After Alicia had gone to sleep and Alex took his very short shower, he went into the dining area to eat breakfast. It was already packed, as many of the miners and lumbermen had a quick breakfast here before making their way to their workplaces inside the Ether forest.
Alex sat in the same spot from yesterday and got "free" food again from Alan. After eating Alan took him through the kitchen to make their way to a set of stairs in the back room. While going through the kitchen he saw the other workers who made the food.
He praised them in his mind since the food was so good, and even spotted the man from the showers here which shocked him. The man glared at him once more before focusing on his work. Alex also spotted a bright woman who reminded him of Emma. She also had red hair and an air of innocence surrounding her.
She wore a chef's hat so he assumed she was in charge of the kitchen. She looked in his direction and waved with a smile. Alex was about to wave back when he realized Alan had gone over to her and given her a kiss.
Alex felt embarrassed for thinking it was for him and waited for Alan awkwardly before they continued to their destination. At least it looked like his wife was much nicer than him considering she healed him as well. He would have to make sure to thank her at some point.
They went through a series of doors and stairs that went further down. He thought they would have 1 basement floor, maybe 2. But there were actually 4! One for storing frozen food, one was the cellar, one was actually the rooms for the Setter family, and a decked out with guest rooms and unknown facilities.
Although Marie worked here, she had her own place, as she didn't want to be the third wheel between friends. Although they were good friends, even friends could turn on each other if they bothered each other too much.
The fourth floor was actually accessible through a secret passage in Emma's room! Alex was unsure why it was in her room rather than the master bedroom but he could care less once he saw what was on the fourth floor.
This room was more like an armory/ training room that was almost 3 times as big as the other floors. Along the walls were many different kinds of weapons and armor made of different metals and alloys. The walls also looked to be lined with some sort of metal that had various slices from wear and tear on them.
There was also a few solid blocks of metal on one end of the wall that stood like columns but was covered in even more scars than the walls. The ceiling was high which gave high-ranked adventures enough room to jump with a good amount of strength.
Alex caught up with Alan who didn't stop to admire the room. The Inn owner casually went over the weapons along the wall by the stairs and rand a hand over various wooden weapons. Although Alex couldn't see it, Alan closed his eyes as if he was searching for something.
Eventually, he stopped, grabbing a Claymore-like wooden sword and easily lifting it and swinging it around casually. From his little bit of knowledge of all weapons, Alex could tell that Alan was much better than him at least when it came to wielding a Claymore.
He also grabbed a small round wooden shield and fastened it around his arm. He then finally turned to Alex and said,
"Grab any weapon on that rack, no ranged weapons. This is a test, but fight like your life is on the line... because it is." He spoke in his normal tone, but his words were extremely ominous.
Alex felt cold sweat trickle down his back as he looked for a weapon to use. He really didn't know how he was going to come out of this in one piece. The man was using a 2-handed weapon like it was a single-handed one and carried a small shield that made it even easier for him to move around.
Even though they were wooden weapons, he was clearly stronger than Alex so he was going to lose either way, but he didn't want to die either. If this was some kind of test for his work in the Ether forest then he had to try his best.
He calmed himself down and grabbed a heater shield and a wooden longsword that he thought fit well together. He stretched his arms a bit as this would be the first time he would actually be in combat in both lives as far as he knew.
When he was ready he held his heater shield out in front with his sword rested against the side of it. He took deep breaths and narrowed his eyes at Alan. He was as ready as he'll ever be.
Seeing this, Alan rested the claymore on his shoulder before his body suddenly vanished. Alex's pupils shrunk as he lost sight of him. He felt danger everywhere which meant he was moving around? He wasn't sure but soon enough he felt a sharp pain in his back.
"Gah!"
"Dead. Get up." Alan was as uncaring as ever after slamming the flat end of the wooden sword against his spine. It hurt like hell like a truck slammed into him and it took him a second to get up.
"Too slow." Alan said as his sword appeared in front of Alex's eyes. His eyes narrowed again as he brought his shield up as quickly as he could. He wasn't there in time so he still got hit in the face, but his shield nocked the sword up enough to diminish a bit of its power.
Alex stumbled back and scrambled to his feet holding his face while Alan came toward him straight on. He was fast for sure, but he could actually see him this time. He didn't understand how he disappeared earlier but he needed to focus on the present.
He held his shield in front of him again as Alan swung the Claymore like a stick slamming into him hard. Alex gritted his teeth as his left arm went numb but he quickly went in for a counter strike. He swung his sword upwards at Alan who easily dodged it and then hit his side with his small shield.
He was already off-balance and this sent him flying a few yards. All his hits were strong even if they were so casual and Alex felt his situation was hopeless.
