Waving goodbye to the adorable woman, I sighed as I tilted my head and watched the way she walked.

She was walking like she was in love. She had that stride. The rhythm, and flow, of someone who was somewhat out of it… yet happy and excited. As if full of energy, but too exhausted to use it.

Turning away, I spared one little glance to the house I had dropped her off at.

It wasn’t as big as some of the others around here, but it was big enough to tell me she was indeed the daughter of a noble. She had told me about her family, and especially so her parents who weren’t happy with her lifestyle choices, but hadn’t really spoken on what they did or who they were.

Likely because it hadn’t mattered. All that had mattered to her during our little dinner date was me and her.

“Celine,” I mumbled her name and wondered if I should let that budding love forming within her heart take shape or not.

It’d be doable. She had the personality and temperament that she’d be able to overlook the fact I wasn’t necessarily human. Whether I told her right away or later, she’d likely not freak out over it. Although she subscribed to the religious order of this nation and era, it wasn’t one that would cause too many issues for her. Or issues for me.

Yet…

“Do I really want to settle down right now?” I asked myself.

That’s what it would cause me to do, if I chose to indulge in her after all.

I could see it. Settling in this town. Making a name for myself. I could either become some kind of teacher or professor at the school, or rise to the rank of general or whatever they called this town’s militant forces commander. Either option would let me be high enough on their supposed societal rank to let me wed the noble’s daughter and settle down with her.

But then…

Walking away, I headed for the biggest house in this area. The one a few streets over, situated more up on a hill than not. The one that had a genuine orchid garden as its front lawn, not just a bunch of bushes and flowers as Celine’s had.

It wasn’t my home, of course, but it was where I was currently living. And was where my job was located.

At the very least I needed to stay on good terms with the girl for a little while longer. I had found a few books in that little basement room that had been of interest. Those written by non-humans, and even one written by a human. A human king, from a kingdom long ago. Telling of a mighty war between his people and beastly humans.

I didn’t know of that war, which was interesting. It meant it happened after I left for the islands.

I’d been gone a long time, it seemed.

At least a hundred years. Maybe even more.

It honestly hadn’t felt that long at all. A hundred years? Really?

That was a lifetime. Many lifetimes, and not just for the humans. Some non-humans had just as short life spans.

And I had spent it just… lazily living on a chain of islands, alone, without any worry or desire.

It was honestly scary. I had spent so long living like that, and had genuinely enjoyed and desired it… yet right now I found myself slightly disgusted by the man I had been.

Which was funny, since I had been that man only a few weeks ago.

Passing a pair of guards, I studied them for a moment to see if they were the pair that had given me my first citizen mark or not. I could barely remember their appearance, but it wasn’t them. They didn’t look like father and son, and the older one didn’t have a fancy mustache.

Neither the guards, nor the servants of the nobles, who I passed on the street bothered me. I was now dressed appropriately. Clean shaven. Hair tidied.

It was likely why Celine had fallen for me so easily. The Lord I was working for had splurged on me. He both liked that I had accepted his offer of employment, and also found me interesting. I tickled his weird interests, so he didn’t mind paying for all my clothes and needs.

Such a thing helped me right now, letting me settle down without worry… but it also meant that if I decided to stay in this town long-term, and even more so dedicate a few decades to Celine, I’d need to deal with him. He’d likely not let me go freely, especially after spending so much money on me. Or maybe he would, sometimes the powerful were eccentric like that.

I needed to make sure I stayed on his good side, just in case I chose to indulge myself.

Rounding a corner, I was finally able to make out the large house on the hill I was heading to. It had huge windows, gleaming in the setting sun.

Yes. Definitely the home of the most powerful person in this city. It loomed over the other massive mansions, making them seem poor in comparison.

Celine hadn’t been too concerned over my employment with the Lord of this town. She found it interesting more so because of the purpose of it. That I had been employed as a guard, a soldier, not a scholar or teacher. Yet her infatuation with me let her overlook the fact it was really a lesser position than…

Well… no…

Honestly in this kind of society, in this era, a high ranked soldier might very well be more important than teacher or scholar.

As I pondered such a thing, I reached the large gates of the building.

“Vim. You’re returning late today,” one of the guards greeted me as I approached.

“Found myself a lass mesmerizing,” I admitted.

The guard, and his two buddies who were stationed at the other side of the gate, all laughed at me.

“Of course you did!”

“Took you long enough!”

“Aye, eleven days. Lots of bets were just lost,” the guard said with a smirk.

“You were betting on such a thing?” I asked with a frown.

“Well sure? Not much else to bet on in this town. Other than the uncommon slum dweller, not much else to worry about,” one of the other guards said.

