First, I want to thank all of my readers for their encouragement and support. You have made this possible.
Second, I must apologize to those who have sent me feedback messages; I haven't been able to answer because my lazy brother shares my mail account instead of making his own and erased many of them thinking they were spam.
Third, thanks again to my editor SexyGeek for his help in shaping up the story and the characters, as well as his attention to my grammar. I make many mistakes just by losing concentration.
Fourth, this chapter was going to be much longer than the first, but I decided to cut it. Good news are that all the events for third chapter are already outlined and if nothing fails too much it would be released soon.
That's all, enjoy my work. It's what makes me happy.
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I was sitting naked in the bed of the master bedroom of the guest house I had been assigned. I was trying to remember as much as I could from the moment of the announcement in the Hall of Shields until now.
I was stupefied due to the shock and was more or less working on auto-pilot. I remember that Errom (would I need to call him "father in law" from now on?) called for a servant and sent word to the welcome party that the program had changed. I can't remember clearly how it had changed, just that he ordered another servant to lead me to the guest house that would be mine until I married Ralya and became master of all her possessions.
I arrived, calmer and owner of myself, at a two-story house supposed to be near the training field where all kinds of warriors were trained every day. It seemed that once a Mountain Elf had passed his or her coming of age, they were tested both in physical abilities and magical potential to know which could be the most suitable class for each one.
Unlike in role playing games from my world, the classes could be as varied as the quantity of people: a Knight could learn Battle Cries and become a Juggernaut, or learn Holy Support magic and become a Paladin or even find a Witch to teach him Dark Magic Curses and become a Dark Knight. And that was just the beginning; remember how Ralya mixed Martial Arts with Shamanism.
The door to the house was opened by a maid who received instructions from the servant. Then he bowed to me and stood there looking at me almost without blinking. I stood there, awkwardly between the looks of the maid and the servant until the young boy finally asked, "Can I do anything else for you, Sir?"
The I understood that he was expecting any further instructions from me or my permission to leave, like the waiters in high class restaurants. "No, thank you. You can leave, and sorry for keeping you waiting." He bowed and left trotting in the direction of the Hall. A little late I understood that maybe he was also expecting some kind of tip.
There we were, the maid and me. Now that I was calmer I had the chance to observe her and I noticed she was the oldest female Mountain Elf I had seen up to that moment. Her hair was a tone of sand brown bordering blonde, with a little white in the temples like Errom. Her eyes were clear brown, and even though her black dress with white apron covered her whole figure, it was obvious she was still attractive.
"Please my Lord, come in. We have much to do if you wish to have some rest before the celebrations." The smile she had when she said that was sweet and bright.
"P-please, you don't have to call me that. I have just arrived in this world and I'm barely the owner of my hunting knife and the clothes I'm wearing." Anyone from my world, save for rich people, should be able to understand my awkwardness at the way she was treating me. Add to that the fact that she had a motherly aura that made me feel a little bad if I were to treat her like a servant, even though she was.
She covered her mouth with the tip of her right-hand fingers before chuckling and answering amused, "Hu-hu, you are a better person than I had expected, and funnier. But please, do not worry about little me. During the next nine days until your wedding you will be living here, which means that during the next nine days you will be my Master. As I have been instructed, Master will become part of the Elven nobility, so you must start getting accustomed to being served. But oh, goddess, I'm making Master wait in the middle of the street, even when it was silly me the one who said that we may hurry. Please, forgive me and welcome to your home, Master." Being called "master" four times in just one burst of speech started to confuse me. It was like soldiers in the army, finishing almost every sentence to their superiors with "Sir".
The entrance door led directly to a small reception hall with a dark, oval carpet with a low coffee table that had two velvet benches for three people each. At the opposite side there was an L-shaped bookshelf taking the corner by a door and in front of me there was the stairs to the second floor. All the furniture, as well as the railing of the stairs and the balustrade of the second floor where made in the same cream colored wood with a shiny lacquered finish.
"By the way, Master, my name is Merita. Excuse me for not introducing myself even though I tend to talk so much, hu-hu. The schedule for today starts right now with a bath, a lunch and maybe a little sleep before you get dressed to wait for the carriage that will take you to the Arena for the first of the activities in the list of your welcome and engagement party. I must say I have seen Van'Ralya run around this city since she was a kid, and she has become an astounding woman: beautiful, wise and with a great sense of duty to her people. You are very lucky to have her, but take good care of her or we will take care of you, hu-hu."