With Our Boots Off.

"Wake up Sir Kai, wake up." A familiar monotone voice tuned as I heard the sounds of blankets being ruffled.

This has been the longest I've slept since arriving to this new world- I guess yesterday really wiped me out.

Other than that- I thankfully still remember the quick chat I had with Ahriman in my dream.

I groggily open my eyes to find Ami masterfully folding bedding and other blankets by the wayside of my bed.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"Sir Kai, have you forgotten? I have been entrusted to continue to act as your personal mai- 'jailor'." Ami not so gracefully corrected himself as he folded another linen sheet onto the foot of the bed.

"Y-Yeah I get that- but, WHY are you in here? I think I can take care of myself just fine." I adjust myself to sit up comfortably atop of the big fluffy pillows against the bed's intricate wooden headboard.

This wasn't the same room as the one I had been 'bathed' in by Ami. Instead, it was a much larger, fancier room, with a veranda that opened up with a view to the kingdom outside; it looked like we were just breaking dawn.

"Why should her Majesty's -'precious' suitor be left to his own devices? It is a maid's- 'jailor's' job to meet your basic whims." Ami said- why did he look a little peeved saying that?

"Err- oh that." Forgetting the details from yesterday because of the wonderful sleep I had finally gotten, the onset of the sheer stupidity of what I had been thrown into hits me like a ton of bricks.

"*Groan*" I put my hands up to my face in exasperation- but soon surprising myself by the fact that I don't have the cuffs on me.

"Mm? Why am I not in the cuffs? I get having them off during my bath but not when I'm asleep?" I asked Ami who after having completed his folding, was now rummaging through a rather grand looking closet that sat opposite to the bed.

From the closet, he procures from it an identical set of clothing that I had on yesterday.

Wait a minute.

I look down at my body-

When did I get naked under the sheets!?

"If you are wondering why you are undressed Sir Kai, I was the one who undressed you for bed last night."

"You were found in a lethargic, pathetic state from within the throne room- it required Madam Levii and I to escort you to this room thanks to your surprising dead weight." Ami brought the clothes up to me- he unfolded them and set them atop of the nightstand next to the bed.

"I was instructed to get you comfortable, so I was going to dress you in sleeping clothes- but Madam Levii intervened and told me that you sleep most comfortably in the nude, as per your strange habits when she would catch you slowly undressing yoursel-"

"STOP! STOP! I GET IT!" I covered my face from the sheer embarrassment of it all. Why the hell did that habit of mine carry over into this new body; I don't even get that cold or hot anymore!?! In my old life, my apartment had no a/c so it would often get really hot at night- and well, y-yeah; sleeping in the buff was cheaper than having a fan eat up my electric bill!

Ami patiently stared at me, unmoving from the side of the bed where he stood.

"So, Sir 'Pervert', allow me to dress you; you are expected to arrive to the dining table for breakfast at any time now."

"First off, UNCALLED FOR! And second, HELL NO!" I tried reaching for the clothes myself on the nightstand- but Ami revealed some frighteningly fast speed as he snatched them away from me at the very last second.

"I see- perhaps if I undress myself first it would help you overcome your embarrassment, Sir Pervert." What kind of boneheaded mental gymnastics is that!? With how you're acting, aren't you the once acting like the pervert!

And stop calling me that!!!

*Knock* *Knock*

"Brother? Sir Kai? Her Majesty is waiting for your arrival to the dining room."

Ima's voice spoke through the heavy door- it stopping Ami's strip dead in his tracks.

"Tch." Ami begrudgingly redressed himself as he put back my clothes on the nightstand.

"It can't be helped; a pity." Why're you so sad about this!?

"I will go with my sister to help with the preparations in the dining room- I believe you more or less do remember how to get to the dining room by yourself with our trip down the castle last night after the Lesser Keys Court?" Ami walked towards the heavy door and placed his delicate hand on the doorknob.

What the hell are you talking about? I hardly remember ANYTHING after being duped by that old bastard.

"Uhh- Maybe?"

"That is satisfactory- make haste to the dining room once you have dressed yourself, Sir Pervert." And with that, he left me alone in the big room with him closing the door behind him.

I grabbed the clothes he left on the nightstand (oh great they're wrinkled now) and I quickly put them on- there's a lot of catching up to do with Flaur.

Oh crap, I should've asked Ami if Flaur was okay- especially with whatever that shady old man had done to her with his 'cookies'.

Well, I guess I'll see for myself now as I get to the dining room.

Time to get some morning grub.

...

As I exited the room, I found myself in an unfamiliar hallway (what a great start). It, unlike the hallway's that I had walked below on the first floor of the castle, looked clean and well kept.

But one thing I've started to notice so far is the fact that this castle is bizarrely empty! Castles should be bustling full of busy servants or other officials.

