Chapter 118 - Taming (2/2)
”He is currently at the training ground, where Anubis was. I just came from there following Anubis who suddenly decided to get out and meet you. You seem to have a special bond with him,” said the caretaker.
”Thank you. I have known him since he was a pup. I will take him back to the training grounds. You can leave him with me,” said Balthazar as he held Anubis by its muzzle with a hand and began rubbing its fur. He always like to rub its fur which being soft and smooth gave a nice pleasant feeling.
”Ok,” said the man bowing out and leaving them alone.
A few minutes later, Balthazar reached the training grounds along with Anubis at his heels. The training ground was filled a few beasts running around and jumping through various hurdles. There were a couple of people who were at a corner treating any injuries that the beasts might incur in the training, while Elric with another tamer at the centre commanding the beasts.
”Hi Lucian,” greeting Balthazar with a shout from outside the racetrack. It was hardly audible, but Lucian noticed it. He beckoned for Balthazar to come into the center. The racetrack was full of beasts running. Balthazar choose a gap and run along with Anubis to cross the track reaching the centre.
”Young Master, Balthazar. This is Eduardo Elric, a cousin of mine who also works here. You would seldom see him as he is too old and occasionally comes to help me when he gets bored,” said Lucian introducing the man beside him.
”Nice to meet you Mr. Eduardo. Were you also a tamer by profession?” asked Balthazar as he shook Eduardo's hand. Eduardo was quite similar looking to Lucian with respect to build and facial features and had orange hair.
”No. I was an explorer most of my life. I used to herd away beasts when occupying new planets most of the time,” said Eduardo.
”I was told by Little rock that you wanted to talk to me about something. Are you going to get more friends of yours for the morning training?” asked Lucian.
”No. I am not a big fan of that training either. I actually wanted to learn something from you,” replied Balthazar.
”You want to learn from me? You interested in taming?” asked Lucian in surprise. He had known of Balthazar's achievements at the military from the news and for a rising star like him to request to learn from him wasn't something he ever expected.
”You can always ask me to train a specific beast that you captured, or you could also contact me to capture any specific animal for you. You don't need to spend time learning if that is what you have in mind,” said Lucian reigning in his expressions.
He realized that though Balthazar was famous, he was a person that could be considered to be in his late teens and a young master of a prestigious family. So, he thought that Balthazar had taken fancy to a specific animal that he wanted to rear as it was a common thing among other young masters. Similar requests had come to him from other members of the family.
”I can even train them in such a way that they would only listen to your commands. You don't need to involve yourself in the work,” he continued.
”No. No. You misunderstand. I don't want any of that. Truth be told, I am learning the use of a whip as a weapon. I was told that it is widely used by many tamers in controlling the animals,” explained Balthazar. ”I wanted to know how you do that and possible a bit of practice?” he asked in a lower voice trying to see Elric's stand in use of the animals for the sake of practice of a novice.
”Sir, with all due respect, a whip isn't a simple tool to use like a blade. It requires a lot of practice and one needs to register for its use. Tamers are allowed, but even we are under restrictions and can't harm animals except for situations when we are being aggressively attacked. The restrictions are much severe for its use as a weapon,” said Elric trying to convince him against what he considered a foolish endeavor. He believed that with this knowledge Balthazar would at least back of for now and he could inform about Balthazar's intentions to an elder in the family.
”I already have registered as an apprentice under weapons master Leon for using a whip,” said Balthazar opening the mail he received in the morning on his wrist device and showing it to Elric. ”I am already familiar with using a whip a bit. At the very least, I know well enough to avoid accidentally hitting anyone with it,” he continued with a smile.
”Hmm. Ok. I agree that you are qualified on paper, but it lies outside my daily duties. I am an employee and am not willing to do it for free nor could I do it when I am busy,” said Elric. It was an attempt to irritate Balthazar so that he would leave him alone. He expected Balthazar to learn for a few days and then give up as taming required a lot of work and time to be spent on the animals which according to his observations, rich kids were hardly good at.
”Of course, I am willing to compensate you for your time,” replied Balthazar. Any other young master of the family would get irritated and probably start warning Elric at this time but for Balthazar it was an obvious thing. He was an assassin who killed for money and charged based on the difficulty. Any change in parameters of the work, he would usually make a similar statement and request his employers to compensate for any extra work he needed to do.
Elric didn't know what else he could do to avoid Balthazar and finally accepted. ”Ok, I will send you times when I am free and could have someone take over my duties,” he said.
”Why don't we start today? I believe with Mr. Eduardo here, he could take over for you for some time” said Balthazar pointing towards Eduardo.
”I don't mind, Lucian. Hell, I want to see if you are any good a teaching?” said Eduardo without giving Lucian a chance to make another excuse. He felt that the training would be a good source of entertainment.
”Fine,” said Lucian. ”So, what do you know about taming?”
”Not much. Consider me a novice,” replied Balthazar.
”Actually, do you have any interest in taming or do you just want to know of the use of whip in taming?” asked Lucian as he thought about Balthazar's request.
”The second part.”
”OK. That makes it simpler. Most expect an extensive use of whip in taming wild animals but it isn't so. Hitting the whip is quite close to taboo in taming of animals,” said Lucian.
”You don't whip them in taming. Even horse carts used to whip animals to make them speed up, right?” asked Balthazar. Though he had never seen it in real-life, he had seen it in vita-nova in his previous life.
”Wow! Many tamers also don't know this as one hardly sees animals used for transport these days,” said Lucian. ”What you told is true, but these are not the same as the wh.i.p.s we have in our hands. Those are shorter ones with dull end and don't hurt the animals like these. You can even use a rope in place of those.”