11 Chapter 11 - A year

The academy's minimum requirements for age was 8 years old. This was because in these lands, 8 was when a boy was no longer considered a 'baby' and now a 'child'.

And children were considered old enough to start training and learning about the ways of the world.

Shin didn't quite remember his birthday though he knew it had been in the spring. So he and Hendrick decided that his birthday would be on the first day of spring.

This was also good because the academy's yearly admissions also started in the early spring.

And so, over the course of the past year, Shin had been training with Hendrick almost daily.

He was now able to comfortably lift 150 kgs of weight and even lift the 200 kg rod for a brief moment. His muscles were on the verge of entering the second level.

Hendrick had also assigned him a tutor to teach him the basic studies.

Shin hadn't had the privilege to learn the basic things that other children learned during their early years.

The main thing being learning how to read.

Of course Shin had kind of taught himself how to read in a very rudimentary way but this wasn't good enough for the upcoming materials he had to face in the academy.

So Hendrick had hired a private tutor to teach Shin about various things such as on how to read but as well as on basic etiquette and on how to speak like a noble.

Oh right, Shin had accepted Hendrick's proposal of adoption and was now considered to be his 'son'.

At least in name.

Shin had warmed up a lot but still maintained some kind of distance between himself and the old Baron and Hendrick just let this slip by in a sense of understanding.

But Shin was now of a noble family and he would have to at least pretend to act like one around others.

The academy was a place that was crawling with various nobles or prestigious families from all over the entire continent. It was very likely that Shin would have a hard time getting alone or even bullied if he was found to be 'different'.

Of course there were commoners within the academy. Hendrick had been one and had gone through the harsh time commoners had to face within the academy. And that was why Hendrick had decided to 'adopt' Shin.

The commoners who entered the academy were one of two types.

One type were were sons and daughters of merchants. These were the primary targets of being bullied as they usually had a lot of money that the noble bullies often took as their own 'allowance.'

The second type were talents. People who were recommended into the academy from pure talent and were the main target of everyone's envy.

The sons and daughters of the nobles had often learned from their pretentious and rude parents and often acted in a similar manner. Their entire world was based on their 'title' and commoners were just mere insects in their eyes.

And these insects performing better than them?

Outrageous.

And Shin was supposed to have been a part of this group of talents before Hendrick quickly remembered what happened in the academy.

The main issue of these problems was how the academy was operated and managed.

'Survival of the strongest'. The tutors and masters of the academy usually ignored the small fights between the youngsters unless it crossed a line. Which was usually severe injuries or threats to their lives.

And so a lot of students had formed 'groups' for protection.

Thankfully, not all nobles were like this. And the majority of the sons and daughters of knight families didn't partake in such acts as well. Of course they didn't offer help either.

But to the few commoners, that was already good enough for them.

"Happy birthday, young master." James smiled as he presented Shin before a table full of food. The most eyecatching one being a strange green looking soup in the middle of the table.

Shid had read about this and had eaten it last year as well.

It was a special dish made from a type of sea plant and a special type of fish that lived near the surface of the sea.

It was tradition for people of Gaea, which was the name of this world as Shin had learned, to eat this dish on their birthdays as it was said to bring them 'good luck'.

And it didn't taste that bad either so Shin had actually looked forward to this dish as well.

"Thank you James." Shin smiled as he sat down before Hendrick and started to eat.

Hendrick also ate but without a word in order to let Shin enjoy the dishes.

"James, bring the gift over." Hendrick smiled as he saw Shin's speed of consumption slowing down before calling out to the butler.

James soon entered the room with a gift which he presented before Shin.

"Happy birthday Shin." Hendrick smiled.

Shin looked up at Hendrick and then down back at his gift which was a small envelope.

"May I open it?" Shin asked.

"No."

"Huh?"

Shin looked back up at Hendrick in confusion as Hendrick chuckled away.

"Hahahaha. It's not for you to open but for someone else." Hendrick explained.

"Oh... Um... Who do I need to deliver this to?" Shin had been disappointed as he had expected a gift for his birthday but he tried his best not to show it as he asked for further instructions.

"Don't worry Shin. It is a gift to you but not just quite yet." Hendrick smiled, noticing the disappointment creeping up the small boy's face despite his acts on trying to hide it.

"Not yet?" Shin asked.

"Once you enter the academy, you'll be granted an option to choose a weapon after learning the basics of weapons. Each student will be granted a basic iron weapon of choice from the academy's blacksmith but if you present this letter to him, you'll be able to recieve a much better weapon than the standard issued one." Hendrick smiled.

"That." Hendrick pointed to "Will become your first true friend. A friend that will spent the next years along the academy besides and will save your life at the battlefield."

Shin looked down at the envelope with a serious expression, lost in thought on what kind of weapon he would like to use.

Of course deep inside he had a vias towards a specific type of weapon.