Chapter 2: Exploration
After having committed myself to explore the mansion and my surroundings, now was the time to strategize how to make it all happen. There were several barriers preventing me from wandering around the mansion as I saw fit, first and foremost being ascending and descending from my crib, which I get put in when no one is around to care for me, or when I pretend to be or are really fatigued. This is where my arduous hours spent muscle training come in, I wonder if I could even pull this kind of stunt in my previous life. As a bookish person I always lacked the strength and agility of my peers.
Carefully I climb up the wooden fencing of the crib, always making sure to have maximal grip by maintaining three contact points while climbing. Falling down and hitting my head would be very undesirable, after all toddlers and babies have fragile craniums and a serious hit might cause lasting damage. Not being able to see colors is enough of a handicap for me. As my feet finally touch the ground after the arduous task I sigh in relief. My first obstacle has been cleared, now on towards the second. From my current low point of view, the massive oak door that looms in to view seems daunting indeed.
I realized quickly that I would probably only be able to work on the hinge of the door by hanging on it with my full weight, which at this point is probably around 12 to 14 kilograms at most. That means I first need to find a way to get to the hinge so that I can pull it down, and then somehow land safely afterwards. Unfortunately, it seems like some more acrobatics are needed. First I look around the room to find something that might function as a stepping stone ore makeshift ladder. In the corner of the room I notice the chair that my mother often breastfed me on after taking me out of the crib. Yes, that will do nicely. Bracing my shoulders and full weight against the chair I start pushing it towards the door. The sound of the chair legs scraping along the hard brick floor are kind of jarring. Let’s hope the noise is blocked by the thick walls of mansion and no one decides to take a peek to see what’s happening.
With a final push and once more a heavy sigh, the chair finally reaches the door. For my current body, I seem to have enacted quite the herculean feat of strength if I say so myself. Well, let’s not get too conceited, I still have to climb the damn chair and open the door. Using the same climbing technique as on the crib, I move to the top of the chair. I’m really delighted to find out that the chair does not intend to fall over as I climb one side, or even wobble for that matter. Am I really light-weight or is this just a really sturdy chair? As I reach the seat, I figure I might be able to reach the hinge if I stretch all the way to my limit. This is something I won’t be able to keep up for long with these damned baby legs, so I need to grab my mark quickly before I lose balance. Gritting my teeth, I aim for the hinge, and find out it is just within my reach. As I pull myself up with my arms and bear my full weight down on the hinge, and with a click I hear it opening outward. I quickly release my grip as I notice the door opening automatically outwards, and just manage to safely land back on the chair. That was close, Perhaps this room is somewhat slanted for it to automatically open like that? It saves me having to push it open, so I’m not complaining. After climbing down the chair I almost immediately rush towards the unknown beyond in overexcitement, before realizing that if they find out how I escaped my room might shatter the final vestiges of me being a normal child. Let’s first move the chair back. A toddler crawling out of the room is still within the realm of possibility, and by moving back the chair I can make it seem like the last person to enter the room simply forget to close the door correctly.
After masking my deliberate escape attempt with some plausible deniability, it is finally time to explore. There are many places of my home that I have not yet been shown. I know my room is somewhere up on the second floor of the mansion, and that there are at least 3 more rooms on this same floor, as well as stairway leading down on one end and a junction to the left on the other. It is probably better to not descend downwards yet, as it is still midday and down there are some saloon like rooms and the living quarters, where some servants or my parents often move around. Getting caught and brought would fail this expedition.
While I feel my tension rising, I can’t help but imagine how that officer I met on that party that celebrated the victory over Old Slavia in my other life. Wasn’t he called Adrian? If a trivial recon mission like this could bring about this amount of tension than I can’t even imagine how it must have felt to penetrate deep behind enemy lines and carry out sabotage. I guess I’m just poorly cut out for this kind of work, but I will do what must be done. I’ve deduced quite a few things during my stay here about my social positioning and financial situation, but my knowledge about this place is still severely lacking in several aspects. For one, I’ve never seen the outside of this mansion or keep, and neither have I an accurate grasp on the technological level of this world. Sure, I’ve seen some things, but it is clear that my parents leave most of the housework and housekeeping to the servants. This leaves me unable to deduce information on the technological advancement by looking at what manner of tools are used for these tasks. I’ve also noted that the temperature indoors is somehow being regulated, keeping it at out around the same level for all the time I’ve been here, at least that’s how it feels. This either means that some heating or cooling system is in place or that there is no temporal variation in this place or world. I sincerely hope it’s the former, as it seems the most attainable solution. Doubts keep popping up in my mind though. Even if the circumstances of that time were strange I still vividly remember the strange creature in that cave and that fight that made use of unexplainable phenomena that I can only explain away as witchcraft currently. It is most certainly possible even stranger things are the norm in this world. So let’s use this as an opportunity to clear away some of these doubts and unknowns.
