Chapter 38: Isekai Life & State Dinner

After the bath was done the royal tailor had come and gone, I was outfitted with a new set of clothes that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. I suppose it was true to the setting, but first I was given a set of black hose- a tight clingy pair of pants that were more or less pantyhose, only it wasn’t sheer. After months of wearing nothing but robes, the close fabric was hot, itchy and tight in all the whole places. On top on that I was to wear a puffy-sleeved red tunic, which was at least long enough to cover my ass, and a heavy leather belt with bronze studs. They even had given me a new pair of freshly shined boots to wear to dinner. Compared to my usual daily wear, it felt tight and suffocating, but on the other hand...

With the tailor came Dara, looking to gather up my clothes for the laundry. After weeks of fighting goblins and travelling on horseback, they were stained and faded and probably smelled as bad as the rest of me. The only thing they weren’t was threadbare or torn- my Mending spell had been put to work frequently during the easier days of our travels to ensure that our clothes weren’t falling to tatters- but the cheerful maid clicked her tongue over them nonetheless. But, at least it was being taken care of. She even offered to take my hat and try to scrub a few of the stains out of it, which was fine by me. It had never even occurred to me that a hat would need washing from time to time.

Following all that, I had a little time before dinner, so I figured it was as good a time as any to clean out my bags. I spread everything out on the bed, and took careful inventory. I had snacked through my personal store of iron rations on the road here, but the bottom of my bag was littered with old nuts and dried berries that I was happen to tip out into the chamberpot. My mostly-unused lantern was a little dinged up from travel, and my hand mirror had developed a small crack, but it was tactical hand mirror anyway and would still function just fine.

Since I still didn’t have a lock or the Wizard Lock spell, I couldn’t anything about my valuable other than trust they still be here. Kythaela seemed to trust these servants, so I decided that I ought to as well, and simply left all my belongings spread out on my bed while I tried in vain to purify the stink of my leather backpack with a bit of leftover soap and my washstand, careful not to splash on my fancy new clothing.

Soon after giving up on that, Dara knocked on my door and announced my formal invite to dine with the royal family. I silently thanked Dog that among the conveniences of “my Heaven” included that my hands didn’t become chafed or peeling after all that scrubbing, and went to join my allies who were gathering in the hall.

As usual, I was the last to arrive. I never realized how slow I was to get ready in my life before becoming Theodore, but I guess that’s because I was unused to people wanting to wait for me. I didn’t exactly have friends then.

Voss and Raszil were dressed basically like I was, though Raszil’s tunic was far too long for his body and dangled down below his knees. Voss’ tunic was a dark forest green while Raszil’s was a bright blue. Sorrel was wearing a blue dress that hung on her underdeveloped figure in an awkward way that kind of reminded me of cheap prom dresses. Calliope was dressed as she was before, although she had added a gold inlaid choker that it took me a moment to realize was the choker I had given her months before. She barely wore it except occasionally to bed with me, so I was a little surprised to see it out now.

But Yua was a revelation. When we first met her, she was scrawny and badly malnourished to a point where the hunger endured by Kythaela could be called a “rough week”. Recovering was a slow process, especially given how much energy she had to be burning as an adventurer, but over the month or so since then she had begun filling out to a noticeable degree. It was easy to overlook given how she wore Katriana’s old scale mail pretty much all the time, but now she was in a pale yellow dress. A tailored dress that expertly followed her curves, and showed off just how sensual her figure was. The dress pushed up her bust at the top, with only a scrap of lace to hide her cleavage, and she was surprisingly busty, easily beating Calliope’s modest chest. Her waist was pleasingly tight, though with the strength that Yua has displayed on occasion I would be willing to bet she had a decent set of abs under there. The dress then followed the wide curve of her hips and her full thighs before finally melting into a flared skirt. She looked incredible.

Adding to the overall effect was the fact that she was blushing furiously, staring at the floor, and fidgeting with her skirt. It was pretty adorable.

I tried to tear my sight away from the adorable dragon girl and focus on Calliope. I strode over to her, and took her hands in mine. “You look gorgeous,” I told her, “I’m happy to see you wearing that.”

Calliope smiled shyly and giggled. “You have a strange idea of what I consider important. I understood the spellbook, but ... you know that dagger is just a belt knife I stole from my brother when I was twelve, right? It’s the least important thing in the world to me.”

I was taken a little aback by that. “Well ... I guess it ended up being important to me,” I explained lamely.

“Well, I hope it protected you and served you well,” she replied.

