Everything was quiet.
'Everest? Seriously? Like... the mountain?' thought Tenno. He could almost feel the black lines on his face appear for everyone to see.
They were now in one of the center regions of the continent, so the Ren the king spoke was very pure, like clear water, and his voice had a soothing sensation although it seemed to shake the very foundations of the building.
"Children. From today on, you will live in the palace. You will all receive the same education. At the moment, you all are on the very bottom of the palace, even lower than servants. So to prove yourself, you have to earn respect in the palace. For the first year, you will still have the assistance of the lowest ranked guards, which means the crack pots that brought you here. Also, since you are currently a total of over 5 thousand, there will be... ah, well, I can't be bothered to say now. Let's go, Tian."
"Yes, master."
The butler bowed and he and the king disappeared.
Tenno and Mori exchanged a flabbergasted glance. King Midnight seemed very... lazy! Well, who would want to deal with this bunch of kids, but he could have at least tried a bit more... Or was this his way of motivating them? It was a true mystery!
Tenno pushed those thoughts aside for now. If they had to earn respect, they would have to make themselves useful, meaning: work. So, what capabilities did he have? Fire. So... cooking? But his control needed to be very precise... Well, he would just have to train. And if that didn't work, he would just ask if anyone needed help. And for that, it would be useful to know the layout of the palace.
After the curtain sank down again, a bunch of servants brought slim mattresses into the hall. So they would sleep here.
Some of the formerly rich kids tried to get more than one, but the other children didn't allow that.
Mori and Tenno set themselves up in a corner. The latter one had an idea: to store their things in his inter spatial ring for safekeeping. Mori agreed. It was logical that some people would steal their things to make life hard, so they had to take precautions.
"You're a dryad, right?" whispered Tenno.
Moris eyes widened as he stared at Tenno.
"Don't worry. It dosen't seem like races matter here. After all, many of the guards are beastmen and dragonkin. What I mean is: As a dryad, you are close to nature, so I thought you would be able to help in the garden, if that dosen't work... Well, there's still the herbal garden and the kitchen."
"Okay... I'll... think about it. What about you?"
"The kitchen. You see, I have the fire ability! And I can cook pretty good. I'm guessing that the kitchen has a lot to do, so an extra pair hands would be useful. But I don't know the layout, so..."
Mori nodded. "That's a problem. We would have to run around the place, but then we would get in everyones way."
"There should also be restricted areas for which one needs more authority."
"You really know a lot...!"
"I read a lot. And I like stories, so..." Tenno shrugged.
"Okay. Well, back to the topic... Ah, we can ask Mero and Ichigo!"
"Oh yeah! Wait, didn't the king call them crack pots...?"
"..."
"That's so rude...!"
"Mhm!"
"Okay, let's go ask!"
As Tenno stood up, he supported himself with his hands, which meant the ring touched the floor. He wanted to see if he could get the layout of the palace that way, but even if he did, for cover he would still ask for the way.
Tenno had already gathered data about their two guard friends, through which he found out that the system tracked the people he had scanned. In this hall, this proved very useful, since he couldn't tell the difference between the guards. He only remembered that Ichigo and Mero had a red rose crest on their armor, which showed that they were vampires.
He and Mori followed the directions of the system and quickly found Ichigo and Mero. While Tenno explained, Mori was in thought. He wondered how his friend knew about his race, and it was also strange how mature this kid seemed. He even knew many of those words the adults used. Though, Mori knew them too. He had a good upbringing, even though it was short, and had often acted like a person from a different social rank. But Tenno had told him that he was a slave, so how did he know so many things that a person of that rank normally didn't?
When Ichigo heard how Tenno and Mori wanted to make themselves useful, he almost let his helmet fall down, which he had previously taken off.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. If we do a good job, it will earn us respect."
"You need a lot of confidence for that..." said Mero, raising an eyebrow.
"What else can we do? I can start by cleaning the kitchen, and since Mori likes plants and herbs so much, the herbal garden would be good."
"How do you know about the palaces herbal garden?"
"Dosen't every palace have one?"
The two guards exchanged a look. How was this kid so smart?! What did the master do with him??
"So? I first want to make sure that Mori finds a place. Please help us!" Tenno bowed.
Meros lip twitched. Ichigo tugged at his arm and whispered "What do we do?"
"Help them, obviously! They are kids!!"
Ichigo blinked a few times, which made Mero sigh. "You're ridiculous."
The strawberry only grinned as the apple agreed to help the two kids. Yes, Ichigo meant strawberry, and Mero had apple red hair, so his nickname was apple. The guards often couldn't be bothered with names since they all had the same rank. Even their superiors would prefer the nicknames since they were more catchy.
"Oh, by the way, Ichigo, Mero, did you get any instructions?" asked Tenno.
