"We are finally here", said Adir as he, Antonio and Kalmin stood before a massive gate which was decorated by the letter 'J' all around and let to a mansion.
"Does this house belong to a friend of yours? If so, he must be pretty wealthy." said Kalmin as he looked at the mansion with wide eyes. It was his first time seeing someone's place of residence be this massive.
"You can say friend, although he is more of an acquaintance." Said Adir as he opened the gates and led them inside.
The mansion was surrounded by not pools or gardens as one might expect, but rather training grounds which were filled with training dummies and weights. The mansion itself was painted green and white, with a symbol which looked like a breeze drawn on it.
"You are finally here Adir, I had been expecting you. So these are the kids you wanted to be trained, eh?" said a well toned green haired man, whose voice seemed to have come from afar but was standing among them a second later.
"Hey James, long time no see. And yes, you are right, they are Antonio and Kalmin." said Adir as he introduced the young boys to James.
"So you two brats are here to train. Well you better buckle up, my training regime is not suitable for a bunch of wimps who think they can handle it before they end up quitting midway." said James aggravatingly.
"Who are you calling brats?" Said Antonio as he snorted and continued, "We will see whether your training really is as hard as you make it up to be." Antonio got riled up and looked forward to his training sessions, while Kalmin seemed a bit scared.
"Antonio, he will not be the one teaching you, you will be learning from someone else. Kalmin greet your new master. James is the one of the best wind elementalist in the world. You should be glad he agreed to teach you. Now I am going to leave you both on your own and go meet Kat, after all she would be the one teaching Antonio" said Adir as he proceeded to take his leave.
"So wait, you are just going to leave me here? That's not fair! I don't even know him yet." said Kalmin as he thought, 'and he seems so scary, I might really die during training'.
"Don't worry little lad, I will take good care of ya. By the end of next week you would probably be able to become a B rank adventurer at least unless you slack off on your training, which I suggest you don't, unless you don't think your life's precious." said James as he waved Adir goodbye and took Kalmin into a training ground next to his mansion.
"Kalmin was it? Now tell me whatever you know about the wind." said James as he wanted to know about the progress of this kid who still looked 'wet behind his ears'
"Umm, well, uhm, the wind element is one of the four basic elements along with earth, water and fire. It allows for the growth in speed. Wind elementalists are usually expected to scout and help in escape if an expedition goes wrong..."
Before Kalmin could continue, James asked him to stop as he cursed in his mind, 'Damn you Adir, you left me with a kid who thinks of the wind element as a one trick pony. You better hope that he is at least talented in communing with the wind spirits…' as his face showed rage which would never be forgotten by Kalmin.
*****
In another part of Sidonia
"Wait, so Kalmin gets a teacher who is filthy rich, probably has no lack of training resources and lives in a mansion. While I will have to train next to a forest with a person who lives in a small hut." complained Antonio as he saw the place ahead of him, with Adir informing him that this was where he would meet his new teacher.
"Keep quiet, if your words were to reach her you probably wouldn't even have time to apologize before your body and head lied in a different place." warned Adir as he called out, "Katherine, It's me, Hope. I have come to meet you."
Rustle!
As his voice left his mouth, the trees began to shake as a woman clad in full black clothes with even her face covered except her eyes and ears as she jumped down from who knows which of the trees.
"I didn't think you had children. Is he your firstborn?" asked Katherine as she looked at Adir and then at Antonio inquisitively.
"All these years and you haven't changed one bit, always the one to jump to conclusions. Anyhow, nice to meet you too. This is Antonio, he would like to learn the art of the spear." said Adir as he pointed at Antonio, who seemed a bit on guard.
"The art of the spear, huh…" remarked Katherine as she said, "I would like to see how much strength you have. Your spear techniques probably wouldn't compare to what I have to teach, so go to the Adventurer's guild to sign up, this town will be your training ground. Whatever rank you are deemed fit would be my initial opinion of you."
Antonio was enraged at the thought of someone belittling his spear techniques. He was proud of them and did not tolerate such insults, as a result of which he began to say" Who do you think...." but before he could continue he found himself outside a large building which held a board that read "The Adventurer's Guild"
"PHEW, that was close. JUST WHAT did you think you were doing, I warned you didn't I, watch your tongue before her if you hold your head dear. Do you remember those orcs you were running from the other day?! She could make light of them with a leaf! Now go and do what she asked of you to." Said Adir as he wiped sweat off his face, but Antonio stood there shocked.
'Not only did he teleport me without as much as a single second of thought, without any chant, he also knows of my embarrassing dream. Wait, if he knows it, was it really a dream?!' thought Antonio as he remembered him meeting Adir just as his dream ended with him being surrounded and realized the peculiarity of things.
Not only did his dream not end with him being killed by an orc or a spell, he would have had no reason to wander near the forest. But his friends did not have a single recollection of that event...
As soon as he arrived at that conjecture, he started sweating. 'Is this guy really so powerful, or am I being delusional. So far, he has proved himself stronger than us, but his instantaneous teleportation proves that he hasn't gone all out against us. Just how strong is he?!'
He looked at Adir differently. His gaze seemed to carry a hint of fear, which was quickly noticed by Adir, who had realized that his tongue had gotten the better of him.
"It's better you don't read too much into it. I found you as talented therefore decided to teach you." said Adir
"Just how strong are you really?" asked Antonio, as he began to look at Adir with eyes of respect and a hint of competitiveness.
"It's better you train wholeheartedly for now. When you become stronger, you would naturally learn of many things. I have provided you with the opportunity, it's up to you to make the best out of it, as in the future a harsh test of your strength and will awaits you." said Adir
Antonio had realized that the man in front of him wasn't a young kid but someone really powerful, who hoped for his best as if he didn't, Antonio would've not even stood a chance. He said his thanks to Adir as he went inside the building.
'Finally, all the pieces are placed in their positions. I can now get some rest and enjoy my time till that event comes to pass.' thought Adir as he went towards a food stall to get some dumplings as he awaited the future which he had already peeked into, though not completely.