But the only kind of employees I've seen so far are Ami, Ima, and Ryul. I can't say for sure about the knights in red right now either as they may as well be paid mercenaries until I confirm it myself.

I choose to walk to my right as a starting direction- hopefully I'll see something that'll jog my memory and help me get to the dining room.

After a minute or two of walking down the hall, I find a strange looking, bare door with faint scratch marks embedded all over it.

I was getting some weird vibes just looking at it- and my scar tingled faintly as I placed a hand over it.

I looked around the hallway, hoping that someone would stop me from going any further- but no one did.

// Magic Detected. //

// Activate skill [Absorb]? [Yes] or [No]? //

What the- this door has magic on it?

Errr- I don't know whether or not I really want to mess with this.

But I feel like whatever it is- absorbing it wouldn't be a 'bad' thing.

Or at least that's the general sense I was getting; I couldn't really put my finger on it.

Sigh.

To quote some famous last words-

I really hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later.

// [Yes] //

It felt like a kind of warmth was spreading in from the tip of my fingers and funneling in through me by my wrist, then elbow, and lastly shoulder. It was unlike anything that I've absorbed so far.

// Skill [Absorb] failed. //

Huh?

// [Error] //

The warmth I was feeling from my arm suddenly went cold- it felt like a horrible chill digging under my skin, even with my resistance to the elements.

I quickly let go of the door's face- this was freaking me out!

But as I let go of the door, it's surface began to change.

From its original bare face, it shapeshifted into a luxurious looking door, its edges gilded in gold. But- it had no doorknob, so I couldn't even open it if I wanted to.

Man- I really shouldn't have messed with this thing.

I... probably shouldn't tell Flaur about this either; that being for the best, heh.

I started walking away from the door, following the direction I was taking just beforehand; it soon disappearing from my line of sight as I got further ahead the bend of the hallway.

Yep- yep, I was never there.

Nope!

...

As I briskly walked away from the potential mess that I had made with the strange door, I soon discovered myself finding an open doorway- I could hear some commotion coming from within.

I peeked my head in and saw a large room- a massive dining table was set in the middle of it with a massive balcony just behind it. Flaur was sitting all the way at the end, poking at something on her plate unenthusiastically.

"H-Hello?" I called out- it made Flaur jump a little from her seat.

"Hah? Oh!" She looked genuinely happing seeing me enter, but it was soon replaced with an annoyed whine.

"What took you so long! I've been waiting an entire MINUTE for you to get here and to eat with me as my beloved suit-"

As I had walked over to Flaur giving her stupid speech, I grabbed a slice of marvelous honey-drizzled toast on her plate.

"YAH! MY SOLE, PRECIOUS HONEY TOAST! GIVE IT BACK!"

"What was it you were saying? beloved suitor I believe? Why, if that's the case- then I think eating your toast shouldn't be a problem- right sweety?" I said as I took a big bite out of her toast; delicious.

"Ergh- I-I mean Kai! Yes, just Kai! A gentleman who would never steal an innocent maiden's honey toast!" She reached out her hands up pathetically as I kept the toast out of her reach.

"Mm, well when you put it that way." Just as I was about to put the half-bitten toast into her mouth, I heard someone clear their throat from behind me.

"It is good to see that you two are getting along so well, Milord!" Levii who was dressed in a flowy plain white dress had somehow snuck up on me teasing Flaur.

I stuffed the toast into Flaur's mouth as I stepped away from her devouring the half-bitten bread in a few bites.

"It's not what it looks like!"

But Levii said nothing as she just continued to smile sweetly.

"Whatever do you mean, Milord?" She took a seat one chair down from Flaur on the left to her, prompting me to do the same but on the right.

Ah, what a pain.

I looked at Flaur who was in her own food-driven fantasy as she now began to devour her full plate of breakfast. It was an assortment of bacon-strip looking meat and weirdly obtuse eggs. Not an ounce of vegetables were on her plate.

I guess I found the culprit for her massive boobs.

"So, are you okay?" I asked Flaur as she gobbled up a large 'bacon' strip.

"Mm-hmph!" She tried talking with her mouth full of 'bacon'- but opted to just give a thumbs up instead.

"I'm relieved- after what your uncle did, I didn't know whether or not he did actually cure you properly at the end."

"It is as Milord says your Majesty, after you had befallen to that strange state- I was mortified to have been an unknowing culprit of it as I was the one serving you those treats." Levii bowed her head to Flaur who was still pigging out on her breakfast.

She stopped eating as she took a swig of a goblet full of juice(?), having reached momentary satisfaction.

"Don't worry about it Levii- Uncle Belial has done this before."

"Pardon?"

"What!?"

