A Remarkable Child

Josiah was nervous.

He was carrying the knife in his hands, but the hands were shaking.

‘There is no need to fear, I should just stick to what I practiced.’ Josiah told to himself.

In that world finding wild creatures like that blue wolf from earlier was pretty common, they were so many it wasn’t uncommon for normal citizens having to deal with them themselves.

The creature in front of Josiah was a wobbly mass of sticky fluid. It didn’t have an exact face, but there was a part of it considered the front, which it was known the creature used for sensing the world around it, and the other part was the back, which was the weak spot.

The wobbly mass moved around very slowly, making it very easier to outrun it if one ever wanted to, but didn’t exactly make the things easier if one was actually willing to get rid of it. Even knowing it was not the fastest thing on earth, with a knife and a body of that size of his, Josiah had to be careful not to get hit when he was approaching to strike the final blow.

‘This should be easy. I can tell when it’s going to make its move. It always jiggles its lower body before it jumps ignominiously to charge at the target.’

Josiah came closer and noted no change in the lower part of the monster.

He swung once with the knife.

The reaction was a bit delayed, but as anticipated, the thing really reacted by jumping its body back.

‘Now!’ Josiah exclaimed on his thought.

He charged during the creature's jump because it was the only time he knew it could not jump toward him, as it was in midair.

The strike was done right at the ‘face’ of the thing. The creature lost.

Witnessing Josiah’s nervous attempts at killing the thing was a large group of bystanders from the farm fields. The whole episode began with a bet. After the creature showed up in the crops area, one of the men bet the young Josiah couldn’t handle the beast as he claimed he could. Then a far bigger crowd started gathering to witness that improvised duel.

The crowd clapped their hands in approval after Josiah managed to finish the creature of.

“Woah! He really did it!” one of the bystanders shouted!

“What a boy! How old is he again? Four…?”

Thomas clapped his hands twice and spoke on a good mood:

“See? I told you he could handle it, we win the bet. Now give me that pesky coin, will you?”

Voices on the crowd kept being heard:

“I swear that boy has to be older than he actually looks. A four-year old that outfights creatures. At his age, I was still wetting my pants!”

“Could he really be a royalblood and he is actually pretending?”

“No way!”

“He must have been sent from the gods!”

The man who lost the bet came to Thomas and handed him the promised amount.

“Thank you very much, oh good sir.” Thomas thanked cockily.

“I dare say I’m not even mad. It’s rare to see this kind of talent. Do you believe he is going to make it to the first squadron? You are going to train him, right?”

“I am going to do my best.”

Thomas caressed the head of the little Josiah, which was now covered in a full ball of fluffy dark hair.

Josiah had been training on the basics of fighting and he was getting it quick. His adult intellect, which he never revealed to anybody, not even Thomas; rendered him apparently very proficient in learning every single kind of skill, and that amazed the villagers all around him.

At the age of four Josiah already knew how to roast meat on woodfire, he learned how to help in the farm, got the grip of the language real fast, and even learned how to write on his own. And now he was quickly grasping the basics of combat, starting by facing lower level critters with that small knife.

Thomas, an entrepreneur as he was, never lost the opportunity to win a quick buck betting every time he faced new people around the town of around who hadn’t met the prodigy child yet. With Josiah also helping on the farm, all in all, the duo was making more money than the servant ever anticipated they would when he first decided to raise the kid.

A couple of hours later, during the break from the tasks, Josiah came to Thomas. He was sitting on a wooden fence, outside a stable. Josiah asked him:

“Do you think we are going to make enough money for those leggings you told me about? I can’t wait to start getting accustomed to armor.”

“Maybe? Perhaps we can, kid.” Thomas didn’t call him ‘little master’ outside home.

“But I want really to get better at this creature slaying thing!”

“You are really a born talent. Today you slew your first wild creature. At that pace, it makes me feel it’s not that far that we are going to be able to… ”

Thomas got all serious all of a sudden.

“What’s up, old man? Going to be able to what?”

“Josiah… We have been living at ease in this placid environment. When you were a baby lots of soldiers from Eneris would come to investigate these areas, and thanks a lot to old man Benson, we always managed to get covered. After all these years… The supreme leader has finally forgotten about us and we are now enjoying peace... But we must never forget what our objective really is. The thing is… I wanted you to enjoy your childhood days a bit longer… But I think the time has come. You are ready.”

“Time has come? Ready? What are you talking about? you are making me look like the child of prophecy or something.”

“Child of what? What prophecy?”

“Nevermind…”

‘People don’t get this kind of slang around here…’ Josiah thought.

“… Anyway… As I was saying… It’s time you learned all about the royalblood and its impact on the art of sword leveling. Of course, this all also has to do with… Your birthrights.” Thomas pronounced those two last words at a lower voice.

“Sword leveling? Royalblood? What is this all about?”

“I think you were too young to remember. But your mother used to be a level 42. The whole art of dealing with a sword is based on a very well-established ranking system.”

‘I certainly do remember that…’ Josiah thought inside his head.

“Tell you what: remember the glade on the hill we trained with the knife the first time? Let’s go there after work. I am going to tell you all about it.”

Josiah finished his tasks and rushed to the promised spot. After the dusk came, Josiah and the tall man with grizzly hair met on a small glade formed by a small hill, inside a nearby forest. Thomas was carrying a sword.

“Ready? Let’s begin then…”