Chapter 41: Isekai Life & New Rest

We were taken to the palace of the lord paramount in Tresens, which was a fortified estate. If what Mariska said was to be believed, it was also a former temple to Malgarath himself. The thought set a shiver up my spine. I don’t know what will happen to Malgarath now ... Ashryn’s little myth seemed to imply that the gods are totally unkillable by mortal hands, but who knows if she’s accurate. I mean, that sounds like something a god would totally tell a cleric to say.

Well, I could at least hope that he was out of the way for now.

The wagon rolled through the gates and to the front of the main building. Ashryn and Katriana were helping me to the ground when some servants came out to greet us. The wagon driver delivered the instructions, “These are the honoured guests of Lord Paramount Harelmaine, they are to be given a suite of rooms to themselves and their every need seen to.”

Fairly innocuous instructions, but there were audible gasps and one of the older maids fainted when “Lord Paramount Harlemaine” was mentioned. I guess work of the previous lord paramount’s death hadn’t reached here until now.

Also, more to the point- Hawkins’ first name was Harlemaine? Poor bastard.

Either way, once they collected themselves and the fainted maid was taken away to recover, we were taken into the manor, and whisked away to our rooms. It was a small courtyard, partly covered with a canopy, around which there was a portico with eight bedrooms branching off of it. The canopied part of the courtyard was a comfortable looking seating area with a stone firepit, while the uncovered bit was was a small garden.

One of the maids curtsied as we took this all in. “Will there anything be else, sir and madams?”

“Well, actually, I-” I began, when Calliope gently took me by shoulder and lead me away. Katriana took my place, and continued without missing a beat, asked for Bekker and our belonging to be retrieved from the Lazy Ox.

Calliope, leading me to one of the chairs, sat me down and said, “Sorry, but I know how some men react to a maid in uniform, and, well...”

“Well?” I asked.

“I don’t want to have to share you with ... some maid,” she said, “I agree with Katriana’s point of view, where we have to make sure that you only lay with ... quality people. So, don’t mind us if we screen some of the women you interact, okay?”

Apparently a conspiracy was afoot with my lovers. I had to tread carefully if I was to continue with my harem plan.

“Yes, well, that’s fine and all,” I said thoughtfully, even though it kind of wasn’t, “But all I wanted was some water, which none of you have bothered to get me since I asked for it back at the arena.”

She at least had the grace to wince visibly. “I’ll, um, look for some water for you,” she replied, and scurried off to look in one of the bedrooms.

We were left there for most of the day, and while I did get a drink, it was only when the servants dropped off platters of fruit, cold cuts and cheeses, along with pitchers of wine and sweet tea for us to enjoy.

The immediate lack of comforts, it turns out, probably had to do with the fact that we were a relatively large party of unexpected guests. The beds in each of the rooms were unmade, bare mattresses that maids showed up later that day to make up with fresh sheets. Everything was well kept, but unlike the inn, it seem this space was on standby until guests were expected.

The bedrooms were a little disappointing to me. They were little rooms, comfortable for one person but crowded for two, with a writing desk, double bed, and space for a chest. Maybe we could squeeze three of us into one, but it would have been like the one night the four of us slept in the larger bed at the inn- crowded and uncomfortable. While the courtyard with it’s sitting area and all was very nice, the individual rooms were very lacking compared to what I had gotten used to.

Bekker eventually arrived, along with a pair of stablehands carrying my chest and a line of other servants bringing in our various packs, bags and other accoutrements we left at the inn. Immediately, he took a look around, taking everything and began delivering orders to the lord paramount’s own staff like he had been our butler for years instead of a couple days. He found everything unacceptable- the fact that we hadn’t been offered baths to wash off the soot, the fact that we we hadn’t been offered bread and salt- some kind of hospitality rule, I suppose- he even found parts of the bedrooms that were insufficiently dusted. Needless to say, the lord paramount’s servants snapped to and soon we were served even more food, told that we could expect a bath shortly, and even asked what our preferences for dinner would be.

To be totally fair to the staff at the palace, they had just found out their lord had died and maybe had his soul devoured by a dark god.

It was a long afternoon, and much of it was spent filling in Bekker on everything that had happened. Only Enna was really in good cheer, and she had walked out to explore the palace pretty early on. The rest of us had gotten cleaned up, rested and were enjoying our little fire over some wine. Every time I saw Ashryn or Katriana drinking more, I winced, but what could I say that wouldn’t be breaking the rules?

As the night wore on, my first instinct was to take Ashryn to bed and make a snarky remark about leaving Calliope and Katriana needing to discuss keeping me away from women. But ... if I wanted a harem, that involved putting in the work. That is, keeping in mind the emotions of the girls. I couldn’t just act like an asshole because it was cathartic.

Instead, maybe they deserved a little subtle reminder?

I cleared my throat. “Um, Ashryn, where does Calliope fit into your prophecy?”

“Oh!” Ashryn seemed excited for the topic of conversation to fall on one of her specialities, “I think she’s the Maiden of Battles. After all, she was a maiden when you met her, and got ambushed directly after, right?”

“Yeah, but we were all virgins,” Katriana said, blushing a little, “And we’ve all seen battle. I thought you said you were going to be certain about this prophecy thing.”