After leaving the healer's place, Casper followed Raul, walking behind him. Sometimes, he would make a question or two about some parts that they passed by in the castle, but he always answered him with brief explanations.
He did not trust Raul the least, so he could not afford to ask anything too suspicious. Because of it, he kept trying to get more information about the castle.
As far as Raul told him, the castle was like a city inside the city. A better comparison would be a condominium from Casper's world.
Inside the castle was numerous constructions and areas. There were from leisure areas to huge buildings dedicated to crafts of different natures. Even wooded areas and with some animals could be found. There were natural environments replicated here and there. The lights along the Castle imitated sunlight perfectly, even the warmth.
The Castle was not a bunch of corridors and rooms itself. In truth, most places were open, and the establishments and constructions were made in that space, along with streets connecting with them.
The only places that had corridors and rooms like a castle would have were the dorms and floors destined for objectives other than daily life and the urban environment.
The castle had its own products, services, and capital circling inside. They had an economical system very balanced, that acted like it was another District itself, not an extension of District 42.
Casper got really amazed by how economically, aesthetically organized, and well-planned that place was.
He felt like entering another city, which made him agree with Raul when he said that the Castle was sort of a city inside the city.
The Castle had about 18.000 people living there, counting the Ridire troops. The Ridire had 900 troops before 110 warriors had died in the battle.
Apparently, the castle was made as a way of social segregation. All the Jarls, Ridire, and Aesir lived there. Just the most prestigious people have the right to step inside.
He also discovered how the title of Jarl worked: when someone had enough prestige, influence, and notable feats in different areas other than military ones, this person could be acknowledged by the King, Queen, or Princess, or the three of them at the same time. After being acknowledged, they would swear loyalty for Odin and the Jarls, and then earn the title of Jarl.
Along with the title, the Noble Mask would be gifted.
Casper asked further about what were the privileges that that mask provided, but Raul ignored him.
Anyway, Casper discovered as well that the best way to travel to different locations inside the castle was through the Teleporting pads.
Raul said that the family of Canute had been Jarls for centuries and that they were pioneers in the researches and inventions of dozens of teleporting devices and machines, including those Teleporting pads.
Canute was working on an important project in this area, but the butler did not know what it was.
Casper noted it carefully in his mind. That information was quite interesting. And, of course, portals were something that he would gladly try to learn a bit more someday.
Casper noticed after a while of a walk and sometimes using teleporting as well, that they stopped in front of another construction.
This time, it was a huge bath.
There were individual rooms for the ones who wanted a single bath. There was also a public thermal bath right in the middle of the establishment. It remembered a locker room mixed with a Japanese traditional bath. It was filled with steam and it was hard to see anyone there, but Casper was sure that there were a lot of people wandering around.
"What are we doing here?" He asked, although he already knew the answer. The White warrior wanted to play naive with Raul. As long as the butler thought of him as a dumb person and underestimated him, Casper would have the advantage.
"It's obvious, don't you think? You are going to wash yourself. You will not eat with the Princess with this look of yours.
"By the way, after you take off your clothes, give them to me and I will take care of it."
Casper had an idea of why he was doing it but decided to keep quiet for the time being.
He shrugged. A bath was not a bad thing after all, and he was smelling a bit, actually.
Casper took off his clothes. Raul said to him that he needed to go to the public bath since the single ones were not for free.
As it seemed, after passing the entrance of the bath, one needs to be off his clothes already. Because of the steam, it was not so embarrassing though. However, the public bath was not mixed, so women and men were separated.
Casper could notice that a lot of people were not wearing their masks inside there.
He took note of that point as well. The White warrior supposed that that fact could be related to the privileges the Jarls had.
He entered the bath little by little. The water was hot, but not in an uncomfortable way. Not even a little. It was the right temperature.
He did not realize it, but next to him was another man.
He had a bald head, and his skin was incredibly pale. He had a slim body, and don't seem to be much tall. Casper guessed that he was about 166 centimeters tall.
He was not wearing a mask, but Casper could not distinguish his face features because of the steam.
"Hey, young fella!" He said, tapping him on the shoulder and smiling widely.
Casper liked him.
" 'Sup, man!" He returned the compliment.
"I see you are a genius just like me, aren't you!?"
"I don't know a thing you are talking about, but, If you are saying like this, then I guess so!"
The man laughed hard, hitting the water surface with his hands.
"Yeah, yeah, you got it! You got! You are the man!"
"Yup, you are as well."
"I feel like we will see each other again."
"Same here. By the way, what's your name?"
"I am Wayland! See you later, White warrior!" As suddenly as he appeared he got out of the bath and disappeared into the cloud of steam.
Casper was a bit dumbfounded. He never interacted with someone so spontaneously. Everything was so quick that seemed even a dream.
"Did I say my nickname to him, actually?" He was sure that he did not, and it made that man appear even more interesting.
However, Casper still felt uneasy about that nickname. Just the mention of it made him shiver.
Trying to brush off his feelings and forget about everything, he immersed himself into the hot water even more and closed his eyes.
…
After he had finished his bath, Raul brought to him new clothes.
"It's not better to just wash my old clothes?" He asked, a bit sad to have lost the only memento he had from his world.
"No. That clothes were strange enough to make you too flashy. Besides, they were torn all over."
"I see. Well whatever, I don't really care about it."
After the brief, yet unpleasant, exchange of words, the two of them finally headed to the dining hall.
The dining hall was on the twentieth floor of the castle. There were three dining halls to parties, meetings, and events there, that looked like huge restaurants. Also, it had some other small dining halls, including some private ones.
That floor also had other purposes that Casper still had to know, since that idiot butler did not bother to explain anything more to him.
The Princess would meet Casper in the exclusive dining hall of the real family. It was way less big than the three main dining halls, but the beauty of that construction made up for the size.
Casper was excited about that meeting since he had so many questions to ask. There were a lot of loose ends that he needed to tie. Despite some concerns that bothered him since he realized.
Casper was smart enough to take a good grasp of the District's situation and the details spread here and there. Putting all the pieces together, Casper started to theorize disturbing and problematic things about everything that was happening.
However, he did not know how far the Princess would go to cooperate with him. Probably, most of the things he would need to work alone to discover as per usual.
The butler opened the door of the dining hall's entrance solemnly.
Once again, Casper tried to look into his eyes. However, he could not notice anything. Just empty and gray eyes.
"It's lack of education to stare to someone's eyes for too long, White warrior." He said, slowly. That was the first time that Casper saw him showing any emotions. He seemed pissed off, but just slightly.
Ignoring him, Casper entered the dining hall.
Inside there, was what one could expect of a fancy dining hall of a medieval period. There was nothing much to pinpoint, with an exception for the different sort of furs that decorated the place.
Casper walked towards the big rectangular table that was in the center of the dining hall.
It was all empty, except for a plate of food placed in front of a sit. On the opposite side of this sit, was Vick.
She was looking towards Casper, and after some time waved at him.
"Good afternoon, Casper." She was still with her cold tone.
"Good afternoon…" He was unsure of what time was it. His sense of time was good, and he could guess that it was around 3 pm, but without the sun at least, it was difficult to make a good guess.
As the time was not the priority there, he set it aside and went to have his lunch.
He took the chair in front of the Princess and started to eat without hesitation.
"I have some things I want to talk about with you, Casper. It's about your stay here and some other things I still want to clarify."
"Ok, I will answer the best way I can." He said politely. "But, with one condition. And just with this condition."
"What is it?"
Casper gave a sarcastic smile to her.
"The condition is: I do the questions first."