"Good evening." Plot greeted the door, which turned and greeted us back, making me realize that it, was in fact, a he.
"Hello." His voice was surprisingly gentle as he spoke to Plot.
"Do you need something?" He asked for our purpose here, and Plot informed him of it.
While he did that, I looked at the dozen other people in the room, all of them were holding swords with dulled edges, practicing their swings.
"So he's a special case?"
"Yes." Plot's response was short.
"Sure then, I'll take over his sword training." He looked at me with a grin on his face. "Be prepared to get beaten."
Plot turned to me.
"I trust you know your way back to your room?"
I nodded, it was not a complicated route.
"Then I will leave you to it. Please meet me tomorrow morning in the lobby."
With that said, Plot vanished.
"So then." I looked at the man twice my size. "Let's get acquainted, shall we? My name is Arquero." He held out a hand.
He had a grizzled beard, short black hair, and sharp blue eyes.
I took it.
"My name is Alias."
"Please follow me."
He took me to a small room filled with swords and defensive equipment.
"Take your pick."
I looked over the assortment of blades in the room, and picked up and tried a few.
A minute later, I picked one that was a little longer than most of them and showed it to Arqeuro.
He nodded looking at my selection.
"Good choice, a longsword is very versatile."
He then took me to another room.
He gestured for me to move across from him.
He pulled out the sword from his waistband along with its sheath. It felt like he was holding a knife instead of a sword.
"Show me what you can do."
I raised the sword, and immediately he frowned.
"You really don't know anything."
I blinked.
"Nevermind, just attack."
My mind went back to my fight with the Cors, and I though to myself that this couldn't be too different.
All I had to do was avoid the threats, which were his sword, and his legs.
"Come on."
I looked at his posture, trying to see how I could get through his defense.
He held his weapon in one hand, hanging limp at his side.
I thought about how he could parry from that angle, and came to the conclusion that he could parry everything quite easily, so I would have to anticipate his parry and attack again without letting him regain his posture.
"What are you waiting for?"
I moved to strike, and he parried just like I predicted, but my calculations were wrong, as his force pushed me off balance.
I tried to attack, only for the sword in my hands to disappear.
"Stop, stop."
He let out a sigh, holding my sword in his left hand.
"Let's start from the beginning."
He tossed the sword back at me.
"Posture, depending on your combat style will differ, but the basics are the same..."
...
The next morning, I descended using the elevator to see Plot sitting in a chair.
He noticed me and got up.
I pointed towards the restaurant, and he nodded and sat back down.
After I had breakfast, Plot took me to a building that was shaped like an egg.
Inside it, he took me to an office.
"Heeyyy!!!"
A voice called out, and we turned towards it, noticing a woman with long turquoise hair walking towards us, and that multiple other people had turned to look at us due to the noise that she had caused.
"What brings you here?" She looked at me. "And who is this?"
Plot seemed a little irritated by her, but he did not voice it.
"Follow me please." He did not wait for either of us to respond as he turned and started to walk away at a brisk pace.
"Come on now..." She smirked as she hurried behind Plot.
I walked after them.
Plot walked in silence, but the woman kept trying to get him to talk.
"You haven't answered my question~." She spoke in a sing-song tone of voice.
Plot maintained his silence, but distanced himself from her.
"Come on..." She closed the gap and put an arm around his shoulder.
"Loosen up a little!"
Plot threw her arm off of him and accelerated his pace.
She didn't try to catch up this time, instead she slowed down till I was next to her.
"So who are you?" She asked, looked over my body.
"My name is Alias." I introduced myself.
"Alias huh? I'm Berthalia, team leader of the patrol division."
I nodded.
"Tell me, what are you doing here?"
"He brought me here."
"HE, did?"
Berthalia looked a little surprised by this revelation.
"Him?"
She asked me again.
I nodded to answer her question.
"Well! Guess someone has a new friend."
"Caretaker." That was Plot.
"Hmm?" Berthalia let out a questioning sound.
"I'm his caretaker under orders from Mr.Numoral." Plot clarified the relationship between me and him.
"I see." Berthalia said as Plot opened a door and stepped in. "So what do you want from me?" She asked him as she stepped in behind him, followed by me.
The door swung shut with a soft click.
