einhard cut in

"No no, that's not it, you've made things easier for me if anything, but it's kinda suspicious you could do that"

At that Einhard could feel a cold sweat on his forehead

"You seem to have a talent, not many have that much amount of mana at that age, not to mention the control over it"

That was an unexpected direction she took

"Become my apprentice, would be better than wasting away at church, don't you think"

Einhard was silent, it was an interesting offer, but does she really expect a child to give a rational answer.

Though it must be said that the offer is rather enticing, having a teacher would greatly benefit Einhard, she clearly has everything that makes a person strong.

"I understand, take care of me, teacher"

"I like your decisiveness, good, really good"

Her voice was a mix of carefreeness and absolute confidence and her nature made it somewhat contagious, Einhard could feel it, the tension inside of him melting away

"Though I have to tell you, I travel a lot and obviously you'll join me"

She warned, but there was no need, rather travelling was something Einhard desired in the past.

Like that Einhard, the orphan, became an apprentice, his future is still uncertain, but with a strong teacher, it wasn't that scary anymore.