Hello my few, but beloved readers! I have edited my first chapter from the blocky wall of texts to this easier to read "royalroad" format. I also fixed some of the dialogue and sentences, but no change to the story.

If I made some grammar errors or other types of errors while editing, please say so in the comments! (I read all the comments for every chapter, every day!)

Enjoy the chapter~

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I awaken in my cot and turn over, what greets my eyes is the same blurry scene that plays out every morning. The sight of the male servants chatting, horsing around and getting dressed before they have to perform their daily duties within the estate.

A small smile spreads upon my lips at the display of so much energy, they seem to have it every morning and without fail. When one of the servants, a gardener, spies my smile from the corner he’s in. As he dresses in his loose, but presentable gardening cloths, he chimes “Are you enjoying the show?”

I turn to him and my smile turns into a smirk while I snap a sarcastic remark, “Free shows are the best shows, but I’m sure you know that better than I do.”

He then grows a smirk of his own and continues to get ready for a busy day of leaf raking.

As everyone prepares for a day of hard labor or a multitude of tedious tasks, I sit up from my warm cot and begin searching down below me. After a few seconds of feeling around my hand reaches its destination and I start to rummage through a pile of dirty clothes.

After about a minute of pushing dirty clothes aside I grasp what I’ve been looking for, a small wooden box.

I sluggishly open the box and pull out my round pair of glasses, and after placing them upon my face I habitually push them further up the bridge of my nose.

I then stood up from my cot and began trudging over towards my chest, filled with clean clothes and my other personal belongings. Once I weaved pass the other servants getting ready, I reached down to open my chest, and began fishing out a set of clean clothes.

That was when something occurred to me, I then snapped my back in a straight posture like a soldier being hammered by a drill sergeant, and I began to observe the servants quarters like a hawk. I knew there was something off, especially when my cot wasn’t kicked in a sudden matter while I tried to sleep.

After noticing someone was missing I turned towards one of the nearby servants and asked “Hey Emerson, wheres Greg? Shouldn’t he have returned last night?”

Emerson, seeing how I was troubled by Gregory’s absence, smirked while quipping, “He was bragging about how he found a new girl that would share a bed with him yesterday, so I’m assuming he had ‘spent the night’ with her. You jealous?”

I frowned, and replied with distaste, “Pierce is gonna have his ass if he misses another roll call.”

Emerson then flatly stated “Why should you care?”

But I ignored him and began dressing myself while thinking ‘Damn it Greg, a few more incidents like this and you’ll be punished by Lord Raingrip again. I’m not going to vouch for you this time…’

After putting on my overcoat I walked over to the bathroom to relieve myself as well as check to see if I look presentable.

The one good thing about living under the Raingrips is Lady Tilda, she is always obsessed with the present-ability and well being of the servants, and there is a rumor floating around that the family she comes from used to treat their servants like slaves and would constantly “correct” them with hot coals, whips and everything else to cause maximum pain. But one day her parents were found slashed up in their beds with the words “corrected” written in blood on the walls.

I’ve no idea if those rumors are true or not though, but it matters little to me and the other servants because we get good meals, no beatings and good pay.

She also had large mirrors installed within the servant’s quarters to make sure we look our best, but in my opinion that was a mistake because the guardsmen just use it to check out their muscles most of the time. But we are thankful to Lady Tilda for these luxuries anyway.

Once I was finished relieving myself in one of the chamber pots I walk over towards the indoor water pump and drain. I then began to wash my hands and face with soap, one of said luxuries thanks to Lady Tilda.

After washing up in the very cold water, I slowly paced over to the large mirror with my face and hands still wet. After pushing aside two guardsmen, flexing at themselves in the mirror before their shift started, I began looking at my appearance.

What greeted my eyes was my fatigued looking face, dark circles under my storm gray eyes and my disheveled azure hair.

Gazing down at my attire I noticed the brown leather belt around my beige pants wasn’t buckled and the white long sleeved shirt under my vest, that was the same color as my hair, was wrinkled.

I grunted in annoyance and began to rectify my messy appearance by slicking back my hair with the excess water that was on my hands, my hair was my source of pride because it showed my strong affinity for the water element, so I always make sure it looks good first and foremost. I then buckled my belt up and attempted to smooth out the wrinkles on my shirt with my hands, which brought some success.

After fixing my hair as well as my clothes, I gazed upon my face intensely while slowly walking closer to the mirror. My face wasn’t the best looking but it wasn’t ugly, I had a mature look with a hint of boyishness to it. After I had wasted plenty of minutes standing in front of the mirror, ten minutes to be exact, a familiar voice interrupted my very important search.

