The dining hall is absolutely massive, far beyond my expectations. The far side wall from me is one giant window and if I remember correctly glass is extremely expensive during pre-industrial society, hell it was expensive when I built my home back on earth. The room is lit up by impressive crystal chandeliers that seem to be designed specifically to amplify the light emitted by the burning candles on them.

Stepping through the threshold of the door everyone at the massive table stares at me expectantly and I notice despite the size of the table, nearly every seat is filled with someone. Aside from the Duke at the head of the table, there is only one other man who is sitting at the far end of the table. The other man is a firey ginger wearing a suit that has what seems to be lots of medals on it. I assume he is a military man of some kind.

A crass female voice shouts at me from the table,

"Took you long enough! They aren't letting us eat till you sit the hell down."

Another female voice quietly but harshly shushes the first one telling her to act ladylike. I still feel a bit nervous and I do my best to stop my hands from shaking and keep my breath steady. I feel a sweat slowly forming but I decide to try and earn some favor feeling bad about making them all wait for me so I bow at the waist and say in a clear voice,

"I apologize for my tardiness, I hoped to be as proper as possible for this first meeting."

When I straighten up again I look to the Duke who smiles and nods at me before he motions to a chair near the ginger man at the far end of the table. I assume this is where I am to be seated. I walk to that seat with a stiff posture feeling all eyes on me. I notice an impressive mural on the wall from the direction I came, but I decide not to make a fool of myself by acting overly amazed by the grandeur. I mean I grew up in this world in a plain house carved out of a mountain. It was cozy, but not luxurious in any way.

When I make it to the seat a servant is suddenly by my side. He pulls the chair out for me and I take my seat thanking him. I scoot close to the table and keep my hands by my side trying not to already fail at table manners.

Once I am seated the Duke begins speaking,

"Well since everyone is here I would like to introduce the newest member of our household. The young man who just sat down and we have been awaiting is Isa. He is of the Outcast tribe of the Stella Coyote..."

I mentally note they think our differences are tribal, not cultural and ethnic.

"I have officially adopted him to be the consort of the next head of our household. I have granted him the honor of taking my last name.

I hope everyone here can be civil and get along with him despite his differences. I expect him to be treated well by all of you as he is granted all the same privileges as any of you, my daughters.

Now with that out of the way, let us sup."

He smiles broadly and I still feel many eyes boring into my skull. I feel nearly everyone at the table sizing me up. I try not to make eye contact with anyone but I am pulled from my nerves by a voice to my right,

"Well, Isa. It's nice to meet you."

I look over at the ginger man and he smiles at me warmly. I reply,

"Well, it's nice to meet you too. What is your name?"

He chuckles and replies,

"Thank goodness you are someone straight to the point. I am Sir Harold Hasslerouge. I am a distant cousin to the Hasslerouge family despite sharing the same name. I am the royal knight dedicated to the oversight of the Hasslerouge family."

I nod and reply,

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, sir. I hope to get to know you better in the future."

He smiles and in a somewhat cold tone says,

"Don't worry. You will."

I keep smiling pretending like I didn't notice the tone. It was one I recognize as that of a purely business-oriented person, like the many IRS investigation agents I've met with in my past life. This guy is this kingdom's version of a fed, a glowie of some sort. He clearly is not a friend but is simply doing his job and is being cordial.

I look across the table to see a young girl staring right at me with wide eyes. She looks to be around eight to ten years old. I smile at her and she shies away. I look down at the rest of the table and see the family either talking to one another or are completely ignoring one another. I take note of the order people are sitting in. The seemingly oldest daughter sits closest to the Duke himself and down to the little one in front of me, it appears to be a descending order of age.

On my side of the table, it's all older women. The oldest is seemingly around the Duke's age with the Duchess sitting right next to the Duke. Judging by age the side of the table I am sitting on is either the wives, concubines, or something similar to that, but I don't know completely so I won't assume. Since I am at the far end from the Duke I assume I am considered one of the lowest priority or lowest rank.

