The Apprentice

"Mistress, how can I help you?" The Advisor asks. "Who is the child?" She asks. "He is a commoner who I'm testing for an apprenticeship, he wishes to learn under the Rusan house" The advisor replies.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" She asks. "I didn't think you would like to interact with a commoner, let alone test him. It is above a noble to have to talk to commoners, Mistress." He responds.

"Don't tell me, what is above me. I'll decide whether it's above me" she says in a calm tone. "I'm sorry Mistress" He apologizes. "Don't be sorry, be better" She yet again says in a calm tone.

HA, that serves you right you fucking cunt. Who's a bottom of the barrel commoner now? "Of course, Mistress. It's just that, throughout my life, rarely any noble that I served wished to test the commoners who applied" he says.

Don't try to weasel yourself out of this now, you dug your grave, now lie in it. She doesn't respond. Even though my head is facing the ground I can still see the lower half of her body. Most of her body was covered in a beautiful black dress.

However, something immediately stood out to me. She wasn't wearing normal fancy middle aged European shoes. She was wearing something that reassembled modern day high heels. I mean I don't know much about fashion, but they were definitely modern day black high heels.

Could there be more people who were transported from the modern age who are also living in this world? Could have somebody made these heels who is from my time?

I don't know, but that doesn't matter right now. She looked amazing in those heels. And to be honest, I'm kidding digging the whole thing about calling her Mistress. Very kinky.

The silence is then cut by her grabbing a piece of paper from the advisor. "What is this?" She says. "A test in math and language" He answers. "He did this?" she asks. "Yes, Mistress" He responds.

She walks over to me. She's hovering above me. "Boy, why do you want to serve under me?" She asks me. Fuck, what do I say? I could say because it's her and I want to serve under her, or I could tell the truth? Fuck it, I'll go with the truth.

"Because I wanted to learn more magic " I answer. I'm still bowing my head to her. "More magic, so does that mean you already know some magic?" She asks.

"Yes, I know the basic of housekeeping magic" I answer. "Oh, I see" she says while turning around. She starts to walk away. " And I know the basic three magics for a soldier" I blurt out.

"Don't lie to her Mistress you insolent twerp" The advisor yells at me. "I'm not lying, I'm telling the truth! I will show you" I say while still bowing my head at her. "Oh, really?" She says. "Yes, Mistress just pick any one the three magic's and I'll do it." I say. "Can you do it while your head is still bowed to me?" She asks.

"Yes!" I say. "Ok, boy then do the defense magic" she says. Her legs walk closer to me. I close my eyes and start moving mana throughout my veins. I can feel it, I don't know why I but It's much easier now than any other time I did it.

I focus on the idea of defense. I start pushing the mana through my body and onto to my skin and then the defensive layer forms around my body. It takes a couple of seconds for me to stabilize it, but I do it.

"Lift your head " She grabs my chin and lifts my head. I look at her beautiful dark brown eyes. We lock eyes, I spend a couple of seconds looking into captivating eyes. She has a kind face now that I look at it more.

"Amazing, a child of your age to be able to do something like this is just amazing" she says. "But" She says while smiling kindly "I'm still stronger." She say while activating her strength magic.

She steps on my hand with her high heel, bursting my defense magic in a millisecond. Her heel being on my hand didn't hurt, it looks like she only broke my magic. "Of course, you are Ma'am" I say to her while looking into her eyes.

She steps off my hand and walks over to the advisor. "Find him a room and get his apprenticeship collar" she says to the advisor. "Yes Mistress" He answers while she walks backs into the Japanese styled house.

YES! I DID IT! I MADE IT! Yes, I'm moving up in the world. Fuck yeah! Wait. Hold up, did she say collar? Like around my neck? That type of collar? Woah, woah, woah hold on.

"Come with me child" The advisor says. I follow him as we enter the Japanese styled mansion. I follow him as he leads me through the mansion. It really looks like it was made in Japan.

Bamboo, sliding doors, wooden floors. Of course, there were some changes, I'm assuming there is no normal bamboo in this world, so it was replaced by some purple wood that looks like bamboo.

The house was clean. It was clear that the Mistress had people cleaning the house all day round. As I followed the advisor, we passed by two maids. They didn't make eye contact with me, they just starred at nothing with dead looks in their faces. Ignoring me and the advisor completely.

Anyway, I followed the advisor until we left the main house, we entered a different section of the house through a hallway from which you can see into the garden which had hundreds of dazzling flowers surrounding it.

The grass was cut to the millimeter, the was some sort of patio in the middle of the yard, where people could eat or do some other recreationally activities.

