A Dull Blade's Shine Pt. II

**Authors Note: I had failed to write in that Kai and Ima took along with them their belongings, as in he does HAVE his staff and world canvas. They were just left in the carriage as he didn't carry them outside to fight with, my honest apologies. The books were left behind at the castle however, if that needed clarification. **

The city-town of Rezabel was roughly about two miles in diameter. A majority of its roads leading in weren't cobbled, instead it kept with the rough-trodden dirt path that we've been using. The buildings however, looked quite well-made, with a city's hustle and bustle going on with demons of all shapes and sizes flitting around.

Some of them noticed the horse, Mercutio, drawing the carriage- and they waved, likely recognizing who the owner of the horse was. But as the carriage was largely unassuming, with other carriages being drawn here and there, the entourage of farmers, now mostly dispersed as we had entered the town, we moved through unbothered by any kind of fanfare.

It felt great seeing the medieval looking town, as it fit with what I had in mind with how a fantasy town would look like. Spires running up rap-shoddily, storefronts with ancient looking merchants selling their wares, women and children dressed in peasant-like clothes walked along stalls, this was 'the' fantasy world that videogame developers were always striving to achieve.

It made me wish that Epoch wasn't such a minimalist game, as it was mainly data-driven- with info logs acting as its main form of gameplay. And there was no reason for it to be that way with VRMMO's existing!

But they chose it to be the way it was for the sole purpose of flexibility, and the ingenuity of adaptive gameplay. Things occurred in real-time as you read the information, every second mattered- lords could be killed, castles captured, banquets held, peasants raided, if you didn't finish a paragraph within time.

It was something the VRMMO's couldn't mimic without sever graphical limitation- otherwise, they were really just walking simulators.

"Kai, over there." Ima pointed to a polished black gate that was up ahead, it was left ajar. Beyond it was the hill that followed upward to the manor, that of the Count's.

From what I could see, I noticed that there we no guards stationed at the gate. But there were stalls set alongside of it, with people selling their wares.

We rode along easily enough up to the gate; Ima didn't sense anything out of the ordinary- but I did.

We were being watched, analyzed, and picked apart. It was them, the ones running the stalls. They looked ordinary, a lot of them looking like any other citizen that belonged to the town- but I could see their gazes, their eyes were sharp.

Up and down, left and right, Ima and I were scanned from head to toe by these strangers as they sold wares to unknowing denizens of the city- I believe they acted as the Count's secret militia, something that not even Carmilla was aware of.

But they didn't act, as they saw Mercutio drawing the carriage long before they had seen Ima and I, ultimately, we were in the clear.

But that didn't mean they wouldn't take a chance to make a mental note of who we were as we crossed the black gate and began our ascent up the sloping hill to the looming, old manor.

...

As we arrived, the handful of farmers that stuck with us lead us to the proper entrance of the manor where we could park the carriage. As we did, and Mercutio had finally gotten his break, a solid minute went by as we waited for the two """lovebirds""" within the carriage to make their reappearance.

"Oi, manservant." One of the older farmers walked up to me, he had a rather dirty looking shovel in his hand.

"Go clean up Milord's Horse's mess, will yah." And he stuck it out to me, with the shovel landing onto my chest.

I said nothing as I did as I was told, now that I've been given this role- I couldn't escape from it. Either way, I can't smell, so it's not like the job was 'that' bad.

As I cleaned up Mercutio's mountain of a mess, he looked pretty smug about it as I did shovel away, Carmilla and Saleos finally exited the carriage.

Saleos looked like he went to heaven and back, as his face had on a dreamy kind of daze as he loftily strutted out, while Carmilla kept her feigned lustful act in check.

"Ahhh, magnificent..." Saleos uttered as he fixed his overcoat on, he saw Ima waiting by.

"Ah, maid-girl, what is your name? I must know the name of the hero of the day!" He asked.

"It is Ima, milord." She curtsied.

"Ima, is it!? Splendid, so it is- why, now that I have a closer look at you, you are quite the maiden yourself, such fine black hair." He flirted with Ima as he stumbled along forward to the awaiting maid at the doors of the manor.

"Maev, Maev dear." Saleos called out to the maid who was waiting for him at the doors.

