I was attracting a lot of attention, and it was getting a bit irritating. No matter where I was, I could feel people’s eye on me...

When we got back to the inn, my first lesson finally started. Since the strokes of each letter wasn’t complicated, it was a bit easy to understand. The lesson ended an hour before dinner. Faeran was silently sleeping on my lap the whole time.

“S-so do you want to visit a place after dinner?”(Zell)

Instead of going out, I would like to continue our lesson. The faster I learn the better.

“I-it’s your first day here, so you should at least relax. We could focus on studying tomorrow.”(Zell)

Thank you for worrying about me, but I would like to study instead of sightseeing. I’m the type to work before enjoying life afterall.

“I-I see, if that’s the case, I’ll do my best so that I could teach you better.”(Zell)

Thanks

“N-no need to thank me, I-it’s only natural.” Zell turned his head to the side again.

The same girl from earlier came to bring us food. Faeran woke up when the aroma of the food reached his nose. After eating, we continued our lesson. I got the basic idea of all the letters and how they are used, tomorrow would be the creation of words and their use

___

I woke up early the next day, but Zell and Faeran were still asleep. I went out of the room for a bit and walked around to observe the inn. As I moved around, I felt a heavy pressure form the outside. It wasn’t directed to me, but the pressure is as strong as Faeran’s normal form. I ran to the direction which was at the back of the inn. The place was enclosed in 10ft wall and was connected to the the back of the inn. It was an open space as big as a soccer field.

I saw the owner swinging a wooden sword, which was creating exploding sounds on the air. She noticed my presence and looked to my direction. After seeing me, she stopped and walked to my location. Since I was already seen, I also moved closer. Since she knew I couldn’t understand her words yet, she made gestures asking me if I was hungry. She was really tall, I was looking upwards just to see her face. I was about 5.5ft so there was a 1.5ft difference between our height.

I haven’t eaten breakfast, but I couldn’t ask them for food when I’m not paying for anything. She noticed my complicated expression and lifted me. The thing is, I couldn’t follow her sudden movements. There wasn’t any hostility, but even if I lowered my guard, to actually surprise me like that...

I tried telling her to put me down, but of course we couldn’t understand each other. I forced my way out, but she made gestures telling me to follow her. We went to the inn’s kitchen. By the way, there were 2 other people cooking in the kitchen. She started cooking food in front of me and I got curious about her ingredients and cooking method. She was quite dexterous despite her bulky build and was able to create a fantastic looking dish.

We went to the tables in the first floor and there were a few people eating. The moment they saw me, they all started looking at my like I’m a celebrity. Anyways, I sat on the table and ate the food prepared for me. It was a good mix of flavor, and each ingredient complimented each other, so I could confidently say it was a good dish. The owner looked satisfied about my reaction and patted my back before going back to the kitchen.

Zell was awake when I got back. Faeran was still curled up on his pillow, but there was no reason to wake him up, so I let him continue sleeping. I sat on Zell’s bed and linked our fingers.

Do you want to eat breakfast first before teaching me?

“It’s ok, I’m not hungry anyways, so let’s start the lesson.”(Zell)

Shortly after that, he started the lessons. This time, I was taught how to create words. In the middle, Faeran woke up and moved to my shoulder. By the time we finished, I know the basic word formations and I slightly increased my vocabulary. I took a bath with Faeran and by the time we finished, the food was already on its way.

___

A lot of things are spinning in my head. It hasn’t been long yet there are 2 things that I want to know. First is about Zell, the thing he did at the store and the fact that we could stay here is a mystery. I’m sure he doesn’t have money on him, maybe the pendant he used yesterday acts like a bank card? Since I don’t know the extent of the magical technology, it’s possible that the pendant acts as a place to store money.

He is saying that he wants to repay me for saving him, but if he really has money, then he should have offered it before...so it’s possible that I’m wrong. If that’s the case, then the pendant is something that shows his status. If he has a high status, then that explains our free stay in this inn. He rejected the idea though, it may be that he is supposed to hide it. Sigh...even if I have no reason to, it’s just that I’m curious.

There’s that thing with the owner. It’s obvious that she is not normal, aside from her looks, the speed she showed earlier surpassed my expectation. I think she is about level 35-40 to even surprise me like earlier, and that’s obviously not normal since people in this city are supposed to have a hard time dealing with level 20 monsters or lower.

Well, after eating lunch, we continued our lesson, with Faeran sleeping on my lap. It was a continuation of creating words and this time I was taught the basic words that I could use. We took a small break in between lesson, and before dinner, I have the basic idea on using common words. It’s really easy if you can understand the meaning behind the words, I couldn’t even imagine how long it would take if I studied it from scratch.

Shortly after eating dinner, the lesson continued. The rest of the day ended without ever leaving the room.