As my mind kept pondering along I was also steadily progressing along the hallway, keeping my body close the wall while crawling along. The two other doors were firmly closed and I saw little way of opening them here. After peeking to the left at the junction to make sure no people were present, I moved onwards. There were 3 more rooms at this side of the L-split, and one of them was not entirely closed. As I slowly forced the door farther open, more due to a lack of strength than out of subtlety, I gaze into the room. Dim light falls through a couple of high glass windows, illuminating an assortment of wardrobes, some cushy chairs and a large ornamented mirror. As I move to the wardrobe and inspect the contents I’m greeted by what I assume is fashion for well-off women. Since my knowledge on women fashion is severely lacking in both this world and my old one, I can only inspect what kind of material has been used for the dresses that I see here, while my eye-condition prevents me from checking what dyes have been used. I move towards a near toga-like dress that seems to be on the somewhat revealing side. As I touch the cloth I am surprised by its smoothness. Is this satin or silk? As I move my eyes closer I can’t detect the distinct fiber like structure of plant based materials, and neither can I see any remains of veins or the like. This is undoubtedly a fine piece of tailoring, the precision of the stitches and borders seem nearly mechanical, either the work of a master artisan or made with the help of some kind of tool.
Next I move to the mirror. Filled with thoughts about inspecting the craftsmanship of the glass, I suddenly remember that I’ve never even properly looked at myself at all yet. When I peer into the mirror I am greeted by a particularly inquisitive looking toddler, wearing light-colored sleepwear. My facial features look normal for a baby only a couple of months old, and my medium long hair seems to have a matte-gray color in my eyes. What color it really is unbeknownst to me though, though some kind of ash brown seems likely it might as well be green or any colour of the rainbow for all I know. It really might be.
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After inspecting my toddler body I inspect the glass itselfs. Though it is smooth for the most part, some imperfections mar the surface. Tools have probably been used to assist in making it this smooth, but it is clearly not on the same level of smoothness or evenness of the mass-manufactured glass back in the empire. I previously thought I was in some mid-medieval setting but with what I’m seeing here is making me reevaluate that assessment. The goods lined up here show that the craftsmanship of this word is at least renaissance era or perhaps even better. The gaudy decorations on the ornamented mirror also remind me of the rococo style a bit, but I was never one for the fine arts so I can’t say how similar the styles are.
As the glass windows are far too high to reach I move out the door again, placing my ear to the ground first and carefully peeking out afterward to make sure the coast is clear. Towards the left is the hallway I came from and towards my right are 2 more closed doors, with another L-junction at the end. Due to a lack of other options I make my way towards it. What greets me in this new hallway are 3 firmly closed doors to my right, and an even heavier looking door on the end, and it’s wide open. Some kind of chain secures it to the wall, prevent it from closing, and inside I can see some kind of spiral staircase surrounded by cylindrical brick walls. Is this a donjon or a tower? As I move close I hear footsteps. It appears someone is moving down the stairs, lucky, I was planning on moving towards the top anyways. If my luck holds out it might be some kind of vantage point, allowing me to see a great deal of the surrounding landscape and the rest of the mansion or keep. After hearing the person opening a door all the way downstairs, I seize my chance and start crawling the somewhat uneven wooden steps. I underestimated the amount of physical exertion that was necessary for this. My toddler body is nearing its limits.
