Sword God in a World of Magic

'Duke?' Alex thought in surprise. 'That means that this world, or this country at least, operates on an aristocratic basis probably. As far as I remember, a duke was pretty high up in the chain of command.'

'Additionally, he said he was a High Mage. He said Mana Sources are important for Apprentices to become Adepts. I can guess with quite some certainty that Apprentices probably reflect Mages in the First Realm, while Adepts are Mages in the Second Realm. The Third Realm should logically be a Mage, which would make the Fourth Realm a High Mage, probably.'

'According to what he said, the hedgehog and the octopus are creatures of the Third Realm. The fact that he is in the Fourth Realm also explains how he could take care of them.'

'This is probably a real big-shot! Fuck, I can't believe I greeted him with a yo!' Alex thought.

"I'm sorry for my earlier disrespect, Duke Whirlwind," Alex said with a respectful tone.

Duke Whirlwind smirked a bit. "You know, it's customary to refer to a duke as your grace," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, your grace," Alex said. "I haven't talked to any nobles before. Please, excuse me for my negligence."

Surprisingly, the duke chuckled for a bit.

"You really don't get under people much, do you?" Duke Whirlwind asked.

"No, I don't, ehm, your grace," Alex said.

The duke chuckled again.

"You know, the your grace thing is antiquated. No one talks like that anymore. Referring to me with my title or simply by sir is already enough," the duke said with a slight smile.

The duke had been rather cold towards Alex at the beginning, but after he saw how innocent, gullible, and naïve Alex was, his mood brightened a bit.

It was rare to see a youngster that didn't try to lick his boots to get into his good graces.

"Oh, okay," Alex said, uncertain of how he should proceed.

"What's your name, young man?" Duke Whirlwind asked.

"I'm aargh!" Alex tried to say, but before he could even think about his name, a pain came from his mind. Alex grabbed the side of his head in pain.

Duke Whirlwind was surprised when he saw Alex's actions. The young man was genuinely in pain. Even his veins were seemingly popping out of the side of his head. This was a sign of pain and stress, and something like that couldn't be faked.

"Are you injured?" Duke Whirlwind asked neutrally. The young man obviously wasn't critically injured, which was why he wasn't very worried about him.

"No, it's just something that happens from time to time," Alex said as he took a deep breath.

"My name is Shang," Alex said.

"Shang?" Duke Whirlwind repeated with interest. "I've never heard of such a name. What about your last name, or is that your last name?"

"That's just my name," Alex said with a defeated voice.

He really didn't want to abandon his old name, but there was really nothing he could do.

How long could he even remember his old name?

thought of his actual name in forever. Whenever he thought of it,

that essentially no one, not even he, had spoken out or thought about Alex's name in half

mind automatically went to the part in his

like a closed

door, but whenever he touched

would it take for him to forget what was behind that door if he could

until

actually didn't truly remember his name since he couldn't think about

was difficult to

I don't have a first or last name. I am

in interest. "Someone with only one name. Are you from a farmer's or

Alex sighed.

don't think I have a family," Alex said. "Ever

very different to

this body couldn't have a

words would be interpreted by different

think that Shang had had a clash with his

think that

might think that Shang was

might also think that Shang was simply a weak-willed child drowned in

Duke Whirlwind interpret Alex's

Shang had probably lost his family

have a last name. Who gave you

bit, and he bestowed the name upon me. There was no other name I could use, so I accepted his name," Alex said, carefully navigating the question with

was

not

experiment on Alex to find out more about the

didn't want to talk about the

too many

in thought. "That's quite an unbelievable story, but I

reason for me to lie to you,"

Duke Whirlwind nodded.

are you in

this wilderness. It's like

know the reason why I am

this wilderness and become more

to go with a mixture of memory

in many different ways, allowing him to get out of any future questions by continually adapting the

raised one of his eyebrows as he kept combing his

spoke more

casting another

since he didn't know what that

Alex

spell hadn't taken more than

a second, the Mana left