OtH 1.06 - Too Many Rooms

Surprise surprise, depression smacked me down. However, I remain committed to my goal. I acknowledge that depression will prevent that at times, but I am still going to strive to make my goal as best as I can. Such is living with mental illness.

And now the chapter:

Aarick still had far too many questions. However, he knew that Lurona was important, in some fashion, and that likely implied many preexisting commitments on her time. Honesty, if he were going to categorize hypothetical isekai scenarios, this one was rather pleasant.

He wasn’t stuck in the middle of the wilderness, dealing with insane cultists (other than for the briefest moment), the language barrier had been dealt with, and he could likely use the local magic system equivalent. Even better, while he would need to conceal his origin from the locals, a person in authority already knew who he was, where he was from, and had decided to help him with a cover story. There wasn’t some terrible risk of death if his secret got out, either, just dealing with nobles wanting to make him theirs because they could.

Admittedly, that was a definite downside from his perspective. He had a chance at power here, and wasting that would sting. Some part of him wouldn’t just let him coast. There were tangible benefits as part of that: cultivation could apparently massively increase someone’s lifespan. Ultimately, he wanted to go as far as his talent and luck would let him.

After that point, joining up with a noble house wouldn’t be too bad. He wouldn’t need to pretend to be straight, which was a fucking relief. It had been hard enough coming out, going back into the closet would have been excruciating.

And, as a plus, he could have his middle name become his official name here. It had been a pain in high school, having to explain that he wanted to go by his middle name and that no, it wasn’t pronounced Eric, but rather “uhr-rick”. He knew his parents were proud of their mixed heritage, tracing back to Scotland, the Nordic region, and Spain, among others. Why they wanted to inflict anachronistic names on their children was another matter.

Hell, Dolores was the only one with a normal sounding first name, and her name meant sadness.

Delores... yeah.

There was a minimum he was willing to accept from his life here. Even if he didn’t have the talent, even if it seemed impossible, whatever got in the way, he needed to let his parents know that he was safe. That was something he wasn’t willing to compromise on. He would do almost anything to make that happen.

And that was another point of luck. He wasn’t going to need to desperately leverage everything, or make drastic compromises to get the knowledge he needed, engage in illicit research, or hide his attempts. No, he was being given tutors and would be allowed to send a message. And, based on what Lenora had said, she believed it to be possible with the knowledge already available to the Empire.

All of these things had flowed through his mind throughout their conversation.

He might still have many questions, but he was so incredibly lucky.

Lenora guided him out of the sitting room and back into her office, where she proceeded to sit back behind her desk, pulling out the elaborate wooden chair like it weighed nothing.

Aarick didn’t see or hear any signal, but the same man who had guided him here entered the room.

“Aarick,” she said, her voice crisp and professional, “please wait outside.”

“Ah, yes. Of course Lenora.” He replied haltingly.

The man frowned at him with furrowed brows, almost looking angry, but said nothing as Aarick passed him and out of the office.

The intricately carved doors closed behind him. The straight geometric lines transitioned into graceful curves, the dark wood inlaid with some golden metal. The two tones complimented each other.

Aarick might not be any good with art, but his exposure to high society was more than enough to understand that the doors were understated, elegant, and probably worth a ridiculous amount of money.

On Earth that would represent a true aficionado of the art style, someone who was wise enough to listen to their interior decorator, and or someone who knew how to show off their wealth in a tasteful manner.

Here… well he couldn’t really say.

What level of craftsmanship was normal when ordinary people could live so much longer?

Even someone with basic skills in construction could build an enormous house if they had a hundred years to work on it. And, if they worked on it for a hundred years, their skill wouldn’t remainbasic for long.

His thoughts were interrupted by the doors opening again. The man walked through and closed them behind him. Afterwards, he bowed towards Aarick, no trace of whatever had upset him before.

He spoke, “You are being hosted in one of our guest suites, please follow me.”

He stayed bowed after he finished speaking, obviously waiting for a response.

“Yes, please, lead the way,” he replied after a moments hesitation.

He followed the man down the same hall he had originally arrived by, out of the three that met at Lenora’s office. They didn’t turn back toward where he had stayed originally, though. Instead they followed the long hallway as it gradually curved to the left. Eventually, after passing a number of smaller hallways and two other large ones, they diverged into a smaller hallway to the right. After a couple of turns, they finally reached a set of wooden doors flush with the stone walls.

The doors were the same dark wood that Aarick had seen used repeatedly throughout the building. They had delicate carvings, but no metal, with the exception of the handles. The delicate swooping handles were made of a dark shiny metal, and a small gem was set into each axis. The gems glowed faintly with inner luminescence.

“These are your rooms, sir.” He said, his voice brisk, but with a hint of deference. “I have been assigned as your attendant. Here is your key.”

He reached into a pocket in his robes and pulled out a thin golden slip with a gem matching the ones already in the door handles. He extended it toward Aarick.

Aarick grabbed the slip from his attendant’s hand. He wasn’t sure what to do with it, but he brought it near the other gems, guessing it would do something. It turned out he was right; when the two grew near the light in the doorknobs went out.

He tested one handle, and it turned smoothly. He opened the door to see a richly appointed hall.

Circles and lines were carved into the high ceiling, and light exuded out, casting the room into a warm glow. Beneath them, a long plush rug extended down the middle of the floor. The floor was made of a golden wood, the grain showing clearly through a flawless polish. The single step on the wood before he reached the rug had no hint of roughness beneath his slippers. There was also no hint of give to the wood. There was no hint of the padding that would normally be part of a wooden floor at home.

