Alberad Agnus

"If you aren't planning to participate in the training, then get out of here. This is not a place to play friends."

It was a boy with green hair and black eyes.

"What? who the hell is he?"

"How dare he talk like that to Ahmed?"

"Does he have a death wish?"

The noble children murmured among themself while wondering about the identity of the daring kid.

"If I am not mistaken, You are Vikram from the Sena Duke family, aren't you?"

Ahmed turned around looking at the green-haired boy.

"I don't know how a bastard who didn't even inherit the name of Duke Sena managed to come here to the tempest manor, but be mindful of your words, everyone isn't as generous as myself to let you run your mouth"

Duke Gandarva Sena along with Duke Mir Khan were the two dukes of the Mauryan empire who held the most military power next to the Emperor's royal army.

It wouldn't be wrong to call them two pillars of the Empire.

And though both Ahmed and Vikram belonged to the duke families, Ahmed was the official son of duke khan whereas Vikram was a bastard son born to a maid.

Vikram's position in the family is very different from that of Ahmed in the Khan family.

Just the fact that he was able to attend the training in the tempest manner was a surprise.

On the other hand, it proved how talented he was to be able to attend the tempest manor training despite being a bastard son, which attracted Ashoka's interest.

But it seemed like Vikram was a short-tempered kid as he made his way in front of Ahmed.

"I would love to see what the 'child' of duke Khan is capable of"

He said provoking Ahmed.

The atmosphere turned tense as they both were ready to break out into a fight.

Ashoka who was very intrigued by the flow of things watched the situation with excited eyes.

But as if to pour cold water on his expectations the doors of the training ground were slammed open.

Slam!

A red-haired man walked past the door, which was still vibrating. With pointy ears and a heavenly appearance, he had both a mysterious and cheerful atmosphere around him.

"Are you fighting already? You have a lot of guts, I guess it's because you're still young. Too young, actually."

He grinned and moved to the center of the training ground.

'An elf?'

Ashoka narrowed his eyes. There was no way he wouldn't know about an elf after reading so many novels in his past life.

But the real reason he was surprised was that Sage Chanakya had told him that most of the races other than humans inhabited the eastern continent, which was commonly known as the "Alliance of seven kingdoms".

So he was momentarily surprised to see an elf here.

But it seemed like Ashoka was the only one who was surprised by his appearance as everyone else seemed like they know who he was.

"Sword of the Emperor, the elf swordsman, Alberad Agnus"

"He is here to teach us?"

"I heard that he was injured..."

There was news that he was injured in a dungeon and ended up retiring, so the children hadn't expected to meet him there.

"Hmph!"

Alberad glanced at Ashoka and the children, then went to the platform that allowed him to look down on the whole training ground.

While Alberad was scouting the children, the two in front of Ashoka calmed down.

"I guess your luck was good…"

Ahmed said before turning around and walking to where a group of children was waiting for him.

"We will see whose luck it was"

Vikram also responded calmly before standing there all alone.

It didn't seem like there was anyone with him as he was standing all alone.

'A lone wolf, huh?'

Ashoka thought looking at him only to realize that there was no one at his side either.

He really missed the company of his brother, who clinged onto him at moments like this.

Ignoring the matter, Ashoka glanced at the children who were gathered there.

It seemed like his siblings who were staying at the tempest manor were training in a different training ground as he couldn't see any of them.

Finally, Ashoka turned his attention toward the elf standing on the stage.

"Nice to meet you all."

Alberad smiled from the platform.

"I'm the head instructor Alberad, who is going to oversee your training."

His voice was bright, not in a frivolous way, but cheerful. Keeping a laid-back smile, he continued.

"There are a hundred sixty trainees, but only eight instructors. As you must also be thinking that there are too many trainees, let's reduce that number. A quarter would be ideal."

Alberad's laid-back smile became slightly mischievous.

"Re-Reduce?"

"To a quarter?"

"What are you talking about…?"

The children's faces went ashy pale. It was the first time they'd heard of trainees being weeded out before basic training in tempest manor.

"We will distinguish between gems and pebbles, quite literally. I'd rather train some quality swordsmen over quantity."

Alberad waved his finger at the children as if he were choosing products.

"I'm the son of Marquise! It's nonsense to weed me out before becoming a trainee!"

One of the children shouted in anger.

"That's true! We were all ordered to participate by the family!"

More joined him in his rebuttal.

"Ah. I'm dumb, so I don't know about the noble families at all."

Alberad frowned while picking his ear with his pinky finger.

"I'm the law on this training ground. If you aren't happy about it, complain to the elders who appointed me, or even better to the Emperor."

Despite looking like a ruffian rather than a head instructor, his good-looking appearance still managed to make him look cool.

'Weeding out…'

Ashoka scratched his chin.

{Who is that arrogant guy?}

'What?'

{He dares to look down on me! I don't like it. Pluck off that elf's ears.}

'Is there even anyone that you do like?'

{Back when I was alive, no one could see my eyes. As the true monarch that everyone admired…}

'Shut up.'

Because Drakorinith started to talk for too long, Ashoka tapped the ring forcing him to shut up.

{How dare you....do ...something.....like this....to this monarch...}

like that the cries of the old dragon reverberated without being heard by anyone.

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