Levii and I understandably both questioned the crazy that slipped out of Flaur's lips.

But she didn't look fazed by it.

"Yes, Uncle Belial in my youth would often drug me to help me sleep during- Ehm,... my 'tumultuous' times." She began to eat once more but slowed down considerably to continue the conversation we were having.

"Wait- so, so you knew?" I asked.

"Why yes! I would've never had eaten those strange cookies if I did not know where they had come from. As I saw Uncle Belial produce them, I knew he was plotting something that required me to not be 'present' to speak."

"Delicious! - oh my apologies, I need to get you two your breakfast as well, eheh~" Flaur tapped a small silver bell in front of her, it rang out with a sharp chime- and from it, a side door that was present in the dining room opened; out from came Ima and Ami with a cartful of food.

I caught Ami's eye; he gave me a perplexed look.

"Greeting Sir Pe- Kai- it is odd that you managed to arrive here so quickly after my sister, and I had hardly left your room no less than two minutes prior." He handed me a plate full of food similar to that of Flaur's, but it was a lot smaller in proportion and it had healthy helping of vegetables to the side.

"What do you mean? It felt like I was walking for at least fifteen minutes or something since leaving the room?" I asked as I stuck a fork into the strange eggs on my plate, at least they cut the same as normal Earth eggs.

"If you had arrived here fifteen minutes from now, her Majesty would likely have been very upset."

"But if it as you say- maybe that is your drowsiness from sleep to blame for your strange sense of time?" Ami refilled Flaur's plate with a generous amount of more 'bacon' and eggs as he told me his opinion.

But aside from that- I have to get back to the topic on hand.

"Flaur- so were you aware of what Belial was planning? Of getting me to fight Zephyr in the Sangui-something-um?"

Flaur had her mouth full of boiled eggs, she munched down on them as fast as she could to try and speak; she looked like a hamster with a mouthful of nuts.

"Nope! I had no clue what Uncle Belial was going to do, all I knew is that whatever he was going to do; that I should just leave it up to him." She shrugged happily as she offered a bacon strip on a fork to Levii, but she declined.

"And from what Levii had told me, you really did make Zephyr reaaaally mad, WAHAHA-GAH!" Flaur began to choke on half of a 'bacon' strip, but she managed to save herself with her goblet full of 'juice'.

"*Cough* *Cough* My, that was close!"

Why does it have to be her- why, just why.

"So- Kai, what will you do to prepare for the Sanguidicium? Zephy might be an obnoxious brat (this is peak irony hearing that coming from you) but he is considered a genius when it comes to battle tactics and combat in general."

"Why're you asking me in the first place? I don't even know what the Sanguidicium is about in the first! Or what you even do it in it either!!" I twirled around an orange yolk in an egg on my plate with my fork; it soon popped open- and the runny yolk began to rapidly spread out over my plate.

"Your Majesty, if I may?" Levii spoke up, she was gracefully eating her prepared lush salad on her plate; I think she likes eating greens more than meat.

Flaur gave the go ahead as she chewed on another 'bacon' strip.

"Milord- the Sanguidicium that you have accepted to participate in, as Lord Belial put it best, is a trial that challenges it's competing contenders to both wit and combat."

"As per its fabled roots spanning from the Dwarven King Hreidmarr challenging the then incarnation of Ahriman, a woman at the time, as she had turned down King Hreidmarr's hand in marriage- Hreidmarr challenged her to a special trial to convince her that he was worthy of being her husband."

Gee, talk about being a romantic- yeah, just challenge the lady you want you marry into a weird trial why don't you.

"With the gradual span of time however- the trial has evolved instead into a duel held between two competing men for the hand of the woman they love." Levii held her hands up to her face.

"Ah- don't you believe it is just so romantic, Milord?"

"Uhhh... sure, yeah- sure." I nodded along with her corrupted sense of romanticism; this was a side of Levii I never expected to surface.

"But- what exactly does the trial entail? What do I even do in it? Do we just fight each other or something?"

"WAHAHA!" It was Flaur's turn to speak, her second helping being completely gone from her plate; I guess she was now fully satisfied?

"As I wait for my dessert-" of course, "I will tell you what it is that you will have to do in the Sanguidicium."

"It is not simply a fight between the two competing men, rather it's a set of trials between the men that they must win to earn favor."

She held up three fingers.

"The first is the trial of knowledge."

"Both men are given an instruction to retrieve a hidden artifact of the kingdom and to return it within a set period of time."

That seems easy enough- it just sounds like a fetch quest.

"Now, to state the obvious- it is not just simply retrieving the artifact and returning it." Balls.

"Rather, to even retrieve the artifact- the competitor in question must have extensive knowledge of the Modos and its history to even know WHERE to begin to find the artifact in question."