She nodded in place of a verbal response as Saleos called out to her.

She looked... plain, in the kindest way possible. She had on a loose brown ponytail with freckles dotting her cheeks, her eyes were also brown as she sported a small jutting horn from her forehead.

"Maev, I have guests- two special ones to be in-fact." He gestured to Ima and Carmilla who were waiting near him, I was still shoveling horse dung.

"Arrange the guest suites, and for the young man-" He looked at me, I sure do hope he remembers that I saved his life.

"Take him along with you to the servant quarters, I believe he will be comfortable there, as he is quite a good fellow." Talk about 'gratitude'!

Carmilla looked at me, taking the chance of the Count being distracted with the maid Maev to talk to me.

"Remember the sheet, the maid will inform you of whatever I say if I need it." Is what she said, as she scrunched her nose at the mountain of horse poop I was next to.

"Okay, but what do I do! I thought Flaur asked you to get me to work alongside you with this, but now I'm just- just whatever the hell I'm doing right now!" I dropped the shovel down, letting it sink into the mountain of brown regrets- the farmers weren't looking so I could afford to break character now.

"Unfortunately, I had to improvise." Is what Carmilla said to sweep my gripes under the rug.

"Time is running short, do not disturb me." Before I could get in another word, she left in a quick shuffle back to Saleos who was groping around in the air looking for her- he found her slim waist at the ready as they walked into the manor, with Ima following in tow.

I was left outside, with the carriage's baggage ready for me to carry in when I was called for.

Agh, I'm kind of regretting not choosing the hero route- but, I knew that wouldn't have been the right choice.

If I had chosen to take the credit, I would've been severely restricted as a guest of honor in the manor. Ima's likely going to be pampered by the manor's staff around the clock, giving her zero time to herself.

And as such, that wouldn't have been good for me. Zero-time mean's zero time to investigate, whatever that was with the Count that is.

I can safely assume that the information that Carmilla has given to me has been flubbed here and there to not give the entire picture. From what I could see, Saleos wasn't soft-spoken, as he instead speaks in a strange, gallant kind of way. But, for his pacifistic nature-...

"Hello." A voice spoke out behind me, it nearly made me jump from shock.

"H-Huh!?" I looked back, it was the maid, Maev.

How the heck did she creep up on me like that!?

"Forgive me, you seemed to be lost in thought, so I did not want to disturb, but-"

She pointed to my shoes, there was a murky liquid seeping my shoes' soles on the ground.

"If you stood there any longer, you wouldn't be allowed to bring those shoes within Lord Saleos' home." She stated, unlike with Ima or Ami however, her polite tone had a warmth to it, she actually sounded sympathetic.

I hopped away from Mercutio's gift that didn't seem to stop wanting to give, salvaging whatever cleanliness left of my gifted shoes. It made Maev giggle.

"So, what's your name, mister-...?" She walked over to the luggage on the side of the carriage and began to arrange it, making easier to be able to be carried.

"Kai, my name is Kai."

"Kai? What a nice name."

!?

Someone who hasn't made fun of my name!? Has an angel(?) descended?

"You're the first one so far to not make fun of my name."

"Really? Hmm, I suppose I can see why it would be made fun of." She grinned as she placed the final small chest atop of the rest of the luggage.

"But I don't think it is."

"If you hadn't heard, I'm Maev." She gave a quick bow to me as she dusted off her apron.

"Lord Saleos' mentioned my name briefly, but I must always practice a proper greeting!" She proudly said as she puffed out her modest chest.

"Yeah, I heard, you're the Lord's maid."

"HEAD maid, good sir." She chided half-seriously, but she kept her grin; her initial impression with Saleos made me think she'd be a cold, kind of second Ami.

I'm glad that wasn't the case- she's actually normal!

"Well HEAD-assistant maid, I also heard that you're going to show me to the 'servants' quarters."

"Yes, that is right." She looked pretty young to be in that kind of position in the servant hierarchy, but I couldn't base anything on demon biology- for all I know, she could likely be a hundred in human years.

She grabbed a third of the luggage she had arranged by the carriage and gestured to me with a flick of her head.

"Now, come grab your Lady's belongings, 'manservant'."

"We must be quick, or Lord Saleos' will be most displeased!"

///