Chapter 5

Ash finished his food in silence and fast. Although the presence of Aria should have made him slow down, but he wanted to talk to Derek about his training as soon as possible, and he was really nervous now talking to Aria, the princess. So after bidding his goodbye, he left the mess. He didn't know where Derek's office was, but he grabbed a flustered Ron who was carrying a large box somewhere in a hurry, and stopped him long enough to know where Derek's office was. On the top floor of the tower.

Ash reached the top floor of the tower. there was only one door on this floor, the floor was after all much smaller than the floors below. He knocked on the office door and entered.

"So how was your first time meeting elves?" asked Derek looking up from his desk for a second when he entered and then went back.

"it was fine, I was surprised at first, but a lot of new things have been happening lately I am afraid I might lose my ability to be surprised anymore" said Ash.

"I must say, you handled yourself well, most other boys just start muttering when they first see someone like Aria," he said.

"Yeah, well I think it's just because of the exoticness and everything" he said.

"Hmmm, I might not have made a bad choice in choosing you after all" said Derek standing up and moving to the window.

"I was rather taken back when I was new too, took everything seriously but I have learnt over the years, you have to set your boundaries with elves, they are different from us, the biggest difference being they live much longer than us, so some things hold less weight for them especially related to humans, and you don't want them to treat you like a servant, you must be careful or you won't even realise before you are their willing servant, they are excellent at playing such tactics, although Roren and Aria aren't much like that, they are young and aren't near as manipulating as the council" said Derek.

"Now let's talk about your training like I said, you need to start physical training, so that you become a decent fighter, you'll have to be in all kinds of situations on the job and you must be confident in your skills, I'll assign you a personal teacher, I don't want too many people to meddle in your training yet until you learn a little more and I have seen your potential," said Derek and Ash nodded.

"The rest will be practical knowledge, and the best way would be to learn on the job, you might want to start reading some of the books from my office, this section, start from the top, just one book a month or something like that depending upon the time you get, your main aim is still swordsmanship," said Derek.

"Who will be teaching me?" asked Ash.

"I don't think there is anyone suitable here at the moment, so i have sent a letter to someone, they are close by should be here by tomorrow" said Derek. Just then there were rapid knocks on the office door.

Derek sighed and said come in. Roren walked in followed by Aria. Ash hadn't seen Aria standing, before she was sitting at the table, with a pile of food between them, but anyway, Aria wasn't the kind of girl you could get used to easily.

"The council has replied" said Roren and Derek raised his eyebrows.

Ash was expecting the letter to take some time, but clearly Roren hadn't used a normal letter and had instead used some kind of magic.

"And what have they decided?" asked Derek, holding back the tension in his voice.

"They have instructed me to travel to the capital and talk to your King," said Roren. Derek raised his eyebrows in surprise and mild delight.

"Really? Well you are welcome to, I'll even arrange a proper party for you and your personal guards to take you there" said Derek.

"Not so soon, you don't understand, it's not every day that a messenger from the elves goes to human capital, and I am kind of important back home, and we know some of you humans don't have much honour, so you must arrange a way to even the balance," said Roren.

"Even the balance?" asked Derek.

"If an elf ambassador will go to the human kingdom, then a human ambassador must travel to the elf kingdom" said Roren. Derek looked too taken aback to speak.

"You should send a message to your king and arrange everything soon, we don't have much time" said Roren and they left.

Derek sat down on his chair with a thump.

"Why do my problems never end, and they aren't even real problems" said Derek.

"You don't think they'll send someone from the capital?" asked Ash.

"No, of course not, they are not talking about an ambassador, they are talking about keeping a prisoner until Roren returns safely, and they are not stupid, they won't send anyone from the royal family to the elven kingdom," said Derek.

"They can someone else, a lieutenant like you," said Ash.

"Well, as they said, we don't have any honour, even if I was a prisoner there, they wouldn't bow before the elves, just for me, we don't care about a single person's life" said Derek.

That part Ash understood clearly.

"But the elves don't know that, and that's even better you can send anyone, and just make sure nothing happens to Roren while he is here" said Ash.

"Hmmm, you might be right, but who, i don't trust anyone, and it would be better if the elves knew the person too, and then there is the message that Roren's carrying too, the people at the capital haven't too often talked to elves, god knows, what the message is about and how they'll react," said Derek.

"Don't you know some elves in the elven kingdom to keep the ambassador safe just in case?" said Ash.

"I do know some here and there, but elves are weird or the ones I know anyways" said Derek thinking hard then he looked up immediately.

"You, why didn't I think of you" exclaimed Derek suddenly.

"What me? but I am nobody, I don't know the first thing about any of this, what if something comes up I will be completely useless, I don't even know how to use a sword properly" protested Ash, his heart beating fast there was no way this was a good idea, and he just knew something bad would happen if he got involved in this.

"But you said it yourself, the elves don't know any better, and they know you already, I saw how they talked to you, in their culture the word apprentice holds more weight, it's as good as me going," said Derek.

"But my training is starting from tomorrow," said Ash.

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out and like I said the best method is gaining experience" said Derek making up his mind.