Emersyn escorted Draven to his room as she introduced him to the ones they encountered. Since the palace where Emersyn was residing was only filled with people that could take care of her in her stead. Draven numbered the people he encountered with only two hands.
"This is your room, and my room is the only one at the very top. Though, you won't really be able to see me there often since I am currently on a mission. If you ever need help, you can pull the string near your bed. Well, you know how it worked anyway. Oh, and here is a communication ring I recently developed. You can call me anytime, though I won't be able to answer you when I'm in a fight. Oh, and… I need to buy you some clothes. Hang on."
She said as she went over to the walk-in closet of the room. Draven followed her there and saw a… glowing slab that was so thin that it almost seemed transparent.
"Since it's still cold here, I could supply you with thick clothes; boots for the outdoors and formal shoes for your work inside the palace. If you ever need supplies like papers and pens, tell me and I'll buy it for you. We are still a developing world, so you can only see my people scouting, blacksmithing, making various tools, farming, foraging and mining. We are currently excavating the underground cities and finding more mineral veins. Our mission in the other worlds are getting land animals and monsters for food and for materials. But, as you can surmise, we are stuck in a war in your world, so it'll be a while before we can proceed. Oh, and we are selling our wares in Strevalia through the firm I built there."
"..."
"As you can see, we have a lot of work to do. Once you recover, I'll take you to Mahaze and do what you must before we can proceed with our work here."
"Just thinking about it gives me a headache…."
"If you still can't handle some of it, then you can leave it to me for a while."
"... no, I will do it."
"That's great news to me. Now, put these clothes on."
"...."
"Hm? Oh, is this too foreign to you?"
"No, I am capable of doing it myself."
"Can you also bathe by yourself?"
"....."
"... is it too awkward for you? Anyway, I'll be back every two or three days to check up on you. I'll delegate work for you if you've recovered. I'll get going now," she said as she settled a set of clothes on the table then went away into the portal that suddenly appeared.
He prodded in the bathroom and he saw a stylish tub and a bathrobe hanging at the corner. There was… what was that? It looked like a big head and a cylindrical metal keeping the head in place. Strangely, there was also a knob on the wall. Would there be a door behind this wall? He turned it and the head suddenly produced warm water and it greatly surprised him. He tried turning it until he couldn't anymore, then it produced stronger pressure of warm water. He panicked as he quickly turned it back. That was where it stopped producing warm water. He sighed in relief. Now, he and his clothes were wet from his little accident.
"What was that?" He grumbled under his breath.
He took off his clothes and dumped them in a basket sitting on the sink near the bathrobe. His eyes went to the containers just underneath that water head or whatever it was called. He looked at it intensely. For some reason, he could read the characters in it. This big bottle with… what do you call this? Uh… this one that you pushed and something will come out? In any case, he smothered the liquid on his hair and lathered it. When he washed the shampoo off, he took a look at another bottle with the shampoo. It said… conditioner… What was that? Was there a product like this? He grabbed the full bottle and tried looking at the back. It said, 'makes your hair shiny and soft'.
"Hmm… interesting....," he muttered. "So… how much should I get? It should be enough to cover all my hair…. This have keratin? What's keratin? Uh… leave for a few minutes to complete treatment…. Oh, okay."
As he left his conditioned hair, he saw this… fluffy something with liquid soap beside it. Wait, liquid soap? 'Liquid'?! What in the world of…. The only kind of soap he knew was the coarse bath soap he used when he was the Grand Duke of Luiva. What was this… innovation? Is this the world where females and males treat others as equals? It was true that he desired more luxurious things, but knowing the men in his previous world didn't really care about their appearance… rubbed it on him. Anyway, he pressed on that weird button on the fluffy ball of whatever and carefully put where the liquid was on his skin. He tried scrubbing, and it produced bubbles. Moreover, it was pleasant on the skin.
When he was putting on his bathrobe after a satisfying bath, a knock was heard.
"Sir Draven?" A male voice called out from the other door.
"Yes. Come in."
The man entered with a trolley and rolled it towards the table in his room. He put foods that were too foreign to Draven, but it looked appetizing.
By the time the man finished setting the table, he began as he pointed at each dish, "This is risotto and bone soup. This is bread with meat, cheese and tomato fillings. This is yolk mayonnaise you can dip your bread in. Of course, it's purely optional. Then, for desserts, we serve you melon, plums, and cherries with mint and vanilla. I apologize if we still haven't had a wide variety of dishes yet, so I ask for your understanding. Our Lord is doing her best to give us more monsters and educating us about the crops we are currently studying."
"... I understand."
"Thank you, sir. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask any of us."
"Yes, thank you."
"Well then, please permit me to leave."
"Okay."
The man bowed then left. Draven looked at the closed door for a few moments then gave his attention to the food before him. He took a cautious bite of this so-called risotto, and his eyes went wide. Then, he took a sip on the soup. These… food were bursting with flavors and riches! He had never been so satisfied when it came to food. Now, he had something to look forward to. The mysterious ingredients they used in these dishes… he wanted to know. When he finished eating with a delighted sigh. He stood up and rang the bell next to his bed. A few moments later, a male servant appeared.
"I would like to go out," Draven announced.
"I understand. I will call a guide for you."
"Oh, and please clean the table."
"Understood. Please wait for a while," the man said as he left to get a trolley, and at the same time, called a guide. When he came back, he began cleaning the table.
"Sir Draven, my name is Isidore Tanaka," said the guy who entered in a formal suit. His neat black hair was slicked back that even someone who didn't have any sense of fashion like Draven could see that Isidore was quite fashionable.
"Where would you like to go?"
"... everywhere."
"I understand. I will wait for you to change your clothes. I will be outside."
"Oh," Draven mumbled as he didn't realize that he was still in his bathrobe. It was too silky that it was quite a luxurious item to him. He hurriedly went to the clothes that Emersyn laid out for him and wore it clumsily. When he saw a small container that read, 'hair gel', he turned it over and saw that it was the one that could hold his hair up. He immediately took some and combed his hair back with his gelled hand. He went to the bathroom to wash his hands, then went outside.
Isidore was quietly waiting for him just beside his door with his hands behind his back and his head bowed.
The servants serving Emersyn were all well-mannered in this regard. Maybe because they really admired the woman with all their hearts? Now that he mentioned it, he could still feel Emersyn's mana even when she was in another world fighting in a war. It was stronger here, but why was he alright? Shouldn't he collapse or even die from being exposed to too much mana? Well… he did came back to life because of Emersyn. Then… it should be that Emersyn did something in his body. He shivered at the thought.
"The one we just exited is the Emperor's palace," Isidore started. "Our Lord resides at the very top of the palace and that's where she left her crystal to watch over us. There's the garden where our Lord cultivates experimental seeds. It contained a vast land, and it's quite dangerous if you entered it without any permission from our Lord. If we continued ahead, you'll be able to see the First Prince's palace. It is smaller than the Emperor's palace, but it's still one of the greatest asset of the empire we are building..."