Adam, with his stoic face, entered the room without ceremony, observing Alex lying on the bed, with now a surprised expression on his face as he looked at him, ignored him and placed a pile of books next to the plate of food, now empty, that was on the small table in Alex's room.
Observing the empty plate, Adam nodded with satisfaction as he turned to Alex and stared at him for a few seconds, his stoic face did not reveal what was going on in his mind.
Alex, being stared at while still lying down with his arms open and neck stretched up, felt a drop of sweat run down his forehead as he wondered why the man in front of him was staring at him with such an ugly face.
Adam was an old man, appearing to be between 50 and 60 years old, a gray goatee and wearing a brown robe that identified him as an acolyte. His face, worn by age, was not very pleasant to the eyes.
Unaware of Alex's judgment, Adam, pointing to the chair, said: "Alex, come here."
Hearing his name come out of the mouth of the ugly old man, along with his hand gestures, Alex, understanding the meaning, got up and went to the indicated chair, sitting down after a brief nod of confirmation, directing his attention now to the newly placed pile of books.
Adam, grateful that Alex was not a fool and understood the meaning of his actions, nodded again, as he quickly headed to the door, ordering the maid, who waited obediently for instructions, to remove the plate from the table.
Having everything prepared, Adam pulled another chair and sat next to Alex, who was sitting robotically.
Taking the book at the top of the pile of books he had brought, Adam pointed it in front of Alex, saying: "Book", then pointing to Alex himself and saying: "Alex"; ending by pointing to himself: "Adam".
Alex, having understood, repeated what had been said like a child who had just been taught something new.
Thus, 2 weeks flew by, while a handsome young man learned a different language from an ugly old man.
~~~
"Shit, my mind can't absorb or process anything anymore." Alex said, massaging his temples, sitting at his room's table. On his table, piles of books could be seen and in front of him rested a notebook with an awkward handwriting.
His entire room, decorated simply with wooden furniture, was lit only by the small flame of a candle that rested on a small and simple iron candlestick.
It was already late at night and Alex studied until now. His days this week were summed up in studying with old Adam and… studying without old Adam.
So far, besides being able to go to the bathroom once a day, he was not allowed to leave his small room. Alex also couldn't see much on the way to the bathroom, since it was literally in front of his room, nor could he appreciate the view from his window, which faced a gray wall.
With nothing to do but look at the ceiling, Alex studied at least 15 hours a day and his level, in what he now knew as the language of the 7 kingdoms, could be considered decent, of course, for a beginner.
His study with Adam was focused on pronouncing and listening to words and phrases, while his solitary study was focused on writing and reading, which was the part he found most difficult, because of the different alphabet.
Adam and not even Alex expected such progress in just two weeks. Alex knew that if he had this learning speed in his past life, he would have become polyglot in just a few months, let alone be a prodigy in programming.
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Feeling his understanding of the language improve every day, Alex was excited by the prospect of having finally discovered the cheat that the heavens had granted him: he was a learning genius!
Unfortunately for him, now he was only a good slave who learned things quickly.
Alex, stretching in his chair while yawning, stares at the weak and trembling flame of the candle and remembers the sentence he read earlier in one of his books, reciting it right after: "Men must be either pampered or annihilated. They avenge light offenses; they cannot avenge severe ones; hence, the harm one does to a man must be such as to obviate any fear of revenge.."
"Who would have thought that such a sentence would be in a children's book." Alex thinks, once again facing the brutal reality of his current world. "As most people do not know how to read or write, I bet this book was made to indoctrinate and prepare heir children around the seven kingdoms." Alex reflects, while thinking a little about the common sense he learned from Adam, in these last two weeks.
Surprisingly, the ugly old man was a good professional when it came to teaching, not treating Alex like crap or doing anything weird, just because he was a slave. If it weren't for the abusive study load, Alex would even believe that he was being treated as a guest. But Adam was honest with him, saying that he was useless if he couldn't communicate.
Remembering that Adam said that the next day he would have a different type of study, Alex lies down exhausted on the bed and, as if he were at home, falls asleep in just a few seconds.
~~~
Sun rays and entered through the window without curtains of Alex's room, woke him up from his heavy sleep.
Stretching and waking up at a speed that he would never have achieved in his past life, without his infernal alarm clock, Alex gets up from the bed and waits, as always, for the maid to enter and tell him that he can go to the bathroom.
Moments later, his door opens, but unlike the beautiful middle-aged woman with maid clothes, an ugly old man with a stoic expression enters his room.
"Greetings, sir Adam." Alex says as he gets up and bows; the way he was taught and has been doing ever since.
"Hello, Alex. Your trip to the bathroom will be postponed, come on, I'll take you to the area where you'll have your new study." Adam says in response to the greeting and, not waiting for Alex to answer, turns around and orders: "Follow me."
Alex, not expecting his bath to be postponed, follows him quickly through the corridors of the building.
Many doors can be seen on the first floor where Alex passes and, following now a different path than he had followed on the day he arrived, Adam takes him to a side exit, where there was a small grassy field, with a man in guard clothes who waited patiently standing.
"Brody, this is the slave I told you about." Adam said without ceremony as he arrived at the place: "Train your body, mainly endurance, as you can see, he is very fragile." He explained. "Also, remember that he is a high quality product; don't break anything that is hard to fix." Adam finished, while turning and leaving the place, giving one last look at Alex.
Alex was stunned as he heard what Adam said and understood that this was the new study he would have. But understanding his current status and knowing that attitude and first impression make all the difference, Alex turned to the man in guard armor, made a deep 90-degree bow and said politely: "My name is Alex and I will be under your care, Sir Brody, sir Adam said that you are an excellent professional and that I would be under great tutelage." Brody, a guard of rank only slightly higher than the other guards, was surprised by the demonstration of respect and by the sweet words that came out of the mouth of the slave in front of him and, unable to contain himself, smiled with his yellow teeth and said: "Haha, you can relax, this older brother here won't mistreat you."
At that moment, Brody, who was dissatisfied and envious of Alex's good looks, while watching him coming behind Adam, had already decided to make the poor slave's life miserable, but with a simple demonstration of deep respect, which a man like him had received only a few times in their whole life, his view of the young man in front of him was greatly improved.
Alex, seeing that the eyes that shone with a trace of anger directed at him a little while ago, now, showed appreciation, along with a friendly response, made him think inwardly: "This children's book is really something, his tips probably just saved my skin." Alex thinks, wiping away imaginary sweat in his mind, while remembering the children's book that had shocking phrases, tips and thoughts.
Completely unaware that, the book he had read and thought was a children's book, because it was in the pile of children's books that Adam had brought to him, was actually extremely controlled and, by mistake, was placed by Adam in his own pile of books, which had been personally selected from Henry's library. As most of the books in this world did not have complex drawings or similar things on their covers, which were simple hard covers with printed names, it was normal for Adam, who had never heard of such a book, to put it in his pile of children's books to train Alex's reading, after reading the title 'The Prince' , which was on its cover, thinking it was some random tale.
Now, talking in a friendly manner and demonstrating the utmost respect possible for the simple and manipulable guard, Alex begins to learn his new study topic: How to stop being sedentary.