"Instructions? Hm..."
"To take care of you kids." said Mero as Ichigo took quite a while to remember. "I think each kid has a guard. Though we're the lowest rank, we're pretty skilled. This is also a test for us, to get into a better position."
"Hm... May I ask something?"
"What?"
"How old are you two? Because you two look pretty young."
The guards were dumbfounded. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I'm just curious."
"Huh."
"Mero is 187 this year, I'm 184. Vampires count as adults when they reach 200 years, and when nothing special happens, they live 600 years. The royals have a tendency to get close to 10 thousand years."
"That's a big difference..."
Ichigo shrugged. In the next moment, Mero hit him on the head. He felt so old compared to the kids!
He cleared his throat. "Well, let's go to the herbal gardens. I think you'll like it there."
Tenno smiled, tugged Mori at his sleeve and followed Mero with Ichigo at the back.
"Scan complete. Map uploaded to the system. May the host find his way!" said the system suddenly. Tenno had already wondered if it would just analyze the material of the entire palace or get the layout... But it really got the layout. It was like there was a small map of the palace in the back of his mind, showing him what room was used for what, which way was the shortest and so on.
He pursed his lips, trying to hide the excited smile. The system proved to be very useful. It had even helped him learn how to play the Koudi, which was a small entertainment source on their journey to the palace.
They had to get out of the western complex. Mero explained that the western complex was for the kids, the eastern complex for the ministers and their families, the southern complex for the gardens and the northern complex for training. The complex in the middle was that of the royal family, used for audiences and such.
Each complex had rooms for the servants and guards, a big kitchen and decorative gardens.
Though the southern complex was called 'garden' it would be more fitting to say that it was farmland, since there were plantations and herbs and so on, anything one would need in the kitchen or for medicine.
There were also huge greenhouses. They entered one of those that looked a bit weird but cool and pretty from outside. The reason for that design was almost immediately revealed.
Inside the greenhouse were huge platforms that spiraled upwards like a big staircase. On the sides of those platforms were small streams of water, running down from the very top to the bottom to form a shallow pond. The platforms were covered with soil in which were many flowers and herbs planted. In the pond were also herbs, slowly swaying in the glittering water.
There were thousands of scents in the air, making it fresh and somewhat sweet. It looked like a scene from a fantasy, with bright colors and the gardeners happily walking around the greenhouse to tend to the herbs.
Tenno felt that the energy here was very pure, the herbs were also rich on energy and everything was just so... alive. It was such a stark contrast to the withered regions in the central north.
"Old man Fu?" called Mero.
A woman with bright red hair and black eyes raised her head and grinned when she saw Mero.
"Little brother!"
She stood up and came over, her curves swinging and making her look very elegant and sexy. Though Tenno saw that she was attractive, she wasn't his type, so while he didn't react, Mori blushed.
"How have you been, sister? Your husband has been good to you, right?"
She laughed and patted his head. "Of course, of course! After all, he's the son of the head herbalist."
"Sister Mer, we're searching for old man Fu, this brat wants to learn under him." Ichigo pointed at Mori, who bowed his head and introduced himself.
Mer grinned. "I'm Mer, Meros older sister. Old man Fu is the chief here. He's currently on one of the higher stages, a few herbs have gotten sick."
Mero nodded and the group followed Mer up the platforms. They seemed to be slightly tilted, so that the water would run down by itself.
They had to go quite high. But for such an energetic bunch, that bit of exercise was close to nothing.
When they arrived on a platform with many white blooming herbs, they saw a few gardeners stand near the water stream to the left.
"Old man Fu!"
A gardener with broad shoulders, a strong jawline with a silvery beard and a green hat on his head that hid the white hair that was bound into a high bun raised his head. His eyes were of an intense green and his posture seemed extremely proud but gentle.
"Mer! Oh, Mero, you're back. What can I do for you?"
Before anyone could say something, Mori stepped forward. "My name is Mori Wanglu and I would like to work here!"
The other gardeners looked up and looked with big eyes at the old, handsome man. Said old, handsome man started laughing after he carefully looked at Mori.
"Sure, a helping hand is most welcome here! Wanna start right now?" Old man Fu pointed at the herbs.
Mori immediately nodded in excitement and took a closer look at the herbs. "They don't get along with the herbs beside them. It would be better to plant them besides Quell lilies."
Old man Fu thought a bit, then grinned and disheveled Moris hair. "Smart one, we're keeping him."
Mero and Ichigo exchanged a glance, then the former stayed with the dryad to make sure he would be comfortable.
Mer led Ichigo and Tenno down after they said goodbye to the others.
"And what do you wanna do?"
Tenno grinned. He already knew exactly where he wanted to be.