Cal was following Mark through the castle’s halls. It had been a week since he had arrived via the teleportation circle and quite a few things had happened. On the first day, after he had finished lunch with the royal family, he had been taken by the king and queen to sign several documents declaring that he was, in fact, the king’s ward, and that he was the heir to the forest of Kaar’s duchy, although he was not allowed to actually become the duke because of his age.
After that, the queen had taken him to the baths where he was washed by several servants, who used a plethora of soaps and shampoos to clean him, after that he was sent to sleep in the same room that he had woken up in. The next day he ate breakfast with the royal family. After breakfast, the queen took him to a tailor’s shop where he got sized for several new sets of clothes. After that, they went to a few more stores to get things like shoes and belts which the tailor did not sell. once they were done visiting the other shops, they returned to the tailors who had finished Cal's clothes.
When he asked the queen how they had finished making his clothes so fast, she explained that all of the craftsmen that the royal family bought items from had a high level and so they could finish common orders like these very quickly. That made sense to cal, back at the village they had taken much longer to make clothes, but even still some of the older women had been able to sew together a shirt faster than Cal had thought possible.
Nothing much happened for the rest of that first week, Cal continued to eat with the royal family for all three meals, though some of the princes or princesses were not there most of the time. He had spent a lot of time with the queen though she did most of the talking whenever they were together. She had told him that the king and she had planned a party to introduce Cal to the rest of the nobility, though that would not happen for at least another week.
Currently, Cal was being led to where they had had Belinda, arisu, and Lenny training. Cal had some misgivings about the king training his bondservants without his permission but there was nothing that he could do about it. he had tried to get some information from the queen but was generally unsuccessful. Whenever he broached a more serious subject she would steer away from it and Cal who was trying not to be impolite would go along with her.
Cal was not currently with the queen because it was the fourth day of the week and every fourth day the royalty would hold court, which would last at least 8 hours. As Cal was following Mark through the castle he noticed the other servants showing Mark some deference, not a lot but they would move out of his way and a few would even give him a slight bow. Cal figured that was because he was the major-domo for the royal family and was essentially in charge of all of the daily runnings of the palace.
“We are almost there my lord,” Mark announced as they approached a turn in the hall.
“Please sir would you just call me cal.” Cal asked as they continued to walk. This had been an argument he had been having with several staff members. As the word spread that he was the king’s ward many people had started calling Cal ‘my lord’ and Cal was not a fan of that. He continued to insist on calling some of his seniors’ sir and tried to get most of the servants to call him Cal, though he’d had limited success.
Mark just shook his head at Cal's plea, “my lord you are the king’s ward and with that, you have the same social standing as a prince. it would be a major breach of etiquette for me, or any of the staff, to refer to you as anything other than my lord.”
Cal continued to try to argue his case but he might as well have been arguing with a wall for all the good it did. About a minute after Mark had said they were getting close to their destination they stopped in front of a door and Mark opened it.
“These are the servant’s quarters my lord, it would be inappropriate for you to step in here would you please wait outside while I fetch your servants,” Mark asked.
Cal acquiesced and stood there while Mark entered. he stood there unmoving for a while then kaze, who had been walking with them, got bored and asked. Tag?
During the previous week, Cal had taught kaze tag and it had quickly become one of kazes favorite pastimes. Cal had tried to teach him other games but kaze either got bored of them or couldn’t understand the rules. Cal was thinking about this as kaze once again asked Tag?
cal wanted to refuse but ended up agreeing. His decision had nothing to do with the fact that kaze was giving him puppy dog eyes, absolutely nothing. As the two of them started their game, Cal tried to keep it within sight of the servant’s quarters, but that was a lost cause as kaze had his own thoughts on confining the game and was much smaller and faster than Cal was.
After they had been playing for a few minutes Cal was suddenly felt an arm wrap around his waist and he was lifted off the ground. He struggled and eventually got a look at his captor. It was Belinda who was giving him an amused look. “Seems like you were enjoying yourself,” she teased. It wasn’t a surprise that she had been able to sneak up and catch him without him noticing, after all, she was over 200 levels higher than he was
Belinda soon set him down and Mark who was leading Lenny and Arisu walked up to them. “My lord I would ask that you refrain from inappropriate behavior while in this part of the castle,” Mark asked.
Cal acknowledged Mark’s words and apologized. he then looked over his bondservants. They were all wearing matching grey uniforms that all the servants throughout the castle wore. However, they had a symbol embroidered on the sleeve that Cal recognized as the symbol of his duchy, which the king had shown him. It was two black trees that formed a circle with a creature in the middle. Cal couldn’t recognize the creature and when he had asked the king he had also said he didn’t know what it was.
“My lord how have you been,” Lenny asked while shooting a slightly disgruntled look at Belinda.
“I have been great how had it been for you guys,” Cal said.
