After a silent short walk towards the King's Sanctuary, Isolde dropped me off at the gate and told me to contact her whenever I needed to use my money, since it would be reckless to have it on my person anyways. After entering the gate, I spent 5 minutes admiring the view, white marbled floor and walls, fountains, gardens; this place was the real deal. I felt my mood improving already and I haven't made it to my room yet.
A voice interrupted my thoughts and when I turned to the source, I saw an extremely beautiful woman with blonde hair and crimson colored eyes; she wore a white blouse and long black trousers, her ears were slightly protruded forward making it noticeably visible if I stared at her face but that rather added to her charm. She did not seem enthused to meet me at all. She introduced herself:
Lyria: Greetings Mr. Claudio, my name is Lyria and I will be your servant for your stay at King's Sanctuary. Allow me to guide you to your room.
Her tone and facial expression told me immediately that she was forced to be here.
Claudio: Lead the way.
We passed many buffets and bars, there was also some sort of casino that had card games and dice, this place really has it all. What I was excited about the most was the library, Lyria told me that I could borrow books and read them in my room if I desired. My room was at the end of sanctuary on the third floor.
When I entered my room, it was dusty and kind of unclean, the window was facing a graveyard and there was not one lick of eye candy in sight, but… the place was very spacious and full of high end furniture and lavish floor mats so I don't really care that much.
Lyria: I apologize about the state of your apartment Mr. Claudio, we were not informed about your arrival, please unload your pack and enjoy the sanctuary bellow; I will inform you when I have finished cleaning your room.
Claudio: I will help you; the two of us can finish this faster.
Lyria opened her eyes wide for a second and thought, "He wants to help me with the cleaning? Is he fucking stupid?" but she couldn't refuse him so she had to agree.
Lyria: Thank you Mr. Claudio, excuse me I will be bringing the cleaning equipment from the service room, I will be back in a moment.
***
Lyria exited the room and started recalling everything that has happened to her in the last weeks.
I cannot believe my luck, all of this happened because I didn't read a fucking contract fully, now I have to serve a cripple, what has my life come to. I used to be respected among my peers, until I served a stinking ogre of a guest that demanded night services from me, when I refused, he pointed out in the contract that I had to please him, I still refused. He ended up forcing himself on me and I beat him within an inch of his life, and turned out that he was a famous foreign merchant.
He ended up suing the hell out of the sanctuary and the court heavily ruled in his favor instantly. I ended up becoming a debt slave since I couldn't pay out the colossal financial obligation, as revenge, the innkeeper assigned me to this cripple so that I could face the maximum humiliation of being bent over by him, a damn cripple. If I knew this was my fate I would've gladly gave my body to that ogre.
I grabbed the cleaning equipment and took a deep breath before heading back to that room, I'm somewhat hopeful since I didn't sense any lust towards me at all when I examined his soul, but men become different creatures at night.
I was surprised that when I opened the door the man was almost finished with cleaning half of the room, I quickly wet the floor and started mopping to match his pace, we finished the cleaning in 12 minutes and the place looked spotless, I expected his side of the cleaning to be messy but it was quite the opposite.
***
Claudio: Lyria, please draw the bath; I will borrow some books from the library in the meanwhile.
Lyria: Right away.
My plan right now is to familiarize myself with the place; I need to know everything I can about the kingdom, the costumes, and the history, what happened to everyone from the invasion? What are the other kingdoms like in this continent? Do people even know what a firearm is? I want to learn everything I can after I'm done visiting the adventurers' guild.
The nostalgic scent of paper and ink struck my nose and a tear almost fell from my eyes, the memories with Henry and other friends were really priceless, FUCK. I really took everything for granted huh?
The librarian came and asked me if I wanted some help, I looked around and was surprised to see the huge library void of people, so I asked him:
Claudio: Where is everyone? Why is the library empty?
Librarian: It's always like that sir, anyways as I was saying, what can I help you with?
Claudio: That's weird, is there something wrong with the books?
Librarian: Blasphemy! I spent my whole life fact checking and updating these books!
Oh he is not lying, I know an enthusiast when I see one.
Claudio: I apologize, please point me to the history section, I want read about old Herathian empire.
Librarian: Nice choice! I don't want to intrude but son you barely speak the language, are you sure you don't want to read about something easier? I can point you to some beginner friendly books if you'd like that!
