Chương 28: Grumpy Blacksmith, Mute Painter, Two-Faced Musician?

His teacher's room was at the end of the 3rd floor hall. All the rooms were shut with a fortified metal door. He saw on the side of the door there was a string to pull so a bell would ring on the other side. Yanking on the bell, he tried to get his teacher's attention. After a loud bell sounded on the other side, Greyson was immediately scolded.

"Who in the hell is it?! Do you know what you have done?! Now you have ruined this sword and I will have to make it again!" The angry voice continued speaking as the metal door was opened. First, Greyson noticed the strong wave of heat coming from the room, then he looked at the gruff looking middle-aged man straight in the face. He had black messy hair that was pulled back and tied, with his facial hair all grown out, and piercing amber eyes. Wait... Straight? Suddenly he realized that although this was a middle-aged man, his teacher was only a little taller than he was at around a ten-year old's height. He felt very confused for a second before Lucius's voice echoed in his mind, "a dwarf?"

A dwarf? He then remembered this race was mentioned while he was speaking with Lucius. They were another race which lived peacefully with humans that specialized in creating amazing blacksmiths. Obviously, not all dwarves were blacksmiths, however a majority are born with the fire element and their ancestors were the first blacksmiths. They had a long history and experience in the field, so their race ended up with an amazing number of blacksmiths and all the high level blacksmiths almost solely belonging to their race. Humans had a couple really accomplished blacksmiths, but they were much rarer.

'Peacefully' was of course a matter of perspective. As different races, it was very difficult to get rid of prejudice and hate. Humans mocked dwarves for their height and looks, while dwarves looked down on how weak humans were. Dwarves were born with supernatural strength and endurance, maybe to make up for their lack of height? Petty things, really. However, it was enough to create subtle hostility. There used to be wars between dwarf countries and human countries, but, a couple centuries ago, there was a peace treaty and they have not fought.

Greyson felt shocked to see a dwarf here. According to Lucius, you could see human blacksmiths working with dwarf blacksmiths in dwarf countries all the time, however, dwarves working with human blacksmiths in human countries was almost unheard of. Dwarves normally held human blacksmiths in disdain and anyone who worked with them was a "disgrace." Due to his surprise, even after his teacher walked out, he forgot to answer back for a long time. Seeing his silence, the dwarf was even more angered.

"Well? Are you stupid? Never seen a dwarf before? Out with it, what did you need that you rang the bell?"

"Ah, sorry, sir. It truly is the first time I have seen a dwarf so I was a little surprised. I was rude to stare like that. I was sent here by the front desk to be your apprentice." Snapped out his daze, Greyson finally answered.

"Apprentice? A weak little girl like you? Have they grown stupid in the head?! You would not even be able to lift the hammer, let alone be a blacksmith." He grumbled with dissatisfaction as he gave Greyson quick look up and down.

"I am a boy! I am stronger than I look..." Greyson could not help but speak back indignantly.

"Hmph! Whatever. I will teach you seriously if you seriously want to learn. If you give up and go crying that you want a different teacher, that is not on me." Greyson heard his words and felt determined to not quit. He would work through everything and prove this annoy dwarf wrong!

"I won't give up easily, teacher!"

"We'll see. Come back tomorrow early morning. You will report here everyday. I have nothing prepared for you today."

"Wait, teacher, could I come every three days? I have two other occupations to learn."

"What?! Blacksmith isn't your only occupation?! How could they send me such an annoying brat! You don't even take the job seriously. Hmph! I shall see how you will succeed later. Being a blacksmith takes all of your concentration, you can just halfheartedly learn." He lectured. Greyson heard his complaints, but realized he didn't say no.

He just saluted while saying, "thank you teacher for your understanding. I will come tomorrow and show you that I am absolutely serious about being a blacksmith."

"Just call me Old Man Thraec. I dislike all those human niceties. I won't be your teacher for long anyways." He waved his hand and closed the metal door behind him. Greyson felt his teacher was an odd one, but he took teaching seriously so that was good. He turned around and left the blacksmith association and walked over to the the painting association. It was still morning so he had plenty of time to visit the musician association as well.

...

The painting association was much less busy and less grand than the blacksmith association. However, one could still see the artistic flare of the building. He walked in and was met with the only person behind the front desk. He was a kind-looking old man with a warm smile.

"Hello, little boy, how can I help you?"

"Oh? How did you know I was a boy?" Greyson felt surprised. Not that many people got it right.

"Hahaha, as an artist, I guess you could say I have a good eyes for things." He laughed happily. The old man made Greyson automatically feel close to him, he just had a very inviting atmosphere.

"I am here to be assigned a teacher. I registered to be a painting apprentice. My name is Greyson, I am a new student at Dalia Magic Academy." Greyson smiled.

"Ahhh, another budding painter, how wonderful! Nice to meet you, Greyson. I will see who is available." The old man began rustling through his paperwork. Having a feeling of déjà vu, Greyson saw as the man's smile disappeared and he began to look conflicted.

"Is there no available teacher?" He asked the old man.

"No, no it isn't that. There is one. I just don't know if you would want him. He is a rather odd character. Usually students register early so he is the only one left."

"Is he a bad painter or a bad teacher?"

"Hmmm... neither? He is mute. All his students felt frustrated by the lack of communication."

Mute? As someone who once pretended to be mute, Greyson felt no concern with this issue. He preferred silence anyways.

"That's okay! I will be his student."

"Okay, if you're sure you are okay, I will put you down as his apprentice. This is the way to his workshop." The old man smiled and handed him a map. Greyson walked out of the association with the map and made his was to a clean little house. It had an air of simplicity and peacefulness that made Greyson comfortable. He lightly knocked on the door and after a little bit heard footsteps walking towards him. The door slowly opened and revealed a young man looking to be in his mid-20s. He was handsome man with chestnut hair and eyes. His hair was tied up neatly while he wore comfortable loose clothes and a smock covered in paint. He looked at Greyson with obvious confusion. Greyson took this as a cue to introduce himself.

