Rival Pt. 1

The mayor let me stay in a prestigious bedroom in his castle. I didn’t even get to discuss what happened on our scavenging expedition with Clarine and the others. Based on my father’s words, they probably didn’t talk to the mayor about it either, or maybe they did and didn’t tell him the entire story… Would Clarine really listen to my father, though? She didn’t seem like the type of woman to blindly follow commands like that. Regardless, when the mayor offered me my room in the evening, it didn’t seem like he suspected anything suspicious, so it’s likely my secret wasn’t revealed.

This bed seemed awfully large for a single person. When I stretched my legs to the fullest extent, they didn’t even reach halfway to the end of the bed. The same could be said if I stretched my legs out horizontally.

My reattached leg still had a cast on it, but nobody would be concerned about it moving perfectly fine in my own room. Screw what other people think, I'm getting rid of this cast right now. My fingernails picked at the cast and honestly, it was way harder than I thought it would be to get this thing off. I stood up and walked towards a little tea table in the corner of the room. There were a couple sets of cutlery on there so I grabbed a knife that seemed to be pretty sharp and jammed it straight into my cast. A stab wound would hurt like hell but by now, I haven’t felt real pain in so long, that may have been a welcoming experience. The knife wiggled and scratched the cast as I shook it with all the strength in my wrist. Eventually, a hole ripped through. I threw the knife across the room and without even minding the clanking sound it made as it landed, I tore through the entire cast with both my arms until my leg was freed.

As I examined the condition of my leg, the coloring seemed okay and the stitch lines of the surgery, while visible, didn't seem like they were sensitive to anything without the cast. I motioned around starting with a normal walk. Pacing around the room confidently, quickly, and then slowly just to make sure it all felt right. I broke out into a couple of light sprints and even tried committing to a few short jumps. It felt perfect.

I jumped back onto the bed and although the mattress wasn’t springy by any means, the cushion it provided was so comfortable, my body sank straight into it as I made impact…

My eyes began to close and my brain wandered. Lars’ words were still dormant in my head. I didn’t want to think about the reality of what he was saying but my father acted like what I told him was dangerous. Shouldn’t a human resistant to the surface be an extraordinary find? I could lead humanity into a newfound effort to recover the surface and once that’s done, we can begin to rebuild the society of the old world but with the technology that we have now. And of course, the most important thing would be building my theme park. My heart may have skipped a couple of beats when we arrived here, but there’s no way looking at a beautiful city could disrupt my life’s purpose. Building a roller coaster is so much more than that. How come they’ve never built any roller coasters in this world? Did people no longer have an interest in them…? What would the world think of me if they knew what I was?

With thoughts like that, there was no way I could get a good night’s rest, let alone in a place I’d never been before. Perhaps it’s rude, but exploring the castle at night seemed like a fun sidequest. Meeting a nice lady to seduce wouldn’t be such a bad experience.

A lot of girls in high school had an attraction to me. I wasn’t prince charming by any means but my father’s status did a lot of talking for me. It seemed like they were more in love with my father than me, but I was the next best thing that they could settle for. In that regard, most of them made me feel sick at the idea of youthful love. I pushed every woman away, even the nice ones who may have had good intentions. Blaming the world and everyone in it became my vice soon after. Part of me still swells with anger directed towards everyone but I can’t help but feel a growing sensation of positivity. Maybe I’m maturing, but the world is slowly starting to appear to me in a whole new light. If the world is different from how I imagined, the people in it may soon follow…

My body rose from the bed and I decided to walk over to the bathroom to pee. This bedroom had a kitchen, bathroom, and even a living room. It seemed more like a miniature house than a room if you asked me. Inside the bathroom was a large circular shower with a seat also carved in a circular shape. The shower head looked like it could be manipulated so it sprays towards the sitting area. In that case, someone could probably lay down on the circular sitting area and periodically rinse themselves in water as the shower head passes by. That was a stupid thought but I always thought of stupid things when seeing unique contraptions.

Luckily, the toiler seemed relatively normal. The pissing experience was no different than the one in Milona. No stupid thoughts to interrupt there…

As I washed my hands, the soap dispenser was nowhere to be found. What the hell? Surely, the people of Ylvona used soap, especially in a castle like this. There was no way they didn’t keep up with basic hygienic standards. After a couple of seconds of looking, I decided to forgo the soap and just wash my hands for a few extra seconds and that’s when the faucet splatted this green ooze on my hand. To say I was puzzled would be an understatement but after looking at the faucet itself, I noticed that there was text on it in a very small font.

“Fresh seaweed soap dispensed along with our clean filtered ocean water to kill 99.9% of germs!”

They extracted materials from seaweed and mixed it with their filtered water to have their faucet run soapy water all the time. Impressive, Ylvona. I didn’t know your technology was this far ahead of the curve… Although, I’m not even sure something like this would be possible in Milona.

The bathroom was nice, but after my piss, the only thing left to do was leave my bedroom. I know this could be seen as rude but it’s not like I have any foul intent. I’ll be a good boy and not steal or break anything. No promises on that last one but I’ll give it a genuine effort…

I put on some slippers and opened my bedroom door which was a whopping three feet taller than me. I know for a fact that Fence appreciated the architecture of this building more than anyone else. Not much of a talker but from what I have heard him say, he seems like a man with interesting layers to him.

Never mind that now. My exploration of this castle must be as discreet as possible. My tiptoes need to prove efficient and effective. I practiced my tiptoeing a bit in the center of my bedroom before leaving, especially on my newly attached leg. Everything seemed in working order. It was time to leave my room…

…

The castle seemed rather empty and dim. In novels from the old world, protagonists who often ventured out into castles at night were usually greeted by a maid holding a candle who would reveal crucial information that would progress the story. Now, where is my maid…

All the rooms I traveled to had an eeriness to them even though they shined so pleasantly in the morning with all the lights on. My eyes likely adjusted, but it almost seemed as if the castle was completely shut off from light, now. Was this really necessary for a city like Ylvona? In Milona, people turn lights on and off as they please. In the old world, the sun and moon dictated the time of day. Now, we follow a clock but people make their own hours as the legends of morning and night only exist in speech rather than reality.

I’ve moved down three floors and it still seems as if I’m in a residential area. My toes tipped over each stair delicately before making my way down to the next floor. I heard a noise. The sound seemed to be coming from one of the rooms. It was a bit muffled and perhaps I shouldn’t be nosy but isn’t that what this whole operation is about to begin with?

I lept off the stairs elegantly to not make any noise. My feet traveled with a steady pace towards the door as the volume of the sounds grew louder and louder. It seemed to be the moans of a woman. I may be a teenager but I’m not a pervert. The act of intercourse wasn’t something I was greatly invested in so this seemed to be a rather boring find… and then I heard something that would end up changing my life…