I entered a large lobby where a couple of employees sat behind a moon-shaped desk and chatted. There was one man and one woman who both looked to be middle-aged and wore some kind of uniform. When I walked in, they halted their conversation and focused their attention on me. The woman shot me a professional smile as I approached but the man wore a neutral expression on his face.

“Good day, sir.” The man said.

“How may we help you today?” The woman added without delay.

I tried mimicking her smile, but I think it just ended up looking weird and forced. What can I say. I’m a happy guy, but I can’t force it like that.

“Y-Yeah, hello, good day and all that.” I babbled out. “This is the Grimwick Arms School isn’t it? I’d like to enrol if possible.”

The man bent down and started looking for something under the desk. The woman kept her attention on me. “Very well. Is there a special program you’d like to take, or are you undecided? Here at Grimwick Arms School our instructors are experienced in a vide variety of styles and weapons so there is a lot to choose from. If you’d like we can give you a pamphlet showcasing some of our more popular programs?”

I snorted when she mentioned the pamphlet but tried covering it up as just a cough. “No, it’s fine. I won’t need your, erm… pamphlet.” I said in a voice that was just a little too bright.

Come on Shawn, get a hold of yourself. But still, she was offering me a freaking pamphlet. I don’t know why, but to me a fantasy world and pamphlets didn’t feel like a natural mix.

The woman still had a professional smile on her face, but she was starting to look at me a little oddly. The man was still doing something under the desk, and it didn’t seem like he was paying attention to what was being said. Suddenly he sat up again and placed a bundle of papers on the desk in front of him. He then took a couple of papers and laid them in front of me. The paper felt kind of worn and had a yellowish tint to it. There was a bunch of text written on both pieces, but I had no idea what it said.

“Ahem. Anyways. I’ve already decided a weapon I want to train with. Do any of your instructors teach how to use the halberd?” I said as I examined the papers

The woman looked a little surprised and turned questioningly to the man. He seemed to think for a few seconds before he talked. “Instructor Nimmen specializes in pole weapons. I am unaware whether or not he’s proficient with the halberd specifically, but even if he isn’t, I’m sure we can work something out. However, if you’d like I can verify it now.”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that. Thanks.”

“Very well then.” The man said and stood up. “Taniya, would you be so kind as to begin the admittance process while I’m away.” He said to the woman before he left the lobby through a door at the back.

The woman, who I guess is called Taniya, followed the man with her eyes as he left and as soon as he was out of sight, she turned to me again. “Shall we begin then?” She asked and took out a dip pen which she promptly dipped in an ink bowl that was on the desk. She looked through the pile of papers for a few seconds before she took out a specific piece of paper that looked similar to the ones that I had in front of me. Wonder if these were contracts of some kind?

“As you’re not choosing a pre-existing program, we’ll have to create one for you specifically. As instructor Nimmen is the only instructor we have that might be able to teach you, the schedule we can create will depend mostly on when he is available. Luckily for you not many people come here to Grimwick to learn how to use pole weapons so availability shouldn’t be a problem. That means that the frequency of your sessions mainly depends on how often you have time and how much you can pay.” She shot me an asking glance.

It took me a moment to realize that she was actually asking me a question.

“Oh. Well for the time being I’ve got nothing better to do so as often as possible would be nice. I don’t know the prices yet though, but if I can afford it, I’ll pay for it.” I hurried to answer.

“I see.” She said and wrote something down on the paper. “Generally, you pay one silver for every hour in a session. Even though instructor Nimmen doesn’t have many pupils at the moment you won’t be able to have sessions with him all the time. I’d guess that most days you’ll get at most fours hours. The school does however have a training hall that students can use whenever they want for a small fee.”

“A small fee of…?” I queried.

“Ten silver at the start of any week that you plan to use it.”

“That’s not too bad.”

“There’s also an enrolment cost of one gold that all students have to pay.”

“That’s a bit more…” I said and winced.

“Now…” She said and pointed towards the papers that lay on the table in front of me. “There is some paperwork which we have to fill in to get you enrolled. First of all, if you could please write your name and what you’ll be training here.” She said and stretched out the pen to me.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. “Hehe, about that… I can’t really read. Or write. Or talk, to be perfectly honest.”

“That’s fine. I can write it for you then.” She said and pulled the pen back. “But what do you mean by that you can’t talk?” She inquired curiously.

Crap. Maybe admitting that I have a magical item that translates everything isn’t a good idea? I have no idea if that’s something rare here or not, so it might be better to play it safe.

“Sorry, I meant nothing by it. Just a bad joke. I don’t really do much of the ‘social’.” I said and formed air quotes with my fingers.

“Mm. Not a good joke, sorry. But let’s get this started” She hummed and nodded her head. Then she took one of the pieces of paper that were in front of me and held her pen above it. “What is your name?”

“Garlyn Yates?” I said.

Her eyes went up to me and she had a sceptical look on her face. “Was that a question?”

“No?”

Raising her eyebrows, she looked down to the paper and wrote something. To me it just looked like a bunch of squiggly lines and shapes, but I guess that how my new name is spelled.

“And just to make sure; You want to learn how to use the halberd? And you agree to be taught by one of the Grimwick Arms School’s instructors. In this case, instructor Nimmen?”

“Yeah, that’s correct.”

“And if I understood you correctly you want to have as many sessions with him as possible? I’ll warn you that the amount of free sessions might change depending on if there are new students or old students leave.”

“Yeah that’s right. And that’s fine too.”

She wrote down a few other things before she put the pen down on the table and folded her hands together. “Then we’ll wait for my colleague to come back with confirmation. He’ll bring the instructor’s schedule too, so we’ll be able to decide a schedule for you here and now if you want.”

“That sounds good.” I said and she just nodded her head but said nothing. I got a little uncomfortable by the silence, but I decided to just play around some with the mana in my body while we waited. Because of that I nearly missed when the man returned and spoke to me.

“-should be no problems.” He said to me.

“Uh, could you repeat that please?” I said, feeling embarrassed.

He frowned for a second, but his neutral disposition quickly returned. “I said that instructor Nimmen does indeed know how to teach you to use the halberd, so there should be no problems.” He said, sounding just a tad bit annoyed.

“Great! Then, where should I sign?”

I spent the main part of the rest hour in a side room with Taniya in a side room where set up a schedule for me and discussed costs. I decided to pay immediately for the enrolment cost, the next two weeks and the fee for using the training hall. That came down to two gold and thirteen silver.

That made me rethink buying that dagger earlier today. If I’m counting right that means that just that one dagger cost almost as much as two weeks at this place. I have a decent amount of gold but maybe I should be more careful about how I spend it. It made me cringe thinking about how I bought those clothes yesterday from that man without even considering the fact that he might have been scamming me. I had just admitted to him that I didn’t even know what currency they used in this city after all.

Taniya did also ask me if I had a weapon of my own and when I told her that I didn’t she said that the instructor could bring a few that I could buy to our first session that was tomorrow.

After that I got to sign some papers, which was just me badly copying what Taniya told me was my name, and then I left the Grimwick Arms School for the day. I went back to the inn and paid for another night there and spent the rest of the day sitting in my room practicing how to control my mana inside my own body. There were a few spells I wanted to try out, but I didn’t feel like I had enough control over my mana yet do them, so that was one of my priorities. I mostly practiced using ’Chronal Shift’ faster and focusing more of my mana in my finger when I used ‘Dimensional Storage’.

When I finally lay down in bed, I had a hard time falling asleep because I was so excited. Finally, tomorrow I’d get to learn how to fight for real.