I stayed with Jolga and Dura, helping in the kitchen for a few hours. True to Jolga’s previous words, we indeed got to know each other in that time. Not like I had much of a choice in the matter, as the woman kept asking me questions in an interrogative tone.

Well, at least I got to ask my own questions, too.

Turns out, Jolga and Dura were sisters and they were the daughters of Emrum’s older sister, who was called Yonalda Dimhollow and was obviously a well-respected member of the house. She was also something of a dwarven traditionalist who disliked elves, or at least that was what Dura whispered to me while I was preparing the plates for lunch. I guess I know now the origin of Jolga’s dislike towards me.

As the clan’s tradition dictates, both of the women were part of the military. Jolga, apparently being the older sister, decided to become a berserker. A type of warrior that channels their rage into a barely controlled fury and fearlessly unleashes havoc across any battlefield. Which I have been told by her words means she gets angry and starts to crush skulls with her warhammer. I could see that working out for her, I guess.

Dura, on the other hand, was a scout, usually avoiding combat entirely, and focusing on her skills of sneaking and hiding, spying on enemy movements.

I easily got along with Dura, who was a considerate person and surprisingly easy to talk to, seeing how shy she seemed at first sight. Jolga was a different matter, though. The woman was loud and overbearing, the same in her actions as in her speech. She had a radical view of the world, either hating or loving something, but rarely between the two.

She made it quite clear that she wasn’t accepting a suspicious witch as a family member, especially not a squeamish elf. Saying that relying on such unnatural powers as magic is a sign of cowardice. Obviously, I argued with her statement, but was easily dismissed after she asked me out for a duel without magic. Which I immediately declined.

Unfortunately, declining the duel seemed to solidify her view on me, but I wasn’t quite ready to get my head bashed in with a hammer for a childish insult.

Still, I couldn’t seem to ignore her remarks on my butt. I was starting to feel self conscious about it, really… Was my butt that big? I mean, it’s clearly the most feminine part of this scrawny elven body, but it didn’t feel that large… She was probably just trying to get on my nerves.

I also learned a lot of things about how the mansion functions without servants. In essence, members of the house are entrusted with the chores and everybody cleans their own room. For example, today Jolga and Dura were the ones who had to prepare the food. Tomorrow someone else will while they will do something else. If too many members of the main house are out on quests, some of the members of the branch houses are asked to help out.

I also realized why the mansion seemed to be so empty. I mean, aside from the two women, I only run into a few other women in the corridors since I arrived here.

Apparently, the reason for that was caused by the military tensions between elves and dwarfs. Most of the people have been mobilised to strengthen the border with extra patrols. There were only a handful of people inside the mansion currently, and I already met most of them.

The ones I did not meet will be introduced to me over lunch, after we are done with the last of the preparations.

I will be honest, I wasn’t that excited about that fact, after realizing that half of the house dislikes elves to various degrees, and I was a witch on top of that, which clearly didn’t help my situation.

~oOo~

Thanks to my anxious thoughts, the time seemed to barely crawl by, as if it intentionally wanted to let me stew in my misery.

Eventually, we finished with the preparations and carried everything over to the dining room. Placing them orderly on an impressively sized table that had at least twenty seats surrounding it. I gently reached out with my magic as Camilla taught me and immediately felt the familiar resonance of the magical wood of which this table too seemed to be made of.

Needless to say, the hall was very well decorated. It had easily the best design in the mansion, at least from those I have seen so far. The floor was made from beautifully cut white marble tiles. The four corners of the chamber held four unique, life-sized statues, in memory of four heroic figures of House Dimhollow.

I naturally didn’t recognize any of them, but that didn’t take away from the awe I felt seeing the life like statues made with incredible attention to detail. The four warriors looked like they would start walking at any moment. Well, if one ignored their colorless and stony features, that is.

That was, however, far from the end of things. The roof of the hall was depicting in painstakingly detailed form the short painted history of the formation of Dimhollow House. Colorful murals were covering the entirety of the tall roof structure, among with the crystal chandeliers and various lampions placed upon the walls to provide ample light in the spacious hall.

However, among all the splendor, the main sight of the place was undoubtedly the enormous and beautifully designed family tree covering the entirety of the wall running parallel to the table’s length.

Working together, the three of us quickly finished placing the plates and various utensils, along with the different food containers. Dura helped to direct my actions along the way, as only a small section of the table needed to be set. Once again, reminding me that most of the members were out on important missions.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

When we were done with everything, I went over to the tapestry showcasing what could only be the famous enchanted family tree Emrum told me about. Staring at it with a slightly loose jaw, I raised my right hand in a thoughtful gesture.

I curiously checked the ring with the same dwarven rune writing covering it as it was visible on the tapestry. When I focused on the writing on my ring, I felt a tingling feeling radiating from it. Then, as if to resonate with the subtle magical energy, I noticed in the left corner of my eye, there was a bluish light blinking to life on the ancient tapestry, immediately drawing my attention.

I walked over to it, concentrating on a particular section of the tapestry at the lower half of it. My eyes glinted with surprise when I saw my name written in those dwarven characters, with a thin line connecting them to Emrum and Nerha Dimhollow’s names, along with Nadwabella and Erirmun Dimhollow, just like that. There was my name, Selora Dimhollow.

