The blondie, Mr. Keith leads the way to the noble district.
The three were quite excited as we pass through the inner corridor entering the inner district.
My mother was the one who was the most excited of all of us. She's been tightly grabbing my arm and pulling me around, it felt like my arm was gonna come apart anytime now.
After a short while, we finally stepped inside the interior region.
"Here we are, the formally recognized Delven city's noble district."
We were met with a view of rows of elegant designed houses and pavements.
The houses were made of smooth stones and there were intricate design patterns on each of them. The roads and pavements were clean and tidy with flower bushes kept aside at a few intervals.
I also saw people riding wild tamed mana beasts while wandering on the streets like it was no big deal. I rarely get to see the wild beast roam around in cities like this.
What caught my attention was that there were two types of people loitering around this district.
There were the rich class people who wore elegant fabric clothes parading on the street with their usual proud arrogant attitude.
The other people were the sweaty bunch of people who were armed to the boot with armor and weapons. They were the brave wild adventurers whose thirst for venturing in the wild had no bounds.
These two were the most volatile group populating the inner district.
One group had manner bound and elegant living. While the other group was a bunch of ragtag violent groups of adventurers. It was quite surprising seeing them in the same street.
The three of the Almonds definitely didn't belong in either of the groups.
My mother's eyes twinkled like the stars.
"Ah! This is so nostalgic," she muttered to herself in a low voice.
Mr. Keith was surprised,
"Have you been here before?"
"Uh… No, no. What I meant was this is how exactly I had imagined the inner district. Haha." she replied whimsically.
"Well, it's great that you are starting to feel at home. But I would suggest you guys stick close to me so that you don't get lost. Let's first head to Master Bervice's mansion where you guys will be staying."
Mr. Keith once again started to lead the way and the three of us followed like an obedient herd of sheep.
The inner district was built on a whole different level, unlike the outer district.
There were tidy streets, beautiful sculptures, fountains, gardens, and many more such things.
Despite the beautiful district and lively people, I noticed there was a rift between the adventurers and the rich class citizens. The two groups always kept their distance from each other like oil and water.
Although there were no open conflicts between the two, there was a certain bad air around the two. It seem like they were deliberately avoiding each other.
It's best that we not piss off either of the factions.
Already there's a mystery of the gold pass holder's dying unnaturally. It's better to just stay in the villa until all this is over.
After walking around for some time we finally arrived in front of a big villa.
There was a gigantic villa which had a big garden at the front.
There were two guards at the gate who saluted Mr. Keith as they opened their gate to welcome us.
As we entered we saw the beautiful garden that even had its own pond with water lilies and beautiful colorful fishes swimming around. There were even bushes shaped like marshmallows and a well-maintained lawn with exotic flowers.
"Check that out Benji!" my mother shouted pointing in a certain direction.
What my mother pointed out was a flock of ducks with a bunch of little ducklings roaming in the garden as well. Well, it was a cute sight to behold.
The three of us all stopped to intake the pleasing view of the garden.
We three stood there gawking for a few seconds before snapping back to reality.
"Mr. Almond?" called out Mr. Keith.
"We are right behind." saying so we hurriedly followed.
The doors opened and we entered the mansion going into the lobby.
There were posh sofas at the entryway, a grand-looking chandelier up on the ceiling, the rustic carpet covering the flooring, sculptures of warriors placed at the door, and art pieces covering the walls. I also noticed a few women dressed as maids passing by here and there.
The three of us truly felt out of place here.
This was how the nobility of the mortal realm lived.
Well, it is certainly quite different than the noble's living back in the demon realm.
There we used to hang the heads of defeated enemies, the slain carcass of demi beasts and some even had their blood pond springs that created evil miasma.
"Are we really going to stay here?" asked my mother with wide eyes.
"Is there a problem?" Suddenly a female voice echoed.
Turning our head to the mystery voice, we saw a tall beautiful woman standing before us.
She had a beautiful smile but what caught my eye was the scar on her eye and the fact she was wearing a maid outfit.
We were startled as she appeared out of thin air.
"Eh! No! What I mean is, it's really hard to believe that we are allowed to stay in such a beautiful mansion. It feels unreal." replied my mother.
