As Alice pushes open the door, we find a girl, around 1.5 meters tall, sleeping completely naked and facing us in a fetal position. She appears to be a few years older than how we look in terms of human age. She floats in a crystal-clear rectangular glass fish tank almost filled to the brim with clear water. The tank is roughly 1.2 meters long and half a meter in width and height. What's abnormal about her are three pink, feathery external gills extending from each side of her head and a dark brown, elongated, tadpole-like finned tail protruding from her tailbone. Her tail curls in front of her body, which she rests her head on and hugs as a body pillow. Her straight dark brown hair, which should be approximately waist-length when not being submerged, flows freely in the water.
Almost immediately after the door is pushed open, the girl opens her eyes. It seems she is very sensitive to disturbance. Her eyes' coloration is quite different from normal human eyes; she has pure black pupils, the same blackness as Kuro's hair and scales, and the outer layer of her eyes is reflective golden instead of white.
With a flick of her tail and a little body movement, the girl easily sits up in a side-sitting position with part of her chest slightly emerging from the water with her eyes entirely fixed on Alice. "Alice, you are back," the girl says, her voice clear and soft but a little reverberating throughout the space. Her tone is gentle and somehow has a motherly vibe; combined with her voice, it sounds a bit like a lullaby. The girl opens her arms toward Alice. Her chest is about the same size as Kuro and Shiro's—the current Kuro and Shiro's, of course, but we will definitely grow larger in the future!
"I'm back, Rena," Alice says softly and gently as she embraces the girl, or rather, buries the girl's head into her fist-sized chest. Her tone is even gentler than when she is speaking to us! Fortunately, Alice's chest isn't as big as Aunt Phyllis's; otherwise, she might accidentally suffocate Rena to death!
After about half a minute, the two finally release their embraces, with Rena gasping for air the moment she is released. It seems even with Alice's size, improper posture can still be suffocating. Despite this, she did not struggle at all when they hugged. "Alice, have you forgotten how to hug normally after going missing for a month?" she complains. Despite what she says, her tone is full of indulgence; obviously she doesn't blame Alice at all.
"Sorry, it's because I haven't seen Rena in a month." Alice turns away guiltily and a little embarrassed. "That's why I am in such a rush."
"I know, Alice. I am not upset." Rena raises both of her hands to pull Alice's face toward her while simultaneously leaning in closer.
"Your Highness, Lord Rena, please be mindful of your surroundings. The little ones are still here." Kay's voice sounds from behind us at the worst possible moment. Rena and Alice instantly stop in place and turn toward us. They seem to remember we are here now. What a pity; Shiro feels like she is going to miss lots of interesting scenes.
"Little Kay, you are back too," Rena says to Kay. "Little Kay, don't be so rigid all the time. I told you, you could call me 'Sister Rena.' Of course, 'Mommy' is also fine." Kay does not respond; he only has a speechless expression on his face. We don't expect Kay would be able to make such a face too! However, to be able to call Kay 'Little Kay,' how old exactly is this Rena?
"Hello, little ones. You two play with Kay for a while first, alright? We will be back... shortly," Rena says to us with her echoing voice. Alice looks at us apologetically after hearing this, but the joy in her eyes is very noticeable. Alice immediately picks up Rena in a princess carry and rushes to the stairs as fast as she can, as if she fears Kay might stop her if she is a little slower. She even emits a layer of her magic power from her body! How eager is she exactly?
"Let's leave the basement first. I will take you to tour this place." Kay says with a little awkwardness and a lot of stiffness. It seems he doesn't know what to do. Kay leads us up the stairs while carrying the two chests in his arms; one is his, and the other is Alice's.
After we arrive at the ground floor, Kay leads us in front of an arch door about 2 meters high. "You two wait inside the Great Hall first, alright? I have to get Lord Rena's waterbed up." We nod in response. Then, Kay places the two chests he carries on the ground and walks down the stairs. So that fish tank is Rena's bed?
We push open the door and step into the Great Hall. It is in a rectangular shape and is indeed quite big for human architecture, about 30 meters in length, 20 meters in width, and 20 meters in height. It is brightly lit by windows on both long sides of the hall. In between the windows, wall-mounted lamps similar to those in the basements are embedded into the walls. Its ceiling is made of smooth, pale stone, forming a series of elegant arches that meet in the middle. The ceiling is designed so that it feels like a solid stone canopy is floating overhead to the observers.
The hall also has a raised platform at the shorter end, which has a single high table arranged horizontally, with chairs placed only on the side closer to the wall. We enter from the right side behind this table. There is another door of the same size on the left side behind this table.
In front of this platform are two long tables on each long side of the hall with chairs on the side that is closer to the wall. Combined with the table on the platform, they form a U shape. On the shorter side opposite us, there are two arched double doors about 5 meters high and 3 meters wide. In short, this hall is very grand. Of course, if not for the obvious dust gathering on everything in it.
Shortly after, Kay pushes open the door and walks in. He immediately stands stunned in place with his face blackened visibly after seeing the sheer amount of dust gather in the hall. "Let's go outside," he says while holding the door open for us to walk out. Shiro suddenly feels sorry for Rena's ears.
Outside the door, Kay and Alice's chests and Rena's fish tank lie in an unnoticed corner, presumably to avoid someone accidentally bumping into them.
"The Great Hall is a place of banquets and where ceremonial events are held. It should also be a place of entertainment and dining, but because Lord Rena and everyone here feel that it is too big, they often use a smaller dining room on the second floor instead." Kay introduces the hall after the door is closed. "And it isn't normally dusty, at least, it shouldn't be."