An open arch greets my vision at the end of the endless looking stairs an open trapdoor welcomes me into the room. Inadvertently a cute sounding sigh of relief escapes me. As my head peeks out of the trapdoor I spin around to take in the sights. Compared to my own room or the changing room I explored before, this room looks extremely Spartan. The center of the room is adorned with a brazier, and I notice that the firewood has mostly been reduced to a smoldering ashy heap. Two wooden chairs adorn opposite sides of the brazier, facing the walls of the room. Next to both chairs are some small end tables. It looks like someone recently had a meal here, as crumbs line the plates that are on top of them, and a large looking bronze mug is placed next to them. That sums up everything in the room. Far more interesting are walls. Tall, vertical slits are placed around the cylindrical room, 8 in total. A chilling breeze wafts inwards from these clearly open portals to the outside. That brazier seems quite useful here, it’s very unfortunate that there is no nice and warm fire blazing in it right now. Full of enthusiasm I move to one of the windows, and an enchanting landscape of smooth rolling hills enters my view. In the dim of twilight, a vast expanse of grassy meadows spread out like a sea. The chill and leafless state of the brushes and occasional tree clearly show that it must be winter right now, but a few budding leaves show that nature is slowly escaping it’s chilly grasp, and soon spring will come. As I look further beyond, a dark river greets my eyes, meandering through the grassy hills in the distance. At its banks, on a safe and dry height several rustic looking houses spread out on either side, forming a small village.
I crawl to the other side of the room that serves as a vantage point on the rest of the mansion and gaze upon my new home. The top of the tower is just a few meters above the rest of the mansion, and the dark roof tiles still seem to glisten due to recent rainfall. It seems like I really am living in a castle. Build on top of a hill slightly taller than the other ones in the region, and protected by deep waterless moats the rest of the keep embraces the green inner courtyard like an overprotective mother hen does its chicks. Build with sturdy looking bricks and standing at two stories tall, the mansion forms a U like shape, with the tower on one end of the U. The side of the courtyard without buildings is protected by a thick wall, slightly lower than the rest of the castle, and an open drawbridge and portcullis connects to the other side of the moat from that side. A small cobbled road leads downhill; it probably leads to the village but I can’t say for certain as it soon leaves my field of vision due to the slope of the hill. As I take in the sights something in the corner of my eyes manages to catch my attention. Wearing a light tattered dress, a teenage girl or a somewhat young woman sits at the edge of the moat looking downward, obscuring her face with her long dark hair. Aside from the girl, I see no one else moving about outside aside from our grumpy looking gardener in the courtyard.
Fascinated by the sights I must have lost track of my immediate surroundings, as I suddenly feel two big hands lifting me up from under my armpits and suddenly I’m face to face with a burly looking middle aged man. I blank out for a second due to the surprise but immediately regain myself; it must be the sentry that came back to his post. His expression is a strange combination between relief and anxiousness, and I can still see a trace of sweat on his brow. He must have thought he stopped me from climbing out the window and falling down. Deciding that a reaction is necessary I produce some incoherent baby noises trying to sound excited, and try to touch his beard. Aside from degrading my dignity it does at least seem to elicit a smile on his face. With a deep baritone voice he says some words I don’t recognize as he steadies me on his arm and he starts walking down the tower. Walking through what must be the servants quarter that I have never been to before I see many servants surprised by the sight of me, male and female alike, and as the burly sentry man probably explains the situation they come closer to take a better look. Probably thinking that it must be better to escape the situation as more and more servants are surrounding him, the man excuses himself and walks onwards, until he eventually reaches a heavy wooden door. After knocking twice and hearing a response from within he pushes open the door. In the a somewhat gaudy looking salon I spot mother and father lounging around an open fireplace, watching with as much surprise as the servants at the intruding guest. Mother quickly gets up with a worried expression on her face as she questions the guard, and while he places me gently into my mother’s arms he starts talking. I can see a worried frown appear on both my parents’ faces, they must have judged the situation very dangerous. Well, for a normal toddler it probably was. I hope nothing bad happens to the sentry guy, as he really didn’t do anything wrong.
As my father joins in with my mother in the conversation with the sentry the fatigue finally catches up to me. Even though I manage to gain more control over this body day by day, I’m still a slave to its whims. As I accidently let out a big yawn, mother looks down and plays with my cheeks a bit, while sweetly whispering some unknown words. After the conversation dies down the sentry man seems to have a glad expressions on his face. Looks like he isn't getting the sack or anything like that. That eases the slight bit of guilt I have a little.
After the burly looking man left the room mother and father talk with eachother a bit and afterwards I was once again carried of into the keep. After mother ascended a familair set of stairs and walked through the hallway I face the starting point of this expedition once again. I hear mother mutter something in hushed tone as she finds the door slightly ajar, but soon after she enters the room and place me back in my baby bed, after kissing me on the cheek.
For some time I simply lay there ruminating over the things I discovered before deciding to catch some mutch needed rest. Please, let it be a good dream this time.