The maid just smiled,
"Oh please feel at home. Master Bervice has specifically instructed you to take good care of the Almond family, during your stay at Delven city. I just hope young lieutenant Kieth didn't give you unnecessary trouble escorting you here, did he?"
"Laura, what do you take me for?" asked Mr. Keith in an annoyed tone.
The maid then suddenly patted Mr. Keith's back,
"Oh come on… everyone knows how seriously you take cleanliness, to the point you are obsessed. It just that I never expected Master Keith would have instructed you to go into the outer district to be an escort. Seeing that you hate getting your hand dirty, I thought you might have burned down half of the outer district by now. I already prepared a battalion of our men just in case you went berserk."
"What do you take me for, huh? I already have conquered my temper." replied agitated blondie.
I could clearly see despite being the maid she didn't mind pissing off Mr. Keith. The two seem to be quite close. She definitely isn't your average housemaid.
"Mr. Keith was very kind and escorted us here safely without any problems." replied my father politely.
"Oh!" the tall maid started once again patting Keith's back, "Oh that's great! You finally managed to bring them in one piece. I am proud of you!"
"Stop touching me. You'll sully my coat." saying so Mr. Keith backed off.
"Still need to work on your social skills! Huh-" the maid finally turned her attention towards us, "Oh where are my manners. Let me introduce myself."
She quickly bowed her head gracefully,
"I am Laura, the head maid and the one who oversees this mansion. I shall also be seeing to your needs while you stay in this mansion. I have already sent a couple of my maids to pick up your luggage from the inn. They will bring your luggage directly to your room. Please follow me, I'll show you the rooms that you'll be staying in."
Saying so she turned around and led the way climbing stairs.
"Sorry to trouble you." replied my mother.
The three of us followed suit climbing the stairs.
Suddenly Mr. Keith blocked my way with his hand.
"You brat. You'll be following me to the training room."
That just caught me off guard.
Even my parents were surprised.
I glanced at Mr. Keith who had a grim expression, he was not kidding around.
"Hey! The young boy has just arrived. And you already dragging him to that filthy dunghole called the training room." said the annoyed maid Laura.
"Stay out of this Laura. I just want to see why master Bervice favored this brat, that's all." He then suddenly looked at me, "But if you are scared, you can then go to your room and hide until the ascension ceremony. It's your choice,"
This guy is deliberately trying to provoke me.
But yes, I was more than eager to finally practice with a veteran mage.
"Sure thing. It would be my honor."
Mr. Keith simply walked out of the lobby heading to the door.
I guess that's my cue to follow him.
"Benjamin!" my concerned mother called out to me, "Be careful."
I just nodded and chased after Mr. Keith.
"Hey, Keith! Don't be too harsh on him." called out Laura.
But Keith didn't respond.
We once again stepped out in the garden.
It's been quite some time since I had decent training.
To be honest, I never actually had anyone to train me.
Even in the village, I was kinda the outcast among the kids. There was no one skilled enough to even ask for combat training. They were just a bunch of farmers for the most part.
Whatever I have learned was through self-training and my past experience from my past life.
Back even when I was just a mere demon brat, I fought and survived on my own.
Learned the way to fight by merely relying on my instincts and my experience.
But now that I am reborn in this new world with a new body having a veteran instructor might be useful. It's kinda lame for the former demon Overlord like myself to rely on someone to teach but now that I am reborn as a weak human and the new way of mana was new to me. I must do whatever I must to get back on my feet even if it means asking someone to teach.
I followed Mr. Keith walked around the mansion for some reason.
After almost reaching behind the mansion, we encountered a trap door.
Mr. Keith approached the door and placed a handkerchief on the handle and only then did he open the door. All I could see was a bunch of stairs leading down the ground.
The dude really didn't want to dirty his hand despite wearing gloves.
"Come in," saying so blondie walked inside the trap door entrance.
I carefully followed him.
The stairs lead us deep down under the mansion.
It was really dark and I had to rely on my sense of touch and my instincts. Climbing down a dozen of stairs we finally reached a dimly lit corridor.
The walls were made of chiseled stone and the room was lit by the fire torches. The floor was made of dirt and there was dry hay scattered all around the floor. From the look of it, the hay was deliberately scattered here for some reason. No plant would ever grow deep down this pit hole.
I guess they placed the dry hay to absorb the underground moisture.