Then, Kay walks to another door on the right side of us and pushes it open, revealing a large kitchen, about 15 meters in length and 10 meters in width, excluding the part that is in between the two doors. Unlike the main hall, it is only 3 meters in height. It has a large central fireplace with a large chimney hood. It also has a few built-in stone ovens and sturdy wooden tables properly for preparing foods. No utensils are present, though perhaps they are stored elsewhere, as this kitchen also is gathering dust like the Great Hall.
Kay's face blackened even more. "The Great Hall is one thing, but the kitchen too?" he murmurs before closing the door. He takes a few deep breaths before his expression returns to normal before he starts introducing the kitchen. "This is the main kitchen. As its name suggests, it is a place to prepare foods. You should also see the door opposite us, right? It connects to a room like the one we are in now. There is also another door at the far end to our left in the kitchen. It is the room where servants will take out cooked food and walk around the mansion to the Great Hall."
"That's all for the first floor. You may be curious about the basement. There are only a few teleportation circles there. The remaining spaces are for storage rooms. Let's go to the second floor." Kay leads us up the stairs to the second floor.
On the second floor, the first thing we see is a room connecting to the stairs that looks just like the one on the first floor. It has just simple stone walls and a window to the right of us. The difference is that it doesn't have a door that connects to the Great Hall. The stone floor on this floor is surprisingly warm and is inlaid with a layer of rugs, something that isn't present on the basement's floor or even the first floor's Great Hall.
Then, Kay walks to the door on our left and pushes it open. Behind the door is a simple room with multiple connected doors about 15 meters in length, 10 in width, and 3 meters in height, excluding the part that is in between the two doors. Unlike the elegance and luxury of the Great Hall, this hall is more down-to-earth. The floors are also completely laid with dark blue rugs, just like the room we are in now. The walls are also covered by a layer of light blue plaster. A round table with about 12 chairs stands in the middle of the room, and above it is a grand chandelier.
"This is the parlor," Kay says.
We enter the parlor from its left side and look around it. The room space that is on our left, which is between the stair room (the room we are in just now that is connected to the stair) and the unknown room, will be called the left wing and the right wing. The left wing is the space on the side we enter from.
Basically, the rectangular space of this room is divided into 3 parts. First, the left part, middle part, and right part. The left and right parts are 2.5 meters wide and 10 meters long and are divided into a wing part and an unknown room part, which are 2.5 meters wide and 5 meters each. The remaining 10 meters in length and width are the middle part.
The left wing is fitted with windows on the upper part and a kitchen on the lower part. The kitchen is composed of a built-in stone oven, a sturdy wooden table, and a mysterious hole on the floor. What's strange about this is that there seems to be no ventilation in the kitchen area other than the windows.
The right wing is also fitted with similar windows on the upper part, but the lower part is different. The lower part is divided into half. The outer half (the one closer to the stair room) is two 0.2-meter-deep bowl-shaped extensions from the wall almost a meter tall with a pipe and a lever extended from the wall above each extension. At the center bottom of the bowl-shaped extension, there is a hole in it. On the inner half, there is a cabinet. The outer half should be used to wash utensils, while the inner half is for storage. The pipes also have different colors, with one being blue and the other being red. Are they for water temperature?
"Kay, what do the colors of those pipes mean?" Shiro asks while pointing at the pipes.
"Red is the color of fire, indicating that the water can be used for cooking, and blue is for washing water," Kay replies as he walks toward the cabinet, takes out a cup, and pushes up the lever next to the blue pipe. After the cup is half filled, he pushes down the lever to stop the water flow. Then, he repeats the whole thing again but with a red pipe. "The water from the blue pipe is made with magic; it will dissipate if it does not receive a magic power supply for too long."
Indeed, as he said, the water from the blue pipe dissipates after a minute in the cup, while the water from the red pipe remains unchanged after more than 5 minutes, which means it is likely real water.
"Kay, what about this disk? What does it do?" Shiro points at the blue disk with a red line from the center to the edge in the middle of the two pipes. Surrounding the pipes, there are unknown symbols, likely written language of humans here. She and Kuro only see it now, as it was previously blocked by the pipes from where we stood before.
"This disk is used to control water temperature. Basically, turning to the left will lower the water temperature, and turning to the right will increase it. As for the symbols on it, they are numbers that indicate water temperature. When the line points at a certain number, the water temperature will adjust to that number. You will understand them later when you learn how to read." Kay answers as he pushes up the lever for the blue pipe. The water that flows from it is indeed colder than the water that was in the cup five minutes ago.
"This disk only works for water from the blue pipe. For the red pipe, you will have to heat the water up or cool it down manually." Kay adds while pushing up the lever for the red pipe and pushing down the lever for the blue pipe. The water temperature of the water from the red pipe indeed remains unchanged.
Shiro understands. Assume that they have no way to accurately measure water temperatures; not adding a heating and cooling function to the real water is understandable to prevent the water from becoming too hot or too cold.
"What about the kitchen? Do the flames also appear and disappear by pushing the levers? But we don't see any levers or buttons." Shiro points at the kitchen area opposite of where she is.
"Similar, but not quite. See, instead of physically pushing the lever, we activate the magic inscription on the ring." Kays leads us to in front of the mysterious hole and shows us the surface of the hole. Around the hole is a ring with complex patterns inscribed on it. "In this way, when to turn on and off the flame requires someone to do it. Believe me, you definitely don't want a flame appearing when no one is there."