The Peculiar Residents of House Galakei

Chapter IX

The Peculiar Residents of House Galakei

“So big!” Enji exclaimed, staring at what lay in front of him open-mouthed. When the three travelers emerged from the forest trail, they found a large structure occupying most of the clearing. They had arrived at their destination, the residence of the mage Galakei.

“Snap out of your daze and get off the horse!” Silma elbowed him.

“When I was told that we would visit the house of the mage, I thought it would be a little secluded cabin in the mountains, not a mansion!” The image that he had in his mind was the typical forest cabin of wizards and witches from fantasy stories.

“What gave you that idea?” Silma scowled at him.

Enji didn’t reply to her; he dismounted and stood looking at the splendid mansion before him. The property had a surrounding wall made of stone, approximately three meters in height, and in the center stood a rectangular, three-story building with numerous windows. The style was simple and elegant. White walls with a terracotta roof. Decorated with mythological animal motifs. Although familiar, it was not quite Western nor Japanese.

Someone opened the iron-clad gate. An old man, really old, a servant, bowed respectfully, making the man look more hunched than he already was. After that, he moved to the side so they could enter. “I’ll take the horses to the stables,” he said in a tone of voice so low it appeared that he was talking from beyond the grave. “A maid shall receive you by the door; she’ll guide you to the reception room.” He took the bridles and led the horses to someplace behind the house.

“Let’s go,” Sol said to get his two companions out of their befuddlement.

“What an uncanny man,” Enji remarked.

Silma nodded while looking in the direction that the servant had left.

They arrived at the door.

“Welcome to House Galakei. My name is Ulua, I’m the head maid.” The woman curtsied. “Come this way, please.”

They followed the maid inside the house. She was a middle-aged woman, dressed in an elegant albeit austere dress. She let them through a long hallway that ended in a double door.

The décor of the large reception room hinted at wealth. There were beautiful statues of unknown people and creatures on pedestals throughout the room, and colorful paintings adorned the walls. It was furnished with several sofas and small tables, a place to entertain guests. Enji had seen similar rooms in movies set in the Victorian era. All that is missing is the grand piano.

“Please sit down and rest. I apologize that your rooms are not ready yet. The carrier bird just delivered the message of your arrival a few moments ago.” The maid bowed.

“Do not worry,” Sol said with a smile as he sat on the sofa, the same as Enji and Silma.

“We want to see Mage Galakei first,” Silma eagerly added.

“I regret to inform you that the Mage was indisposed and is resting and won’t be able to meet you until dinner time.”

“Then we wait.” Sol shrugged his shoulders.

“The maids will be bringing some refreshment shortly. If you need anything, you can let them know.”

Sol raised his hand. “I need to use the toilet.”

“Come this way, Sol [Silai].”

Enji leaned toward Silma and asked in a whisper, “What does Silai mean?”

“It is an honorific for the Seer people, a combination of prodigy and wisdom.”

“Seer... Sol mentioned it before. What does—”

He was interrupted when two girls entered the room, pushing small carts: one with drinks, and the other with confectionery and pastries. Enji watched as they set the refreshments on the table. Something about their appearance struck him as odd, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. They looked European to him. They were cute and seemed young, even though he couldn’t peg a definitive age on them. In their twenties, perhaps. It’s difficult for me to guess the ages of Westerners. They both had white hair and red eyes, and appeared to be siblings. After finishing, they stood to the side, ready to be of help when asked. That’s when Enji realized what was bothering him about them. They had the tips of fangs protruding from their lips.

Enji turned to Silma and whispered, “Did you notice their mouth?” Silma grabbed his arm like a vise.

“Enji, they are blood drinkers,” Silma replied.

“Vampires?!” Enji shouted.

“Hey, what is a vampire?” a voice from behind them asked.

“Eeek!” Silma bolted from the sofa and landed a couple of meters away, crouched on the floor with her tail straight up, with the fur standing on end.

Enji stood and observed the girl behind the sofa. She seemed to be about twelve and was dressed quite elegantly. Silver-white hair framed a beautiful face, and her red eyes were like rubies. Yes, she, too, was a vampire.

“I ask again, what is a vampire?” She looked at Enji with curiosity.

“Um... Ah. I-In my country, we have stories of some creatures—some beings that attack people to drink their blood, we call them vampires,” Enji did his best to answer.

“We don’t’ attack people!” The little girl stomped her foot on the floor. “And we don’t drink blood all the time. We do it when it’s completely necessary.” She puffed her cheeks in a pout.

Cute. Enji thought.

“Oh, it is, Elpinia.”