Servants appear out of a door pushing carts loaded with covered dishes. I await patiently as I have mine placed last in front of me. The servants all at once remove the covers and the aroma of well-made food fills the room. It seems everyone has something different to eat, seemingly the kitchen staff knows everyone's preferences in the family when it comes to food. Looking up and down the table I see wonderfully exotic dishes, and I get a plate with boiled greens on it. I mean I understand where they are coming from as Frontiersmen do eat a form of boiled greens across all the different cultures. It's a simple filler meal because it is super easy to store as the greens we use do not go bad for long periods of time. It also tastes like eating dirt.

Judging by portions I guess this is the appetizer for the meal, and they assume this poor man's meal, side, and survival meal is an appetizer for my kind. Worst off, I do not recognize the leaves and stems on the plate. Back home the plant used is the famine plant, called that because of its ability to ignore droughts and how historically it saved people from famine. It's hard to eat, but its high in protein and other vitamins meaning a person could go their whole life eating nothing but famine plant leaves and stems. These might honestly be some random leaves they found but it appears to be something similar to spinach or kale.

The woman on my left stares in horror at my food and asks me,

"Are you sure you can eat that? I can call over one of the cooks to make you something else."

I shake my head and reply,

"It's quite fine ma'am, I appreciate their attempt of making frontiersman food. I would have much preferred trying something new though."

I laugh a little and she looks at me confused and I sigh and say,

"Frontiersmen is what we call ourselves. You all call us Outcasts."

She nods and watches me still a little disturbed by the pile of green. I don't eat because I don't know which fork to use. I whisper to her,

"Pardon me. I hate to seem... uncultured but where I am from most meals are eaten by hand, even by the highest in society... which utensil do I use?"

She smiles and tactfully points at a similar one she has before picking hers up and eating her meal. I thank her and pick up the small fork and take a bite. I nearly cringe as the absolutely bitter taste fills my mouth. These plants taste exactly like dandelion greens, but the bitterness is infinitely stronger and not in a good way. Worst off, no salt.

I manage to choke down the food as I am incredibly hungry from a long day of travel, a fight, and the fact after the old blacksmith who owned me died my, sellers forgot to feed me. I make sure to eat slowly despite my instincts telling me to wolf down the food. The little girl stares at me in horror as I eat the greens. It makes me smile to see that little kids are the same no matter what world or culture they belong to.

After my portion is done and the lady next to me is finished with her I ask,

"Pardon me once more, but since I will be living somewhere around here may I ask your name?"

The woman smiles and then replies,

"Yes, you may. I am Alice Hasslerouge. I am the fifth wife of Duke Hasslerouge, and across from you is my daughter Heather. She is the youngest in the family."

She introduces her daughter with such pride I can't help but smile. Before I notice anything my empty plate is gone and a new one is in front of me. The servant stays standing next to me even after the cover is gone. Alice looks at my food in interest and I stare at it in horror. The servant then speaks up,

"The chefs wanted your first night to have familiar foods. We tried cooking some imported game from your homeland and made a sauce for it with some berries. Let me know if they correctly made your food."

I stutter out,

"What animal did this come from?"

The servant replies,

"I believe it is called a gray boar."

So the meat will be nearly inedible due to how much gristle is in the meat and the large lack of fat for flavor due to the boar being a chaparral creature. I then ask,

"These berries you used. Did you use them in anyone else's meal? Has anyone eaten any?"

The servant shakes his head confused and then repleis,

"No... why is that?"

I sigh and say,

"Throw it all out. These berries are highly toxic. I mean like kill you in an hour toxic. These berries are called heart-stoppers. They are literally only used to poison weapons."

The servant turns white and quickly removes the dish from in front of me and hurries back to the kitchen. I sigh and shake my head. Alice says to me,

"That's horrible! Are you angry?"

I shake my head and say,

"No. If they didn't know, they didn't know. I can't be mad at someone for not knowing."

Quickly a new plate is set in front of me and supper is fairly normal from there. Alice and I small-talk about clothing styles from our respective cultures, and I learn quickly from the conversation, Alice is a wonderful lady and is quite beautiful, but most likely due to how she was raised is completely incompetent. Luckily she is married to a rich and powerful man so she is comfortable for life.

