Chapter 7: Have a nice... Status (1)

"Uhh... Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah... Ah... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." Kai screamed with all of his might, as he rose up and frantically examined his face with his hands, putting them in random locations of his face and after feeling that his nose was there and nothing else was missing, that was when he laid down once again, while also exhaling with a tired expression.

"What in the actual crap was that dream?" Kai exclaimed, as he rubbed his forehead and groaned tiredly, before rising up from his bed once again. As he rose, he also got a good look around the room and noticed that it was a lot brighter and the moment he went to check on the window, he was momentarily blinded, because stared directly at the sun, before covering his eyes on reflex. After his eyes adjusted slightly a bit, he took his hand off his face and looked outside the window again, only to be exclaim in shock:

"What the... What is this place?"

He could see the city in its entirety and seeing it being so colorful, with a multitude of colorful buildings and some bright lights, despite the sun being high in the sky.

Why does this city look like some kid painted it with whatever colors it wanted and then didn't bother cleaning its mess? Kai thought to himself, as he was staring at the city and before long, a dirty and salty smell assaulted his nostrils and he couldn't help but cringe, as he commented with an annoyed expression:

"Uhhh... What the hell this smell?"

After that, he tried to identify the source of this and it didn't take long for him to find out, since it was coming from his own body.

"Damn, when did I start to reek? I hadn't even exercised yesterday to smell like this. And why does this smell even worse than usual?"

After he exclaimed that, he made his way towards the rest room and got a much better view of it. It was a bit more spacious than the bathroom in his house, but it wasn't like one of those oversized bathrooms that he had seen in the movies that featured a nobility setting. Aside from it, there were a couple of taps on the walls, one that over a basin and another one over a bathtub, a toilet and a cabinet full of towels, blankets, sheets, underwear and a bunch of glass vials with labels written in an unknown language. Despite that though, he managed to recognize some of their contents, such as liquid soap and toothpaste and although he had his questions about how these things existed in this world, he decided to clean himself first, before making any more thoughts.

After a few minutes, he left the restroom with a relieved expression, while wearing a new pair of underwear and wiping his wet hair with a towel and as he was doing so, he heard a knock coming from the door.

"Who is it?" Kai asked from behind the door.

"One of the servants of the castle. His Majesty, King Regis, has a message for you: After your breakfast, come to the audience room. That is all." A female voice was heard from behind the door, before the sound of light tapping was heard from behind the door, as those were becoming distant.

So the king has summoned me. I guess he won't put off his explanations, just because it was getting late. Kai thought to himself with a skeptical expression, before putting back his own clothes. As he went to open the door, he noticed that the door was unlocked, despite remembering that he had locked it last night and couldn't help but shiver a bit in fear, while making theories of what could have happened last night.

Could it be... That dream? If those dreams actually happened and weren't some game dream, I wont like where this will go. Kai thought to himself with a serious expression, but he decided not to voice anything out. After he left his room, he put on a smiling and relaxed expression, while making his way towards the dining hall he ate last night. He thought about knocking on Vale's door, but decided to talk to him later, after dealing with the business the King wanted to do.

Because the halls were pretty dark last night, he didn't have a good look at them, aside from spots that were lit up by the nearby lanterns, so seeing the luxurious halls with armor stands, fancy decorations and plethora of paintings, he couldn't help but stare with awe.

After a couple of minutes of staring, he remembered that he had to eat first and then take care of business, before sitting to enjoy the art, so he quickly made haste. Once he arrived at the hall he had eaten last night, he didn't see anyone nearby and thought that he needed to wait for a bit to set the table. Of course, nothing happened and he spent half of an hour doing absolutely nothing.

I don't think we will be eating breakfast here. Should I go to the kitchen or are there any cafeterias around here? Kai thought to himself, as decided that he was waited enough. As he was moving around, he also noticed something slightly suspicious, that being the amount of servants that were working at this hour, or lack thereof, but he chalked it up to being the morning break time, or something similar. In the end, he decided to keep exploring the castle and look for a place to eat something, before going to the King's meeting.

After walking around for over ten minutes, he managed to find a cafeteria where dozens of people were currently eating. The location of the cafeteria was in the second floor, around the same area of the dining hall in the first floor where he had eaten last night. As for the cafeteria itself, it was basically a buffet style cafeteria, instead of the expected menu service that he has seen in his school. As he went to go to the buffet itself, he spotted an unexpected acquaintance in the cafeteria eating all by himself, that being prince Archibald.

"What brings you here prince Archibald?" Kai asked, after grabbing a plate, putting a variety of food on it and sitting next to him.

"Oh..." Archibald was surprised by Kai sitting next to him, before coughing a bit awkwardly and answering with a stoic expression:

"Good morning to you as well, Kai."

"Good morning as well. Sorry if I scared you." Kai answered back apologetically.

"It's alright. So what brings you here so late?" Archibald asked, as his expression relaxed slightly.

"Late? Isn't it still early morning?" Kai asked with a surprised expression.

"No. In reality, I came way later than my usual schedule, specifically to... ummm..." Archibald answered with a slightly awkward expression, before he started to become anxious.

"I won't ask why you are eating way later than your own usual time, but anyways, has the meeting started or are they still waiting?" Kai asked with a tone of worry in his voice, as he ignored Archibald's hesitation.

"It is not going to start until the two of us arrive, and some of the officials that know about you." Archibald answered with a calm expression, before adding:

"Anyways, let us finish quickly so we do not leave them waiting."

"Alright." After Kai exclaimed that, he started eating as well and although he would have wanted to engage on some small talk, he knew that taking care of the important stuff was more important. Besides, when it comes to conversations outside of games, anime and greetings, he has a hard time striking a conversation and any attempts at trying to strike conversation with other people without of his usual topics, usually ends with him stuttering and having an awkward and embarrassed expression.