"I have a pretty good hunch that I won't be winning that one." I blurted out.

"Mmm- as you did say that you have Amnesia, your likelihood of having any knowledge of Modos is non-existent."

"I believe it is in your best interest instead to focus on the second and third trial if you would want to win. As even though Zephy isn't a well-versed scholar, he has been with the basic history and knowledge of the kingdom to garner him an edge over you albeit with that handicap."

Win? Who said I want to win? If I win, I keep being your suitor- isn't that how it works?

"The second is the trial of combat."

Levii looked a little excited to hearing Flaur bring up this second trial. Is that her warrior spirit coming in to play?

"The second trial is a match between the competitors and one companion of their choosing to aid them."

I could feel Levii's heavy gaze burn into my cheek as I kept my eyes flatly on Flaur who was still speaking.

"It might seem strange that a something so akin to a duel like this allows outside help- but on the contrary, it follows Ahriman and Hreidmarr's fable quite closely."

"As when Hreidmarr and Ahriman were to fight- they instead used champions in their stead to do so."

"As why would Hreidmarr ever hurt Ahriman's incarnation in the first place!"

I guess that makes sense. I was kind of half-expecting him to really just duke it out with her as it seemed to fit the whole ridiculousness of it all. A kind of live and learn kind of thing.

"But as Lev had said, since their original advent, things have evolved differently to what they are today- with the main competitors being men fighting for their maiden of their dreams instead!" Flaur's ego could as well act as her third boob now with how big it's been growing from this whole thing.

"But to keep with that tradition- the 'champion', or more precisely companion of the competitor can participate along with for the trial of combat."

"I-I wonder who would be honored by Milord's invite to be their c-companion to this o-o-once in a lifetime duel! *huff* *huff*" I could see literal puffs of air being blown out of Levii's flaring nostrils as she excitedly rattled on about my companion of choice for the second trial.

This is the problem with muscle heads- they're just so easy to read.

"Alas, woe is me!" Time to ham it up.

"As I am an amnesiac- I have no recollection of any noteworthy friends to aid me in this trial of combat- other than--!"

"Oh! Steppe Imp Princess Levii, my first and most loyal friend! I have a question to ask of you--" Broadway's got nothing on me.

"Why- if you are not so indisp-"

"I ACCEPT!" Levii quite literally slammed her hands onto the table, sending bits of greens flying out from her dish and into the air.

Her eyes were twinkling from the idea of finally having something to fight.

"W-Why, how wonderful! I'll be counting on you!" I said, as I motioned to Flaur to continue on to her explanation with Levii humming to herself happily content.

"Y-Yes, as I had said earlier- you should focus on the probability of winning trial two and three. As of so far, I am still not aware of your true strength Kai- but from the reports I've read so far from the Steppe Imp Village and now with Oculobos, you're capable of many strange things." She eyed me warily as she put down her second finger.

"The third is known as the Trial of Wits."

"Mmm- to be honest, this trial is a little hard to explain; even for me."

"If so your Majesty, allow me to give an elegant explanation!" My annoying handsome man radar is going off- it's him, he's here!

"Ah, Ryul! It's wonderful for you to join us for breakfast!" Levii looked like she was one smooth-talking compliment away from pouncing onto the slickly dressed, red-headed gentleman who had walked into the dining room unannounced.

"Ryu-yu? Why, I have no issue if you do- but why are you here? Has Carmilla sent you?" Flaur asked but was soon distracted by a monstrously large stack of pancakes placed before her by Ima; it honestly was three pancakes short from towering over her head on the table.

"By Ahriman, I think I'm on the moon!!" She dug a fork into her stack of pancakes and entered a gluttonous frenzy as she lost herself into it- whatever Ryul was saying was now lost to her ears.

"Well, your Majesty- I was simply passing by and through chance happened to hear you three talking about the Sanguidicium." He took a chair next to Levii, her eyes looked like they we're going to fall off from how much she was fawning over him. UGH!

Weren't you looking at me just a minute ago over being my chosen combat companion!? Wait- I think that's a poor comparison to make, never mind.

"As such-" He looked away from Flaur and stared directly into my eyes, "I believe I can tell you exactly what it is- and how you can win it as it falls within my area of expertise."

I felt pretty tempted to just say no to this jerk's irritably handsome face- but as I thought back to what Belial had told me before he left- the idea of having a target painted onto me because I was in Flaur's circle without a family, or any political backing scared the hell out of me.

But beyond that-

With what Ahriman had told me as well before I left the dream- that Ryul could know something about the Terminal Gates; the fact that I can't get on his bad side is a truth that I have to bitterly accept.

At least for now that is.

"Okay- tell me all about it." I will NEVER forgive handsome men.

///