Additional doors were set into the walls. Each was a set of double doors identical to the ones outside, except they were made of a golden wood that almost matched the floors. The doors had a slight hint of red added to the golden color, making them a hue somewhere between gold and copper.

The hallways proceeded some distance, with tapestries, and large paintings situated periodically on the walls at regular distances. The colors were neither overly bright, nor somber, leaving the hallway feeling quite neutral.

Curious to see more, I opened the first set of doors on my left.

Inside, a wooden table sat between three couches. None of the couches looked particularly comfortable, each composed of rigid lines. They were beautiful, but the padding looked like a formality, rather than something that was supposed to be comfortable.

Against the walls were paintings and small tables with art pieces. Even the art looked harsh, however. Only the light gave a hint of welcome to the room.

He entered the room with some trepidation. It didn’t get any better on a closer inspection. The padding was stiff beneath his fingers when he gave it a testing push.

“Hope it isn’t all like this,” He muttered.

Not exactly a comfortable room, is it? Hopefully the rest is better.

“No Sir,” said the attendant with the faintest hint of a smile, “Agent Lenora deemed it unlikely you would need a full audience chamber, so your rooms do not include one. If that proves to be necessary in the future, the situation will be remedied. This formal sitting room should prove sufficient if you need to greet any of your peers, or entertain your lessors. There is also a formal dining room for more extended discussions.”

Yep, definitely some hints of a caste system here. In case the whole nobility thing wasn’t clear enough already. Though I suppose it could be more like the British system, where much of the nobility is merely a formality. Doesn’t seem likely so far though.

“Would you like me to offer a tour of your rooms, Sir?” He asked.

“Uh, yes, yes please.” Aarick responded.

The attendant swept past him, closing the doors behind Aarick as he left in a motion so smooth he almost didn’t catch it.

“If you would follow me, Sir.” It was phrased as a question, but none of that carried through in the attendant’s tone. It felt closer to a command, even if it was a precisely polite one.

He followed him through the hallway to the next room, feeling somewhat sheepish.

The next room proved to be the formal dining room, which was almost as bad as the sitting room. The chairs at least resembled something a human might actually want to sit on, even if the overly large table and equally large distance between each diner would absolutely contribute to the formal atmosphere.

After that it got better.

There were a multitude of rooms for just about any purpose Aarick could think of. Less formal versions of the dining room and sitting room were available. The plush couches in that sitting room were actually comfortable. He sat down to check. The arrangements were also less rigid. He had needed to tell his attendant to wait a moment before moving on, making sure he would actually be comfortable.

There was a room specifically for meditation, which made his skin itch. His newfound sense of qi touch was insisting that there was something in the air. Which… he supposed made sense. He was probably sensing qi. A quick inquiry confirmed that the set of glowing lines covering the floor was designed to concentrate qi to make it easier to cultivate.

A library immediately caught his attention, though it actually contained few books or scrolls. Instead it mostly consisted of some comfortable chairs and some less comfortable, but eminently practical, desks where one could take notes while reading. The main feature of the library was a large glowing book. It contained a vast list of books and scrolls that could be borrowed from the archive. Each listed item had a brief description of the available item. After a few dozen pages the words turned fuzzy. As he squinted at them, his head started to hurt.

“Is something wrong with this text, or is it just me?” Aarick asked.

“Your current access to the archive is set at level one.” His attendant replied. “Anything past that has been obscured.”

He just nodded in response.

Fair enough. I don’t know enough to even know what I should start with. At least this lowers the amount I need to go through.

And Aarick was going to go through the available texts. Knowledge was absolutely power, perhaps literally with enlightenments added into the mix, and he had a definite deficit of knowledge about this world.

The rooms continued, with more options that he thought necessary. Did anyone really need a room just to drink tea in. It was a perfectly lovely room, with green plants growing in bunches and tangles around the periphery. There were no flowering plants, which was probably so they wouldn’t conflict with the delicate flavors of any tea.

A marshal training room had numerous weapons set into holders in the walls. Some of them were blunted and obviously practice weapons, but some were decidedly not. Their sharp edges gleamed in the light.

The room, large though it was, wasn’t large enough to practice proper archery, which made Aarick slightly disappointed.

Ah yes, how quickly I get used to this excess, to be disappointed there isn’t a full size archery range inside my personal rooms.

Woe is me. How will I ever manage with such squalor?

I’ll eat these slippers if there isn’t a proper training ground around close by. Considering that a training room is just part of the normal set of rooms, I think combat is highly valued here.

Aarick laughed to himself at his own thoughts, nothing but a quiet chuckle escaping.

The tour concluded with the last two rooms.

First was his personal bedroom.

It was as lushly appointed as any other room in his suite, though it seemed focused on a level of decadent indulgence that veered on unhealthy. Either that or heavenly.

The mattress and duvet were sinfully soft and made a deep indentation of his hand with a casual test. The indent gradually refilled as he stood looked about the rest of the room. The rug beneath his feet was at least twice as deep as any of the other rugs he had seen.

In one corner, an armchair was so overstuffed that it looked like it might burst and drown the whole room in a flood of fluff.

A large bathroom contained something closer to the equivalent of a large Jacuzzi than an actual bathtub. Their mastery of indoor plumbing also contained something akin to a toilet, though it operated with continually flowing water instead.

A large walk-in closet contained a multitude of clothes. They were mostly different styles of robes, in various colors. He noted that none of them had the golden yellow color that he had seen worn throughout the building.

Many pairs of slippers and actual shoes were included, some of them more practical than others. He wasn’t sure why anyone would want to want to wear that much lace, though he noticed with a minor shudder that there was a whole matching outfit, including the underwear…

“If you will join me for the last room, Sir.” His attendant motioned toward a set of double doors leading out of his room. “The viewing room.”