Waking up, I could see some vague figures hanging over my head. Brushing my eyes, I tried to make sense of what was happening. After some quick split-seconds, my memory was in order.
I could remember fainting after seeing some hideous ladies in the kitchen. At the thought of this, I quickly surveyed the faces before me.
Cousin Dorothy was with a much calmer and concerned expression. In fact, she even looked like she would cry if I continued staying motionless. Seeing my eyes meet hers, she took the moment to mouth 'Sorry'. I tried smiling, but I was left with a panging feeling in my head. It seems like I'd struck my head hard when I fainted.
"Hey, mademoiselle!" said Roy, with a shaky voice. I tried telepathic conversation with him, and it — surprisingly — worked out, without my raising more pain. I said, "Hey, buddy!"; he nodded in reply.
Next was Uncle Ramsey. He had a serious, yet concerned, look on his face.
"You okay, honey?"
In reply, I tried lifting myself up.
"No, no, please don't, it'd only worsen the pain from the fall!" said a voice which I'd recognised in a whim.
I quickly turned my head to look at the speaker and the person beside her. They were the women from the kitchen. But something looked different this time. I tried matching pieces in my head, before figuring it out.
When I'd encountered with them, they were all hideous and scary, now they looked so amiable and sweet one wouldn't waste a second to throw them a hug... Wait, that's not right!
I turned to look at them again. They weren't one-eyed like I'd seen them. They each had a pair of eyes like every other human. I rubbed my eyes just to make sure I wasn't dizzy.
I think the second lady noticed my unsurety. It was all over her visage. Still, maybe I'd seen things. After all, how could one actually have an eye on the forehead... it made no sense right?
It could be that everything I'd been seeing had overwhelmed me into making illusions in my head. Not to mention that I'd just left angry Dorothy's room when I headed to the kitchen.
With these thoughts, I was able to calm myself. I was calm. Very calm. Then the cry came: 'Go to that frickin' kitchen and get me some food!'
Her 'imperial empress' (whatever that means) ordered me with her ancient, authoritative voice, once again.
Turning to the kitchen ladies, I was about to tell of my need for food when I was shushed with a: "I know, I know, I heard it!" she then turned behind her to the little table with a tray of food, adding, "Here's the porridge we made for dinner. It's too bad you weren't able to join us."
Seeing the porridge, it brought back to my mind the sight of the hideous lady with a spatula before a pot of porridge. I gulped in some saliva and nodded.
Taking the food, I tried to feel disgusted... but if there's one thing you don't challenge me to, it's eating. Funny thing is, I'm not obese. I'm just... slim, or in-between, or... who cares how I am, anyways?
I devoured... sorry, I'll rephrase; The empress devoured the plate clean with the fork still leveling the crumbs to the tongue. 'Nothing must waste,' she said. I'm having a feeling that had she had no one staring at her, once in a while, she'd have made the plate shine like it never had been used to serve a meal before, using 'the' tongue.
After gulping down a bottle of water — please mind my manners, Mr. Cup, I'm not a fan — I felt the pain in my head totally disappeared. It seems the meal gave the empress back her might, and the pangs in my head had just been banished from the kingdom of My Body... cough, cough.
Seeing that the day was fast concluding, I bid my uncle and cousin goodnight, as well as Miss Green and Miss Blue, the housemaids.
Just a little something I want to add here. The time I'd seen them in the kitchen, one of them had a green-coloured pupil, while the other, blue. Now that I stared at them, they both had black-coloured pupils (which was normal for most people), though a blue scarf around the head of one, and green around the other. I hope I mentioned that they were twins...
When I got to bed, I wasn't bothered to mess with my thoughts or worry about Roy, I just slept soundly like a baby.
The following day, I went to the Beast Hall under the directions of Dorothy, on Roy's back.
Before the Beast Hall was a status of a humongous beast with terrifying class and grandeur. I realised it was the same beast carved on the jade token in my pouch.
Surprisingly, there was a formidable expert standing before the gate, so I was saved the stress of having to knock. He had a 4-star emblem stuck to his chest. To think that a 4-star beast tamer would actually be at the gate, as expected of the great Beast Hall!
Bringing out my jade token, I showed it to the man. Smiling, he took it from me to observe it. His eyes suddenly went wide, as wide as the human eyes could go.
"This..." he muttered.
'O Lawd!' I exclaimed inside me. 'What's all this?! Must everyone here act so... stupid?!
"Sir? Is... Is there a problem?" I asked.
He turned his eyes to look at me.
"Th-this is Acorn Master's jade token handout! He barely gives it to anyone except the royal family. May I ask how I should address you," said he with a humble look.
'Hehe,' said a thought in my head, 'royal family huhn? Tell him you're Princess Stephanie from the Southern Empire.'
"Stephanie — call me Stephanie," I replied rather, to the disappointment of all the elders in My Body kingdom.
An awkward smile crept into the 4-star beast tamer's face.
"May I ask what empire you're from?" asked he, scrutinising my dress as though unsure of something.
'Here's your chance, Stephanie!' a thought cried again. 'Get 'em girl!'
"Umm... I'm not royal, in case that's what you meant. Do you mind if I step in?" I said, feeling awkward standing before this improvised piece of miscreant.
'Aww men!' cried the elders in my fictive kingdom, once again. 'She just blew her last chance! Opportunity comes but once, babe, but you blew it twice!'
"Sure... this way."
Honestly speaking, it was the biggest hall I'd ever stepped my feet into. There were quite a few people here and there, like I'd imagined. There were so many sections of the hall that one could even get lost if one was without a guide.
At the moment, I was escorted in by the beast tamer. On the way, I got to learn that this man was named Bright. He had a peculiar way of speaking that told a lot about his rich education. He said he'd lead me to Acorn Master's office, of which I consented with. It was best to thank him first, once again, before actually heading into the Book Collection Vault.
Bright explained to me that the Beast Hall was divided into four halls: Main Hall, Book Collection Vault, Beast Tamers Examination Hall, and Hall of Will.
The Main Hall is, as the name implies, the principal hall. It was where one had to go through before one could advance to the other halls. There was nothing really special about this hall, save for the largeness, and several savage beasts prancing here and there like pets.
The Book Collection Vault was a hall filled with thousands and thousands of books. Those books were said to carry vast informations on savage beasts, different types of 'gifts', cultivation techniques (whatever that means), and, of course, history books of everything one wanted to know about anything concerning beasts.
The Beast Tamers Examination Hall was where the 1-star to 6-star examination for beast tamers were carried out. For someone like Bright who was in his late twenties, he could already be considered a 'genius among geniuses' for being 4-star.
Savage beasts were hard to tame, and so the higher the rank, the higher the difficulty of the examinations.
The Hall of Will, according to Bright, was the place beast tamers went to, to claim their star emblems, immediately after passing the exams. It was said that one would have to prove that one's savage beast has been completely tamed by one, by checking the trust level; just like I'd been asked to do when entering the Acorn Valley.
When I told him about how Roy's trust level was tested, Bright explained that the reason I was asked to do a trust level check was because I owned a savage beast, despite not being a beast tamer — officially, that is.
We finally came to a little building by a grassy area, behind the Beast Tamers Examination Hall.
On the top of the front door was written two bold words:
ACORN MASTER.