Back in the demon realm, we have a lot of underground vaults practice the same.
Mr. Keith nonchalantly walked through the corridor heading deeper inside the basement.
I closely followed while glancing around curiously.
At least I noticed that Mr. Keith was a man of few words and lack of interest in conversing.
Nor do I have any interest in sparking a conversation with him either.
I was more excited about the training he was about to put me through.
Maybe he might give me some tips?
Like how to control mana?
But for some reason, I had a hard time imagining Keith being a good instructor.
We finally entered a room that had a relatively bigger space.
There were a good amount of fire torches placed here that lit this room quite nicely giving a proper view.
The room was wide and there was even more hay scattered across the floor. The ground was hard flooring unlike the dirt ground at the entryway. There were different types of weapons hanging on the wall like trophies.
Bow, hammers, axes, spears, mace, shields, etc.
There was even an ancient-looking full set of armor placed at the corner.
My eyes finally fell on the wooden training dummies and other training equipment like aim board, weightlifting equipment, etc.
This was a training room that was enclosed but quite spacious.
I started curiously looking around once again.
There were a few types of equipment that I had never seen before.
"What's your name, kid?" asked Mr. Keith as he stood at the side.
This was the first time he spoke without ordering me around.
"The name's Benjamin," I replied politely.
"I see. Dress into your training robes. It's placed over there. Also, check that crate, and take up any of the training weapons you like. Warm-up and prepare to fight." saying so he pointed at the wooden box at the edge of the room.
He didn't wanna waste much time.
"Okay."
I quickly donned the training robes and quickly ditched the fancy clothes that mom made me wear. Didn't feel even an ounce of shred to discard those clothes.
As I changed into my clothes Mr. Keith had the decency to look away. He patiently waited at the corner while leaning against the wall.
After getting changed I opened the wooden crate.
To my surprise, there were many weapons stacked in this box. Swords, twin sai, mace, knuckles, knives, and throwing shurikens.
But the only problem was that they were all made of wood.
They weren't deadly.
Of course, it's a training weapon, but I thought Keith would hand me a real weapon. I mean he was a veteran mage and I was just a 12-year brat who recently discovered has the potential to be a mage.
I guess he was afraid that I might injure him for real, is that the reason he didn't provide a real weapon? Nevermind.
After a bit of hustle and struggle, I finally chose my weapon.
A pair of wooden daggers.
I had trained myself to use throwing knives and was familiar with those blades.
Choosing these daggers felt like I am back in my skin. These were quite comfortable.
I came to the center of the room while doing my arm stretches and leg stretches. I had fully recovered and after the recent events, I was more than ready to take on a veteran mage to a fight.
Also these daggers despite being made of wood were quite well crafted like the real thing.
I was itching for a fight to test these bad boys.
I also wanted to prove my worth to Mr. Keith.
"Alright, let's do it, I am ready," I said out loud.
I clutched the two daggers closely being in the offensive stance.
I still don't know what abilities does he have.
I am sure he won't rely on mana but being the veteran mage he had many other skills. So I mustn't underestimate him. He was also the lieutenant of his guild so he surely had some skill to back his arrogance and nonchalant demeanor.
Mr. Keith just glared at me with his hands folded.
He wasn't even bothered to move his arm.
"I am not your opponent. He is." saying so Mr. Kieth suddenly pointed in a single direction.
I was puzzled,
"Who?"
Suddenly there was a creaking sound coming from behind me.
Wait there's a door there?
I turned around to see a mysterious tall bare-chested guy appear out of the mysterious door.
He had dark tanned skin and a muscular body. There were even a lot of battle scars all over his body. On top of that, he had a shiny bald head that reflected the fire torches and a well-managed goatee beard.
This mysterious baldy who appeared out of nowhere was wearing nothing but a pair of black pants. For some reason, he was holding a wooden stick?
Wait, is that a wooden sword but was beaten to the point it looked like a wooden stick?
"Huh? This pipsqueak's going to be my sparring partner. Lieutenant Kieth, is this some kind of a bad joke." asked baldy as he angrily stared at me. His voice echoed throughout the chamber like my ears would burst.
This tall mountain of a guy is my sparring partner?
My daggers would at best be used as a toothpick against this giant.
Maybe I should have picked a sword or a spear instead.