I manage to not make a fool of myself for the entire supper and when it ends and people start leaving I begin to stand up and hope there is someone around to lead me where I need to go next. My stomach is full and I am sleepy. As I start to mosey to the door a pair of very strong arms wrap around my midsection and begin to lift me. I naturally drop my weight and bend forward pushing my thumbs into the hip-flexor muscle of whoever is grabbing me. This puts my feet firmly back onto the ground. Then my attacker starts to go backward, falling down in order to drag me overhead for a poorly executed suplex. I reach between my legs with one arm and grab an ankle and pull it from under me and sit down on the hips of my attacker who falls with a sturdy thud. I pull the leg skywards and hold it still but hooking the leg just above the knee with my leg forcing it straight and holding them down. I then notice the leg is mostly bare and I notice despite the power behind the leg, it still is very feminine.

The person I am sitting on begins laughing maniacally and an arm reaches up from behind me and grabs my chin. They then yank me backward with impressive strength, slamming my head into the tile floor making me see stars, and release the leg. The person under me is able to stand back up and she says,

"Well dad, looks like you were right about this one being a fighter! But he's a little wimpy!"

I grunt and dive for the ankle. Once I grab it I lift it above my head and violently kick the other leg out from under them. I look to see it is the eldest daughter of the family. Her hair is white with a minty green shade to it, and with two golden eyes that stare up at me excitedly. She has a maniacal smile on her face. She is wearing one of those tight-fitting dresses with the sides cut out for better leg movement which explains why her leg is so bare, but I can see rippling power coming from her body. Everything is perfectly sculpted and muscular in a way most men only try to achieve.

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I release her leg and she quickly gets up and grabs my wrist. I cannot stop her as she pulls me into what looks like a hug. Both my arms are trapped and she whispers in my ear with an excited tone,

"Sorry, but I can't have you misunderstand who is big sister here.

Major Ability Boost."

I watch her body glow for a moment and realization hits me. That spell sounded similar to something that the big guy had said, but he said minor, and this woman is probably stronger than him at a baseline, and she just said major. I watch her shoulder muscles and triceps flex and feel all the air be crushed from my lungs and my bones feel as if they are about to break. My vision goes dark as I can't get any air to my lungs and the world fades to black as I am slowly crushed to death by a maniac...

I wake up feeling really stiff. I find myself in a very plush white bed in a nice, but plain room. I sit up with a groan hearing every single one of the joints in my upper body pop like a firecracker. The curtains over the window blow open in the morning breeze as light streams through. I slide out of bed and find myself dressed in what appears to be night clothes. On the chair next to the bed lies a set of folded clothing. It's nice, but far more everyday feeling than the ones from last night. I dress myself and start stretching to get myself ready for the day. I run through yesterday's events in my mind thinking about how I could have done better in every aspect, breaking down every mistake both during my fight and during the personal interactions so that I do not repeat any mistakes. Then the door to the bedroom bursts open and I fear it had been kicked off its hinges.

I turn around startled and find the muscular woman from last night standing in the doorway. She is wearing what appears to be her more natural clothes. She has long pants and regular looking shirt with a long coat hanging loosely from her shoulders. Her arms are crossed and she has that same insane smile on her face. I say hesitantly,

"Uhhhh... Good morning. What do I owe the pleasure?"

She replies,

"You're coming with me!"

I don't know how to respond, but before I can she is beside me faster than I can react and she sweeps my legs from under me. I hit the wood floor with a thud and she grabs one of my ankles and starts dragging me out the door and down the halls. My screams of terror fall on deaf ears as any servant who sees me look at me in pity. They fear this minty woman...

After we make it outside she tosses me roughly onto an open area of grass. I get to my feet and frustratedly say,

"Okay, I came with you. Now, what do you plan to do you wild bitch?"