Now that I look at the advisor closely, he was skinny. He could even be anemic but to be honest I didn't care. He was jack ass anyway.

The Advisor stops in front of a door. He opens the door and walks in. I follow him into the room. "This is where you'll be staying for the rest of your time here. However long that may be" he says with a hint of hatred.

The room was pretty nice. It was a small room with only a bed, a table and an old decrepit wardrobe in it. Oh, and also a box on the floor. The room was tidy, it was clear that whoever is tasked with cleaning doesn't cheap out on the room that aren't being used. "And I believe it was somewhere here" The advisor says while rummaging through a box on the floor.

"Oh, here" The advisor grabs something out of the box. He pulls out a steel slave like collar, that's going onto my neck? What the fuck? "Don't lack behind" he says while walking out of my room.

I follow him as we walk through the house again until we reach two beautiful painted with some sort spiralis doors. The advisor gives me the collar. He then opens the doors and I walk in.

He closes the door from the outside, not entering the room himself. So, I stand there as I look at Mistress who was doing some writing with a feather? You're telling me that they have high heels but not pens? Oh yeah, I still don't know her name and currently I'm to scared to ask.

She sat there and wrote as I looked at her. Then she stood up, put her feather down, and walked over to me. She extended her hand like she was telling me "Give me the collar", and I put the collar in her hand.

The she walked up closer, I exposed my neck, and she puts the steal collar around my neck. I could feel it weigh on my neck and I could feel its coldness around it. She then locks the collar.

Then she puts her hand to the collar and uses some sort of magic on it. On the outside of my collar a blue liquid etches itself into the steal through some sort of pattern.

"It's not a slave collar, there is nothing to be ashamed of, it's a collar that all apprentices wear since you are still a child and If I need to, I can control you!" She says. "When can I remove it?" I ask.

"When you finish your apprenticeship at 16 years old" She answers. "Or if you decide to quit, or if you get kicked out for whatever reason" She continues. "You will be learning magic from Mikhail, the man you that tested you" she says. "When you turn 16 you will be given a job and real pay until then you will spend your days learning from Mikhail and doing household chores or other mission that I may ask you to do" she tells me.

"And what about my family" I ask. "You will be able to visit them on holidays or when I give your permission until then you will be serving the house." She says.

"And what about serving you Mistress?" I said that trying to be seductive. But unfortunately, since I am in fact 13 years old, it failed, horrendously. "Don't worry you'll be serving me. But for now, get out I need to work" She said while smiling. Then she pats my head like I was a dog.

I leave the room, closing the doors behind me. I'm starting to think that is more of kinky house than a home of a noble. The collar felt heavy on my neck, I grabbed it and moved it a little, so it sat more comfortably.

In front of me stood Mikhail the Advisor. "So, what do I do know?" I ask him. "You're going to go to the yard and trim the bushes and after that you're going to clean your room and the hallway where your room resides" he says. "And what about the magic lessons" I ask him. "We start tomorrow" he says.

"One last thing, when will my parents be told about me becoming an apprentice?" I ask him. "I am currently going to tell them that!" He exclaimed, clearly mad that I was pestering him with questions.

"Alright" I stated. The advisor turns around. His expensive red and purple coat brushes againts my feet as he walks away. Having nothing else to do I start with my, I'm assuming now daily housework tasks.

I roam the building as I try to find the exit into the yard. I finally find it and go into the yard. There was what I'm assuming a maid already there. Well, I mean she was an older lady wearing a maid outfit.

I asked her about sheers that I can use for the bushes and she kindly pointed me in the direction of a small wooden hut. I walk into the hut, grabbed a large pair of sheers and went to town on the bushes. They were only a little bit overgrown.

I asked the maid how much is should cut it down to. She said only to remove half a fingers worth. What the fuck is half a fingers worth? Oh, never mind I get it, like half of my index finger, I get it. Anyway, I continue cutting the bushes.

Even though I'm basically a slave for the Rusan family I'm pretty fucking happy, I spent most of my previous life doing nothing, spending my days playing video games, reading manga and doing nothing meaningful with my life. I was a nobody, a social outcast who nobody gave a shit about.

But in this world, I have the ability to move up in the world, I now have a goal and step by step I'm moving forward. They may be small steps, but they are still steps.

The first few weeks of living at the Rusan house were lonely, there were a lot of people coming in and out of the house on a daily basis; maids, guards, people representatives and other nobles but rarely any of them interacted with me.

