In front of the main house, there was an elegant silver fountain with bushes surrounding it. After passing by the beautiful fountain, a flight of stairs, simple yet pleasing to the eyes, awaited any person hoping to enter the house. But after the flight of stairs, a wooden door carved out of a high-quality amber wood, polished to the core to have a smooth surface added with a fragile glass, would welcome you to the Borin’s main house.

As you opened the high-quality door, the massive hallway, filled with chandeliers, would greet you. Any commoners who dare entered this hallway would suffer the wrath of the soft fabric of the red carpet laid upon the massive hallway. I knew because it happened to me several times.

The main house had three floors, and the only way to get to these floors was by the three stairs located at the middle and at each end of the house. The middle staircase was a shining silver imperial staircase and having a huge family painting nailed to the wall in the middle of it. The painting had three persons in it; William, a woman and a baby wrapped in white sheets, reaching to the woman. Maybe William had his own family? Or maybe it was his parents and that was William when he was a baby?

In the first floor were mostly a wide open space for the entrance and the two living rooms; one for guests and one for dining. The guest for living room was filled with furnitures such as a couch, a small table and other stuffs while, as you’d seen before, the dining hall almost had none. The first floor was also where William’s room was. Lastly, there was also an exit at the back which led to the garden.

As one you’d expect, the kitchen, too, was in the same level of cleanliness and orderliness as the entirety of the house. Maybe because Feim was the one who managed it. Utensils brightly hanged on the wall as the sunlight and breeze entered from the opened windows. Woods were stacked in one corner and the table cleaned to its very core that it was practically shining. The last time I saw this was when Merry and I were in the orphanage where she cleaned every dirt she could find.

The second floor was mostly the empty rooms, the large bathroom and the library. The colorful empty rooms, as you guessed it, were empty. Literally nothing was in there except for the curtains for the windows. Though it was empty, the rooms were spotless. For some reason, William always ordered Feim to clean the rooms. Well, it wasn’t that bad but it was tedious to clean it.

The large luxurious bathroom was the only bathroom in the house. It was divided into two bathrooms; one for male and female. The bathroom was only divided by a wall three-third of the height of the ceiling. It had a huge bath that could fit ten people in it. Not only that but the water that came out from a small statue made out of a cute norji would be based on your preference, well, only if you tell it to Feim. She was the one who conditioned whether the water would be cold or hot or mild. There were also separate toilet bowl, sinks, and showers. It looked like a modern bathroom and I knew from the similarities that it must have been Fuyuki and the others’ influence that made this possible. Well, I prefer it like this anyway, I missed the simple luxury of life I once had.

Compared to the other parts of the house, the library was lacking. And by lacking, I meant it was small. Towering bookshelves occupied most of the library, with only a couple of tables here and there. From dusty books to loose papers hanging out of the book, you could find anything here. Probably. I didn’t know what was in the books since I couldn’t read. That was why it was so amazing of Kihana to be able to read the books she‘d read. Fuyuki knew how to read them, too, but she wasn’t that much into books, as far as I could tell. Additionally, the library was the favorite place of Kihana.

The third floor was mostly rooms and it was also where our rooms were. It was used as a guest room for whenever a visitor would stay but no one else had been here for months, according to Feim. In the rooftop, there was a terrace used for relaxing.

Overall, the house was great and beautiful. It was by no means ordinary and anyone would feel honored to be standing in the Borin’s house. But it was empty. Everywhere I went, nobody was there. No footsteps could be heard, no laughter to be seen, and no heads to greet. Empty. It reminded me of my old house and the nostalgic feeling wasn’t pleasant.

*

“Have you gathered any intelligence?” Risa said as if she was a detective. Merry and I were on a break, so we were in the library with Kihana and Risa.

Merry’s ears perked up but her cat ears weren’t visible. It was cute, though. “Intelligence?”

Flustered, I immediately answered. “She was talking about the kitchen. She asked me if there’s any good food, you see.” I chuckled.

“Is that so?” Merry mused. “I’ll be sure to bring you some sweets later, okay?”

“Yehey!” it seemed Risa forgot what she was asking.

I changed the topic and asked Kihana if she wanted to come with us to the town. “To the town…? I will be visiting the temple to learn new skills, so I would like to come…” she said, taking a peek from an old book she was reading.

“All right, I’ll go tell Takana later.”

They all returned from what they were doing. Risa went besides Merry along with the book she was reading. It wasn’t surprising if she knew how to read since she was a knowledgeable witch. Heck, I bet she knew all the languages in Dlimor.

“What’s a children storybook doing in a formal library like this one?” Risa asked as she sat on Merry’s lap.

“Do you not like those?” Merry asked.

“O-Of course, Risa do!” Risa forced herself to say that as her mouth twitched. “Risa only finds it peculiar.”

“Well, it is strange…”

“Right? There’s human history, politics, economics, culinary arts, botany, monster guidebook, magic and many more but there are two or three books that generates imagination for children.”

“Feim might have misplaced them,” I said. “I’ll tell her about it later.”

“Be sure to do so,” Risa sharpened her eyes. “It irritates Risa why it’s here.”

“Well, why don’t I read it to you since they’re going to get taken away later?”

“Hmmm…” Risa pondered about it. “Read it to me later when it’s night. Also, sleep with Risa and Terrin! The bed is huge enough for four people!”

“Risa…” I stared at her. “Merry’s a grown up woman, she needs her time alone.”

“W-Well, I wouldn’t mind it if she insists…” Merry said, her head hung low.

