(Male lead's POV)
I couldn't understand how I had lost to him. I was a hundred percent certain he would slash diagonally to the right. How had it turned into a diagonal slash to the left? I couldn't understand it.
"What, are you wondering how a diagonal slash to the right turned into one to the left?"
It was as though he had read my mind. "Yes, how did you do it?"
"That's called a deep feint. Usually, a feint is made by pretending to attack. You begin a movement, then stop a moment later. You can see through that kind of feint, and you can read almost every squire's movements, too. But you've never seen the kind of feint I just used, one that shifts the center of movement. That's why you can't fully understand it."
And so began three years of training with my 5x Skill. It was like training for fifteen years. I had thought I had become a master swordsman, but I had been too arrogant. I still had a lot to learn.
"There's something I'm curious about, too. What was that thing you threw on the ground?"
"I call it a smoke bomb."
"What's that?"
"I don't want to tell you what it's made of."
"Why?"
"It's my invention. Why should I give it to you for free?"
I really had invented smoke bombs here, but what I had used wasn't a smoke bomb. A bomb couldn't even produce half the smoke I had created. I had used a first-level spell called Sambrar (fog cloud), which could create thick fog.
The spell had a long casting range. I could cast it more than forty meters away, and its area of effect was six meters.
It was a very useful spell, but I had never needed to train it. When I reached forty-five mana, I suddenly knew how to cast it, and I also gained several spells like it: Keligon Anogrosa (stop bleeding) was a minor healing spell that could clot wounds, but it couldn't heal damaged tissue, so it couldn't repair large wounds. Even if it closed a wound, it would leave a large, ugly scar.
Inretio (entangle) was a binding spell that could only be used where there were plants, because it used plants to bind people. For example, if I only had weeds, the most I could do was trip them, but if there were large trees around me, I could even bind their entire bodies with roots. Letagon (snare) was similar to Inretio, but it didn't use plants to bind people.
It used pure magic to restrain enemies. Because Inretio had restrictions on its use, it required five mana to bind someone's feet and ten to bind their entire body, while Letagon required ten mana to bind their feet and twenty to bind their entire body.
When Rodrik began speaking, I snapped out of my thoughts.
"That could be very useful in battle."
"I know it's useful, Ser Rodrik. That's why I used it."
"Haha, you shameless brat. At least now you know that even with all those fancy tricks, they won't save you if you meet a capable warrior. As promised, I'll speak to our lord about your pass."
He headed toward the castle, chuckling and muttering to himself.
If Lord Stark agreed, I could finally leave the castle, explore the surrounding area, and go hunting. I wanted to see whether I could tame larger beasts besides birds.
Just as I was about to leave the training yard, the Stark children arrived and saw me.
There were Robb, Jon, Sansa, and little Arya. Arya was three now. She always followed Robb and Jon around.
If Sansa was the epitome of a well-behaved, obedient child in Lady Catelyn's eyes, then Arya was the epitome of a noble beast.
She hated everything to do with being a lady. If you angered her, she would bite you, scratch you, or climb over you.
Most of the time, she would run away from the septa responsible for teaching her and come to the training yard to watch people spar. If she saw someone holding a sword, her eyes would light up.
I began playing with Robb and Jon. We usually played hide-and-seek or sparred with our wooden swords, but last week we had started using iron training swords. As usual, Sansa sat somewhere watching us play, while Arya picked up a branch and tried to imitate our movements.
Robb asked with a look of surprise, "Did you earn your pass?"
"Not yet, but Ser Rodrik promised to ask Lord Stark and recommend that I get one."
"That's great. I'd really like a pass, too."
"Didn't your lord father promise to take you hunting next month?"
"Yes, but we still can't leave the castle whenever we want. If you get a pass, you'll be able to go out whenever and wherever you like."
"Sometimes I really envy your life."
"Heh, being a common-born orphan is wonderful. Who wouldn't envy my life?"
Looking embarrassed, Robb said in a fluster, "Sorry, I didn't mean that. You know I didn't mean that. I just meant you can freely choose what you want, and you don't have to do things you don't want to do."
"No, Robb, everyone has to do things they don't want to do in life. That's called living. You might think your life is terrible because you have to learn so much and can't do what you want, but there are worse things than listening to Maester Luwin's lessons for a few hours every day. Do you think the salt wives on the Iron Islands want to be there? Do you think people in Essos want to live as slaves? You really shouldn't say things like that."
Robb lowered his head in embarrassment. "You're right. I'm sorry."