This makes her laugh and she says,

"I haven't had a good sparring partner in this house for years. Fresh meat is fresh meat. I keep hurting all my partners, plus I gotta do something to make sure you always know who is the head bitch of these parts. "

I laugh and reply sarcastically as my hands start to shake at my sides,

"Ohhhh... I'm so scared! Shiver me timbers you are so big and scary. Why don't you fight me without your fancy magic or without blindsiding me."

She steps onto the grass and throws the coat to the side revealing her shirt is in fact sleeveless, and her arms are far more powerful looking in the morning light. She rolls her arms out and says,

"Oh! If you think you can handle it!"

Even without her magic, she is still incredibly fast and strong. Each punch she throws at me feels like I just got hit by a truck. Her physical abilities are clearly from long hours of hard work and training as are her hand-to-hand combat moves. Her punches are precise and thrown expertly at the right moments. Her kicks are not survivable if I took one to the head. While it is good to see Aelia again, her role is to heal me after my bones are broken after every single engagement we have. Forty-five times my arms get broken. I lost count of the ribs I broke. Dodging her is impossible due to her speed so I do my best to mitigate the damage taken, usually resulting in broken fingers and hands. Her style is similar to some kind of kickboxing. Each attack, while very precise and well-trained is very linear and has little deviation. Just simple straight punches and jabs, mixed with quick kicks used to break my guard. Overall, her style is very predictable.

Despite all this, I don't give up, and in fact, I dish out as much as I get. By taking certain punches and kicks I am able to break a few of her bones with joint locks which are healed by Aelia. While she has speed and strength over me, I have skill and endurance. After three minutes of her onslaught, all her attacks lose power and I am able to do my work. With martial art training from both earth and from my home in this world, my understanding of hand-to-hand combat is superior. I catch her in traps and feint attacks to land more brutal blows. I use my knowledge of pressure points and soft tissues to make my weaker punches have a similar impact to her brutal swings. The whole time we shout at one another back and forth, each exchange of words filled with obscenities and threats.

The fight is long and brutal and as the sun rises so does the heat. Both of us are absolutely drenched in sweat, almost looking as if we had just gone swimming. We decide to go after one another for round fifty but a voice calmly calls out,

"Rising Wind..."

Suddenly a gale forms around us, the wind is so powerful it becomes a small tornado. I feel myself being lifted off the ground and I loudly protest the sudden rise. Suddenly I stop rising and the wind reverses direction causing me to be slammed into the ground, yet again breaking my arm. I cry out in pain as I hear my fighting partner land far more gracefully next to me. Aelia hurries over to me and heals my broken arm. I stand up and swing my arm a few times to make sure it's alright, once done with that I face where the voice had come from.

Where there wasn't anything a while ago, there now is a small table with an umbrella above it in the grassy area we were using as an arena. Sitting at the table is the second oldest daughter of the Hasslerouge family. She sits on a small chair in very prim and proper clothing. She has the porcelan-colored skin of her father and the same jet-black hair. Her eyes seem to glow with a blue light as she stares at us both disdainfully. She sips her little teacup of some unknown drink while she sits there one leg crossed over the other. Finally once done taking a sip she speaks,

"While it was fun for a while to watch you two beat one another to death... it began to become more and more uncivilized so I could no longer allow it to continue. The words you were speaking to one another are very unbecoming of nobility."

The oldest responds,

"Oh! So little miss prim and proper is going to lecture us?"

The younger then responds to the challenge,

"Yes. Yes, I am, but most importantly, neither of you has eaten anything all day. So I have had the servants make us a lunch to enjoy outdoors today."

This makes my sparring partner smile widely and she says,

"Well, I forgive you then for interrupting my good fun. I'm starved."

She turns to me and says,

"Time to eat up tough stuff."

I exhale sharply with a smile and follow her to the small table. I take the remaining seat after the oldest sits down. She begins inhaling sandwiches at a truly impressive rate as a servant hands me a cup full of a dark black and steaming liquid. The younger of the two then speaks directly to me with a clear look of disgust in her eyes,

"I would like to apologize for this barbarians actions against you. It must be very difficult to be put in such strange circumstances so suddenly, and you definitely didn't need to be tortured so quickly."

