Arun woke up, when a woman wearing a maid costume opened the curtains of the room, filling his room with sunlight. As the sunlight irked his eyes, he peeked through one of his eyes, to see who was there. To his horror, the woman saw him.
"Lord Rtoss wants to have lunch with you sire," she said in a sweet voice, "Please get up so that you can ready."
He groaned. He wanted to sleep just a little bit more. Still, he pushed himself up, it was not wise to offend a person who could literally pull off his head from his torso. When he sat up straight, although he felt that needed some more sleep, still, he still felt refreshed.
"Sire, it would be advised if you take a bath. Before the lunch," the woman said. And he couldnt agree more. There was one thing that he had not had lots of since he had come to this world. And that was bath…
The woman escorted him to the guest bath house of the mansion. That place was a rather large hall, with wooden tubs, neatly stacked on the other side of the hall. The so-called bath house was nothing but an indoor pool, with a pool located in the center. The walls were covered with murals of naked men and women, rubbing each other back, while smiling. Arun came to the pool, its water was not as clean and clear as the pools on Earth, but it could work. The pool itself was not deep enough to submerge oneself, but the water could reach his torso if he were to cross his legs and sit in the pool.
Well, this is better than washing myself from the murky puddles of the jungle.
The maid that brought him to the bathhouse cleared her throat, breaking his line of thought.
He turned around and she said, "Sire, would you like a female or male companion?"
Her words made him raise his eyebrow, Is she asking whether I am gay or not? He couldnt help but laugh inwardly, For a world that is so backward, they surprisingly have an open mind about these kinds of things.
As far as a companion is concerned, he figures that he might just go for it, "Female please,"
"Would you like to have young, or mature?"
Quickly he added, "Anyone around my age would do. Could you please hurry?" the maid nodded and went off, and soon two beautiful women in their late twenties came along.
Wearing very skimpy bikinis, the woman smiled and told him to strip. And he did so without a question. And the rest of history.
Arun didnt take any advantage of any of those women, even though they were gesturing that they would be done for anything. But he doesn't sail his boat through methods like these. Those women first cleaned his body by taking water in one of the tubs, and just scrubbing his body. There was a point in time, when they came so close to him, that even his little brother started howling. But he controlled himself.
After the bath was done, the maid from earlier came along with some new clothes. He got dressed, and then she took him to meet the City Lord, Helian Rtoss….
Sitting in a magnificent hall, with foods of all kinds before him, Arun's attention was not on the food but was rather on the chandelier dangling over his head. It was big. The thing was big enough that if it fell, it could crush him along with the table of food before him. And for some reason, the whole thing was attached to the ceiling with a thin rope. He felt that the structural integrity of the rope could give up at any moment, and the chandelier would come crashing down on him.
It was the opening of the door that distracted him.
Helian came in wearing a normal white shirt and pants, escorted by an old man wearing a butler's uniform. He looked like crap, just like yesterday. The host himself looks like a back alley junkie. And yet somehow I am supposed to take a bath before meeting the piece of crap.
Arun stood up, "Good morning Lord Rtoss,"
"Ah," Lord exalcimed, "You…" It seemed that it might have slipped the lord's mind that he told him that they were supposed to have lunch together.
Lord then took a seat and gestured for him to sit down. "Jerry," the old man then bowed and started making their plates.
"Now tell me," Helian said, "What was your name again?"
"Calux sire,"
"Ah." Helian said, "Calux… So, my subordinates told me that you did a fantastic job yesterday. You not only led my men, extinguished the fire, and also fished out the Barbarians hiding among the normal populace," The lord leaned back, "Tell me everything that transpired yesterday. Along with, how you were able to identify the Barbarians?"
Then he started telling a bullshit story. He told Helian that he was not able to sleep because of the smell. Then he heard some noise from the hallways. As he had nothing better to do at the moment, he went to investigate. It was then he saw that a man, wearing a red mask mumbling, they were after me. The mumbling also got the attention of the barkeep and when they both went to confront the man, he attacked them.
The man used some sort of magic and threw torrents of fire at them. They were able to save themselves somehow, but the inn caught on fire because of the spell. As far as fishing the barbarians were concerned, he told the man that he was interested in the beauty of the woman called Sonia. He thought that he might be able to invite her to his bed, so he kept his eye on her. And it was then he saw that she was talking to a bunch of people, who didnt look like locals.
"People who didnt look like locals?" Helian repeated his words.
"Yes," he nodded, "You know how those filthy barbarians have this smell and face that makes you just puke. The people that she was talking to have, all have that smell."
Helian nodded as if he believed him. He was being extra racist because that was how any adventurer and any locals behaved when it came to Barbarians.
"But that woman," Helian said, "She is a barbarian. That is why she ran away, right?"
He quickly shook his head, "No I dont think so my lord. I think that she is being bewitched by those filthy beings. I think she is a pure-born noble,"
Helian nodded, "Yes.. Her curves and face do make her look like a noble."
Arun maintained the smile and didnt act. But the words of Helian raised many red flags. One of them was, Helian didnt see Sonia yesterday. Hell, he didnt even run after the barbarians. So when did he see it? And the way he spoke, it was like he had seen Sonia before…