Father smiled at me funnily, seemingly holding back his laugh, amused by the exasperated look on my face. While my father tried to hold back his laughter, Uncle didn't bother to, and laughed out loud. Many people in the hall turned their attention to us, but when they saw my father and Uncle, they turned back to what they were doing — apparently this wasn't uncommon from these two guys. Some of them even shook their heads with a smile, as if they were remembering something from the old days, before going back to their drinks and their boasting.
I didn't bother with the looks or the laughter, and stared intently at the letter, holding it tightly with both hands, afraid to let it go as if this were a dream or something and it would disappear the moment I loosened my grip. In my past life I had never once held anything that could change my fate like this, and now a single sheet of paper was sitting in my hands. While I was still staring at it, I heard my father saying from the side,
"It took quite a bit of effort to get this, dear Kael."
To which Uncle replied,
"It wouldn't have taken so much effort if you had asked for it directly. Any which way, at least you connected with us for this reason."
Giving my uncle a glance, my father looked at me, his face and tone changing to one of seriousness, and said,
"Kael, this letter, as you can read, is very precious. I could get it only because of some connections I have with that person from the past, and I used them here. I could see that you were very enthusiastic about martial arts compared to two years ago, when I tried to teach you. At that time you weren't this passionate about it, and would whimper and run away whenever it hurt, or whenever you felt the physical exercises I taught you were tedious — you were more interested in having fun with your friends."
"Also, seeing your talent in martial arts, which was quite average, I thought letting you take over the shop was enough, and my network would keep you safe in this small town till you grew old. But now, I don't know why, over the last couple of days — especially since your birthday incident — you have been engrossed, nearly obsessed, with martial arts, so I decided to use this opportunity for you. Cherish it, as it will make your starting point higher than others, and also let you reach greater heights beyond this small town."
Hearing this, I was taken aback — had my father found out something? Was my behavior really that different from the past? (Well, it was — how could it not be, when you awaken an adult's memory from a past life.) I quickly lowered my head towards the letter so that he couldn't read too much from my face, while I thought it over. A son who had run away from training two years ago suddenly buried himself in martial books right after a strange headache — if I were the father, I would find it odd as well. Luckily, he seemed to take it as his son finally growing up, and I had no intention of correcting him. At the same time, I found myself remembering the exercises Father had mentioned.
I had been naive back then and hadn't wanted to train on just some basic fighting techniques and stances — Father didn't teach me anything fancy. Looking back now, with an adult's experience, I could see that he had been trying to lay a foundation for my future, but I had been too young and preferred the freedom to play with my friends. Also, I hadn't performed poorly — not poorly, just average — which was probably why Father never mentioned anything related to martial arts afterwards and wanted me to stay ordinary. Martial artists with ordinary talent are far too common, and they are the ones with the most casualties; it is quite tough for an average person to reach greater heights on the martial path. This was also the reason I had been flabbergasted when Uncle handed over this letter.
Nodding my head to Father, I once again looked at the letter, eager to read its contents properly. Seeing my eagerness, Father gave his approval and said,
"Go ahead, Kael, you can read the letter, it is for you only."
Hearing this, I quickly read the letter, which had the name of a great person as the sender. I started reading from the cover itself.
Sender,
Aldric Thorne — Hall Master of the Martial Hall,
Graywolf Town,
Everdawn Kingdom.
Subject: Recommendation letter for Kael Voss.
Content:
Dear Kael Voss,
You have been recommended by the Hall Master of the Martial Hall to enter as an inner disciple. Please reach out to us at the earliest for your registration, as this year's selection has already been completed and classes have started — you are a couple of months late. Please contact us as soon as possible.
Regards,
Vice Hall Master — Roderick Vane.