I nod and reply,

"Yes. It is difficult, but hey, I'm just the new guy."

This makes a small smile creep onto her lips and she suddenly interjects,

"Oh my! I have forgotten to introduce myself. Due to you being knocked out... because of someone. I was unable to properly introduce myself."

She raises her cup toward me and says,

"I am mage first class Zeyra Hasslerouge, second daughter of the Hasslerouge family."

I nod at her and reply with a shrug,

"It is nice to meet you. I guess for me I'm Isa, not sure about my last name yet, but I am a Frontiersman. Nothing special about me sorry."

She nods at me and my attention is drawn to the oldest. She swallows her bite of food and then introduces herself,

"I'm Violet Hasslerouge, the oldest daughter of the family. Nice to meet ya, Isa, it's rare for anyone to willingly last more than a single round with me."

I laugh and reply,

"Well if you aren't using any magic you're an easy enough warmup."

Violet laughs and continues eating. I turn to Zeyra and ask,

"I hope this isn't rude or anything but I'm new to this mage and magic stuff. What is a mage first class?"

Zeyra nods and answers,

"Well, it's the highest grade for a non-specialized magic user to be. There are four grades of mage, the first class being the highest and therefore strongest. You only receive a class upon being certified as a mage, before that you are just referred to as an apprentice. The crown likes to have all magic users registered in the event war breaks out and all users are called to serve.

I guess I'll keep going with this explanation because I'll assume you have no knowledge about magic.

There are four recognized categories of specialized magic users.

Wizards, are kinda useless if you ask me, but their whole thing is constant research and writing theses on magic for storage and future reference. Every spell in existence so far has been written down and now all they do is try to make new ones, so far no luck.

Next are the enchanters, far more useful, but they focus more on making magical items and whatnot. Very few have any capability to actually cast spells, but they do make some useful items.

Then there are druids which are, well... weirdos in the woods. They use magic to protect nature and really are useless. They tend to have control over the core forces of nature, like floods and storms. They are some of the most powerful magic users but tend to be useless overall.

Last is the group called the sorcerers, pretty much just mages, super unspecialized and utilized in a more generalist role. Some are specialized for military usage, and others are there just to support others. The Hasslerouge family comes from a long line of sorcerors but within sorcerors, there are many categories. It's more of a one size fits all category for any mage of considerable strength and has a specific specialization.

Like Violet here is a sorcerer. A type called a corpatyst, basically she uses magic to make her body into a weapon. She is referred to as one of the strongest in the entire kingdom on this front. Unfortunately, she is too stupid and bull-headed to try for anything greater."

Violet replies to this with,

"Hey! At least I have a title of my own accord!"

Zeyra flinches at this and responds in a collected tone filled with venom,

"Just you wait and see."

Violet laughs and I take a bite of the sandwich on my plate. Once I finish with the bite I ask,

"What are you hoping for Zeyra?"

She turns her attention back to me and her expression of disgust disappears, replaced with one of pride. I clearly asked about her passion. Zeyra then explains,

"I plan to become the first grand sorceress of the kingdom in over two hundred years. In a few months, I will be elevated to a novice sorceress, and from there I will inevitably climb the ranks, after all, I was at the top of my class in all regards when I graduated from the academy."

I smile and reply,

"That's a wonderful goal. I'm sure you already have all the steps lined up, not just a dream and good feelings."

She laughs and nods. I take a sip of the unknown dark fluid to find it's some kind of horribly bitter-tasting tea. I politely set the cup down and do not touch it again. Then Violet speaks up,

"So Isa... I gotta say, you're tough as nails. I like that. I've been having trouble getting stronger because everyone I fight is too weak to last more than a few rounds at most. What do you say, you and I, every day we do some sparring together. "

I laugh and reply,

"Sure! Just don't use magic on me!"

She nods and replies,

"I want to learn how to fight like you. I learned from the best martial artist in the kingdom and even surpassed him in skill, but from a technical standpoint, you kicked my teeth in. Every move you did was absolutely astounding to me. You did things I never even thought of.

