Boredom was starting to set in when a large armored Knight entered the sanctum they were in and walked towards the Princess and the Head Guard. He bent down and whispered to the Princess, shortly afterwards she stood up and addressed the Chosen. “I thank you for your patience and graciousness. Your quarters have been set up and are ready for you. First though, let’s eat, unfortunately I may not be joining you, there is something I must oversee personally. You will be allowed some freedom to roam about the Castle, but each of you will be accompanied by a guard to some of the locations and after you get done eating,"
She paused in her speech as she gestured towards the large heavily built and just as heavily armored knight that had just entered. "Brutus, here, will hand you Artefacts that will let us keep track of you and your condition. “ She paused as the students erupted into disgruntlement; she raised her hand as she did before silencing them.
“While I realize that this may be considered an invasion of privacy to you, it is unfortunately a necessity. You see years ago with our first summoning, as the Hero neared completing his mission he did something that caused many problems to the kingdom, and the Goddess herself was forced to kill him.” Several of the students frowned at that, and a few others were thinking it was a lie.
Kara finished speaking and turned away elegantly and left the room with the Head Guard, who spoke up earlier following her out. The eyes of the students, most of who had just stood back up, followed Kara briefly before they turned to the large Knight, Brutus who had just stepped forward as the other two left.
He spoke in a surprisingly smooth and mellow voice from one of his size and appearance. “If you Ladies and Gentlemen would be so kind as to follow me out, we will now be heading to the Dining Hall.” He then turned around and walked away with the students starting to follow behind.
As they left the summoning room the guards who were still in there, as well as a few hidden guards left the room and followed behind the group for a moment. As the group advanced towards their destination they lost a few of the guards who had been following branched off and went to different areas. The corridors they went through were stonework; they were similar to hallways of the same nature in medieval castles. Some of the hallways had tapestries and paintings lining them as well as other things. Other parts of the hallways were bare, but they had wooden stands in front of them, usually with some antique or other ornamental piece on them.
It took them some time, but they eventually left the lower levels of the Castle and reached the Dining Hall. The moment the students reached the hall many of them stopped abruptly and inhaled in awe at the sight of the doors alone. They were massive in size, and were extremely ornate; next to them adjacent to the walls were large wooden pillars of the same enchanting shade as the doors themselves. They were intricately carved with many scenes; some invoked a sense of majesty, while others made people feel awestruck. When they regained themselves and entered the feelings only magnified.
The room was large, even larger than the room they were in when they were first summoned not long ago. It was rectangular in shape and was mostly stone, but there was wood of the same beautiful shade as all of the doors leading into the Hall. Each corner of the room had a square wooden pillar that extended towards the ceiling, and it met with an open rafter type area, with wood of the same type as is used elsewhere throughout the room. Along the walls there were similar supports laid into the stone, enhancing and complimenting the look of the room.
In the center of the room there was a large table, it was circular in shape, but had an open center. There was also a portion of the table that was open to allow servers to come into the center of the table for easy serving of the people around it. The table was one they specially bring out when there are to be large amounts of guests to be served in this Dining Hall. This Hall as not the one used to entertain guests of vital importance, but it was still used for guests that held some stature. Usually it served as the entertainment and Dining Hall for the entourages and accompanying attendants of the truly important visiting dignitaries.
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This practice originally came about from the fact that centuries ago attendants and soldiers accompanying the previously mentioned diplomats would often take offence at the vaguest slight and things often got messy. The truly important guests would still be allowed to bring their own personal guards obviously, but the majority of their attendants would be elsewhere and they would be kept entertained so that a war would not be started due to a misconstrued insult towards someone’s hairstyle. Though this practice did hold risk for those visiting, it still has worked well for the most part, during its centuries of use.
Brutus took a position at the wall on the side of the room opposite of the entrance the Heroes entered from. He spoke up as everyone entered the room; his deep melodic voice rebounded about the Hall ensuring he was heard by all. “Thank you for your patience, I realize this has probably been a trying day for you all. The serving staff will be in here shortly to bring you refreshments and food, but first take a seat.” It was as if the absence of his voice was the ripple caused by a pebble dropping into a still pool, everyone moved swiftly towards a seat.
Surprisingly there were more than enough seats for everyone at the massive table; there were even some places open. As everyone got settled the maids and butlers arrived, many of them were carrying trays, laden with drink and a few holding bread and similar foodstuffs. They were all of different heights and skin colors, but there was a commonality to them all, each and everyone one of them was beautiful or handsome in a way, in short they were all rather attractive, but not excessively so. Everyone became silent as the staff lined up against the wall and waited.
Shortly after the numerous servants took their positions an exceedingly beautiful woman in a maid uniform entered the room. She had shoulder length blonde hair, the color of sunshine; it was luxurious and appeared to be soft and well kept. While the woman was not exceedingly tall, she wasn’t excessively short either, her body was curvy but she wasn’t too voluptuous as some women tended to be. Simply put, her body could be considered perfect, or nearly so for a Mortal, her appearance as well as her skills were the reasons why she was kept in employment and not the mistress or slave of some lecherous noble.
She spoke up in a somewhat commanding but accented voice. “I am Matti the Head Maid. I am in charge of the servants here. To start everyone will get a beverage, alcoholic or otherwise, if you want to keep to your world’s rules concerning drinking age do so if you wish. After the beverages are served different dishes shall be sat on the table and you will be served. In the center of the table, in the open space, there will be servants stationed to assist with dishing up your meals. The rest will be along the walls and if you need their assistance raise a hand and you will be attended to. Enough with my speaking you can begin.”
After she finished speaking she turned on a heel and went towards the head of the room and waited. Soon enough everyone had their preferred beverages, most had water or fruit juice though a few had a sort of ale, while fewer still had wine or the like. Shortly after everyone had gained their drinks the servants departed and another group returned and with them came an assortment of tantalizing fragrances. There were many types of dishes being served, some were commonly seen such as roast chicken or sides of beef, others were rarer in this world, there were crude pizzas being served as well as other similar Earth dishes.
During the previous heroes era the Kingdom of light had developed and experimented with many recipes and the like from Earth. They all enjoyed themselves immensely, a few of the less morally upright students flirted with and groped a few of the servants, but that was not a strange occurrence to them, it was pretty much in their job description. As the feast dragged on many of the students became drowsy, the drowsiness was not one of an artificial nature caused by drugs or magic, but one caused by great food and good company.
As the festivities finished up the tables got cleaned and the students were led to their new quarters. The ones who had the more impressive and useful Classes were given the more sumptuous and luxurious quarters and the best attendants in terms of skill and appearance. It took some time to get everyone settled as a few were unsatisfied with their temporary servants or wished to share quarters or exchange them. There were few who did the latter; the only ones who did that were the rare couple or siblings, though one pairing was of friends.
That room was Theresa’s and Mina’s, though they weren’t extremely close, they were still close enough to do that, that and the fact that they knew things about each other that could not be shared with others were the reasons for the decision the two of them made. As everyone got settled in the Guards patrolled the Hallways around their quarters to ensure they stayed safe and in their quarters. Despite their impressive vigilance they did not catch the shadowy near invisible figure leaving a certain room.