“Sol! You are here! I haven’t seen you in ages!” The girl threw herself into Sol, who caught her midair and brought her against his chest. She embraced him with force. “Sol, Sol, let’s play!”

“Later, Pinia. Once we have rested.”

“Yes! Come.” She pulled Sol by the hand and sat with him on one of the sofas. She began to tell Sol about her daily life and how much she missed him, leaning against his arm and gazing at him with intense attention.

Enji moved next to Silma, who had calmed a little after her fright. “She’s head over heels for him,” he whispered.

“What?” She looked at him, confused.

“That she is in love with him.”

“Oh! Really?” Silma glanced at the two on the sofa.

“It’s obvious. Let’s sit over there to give them some space.” He pointed to the farthest sofa in the room. When they sat down, one of the maids brought plates with pastries for them.

“Since I was little, I have heard stories of the blood drinkers. They are fierce warriors who, after defeating their enemies in battle they drink their blood,” Silma confided in a whisper.

Enji thought that they would more likely resemble the hunters from Earth who ritualistically drank the blood of their prey than vampires.

After eating the last morsels left on her plate, Silma asked, “Enji, I have been meaning to ask. Are you truly an envoy of the Dark Lord?”

Enji almost choked on his food. He cringed, remembering the chuunni performance he had given in front of the bandits.

She continued, “And that incantation for the God of Darkness’ power, I have never heard of it.”

“There is no such thing,” he denied, waving his hand in front of his face.

“But you chanted a curse.”

“A bluff. It was a lie, a distraction to gain time for you to cast your magic.” He didn’t want to appear as a coward and useless in her eyes, but at the same time, it would be a fatal error if they believed that he could use magic and grew confident.

“Oh...you did that. I was so mesmerized by your words and that sound from the black crystal that it distracted me, and I forgot to continue the spell.” She lowered her gaze to the floor.

“It’s alright! At least it worked. Sol arrived in time to take care of the bandit.”

“Is that black crystal a magical device? Was it blessed or enchanted by a Goddess?”

Enji was at a loss for how to respond; the word “technology” was not a term used in this world. He had previously asked Sol and Nilsei about the state of advancement in science and inventions, and most of what they told him was based on magic crafts. Their understanding of how natural phenomena and physics worked was nil. They explained that nature’s mysteries were the workings of the gods, and those who strived to unravel them studied to become high mages.

Enji pulled the cell phone from his pocket and turned it on. It emitted the characteristic musical notes of the company’s brand when it came to life. That drew everyone’s attention. The two vampire maids, Sol and Elpinia, approached him.

“What is that?” Elpinia asked.

Before Enji could reply, Silma said, “It’s an enchanted instrument that lets you hear the voice of the Gods! With its magic, Enji defeated a band of bandits by himself.” Silma proudly puffed her chest and told them what had happened on the way here.

There were a few “ohs” and “ahs” of awe as they listened to Silma’s embellished story, and to Enji’s embarrassment, she described his edgelord’s poses and words with great detail. To make her stop, Enji played the anime song from before.

Sol, with eyes like dishes, stared at the cellular phone. Elpinia hid behind Sol, entranced by it too; the two vampire maids turned paler than their natural pallor, and Silma stared at the phone with dilated pupils in a trance-like manner.

Enji looked at them, astonished. Perhaps this was how a primitive tribe felt when they first encountered someone from an advanced civilization. I’ll be shocked too if aliens landed on Earth and showed them a death ray. Well, maybe better not, for Earth’s sake.

“Do you have a contract with powerful Gods? Did they gift it to you?” Elpinia, still hiding behind Sol, asked.

Yeah! A contract with a powerful phone service provider who ‘gifted’ the unit for the duration of the contract. Enji sarcastically retorted in his head, recalling the sales brochure and contract from the communication company. Next month’s payment is due soon. “This is a device that in my wo— country has many purposes. It allows you to hear music and communicate with other people who have a similar device over long distances. It’s not divine. Eventually, it will become unusable when its... enchantment runs out.” There was no way he could explain electricity and a wall charger.

Enji stopped the song of the “Goddess” and pointed the camera at Silma. When he showed them the photo, they couldn’t contain their amazement. He was bombarded with questions that he answered to the best of his ability, using terms they would understand. Finally, he made them pose together and snapped a few pictures. I need to take photos of Popa and Eithea, because nobody will believe me when I return to Japan.

***

With a sponge, he finished cleaning the road’s dirt and dust off his body. The room that he was assigned included a washbasin placed on top of a dresser. Sometime before, one of the maids had brought a large pitcher of hot water for him to wash. Besides the dresser and the bed, the only other furnishing was a chair. He had brought clean clothes in his backpack, but on top of the bed, he had found clothes consisting of a shirt, pants, and a jacket, intended to be worn at dinner. Are they formal wear for this world? He would have hated to wear a tie.

