13 Chapter 13- Marco Polo

Oliver gave the man in front of him a good look. The guy in front of him wore a plain white tunic whose sleeves were rolled back till elbow. Exposing well-built forearms which were crossed in front of his chest. And he wore light brown tights which clearly showed his prominent leg muscles which were developed to an insane degree. Seeing all this Oliver was sceptical.

Just when he had zoned out, he got snapped back to reality. "Boy don't make me repeat myself, why the fuck are you in my shop. Answer me before I throw you out as well."

Oliver calmed himself down and asked, "Ahem are you, Mister Olson, Ben sent me here. He asked me to give you this letter when I meet you."

Listening to Ben's name Olson calmed down immediately. He even had an expression of respect on his face when he answered, "Yes I am Olson." while he moved his hand forward towards Oliver as if asking to hand him the letter.

Oliver promptly took the letter out of his bag and hand it over to Olson.

"Hmm, the crest on the letter is of Mister Ben." after confirming, Olson led to opening the letter and reading it slowly. His expression changed from a smile at the beginning to a bit of a frown towards the end. He in between even turned his eyes from the letter to see Oliver and examine him from top to bottom. Only after a couple of minutes did he finish reading the letter and sighed.

He looked towards Oliver and asked, "Tell me, have you read the letter?" Oliver just shook his head "Was it something concerning regarding Ben?"

"Ben huh... no nothing for you to worry about. I got the gist from the letter. You want to participate in the entrance examination of Rifwore Institute in two years and till then you need a place to stay and money to survive."

"Ben has also asked me to teach you about blacksmithing so that not only will you be able to earn your meal but also survive if you weren't able to pass the exams." Oliver just nodded in understanding.

"Listen Oliver I will start teaching you the basics of blacksmithing. In a couple of days, I will be able to gauge your talent for blacksmithing. If you have a talent for it then good, I will teach you everything that you need to become one of the best blacksmiths in the kingdom....But if you lack talent, then even though Ben requested me I won't teach you any further. I will still give you a place to stay but I won't let you ruin the name of Olsons Blacksmiths."

"Is that clear?" Oliver nodded furiously with determination filled in his eyes.

"Good, the sun has already set so rest for today. From tomorrow your training will start. I will call Marco to show you to your room" Olson called and another jacked guy came. He was sweaty all over as if just finished a set of 100 pushups.

"Marco this is Oliver, he will be staying with us and from tomorrow his training will start. Show him to a room, while I take care of the brat pretending to be dead outside."

"Haha boss takes it easy on Polo, he has also just joined. It has not even been a year, give him some time..... He has good talent, if not for being a showoff blabber mouth he would have already made much progress."

"Well anyways that brat needs some discipline and I haven't had any proper exercise in some time. So let's just call it getting two birds with one stone."

Marko laughed as he took Oliver to one of the rooms on the third floor. "Oliver, the next room is mine and the one, in the end, is bosses. If you have any trouble the come to my room. Anyways I will be going back to the furnace, I still have some work left to do."

After entering Oliver kept his stuff in his room, "Well, that was something".

While lying on the bed he tried to understand what happened in the last 15 minutes, but then gave up and focussed on what was in front of him.

"Since I have my evening free I might as well train some extra with the sword and sleep early since tomorrow I will have to start my training for blacksmithing as well. But since I have nothing to do for at least another 2 hours I might as well rest some before going to practice."

"Arthur wake me up in 2 hours."

{Alarm for 7 pm set}

Two hours later Oliver knocked on Marco's room. Marco came out and saw Oliver standing and asked, "Hey Oliver, need something?"

"Yeah, do you know any place where I can practice my sword? It's a habit of mine to practice sword at night before I sleep."

"Haha no need to look any further, we have a full area behind the shop for testing our weapons and other stuff. We just call it the backyard, that should be a good enough place for you to practice sword. Come with me I will take you there."

While Oliver and Marco were going down the stairs when they saw a young man climbing up towards them. His face was so swollen that he could give blowfish a run for his money.

"Hahaha, Polo did you get a good 'disciplining' from the boss? That's why I say to be careful when you open your mouth."

"Huh what do you know, that old man beet my face up till I couldn't even speak. And when I tried to run away, he beat my ass till I couldn't even move my legs... or sit down."

"Hahaha, that's what you get for showing off. Anyways meet this guy, he is Oliver. He will be staying with us from now on."

Polo just realized that another man was standing next to Marco. Seeing Oliver, Polo tried to make a smug face before saying, " Hey newbie, I am your senior, the great talented Mister Polo. Don't worry just come to me if there is any problem and I will take care of it."

Trying not to laugh his ass off while seeing a human blowfish talk to him as if he was the saviour of humanity, Oliver just nodded and turned his face down while chewing his lips so that he doesn't explode with laughter.

After saying their good night Marco took Oliver to the backyard. Seeing a huge open area with multiple dummies and other instruments that Oliver wasn't sure how to use, made him very impressed.

"You can use whatever you want here but try not to break anything. Anyways I will be going back, I have to rest and also have food, on top of that my back is killing me. You should also not stay up late for too long because tomorrow your training starts and you will need all your energy for it."

After saying his piece Marco went to his room while Oliver started with his exercises.

Three hours later Oliver reached his room sweaty after completing his sword skills. He took a bath and ate his food and went to sleep. He knew that he would need to wake up early to start with his sword practice and then his hands will be full learning the basics of blacksmithing.

.......(zzzzzz).......

{Trin, trin, trin}

{Oliver wake up. It's time, you need to train}

"You already know I am awake right?"

{Yes}

"And you know that I was just about to get out of bed."

{Yes}

"Then why the fucking generic alarm tune... It's so annoying. At least you could have done was play some good music or something"

{Oliver It's time, you need to train}

"Don't fucking ignore the question"

...

...

..

.

After his morning practice and breakfast, Oliver was in the storage, and next to him was Olson. 'Today I start my first lesson on the road to becoming a great blacksmith. Don't worry Ben Martha, I will not disappoint you after all I am the son of one of the greatest scientist and innovators Sebastian Christian.'

'Although blacksmithing was neither his specialization nor something that he indulged in all of his life. But he told me one thing and that is if you work hard for something, it doesn't matter how arduous it is, you will be able to accomplish it sooner or later.' So with his renewed determination, he faced Olson for his command.

Seeing the flame in Oliver's eyes Olson said, "Good, now let's start with the basics. Before you start with blacksmithing you need to know most of the basic metals, their properties, and how to act under fire..."

And so Oliver's training started under the guidance of Olsson. It was only in the future he would come to know that this was the turning point in Oliver's life.

..............................(3 days later)..................................

The sun had already set. In a room with dimly lit candles, Olson was sitting on a chair. With his hands on the table clasped together, he was looking at Oliver sitting in front of him with a very serious look on his face. Oliver similarly had a very tensed expression. Both Marco and Polo were standing right behind Oliver with similar solemnity.

It was then Olson opened his mouth and said, "After three days of observation I have come to the conclusion that..... Oliver your talent in blacksmithing is ..... SHIT."