___

The next day, I woke up early again. Just like yesterday, the 2 were sleeping comfortably. I checked the back of the inn and the owner was there swinging a wooden sword. Unlike yesterday, there were other people at the back, about 50 burly men. I noticed someone familiar, it was the drunk man who tried to grope me. When the owner saw me, she made the others continue swinging while she moved to my direction.

The man at the back also followed. He lowered his head in front of me, and was shaking for some reason. He probably wants to apologize for his actions the other day. I don’t really mind since he wasn’t able to touch me. Even if the owner didn’t stop him, I would have deflected his hand easily. I tapped his shoulders and made him raise his head. I used my business smile to show him that I forgive him.

He understood my intentions and lowered his head again before returning to the back. The owner gave me a wooden sword and her expression made it obvious what she wanted me to do. It’s not about joining them in swinging the sword, it was about sparring. She was waiting for my answer so I nodded, since I also wanted to see her strength.

She shouted at the others and the people went to the side of the open space. We went to the middle and stared at each other. I stomped on the floor and made the first move. I ran to her and swung the wooden sword to her neck. She easily read my movements and raised her sword to block my attack.

I saw her movements and stopped before the impact. I spun my body to change the trajectory of my attack from the neck to the leg. She didn’t block it with her sword, instead, she leaped and sent her sword downwards. I rolled to the side and swung my sword upwards to deflect it.

Before our swords connected, she pulled back her sword and waited for mine to pass before moving her sword again.

Why is she so agile? Isn’t she supposed to be strength oriented, based on her muscular body?

My sword was already past the motion of changing the trajectory and her sword was about to hit my neck... or so she thought. Like a back fist, I pulled my sword backwards. With that, I successfully deflected her sword. We jumped back to regain our balance and stared at each other again.

She looks delighted about my performance, and so did I. I was never the battle crazed type, but this battle was fun. It’s not about killing, it’s about seeing who the better swordsman was. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, of course I didn’t waste the opportunity. The battle was not over, so I can attack anytime I want.

Just before I reached her, a terrifying pressure was sent directly to me. For a second, my body stopped moving. When I recovered, the owner was there, standing in front of me with her eyes looking directly into my soul. She didn’t move, but I could feel that the moment I got closer, I would lose. The pressure was still there and my body felt heavy just from standing, but I smiled.

The long stay at the wild probably affected my brain a little, cause right now, I’m smiling. The atmosphere felt heavy, even for those that were watching from the side. I know I’ll lose, but I still want to try. I relaxed my body and focused all of my attention on one person...on one target.

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My sense sharpened to its limits and everything started to slow down. The moment she her eyes started to close, I ran. It was the one and only opportunity to win. I used all of my strength into one attack and swung my sword to her neck. By the time my sword was near her neck, her eyes were closed. But she was really a monster. Even with her eyes closed, she deflected my sword.

She moved her sword in a circular motion and started attacking me. I tried deflecting her attacks but was slowly pushed back. The continues attack made me realize the difference between us. It’s not just about strength, it’s about efficiently moving your body. As time passed, her hits got heavier. Just from two wooden swords, exploding sounds were created. One thing was clear, what’s in front of me right now is a master swordsman.

I was losing, it was obvious that I would lose, but my blood was boiling. The battle was too heated, but before she struck the finishing blow, our wooden swords finally gave in and broke. We were using to much strength and the wooden swords can’t handle it.

The owner laughed loudly and tapped my shoulders. The people around that were silently watching, clapped their hands. I was a bit tired from the battle so I lowered my head and went back to the inn. The owner still had strength and continued training the others.

When I went back to the room, Zell and Faeran were asleep. I was covered in sweat so I cooled down a bit before taking a bath.

___

I was laying on my bed with my smiling face buried on a pillow. I could still feel my body burning from the battle earlier. I sensed Zell wake up and move closer to me, so I moved around and stretched my hands.

“Did something happen? You look happy.”(Zell)

It’s nothing, something fun just happened earlier. Anyways, we should start our lesson.

This times it’s to increase my vocabulary, and try adding advance usage of words and letters. By the time lunch came, I could already write simple sentences. Well, it was faster than what I expected, but 12 hours of studying per day was bound to help me compared to those language lessons that you could get for 1.5 hours a day. Not to mention the telepathic magic of Zell that helps me understand what I’m actually writing.

After eating lunch, I played with Faeran. We have already stayed here without going out of the room, so I gave Zell free time until dinner. I should play with Faeran from time to time since I don’t want him to think I’m forgetting him, especially on his infant stage. Instead of going out, Zell said he’ll watch us play. He said he didn’t have anything to do outside, so he’ll stay inside the room.

