A Child Turned Into A Soldier

"What do you mean you hate her? How did you expect me to know that?" My boss said while we were putting on our gear.

"You know what I don't even care anymore, just know that yes I hate her."

My boss and I have been bickering back and forth with each other ever since work started. We were now in the weapons shop putting all of our gear on, with most of mine being brand new.

After I left the arena yesterday, I tried looking for the library but never found the damn thing. I didn't even know if it actually existed, but I did end up exploring a good portion of the academy.

"Wait why do you hate her then? OOO I know, your actual girlfriend doesn't like her which forces you to pretend you hate her. Come on Diggory you can be honest with me, you're a lady killer aren't you."

My bossed was finished changing into his full black attire and looked like a real weirdo with that smile he had on.

He looked like the type of guy to be banned from going near schools.

"First of all, I'm single and have never dated anyone. Second, that girl is a naive idiot who can't see the real world. She's a danger to my race with her type of ideologies."

"Diggory, you are still a child. Don't you think it's a bit arrogant of you to assume what the real world even is?" My boss asked in a serious tone.

"It's not arrogance, age is merely a number that defines how old we are, not how much we have gone through. There are thirty year olds that act like children and ten year olds that act like adults. What makes a person is their experiences, not their age." I said while I finished putting on all up gear.

"Thats an intriguing viewpoint Diggory, I will have to disagree with you though. Although I agree that experiences make a person, age plays a big role in it as well. The reason I say this is because you still haven't fully developed, no child has that's why we call them children. In time your views on many things will change, that means you do not know what the real world truly is, you only have a guess."

I thought over what he said and did agree with his views on the matter. I never really thought about my age in the first place, I only ever viewed it as a number.

I still believed in my reasoning, but I did think it came off as arrogance.

"I agree that maybe I did come off arrogant, but I still believe the reasoning behind it. Still my main issue was with her ideologies, they are far too dangerous. Her ideologies stem from her world view, it's too one sided."

"That would make sense but remember not everyone is like you. I'm sure there are reasons behind them just like you have your own. Now let's go."

My boss and I took off for the city with my body in perfect condition.

....

After five hours we successfully made it into the city without encountering any real trouble.

*Crunch* *Crunch*

My feet were crushing the stones on the floor of the building were we in. The amount of rubble made it impossible to not step on them.

We were on the 60th floor so it I wasn't worried about the noise being produced, especially with the deafening sounds of battle happening throughout the entire city.

The inside was a complete mess with everything being destroyed or in the process of decaying.

It was honestly a sad sight.

*Crunch* *Crunch*

I looked behind me to see my boss was walking towards me, we decided to scavenge the floors separately to save more time. With how many floors there were and the sheer size of them this would be saving a lot of time.

"This floor doesn't have anything either, but I did find a hole leading to the next one though. How about you any luck?"

"No not really."

Not a single relic had been found so far, each floor was a complete bust. These relics are belongings from the citizens who use to live here long ago. For example, a watch would be considered a relic or any a piece of jewelry for that matter.

My boss didn't really specify the details of it, but he did say there was a massive market behind this.

"Alright then let's move on to the next one."

I followed my boss to the hole he mentioned then stood directly underneath it.

My boss used his mana to lift us both up through the hole then slowly put us down on solid flooring. This was the most common method we used to up each floor.

The stairs would sometimes be used, but for the most part they were completely destroyed or barely gave any cover from the outside.

I looked around to see it looked the exact same as the floor below which became a common sight. I wondered if all the building were like this or maybe this one was an outlier.

My boss started walking in one directing while I walked the opposite to start the scavenge.

My eyes were scanning for anything that stood out from the common black and grey color. Luckily most floors didn't have many rooms since the walls were broken making it easy to see in.

As I was walking, I noticed a red object that on was the ground in what looked to be a room.

I lifted my legs to go over a pile of rubble that was blocking me then picked up the object. After a quick inspection I knew it was a picture frame, once I turned it around I saw a photo that was still in perfect condition.

The photo was of a mother cradling her small infant child, at the bottom right corner the word 'Sorry' was written.

I looked around the entire room and wasn't able to find anything else. I took off my backpack then placed the picture inside of it since it was the safest place I could put it.

I then left the room and continued to search the floor while two questions were plaguing my mind.

'Why would they write sorry and how's that picture in such good condition?"

I knew nothing good came from that specific word, but I still wanted to know the story behind it. The photo itself stirred my emotions a little, it made me think about my own mother.

After a few minutes of scavenging I felt the floor start vibrate a little.

*CCRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKKK*

A sound I have never heard before exploded out causing my ear drums to ring from how loud it was.

I turned around and started sprinting towards my boss's direction. I managed to find him, but he didn't look to be worried at all and was still scavenging.

"Sir why the hell are you still scavenging? Didn't you just hear that sound!" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Calm down Diggory, the sound you just heard was from a spell. Judging from how loud to was it seemed it was a destructive one, but it doesn't concern us. Don't worry, over time you will get use to them."

I didn't like how he was nonchalant about the situation. I wasn't a complete rookie when it came to dangerous environments like these, after all they were what I grew up in.

I would admit I haven't experienced anything to this scale, but this place shared the same glaring issue that the others did.

That glaring issues was being killed, an issue that changes everything about you.

"Sir it does concern us, that spell was able to shake this entire building which we are currently in. There are so many factors that could go wrong by being passive."

He finally stopped his scavenging and turned around to face me.

"You are overthinking it, you need to trust me on this Diggory. Things like this happen all the time, if we bothered to check every single thing then that's all we would be doing. I know only being reactionary sucks, but this job is to find relics and make money."

"Our lives are on the line here sir, being reactionary in a place like this really doesn't sit well with me. I understand we can't react to everything, but I believe something on that level needs to be addressed."

I wanted to make my case to him because of how serious I took the matter.

My body couldn't take damage like his, if that spell had hit me then I would have most likely died or been severely crippled. The spell's impact was obviously close by, meaning the caster is as well.

"Do you think I want to die here? As I said before I have a family that I love, my life is the highest priority. I will tell you when something needs to be addressed. It may be hard for you in the beginning but overtime you will see why. Don't think for a second you aren't in my plans Diggory, I don't wish for you to die either."

He was spoke with passion about his thoughts making me believe he wasn't lying to me.

It really is hard to just follow his orders, in the latter end on my time in Maru I spent most of it completely solo. I was used to doing everything my own way, this comfort was being taken away.

We have barely known each other as well, adding to the fact that we are also two completely different races.

'At the end of day, it all comes down to pure ability. I lack it compared to this place, he on the other hand is completely fine. I need to close this gap between us or else I'll be nothing but a scared bitch here.'

"I will follow your orders, but in order for that to happened I need you to train me. The gap between us if far too big and we barely trust each other. This can be a way to solve both problems at the same time."

I gave my proposal hoping he would accept it. His knowledge was what I cared for, mostly his knowledge about mana control.

This was something extremely important, I was able to see firsthand his flawless control over it. If I was able to even grasp his control, my ability would be dramatically increased.

His teaching alongside the academies makes for a great combination. This is what I desperately needed if I wanted to survive here and catch up to those prodigies.