"I want you to train him."
Berthalia raised one of her eyebrows.
"Train him in what, exactly?"
"Spells and Own."
"How much?"
"As far as you can."
"That's a lot you know."
"A box of eclipse."
Berthalia seemed shocked by this offer.
"If I find out that you didn't teach him seriously, then-"
"Don't worry, I'll teach him well."
"Thank you."
Plot turned to me and brought out something from... somewhere, and held it out to me.
I took it.
"It's a brand-new Skypage." Plot answered my unspoken question, but with an answer that didn't give me an answer.
"You don't know what a Skypage is?" Berthalia asked when she saw my confusion.
I shook my head.
"It's what we used to get here." Plot spoke again.
"I see."
Plot turned back to Berthalia.
"Drop him off for weapon training at 5 please."
With that request, he opened the door and left us alone in the room.
I looked at Berthalia in silence.
"Alright, since you will be learning from me now, you will be calling me teacher when referring to me. Is that clear?"
I registered that order and processed it.
Then I made eye contact with her and nodded.
"Yes, Teacher."
She smiled at that.
"Come on then, let's get on with it."
She led me to a room filled with people sitting at desks.
"Wait here." She told me and walked in.
She talked with some people for a minute before walking over to an empty desk and sitting down on the chair in front of it.
She spent a minute or so writing something, and after that, she tore off a small piece of paper, scribbled something on it, and placed the paper under a book.
Then she got up and walked out the door.
"Let's go!" She exclaimed.
She grabbed my hand and sprinted down the hall, drawing attention from all the people around us.
"Who is that?" I heard someone speak, and someone responded.
"Who knows? Poor lad, h-" Was all I managed to hear before we left earshot.
...
She dropped me from her shoulder when we reached our destination.
I got up to my feet and looked around our surroundings.
It looked like a place where you would practice archery.
On one side of the open field were dozens of targets at varying distances, and on the other were circles drawn on the ground.
"Spell training ground no.3" Berthalia declared. "We will be training most of your spells here. Do you know any spells?"
I nodded.
"Alright then, get over there and show me what you got." She pointed me towards the circles.
I walked to them and turned to the targets.
I held up my hands in front of my chest, palms facing each other.
A moment later, a ball of fire formed in between them, and grew as I supplied with energy.
Once I decided it was big enough, I pushed outwards and the fireball shot forward.
It struck the ground a few meters in front of the target I was aiming for.
"That's... bad."
I paid no heed to her words as I clapped my palms together.
"Hm?" She seemed surprised when I started to prepare my next spell.
She watched with surprise when the spell managed to hit the target directly in its center.
"How did you do that?"
"I have used it more times."
She narrowed her eyes and stared at me.
"Continue."
I nodded and prepared my next spell.
...
"That's all for today."
Berthalia was shocked by my learning speed.
"Bring out your Skypage, I'll teach you how to use it."
She taught me how to use it and disappeared.
I looked at the spot where she was standing a moment ago, then I got on my Skypage and took off toward my next training session.
Arquero was waiting for me outside the building.
"There you are!" He seemed a little happy as I landed beside him.
He led me to the same room where he taught me yesterday.
There was another man there, I recognized him from the initiation.
"You two are going to be sparring with each other, and I'll be watching you from the side."
I nodded and got into position, my opponent did the same.
"Start whenever."
With that said, he stepped back.
I looked at my opponent.
I recalled Arquero's teachings from yesterday and took a stance.
From the corner of my eye, I could see that he smiled and nodded.
I struck first, shooting forward with a thrust, which was parried.
But since I did not overcommit to the thrust, I was able to pull back and defend against his sword.
He pulled back, and I decided to change my strategy.
I moved my sword to attack him diagonally, but when he tried to parry, I moved my blade up and over his, changing my attack direction.
Before he could defend, I struck him on the arm.
He moved back, but I charged him.
He panicked and attacked, but I easily parried his attack and managed to land another blow on his chest.
"Enough." Arquero spoke, and I stopped my assault and stepped back.
"I miscalculated." He spoke and turned to my opponent. "Go back to the class."
My opponent nodded and quickly left the room.
"Your growth is much faster than expected, follow me, let's find someone else."
With that said, he left the room, and I followed him.