Well, I was just throwing the ball around and letting Faeran run after it. When he gets the ball, I’ll run after him. Whenever I catch him, he’ll give me the ball and the whole cycle repeats itself. It’s a simple game I thought of, but as long a he enjoys it, then it’s fine. Actually, if we were in an open space, he would even use his lightning form to runaway from me. Since he’s inside the room, he knows that he can’t use it. Hmmp, my Faeran is smart and I’m proud.

After 2 hours, Faeran got tired so it’s time for lessons again. As of now, I’m just increasing my vocabulary to the point of being able to respond to most of the conversations. Just a few more days before I start my speech lessons, I need to perfect my accent.

___

Our lessons continued even after dinner and ended an hour before midnight.

“With this, you can learn the rest by reading books. Do you have any book you’re interested in?”(Zell)

How about things like common knowledge or history. Since I’m still in the middle of learning the language, I’ll study economics later.

I've planned to study economics earlier, but I'm quite interested in this world's history, so I'll change my plans a bit.

“I see, then how about the story of how the Seltia kingdom defeated Cronia kingdom? There are lots of books about it. There’s also a person on this inn that changed the tides of the war against Cronia Kingdom.”(Zell)

Seltia? Cronia? I don’t understand.

“This  city is a part of Seltia Kingdom, and it was fighting a war against Cronia Kingdom 55 years ago. The war was just recent so most of the people here know about it, so it serves as both history and common knowledge.”(Zell)

I see, then who was the person who took part in the war? If it’s a strong person, then I have an idea who it is

“It’s Eraisa Dorall, the owner of Dorall Inn and the leader of Crizaf Antel, the strongest mercenary group 50 years ago.”(Zell)

...So her name was Eraisa.

It was 50 years ago when she was at her prime, and at that time, all her enemies feared her while her allies respected her. Little is known about her before creating Crizaf Antel, except for the fact that her home village was destroyed by the enemy kingdom.

It was 55 years ago when the Seltia kingdom was at war with the Cronia Kingdom, and at that time, Seltia Kingdom was losing. It may be that she hated the kingdom that killed her family, but she did a lot to change the tide of the war. At some point, people gathered around her and Crizaf Antel was formed. With her ability to guide people, and the strength of her and her group, Seltia kingdom won.

The king wanted to give her status for helping the kingdom, but she declined the offer. She said that saving the country was enough for her and that the best she could wish for is that the kingdom would prosper. The king respected her decision and gave her a parting gift. The king said the Eraisa Dorall will live as she wishes and no royalty nor noble can ever use her name or strength for their own satisfaction.

The Crizaf Antel disbanded a month after the war, and are now scattered in the continent living their own peaceful lives, except for one that stayed with Eraisa. Scott Dorall, the person that was there to support her during the war and the one that cheered the whole group when they were at hopeless situations. Their love bloomed while at war but waited for the right time which was after the chaotic state of the kingdom.

They married shortly after Crizaf Antel disbanded. They created an inn named after their family name 40 years ago and lived the rest of their lives peacefully. A new life entered their family 20 years ago, but another one left. No matter how strong Scott was, a person could still get unlucky. He was afflicted by a disease that couldn’t be healed.  It was not a disease he got somewhere, but a disease he was born with. No matter what path he had taken, he would have died sooner or later.

Eraisa and Scott were naturally born warriors. They were born and will die like warriors. It may have been stupid for others, but Scott wanted to die fighting someone strong. In the end, they went to a secluded place and fought each other. When Eraisa came back, there was a scar on her left eyes, but she was proud of it. It was something she got from fighting a strong and respectful man, Scott Dorall.

It was already peaceful and her strength was no longer needed by the kingdom, so she spent the rest of her life managing the inn and training future warriors in case the kingdom would fight another war. Her daughter didn’t want to be a warrior so she didn’t train her daughter. Actually, she was happy that her daughter chose to live a normal life, since even if she was a warrior, she was still a mother and she wanted the best for her daughter.

“Good story right? Don’t you think it’s cool to be near a living legend?”(Zell)

I'm interested, where can we buy books about her and the history of the kingdom?

_________

Author’s Note:

Spoiler :

Only 3 days passed so I think it’s a slow pace. Well, it will be slower after she learns the language, since a lot of concepts like currency, mercenary system, different factions and continents, and a lot of different things about the world. Just in case I forget something, please comment about things that I should add about the world.

I don’t know if I showed Eraisa’s back story too early, but since she will be essential in the next chapters, please bear with me. I could have showed it either on this chapter or the next 2 chapters.

I also tried my luck on creating a fight scene. I tried my best to write the battle that I visualized and I hope it doesn’t suck that much. Well if it does suck a lot, then I need to practice more, since there will be more fight scenes in the future.

People may have noticed that the school life tag has been taken out. I’ll return it once she enters the academy.