They fitted a little loose on him, but not by much. There was no mirror in the room, so he used his phone as a mirror to comb his hair.

Before turning the phone off, he looked at the remaining battery icon. He let out a loud sigh. Without electricity, it will soon become useless. And he was not a genius, like the anime protagonist with leek-like hair who woke up in a future resembling the Stone Age. He recalled experiments he conducted at school to produce electricity using a glass filled with salted water and electrodes, as well as another using potatoes. “How many potatoes would I need to charge my phone? Are there potatoes in this world?”

His griping was interrupted by a slight knock on the door. When he opened, Silma was on the other side, fidgeting bashfully.

This was the first time he had seen her in a dress. The skirt was short, like the one Elpinia wore when they met earlier. But, it wasn’t one of hers, though; Silma wouldn’t fit in it, especially around the chest area.

“Do I look strange?” She looked up at him as she rocked her body back and forth with her hands on her back.

Cute! He had heard girls ask that question a million times when they inquired about their clothes when on a date. Of course, he had only heard it in anime and otome games; his experience with dating girls was nil.

“It suits you.” It was the most innocuous reply that came to mind. Obviously, it suited her; she looked absolutely stunning, but there was no way he would tell her that. Silma seemed satisfied with his answer, as evidenced by her smile.

“It looks good on you, too.” She pointed at his clothes.

“Thanks.” He grimaced a forced smile as he pulled down on the jacket’s hem to straighten it.

“Let’s go,” she urged him.

They arrived at the dining room, which would have been more accurately called a banquet hall. In its center was a long table that could comfortably seat twenty. Sol and Elpinia were already sitting and engrossed in conversation with each other. Two of the maids were setting the table.

“Where are we sitting?” Enji asked Silma in a low voice.

“I’m not familiar with the sitting protocol at fancy places,” she whispered.

“Master Enji will sit across from Sol [Silai] and his lady companion to his right,” one of the Vampire maids informed.

Enji glanced at Silma; her face was red. Perhaps she’s not used to being called a lady.

Enji noticed that besides the table setting at the table’s end, which must have been for Galakei, there were five other places for unknown diners.

All of a sudden, from the kitchen, a flurry of activity began as the vampire maids set different dishes and filled the glasses. There was a wide variety of food, including meats, fish, salads, and even fruits—a literal feast.

The head maid and the old man, dressed formally, whom he thought to be a stable hand, sat facing each other on the next empty seats. Finally, the three maids—now he realized there were three—sat in the last available places after setting the remaining dishes.

So, even the maids eat together with the master.

And speaking of the master, Galakei arrived and stood at his place at the end of the table. “Welcome to my small and humble house,” Galakei hissed and chuckled. “Let’s enjoy this peasant’s food.”

Enji stared wide-eyed, not because Galakei joked about being modest. Not because he wore a gray robe without a hood, and his green hair spilled from a cloth cap. No. Enji was not even looking at Galakei; his eyes were fixed on a painting hanging on the wall behind Galakei.

It featured two teenage girls, dressed in beautiful summer dresses, posing in front of a field of flowers. One girl had silver hair and the other, green. The hat on the silver-haired’s head couldn’t hide her fox ears.

“Oh? You seem to have made the connection in an instant.” Galakei half turned to glance at the painting behind. “We were only sixteen at the time, Eithea and I. We were like sisters and inseparable, but sometime later, I was cursed... Nonetheless, that is not important at this moment. Let me introduce my companions. That decrepit man used to be one of the best knights of the kingdom. I present my personal Knight! His name is Mayfol.”

Mayfol nodded and said in his ultra grave voice, “You exaggerate, my lady.”

Galakei pointed at the middle-aged woman. “Ulua, the head maid, had been with me since I was born. She has more patience than the God of Contemplation.”

“My gray hair is because of the continuous antics of this brat,” was the remark from Ulua.

Galakei ignored her comment. “You know Lady Elpinia already.” The vampire girl stood up and waved.

“And these peculiar girls, I encountered them and Pinia in one of my travels. At that time, Pinia was just a small child, and they were fleeing from the people who killed her parents. They are Pinia’s most trusted vassals. The warriors, Lia, Skia, and Maka.” Each vampire girl nodded at the mention of their name.

“And lastly, I am the magnificent, wise, and beauti—ahem. Excuse me, force of habit. Ignore that. I’m Galakei [Kilai] Deadleaves.”