They all answered differently with Arisu having had the best time, making friends with the other servants, and learning all the new things, and Belinda disliking it the most claiming it was boring and a waste of her skills. Both Lenny and Mark seemed annoyed by her claim but Cal thought that it was fairly true. though he had no clue what he would have had her be doing if she hadn’t been going through the training course.
“What did you guys even do.” Cal asked
“Well…” Arisu started, “first they had us learn how to address you and other nobility around you. then we learned basic housekeeping kind of stuff. it was a little boring because I already knew most of it but it was still fun to meet so many new and unique people. The people at the hospital were all nice to me but they were all very bland and not very interesting”
Cal was confused for a second then he realized she was talking about the hospital that Alucard had created to train her. Cal was about to ask about it when he remembered Mark was still with them. Cal glanced over to Mark, he wanted to ask Arisu questions but he didn’t want Mark to have that kind of information.
To Cal's relief, Mark seemed to understand that he wanted privacy and said, “lunch will be served in about an hour. until then, why don’t you show your servants your quarters.”
Cal nodded at his words and Mark strode off. Cal led the group to his room and they all entered. On the first day, Cal had been here the room had little but a bed, but since then there had been a few other items of furniture added. The room now had a desk as well as a small sitting table with four chairs around it. Cal hadn’t noticed it on the first day but The room even had its fireplace and a wardrobe where Cal kept the many sets of clothes that the queen had bought for him.
“So Arisu what did you mean by the people in the hospital were bland.” Cal asked.
“Bland probably isn’t the best word to use,” Arisu answered, “it was more as if they were all copies of each other. In the hospital there were ten doctors and 15 assistants each doctor taught me different ways of treating patients but if I ever asked a question about anything other than what they were teaching they would all answer in an oddly mechanical way.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Cal accepted the answer and then told Arisu and Lenny about his plans to send them to the academy. Arisu seemed a bit excited at the notion and Lenny as always just seemed to be happy that he was able to do what Cal asked him to do. However, to Cal's surprise, Belinda seemed to be perturbed about something.
“Isn’t that going to be too soon for another big change what you have gone through would be a lot for anyone especially someone your age, are you sure you are up for that?” she asked with an uncharacteristic worry in her voice
“yeah I think it will be fine,” Cal answered
“Have you ever even been to a school,” asked Belinda
Cal said that he hadn’t and Belinda tried to explain how difficult it would be for him. “That’s why I think you should wait,” Belinda finally said after finishing a rather long list of reasons that Cal hadn’t really paid attention to.
Once she finished Cal just shrugged and said, “well everything in my life recently has been a series of big changes. First, my grandpa was killed and I was sent into the middle of a monster-filled forest I was only there for a week but during that week I became an awakened, chose two classes, and got a familiar.
”After that, I was essentially kidnapped by strangers who spoke a different language than me. Before anything could come from me being kidnapped I was sent into a magic realm where two beings with seemingly infinite power sent me into trials that both risked my life and gave me rather amazing awards and during that time I spent a year creating my own sword style and training endlessly.
“Finally after all of that is over, I get sent here where I am more than a foot shorter than almost everyone I meet, which is overwhelming at times, and while im learning to deal with my new vertical deficiencies I meet the man who killed my grandpa’s family, became that man’s ward, and am told that I am now the heir to a duchy. If I was able to handle all of that how hard can it really be to go to a school.” Cal's voice had quickened as he was talking and to his surprise, his hands had begun shaking as well.
As Cal finished he looked around to see his three bondservants staring at him with their mouths agape. Arisu was the first to recover and asked in a careful voice, “are you sure you are okay?”
Cal was about to answer when he realized that his cheeks were hurting, he reached up to his face and felt a wide smile being forced across it. “You know what… I think I am… I don’t feel hardly any sadness or anger about much of anything. Even after I met the king, I was only mad about what he had done for a little bit, then I got over it.” Cal's voice had become quiet as he answered arises question and to his bondservants, he seemed like he was about to crack.
“that is not normal, you don’t just get over something like...” Belinda started shouting, but she stopped her outburst and just breathed for a second, then calmly asked, “how long has it been since you’ve stopped caring about stuff like that.”
Cal thought for a second then answered, “ever since my grandfather died all of my emotions seemed to fade very quickly, I mean sometimes im happy, but it never lasts long, but when im sad im never sad for a long time, and that it is definitely worth my happiness to not feel that pain.” Cal felt a few tears form in the corner of his eyes and he could taste the salt as they ran into his painfully grinning mouth.
The whole room stood there silently for a moment then Cal collapsed to the floor sobbing. Arisu and Lenny tried to step forward to comfort Cal but kaze growled at them and they eventually went to stand by the wall where Belinda had been frozen ever since Cal started crying. after a while, a servant came to fetch Cal for lunch but Belinda shoed him away. When Cal finally calmed down he almost immediately passed out and kaze wormed his way into Cal's arms as if he was trying to comfort his bond. When they were sure that Cal was asleep the other three looked at each other then Belinda whispered. “I didn’t think just talking about something as unimportant as school would set him off like that.”
