After Axel left, Vargas magically appeared in the room and asked, "Will you truly let him attend the academy?"
Daniel looked at him for a moment and said, "No."
The butler sighed and stated, "Daniel, even if it may be out of place, I must say that what the boy said was not wrong." Daniel's gaze intensified at the Butler, who was his friend as well as his subordinate."What happened after the disappearance of the previous patriarch is a clear example of this. He always pampered you, just as you do with your son. You know this as well, that you could have become so much stronger, and you had great potential as well, yet look at you now."
With every word Vargas spoke, the pressure on Daniel intensified. Still, he did not stop from telling the truth: "Would you rather give the boy a pretence of false peace, rather than a chance to obtain true control and power, something that will finally shift the scales of destiny in our favor?"
Vargas could feel that his bones might crack if the pressure increased any more, yet his eyes were resolute as he kept hammering truth in his friend, "Sooner or later, he needs to become a Seeker, even for his own sake. The king will soon summon the Valkyrie. The threat of war hangs in the air. At that, you won't be by his side. What I meant by protecting him is ensuring that he has enough strength to protect himself." "And our enemies shall not stay idle, Daniel."
"YOU MUST UNDERSTAND…." he could feel his bones cracking, but the pressure soon vanished. Daniel let go of his body as he slumped in the chair. A defeated expression was plastered on his face.
They both kept silent until Daniel said, "Fine, but Axel needs to be good enough to get a spot on his own. And I will allow him to enter the competition only if he shows promising progress in 6 months."
Vargas smiled, hearing that, "I will personally train him before the last 2 months of the competition. And 1 month after the competition, the academy will open."
Daniel felt defeated by his friend for some time, and he said while walking out, "I hate you." But the loyal butler only chuckled after hearing that.
A week passed, and Axel's routine continued as usual; he could do basic exercises and train his body in the mansion until his instructor appeared. But his instructor finally appeared on that day. It was a man with sharp features and bulging muscles, but he wasn't too buff.
He had a well-cut beard on his chin, and his clothes did not cover his hands. He had an intense gaze on his face as he inspected the Young Master he would train. He introduced himself as 'William' to Axel, and he was a 2nd Phase Seeker, which shocked Axel. He did not expect his father to get such an expert for his starting training when it seemed like he was more inclined to keep him away from any danger.
He also stated his position as the leader of the Guards unit of the Obsidian Trade group. William was likely one of the well-trusted men of his father. Although he wasn't the best in combat within the merchant group, he had accumulated his fair share of life and death experiences, which is why he was selected for his training. He also stated that he often trains recruits for various groups, so he was undoubtedly an excellent instructor.
William inspected the boy from head to toe. Usually, he would be cautious and handle the heir with care. Since the boy was the only child of their master, he most likely won't have any children in the future as well. Considering how much the patriarch used to love his late wife and still does. He could see the similarities the boy has with his mother just by looking at him. He also lost his memories of the past, which was another sensitive issue.
But William's mind went back to what the butler said to him when he brought out the topic of training the heir, "Do not go easy on the boy. Be as harsh as possible in his training."
William was instantly angered, "Do you want me to die or something? Everyone knows how much the master loves his son."
The butler brought out a sealed emblem and gave it to William. He opened it and read its contents, and a serious expression appeared on his face. He looked towards the butler again and asked him just to be sure, "Are you sure about this? He won't be able to earn a good spot in the competition with this little time of training."
The butler said, "I will personally take over his training in the last 2 months. I only need you to heat the metal; I will shape it into the sword."
He sighed and obeyed the orders that he was given. His mind focused back to the present. Now that the basic introductions were over. He started speaking to Axel in an authoritative voice, "Young master, from now on, you will have two sessions of training every day, for the first two months."
"One in the morning and one in the afternoon. There will be no rest at that time. When training is ongoing."
First, there will be physical training. Second will be basic attack movements or weapon-wielding.
These two will undergo training in the first two months, contingent upon Axel's progress. Then we move to the next steps of the training, which is real combat. You will have to face me every day.
"Now, let's get to physical training." Stated William.
He asked Axel to do pushups as many times as possible until he was unable to do any more. Axel did as he was asked to do. He was only able to do 30 with all of his might. He was then asked to do a series of more basic exercises. His morning routine typically consisted of 7 to 8 basic exercises without equipment, along with some running for a set duration. But there was a catch: he had to do one more of it every day.
Since he performed 30 push-ups on the first day, he would have to do one more the next day. As for running, he had to run 1 meter further every day, increasing his distance from the previous day within a limited time frame.
The morning training session would begin every day at 8 AM. Failing to do any of the exercises would make him need to do even more exercises. That was his punishment. He was a bit disappointed seeing that the training was nothing special. But he did not say it aloud. Even though it was something simple enough, he had a hard time doing all those exercises every morning.
As for his training in the afternoon, it was something similar but different. He was asked to perform various types of sword attacks on a wooden dummy. William counted the highest number of slashes he could do, and he had to do one more every day.
But that wasn't all. The sword he was given to wield was quite heavy and made of blunt, heavy iron. It was hard for him to lift the sword properly. Then, every time he swung his sword with the slightest wrong posture, it did not count, and he had to keep swinging it whether he liked it or not.
He refused to do one more slash after he was too tired at a certain point. He was beaten black and blue with a wooden stick. He glared hatefully at William, but he didn't care. The patriarch instructed him not to hold back on his punishments, and naturally, he wouldn't disobey those orders.
So, Axel could only endure regular beatings nonstop. When his physical situation became too severe, he would be given a low-quality magic potion that returned his body to normal. But that happens only when the problem becomes too dire.
Almost one month had passed before his training started. Yet, his situation only kept worsening. William never complimented him, not even once, which only made him think that he wasn't doing well enough. At first, he struggled to keep his eyes open every day immediately after the training. He would go straight to sleep the moment he entered the room and lay on the bed.
But his body slowly got used to the torturous training that pushed him to his limit in every single exercise, especially the afternoon training. He would still feel like going to sleep immediately after entering his room. But he forced himself to remain awake.
He brought back some books from the library. Things related to history, politics, and governance, such as general information. It was pretty strange, Axel remembered some stuff from the story, yet there were a lot of things that he didn't remember.
But the weirdest part is that he remembers a few things. The novel he read was quite a while ago; it was dropped by the author for some unknown reason. Unable to figure out anything about it, he decided to open one of the history books and started reading it with a tired mind.