Claudio: Thanks for the concern, I wouldn't mind both of your suggestions.
Librarian: I will be back shortly!
He was old and had a hunched back; it was kind of funny seeing him walk quickly while taking the smallest steps possible. I signed my name on the ledger and made my way back to my room, I placed the books on the counter and opened the door to the bathroom to take my long awaited bath, I was tired of wiping myself down with a cloth these past few days. Lyria was sitting in the bathroom checking on the temperature of the bath constantly, she announced:
Lyria: The bath is ready Mr. Claudio, please let me assist you.
Guess that's normal here.
Claudio: That won't be necessary, i'm fine on my own.
Lyria: Understood, please hand me your clothes, I will clean them for you and they will be ready in 4 hours.
Claudio: Sure, I will hand them to you when I'm done.
Lyria raised her eyebrows in confusion, she tried to protest again but I shut her down, I wasn't comfortable getting naked in front of someone so I dismissed her once again.
Claudio: Please leave the room; I will call you when I need you.
Lyria: Okay…
Lyria left the room with her head down, I jumped into the warm bath and relaxed my fatigued body, I almost fell asleep but I had a long day ahead of me so I used all of my hygiene products that I brought with me from the truck. After I was done I decided to trim my hair since it started to get in the way of my vision, it went from medium-long length to just medium.
Since I wasn't going to be bothered anymore for standing out, I decided to ditch the hoodie, My ears started to develop chaffing from covering my head all the time. I decided to wear a brown denim jacket that had a cotton white shirt underneath it, while wearing a snug dark cargo pants. It was a little bit past afternoon and I had the whole day in front of me, but I wanted to finish up my tasks quickly to get a full night of sleep since I was about to get brutalized by my shift tomorrow.
I exited the room and Lyria was standing outside like a guard, she was initially surprised by my appearance, as all she saw was my covered head, but she quickly returned to her usual self. I handed her my clothes and proceeded to leave the hostel.
After leaving the gate, I was confused by the presence of Lyria at the gate as if she was going to be following me outside, I asked her:
Claudio: What are you doing here? I thought you were going to clean my clothes.
Lyria: I handed your clothes to the new servants; I am also tasked with guarding you Mr. Claudio.
Claudio: So you are my personal servant and also my bodyguard?! Lyria, who did you piss off.
Lyria: The innkeeper, it is a long story.
We left the hostel and she guided me towards the adventurers' guild, she told me about everything that has happened to her from A to Z, I was surprised by her sudden shift in personality but it was better than her previous zombie like state. We arrived at the adventurers' guild and I was surprised by how everyone there looked and behaved. The merchants' guild was organized and clean, and very welcoming. This place on the other hands reminded me of a Vikings hall. A stinking bastard came to antagonize me:
Adventurer: Oi look who the cat dragged in, ain't cha a long way from home cripple?
Claudio: The name's Claudio and I am your new physician, move out of the way.
Adventurer: Is that right?
Claudio: Yeah, I don't have all day so move.
The adventurer looked around and started to laugh while swaying his body, it doesn't take a genius to know that a sucker punch is coming, what a pussy, I had my hand on my hips preparing for what about to come. The adventurer was about to swing at me, Lyria was prepared as well, but before he could do anything, his brain aggressively splattered all over the wall, his head looked like it was blown away by shotgun at point blank. Vuram was standing far away but it was obvious that he was the one who whacked the adventurer.
Vuram: I told you repeatedly about our new physician, if you have a problem with that speak up right FUCKING NOW!
No one dared to breathe; everyone was looking at the ground, all we could hear while the blood trickling down from the ceiling, I was the first one to break the silence:
Claudio: wasn't that a bit excessive?
Vuram opened his eyes widely at my comment, deep down he knew that he shouldn't go as far as killing the poor man, but he had to keep his tough persona up
Vuram: Not excessive enough, next time someone goes against my orders I will make sure their death will be their fucking mercy, am I clear?
All of the people in the building pledged simultaneously "Clear!"
Vuram went back to his office, the servants got up and started cleaning the blood and removing the body from the premise, a young man came to greet me:
Man: Yo cripple, I will be your assistant alongside some other locs, we used to help Mathew before he was killed.
He was as likeable as the dead fella
Claudio: Got a name?
He grunted and said:
Man: Ya don't deserve my name cripple, I can't believe the guild master killed Jonsey over a fucking cripple, he really lost his mind.
