Finally, Gesalt and Ingvald reached it, the gates to the Grand Capital of Aleza, the gates were tall, and so were the walls, at the very least, the walls measured up to 25m, and the gates were large and reinforced. The carriage driver pulls next to one of the outside stables, and Ingvald steps out, taking Gesalt with him, they take their luggage, give the Driver a bonus, and leave to the gates, the Driver waves, and leaves towards Geehes for another customer he had talked with beforehand.
Gesalt: So this is the Capital... how do we get in? The gates are closed.
Ingvald: Don't worry, I'll handle it.
Ingvald and Gesalt walked to one of the many guards lining the gate, and Ingvald spoke.
Ingvald: May we enter?
The guard looks at Ingvald for a second and responds.
The Guard: Well, you're a senser, you can enter, but who is this kid?
Ingvald: My next apprentice, he's the son of a childhood friend of mine, and he asked me to take him under my wing, after some discussion and talking, I relented, and took him in.
The Guard: I see. What's your name, kid?
Gesalt looked at the guard and introduced himself. The guard nodded, and signaled to the other guards to open the small door for Ingvald and Gesalt to pass through. The two walk in, and after some quick searches to make sure they don't bring in any illegal contraband, they are let into the city. It was grand, a city paved with stone, the buildings tall and large, shops at every corner, and business was blooming, people were absolutely everywhere, doing anything from bartering, to cleaning, not only that, but oddly enough, there were no homeless people either, no thieves, not even old witches trying to scam you with fake future readings, it was a very clean, organized and safe city. Ingvald took Gesalt around, showing him the Capital.
Gesalt was amazed by this city, so much so that he almost forgot that his original world, had better cities, but I suppose, this city was on par with the modern world, but much cleaner and the buildings actually looked nice.
Ingvald: See that large castle in the distance? That's the Royal Palace, and see that other large building near the left wall? That's the Senser HQ, we are going there, by the way, you see those houses all around the HQ? Those are only for Senser's and their apprentices, as soon as I take you under my wing, you'll stay in one of those.
Gesalt: I see...
*Damn, those ARE some houses, they are very large, at least from the outside, larger than what I lived in up until now. And the palace, at least from here, it seems MASSIVE, I wonder who the royal family is, there must be a lot of members for that palace to be that big.*
Gesalt and Ingvald walked to the Senser HQ, they entered the large building, and Gesalt was impressed, it was a clean and large stone hallway, the hallway held countless doors adorning the walls, leading to other rooms, and at the end, was a large wooden door, with a sign on it saying "The Conference Room", there were 4 spiral staircases going up, for many floors, while the building said it had 20 floors, that's just floors that go up, the building also went 10 floors underground, this building was indeed massive and it was probably very expensive to build
Ingvald took Gesalt to the conference room, which was a large room with a round wooden table, a large fire place was at the end of the room, and there were 32 chairs at the round table, Ingvald took some papers from a hidden compartment at the round table, and wrote on them with a quill and ink he also took from there, he then handed the paper to Gesalt, it was an official Apprenticeship contract.
Gesalt quickly signed it, and now he was an official Apprentice of Ingvald Ragnar. From now on, Ingvald was Gesalt's official master and teacher.
Ingvald took the paper, and put it in that hidden compartment, alongside the quill and ink, and then he spoke.
Ingvald: Congrats, you are now an official Apprentice, no longer a Fledgling, I'll train and work you to the bone, so you better be ready.
Gestalt, with a determined expression nodded and said: Sir, yes sir!
Ingvald smiled: That's the spirit, now, let's go to your new quarters, since you're too young to let you have your own place, or share with any of the older guys, you'll just stay in my quarters for the time being.
Ingvald took Gesalt to his quarters, after walking through some of the endless doors of this large complex, they reach a nice and large room, with multiple doors, the room was decorated and furnished, this was comparable to a modern apartment, having anything you'd need to live comfortably. Ingvald took Gesalt to one of the doors, and opened it, revealing a pretty small and clean room, a proper bed, a large closet for clothes, a desk with multiple ink bottles and new quills, and many books on all sorts of topics filling a bookshelf above the desk, there was a chair at the corner of the room, and a small window above the bed, allowing natural light to flow in.
Ingvald: This is your room, I mostly used it as a guest room, but, you will use it now, I'll let you be for today, I'm sure you have a lot to do, with well, arranging your stuff in, and such, I'll be around the quarters, so if you need anything, shout and I'll see.
Gesalt nodded and said: Thank you, Mr Ragnar, hey, I know I never asked up until now, but, how long will this apprenticeship last?
Ingvald: Well, until you pass the necessary tests to rank up, or until you reach 22 and you can't grow magically anymore, actually, speaking of, you'll start your training tomorrow at 8 in the morning, I expect you to be up and about at that hour, okay?
Gesalt nodded: Sir, yes sir!
Ingvald: Good, now, rest up today, see you soon, Gesalt.
Ingvald left, closing the door behind him and leaving Gesalt alone, Gesalt looked around, and started to unpack his items, which wasn't much, but it was still good. Finally, it was time for him to train magic, he never would have thought he would be here a month ago, 3 weeks ago he barely left home, and now he's in the largest city in the country, learning from one of the strongest mages in the world, it was an incredible opportunity for him to grow and become strong. Gesalt, for the first time in a long while, felt incredibly excited for the future.