Today we begin training.

More specifically, we need to get a sense of what we're good at and improve upon that.

I've got an idea of what Togeshi is good at in a combat sense, but for me and Akane, I've got no clue.

Actually, thinking about it, Akane was called the Mage Hero, so, it sounds like she's going to be specializing in magic.

Looks like I'm the only one out of luck. Well, I guess we are here to find out what we're strong at... we'll get there when we get there.

Or, technically, we're already there.

We were woken up early in the morning and taken to this courtyard near the castle, like practically in it. There's a bunch of guys in armour here, here and there you see some sparring with each other, and others just practicing their technique. There are a few buildings scattered around, in almost reminds me of the army.

Oh, that's probably because it is the army.

Ignoring my stupidity, for now, looks like we finally get to meet who we came here for.

In front of the three of us was a woman. The first thing that stuck out to me was her height. She was much taller than Akane and I, and she was practically on par with Togeshi. Considering Togeshi is almost two hundred centimetres tall, she was definitely above average. It was definitely a bit intimidating...

Adding on to her height, she was quite muscular. She wasn't especially wide or anything, just quite impressively toned. Don't get me wrong, though, she wasn't extremely thin. She hit a good mid-point. The reason I could give a reasonable description of her body was because she wasn't wearing any sort of armour. Quite casual clothes, in fact. She exuded an air of confidence, perhaps she didn't feel like she needed any armour.

Her hair was rather short. Such a thing made sense considering what I'm guessing her occupation is. Long hair would get in the way, plus, in my opinion, the look fitted her quite well. Her hair was a light blonde, the colour seemed to be common here from what I've seen. Her eyes were a light blue as well, although, that's not too important of a detail.

She had a light smile on her face as she spoke, "Looks like you're here at last. I can't say you kept me waiting since I just recently got here as well, so, good morning.

Her voice wasn't too high or too low, it once again hit a mid-point.

"Hey there! Uh, who exactly are you?" Togeshi eventually spoke up, a slightly confused tone in his voice. Still, he seemed excited.

"Right. I'm Commander Idony, Eight Commander of Draila's army. It's a pleasure to meet you," she lowered her voice a bit, "Heroes."

So, she knows, of course. It was obvious, thinking about it. Also, it's not like it was a secret... wait no, I remember quite vaguely that our summoning was definitely a secret.

"Man, to think I'd actually get to meet the heroes in my lifetime. You don't mind if I'm not super respectful, yeah? You three seem cool, you're fine with it. Oh, yeah, I should probably keep my voice down a bit more. You know, since you three existing is a total national secret? I mean, even the knights here are oblivious to who you three are. They were told you three were some new trainees, I believe. Would you believe they bought it? Well, it's not like they'd be suspicious of you three. Not only would it be super specific to think you're Heroes, but it's also not like Heroes usually come in three."

Well... she has quite an interesting personality. One that seems to attract attention. I think I even saw a few odd glances from the knights around while she was talking.

I spoke up, "perhaps we should continue this talk in the armoury?"

If you're wondering how I knew what was what, I got a glance of the surrounding area before. Plus, I used to be interested in medieval stuff back four or so years ago. I guess I kept a decent memory of that stuff.

"Oh, you know your stuff. Well, that's a hero for you, guess it comes with the territory." There she goes again, she's really not the best with secrets. Remind me never to tell her anything important that I want to keep hidden.

Togeshi began to sing my praise... I have to admit, it was a bit embarrassing, "Heh, looks like you can grasp just how genius Yuu is! Hell, compared to me, he's a super-genius!"

Akane stayed silent, but she nodded in agreement as well. Well, the least I can say is it's nice to have such good friends.

"You three know each other, huh? Hm, I've never heard of that before... You three will certainly work well together, then! Oh, right, let's get going." Finally, the Commander named Idony led us to a certain building. It was relatively large, made up of an amalgamation of wood and stone. The architecture was rather simple compared to the great castle right beside us (which we were technically still in, considering this place is connected to it), but it still held a certain feeling of regality? That, mixed with the feeling of wearing down, being used for such a long time.

The inside was dimly lit, filled to the brim with weapons of all kinds. Staffs, clubs, axes, daggers, bows, anything you could think of. Of course, there was the staple of fantasy, the sword.

Togeshi didn't seem too interested in anything, neither did Akane. That makes sense, I guess. Togeshi was already proficient in using his hands in combat, and Akane, you know, she's the whole Mage Hero thing.

"You can find pretty much anything here! The weapons themself aren't too high quality or anything, but they're well made and will last a while. They're mostly meant for sparring either way, so it's not like they'll be your permanent weapons or anything. So, go ahead and pick!"

Well, that's my cue.

From the moment we got to this place, I assumed we would get the chance to pick what weapon we would want to use. So, I've had a bit of time to think about this.