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“Still waiting for that facial hair to come in eh, Theodor?”

I whipped my head away from the mirror too look at the chuckling figure.

“Shutup Greg. I’m just… trying to…”

My voice trailed off as my gaze fell upon Greg, he looked his normal self with his short brown hair, small goatee, tall frame and his stocky build, except for his busted up face. Both of his eyes were blackened and one was swollen so bad that it was shut, his face also had multiple scratches along with bruises.

When I made eye contact with him, he started to grin widely revealing a missing tooth. I sighed and asked “What the hell happened to you?”

He kept the grin on his face and he replied with, “Long story.”

I drew another long sigh when he held out his hand, presenting what I assumed was his missing tooth.

I put a hand to my face and answered the question I’m sure he was going to ask, “Damn it Greg, I can’t be wasting my mana before I go to Mrs.Enhana’s estate.”

When Greg heard me say that, he kept his grinning visage but said with a tempting tone, “I’ll cover the tab tonight..?”

I stood there looking at him with a stoic face and gave him a flat reply. “Only if you take my shift AND pay the tab.”

It didn’t take long for Greg to make up his mind. He then winced, as if he had been punched again, and squeaked out an “Okay..”

I began laughing wryly, as we walked over to the indoor water pump, with me leading the way. As we made it to the pump he asked in a pleading tone.

“Please conjure the water? I don’t want these bruises to be too obvious. I have a date after my shift.”

I raised an eyebrow and quipped “Like hell I’m going to waste my mana anymore than this, Mrs.Enhana is teaching us a new spell today and I need all the mana I have.” A sinister grin appeared on my face and I continued, “Plus you have my shift to take care of, so I’ve no clue why you think you’re going on a date.”

Greg began whimpering and teared up, but I knew it was an act so ignored it.

After our little exchange of words I began pumping the water while chanting under my breath, soon the water started glowing and began floating around me. It hovered there, suspended by my mana while I motioned for Greg to get closer.

As he approached I began my chanting again, but this time the water started gathering around my hands, I then placed my hands over his face while the water began to restore his wounds.

After about five minutes his face looked presentable, and all that remained of his wounds was a few scuffs and a bit of bruising that would go away after a day or two. So I stopped my chanting but left the glowing water on my hands, and with my left hand I motioned for him to give me his lost tooth, he then placed it in my palm. I then, without warning, I shoved the tooth back into his gums where it was previously, causing the wound to reopen making his blood begin to flow within his mouth.

He didn’t struggle because this isn’t the first time I had to do this, but it didn’t stop him from groaning loudly in agony.

Before he could possibly blackout I placed my watery right hand next to my left over his mouth, and began chanting. It appeared his pain ceased after my chanting began and a look of relief grew on his face. This went on for five minutes before I considered his tooth to be fine.

“There you go, you brute, all healed and ready to roll.” I declared.

“Thank you so much Theodor!”

Greg ran to the mirror across the room and began looking at his face and teeth, after a few seconds he turned to me and said, “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have such a skilled water mage for a friend.” Ending his sentence with two thumbs up.

“You say this every time you get healed by me, and that’s only after you get busted up.” I said with a sigh and a frown.

“I can’t imagine what would happen to you if I wasn’t around.” I dispersed the glowing blue water from my hands into the drain and began walking towards the exit.

Giving a dismissive wave of the hand I said “I have to go to Mrs.Enhana’s estate, showing up late to her lessons means extra work.”

With that I walked out of the bathroom while Greg was admiring himself in the mirror, like most guardsmen do.

After walking through the now empty servants quarters, I approached my cot and pulled my brown boots out from under it, after placing my feet in them and making sure they were tight I then began buttoning up my dark blue overcoat since it was mid fall and chilly outside.

I then checked my coin purse under my vest by patting the position it was in, after that I walked over to the chest where my belonging were and pulled out my tome, I then checked the lock keeping it closed before reaching into my overcoat, with it in hand, and hung it upon my belt.  

With that done I walked to the door that leads to outside. It was in the servant's chamber so the groundskeepers and other dirty servants could enter and leave as needed.

However it was really there so they wouldn’t track dirt through the main house every time they retired for the day, but I used it out of convenience every morning.

As I placed my hand on the knob I whispered to myself “I can’t wait to see what spell Mrs.Enhana teaches us today.”

With a twist of the knob I opened the door and began my journey.