Lenny glared at Belinda and fiercely whispered, “why are you always so rude to our lord, he is obviously not okay and yet you continued to provocate him.”
Belinda seemed surprised and asked, “you could tell something was wrong with him before now.”
Both Lenny and Arisu nodded and Lenny answered, “he is way too subdued for a kid his age the only time I think any of us have seen him smile was when he was playing with his familiar otherwise he has been basically expressionless as if he doesn’t care about anything.”
There was silence for a second then Arisu said quietly, “we need to help him get better but I don’t know how.”
“Well, you two both have memories of Cal before he was like this what do you think we should do,” Belinda whispered
Both Arisu and Lenny shook their heads at what Belinda said, “the version of my lord that I remember is a fearsome warrior who has fought and slain many foes he was a very different man compared to what he is now” Lenny said.
“Same here, I remember the son of a knight who would happily make jokes and play games with any kid in the village.” Arisu added.
The three sat there quietly before Lenny finally said, “he lost someone important to him and was never given time to grieve, instead, he was put in harm’s way time and time again. I think the best thing we could do is try to support him as he is, and hope he will talk about it with us or get over it on his own.”
All three of the bondservants were in agreement when there was a quiet knocking at the door. Lenny walkedcloser to the door and answered without opening the door, “I apologize but my lord, calaeris, cannot receive guests at this moment if you have a message for him please allow me to deliver it to him when he wakes.”
There was silence for a second then a voice answered, “this is the queen and I need to speak to calaeris.”
The three servants looked at each other then Lenny answered, “I don’t think that…” he was cut off as the door was forced open and the queen strode inside.
As she entered the room the queen looked around and saw Cal laying on his bed with tear streaks running down his face. She then saw the shell-shocked expressions on the faces of the others. “What happened,,” she asked while staring at Belinda who seemed the calmest out of the three.
Belinda paused for a second then answered, “my lord likes to keep his secrets so I won’t tell you much of what he has been through, but his grandpa died only a year ago and he seemed close enough to his grandpa to think of him as a father. Also, he has had no time to mourn as he has gone from dangerous situation too dangerous situation without rest.”
The queen nodded then commanded, “leave, I will help him.”
The three of them protested, of course, but the queen would not be dissuaded even to the point of ordering guards in to escort them out of the room. She then sat on the side of cal’s bed and stroked his hair until he woke up. When Cal finally woke up he just continued laying there as the queen stroked his head. He just pulled kaze closer to his chest and didn’t get up.
“I lost someone too, not that long ago,” the queen said after a while. Cal just remained silent. “My son Derek, he would have been about a year younger than you.” the queen had a catch in her throat, but she forced herself to continue. “He was killed by an assassin about six months ago. It still hurts every day, but I was able to rely on my husband and other children to help me through that. I know that you don’t feel like you can rely on anyone, but I will be here to talk if you need it.”
At this point, Cal sat up and looked at the queen. “I don’t know if that’s what I need, when I think about my grandpa I don’t feel the sadness anymore.” he said as he grabbed his chest, “there is only anger, all I want to do is kill the ones who killed my grandfather.”
The queen just nodded her head and asked, “what do you think happened to the assassins,” before Cal could say anything the queen answered her own question in a matter of fact tone. “I publicly tortured them until they told me who gave them their orders then I found those people and did the same, until everyone involved was dead.”
Cal looked at the queen in surprise and asked, “you always seemed like the kind of person who would say revenge is going to just hurt me in the end?”
The queen just smiled kindly and answered, “it will hurt you, taking revenge can turn saints into monsters, but a necessary part of healing yourself is removing the thing that caused you to get hurt in the first place.” the queen despite her oddly morbid words still talked in a kind and motherly way.
To most other people what she had said would have sounded almost maniacal or evil, but to cal, he felt like he understood what she meant to a certain extent. He didn’t think he could start fixing what was broken inside of him until he took care of the thing that broke it. After receiving that odd form of comfort Cal sat with the queen silently while she stroked his hair.
After a while, the queen left and Cal's bondservants reentered the room. At first, they were worried about Cal but after seeing that he was fine they calmed slightly. All three of them, especially Arisu, tried to pry information about what they had discussed but Cal refused to answer.
After they had given up on asking him about what he had discussed with the queen Arisu told cal, “as the queen was leaving she asked me to tell you that she would have dinner delivered here and that the date of your introduction party has been set on the second day of next week.”
Cal nodded and asked, “did she say anything about me needing to prepare in any way.”
“No, but she did say that she would have to take you somewhere sometime tomorrow.”
After that, the group talked about unimportant things. As had often happened when there was a group conversation Cal was a little awkward and didn’t say much. Even when he had eaten with the royal family he would rarely talk unless spoken to. However, his bondservants seemed determined to try and stop that from happening and would constantly try to rope him back into the conversation. Cal found that rather comforting.