"Hello, I was assigned to be your painting apprentice. My name is Greyson." He politely saluted. The teacher showed understanding as he nodded his head.

"I know you are mute, but that does not bother me. I hope I can learn a lot from you." Hearing his words, the painter smiled and patted Greyson's head. But then he looked worried and unsure.

"Did you not prepare anything today?" Greyson asked while smiling. The man looked surprise that Greyson understood. As someone who had not spoken for such a long time, Greyson got much better at making and reading expressions. He also just came from Old Man Thaec's place so he could infer what the problem was.

"I have 2 other occupations. So, I was thinking of coming to you every three days starting the day after tomorrow. Would that be okay?" He asked. The man smiled warmly while nodding. He went back into his house and came back with a key. He gestured for Greyson to take it. Greyson could tell it was the key to his workshop, so he received it.

"Thank you, teacher. I will back in two days then!" Greyson left first while waving. He felt very happy with this teacher. The young man was gentle and kind. He had a kind of grace that should follow an painter. He began to make his way towards the musician association next with excitement to meet his next teacher.

...

The musician association was bigger than the painting association but smaller than the blacksmith association. It was a normal looking building but there were a bunch of street performers in the front as if signaling that this was a place of music. He walked in to see many people buzzing about trying to register their music. He noticed that this music association was in charge of patents for songs and a way for budding musicians to perform in front of nobles and get their name known. However, he saw as person after person was rejected and sent away. Their music did not pass judgment.

Greyson looked around for where he should go and saw a sign for registration. He walked up to the pretty young lady attendant.

"Aw, well aren't you adorable? Are you here to learn?" She asked while patting his head smiling. Greyson felt a little uncomfortable being treated like a baby, but then he realized he really was young so there was nothing to do about it. He smiled back and nodded.

"I am, my name is Greyson. I'm a new student at Dalia Magic Academy."

"Well, nice to meet you, Greyson. What instrument are you looking to learn?"

Prepared for this question, he quickly replied.

"The flute."

"The flute? Hmmm... well it certainly matches your pretty face." She said smiling. Greyson felt his lip twitch. His face? That certainly wasn't why he chose the flute. He like the peaceful sound it made and the fact is was easily portable. He would probably be moving around and adventuring so he would want to be able to take his instrument around with him.

"Well I'll see if we have any of our famous flute players available to teach." She quickly began sifting through her files. Yet again, the smile faded. Greyson saw her expression and felt speechless.

"Let me guess, there is one teacher left, but he is very weird and people don't like to be his student." Her eyes widened in shock, "how did you know?" Greyson just looked at her with a feeling of wanting to slam his head against the wall. Now just what was wrong with this teacher? What was with his luck today?

"I'm guessing he is very good with the flute, so what exactly is wrong with him?"

"Hmmm... the public isn't aware of this, but his personality is pretty terrible. He acts like a dignified man not affected by the world when he plays his flute and when he's in front of strangers, however, with those he is close to he is extremely unreasonable and hard to get along with."

Greyson sighed inwardly, "It's fine. I will take him on as my teacher."

"Are you..."

"I'm sure."

"Okay, I will put down you down as his apprentice. His practice room is on the fourth floor. You will see his name on the door. His name is Carlyle."

Greyson felt exasperated. Quickly he walked up the stairs to the fourth floor and began to look for the door with Carlyle labeled on it. He soon found the door before he heard a loud crash of glass breaking and shouting.

"I told you to get out of my face, you clown-faced troll! Your perfume reeks cheap prostitute and your face is so caked with make-up it has to make me wonder what kind of a monster face you are trying to hide. It disgusts me!"

The door then swung open and a pretty woman went running out while crying. Greyson froze a little in surprise and felt this teacher definitely had some personality issues...

He walked into the room and saw a blonde haired and blue eyed man who looked to be in his late-20s or early-30s. He was good-looking, but he had an obvious arrogance that radiated from his face and body language. Greyson's movement had caught his attention as the man's clear blue eyes looked over with annoyance.

"And now who are you?"

"Uh... hello, teacher, I have been assigned as your apprentice." Greyson swallowed his doubts about his teacher and introduced himself.

"Well, your face at least passes so I won't get sick of seeing you everyday. I will allow it." He said flippantly after looking over Greyson.

Greyson felt was speechless. He chose his apprentices based on looks?

"Teacher, I actually have two other occupations. I have decided to rotate with each one. I am going to the first one tomorrow, the second one the day after, and then I was hoping to meet you after that. Then I would continue rotating as such. Would that be okay?"

The man's face suddenly hardened.

"Are you looking down on music and on the flute? It takes hard work to be good. I won't accept people who are not serious."

Greyson was taken aback by the man's sudden change. But then his face also turned serious as he explained, "do not worry, teacher. I am completely serious about trying hard and learning. I am not looking down on each occupation. I know that I am spreading myself rather thin, but I believe I can do it. I am honestly really interested in all my occupations so I could not just choose one. I will work hard."

"Hmmmm..." Carlyle squinted his eyes as the little boy in front of him while contemplating.

"I will allow it this once. But if your progress does not satisfy me then I will drop you." Greyson then smiled and saluted.

"I won't disappoint you, teacher!"

"Hmmm, we'll see. You may go then." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Okay! I will be leaving then. See you in three days." Greyson then closed the door behind him and left the musician association building.

A grumpy dwarf blacksmith, mute painter, and a two-faced musician. He had his hands full it seemed. However, instead of feeling down, he felt very excited for the future. He would work hard and show them that he could have three occupations but still be good at them all!