I was trying to think of what to say in reply, when Raszil cleared his throat noisily. I looked up in time to see Siora approaching us.

“Excellent, I’m happy to see that you all are ready,” she said, “The tailor has done his work, then, good. Please, come this way.”

And so, we were whisked off through the halls of the palace, lead by the maid Siora. I realized that I was actually quite hungry, and that with everything going on I had missed lunch entirely. But while I was busy thinking about my stomach, Raszil, who evidently had other things on his mind, hurried forward to walk next to the elven maid.

“Pardon me, miss, but I was wondering who precisely we were going to be having dinner with,” he asked.

“His Majesty the King, of course, as well as Princess Kythaela and the rest of the royal family.,” the maid responded, “Also some high officials of the court. The High Commander, Prime Minster, High Priest and the Court Wizard.”

“I see,” Raszil replied, “And, please, neither myself nor my companions would want to make offence, which of these people should we expect not give us a warm welcome to table?”

Siora paused. “Of course it is not for me to cast aspersions on the royal court, you understand,” she replied, after a short hesitation.

“Of course.”

“But His Grace the second Prince and the Court Wizard should be glad to see you, seeing as how you returned Princess Kythaela to us.”

I grimaced. If I was reading between the lines correctly, that would mean that the majority of these high officials were racist against humans, if not actually part of this conspiracy we suspect might be behind the deadly storms.

Calliope, who had taken my arm for the trip, leaned close and whispered in my ear. “Court Wizard Ailluin has been a particular good host for me. He has even offered to give me some tutelage in new spells, once I had my spellbooks back.”

I frowned. “I hope he hasn’t given you too many private lessons...”

She gently squeezed my arm in response. “Now, now, don’t be jealous. He is a friend, and possibly an ally. Besides, I am not here wearing his collar, now am I?”

That did settle my jealousy somewhat. I was a little surprised at how strong the urge was when it arose. I guess I’m just a bit hypocritical about my women.

Eventually the tiled floor gave way to polished marble, as we left the wing of the palace and entered the central hub. Siora lead us up a flight of stairs and into a massive hall right under the interior of the dome. The room was lit by the fading sun, reflected into the chamber by cunningly placed bronze panels in the shapes of heroes and animals engaged in an eternal hunt around the inside of the dome. Surrounding the room were columns, between which were suspended tapestries of what I assumed were important moments in mist elf history, coronations, weddings, and speeches.

In the centre of the room, a long stone table was being set by servants. Already seated were three elven men, though none of them occupied the royal seats at the head of the table. They all had the characteristic glossy black hair, and wore fancy courtier outfits. One of them, wearing a dark blue half-cape and a cream coloured tunic, rose and smiled broadly, heading towards us. The other two, wearing forest green and a very light grey respectively, glanced our way but remain seated.

“Ah, Miss Calliope,” the mist elf approaching us said, reaching out to take her hand and kiss it. She smiled warmly at him in response. “And this must be the most famous Theodore,” he followed, offering me a hand to shake, “It is a pleasure to finally meet you. And this must be the mighty Sir Voss, the indomitable Raszil, and this lovely lady the mysterious Yua. Welcome, welcome. I am Ailluin of House Miarix, humble court wizard to His Grace. I do not know the young woman there, but I am honoured to make your acquaintance as well.”

The man’s rapid-fire pace of introducing himself to all of us was a little overwhelming, but as I shook his hand in return I tried to recover. Before I could reply, he had already moved on, however.

“This is Sorrel, my squire,” Voss was explaining, while Ailluin seemed to be focused on them. Meanwhile, I noticed, another mist elf, this time a women in a bright green dress decorated with bronze embroidery, joined the two remaining seated at the table.

When the court wizard’s pompous introductions were over, he lead us over to the table. “Please, Sir Voss, Master Theodore, allow me to introduce you to rest of of His Grace’s highest advisors,” he said, gesturing at the other three elves. “This is High Priest Travaran of House Trisric, High Commander Sundamar of House Beirin, and last but far from least, our esteemed Prime Minister Caeda Vasys.”

The High Priest and High Commander gave us tight, unfriendly nods of greeting. I could tell them apart by their hairstyle- the man I assume was the High Commander had a short military cut, but the High Priest had long, wavy locks that he held back from his face with a silver circlet, but flowed own the rest of his head in a thick cascade. Now we were closer, I could see there were badges pinned to their chests, the High Commander a blackbird on a white background, and the High Priest a green tree with outspread branches on a field of pale yellow.