“Risa insists!” she slammed the table with an intense look on her face.

“Fine, if you insist,” I looked at Merry. “I’m sorry, Merry, you know how she goes.”

“It’s okay,” she smiled, her cheeks a bit reddish. “I would love to read her some stories.” I nodded. I looked towards Kihana but from the looks of it, she didn’t hear any of our exchange as she stared intently at the book she was reading. If Takana was here, I was sure he would have taken pictures of her.

Merry seemed illiterate but for the most part, she could also read. Maybe I need to brush up my skills about reading, too. But for the moment, I was too preoccupied about the “intelligence” I had to tell Risa later.

Other than the warehouse, the workshop and William’s private room, I’d been everywhere, thanks to the privilege of being a temporary servant. The only reason I wasn’t able to enter the warehouse was because Lindwal was the one who managed it and he had the key.

It had only been a week since we got here, so I didn’t have any information on many other things. That being said, I had looked at some of William’s daily routine. The only consistent thing he did was every morning and after lunch, he would go to the workshop and spend an hour and so there. After that, he would then go back to his personal room and do whatever he did. I had a limited time of seeing what he did especially with being a servant. I guessed being a servant had its own pros and cons.

But I believed I would learn more about him during his magic session with Fuyuki. Hopefully, I could focus on my part. I was also curious on how magic worked.

*

Night had come. Merry and I finished our job for the day. She decided to change clothes first before going to our room. She left with a smile on her face. Well, as long as she was happy.

I hurriedly went back to the room. I saw Risa fixing the bed, the moonlight shining her hard-earned sweat. She must have been excited for Merry to come over. Sometimes, she really was more like a child than a witch.

“Excited, are we?” I mockingly said.

“Of course!” she replied while fixing the pillows. “I hope something good happens tonight.”

“Something good?” I furrowed my brows.

“Nevermind that,” her face turned serious. “Have you gathered the intelligence?”

“You have to stop talking like a detective…” Anyway, I told her about some of the things I found out.

She crooned. “You have to get in his personal room and the workshop. Now that we know his surroundings, we need to dig deeper. Do everything you can to observe him.”

“Will do,” guess I have to level up my work. I changed my clothes first and cleaned myself from all the sweat from today.

There was a knock on the door. Risa hurriedly stood up and went to open the door. It was Merry.

“I hope I’m not disturbing,” she said as she entered. She was wearing a light pinkish dress. She probably took that on one of the closets in her room. It looked good on her.

“Of course not!” Risa took her hand and then dragged her to the bed.

“You sure are energetic for someone who’s going to sleep,” I mocked.

“Risa’s actually tired,” she yawned. “Risa wanted to sleep but Risa also wants to listen to Merry’s voice.”

“You’ll grow up to be a tall girl if you sleep early,”

“Is that how it works?”

“In humans, at least. In the beast, if you sleep early, you can have more energy when you wake up, thus having more energy to get stronger.”

She nodded. “Then tell Risa the story already!”

Merry laughed and grabbed the book she was going to read. “This story is about…”

The story was about how a girl got lost in a forest. The girl got separated to her older sister and got lost. She didn’t knew how to return to her family, so for the early parts, she just cried and cried. Eventually, all the noises she made attracted an animal. The animal was a little bird. It wasn’t scary, so the girl approached it. When she got near, it flew away. The girl, lonely again, was about to cry but then she heard another bird. She followed it again but this time, the bird went a bit farther before it flew away. The cycle repeated itself, following all birds because that was all she could do. Before she collapsed due to being hungry or maybe it was because she was giving up but she decided to follow another bird for this bird was the first one she saw. Due to that, she got out of the wood. Surprisingly, the bird landed on her older sister’s arms. It turned out that the bird was her sister’s friend. She recalled that she would often feed birds. The end.

“Well, that was a dumb story,” Risa sniffled. “Why would anyone blindly follow a bird? That makes no sense. Right, Merry?”

Merry was still looking at the book. “Merry?”

“Y-Yes, I didn’t expect it to be like that…”

“Anyway, before Risa sleeps, Risa’s going to the bathroom first.”

“Do you know the way there?”

She took one of the lanterns and scoffed. “Who do you think Risa is, huh?” and away she go.

Then I noticed something. It was just Merry and I, sitting on the bed. I looked over her but she seemed to be silently looking at the book.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, it just reminded me of something,” Merry looked at the book wistfully.

“What did it remind you of?”

“It reminded me of my…family.”

Family? Of course Merry would have a family. But where are they?

I wanted to ask but a part of me was stopping me. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to ask such a simple question that might have deeper implications or if Merry was ready to answer them. So we sat there for a couple of minutes, silent as the moon.

After those grueling minutes, the door suddenly burst open. Risa entered and boy was she furious.

“Why didn’t Risa hear anything!?” she shouted.

“Huh!? What are you talking about!?”

“You’re like Takana but worse, you know that? Risa’s given you the perfect moment! The moon, a bed, alone time and yet you didn’t anything!”

“So you’re telling me you were waiting outside the whole time!?”

“Yeah, and it was cold!”

Then a laugh erupted from the side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about but I’m happy you came, Risa. Terrin was quiet the whole time, if you didn’t come in, I might have mistaken him for a tree.”

“What a naïve human you are, Terrin.” She sighed, I could feel the disappointment from the air she released.

At this point, Risa was influenced by Takana. I knew what she meant but I see Merry as a companion, not someone to have sex to. Besides, if I wanted to have sex with someone, I would do it with someone I love.

I guess I have to teach her that one.