CHAPTER 14: THE CONTRACT

The next morning, Mike, Joe and Simon were all awake before sunrise.

For the next several years, Joe probably would not be sleeping late very often. Considering what the Talent Hall offered in return, he could accept that.

Mike was coming because Joe could not officially begin training until the inheritance contract had been signed. Since Joe was still a child, his father had to sign on his behalf, although Joe's own agreement was apparently required as well.

The arrangement reminded Joe somewhat of long-term contracts from his previous life.

Theodere invested food, instruction and martial knowledge into his students. If one of them eventually became skilled enough to earn serious money through an opportunity he arranged, part of that income flowed back to him.

There was not much competition to compare the arrangement against either.

Theodere controlled the only proper martial inheritance available in Green Hollow and the nearby villages. Unless Joe somehow travelled elsewhere and persuaded another martial artist to accept him, this was the path available to him.

Even so, Joe could not call the arrangement entirely unreasonable.

From everything Simon had described, many martial artists guarded their teachings far more closely. Theodere at least accepted ordinary village children, fed them, trained them from the beginning and gave the capable ones a route toward opportunities beyond farming.

That did not make the contract generous.

It made it understandable.

The three of them reached the Talent Hall while the morning was still dim.

Joe finally had the chance to look properly around the compound from inside.

For a village like Green Hollow, it was almost absurdly large.

The main training ground occupied most of the open space, with packed earth underfoot and wooden posts, racks and simple training equipment arranged around the edges. Several buildings surrounded the yard, connected by covered walkways.

The place reminded Joe faintly of martial arts schools and training gyms from his previous life, except everything here was built from timber, stone and packed soil instead of steel, rubber and concrete.

Two young men stood near the entrance and along the inner path.

Joe did not recognize either of them.

They looked around twenty and were probably former trainees or members of an older generation Theodere had taught. Neither appeared to be from Green Hollow.

Simon noticed Joe looking.

"They help around the Hall sometimes. I don't know both of them well. The taller one came from a village north of here, I think. Victor says he used to train here before getting work somewhere else."

"You think?"

Simon gave him a look.

"I don't ask everyone where they were born."

Joe let that pass.

Simon pointed toward the far side of the field.

"My group trains over there now. I'll find you after you're finished with the contract and show you around properly. Don't wander off before I come back."

Joe looked at him.

"I can probably survive a courtyard."

"That's not the point. You don't know which buildings you're allowed inside yet, where the canteen is, where Hall keeps the beginner equipment or which water barrel everyone avoids because the lid doesn't fit properly."

Joe paused.

"Why does everyone avoid it?"

"Because leaves fall inside."

That was actually useful.

Simon looked pleased.

"See? You need the tour."

Then he hurried toward the training field before Mike could tell him to stop talking.

Joe watched him go.

That sounded much more like Simon.

To the right lay the main training area. Beyond it, a long covered corridor ran beside several buildings and ended near Theodere's office.

Theodere was rarely involved in ordinary daily training, but the morning after Starlight was different.

According to Simon, he always came for the new intake. He supervised the contracts, received the selected students and later gave the demonstration that introduced them to what martial training could eventually become.

One of the young men near the entrance directed Mike and Joe toward the corridor.

They were not the first family there.

Several of the children selected the previous day were already waiting beside their parents. One boy stood so stiffly next to his father that he looked more nervous about signing the contract than he had during the test.

A girl from one of the visiting villages kept staring at the mark on an older trainee's wrist.

Joe and Mike joined the line.

It moved slowly.

Each family entered Theodere's office, remained inside for several minutes and came back out with a fresh dark mark on the child's wrist.

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Most children examined it immediately.

One boy began rubbing his thumb across the lines until his mother slapped his hand away.

"Leave it alone."

"I'm checking whether it comes off."

"It doesn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because your cousin tried three years ago."

The boy stopped rubbing.

Joe found that answer more persuasive than the slap.

Eventually, their turn came.

At the end of the corridor, they entered a broad but simple office.

Theodere sat behind a heavy wooden desk. Mr. Hall stood to one side with several wooden tablets and rolled documents.

Joe had seen Theodere from a distance before, but this was the first time he had stood directly in front of him.

The man looked older up-close than Joe had expected from village stories.

He was probably around fifty, perhaps a little more. His hair had begun graying around the temples, though his body showed little of the softness Joe associated with middle age from his previous life.

Theodere was broad through the shoulders and thick through the chest, but not enormous. His clothing was clean and well made without being elaborate, and if Joe had seen him travelling without knowing who he was, he might have mistaken him for a prosperous landowner or retired soldier.

Only his eyes stood out immediately.

They were unusually bright and attentive.

The muscles around his temples also seemed slightly more pronounced than Joe expected.

Theodere glanced at Joe.

Hall had apparently already told him about the previous day's result.

"Lucky kid."

That was all.

Joe had expected more reaction.

Theodere did not seem especially surprised by two brothers qualifying close together.

Then again, rare was not the same as impossible, and a man who had trained martial students for decades had probably seen stranger things than Joe.

Hall placed a document on the desk and unrolled it.

"Listen carefully. I will read the terms once. Ask if you do not understand something."

Mike straightened slightly.

Joe focused.

The conditions were much like what Simon had already explained.

Anything classified as part of Theodere's martial inheritance could not be taught, demonstrated or deliberately passed to outsiders without permission. Certain stances, breathing methods, forms and later techniques remained restricted even after a trainee stopped attending the Hall.