Right under my name, in smaller characters, there were a few interesting things written. My height, weight, age, general appearance, race and even something called status: healthy, alive.

Thankfully, I didn’t see any information that was especially embarrassing for me. Aside from maybe my weight and height. Being 159 centimeter tall was quite the humbling experience, although, when I noticed my weight, my eyes bulged unnaturally. I was like, 56 kilograms. It was ridiculous; most of my previous life I was around three digits, and this meant that I was basically half of my previous body’s weight. No wonder in this new body I could run for hours.

I chuckled at the thought.

I felt my braid being pulled backwards roughly, then just as quickly let go. Causing my head to rock back and forth in an annoying way.

“What is so funny, elf?” — I turned around, a little surprised, but more annoyed by the voice appearing right behind me. I faced Jolga with a frustrated glare. She was clearly spying on my actions and annoying me, to boot. — “What are you staring at?” — She question blatantly ignoring my glare.

While I was getting used to the other woman’s crude behaviour, seeing that she was more bark than bite. I was still nervous around the so-called berserker, if nothing else than solely because of her unpredictable factor, and perhaps her intimidating aura. I mean… the woman was practically covered in scars, the one on her face being the most obvious.

I looked to the side, trying my best to not annoy the woman once again, as I did not trust my ability to not stare at her scar if I forced myself to look her in the eye. — “Um, well… I looked for my name and found it.” — I stated the obvious awkwardly.

“Look me in the eye when I am talking to you, elf, or is that your kind can’t even show that much respect?” — She announced in a derisive tone.

I immediately glared down at her. She being half a head shorter than me, which fact obviously annoyed her to no end.

I was a patient person all my previous life, but I will admit, she was starting to get under my skin. Perhaps because of the hormones of this new body, or the fact that I was a witch. I become quite emboldened for a moment as I told the annoying dwarf exactly what was on my mind at the time.

“Like you are one to talk about respect. You have been nothing but rude and annoying towards me all this time. Calling me names and stuff. I will tell you now, from where I come from, your comments would have been already considered sexual harras-… " — She grabbed my arm, turning me around halfway. — “W-what are you up to now? Let go of my arm you-” — SPANK — “AH!?” — A loud confused shriek left my lips unintentionally, followed by a jolt of pain sparking through my body originating from my butt.

There was a moment of silence engulfing the hall, as I was staring ahead of me in disbelief. At least until the sharp pain that was still pulsing through my bum jolted me out of said stupor.

“Did you just!?“ — I demanded, doubt echoing through my voice as my mind still refused to accept the situation. In the meantime, Jolga started to rant over me as if it was my fault.

“Sexual harassment, you say? I will give you sexual harassment, you arrogant little pip-squeak! You just walked into my home and already started to tell me what to do! Let’s see how your sharp tongue gets you out of this situation! HA!”

As it turned out, things didn’t go in the direction I wanted. I shrieked like a girl as several more jolts of pains assaulted my mind. — SPANK, SPANK, SPANK. — “AAAHH!!” — I squirmed, pushed and kicked as if my life depended on it, enraged by the sheer humiliation of the scene. — “STOP IT YOU BASTARD OR I-I SWEAR-” — SPANK — “AAAAHH! Now you did it!”

I stilled my struggle for a second so I can channel my anger into a raw magical eruption focused at my assailant.

"Is that it? You already stopped squirming, eh? What are you going to do now, cry? Hah! Don’t think that being on that darn tapestry means anything to me, elf. It doesn’t make you suddenly become a part of this family. It doesn’t work like that. Don’t even dream about it. The only good thing about you is your butt, at least as far as I am involved. I rarely see an elf with such a thick and obscene arse.”

Further infuriated by her words, I unleashed my magic without a drop of remorse at the idiot. — “GET OFF ME YOU FOOL!”

There was a crackle in the surrounding air, a moment of stillness — “Wait, what are you do- AAAaaahhhhh!” — which was followed by utter chaos. Everything seemed to blur. My body pulled forward for a second just to be violently thrown backwards right after that. Pain erupted across my body as I collided with various objects.

~oOo~

I think I blacked out for a second or two. When I came to myself, I was lying on the floor entangled with a few chairs and various kitchen utensils. There seemed to be a loaf of flattened bread under my head, too. I could even smell the scent of freshly baked bread thanks to it.

I raised my head tentatively, only to be assaulted by a wave of nausea; then the pain arrived. I dropped my head back onto the bread, trying and failing to gulp back the voiceless whimpers that were about to escape my throat.

Half of my body felt numb, while the other shivered in pain. I had at least several pulled muscles and various strains, not even mentioning the stinging pain from my butt.

It was at that moment, when I finally remembered what had happened. The cause of this catastrophe. I felt a wave of despair settling in the bottom of my stomach.

Now you did it, Selora… great!

At last I allowed the softest of whimper to escape me. It was not like anybody could hear it anyway, since the noise of still crashing and falling items were yet to completely subside.

Then I heard the stomping foots, and alarmed shouts coming from the direction of the corridor and like any responsible adult. I decided to close my eyes and play dead for now.