I really liked that about Robb. He could always accept his mistakes and learn from them.
I could see a new resolve in Robb.
"I won't complain about Maester Luwin's lessons anymore. Like you said, there are things in life we have to do, even if we don't want to." He smiled at me.
Sometimes my teacher side would come out, and I would start explaining things. Seeing children learn and grow was wonderful.
"Robb, I want to learn how to use a sword, too," Arya said.
"You know you can't. Do you want Mother to punish us for teaching you?"
She grew angry and began shouting, "I hate you, and I hate Mother, and I hate being a lady! I don't want to be a lady like Sansa!"
"There's nothing I can do about that. You need to convince Mother or Father, you little she-wolf."
People had begun calling Arya the Little She-Wolf. Once she started walking and causing all kinds of trouble, she never behaved as a lady should.
I thought I was beginning to see white hairs in Lady Catelyn's hair, all because of Arya. Some people even said she was Lyanna Stark reborn.
(Eddard Stark's POV)
"What important matter did you want to discuss with me, Maester Luwin?"
"It's about Aermir Drasil, my lord."
"I've noticed that he has a very sharp mind."
"We know he's highly skilled at arms, but this is the first I've heard of his sharp mind."
"Yes, my lord, he's an exceptionally intelligent child. I could even call him a once-in-a-century genius."
I knew he had learned to read and had done some reading in the library; he had asked permission before. But I hadn't known he was that intelligent. Yes, he acted like an adult most of the time, but he still didn't understand how this world worked, so some of the things he did were like those of a naive child.
"My lord, I didn't teach him how to read. All I did was show him how the alphabet worked and how to sound out the letters. From there, he learned to read and write. Ever since then, he's been reading every book he can find. If Brother Chayle hadn't told me about it, I wouldn't have realized it either. According to Brother Chayle, he's read almost a quarter of the Stark library. When I heard that, I thought that if he understood a tenth of what he had read, he would become a great maester when he grew up. I even gave him some tests. Then I realized he hadn't understood a tenth of what he had read. He had understood almost everything."
I was utterly shocked. How could someone be so gifted in both swordsmanship and scholarship?
"My lord, even if we sent this child to the Citadel right now, he could immediately take the maesters' examinations and forge at least three links in history, herb lore, and medicine."
It was as though lightning kept striking my head. How could a nine-year-old child become a maester with three links in his chain?
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking pulled me out of my daze, and I said, "Come in."
Rodrik entered, bowed, and stood before me.
"My lord, if you have time, may I ask you about something?"
"Ah, Rodrik, perfect timing. We were just discussing your squire. Maester Luwin has told me some incredible things about that child."
Maester Luwin told him everything as well, but he didn't look as shocked as I had expected, so I asked.
"Rodrik, you don't look very shocked. Why is that?"
"My lord, perhaps I've grown numb to being surprised by Aermir. If someone told me tomorrow that Aermir had learned to walk on water, I'd say it was inevitable. If someone said he'd learned to fly, I'd just say, 'All right.' Nothing that child does shocks me anymore."
I couldn't decide what to do about this. If we sent him to the Citadel, yes, he would become a learned man, but at the same time, I would be sending the most promising swordsman in the history of the North to the Citadel. There was no need to think about it. We couldn't send him.
"I need to discuss this with Rodrik, so, Maester Luwin, could you wait outside for a moment?"
He left my study, and Rodrik closed the door, turned to me, and said, "My lord, we cannot send Aermir to the Citadel. That would be a crime against the North."
"I know, but we can't refuse the Citadel outright, or it will cause a great deal of trouble for me and all the lords of the North."
"Do you think Aermir would want to go to the Citadel?"
"Not likely. Aermir likes his freedom, my lord. He even wants more of it."
"What do you mean?"
"He wants to leave the castle to hunt and explore. I even have some shocking news to tell you, my lord."
"What is it?"
"Today, he defeated the boy from House Flint, my lord."
"That's hardly shocking. Didn't we punish him two years ago for beating them too badly?"
"Not Wyl, my lord. The big one, Wayland."
"What, isn't he about to be knighted? Isn't he the one we were considering knighting this year or next?"
"Yes, my lord, that's him."
"Hahahaha! If someone said he could walk on water and fly, I'd believe it, too." This boy would become a force of nature. Even if I had to fight them to the bitter end, I wouldn't hand him over to the Citadel. At worst, we would keep receiving letters from all the lords of Westeros, and we would have trouble with our ravens. They wouldn't show outright disobedience, but they would protest passively.