If Joe eventually entered employment through Theodere's recommendation, additional terms could be attached depending on the opportunity.

The town guard arrangement Simon had described would be one example.

There were also consequences for deliberately breaking the inheritance restrictions.

Hall did not explain all of them.

Joe remembered Martin.

A month removed from training for teaching part of a stance to his younger brother.

That was enough to make the rule more than theoretical.

When Hall finished reading, he looked at Mike.

"Do you understand the terms I have read, and do you accept them on behalf of your son?"

Mike nodded.

"I understand enough."

Hall's expression changed slightly.

Mike quickly corrected himself.

"I mean yes. I understand them, and I accept."

Joe almost smiled.

Hall did not.

Then Hall turned toward Joe.

"Joseph, your father signs because of your age, but the inheritance itself requires your agreement. Do you understand that you are accepting these restrictions of your own will?"

"I understand."

"No one has forced you to accept them?"

"No."

"If you refuse, you will not be punished. You simply will not receive the inheritance. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Hall held Joe's gaze for another moment.

"Then do you accept the inheritance and its restrictions?"

"Yes."

Mike signed.

The contract changed.

For a brief instant, faint light moved across the written characters like sunlight reflected from water.

Joe froze.

A warm sensation appeared inside his wrist.

He looked down.

Thin dark lines were forming beneath his skin.

They curved and connected one after another until a small circular pattern appeared, identical in structure to the mark Joe had seen on Simon years earlier.

The light across the contract faded.

The mark remained.

Joe stared at it.

He had known something strange would happen.

Knowing did not make the experience ordinary.

The contract had responded to spoken consent.

The mark had appeared without ink, blade or tool.

Whatever this was, it was not merely a piece of paper describing an agreement.

Something had recognized that an agreement had been made.

For the first time since entering the office, Joe had some difficulty keeping his expression neutral.

In his previous life, contracts depended on institutions.

A signature meant something because courts, records, laws and other people stood behind it.

Paper itself had no idea whether someone lied, broke a promise or violated a clause.

This contract appeared to be part of the enforcement mechanism.

Joe had no idea how.

Martial arts?

Spirituality?

Something else entirely?

There was not enough information to decide.

Mike barely reacted.

This was his second time seeing the process, and unlike Joe, he had no other civilization to compare it against. To him, martial artists already did impossible things. A contract that glowed and marked someone's wrist was simply another part of that world.

Theodere noticed Joe staring.

"Don't waste your time trying to wash it off."

Joe looked up.

Theodere continued.

"Every few years, some child thinks water, oil, scraping or a knife will solve the problem. It won't."

Mike immediately looked at Joe's wrist.

Joe moved it slightly away.

"I wasn't planning to cut it."

"Good," Theodere said. "Saves everyone time."

There was no smile on his face, but Joe suspected that was meant to be humor.

Hall rolled the contract closed.

"You're registered. Join the new students on the training ground. At noon, Master Theodere will address everyone and demonstrate the foundation of martial practice."

Joe nodded.

Mike prepared to leave as well.

The harvest had ended, but grain did not turn itself into money.

A group from Green Hollow would soon travel to Blackwood, and Mike needed to arrange for part of the household's surplus to go with them.

Carrying it personally would cost him several days of work, so using the usual market group made more sense even after transport and handling fees.

From the amount the family could spare that year, Mike expected the sale to bring close to ten silverlings after expenses.

That was a substantial amount of money in Green Hollow.

A single silverling was roughly enough for a small village household to cover a month of basic expenses if it was careful.

Mike's household was larger than most, and their needs were growing. Two boys now trained at the Talent Hall. Simon already ate more than he once had, and Joe would probably follow.

Much of the family's food still came directly from their own land. Grain, vegetables, eggs and occasional meat did not require silver when the harvest was good.

Coin paid for everything the farm could not provide.

Salt.

Oil.

Spices.

Tea.

Tools.

Cloth.

Medicine.

Fees.

Those purchases added up quickly.

Selling surplus grain was therefore one of the few reliable ways an ordinary farming family could build actual savings.

Mike had been thinking about this year's money since Starlight.

Joe did not know that yet.

His father had already noticed several merchants selling cheaper medicinal preparations intended for young martial trainees.

Mike had looked at them the previous day.

Then he had looked at the prices.

And walked away.

But that had been before Joe passed.

Now there were two sons in the Talent Hall.

If the grain sale went as well as expected, Mike thought he might be able to spare several silverlings.

The idea had taken hold quickly.

That was how Mike usually thought about opportunities.

A good harvest meant there was money.

Two qualified sons meant the money might be useful.

If spending some of it gave them a better start, then perhaps the household would benefit later.

Lily would probably have more questions.

Mike decided he could answer those after the grain was sold.

The travelling merchants would remain near Green Hollow for several more days, especially those hoping to collect herbs, hides or other local goods before continuing to another settlement.

Unfortunately, they had little interest in buying ordinary grain directly.

There was too much of it and too little profit in carrying it themselves.

Mike therefore had to rely on the regular market group.

He knew the men making the trip, and some had transported his grain in previous years. There was always risk whenever goods left someone's hands, but in a village like Green Hollow, reputation mattered almost as much as a written agreement.

Mike was willing to take that risk.

He left the Talent Hall in unusually good spirits.

Joe remained behind.

For the first time, he was officially a student of Theodere's inheritance.