"Gah!" He screamed out again from all the pain. He tried getting up, only to be hit on his back again with the flat end of the claymore.
"Dead again. Get up." Alan said and put his sword over his shoulder like it was nothing.
Alex gritted his teeth and struggled to push himself up. He wasn't able to get any good hits in as the guy was too fast and too strong to allow him to retaliate effectively.
Alan had walked away slightly before turning around again when Alex got up. Alex prepared himself again as Alan dashed to him. He did the same time as last time, swinging wide at his left side.
This time, instead of blocking since that wouldn't work, he parried, using his sword to knock it to the right side of him as he ducked under. He knew he couldn't contend with his speed and strength so he could only parry or attempt to dodge.
However, Alan recovered much faster than Alex and swung back and hit his sword arm hard. He hit right on the bone and Alex was unsure if it broke considering he screamed from the pain.
"GAH!"
His screams echoed in the metal room as he fell to the ground. He couldn't feel his fingers and gritted his teeth in pain. The sweat trickled down his face and he looked toward the man that was just standing over him.
He had that same nonchalant attitude and his claymore over his shoulder. He hadn't even broken a sweat but Alex could notice the ever-so-slight curve of the edge of his lip.
This bastard was enjoying this. It only made Alex angrier. If he was doing it to test him he could deal with that, but if he was doing this just to torture him or for his own enjoyment then that was too much.
"You're enjoying this huh?" Alex said sarcastically. This caused Alan's eyebrow to raise but he didn't answer.
Alex just chuckled and spat on the ground. This, however, made Alan's lip brow twitch.
With no warning, he kicked Alex in the stomach.
"Don't spit on my floor."
Alex just about had it with this carefree man. He was beating him up for what seemed like no reason. All this time he had been getting a bunch of hate from everyone around him except Alicia and it was a really difficult way of living.
Although he wasn't sure who he was before, he accepted the bad things he did if it meant he would live another day to eventually find out who he was or should be. However, nobody seemed to welcome him and it was slowly affecting him.
Like he was some bad guy, some criminal, and didn't belong here. It didn't help that it seemed like Alan would be sending him to a death trap when he could personally go and get 10 times as much food as Alex could in half the time.
Packing in the stress from being transmigrated to an unknown world with very few memories of who he once was, he was already at the breaking point.
He never got his chance to have a panic attack on day one, and it only got worse. He could always put a mask on and smile his way out of everything, but eventually, he would break.
"Who gives a damn about your floors?!" Alex growled at him and got up. Alan didn't react but pulled his foot back to kick him again.
This time Alex reacted well and used his shield to block. It hurt like hell still but that was the least of his worries as he was more focused on getting up. Using the momentum from the kick, Alex rolled on the ground before pushing off his shield once it was under him and doing a flip to get to his feet.
It wasn't flawless, as he stumbled a bit to get his balance but it worked to get him up fast. Without letting Alan move first, he charged with blinding rage. Fueled by the stress he accumulated over the last few days no thanks to the strangers around him, He swung his sword wildly aiming at his left side.
Alan only casually lifted his sword and batted it away. Alex couldn't care less and only let his instincts guide him as he swiftly spun his body around with the momentum of the parry.
He crouched a bit lower to help increase his turning speed and brought his sword back around aiming toward Alan's legs. Instead of using his sword or shield, Alan only lifted his leg and the dull gong of metal echoed.
Alex still was seeing red as he began attacking ferociously. Although none of his attacks hit, he didn't slow down and didn't back down even when Alan retaliated. He would only quickly get up and resume his attack.
While he fought like a maniac, he began yelling at Alan. Blood came out of the corner of his lips and his nose was already broken.
"You enjoyed beating me huh? Test my ass! You're probably the ring leader of all the rumors about me! It's so fun ganging up on the nobody huh? Well, I never asked to be here!"
Alex's attacks even grew faster but it didn't matter to Alan. However, the latter raised an eyebrow as he listen to his words. Alex huffed and puffed as he put all his strength into his attacks, not even bothering in defense and using his shield as a weapon.
"I never asked to be in this world! Do you think it's fun having no memories?! I couldn't even remember my name no thanks to that Goddess! And this cursed body! How can I even take a fucking shower if I can't use magic?!"
Alex screamed his heart out as sweat, drool, and tears came down his face and he began getting faster and stronger in his attacks over time. Alan was just listening intently and following the changes in his movements.
Whatever was going on in the kid's head, he could care less. But some of his words were interesting. Goddess? Cursed body? "Never asked to be in this world"?
'It seems this kid is more interesting than I thought.'