The next day a man walked up to the mansion gates. The guards allowed him to enter and the attendants welcomed him inside. Wendi came to greet him and escorted him to Odeus' office. Wendi knocked on the door and Odeus called for them to enter. Odeus was busy with a lot of paperwork on his desk but he stopped and looked up to see Wendi and the guest.

"Aerrax, how have you been", said Odeus as he stood up from his desk.

"Your Grace", said Aerrax as he gave his salute to the Duke. "I have been well, I trust you have been…", he paused, not wanting to finish the sentence. 

"It's fine, I've been keeping busy taking care of the children and my region", replied Odeus. "Also no need to be so formal when we are in private".

"Ah yes, I understand", said Aerrax.

At the same time, someone knocks on the door.

"Your Grace, I have brought Axel as you ordered", said Yohan outside of the door.

"Yes, enter", replied Odeus.

The door opened and Axel entered.

"You wanted to see me father", said Axel.

"Yes I wanted to introduce you to your new tutor", said Odeus. "This is Aerrax, the younger brother of Astrid and he's also your new tutor".

Axel looks up at the man before him. Aerrax was also a Dragonkin and he looked a lot like his sister. Short spiky dark blue hair and tanned skin. The 2 horns that protruded from his head were slightly longer than his sister’s and they curved upwards. He was not as tall as her either but he also had a small patch of blue scales under his green eyes.

“Hello, Mr. Etephyr. A pleasant morning to you”, said Axel to Aerrax as he placed his right hand across his chest and lowered his head.

He perfectly displayed how a noble greets other nobles.

“Hahaha, a delightful child. This might be fun after all”, laughed Aerrax. “I’m not a noble though so I’d rather have a handshake”.

Aerrax extended his arm for a handshake. Axel smiled and shook his hand.

Aerrax said his goodbyes and left for the day but the following day he came fully prepared to teach. Yohan, Axel’s attendant, escorted them to the library; a small room on the 6th floor which is the highest floor. The room had not been used for some time but was tidied for their use. Axel sat at the large desk by the window, there were bookshelves both in front and behind him. Aerrax sat at the seat opposite Axel but he was still within reach of him. From a tiny bag on his waist, Aerrax pulled 4 large textbooks and a notebook. 

Axel was bombarded with so many things at once that he could hide the curious look on his face. The tiny bag was a storage bag like the ones in the video games he knew. The sparkly things that floated up when he took out the books were real-life magic. The books had leather covers but the pages were made with actual paper instead of parchment. Axel was amazed but… the one thing he didn’t like was the size of those books, they were huge. Axel had completed a full course of schooling in his previous life, he never wanted to see books like those for a long time. He regretted agreeing to the lessons, although he didn’t really have a choice. 

“In this 1 year teaching period, these are the things you have to learn and each book has the basics and more. ‘Magic and Technology’, ‘Arithmetics’, ‘Civics, Law and Economics’, and ‘History’” said Aerrax. “You also have to learn linguistics but you don’t need a textbook for that since you have me… that’s right I’m a scholar of linguistics and etiquette”.

Axel laughed awkwardly and pulled the arithmetics book closer to himself. He opened it and started flipping through the pages. He was glad to see that the information in the book was the same as he had learned back on earth.

“Oh, before we get into these books I wanted to ask you something”, said Axel.

“Yes, go ahead”, he replied.

“Why are these books made with paper instead of parchment? I've only seen father use parchment”, asked Axel. 

“Ah, I see. I’m a bit surprised you noticed the difference. Come to think of it, how do you know the terms paper and parchment?”.

“Hahaha, I know lots of things since I can read”, said Axel avoiding eye contact.

“Yes your father told me you could read although he doesn’t know how much or who taught you”, said Aerrax. “It’s a bit suspicious but it also means less work for me… anyhow, back to your question”.

Axel was relieved he moved on and didn’t question him further. He had learned to read by observing people reading while he was in his ghost form. Axel also took the chance to continue learning to read in the short period since he joined with his body.

“Parchment is mostly used by magicians and nobles. It is made from monster hide and is incredibly sturdy, it is also more compatible with magic than paper. This also makes it more costly but there is an endless supply of monsters so not that much more costly than regular paper. However, paper is easier to make and make books with, which is why parchment is mostly used for legal documents and magic scrolls”, Aerrax explained.

“Oh I see, that makes sense”, said Axel. “But that would also mean that there is a large demand for magic scrolls, are the scrolls destroyed upon use?”.

Aerrax was stunned by the conversation he was having with a sheltered 8-year-old.

“Y-Yes… depending on the type of magic used, most magic scrolls are single-use”, Aerrax replied.

“Used mostly by people who can’t use magic no doubt. That would make them more valuable too”, said Axel.

Aerrax didn’t know what was going on anymore. He thought he was coming to teach a young child who had no precognition of the world. He was speechless.

“Yohan, may I trouble you for some refreshments for my guest”, said Axel looking towards the door where Yohan stood.

“Of course my lord, no trouble at all”, he replied and scurried off.

Ha… with this charade he won’t be too surprised when I speed through things I know already, no one suspicious here hehehe, Axel thought to himself.

“How incredibly suspicious…you are not like what your father told me to expect, very suspicious indeed”, said Aerrax

“Whatever do you mean professor Etephyr, what did my father tell you to expect?”, asked Axel.

“He said not to expect too much of anything. You spend most of your time cuddling your little siblings and watching the clouds in the garden, basically, you’re a bit asinine”, said Aerrax without holding back.

“Asinine!!”, Axel yelled. “You wound me father, isn’t that a bit harsh…did he really say that?”

“He didn't, that was my interpretation, also I wanted to know if you knew the word asinine”, Aerrax replied.

“Eh…”, Axell began panicking on the inside.

Luckily for him, Yohan came with tea and biscuits and interrupted the conversation that was about to become an interrogation. They spent the rest of the day going over what Axel would learn from each book. Axel decided to speak as little as possible from that moment forth. 

For the next few weeks, Axel had his classes every other day and learned the basics of the world he lived in. 

He learned that they don’t have a seven-day week system like on earth. They count the days and group them with the seasons. The seasons could be considered as the months making a year consisting of only 4 months. They consider a year to have 300 days split equally among the seasons.

He learned how the money system works. They do not use paper bills but instead, coins that had symbols in the center.

100 copper coins = 1 silver coin 

100 silver coins = 1 gold coin

1000 gold coins = 1 platinum coin

They discussed the different places in the empire and the people who rule over them for the emperor. He also learned about the different countries, their landscapes and other things that make them different from the empire.