[Shu's POV]

I watched Master Claude's back as he returned to the house. I turned around and sat at the doorstep of Sir Zen's house while waiting for him.

Some time had passed by now and I was starting to feel sleepy, probably because I just had lunch. I slapped my cheeks and attempted to stay awake.

『I need to make him accept me!』

I thought to myself. But having nothing to do and feeling bored, soon I fell prey to my slumber.

 

 

 

 

「.....-ey, wake up already! This damn brat sleeping in front of my door.」

「Huh!?」

I jolted up and looked around. It was already evening and it was slowly turning dark. I wiped the drool off my face and looked at Sir Zen.

「Finally, awake at last!」

「Ah, Sir! Umm.......I apologize!」

I quickly bowed in front of him and apologized.

「Yeah, yeah! Now move, I have got to go inside.」

Saying so, he pushed me aside and started to move inside. Just as he held the doorknob, I spoke

「Sir! Could you please reconsider teaching me?」

Just as he was about to open the door, he stopped and turned around to look me.

「Did you not hear what I had said just this afternoon? I will not-」

「I promise I will work hard! I will not complain about anything either! I will also-」

「Can't you understand when someone is rejecting you? Or is it that you are intellectually impaired? If that's the case, let me repeat myself once again.」

He dropped the hoe he was carrying and walked towards me. He then stood in front of me. 

Very close.

As he was much bigger in height than me, I had to look up to see his face. He looked very intimidating.

「I. WILL. NOT. TEACH. YOU. ANYTHING. LEAVE. NOW.」

Terror stabbed my heart. I felt a shiver down my spine. My legs became wobbly. I even started to sweated badly. I wanted to speak back to him but my voice wouldn't come out. By the time I came back to my senses, I realized that he had already gone back inside.

「W-what was that........!?」

I spoke. I put my hand on my chest. It was beating very fast. That's when I realized.

Fear

That's what I felt when he spoke those words to me. It was the same feeling I had when I was being chased by the wolves.

No.....I think this was even greater. I fell on the ground. I slowly stabilised my breathing.

『C-can I really convince somebody like him?』

It felt like the next time he would actually kill me If I asked him again.

「I......I should probably leave.」

I slowly got up and was on my way to head back when Master Claude's face came into my mind. I stopped in tracks and thought for some time. I then turned around and walked back to Sir Zen's house.

「O-one last time......I shall try one last time again. If he still refuses then I shall head back.」

I headed back and knocked on his door many times. But I heard no response from him.

「S-sir! Please listen to me just once more.」

After some time, I stopped banging on his door and sat in front of his house.

「I will be right outside your house, Sir! Whenever you feel like it, please come and talk to me.」

As expected there was no response. But still, I sat there.

 

 

 

 

It had become very dark. It was also starting to become cold. I rubbed my hands together to warm them a bit. I was still waiting.

『He is probably asleep already.』

I have heard that old people generally go to sleep very early. Maybe he has too.

『Should I maybe come tomorrow?』

I got up thinking when I heard the sound of the door opening. He came out.

He then looked around and when he saw me he became a bit surprised. 

「You......you didn't leave?」

I wanted to answer back but remembering his cold attitude from before I hesitated a bit.

「Answer me, lad!」

He spoke again in a demanding tone.

「....as...I said......」

「What? Be louder you pipsqueak!」

「As I had said, I won't leave until you take me as your disciple.」

I stared into his eyes as I spoke. My legs were shivering but I won't back down after coming this far.

We both glared each other for some time until he spoke again. He looked like he had understood something.

「That look is of a determined person. Somebody who is doing things with a clear goal in mind. Tell me, what is pushing you to this extent that you can't back down.」

「I........I want to repay someone.」

「'Someone' is it? Is it that horny brat from this afternoon who you came with?」

I flinched a little as he found out so easily but I continued-

「Yes.」

「...........Why?」

「He saved me when I had fallen to the pits of despair.」

「Ah! I think I remember now......a few days back there was this news that a boy had been rescued from the forest but not much was revealed about it by our Lord. By any chance, are you that boy?」

「......Yes.」

I thought for a moment about why Sir Geroge might have hidden the information about me before answering.

「Aaaaand let me guess, it was that brat who saved you?」

「........Yes.」

He gave a small laugh before resuming.

「Listen, kid, it was just a mere coincidence that he saved you. From what I have seen that boy only does things that benefit him. A rather selfish brat if I say so myself. But well kids around his age are like that.」

「..........I still want to repay him.」

He stopped laughing and looked at me with a confused expression.

