"Hmm...as usual you and your lectures. I fear one day you are going to give them a lecture in the midst of a battlefield." A rough looking Sihapi muttered under his breath, deliberately keeping his voice loud enough to be heard by all.

Few soldiers snickered behind him at the obvious sarcasm.

Zamian in a casual tone, without taking any offense, replied. "There is a reason why I have produced two of the strongest Sihapi claws ever."

The men at the outpost glanced at each other in an awkward silence. The rough looking Sihapi, who had started this exchange coughed lightly.

"Ahh...alright, you guys can go. Umm by the way, I meant no offense, just joking."

Zamian lightly tapped on the man's shoulders as he passed by him.

"Yeah of course, you were joking." As he said that, he deliberately drew the last word, as if indicating he knew better.

As their group went a little different away from the outpost, the boy with the receding hairline asked in a curious tone.

"Za-- umm I mean Master, why did you get irritated back there? I think they were really just joking."

Zamian smiled faintly. "To a newbie, it would indeed seem so. But that's not the case. When I was completely new here, the insults were raw and not disguised under the veil of a joke."

In return the boy asked, "But why would they single you out like that...? More importantly, what happened that they no longer insult you directly?"

Zamian looked ahead at the thick wooden doors of the watchtower. Lost in thought, he answered.

"You see...unlike most of the Masters of this Isikolo, I wasn't a Sihapi. Rather I was once a part of Legions and yes, I wasn't selected there based on merits; I am a noble's son.

So naturally when I came here as a Master, the stereotypical mindset that a noble's children are brats and unworthy of any form of leadership made them target me.

Then there were my inconvenient teaching techniques which quite didn't match with theirs. So yeah, I guess that's all - I was just not welcome by them.

As for what changed it, I was one of the few Masters whose claws reached the quarter finals of the Royal Tournament. Not once. But twice."

David had a certain question in his mind and seeing the opportunity, he asked it.

"Master Zamian, by inconvenient methods, do you mean something like your lecture on colour codes in front of the outposts?"

Zamian finally turned behind, as his eyes fell on David.

"And what makes you think so?" He asked with slight amusement glinting in his eyes.

David, not expecting to be counter questioned, felt his mind jumble for a second. Then quickly gathering his thoughts, he formulated an answer to the best of his capacity.

"I mean it is just a guess from my side. But you giving us a lecture before entering their premises and the others not bothering to do so can only mean that teaching rules of the Isikolo is a part of the training schedule.

By making us aware on most of it, you end up gaining more time for our training. If I am to make a deeper observation, most of your inconvenient methods are focussed on teaching us the rules and other menial tasks outside of the training hours."

David finally stopped and even nodded twice to himself, confirming internally that he didn't have any more points.

As he turned to look at Master Zamian to ask how much he was correct on, he found every single pair of eyes fixed on him, some gawking and some analysing him.

Even Master Zamian looked impressed with his detailed explanation.

"That was quite...well thought out. I can already see how you won your rounds in the contest. Anyways, everyone you heard him. And let me tell you all, he is damn correct. So be ready to work some extra hours as well."

The claw resumed on their way again, but this time the number of glances towards David increased. He observed that the boy with the receding hairline and an attitude that shouted for attention, didn't look happy at all as he occasionally dragged his boots on the ground, throwing a fit like a dissatisfied child.

David simply ignored such a behaviour as he observed the watchtower they were passing by.

It looked old, with the bricks showing at some places, the plasters having already fallen off. The structure overall was quite tall than the normal ones David had seen back on Earth.

Within the range of few hundreds metres away from the watchtower, several outposts stood guard, always at the ready.

David looked in the far distance as he could see the faint outlines of the other watchtowers that were spread around a circular, dome shaped main building with large walls surrounding it.

There were few other buildings beside the main building but weren't tall enough to be seen from outside the walls protecting the buildings within.

Standing for a moment, Master Zamian released a heavy breath, his fingers pointing at the main building.

"My fellow disciples, that's the Southern Sihapi Isikolo - the one where you shall be spending one enire year of your life, training in the art of weaponry and killing.

I can't promise you that I shall be able to make you stronger than an average Legion, but the only thing I can probably promise you all is that I shall try my best to not let you lose your humanity...or whatever of it is left in you all.

Most of you shall probably not get my words right now...but hopefully, life teaches you that before it would be too late."

David instinctively understood the gist of it as he had experienced enough in his previous life to bear testimony to such.

But even then he couldn't help but get amused, watching the other members of his claw shake their heads solemnly, pretending to understand something they have yet to experience.

While doing so, they entered the line of the last of the other claws entering the massive gates to the main building.

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