"Good morning, master!" Marry was beside him with a serving table full of food.
"Good morning, Marry. This is?" He pointed at the table.
"Well you see, king believes we all should be less wasteful" She blushed.
"No, I mean why is there so much food? I will not be able to finish all these plates, even if there are two of me." Jin laughed at the misunderstanding.
"That! Noted, master. I think you should eat more, you are still growing after all" Marry couldn't help but leave her mark.
"By the way, will you become part of my crew?" He tried to look disinterested.
"Sorry, master, king finalized the choice of your servants, and I'm not one of them. I will serve you every time you come to the King's castle." She sounded sincere and saddened.
"It's a pity indeed." He started eating in silence. While eating he noticed how Marry pulled the rope for warm water and couldn't help but smile. Soon they ended the morning routine.
"Did the King left his orders?"
"Yes master, he ordered to be ready for a trip before midday, you are free before that time"
"Let's go to the library then" Jin already got up.
If it not for Marry, he would have already been lost a long time ago. The castle corridors looked more like a labyrinth than a means to connect facilities. Most likely that was the real purpose.
When he got into the library, Arch-Librarian was there.
"Mr. Cornelius, you are here already! And I thought that high-ranking officials start their day late." Jin lampooned.
"On the contrary, Mr. Kurogane, we ought to get up before the sun is up because we have a lot of duties to fulfill" the Arch-librarian answered with a smile.
"How may I help you?"
"Can you tell me how to train magic?"
"Sure, but didn't you have footman as your class?" Mr. Cornelius was a bit surprised.
"That's another question I was going to ask. Does everyone get the class at birth?"
"Now that's a good question. The answer is no. Only heroes and fates chosen have their classes picked for them. People can choose their class whenever they want after they reach fourteen years old.
"Can the class be changed?"
"Yes, there are several ways to change class. You can just start training in another class when you reach the criteria – you would be able to change your class. You can ask a priest to change your class forcefully – the bad thing is you'll lose your stats and bonuses. Finally, you can uprank after reaching the maximum level in your current class you can choose another class in your class tree." Mr. Cornelius narrated.
"If I were you – I would choose the last option. You are fates chosen, after all, otherwise, there would be no class on your status menu. The final choice is yours of course." He smiled.
"I still want to learn about magic training" Jin didn't hesitate.
"I will present you a few books then, I like your stubbornness." Arch-librarian laughed loudly.
"But.."
"No buts, young man, those are my personal belongings. Now that I think about it, I do not need my old notebook to, you can find it helpful, either if you train for a magician class, or if you want to know how to deal with them." Mr. Cornelius was very straightforward. He went for a small room stuffed with books and folios, took several books and a notebook from the closet.
"Here take them, do you have time to spare?" He asked Jin.
"I have time till midday." Jin was too focused to be courteous.
"Where should I start from?"
"Here are the "Basics of meditation", then go for "Mana manipulation for dummies" or you can choose to try "Basic conjurations". If you have any questions – try finding the answers in the notebook, if you couldn't – write me a letter, I will be happy to help!" Mr. Cornelius was too good to Jin for no apparent reason.
"Many thanks, Mr. Cornelius! Can you tell me where can I see how the real magic looks like?"
Instead of answering he just lit his hand in a fire, then gathered the fire in the flaming ball, soon his hands were covered by ice, and then ice gradually formed into the outer layer of the flaming ball.
"It's not much, but it should be enough, right?" Arch-librarian laughed.
"R-right." Jin was deeply shocked, even though he thought he was ready for the impact. The fire burning on Mr. Cornelius' hands warmed up the temperature in the room drastically, then the ice dropped to normal levels.
"Master, it's about time now" Marry came into the library.
"Ah, right! Many thanks, Mr. Cornelius, I don't know how to thank you enough!" Jin did a slight bow.
"No need for thanks, if you can protect yourself it will be much easier for a kingdom." He laughed.
"Have a safe ride and good luck, Mr. Jin" He looked at the departing footman and muttered.
"I wish you were a hidden treasure if not, there would be no harm from these small investments."
"The road will be long, master, I recommend you to eat something first" Marry was very genial with her concerns.
"Sure, and thank you Marry." Jin couldn't figure what kind of relationships they had, but he had no time to think about it either.
"I'm lucky to have you." He smiled and followed her.
They entered the dining room soon, it was quite big, enough to fit at least fifty customers and not to be stuffed tight. There were no pompous decorations or delicate woodwork, only large wooden tables, with large benches on either side. He sat up in the corner near the kitchen entrance.
Jin didn't have to wait for long with how many people there were in the castle kitchen always had warm food ready and he was served with big chunks of meat and a bowl of soup.
"Quite a strange feeling to be the last one in everything I do. Even now I was left in the castle cause I'm the last one in terms of power. I don't want to be useless" Jin muttered but Marry had nothing to say to him. To console him with the fact that he can live a comfortable life and not endanger himself? If he wanted that he wouldn't ask about soldiers and mages training first.
"You still have time, you are young and have time to grow stronger." She finally found some words.
"But is there really that much time? Never mind, Marry, and thank you again!" He finished his food and got up. When they left the room and he was sure there was no one around, he kissed her abruptly.
"I don't know how everything will unfold, but I'm grateful for everything you did!" Without waiting for her answer he turned around and walked confidently.
"Master!"
"Yes, Marry?" He smiled
"You are going the wrong way, master." She tried to suppress her laugh.
When they entered the yard Marry took a small medallion and gave it to Jin.
"This is the proof of your identity, it doesn't give you any power, but after biding it you would be able to prove that you are you. Take it in hand, look closely at the center, and try to imagine going inside the medallion."
Jin tried just that, imagining he would get into a separate space as he had read in the fantasy books. The only thing he felt was his concentration waning a bit and feeling a bit weaker. The medallion made a short hum and then turned silent.
"Now you are ready to go! Be sure to always keep this medallion close to you. Good luck master!"
"Goodbye, Marry!" He entered the carriage and looked through the window when they departed. The sun was more yellow on this planet, it was hanging high in the sky and the weather was hot. Lush greenery and some strange ocean-blue colored trees were on both sides of the road. Strangely after fondling the medallion on his neck, Jin felt tired and sleepy and soon he dozed off.