The sun is about to rise. The birds have already started chirping. In the Kingdom of Veldran, in one of the rooms in the castle.
Aven was sleeping in his bed while Tenebis Veritas lay beside him on the bed. He was snoring and was in a deep sleep.
The door of that room flung open and Theren stepped into the room. He was holding a glass of water for some reason. He was also holding a plate which had a cup of coffee and toast. He placed that plate down. Then he went near Aven and held the glass just above his face. In the next moment he flipped the glass letting all the water fall down on Aven's face.
Aven jolted awake, his face covered in water.
"WHAT IN THE HELL JUST HAPPENED???" he asked.
Then he squinted his eyes just to see who threw water at him and woke him up forcefully.
He couldn't see really because he wasn't wearing his glasses. So he picked up his glasses and wore them. He was a bit shocked seeing Theren standing there.
"Sir Theren, were you the one who threw water at my face and forcefully awoke me…?" he asked.
"Good morning Aven. And yeah, I did it to wake you up. As I believe waking you up by yelling would take too much time," he replied.
Aven just stared at Theren for a minute before sighing.
Well I think this is at least better than going to school. I hopefully won't regret saying this. But yea waking up this early sucks tho, he thought.
"Aven go brush your teeth and eat your breakfast. Then we will start your training," Theren said.
Aven went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth for 2 minutes before coming out.
He then ate his breakfast while Theren just stood watching him eat.
"Wait… I forgot to ask but why are we starting training so early ?" Aven asked.
"Training should always start before or just after sun rises and should stop just after sun sets," he replied.
"The training will be that long… will I at least receive a break for lunch and stuff ?" he asked.
Theren just nodded.
As soon as Aven was done eating he was taken to the backyard of the castle. Tenebis Veritas started floating again and was floating near the courtyard, probably looking at what Aven could do.
"Aven start by running a lap around the castle and finish the round here. I will count to see how long it takes for you to complete one lap around the castle," Theren said.
Aven gulped after hearing that.
A lap around the castle… that's at least a run of between 600m - 1km. It could be more tho… I'm definitely cooked anyway, he thought.
Well he was wrong about the distance because the lap was 2km long. So yeah Aven's about to get cooked.
"Start running boy," Theren said.
Aven started running. He ran 200m before stopping and he started gasping for air. The thing is Aven is not the athletic type and definitely doesn't do much exercise so yeah he's kinda over weight.
After a 2-minute break, Aven started running again — and yeah, he was gasping for air again after just 200 meters.
Nah this is so hard man. And I don't even think I am halfway done with this lap. So yea this lap is actually harder then I expected, he thought.
Aven took an hour to do a lap around the castle because sometimes he took a 3-4 minutes break.
Theren didn't look amused because it took Aven so damn long to take a lap around the castle. Tenebis Veritas was still floating there, now glowing.
"You are weaker than I expected…," he said.
"Mortal I expected better than this. I have seen ants have more stamina than you. Do you think you can be my wielder with this low level strength? You will take ages to even be strong enough to wield me!" Tenebis Veritas said.
Aven was now lying on the ground.
"You are literally a clunk of iron, look at yourself. I have seen guards have better looking swords. They call you a legendary sword but what's even legendary about you. Your name?" he replied.
Theren laughed when Aven said that. Tenebis Veritas just turned another way, basically having nothing to say to Aven. In reality it probably didn't expect anyone to talk back to it.
"Alright jokes are enough. I can't really start your training like this when you can't run a lap around the castle within half an hour and without grasping for air so quickly. So, I will start by making you help me with my work," Theren said.
"Wait, by your work do you mean that I have to do the butler job? What do butlers do exactly? Clean the castle or something?" he asked.
"Well we do a lot of work. Specifically cleaning, cooking, cutting the grown leaves in the garden and many more things. So don't worry you have a lot of work to do," he replied.
Okay this doesn't sound that bad. I mean I have never done this stuff but I think it shouldn't be as bad as training, Aven thought.
Well Aven is never right. I mean he thought how bad training could be and it was bad. Now he's saying this doesn't sound that bad so yeah it's gonna be difficult work for him.
Theren took Aven inside the castle and Tenebis Veritas followed them floating behind them. Theren handed Aven a broom.
"Take this broom and start by sweeping the hallways. Make sure to not destroy any decorations placed on the tables as they are worth a lot of money. Once you are done meet me in the kitchen. Also I mean you are only supposed to clean this one hallway so don't take too long. You only have an hour," he said.
Aven just nodded as he can't really say no.
He started sweeping with the broom.
This is so boring and I even have a deadline. Will I even be able to sweep this hallway in an hour and I think I can. I mean this is not that huge hallway so I will do it quickly and just lay down for the rest of the time, he thought.
He actually was done in 45 minutes. The rest of the 15 minutes he just sat down in a corner. Luckily he didn't mess up anything this time.
"Mortal, you are good at cleaning the hallways at least. Keep this up and maybe in 30 years you might be able to wield me," Tenebis Veritas said.
Aven didn't notice Tenebis Veritas was still floating there and was surprised to hear it's voice. He just ignored the sword because it never said anything good from wherever it was speaking from.
Aven stood up as 15 minutes were over and he headed towards the kitchen. Theren was already waiting for him there. He tossed Aven a plain red apron.
"Wear this apron so you don't dirty your clothes," Theren said.
Aven just nodded and wore the apron.
"I will teach you how to hold a knife," he said.
Well Theren tried to teach Aven how to hold a knife. Emphasis on tried. As Aven almost cut his hands nerves, dropped the knife so many times and threw it at nothing.
Theren just sighed.
"This is gonna be tough," he said.
"Sorry about this, Sir Theren. I will try to do better," he replied.
What will happen to Aven? Will he be able to learn how to hold a knife? Or will he hurt himself more before he ever learns to hold a knife.
To be continued….