After eating my fill and putting out the campfire, I wanted to hunt in a different way from using the locating spell. This time, I wanted to use Bo and her killing team as my locators and see how effective it was.
-Bo, can you have your killing team find me some rabbits?-
-Okay, Dad.-
She began chirping and cawing. Then almost all the birds around us flew off in different directions. A few minutes later, I began hearing chirps and caws around us, but they came from far away.
-Dad, they found some.-
-Which direction?-
She flew down from the branch, landed on a large rock in front of me, and began chirping in different directions.
Right, she couldn't count. I had to teach them to count as soon as possible. From the way she frantically pointed in different directions, I thought they had found about ten rabbits.
-Take us to the nearest one, but tell me when we're closer than... right, closer than that big rock, okay?-
I pointed at a rock bigger than me. It was about ten meters away.
-Okay.-
She took flight, and I followed as fast as I could, but it was hard to keep up with her in this forest. After a few minutes of running, she landed on a branch, chirped at a crow, then turned to me and said,
-Dad, it's in that hollow over there.-
-Bo, have that crow harass the rabbit and make it come out of the hollow.-
I couldn't order it to harass the rabbit. I could only give the animals under my control the simplest commands, such as attack, defend, or follow, but Bo and Erebus could give more complex orders. Perhaps it was because they were birds too, or for some other reason I didn't yet know.
She chirped, and the crow flew over to the hollow and began harassing the rabbit. After some struggling, the rabbit decided to leave the little hollow. I was waiting with my bow and arrow, and I aimed and fired.
A moment later, an arrow was sticking out of the rabbit's head. Over these past few years, I had also become a good archer. I really liked the 5x Skill. Without it, I didn't think I could have become a Level 2 Druid so quickly. I thought even a talented spellcaster would need five to ten years to reach my level.
After that, I followed Bo to nine places and hunted more rabbits. They were starting to get too heavy.
I thought ten rabbits would be enough to show Rodrik my hunting and archery talents. He would certainly hear about it after I sold these rabbits in Winter Town. Besides, it was getting late, with only three or four hours until sunset.
So I decided to spend some time learning how to use my spells before returning to Winterfell.
I sat on a rock, picked up ten pebbles, and called Bo over.
-Bo, do you want to learn to count?-
-What's counting?-
-Well, it's the ability to say how many things there are. For example, there's one Aermir, or there's one Bo, but there are lots of humans and lots of crows.-
She nodded to show she understood.
-For example, I have this many stones. How many stones do I have? Can you tell me?-
I showed her three stones.
-Yes, you have one stone, one stone, one stone; that's how many stones you have.-
I almost laughed.
I picked up about seven stones and said,
-If I had this many stones, would you keep saying "stone" until you'd named them all?-
She nodded in agreement.
-But there's an easier way. It's called numbers.-
After that, I showed her all the numbers up to ten, but she could only learn to count to five. I thought that was a good number to start with.
Considering I was teaching a crow to count. She was very patient and obedient. I didn't think I would have as much luck teaching our noisy troublemaker.
A few hours later, I practiced using the Familiar Vision Spell. This spell could be cast without an incantation.
All I had to do was focus on the connection inside me, then follow the connecting thread to my familiars. After that, I could control them completely or share their vision. This training was difficult.
I tried moving while sharing Bo's vision, but I would fall after a step or two. Still, I had made some progress with this training.
A year ago, I couldn't even stand upright. I even tried Aerobula (Air Bubble). I found a stream in the forest and used the spell. I could also use it out of the water, but it looked ridiculous.
It was like having a giant soap bubble on my head, and out of the water, it was very easy to pop. You only had to push your finger through it, and it would burst. Underwater, however, it was sturdier and more elastic. You needed to hit it hard to pop it.
I was about six kilometers from Winterfell, and Erebus should have arrived there hours ago. So I used Vocadyni (Summon Beast) again.
"Vocadyni (Summon Beast), Erebus."
After he was summoned, I checked my mana. I had lost eighteen mana from this summoning. This showed that my hypothesis was correct. The greater the distance, the more mana it took to summon them. So summoning them from twenty kilometers away might cost sixty mana.
After that, I spent almost all my mana practicing elemental spells, leaving only ten mana for emergencies. Then I decided to return to Winterfell.
Nothing happened on the way back. I reached town before sunset and sold my game.
Before returning to my room, I practiced swordsmanship for an hour so Rodrik wouldn't scold me for slacking off.