「Did you not hear what I just said? He didn't save you because it was YOU. He probably did it for his own satisfaction. He might have not wanted to be an indirect cause for your death. He is still 7 after all. He hasn't seen a person die yet. He is still sensitive to this kind of stuff. I can bet my entire life's savings that had it become too dangerous for him, he would have surely abandoned you.」

「............I don't care about any of that. I am still very thankful to him and want to repay him.」

Yes, I was grateful to him for saving my life but that isn't enough for him to earn my loyalty. Had he just done that I would have just been thankful to him as my life saviour nothing more. It's his action towards me that made him win my trust.

The first time I had woken up in the mansion, it still felt unreal to me.

I was in a mansion.....and there was food that I had never eaten before in front of me.

After I had been abandoned, I couldn't let myself envy others if I wanted to survive while being true to my beliefs. Because the moment I started envying them, I would desire the things they had, and want to steal those things from them.

I never thought I'd ever lay my eyes on this kind of food. But I was about to eat it right now......at a mansion, no less.

This was a paradise that I could never even dream of while I was at the lowest rung of the world I lived in.

『Hey, I can't have a dirty pauper like you loitering around my shop. You're scaring away the customers! Get out of here!』

『Ugh! He's been roaming the streets since the early morning.』

『We have nothing to give you, so get lost! And don't even think about stealing anything!』

I heard people talking about me everywhere I went.

Even after starving for three days and being on the verge of fainting, I've never stolen anything that wasn't mine!! Not even if that meant I had to eat food that people threw away on the streets!!

I had nothing, I could do nothing and I was nothing. Nobody would have cared about me. I lived my life thinking that way.

 

 

 

So why......did he step forward and save me?

Why did he save a penniless orphan like me from dying?

The way he looked at me with that warm gaze......

I liked it. 

None of my family members had ever looked me in the eye like this.

He gave me a place to stay. He gave me the familial love I always longed for until now. He treated me as an equal. His family accepted me because of him too.

I don't even know why he saved me. I don't care why he saved me.

Sure, just like Sir Zen said, he might have saved me just because he felt like it. Maybe he is a really evil person who just wanted to use me as his plaything......even if that's the case, it doesn't matter.

While I was down and everyone was looking away, he was the only one who stood up for me. I was poor and dirty, yet he still reached out to me. He cared for my wounds as if I was someone precious to him. He saved me from the clutches of despair and poverty.

Now, I can hope for a future that's brighter than a hard life on the streets! And it's all thanks to him.

That's why........I'll devote this life that he saved to him from this day forward.

I once again strengthen my resolve and spoke to Sir Zen.

「I will still follow him even if that's the case.」

「Is that so....」

Saying so, he started to go back to his home. 

『I have been rejected once again, huh?』

Well, I tried. As I was about to leave, Sir Zen called out to me once again.

「Now where are you going? Don't tell me you are going back after such showing such a resolve you know?」

「W-what?........Do you mean....?」

He smiled at me getting all confused and flustered. Then while waving his hand in his direction-

「Come on in. You have been outside since afternoon, you must be hungry. I have some food from dinner left.」

My face brightened up after he said that. I felt like crying but controlled myself. I quickly followed him.

「Yes, Sir Zen!」

「Also, drop the Sir. Call me teacher from now on, got that?」

「Yes, Sir Z-....Teacher!」

I felt some movement in the bush at a distance but decided to ignore it. I then proceeded to talk with  Teacher, as we discussed how he would teach me starting from tomorrow.

◆◇◆◇◆

[Claude's POV]

Wait, he actually got selected by that old geezer? 

Oh? Me? Yeah, I was hiding in the bush nearby. I had just come to pick Shu up after my mother reminded me that he still hasn't returned from that Old man Zen's house.

『Wait, he is actually still waiting there?』

I remember thinking to myself and rushed to call him back after getting a good scolding from my mother about forgetting him.

But when I reached there, the atmosphere was very tense. Although I couldn't hear what they were saying, I felt like I shouldn't meddle between them.

After some time, I saw Shu's face brighten up and walking together with that old man.

『Would you look at that! He finally got his approval!』

Yeah! I always believed in you Shu............................really, I promise I did.

Well, I guess my work is done here, huh?

After seeing him go to Old man Zen's hut, I got up and started to head back.

I was a bit, just a bit jealous of Shu though not gonna lie. I mean he was going to train under someone even my father respects so deeply. I have heard my father say countless times that although he had seen Old man Zen in action only a few times at most, he realized that he would never be able to beat him even if he was at his prime. Shu is training under such a person!

It was very dark, almost time to sleep. Normally, in such a dark place I would have had to use the light magic spell《Glow》, but this time I didn't need too.

Why? You might ask. Well, the answer is floating right in front of me. This Black Book.

「Seriously, just what the hell even are you?」

The Black Book that was shining as it usually does while circling me and hovering up and down. As expected there was no answer.

「Well, I am going to find out about you sooner or later anyways so...no worries!」

I spoke as if challenging the book.

I then slowly walked home while admiring the night sky and after reaching my bed, I fell asleep.