I know exactly what I want.

I move towards my pick, grabbing it.

"Just a simple longsword, huh? Well, it's not like it's a bad weapon or anything, it's just not what I expected. Hm..."

That's not exactly the reaction I expected either. I mean, it's a well-rounded weapon. It can be used in all sorts of situations, and it's reliable as well.

"I think it fits 'em great!" Togeshi agreed with me, even if I didn't say my thoughts out loud.

And once again, Akane simply nodded. I'm starting to sense a pattern.

"Sure, but..." Idony walked up to a certain weapon, picking it up and putting it in front of me, "take this with you, too."

It was a knife. Simple, but with an interesting design. It seemed incredibly sharp, made to pierce.

"Why?" I only had a simple question in response.

"There are times that sword of yours won't be enough. I guarantee there's a time you'll need to use this, okay? Oh, and I don't mean to just have it to train with, keep it with you all the time! Or, most of the time at least. I'll keep it off the records, don't you worry!"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but I agreed to it, and took it.

I'm not sure I'll ever really need it.

"Alrighty, what about you two?" She looked over to Togeshi and Akane, an inquisitive look on her face.

"Well, uh, the thing is, I don't need one," Togeshi spoke up, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I use my hands to fight! I don't need anything else!"

"Well now... you're already proficient in a way of fighting, then? You don't see that a lot! Still, I'd suggest you take some sort of a weapon, at least as backup. You'll have no way to kill if not."

"I'm not going to be killing anyone or anything."

... Ah.

Togeshi has been thinking about this situation too.

Potentially much more than me, actually. In a much more mature way as well.

I've been thinking of this world somewhat as a game. As if everything just will fall into place and as if nothing has a consequence. Even if I knew that this was serious, that we weren't in a place anything like Earth anymore, I didn't fully realize the severity.

But he hasn't. He's understood and accepted the risks. He's realized the fact that we very well might need to kill someone or perhaps something.

Yet, even so, he holds determined to keep his beliefs. He's always cherished life, he's always hated death.

He might come off as a bit of an idiot, but he's not. He might not say he's intelligent, in fact, he downright says he's not, but that's far from the truth. Togeshi is much more than what he sees himself as.

"You sure? That might just make your life a whole hell of a lot harder!" Idony seemed interested in his way of thinking, it was probably completely different from her own.

"Yeah, I am. And I don't go back on my word either!"

"I'm interested to see you hold true to that..." She smiled, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

Now with Togeshi out of the way, the only one left was Akane.

"So, Miss Hero, you're the only one who hasn't chosen anything! What's kept you glued to the spot?"

"I... don't know. I mean, I'm supposed to be this 'Mage Hero' or something, so, do I really even need a weapon?" Akane had a good point. If she's using magic, what's the point of a weapon? Obviously, whatever she can do with her magic will be much more powerful than what an axe or spear could do.

However, Idony sighed, "I guess you kids are pretty inexperienced. Does your world not have magic or something? Or, does it just work differently? Either way, what will you do if you're out of mana?"

"If I'm out of mana? That's would you would use to make magic from what I've seen... I wouldn't be able to do anything." Akane came to this realization, even before I did.

"Exactly! You'd just be a sitting duck! Here," Idony went and picked up a medium-sized dagger, handing it to her, "Take this! You should learn to use it well, it might be your only way of defending yourself one day."

"Alright." Akane accepted the weapon. She held it close to her, staring at its shining silver blade.

"Looks like you've all got something! Now, let's get you to us--" Idony was cut off in the middle of her sentence. The door to the armoury flew open at surprising speeds, nearly breaking. Immediately after, or really while the door was opening, what looked to be the air itself flew itself into Idony, knocking her into the wall.

"You vile, disgusting, forgetful wretch! I told you to do one thing and you couldn't even do that! Despicable!"

An older, more masculine voice spoke up out of nowhere. It came from outside the door, and quickly from inside.

"Who do you think you are, eh?! Just 'cause you're some commander now doesn't mean you can do anything you want!" The one who the voice belonged to was, as one would guess, an old man. He was noticeably wrinkly, with a terrible posture. He needed to use a cane to walk, it seemed. Still, considering how old he looked, I was surprised he could walk in the first place. He was dressed up in these robes, of which reminded me of a stereotypical wizard in some fantasy shoes and games. No hat though, I was disappointed to say.

Other than that, he was pretty normal. A pretty long beard, balding... Interestingly enough, brown eyes and a bit of a deeper skin tone compared to most of the people I've seen here. I wonder if there's a deeper reason for that.

"Hey! I don't even know what I did wrong!" Surprisingly, being thrown into the wall seemed to not even faze the woman, responding as if nothing happened at all.

"Hm... I meant to kill you with that attack. It seems I have grown a bit weaker in my old age..."

He what?

"You what?" Idony said exactly what I was thinking.