So of course I won't use magic. I won't actually get any better at fighting if I get used to simply overpowering all my foes."

I laugh and reply,

"Okay, I'll teach ya some of my tricks, but just so you know, I wasn't fighting very technically actually. In my own eyes, I was fighting dumb and tough."

She smiles at me maniacally and says,

"Oh boy! I can't wait to see what you have in store."

Violet stands up and starts walking away and she says,

"Well, I gotta go. I have some business to attend to elsewhere. Tomorrow at daybreak before it gets hot Isa!"

I nod as she disappears around the corner I watch her walk off unconsciously enjoying the view. As soon as I notice what I'm doing I stop instantly and return to my lunch. Zeyra then speaks to me,

"Do you have any future plans for yourself?"

I pause mid-chew at this question. I sorta have some ideas of what I would like to do, but I don't have any way of telling what my future holds. I swallow and reply,

"I'm not sure if I have that option. To have any plans for myself that is. "

Zeyra nods and then replies,

"I see. I don't know what I expected your answer to be. I half expected you to say what you assumed I wanted to hear, or at the very least tried to flirt with me. I will share some wisdom with you.

You are no longer a slave. You are as much part of this family as any of us daughters, if any of us say otherwise let me know. I'll take care of it quickly. So with this in mind. What are your plans for the future?"

I think for a moment before giving her a big grin. I reply,

"Hard question, but to begin I'll start with attempting to make myself some spending money. After that, I'll keep climbing. I know I'm guaranteed a somewhat noble position just by marrying one of you all, whatever that means, but I don't like handouts like that.

With cold hard coin in my pockets, I'll climb the ranks of this kingdom either until I choke on my own ambition, or make it to the top. "

I lean forward and an aggressive edge comes into my voice,

"I refuse to ever again be at the mercy of another person. Never again will I be chained."

I lean back in my chair and take another bite. Zeyra looks at me seemingly satisfied with my answer and says to me,

"Now that's more like it. Don't worry, I'll do my part to avoid you becoming chained once again. I am happy to see you are not consumed with the task given to you by father.

Now I also have some things to attend to. Good luck Isa. You'll need it."

She smiles at me again after seemingly sizing me up. I notice the smile doesn't reach her eyes, instead in her eyes is that same look of disgust. I'll have to figure out why this is at some point. She leaves and I make sure not to stare this time. I finish my meal and thank the servants. I think about how to spend the rest of my day. I am still sweaty and gross and have some blood on me still, so I decide to start retraining my body.

During my slavery, my body atrophied greatly due to mistreatment. Even with the dragon's curse, I was at one point considerably stronger and more capable, so I decide to work out on my own out here. I notice that despite how hard I worked all morning I am not sore and come up with a plan. I approach Aelia,

"Uhhh, Aelia, will you stick around while I work out?"

She nods and I smile before getting to work. Every time I get fatigued due to the exercises I have Aelia hit me with some healing magic. The healing doesn't heal stamina but it makes my muscles return back to a healthy state once more. My cardio is still surprisingly good, but I guess hard work will do that. Eventually, after hours of bodyweight exercises and other exercises, I am mentally exhausted and can't find the energy to even get up for a few minutes. I decide that's time to call it quits. Aelia leads me to the bathhouse, sometimes supporting me as I stumble. My entire body feels dead despite having no muscle tears like normal, this is just plain and simple, no more energy left. No gas in the tank if you will, but I feel great, I'm tired of my own accord, no one else made me do this.

I am led into the room with the basin from before. Aelia leaves me to go and get me some fresh clothes and I strip down and run myself some hot water. I slide into the warm bath and let out a long sigh of relaxation. So far so good all things considered. I should try to meet the rest of the family. Supper might be the best time to do so.

I hear the door to the bathroom open behind me and I say toward the door,

"Hey Aelia, I really don't like being bathed by someone else. Please wait outside I'll be there soon! Thanks for getting me clothes."

A female voice responds,

"Oh my... no room for two?"

It is in fact, not Aelia...