458 Chapter 458: A New Place (1/2)
I studied my room that Amelia led me to. It looked like a perfectly normal room, not too big or too small, but was spacious enough for my minimum needs. The bed at the center looked comfortable enough, and it was clear that someone had thoroughly cleaned the room before I arrived. Everything was set out neatly and nicely.
The windows opened up to a clear view of the streets outside, though much of the scenery was obscured by the massive garden between the manor and the fence. Thankfully, my glasses had the functions to magnify my vision and zoom in on the distant streets, in case I needed to watch out for anything happening outside the fence. However, towering above the trees grown in the garden was a beautiful scenery of the city, a panaromic view that was almost breathtaking in the darkness.
The city lights glittered in the night, resembling almost the stars overhead. Skyscrapers, Gothic-styled cathedrals and churches, and postmodern architectural buildings loomed overhead, looking almost like a city that never sleeps. I couldn't help but admire the view.
Then I closed the curtains, to minimize the risk of being spied upon from the outside. Not to mention I wanted my own privacy as well.
Before I could turn around and begin unpacking my luggage, I suddenly detected the presence of someone approaching my room. No, it wasn't as impressive as you would think. What, you thought I was some kind of assassin wannabe who was paranoid about visitors dropping by my room, checking in on how I was managing or greeting me or introducing themselves? This isn't Assassin's Pride. I wasn't paranoid enough to place my hand on the hilt of my swords and prepare for an attack out of nowhere.
As I expected, the person knocked politely on my door, and a soft, timid and familiar voice spoke up.
”Um…Sensei? May I have a moment of your time?”
I was tempted to say no and shoo her away, but obviously I wasn't that rude or cranky. I did like Melina, she was like a little sister to me in the same manner Adrian was like a younger brother. So I smiled and opened the door.
”What's up, Young Miss? Do you need something?”
Melina balked at that. ”Young Miss? Um, there's no need to address me so formally. Please call me Melina as you always have.”
Ha ha, yeah. I expected that. I was just teasing her. I smiled, and she relaxed a little, brightening up as she put forth her request.
”Um, that is…”
She suddenly produced a sword out of nowhere. It was a wooden sword, similar to the bamboo shinai that I had her train with in my dad's dojo.
”Before school begins, do you mind giving me a quick lesson right now?”
Wow…she was so eager and impatient to learn, as always. Just like I suspected, she possessed a burning passion for swordsmanship – a little like I did when I was younger. Anyone who tried to bar her from learning swordsmanship just because of a reason as nonsensical as ”she has no talent” or excuses to prevent her from inheriting her dad's position was a bastard. If I could find them, I would beat the living shit out of them…okay, I wasn't a violent person by any means, so I wouldn't literally hit them. I would probably curse them until they cried.
However, as much as I appreciated her enthusiasm…
”Lady Melina, do you know what time it is? It's almost 10pm. I just reached your place. At least give me some time to unpack and settle down before asking for a lesson.”
”A…ah!” Melina's hand flew to her mouth when she realized I was right. ”I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking!”
”Oh, no. You don't have to apologize. I understand how excited you are, and I personally can't wait to start teaching you again.” I patted her head, running my fingers through those golden, silky strands of hair. Giving her a reassuring smile, I then took a step back into the room. ”Maybe tomorrow morning, before you go to school? Let's say…6am? That should give you time to wash up, have breakfast and then prepare to head for school by 8am. Your lessons begin at 9am or so, right?”
”That is correct.” Melina beamed. ”Thank you very much, Sensei! I'll see you tomorrow morning then, at 6am!”
”See you then.” I watched as Melina bound down the corridor and disappear into the distance, and then shut the door so that I could return to my own private world.
Sighing, I glanced around the room on more time and began unpacking my luggage. As I did so, I was reminded that Melina was still attending school. Normally, I would be too, but I had been hired for this job.
Fortunately, I had completed all of my coursework, and gotten whatever credits I needed to. The only exception was my ice magic, but since I was unable to get into any of the ice magic classes, I had no choice. Furthermore, this request from Duke Fergus Franklin was counted as a ”mission”, so like all other long-term missions, I was given leave from school to complete it. This particular job also counted as an exchange program, so if anything it would greatly help me in my application for a university and look very good on my resume.
Honestly, that wasn't the reason why I accepted the job – I accepted it for one reason and one reason only.
Because I wanted to help Melina.
She reminded me awfully of myself, back when I was dismissed as ”trash” or weak or incompetent. I got that a lot when i was learning summoning magic. People looked down on me because they believed I would never amount to anything. I was so happy when I proved them wrong. Not that I would gloat over them or slap their faces like those usual cultivation protagonists did, but it was just fun to watch their faces when they realized how wrong they were. It never gets old.
”Hu…”
I stifled a yawn and exhaled wearily before stretching myself. The trip aboard the train had been quite the grueling one and now I felt exhausted for some reason. With that in mind, I resolved to get some sleep early after unpacking, especially since I promised to train Melina at 6am tomorrow morning. I sure as hell didn't want to disappoint her by oversleeping and missing the training session completely. Now that would be embarrassing.
With that settled, I proceeded to do whatever I needed to. Oh, and I still had a couple of anime episodes to stream and watch before I went to bed too…
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