"Nevermind that! Your mind is far too pathetic to understand a thing I say! Plus, I believe it's time I meet my new students!" The man changed the topic quickly. Are we supposed to be his... students?

Idony groaned, "They're right in front of you."

Indeed we were, awkwardly standing in between the two as they argued.

"Ah, for once you were right about something. So, these are the duds, eh?" He looked the three of us up and down. I didn't particularly like how he referred to us as 'duds'.

It seemed neither did Togeshi.

He took a step towards the old man.

"What was that?"

"The nerve of children these days. You three are duds, am I wrong?"

Togeshi was quick to anger in scenarios like this. I wasn't excited to see how this would end up.

"Togeshi, just let it go." Akane attempted to diffuse the situation, it didn't seem like it would work.

"No. Listen up, you can call me whatever you want. You can do whatever you want to me, but Akane and Yuu, they're nothing like me. They're better than me, so don't even insult them again!" Togeshi was frowning, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. It was like him to get so worked up because of something like this.

The man was silent for a second or two, but surprisingly, a smirk appeared on his face.

"I like you, boy. We could use some more people who are both loyal and humble." The old man cleared his throat, "See, boy, I only called the three of you duds because there's only three of you. I've yet to be able to fully judge your character, but from the looks of it, we might have just gotten lucky with a person like you."

That was unexpected. Looks like Togeshi was already well-liked by him.

"Oh, I get it now," Togeshi seemed perfectly fine now, "Sorry about gettin' all mad and stuff. I had no idea that's what 'dud' meant!"

... once again, that was very like Togeshi.

"A loyal idiot, it seems... well, there's no point in staying in here any longer! Follow me, Heroes and useless commander alike."

...

We were back in the area before.

"I am the former Court Mage of the Kawalis Empire. I retired from that role long ago, however, and now, I am but an extraordinarily strong old man. I will be acting as your teacher when it comes to magic from now on! Consider yourselves lucky!" Well, as far as introductions come, that was a pretty impressive one.

I was quite interested by what he called himself. A Court Mage, from my understanding, would be some mage who acts as an advisor to the crown? Or, perhaps Emporer in his case. He must be a pretty important person if he used to have what I'm guessing is such a high position.

He also mentioned another place. The Kawalis Empire? I haven't heard of the place before, obviously. Well, I haven't exactly seen a map of this world yet. Perhaps I should ask for one sometime.

"Got it..." Akane was a bit lost for words, "so, your name is?"

"Hm! You have no need for my name. You may simply refer to me as 'Instructor'!"

"His name is Kwanixtam Viltrilm Anastaidt." Idony quickly interrupted.

Quite the... long name? A bit strange, but I guess it might be pretty normal where he's from. That might come off as rude, I'll just keep that thought in my head.

"This is why I hate you..." Kwanixtam... you know what, I'm just going to call him Kwan. Kwan groaned, "well, let's get this started. We'll start with you."

Kwan looked at me dead in the eye; an uncomfortable feeling loomed over me. It might have been just the eye contact, but it felt a bit strange... like the feeling of being watched.

"A Light Attribute, eh?" He grinned, "well, I'm excited to teach you... Not once in my many years of living have I ever met someone with that attribute."

"Is it rare?" I had been wondering for a while if it was, so now was a good of a time as any to ask.

"Well, there hasn't been a Hero with the Light Attribute since the very first one. You three very well might be exceptional indeed."

"Heh, yeah! Of course, Yuu has something like that! He's exactly the guy I'd expect to have this, uh... Light Attribute?" Togeshi once again was backing me up with compliments, but he didn't seem to fully understand what an attribute even was.

And then Akane nodded solemnly... There's most certainly a pattern arising.

"Well, just because he has a rare attribute doesn't mean he'll be good at magic... say, boy, do you have a good imagination?"

"I would say I have a decent one, at least," I responded.

I wouldn't say I was wrong. Although, I've never been a much too creative type. That would be Akane. She usually draws in her free time, art is one of her favourite hobbies... which she has a lot of.

"Good. You'll need it." Kwan breathed in, "Listen up! Magic is about two things. Visualization, and Actualization. One must absorb mana into their body, have an idea of what to do with it, shift that attributeless mana into their attribute, and expell that mana into the form they want in the real world! However, to do these things, you must possess a few skills! You must first have the skill 'Mana Sense'. This will allow for you to see mana, to feel its flow outside and inside of you! After that, you must have the skill 'Mana Absorption. This skill will allow you to absorb mana into your body and then change its attribute. Finally, you must achieve the final piece of the puzzle. You must obtain the skill 'Mana Operation'. Once you have all of these skills, with some practice, you will be able to use magic. We will be working on getting you three these skills! I hope you're ready for hell, Heroes!"

Looks like I was right. Things really are going to be harder from now on.