Teaching birds to count was a little challenging, but Bo learned faster. While teaching her, I remembered how we taught children to count on their fingers, so I had her count her claws. Now she could count to eight. This was a good step forward, but Erebus was a problem. He still needed to understand the concept of counting.
-Ah, stupid Aermir, stones are stones, and claws are claws. Go away. I don't want this counting thing.-
-Erebus is the stupid one. Dad can count, and I can count. Na-na-na-na-na, Erebus can't count, Erebus can't count. He started chasing Bo, but she was faster than him, and in the end, he couldn't catch her.-
I felt like a kindergarten teacher.
-Bo, you shouldn't make fun of Erebus. Even though his brain is made of muscle, you still shouldn't make fun of your brother.-
-You're the muscle brain. You're both muscle brains. Hmph, at least Erebus isn't as ugly as Aermir.-
It was just like humans: no two people were alike, and two familiars were different even if they belonged to the same species. It seemed Bo was the brains and Erebus was the muscle in this two-bird team. I tried teaching him to count a while longer, but I wasn't making any progress now, so I gave up.
(Rodrik's POV)
This boy always made me nervous. Why was he so insistent on leaving the castle? I didn't understand at all.
The world outside was too dangerous for a nine-year-old child. Yes, no normal person would take a nine-year-old boy seriously during a robbery, so he would be overlooked, or he might even kill them if they underestimated his fighting ability. Even though he had promised to run at the first sign of danger, I was still nervous. Should I send someone to follow him?
Even when he was in the castle, my worries didn't end.
I had thought Wayland would defeat him and shatter some of his arrogance, but Wayland had been beaten so thoroughly that I was still in awe even now.
I hoped Mander wouldn't do something foolish because the boy was a commoner, and the other guards mocking the House Flint boy wasn't helping.
Mander was a proud man. I didn't think he could endure such mockery. Being a guard didn't mean we were lowly watchmen. It meant we commanded at least a hundred soldiers, and because Mander commanded the fortress outside Winterfell, he had two hundred soldiers under him.
"Rodrik... Rodrik!"
"Forgive me, my lord. I didn't hear you come in." I hurriedly rose from my chair. I hadn't even heard or realized that the door had opened.
"Why were you so deep in thought?"
"Forgive me, my lord. I was thinking about our young friend and everything he's done."
"What do you mean?"
"The guards have been taking their mockery of Mander a little too far, my lord. I'm afraid he might do something foolish."
"Don't worry. I've already made it very clear to Moran and him what this boy means to me."
"I don't understand, my lord. Didn't you only give those boys a light punishment two years ago?"
"Yes, that's true, but if you don't want a father to hate you for the rest of his life, you don't punish his son in front of him, if you can avoid it, of course. Afterward, you punish the fathers privately for their sons' offenses. That way, they can save face and avoid being humiliated in front of others, but they also know they'll be punished if they can't control themselves or their sons. I've made it very clear to them that if they involve themselves in the children's fights, their only choices will be black or iron."
"I didn't know any of this, my lord."
"Because you didn't need to know, Rodrik. That's why. The only reason you know now is that I need you to give the other squires a nudge and have them compete with Aermir. That way, we can bring two swords together and hone them against each other. If Aermir is broken, it means we overestimated him. If he breaks the other squires, we might lose about twenty promising knights, but we'll gain someone more valuable than all of them combined."
"I don't understand, my lord. Didn't you want Aermir to maintain good relations with the lesser nobles?"
"Yes and no. If possible, I'd like him to remain friendly with them, but it's more important for the next generation of knights to respect him, or fear him at worst, than to be friendly with him. Where Aermir is concerned, I can accept either fear or respect."
"But my lord, if the knights all respect or fear him so much, won't that threaten Lord Robb's authority in the future?"
"No, because in about ten or fifteen years, House Stark will certainly have a new vassal: House Drasil. He certainly doesn't want to rule. He wants to stand at the top, but not because he craves authority and power. He only wants to keep to himself. I've never seen a commoner love freedom so much. As long as Robb understands him and maintains their childhood relationship, I don't think Aermir will mind becoming the North's greatest shield and sword."
"I hope you're right, my lord. He may still have his childhood innocence now, but I don't think there's anyone in the world who can resist the constant temptation of power."
"Hahahaha, you underestimate House Stark's strength far too much. He may have charisma and strength, and some knights might side with him, but the moment he stands against House Stark, he'll lose all his support. Northmen live and die with honor. No northern lord would plot against their liege. In fact, House Bolton might, but I don't think they have the courage."