Well… that did indeed seem true.

“You’re on duty tomorrow, aren’t you?” the guard asked as he turned to unlock the gate door for me. The smaller one, not the one the carriages and horses used.

“Yeah. All week,” I said. The Lord had some kind of meeting with other powerful nobles. He wanted me to be next to him the whole time.

“Wonder if he’ll make you dress up. What you think Lars? Armor or suit?” the guard opened the gate asked his fellow.

“I’m betting a suit. He’s young enough to look pretty for the fancy haired noble ladies,” the one across the gate said with a laugh.

“You’re kidding me,” I grumbled as I stepped through the now open gate, and turned to keep talking to them even as he closed the gate behind me.

“Sadly no. There’s some ritzy party going on. Who knows, maybe you’ll catch the eye of a noble?” the guard smirked at me as he re-locked the gate.

“I already found my noble,” I told him.

The men laughed, and I could tell by the way they did that they didn’t believe me.

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Oh? Was it that rare? Though maybe Celine wasn’t as high up on the noble’s ladder as I was thinking, so it wasn’t the same.

“Stand tall, men,” I said as I turned away.

“Ah, that’s all we do, I fear!” one of them said, causing the rest to laugh.

As they chuckled and spoke to one another, I headed for the path that led to the house. It ran along the large stone path that the carriages used. I could use it, as far as I was aware, but I had noticed that most of the other servants used the paths alongside it instead.

Walking past rows of trees and bushes, I studied the fruit hanging on their branches. They were some kind of oranges.

I felt no desire to pick one, even though I hadn’t had such a fruit in years. Ever since leaving for the islands.

It was so odd that I felt so little… desire… for anything.

Celine for example. Although I’d gone so long without the touch of a woman, I still was considering ignoring her. Or at least, not indulging in her.

You’d think I’d be thinking the exact opposite, after so long.

Maybe something was wrong with me. Maybe so long alone had broken me somewhere inside.

I didn’t need to eat or drink like a normal person. I could go a very, very, long time without such necessities… yet usually I still desired them.

I used to yearn for certain meals, or drinks. I used to desire the taste of certain fruits, and spices.

I used to search out women too.

Yet here I was… seemingly floating around aimlessly, just letting life take me wherever it wanted.

From vagabond, to miner, to personal guard… and now I was flirting with librarians and scouring hundred year old texts.

It was one of the reasons I didn’t want to fall for Celine. Even if it was probably exactly what I needed in my life right now.

I didn’t want to rush into something just because I had gone so long without it.

“Ah! The strong one. Welcome back!” another guard greeted me as I approached the servant entrance. Only a single guard stood at the ready here, but that was not too shocking. Not far from here, near where the main path earlier led to, was the main entrance. A huge pair of double doors that took several human men to open.

There were several more guards over there stationed at them.

“I return empty handed, but with a full belly and the scent of a woman upon my lips,” I said as I neared.

The guard bellowed a laugh. “A poet! No wonder Lord Trivo likes you!”

Smiling at him as he turned to open the door, I wondered if maybe this Lord Trivo wasn’t that bad.

So many of the guards and servants seemed to speak well of him… but…

Thinking back to the pair of guards I had met on the day I arrived, I decided to withhold judgment just yet.

Once the door was opened I stepped past the guard. I tapped his breastplate lightly as I did so. “Stand tall,” I told him.

“Aye. If you did well enough to keep her attention, maybe beg her a friend for me?” he asked as I entered the mansion.

Pausing a moment, I turned to look at the guard. He had a smile, but also a serious expression on his face.

“Sure. If I passed her test, at least,” I said.

He nodded, excited.

Once inside the mansion, the world became a little warmer. The hallway the servant entrance opened to was massive. Big enough to be a main hall on its own, but I knew it wasn’t. The main hall was so big that there was an echo in it, when talking and walking.

Usually such large hallways would make the place cold… but they had fireplaces all over, and there were large open windows facing the setting sun. This place had been built in a way that it did its best to retain heat and combat the cold of the nearby sea.

A few servants were walking around. Most looked to be female, and they were all dressed in the darker blues of this families insignia. Some of the paintings along the wall also were done in the same colors, displaying shields and crests in such fashions.

It was funny to see that humans no matter the era or society ended up being so similar.

“Oh my, the strong knight.”

Stepping over to the open door, I turned and faced the woman who was smiling at me. She had peered her head out of the room on my approach, likely having heard the knight earlier laughing and joking with me.

She was wearing the same dark blue as the others, but had a white apron covering most of it. She also had specks of flour on her face.

A peer past her shoulder told me that the room behind her was a large flour room. There were other women in there, kneading dough and such.

