Thorn Village was surrounded by dense forest and dangerous beasts no merchant was brave enough to face, so it had been vital that everyone learned to hunt, starting from the very moment you could draw a bow properly. Laica had been the youngest of his siblings, so he got started even earlier than most kids; he'd been a decent shot, but Laica prefered using a blade. Most people didn't even know there was a difference between a hunting knife and hunting dagger- one dressed your kill, and the other did the actual killing, respectively. Since the knife was used to cut the meat precisely, in order to prevent it from getting dull, Laica usually played with his dagger instead. It didn't matter how dull and worn that one became; as long as a blade wouldn't fall apart in his hand, Laica could use it.

(His mother disagreed, of course, saying it was phenomenally stupid to go up against a wild boar with a dull hunting dagger, so she tended to confiscate all his knives when he played with them too much.)

Laica's expertise on knives came in handy during the Metal Knight selections. One of the tests, identify and sharpen fifty different knives before time was called, made 17 kids drop out at once. Some of them couldn't even tell the difference between a boning knife and a fillet knife- while they were technically the same kind of blade, the fillet knife was longer and used primarily for fish. Idiots. It's obvious that people like them just aren't cut out for this kind of job.

Teacher also introduced him to proper throwing knives. Back in Thorn Village, he used to compete with his siblings to see who could hit a target from the greatest distance, and now he was breaking every record they'd set. Forget ten paces- his previous personal best- Laica could land a bull's-eye from across the training grounds . . . with his eyes closed. Throwing knives quickly became his favorites, their perfect form and weight practically a work of art, and he meticulously kept his growing collection clean and sharp.

His first knife was his most precious. The decorative knife given to him by his Teacher back in his village had stayed with him for the whole journey, his sole companion on the long road to Leaf Bud City. It wasn't much good for anything but showing off- it had too many fancy grooves to properly cut or stab- but it had as sharp a blade as any other knife Laica had handled, and could cut as cleanly as his Divine Metal Blades. It was also a symbol of Laica's determination to become the Metal Knight. Sometimes he wondered, maybe it wasn't a good thing to want to become one of the infamous cold-hearted knights, maybe he should've gone for the Leaf Knight instead, but he refused to let these doubts drag him down. He was proud to be the Metal Knight, dammit, and he'd like to see one of the pansies on the warm-hearted side do what he could. As a member of the Twelve Holy Knights, Laica would uphold the honor of the Metal Knight even if he had to get his hands dirty doing it.

Another of his knives was further physical proof of his persona's dark nature; a wasp knife. Unlike your average poisoned blade, the blade itself was kept clean, and the poison instead stored inside the hilt. Once it was stabbed deep enough, all the poison was released at once, promising a horrible death to his opponent. (When his teacher gave it to him, it was filled with essence of belladonna. It hadn't been used once since.)

His smallest tools were utterly useless in battle; a full set of lock picks. Laica hid them inside the hollow hilt of a long dagger he kept strapped to his thigh. It was a little embarrassing how long it took him to learn how to use them, but his teacher kept at it. The Stone Knight wasn't the only one who could be stubborn, and Laica was grateful for it- after years of practise, he was practically a human skeleton key. No lock could ever bar his way again, and he developed a certain fondness for his picks, even if they weren't as wonderfully sharp as his knives.

Laica usually made a point of stealing any knives he could from his opponents, and his collection rapidly grew. Granted, it was filled with boring and low-quality knives, but every so often he scored a diamond in the rough- literally. Nicked off an insufferable noble he'd been investigating, it was an ornamental ceramic dirk with a huge marquise-cut diamond set into the hilt. It had been heavily carved with tiny roses and decorative nonsense, well-suited to the frivolous nature of the nobility. Much to Laica's surprise, it was actually fairly sharp- something that probably surprised its previous owner, too, if the crusting blood along the edge was any indication. Laica was delighted to accept it into his collection. (The noble in question was subsequently arrested by the Judgement Knight for racketeering, and didn't exactly have any say in the matter anyway.)

Another spoil of war was a small palette knife, as won from Ecilan during a spar. For whatever reason, Ecilan liked to talk during their spars, and Laica's collection had somehow come up in the conversation. After being disarmed, the Ice Knight-in-training dug into his pocket and handed over a silly-looking round blade he claimed was used to frost and cut cakes. Given that Laica had little-to-nothing to do with cakes- he much prefered maple toffee- it wasn't a very useful addition to his collection, but he treasures it as the first gift given to him by any of his brothers. Periodically, Ecilan will convince him to accept a baked good instead of his usual toffee, at which point he always uses the palette knife to handle it.

One of Laica's most interesting knives is actually a pair of shoes. In the sole of each one, there's a short, thin blade that can pop out and be used in combat. The shoes are heavier than he'd like, especially since he's supposed to be stealthy, but they've saved his bacon more than once. He'd long since outgrown his first pair, much to the frustration of his teacher, and they sparked an interest in improving upon their design; he went through so many pairs, testing out different styles and knives, that he started a rumor that the Metal Knight really liked shoes. So far, the ones he's most proud of are tiny stiletto knives hidden in a pair of Sun's high-heeled boots, which have yet to be noticed by Sun. Laica both fears and looks forward to the day Sun figures out why that pair of shoes is heavier than before.

(The tension only got worse when Laica realized that Sun had effectively stopped growing when they were sixteen, thus continuing to wear the 'stilettos', as Laica called them, on a regular basis. At this point, even Laica tends to forget that he'd 'improved' his commander's shoes, until Sun trips over thin air and suddenly Laica is reminded of his past sins. The anticipation is killing him.)


Years later, Sun happened to look a little closer at his heels, having noticed a suspicious amount of metal element lying in wait in the soles of his shoes. Upon closer inspection, Sun very narrowly missed having a knife shank him in the eyeball, instead cleanly slicing himself half a set of bangs. Laica did not help matters by laughing at the sight of Sun's new hairdo.

Suffice to say, it was not the anticipation that killed him.


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