Reading this, I was overjoyed. I read it once, then a second time, and then a third time just to be sure that the words "inner disciple" were really written there and that I hadn't misread "outer". From what I had heard and read, it was basically not in their policy to take a student after classes had already started. I had been planning to ask my father to get me into the Martial Hall next year, and even then I had only dared to hope for an outer disciple's place, paid for with the shop's savings. Taking me in after classes had started was itself uncommon, but giving someone with no martial foundation at all an inner disciple's identity — I can only say my father is my father. He had quite some reach to get this near-impossible thing done, and the Hall Master's name at the top with the Vice Hall Master's signature at the bottom meant that two of the most powerful people in the Hall already knew the name Kael Voss before I had even stepped through the gate.
And yeah, as he said, this opportunity gave me a good head start. Just thinking about the techniques I would get access to, the myriad of resources I could consume, and the people in power I could contact and make further use of to get better and stronger, was something I couldn't have ever imagined in my past life. And this was only the part of the benefits I could guess at; I would surely learn of more later on.
But as there are benefits, there are consequences as well. I must have offended quite a few of the outer disciples before even joining, simply out of jealousy, since it takes them hard work and months of training before they even get to try the inner disciple exams. In their eyes, I would be a butcher's son who walked in through the back door with a letter. But all in all, this was very beneficial for me, so whoever wanted to get offended could go sulk, be jealous, and be offended — I was not passing up this opportunity. In my past life I had watched others climb on their connections while I stood at the bottom, and now that I had a connection of my own, I had no reason to feel ashamed of using it. We would take the challenges as they came.
Seeing me engrossed in the letter and deep in thought, Father and Uncle continued their own conversation, of which I only caught bits and pieces.
"Scar, it's been a long time since Vennesa came back to the town."
"Yeah..."
"Why did you just leave...?"
"...Things were different at that time..."
(...means the things I didn't hear.)
There was other small talk between them that I missed, but I did know one thing — my father had quite some past. He had called this uncle "Scar", which was probably a nickname from the scar on his cheek, and a new name had popped up: Vennesa. I quietly repeated the name in my heart a couple of times so that I wouldn't forget it. And there was one more thing I could make out even from those broken lines. When that question was asked, Uncle Bram's voice had dropped and he had been looking straight at my father, and it was Father who answered it, quietly, in a tone I had never heard from him at the counter or in the back room. Whether he had left Vennesa, or the crew, or something else altogether, and why he had done it, I couldn't tell, and asking now would only show that I had been eavesdropping. Unearthing Father's past was one of the things I would definitely find out in the future, but not today.
Seeing me come back to normal, Father returned to his usual gentle self as he finally introduced the uncle seated across from us with a smile.
"This is your uncle Bram Kessler, aka Scar, who is quite a famous hunter within our town — you can use his name if you come across some hunters from this town. Also, don't start calling him uncle yet, since he hasn't presented you with his gift."
Seeing Father directly mention the gift and not allow me to call him uncle, my uncle gave my father an angry look, and said to me while going through his bag,
"Hello little Kael, it's been a long time since I met you. Also, you don't have to use my name if you really do come across any trouble from the hunters — tell them your father's name, it has more influence. Although he looks gentle to you, his past was—"
Reaching this part, my father just gave Uncle Bram a stern glance, and Uncle Bram swallowed the rest of his words and coughed as if nothing had happened.
I looked at him in amusement. Even without him finishing, I could already guess a part of it. The way he talked with my father, the respectful nods from the martial artists on the road, the crowd in this hall keeping quite a distance from our table — all of it showed that my father had real influence in this part of town. A simple butcher doesn't make men with weapons on their waists step aside. I filed it away along with Vennesa's name and the fact that Father was the one who had left, and decided that I would be patient. Sooner or later, the truth always comes out.
"Anyway, that's that — you can check this gift, or rather the reward of blackmail, from your father."
Uncle Bram said this as he passed a box to me. He looked slightly reluctant to hand it over, his fingers holding on to it for a moment longer than needed, but eventually he let go, and looked at me with a smile, as if looking forward to another embarrassing episode of mine.