After the short talk with Headmaster Hartley, the rest of the day was spent practicing his magic spells till dinner and then hanging out with Sia and Lynda. After a night of peaceful sleep, Alex woke up early and freshened up before heading for the dinning room.
There he saw the maids and servants setting the plates and arranging the place. I quietly went to the back garden and sat down to relax and just feel the morning breeze.
After sometime, I stood up and went inside to see that the headmaster was already seated and waiting for us.
"Good Morning! Alex, You woke up quite early today."
"Good Morning! Headmaster," I replied and then continuing I added, "I kind of woke up and went to enjoy the morning wind."
"That's good. I have arranged for you to go to the city with one of the teachers after breakfast. You can go and buy the things you need and meet your training instructor."
I was thankful for the consideration the headmaster showed for me.
"Thank you for your care. Can I take Sia with me?"
Just as I said my piece, both the girls came in.
Sia immediately asked. "What are you asking about?"
"The headmaster arranged for me to go to the city to buy the things I need and I was wondering if you could come with me?"
Sia rejected saying that she had to search for a gift for her friend's birthday that will be held in the evening. I decided to go on my own.
Sometime later, a well built middle aged man came to take me.
He introduced himself as Khrom.
He took me outside where there was his car parked.
After taking a seat beside the driver's seat, I looked forward to seeing the city. It didn't take long for us to reach it as it wasn't that far away.
The city was filled with people and after driving in the city for a while, I also saw people that were clearly half humans. I guess another thing to look into.
Khrom saw me looking curiously at the half humans and spoke up,
"I guess you haven't seen beastfolk and the other races before."
"No, I haven't ever seen them before."
"I guess that's natural as the natives of each race rarely venture out of their territories. You will learn about them at the academy."
After a few minutes of driving, Khrom again spoke up.
"There's a shopping mall just ahead that we can go to."
"All right." Alex nodded.
There was also a shopping mall in my old world so I was quite familiar with it.
Sometime later, we arrived at the mall, but it looked nothing like the one in my memories.
"Let's be quick with your shopping. We don't have a lot of time because we actually have an appointment with someone."
"I understand."
Khrom entered the nearest clothing store we could find and told me to quickly pick a few plain t-shirt as well as a few pants. After paying for them, I immediately changed into his new clothes in the changing room.
"You also need a proper suit to attend the event in the evening." Khrom said to me afterward.
I was feeling nervous because I never attended any party in quite some tume.
"Can you help me pick out a suit, I never wore something fancy?"
"Okay, just wait a moment" he casually said.
Alex waited for a moment, and Khrom proceeded to grab a few suits and after a quick elimination round only two remained. We decided to buy both of them one being a Charcoal gray three-piece suit and the other one a Navy blue two-piece suit.
After which we quickly bough some shoes, a watch and a few other items.
"There. Let's go now or we'll really be late."
Alex nodded and followed Khrom to the mall exit.
Once again we were on the road, I asked, "So… Where are we going?"
"The Adventurers' Guild," he calmly responded.
Sometime later, I followed Khrom into this large building that looked nothing like the Adventurers' Guild in the fantasy stories he had read. Compared to the tavern-like buildings in his imagination, the Adventurers' Guild in this world looked more like office buildings.
"I have an appointment with Regal Blade, Maximilian."
"Welcome to the Guild, Arcane Weaver!" The person at the reception seemed to recognize Khrom.
'Did he just call him Arcane Weaver?' I doubted my ears, as these titles seemed like they were thought of by ten year old's.
"Regal Blade Maximilian is already waiting for you in room three!"
"I understand."
"Let's go," he said while looking at Alex.
A few minutes later, they entered a room where a tall and well built man could be seen standing by the window, silently staring outside with an intensive gaze.
"I apologize for the lateness." Khrom said after entering the room.
The man turned around and stared at them with a serious look on his face.
I swallowed nervously, wondering if he was going to start yelling at us.
However, to my surprise, the man suddenly showed a friendly smile, "Don't worry about it! Since it was Headmaster Hartley who summoned me, I don't mind waiting even a few more hours! Hahaha!"
He then looked at me and continued, "Is this pipsqueak the one you want me to train?"
"Yes, his name is Alex, and the headmaster wants you to teach him how to use the sword."
"Alex, huh? Nice to meet you, pipsqueak. You can just call me Max. I'm the best swordsman in the city. Since the headmaster has asked me to train you, I will make sure that you become the second best swordsman in the city, only below me!"
"About the payment, the headmaster said he will definitely compensate you for your time and effort." Khrom suddenly said.
"Anyways, let's begin your assessment now. Follow me, Alex." Max said to him.
I nodded and followed him to a training room that was located underneath the Guild.
"How much experience do you have with the sword?" Max suddenly asked me.
I responded embarrassed by my own answer, "None at all. I've never even held a sword."
"Is that so? Give this sword a swing for me." Max suddenly tossed me a steel sword.
I subconsciously went to catch the sword, but immediately regretted my actions, as the sword weighed around 50kgs, which was more than I could handle. The sword slipped out of my grasp and fell to the ground.
"Huh?" Max stared at me with wide eyes.
"Looks like he has had no physical training, you'll need to teach him from scratch." Khrom said.
"No way… He's way weaker than I thought. Looks like we have a lot of work to do, pipsqueak."
"Here, use this instead." Max handed me a wooden sword that I could train with.
Now that I have a sword that I can actually swing, I swung the sword a couple of times for Max, while imitating the sword strikes I had seen on the television occasionally.
"All right, you can stop now." Max said a few moments later.
And he continued, "Your form is bad. You will need to spend a lot of time swinging and practicing with the sword."
"Haha, I'll do my best, it can't be harder than learning magic. "
"You have no idea…" Max sighed.
"Your form is bad, you lack in every other aspect as well. Your sword swings feel empty. It lacks emotion and experience. And worse of all— it feels so damn weak."
"But don't worry, I will train you into a proper swordsman before the month ends! It's going to be difficult, but I won't let you quit even if you die! After all, my reputation is on the line here! I won't embarrass myself in front of the headmaster!"
"Then we will leave." Khrom said.
"Pipsqueak, you can come here in the morning every day beginning from tomorrow." Max looked at me in his eyes and spoke.
I spoke anticipating how tomorrow's will go, "I'll see you tomorrow."
And without saying another word, we left.