Of course, other than a "Good morning" and "Hello". I think it's because I am a child. I did all my normal housekeeping duties, although I basically didn't need to do them because the maids already did them before me.

I don't know why they ask me to do this stuff. I guess, it's a way for me to earn my living in the house. Most of my day is spent cleaning, cutting, training, and doing random stuff around the house and then 2 p.m. rolls around where I have my daily lesson with Mikhail.

That's the only time he's free, being the advisor to the Mistress must be stressful, anyway we go to the library which I'm not allowed alone into, and study magic. After studying magic, we practice my swordplay and archery.

Then he leaves me because he has some noble stuff to do, the last hours of the day I spend either working or practicing. I'm currently trying to find a way to sneak into the library, or maybe I'll ask the Mistress If she'll allow me to enter the library on my own.

It's still humiliating as a grown man asking a woman who barely cares about my existence for permission to do everything. I'm currently practicing my straight sword swings in the middle of backyard with a wooden sword.

The form of my swing is still terrible, I'm trying to improve it but I just can't get it right. In that moment in corner of my eye I see the Mistress open the door that leads into the backyard. I keep swinging while she stands there watching me with her beautiful dark brown eyes.

"Leonard" She yells. "Yes, Mistress" I yell as I walk up to her. What am I a dog who runs anytime this woman calls on me? Is that how low I have stooped? Yes, yes it is.

"I need you to do a task outside of the house" she says. "I'll do it" I say. I need to leave this god damn house once in a while, don't get me wrong I'm happy to be given an opportunity learn magic but God damn, I feel like I'm in prison.

"Great, the guards will lead you" she says. I look her up and down and admire her beautiful body, God she is gorgeous, she's wearing a new dress that really accentuates her body. The way she walks, the way talks, the way she looks at me it's fucking magic, metaphorically obviously, I don't think she has any magic that makes me fall in love with her.

"Go to the front gate, and I'll see you later" she says while walking away. I don't waste any time and I immediately run up to the front. At front of the gate there are two guards talking. I walk up to them.

"The Mistress told me she has some job for me?" I say. "Oh, yeah, here have this" One of the guards says while handing me a short blade.

I grab the short blade, the guard opens the gate and I follow him as he leads me somewhere. What do I even need a short blade for? Will I be hunting something? They're not sending a child to kill some monster.

I follow him as we walk through the city until we reach an old bridge. "You're going to need to kill those little bastards." He says while point at something in the river under the bridge.

I walk up to the bridge and see dozens of medium sized disgusting monsters, they looked like blubber fish, but they have some small legs that are too small for their bodies. Some are on land while other are swimming in a shallow river.

"Alright I guess" I say. "Yeah, they are kind of infiltrating the city and none of the villagers or guards want to deal with them." He says. "Are they deadly" I say. "No, they're just disgusting creatures that when they die spew out a disgusting gas" he says. "Is the gas toxic?" I ask.

"No." He declared. "Off you go" he says as he pushes me. I look back at him with a confused look, then I sigh, I unsheathe the short sword and walk down the mound that connects the river to the bridge.

As I walk down, I keep looking at these monstrosities. They are everywhere on the muddy ground around the small river. I reach the bottom and immediately in front of me there is a blubber monster.

I hover my blade over the blubber fish that can't move. I just realized something, in this world I will probably need to kill a lot of things, people, monsters and whatever the fuck might want to kill me. Will I be able to take another beings life? A monster maybe. But, what about a human.

What If they send me to a battlefield? Then what? I will need to kill people for my own survival. And the only realistic path I think I have at reaching the tops of society is through the military like Napoleon.

How many people will I need to kill to be able to reach this goal? I might have entered this world with a little bit too much excitement. Is my goal worth all the pain I will cause people? Do I even have a right to kill this defenseless creature? It might be ugly, but does it deserve to die?

"What the hell are you waiting for" The guard yells from the bridge. "Nothing" I yell back. I ram the short sword through this creature. The short sword pierces its body, blood spills out of its mouth. I remove my short sword from the dead body.

From the wound blood gushes and then a disgusting gas comes out. It hits my nose and It smells like the combination of a dead body, onions and old dirty socks. It's disgusting. "What do I do with its body?" I yell.

"Put it in this bag" He yells back as he throws me a brown cloth bag. "I'm going to need more bags than this" I yell. "Shit, I'll get some more from the house" He responds as he leaves my sight.

I look at the blood on my blade. The blood slowly runs down the polished blade like a tear running down the face of a child. They are only monsters, I can kill them, they don't understand what life or death is. Or at least that's what I think, this is the only justification I have.