I want to finish this bastard from start to finish, I know his kind, he is a coward through and through, he is the type of man to hide his zombie bite because he is scared of the consequences, and I know a lazy pushover when I see one. I got up in his face and said:
Claudio: Listen here fuckface, I get that you are too scared to face monsters so you signed up to be Mathew's folsy but things will be different here FUCKFACE, the only thing I need you to do is be a good meat shield and die for me, otherwise I have no use for you.
The man was gagged, he knew every word I said was true, he tried to deny my accusation but words could not leave his mouth, he looked like a fish out of the water. I shoved him away and proceeded to head to the physicians lounge on my own, Lyria followed after me and said:
Lyria: Mr. Claudio, with all due respect, you really have a lot of balls for a cripple.
Claudio: Thanks, but please drop the honorifics, just call me Claudio.
On our way to the adventurers' guild Lyria warmed up to me greatly, I also sympathized with her now that I knew that she was a debt slave. I didn't know how to feel about her being my "slave" but it's not like I signed up for this, and if I tried to change her she would still be used by someone else, so I'll try not to use her services as much as I can. I spent 15 minutes memorizing and checking the potions, remedies and equipment that was available, I obviously had no idea what the hell is a potion or how to use it in the first place so I asked Lyria:
Claudio: Lyria, what are these used for?
Lyria: You… I thought you was a physician?
Claudio: I use different things Lyria, I am not familiar with any of this.
Lyria: Ok… this bottle right here is stamina recovery potion, and that bottle over there is pain relieve potion, and those two right here are healing potions.
Their names were kind of obvious, I assumed that the recovery and pain relief we digested orally while the healing potions were used on the wounds, I will make sure later, I asked another question:
Claudio: Am I right to assume that they are expensive?
Lyria: Correct, very expensive, the healing potions are priced around 900 groshen to 3400, the latter being the better.
She knelt down on her knees and continued explaining:
Lyria: Those three bottles are about to expire, the physician probably bought them a long time ago and hesitated to use them because of their worth.
Claudio: I see, thanks.
The salves were used for minor wounds and cuts, there were plenty of them, however there is a slight problem, we are out of fucking antiseptics! This is very bad; I have to talk to Vuram about that. I was pretty familiar about my office now and was ready to start working right away.
I exited the room and everyone was glaring at me as if it was my fault that their friend died, no one has the balls to challenge Vuram so they are taking it out on me, pussies.
Vuram's office was on the fourth floor, I knocked three times at the door and a behemoth like shout was sent our way:
Vuram: I TOLD YOU NO VISITOOOORS!!!!
Claudio: It's me, Claudio.
Vuram: Enter.
His office was quite nice, not as good as Ralyks but still pretty nice, he sat on a chair made out of some giant bear like animal and the room smelt like cigarettes and cologne.
Claudio: Hi, let's just say we got off on the wrong foot, shall we start again?
Vuram sighed and rubbed his forehead with his two hulking fingers
Vuram: Yeah, it is not your fault kid, ever since that new nobles ruled this city everything went to shit.
Claudio: I could see that.
We both stared at the distance before I broke the silence once again:
Claudio: So, when did Nola tell you about me?
Vuram: Two days ago, she told me about how a foreign man named Claudio found Sasha and Masha in the woods and helped bringing them back safely.
Thank goodness that is all he knows, his mood seemed to relax so I asked him another question:
Claudio: Sasha never told me about you; did you scare her or something?
Vuram: Hah! Funny one, last time I saw her was 6 years ago, I doubt she even remembers me.
Another awkward silence descended upon us, I broke the silence… once again:
Claudio: You look like you need a vacation, I can tell that you are about to break at any moment soon.
Vuram: Tell me about it, I don't know when's the last time I fucking slept.
Claudio: I have something for you, hope it helps a little.
I pulled out a room temperature can of serocola and proceeded to hand it to him. He inspected the weird cylindrical metal before ripping the top off easily without wasting a single drop, he chugged down the whole 16 ounce can immediately and said:
Vuram: This is fucking delicious! Did you make i…
His brain was flushing all the stress and anxiety instantly before a surge of dopamine and serotonin flooded his tired brain, he held his head weakly as he drifted to sleep back in his cozy chair. If we were going to survive, I need him at his full mental capacity, if I asked him about some antiseptic right now he would've blown my head smooth off just like jonsey.