“Dinner time’s past, isn’t it?” I asked.

She giggled at me. “These will be for breakfast tomorrow!”

“Who is that?” a woman’s voice shouted from within.

The woman shifted and glanced behind her for a moment. Before the others could realize who she was talking to, she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

Frowning a little, I wondered why I was suddenly so interesting to women.

The servant girl smiled warmly at me. “Did you have dinner already?” she asked.

“Regrettably,” I said to her.

Her smile didn’t falter. “How about tomorrow?” she asked, undeterred.

“I’m on duty for the next week. Something to do with some party or something,” I said.

Her smile finally flinched, but it still didn’t die. “Right, the meeting with the councils. I almost feel bad for you,” she said with a sigh.

She took rejection well, even if I wasn’t outright doing such a thing to her.

The door behind her opened and an older woman peered at us. “Get back to work. I know where his room is so you can bother him later,” she said.

“Jeez Mom!” the woman turned to shout, and lots of giggles and laughs erupted behind the door.

Smiling at them, I wondered if maybe this Lord really wasn’t that bad. The servants really did seem comfortable here.

“Maybe we can sneak a dinner in-between duties or something in the next few days,” I said to her. May as well keep my options open.

Plus it’d be a good way to see if my attraction to Celine was genuine or not. Maybe I really was just… lonely, or something akin to it.

Though… Although she too was rather beautiful, I didn’t have anywhere near the same feeling of attraction towards her as I had Celine. Maybe it was the hair. Hers was all bundled up since she was working with food.

The woman blushed and nodded. “Sure! I’ll be helping out at the party and meeting, so we’ll see each other there,” she said excitedly.

Nodding back, I turned as I waved a goodbye to her. She happily waved back, and then after a moment hurried back into the flour room. Before she got the door closed I heard the tumult of giggles and teasing being bombarded on her.

As I headed down the hall, towards the rear of the mansion where my room was, I wondered what I was going to do with myself.

Before I reached the hallway that led to my room, I was stopped again. This time by a much older woman. I didn’t know her name, but I knew she was important in the mansion. Likely something akin to the head maid or something.

“There you are. Where have you been?” she asked as she headed towards me.

Shifting a little, I wondered if I was supposed to have been on duty today. I could have sworn that old butler had said I was free today.

“Come, come,” she gestured for me to come towards her. At first I hesitated, but decided to just play along.

Stepping towards her she turned around, and then waved at me with more gumption. She wanted me to hurry.

Following after her, I was led away from the area of the mansion where the servants lived. We entered the main hallway, and then passed it and went to a wing of the house I’d never been to before.

She led me to a large decorated door, which was half-way propped open. Within were several people, and…

Understanding dawned on me as I studied the rows of clothes. Most were for women, bright colored and fluffy designs of gowns and dresses. But there were a couple racks of suits, ranging from deep black to the blues of the household.

“Ah. Good. You found him,” a woman stepped out from behind one of the racks, and I stood up a little straighter as I realized it was the wife of the Lord.

She was young. Maybe Celine’s age. Oddly though, she honestly wasn’t very attractive. She had an oddly shaped nose and chin, and they weren’t off to me just because of personal preference. She was genuinely unappealing, even for a human.

Usually lords and kings had better looking wives. Especially during these kind of societies. Maybe more was at play than appearances, though.

“Go on, over there. Before the mirrors,” the lady of the house pointed behind her. To a section of the room before a collection of mirrors.

The meaning was obvious, and the intent clear. I kept a sigh from escaping as I nodded obediently and went to oblige her.

“Charles! Kathy! Something black, white pins,” the lady of the house didn’t even wait until I finished stepping up onto the tiny little round platform before the mirrors.

“Strip,” the old maid stepped over to me and ordered, as she went to quickly unfasten my clothes for me.

Although more than a little annoying… I went ahead and played along as the maids and lady of the house went to picking out a suitable suit for me. One that wouldn’t embarrass their Lord, or the household.

I’d decided to be the good little guard dog. So I could learn more about the current state of the world. So that I could spend time in that library.

It was either that… or take all I wanted by force.

And I was tired of doing that. It worked, but not forever.

Such a thing was why I had run away to the ends of the sea. To those islands. To flee the consequences of my actions.

“Gods it looks horrible on him,” the lady of the house sighed once I was fully suited.

Glancing at the mirror, I noted the way the black suit hug my chest and arms. It was just too tight, really. Which was funny, since I wasn’t that big compared to some men. I had muscles, but they weren’t huge.

“Another!” the lady ordered, and the process repeated itself.

From guard dog to pin up.

Wonderful.