Once the two were done with show-and-tell, they picked up Ordric from the sitting room, headed to Haemish’s room, and arrived at the door only five minutes later. He really was close to the royal family. What did that say about Aarav when he was on the other side of the palace? Maybe his rooms would be moved if he worked closely with the Prince?

“You knock; I spoke to Head Cook. It’s only fair.” Boren said, uncharacteristically nervous about meeting Haemish. Aarav had said he would leave it up to Boren to share as much or as little about his experiment as he wished, and Aarav had his own things to deal with right now.

Knocking loudly on the solid wooden door, Aarav called out to the man, he had pretty good hearing since he had such a high level, and his senses had improved with that. “Haemish! It’s Aarav. Are you in there?” Aarav didn’t hear anything but continued to knock. He also tried the doorknob, but that wouldn’t turn. “Hey, Haemish!? Are you in!?” it wasn’t clear to Aarav what sleep meant for influential people here. To the Slime, it made sense that sleep would become less and less necessary as you grew in strength. But it wasn’t clear where that happened. Aarav was very far away from anything like that. He still needed eight or even nine hours of sleep a night to be effective the next day. That had yet to change with time and increases in his stats. Perhaps he hadn’t reached the threshold.

When his Intellect had reached one hundred, he had received a mind-reading ability. He promptly realised he was totally useless among humans because he couldn’t read minds with higher Intellect than his own. And according to Haemish, that was almost everyone that was human. Their average was 100 points per stat! And this was Aarav’s highest. In all fairness, though, Humans that were half a year old like him would have significantly less than that. Still, it was hard not to compare to human adults for the twenty-three and half years old Aarav.

Aarav turned to Ordric behind them and motioned to him to try the doorknob. Maybe it was just a strength thing? Ordric was almost certainly stronger physically than Aarav, so he might have better luck…unless it was an enchantment, magic, or skill.

The guard stepped forward. Just as he grasped the knob, the door was wrenched open from the inside. A man that looked completely different from Haemish stood at the room’s entrance. He was dressed with a nightcap on, glowing orb of light in hand and yawning mightily. “What!? What do you all want?” His eyes had been glazed over from sleep. Now they focused very quickly on the people standing in front of him. “Huh? Is that Aarav, and Boren? Who are you?” The last question was directed at Ordric, the closest and most significant of the three. Still, with Haemish’s sight being directed lower, he had seen the smaller ones first.

“That is…I am Ordric, Sir! Very pleased to meet you. It is really a pleasure. Umm…to meet someone like you!” Ordric said, his voice a strange amalgamation of excitement and hesitation. It leads to him speaking in fits and starts.

“Ordric, thank you very much for escorting us this far. I am sure you have a lot of other work to be doing, considering the situation. We will let you know if we need anything more, but for now, we are safe with Mr Haemish, I am sure.” Boren effectively and politely dismissed Ordric. Aarav suspected that while it was all true, it was not to get the guard to return to work. Ordric seemed to agree but acquiesced.

“Very well, Prince Boren, then I bid you goodnight!” Then promptly strode away, picking up speed as he moved further down the corridor. Soon he was well out of sight.

Haemish simply harrumphed and then waved them all in and sat down heavily in one of the soft reclining chairs he had in the sitting room. Does everyone in this place get their own apartment except for me!? “Well, what do you all want? I don’t need as much sleep as you all, but I need some! Get on with it so I can go back to sleep!” Haemish said, getting more and more awake with each accursed word. This man really was equal parts annoying and genius.

Aarav launched straight into it. “So, just got back from the city, and we had some incidents.” Haemish’s mouth opened to ask the obvious question, but Aarav forestalled him with a hand and pressed on. “Later, I will elaborate on that if you have not already heard from someone in the next few hours.

“Anyway, we came back from said incidents, escorted by a contingent of the palace guard.” Haemish’s eyes were now officially bulging out of his sockets as he tried to wrap his head around how things had happened all so quickly and while he was asleep.

“What have you done? I leave you alone for a day, and all hell breaks loose?” Instead of focusing on Haemish’s accusation, Aarav’s mind went to the fact that there had to be a belief in Hell to use an expression like that. Come on, Aarav, focus! Haemish had said a few more words, but it was more the same, judging by Boren's expression. Well didn’t miss anything important!

“Haemish, you can rant at us all night, or we can actually talk to you about what we came to discuss.” Both Aarav and Boren took seats in Haemish’s sitting room. The big man had leapt up and gone a little red in the face while ranting, retaking his seat in attempted civility. He was still huffing at the situation. “Also, you should have seen it. The whole trip, we were plagued with the worst luck. What are the chances that I get melted, strangled twice and chased multiple times in the same trip? I tell you, that trip was cursed! That is a thing, right? Is getting cursed a possibility?”

Haemish nodded impatiently, wanting to get to the juicier details of the whole trip. Also, for some reason, Aarav could fathom from his Body Language Reading that something was up with Haemish as Aarav explained the journey into the city, Boren in tow. What is going on? What is Haemish hiding? The man was getting agitated at Aarav and described each unfortunate encounter throughout. I guess he really does care if this discussion is bothering him. Somehow knowing that Haemish cared brought him some comfort. It was a nice feeling knowing someone cared about you.

“Thanks for the concern, Haemish, but we are fine now.” Haemish glanced over at the Prince to confirm that they were indeed fine. But then he let a slow smile form on his lips.

“Of course, I can see that you are, but somehow, it is still a concern. Especially if I understand correctly, you met one of the blasphemous Berserkers!” Haemish’s features contorted in an expression he had never seen before. Is that fear in his eyes? Aarav could honestly say he had never ever expected that look on this man’s face. With the amount of power he had on hand, Aarav didn’t think he was scared of anything. It was one of the Slime's great motivators for pursuing power with so much focus. If a shut-in like this guy could do it, so could he.

“Haemish, what are you not telling me? Why is this such a concern? It was one person! I sense there is more to it than what the king told us.” Aarav said, trying to prompt more conversation from the man. This was the perfect time to get information and make a solid decision on what to do next. “Haemish, the King told me I can leave and go forest. I wanted to speak to you first, though.”

If anything was going to get Haemish out of his musings, it was that statement. Over the past week or ten days since he had been here, it had become abundantly clear that Haemish and the others had been in the forest and village for a reason. They had not left the comfort of the palace and its many amenities. Either for a holiday or a chance to explore the wild outdoors. In addition, they had immediately cut their expedition short once they captured him and, for some unknown reason, decided not to go on another journey since. This told Aarav two things, either they had found what they were looking for or suspected they had, namely him or something else in Haemish’s lab. Or it was costly and time-consuming to organise expeditions, and they hadn’t had the time or money to plan another.

Aarav seriously doubted that they didn’t have the funds, considering how they were backed by an entire kingdom. Aarav was sure he would have seen something of supplies and items being accumulated if they were planning an expedition. He thought there could be ways around that in this world. Regardless, his gut was telling him he was what they had been looking for, and the Slime had yet to understand the reason behind his abduction.

“Haemish, I think it is time, don’t you?” Aarav said cryptically. Haemish cocked his head a little like he was listening to the wind.

He said, “And what, pray do tell, would you be asking about?”

“It is time for you to tell me why you caught and brought me here.”