The Castle Part 1

“The ‘Lord of Death’,” Yuzuki repeated, as politely as possible. “You don’t say…”

Yuzuki, ever the professional, kept up her best customer service smile as she casually shared the same air as someone known as the ‘Lord of Death’. How does one react to somebody with such a title? Granted, she did not know much about this world, only scant details given to her hastily by people who just kidnapped and dumped her somewhere, but common sense said someone with a name like that could not be good news, right?

Meanwhile Kerron had stepped closer to her in order to inspect her face and she only realized too late when she noticed a shadow looming over her. He leaned down and peered into her eyes, searching for something. Yuzuki simply allowed this to happen, just staying still and letting the moment pass while alarm bells went off in her head.

Too close, too close, too close…! She mentally screamed.

“Kerron, you might want to stand back, you’re making the poor girl nervous,” came the male voice of the red orb.

“Dear, are you all right? You look like you’ve been through so much,” remarked the blue orb, now also coming in close.

Kerron sighed and nodded, standing up straight again. Honestly, Yuzuki was relieved. Having a stranger so close, even an admittedly attractive looking one, was extremely uncomfortable.

Looking at the two who rescued her, Yuzuki was surprised she recognized the two blue and red orbs. Her mismatched eyes widened seeing them.

“Oh! You’re…the ones I saw in the forest, aren’t you?” she asked.

The red orb bobbed in amusement. “That’s right.”

“We saw you by chance during our patrol and came to see if you were all right,” explained the blue one.

“I see…now that I look at the two of you, I’m ashamed at how I acted,” Yuzuki admitted with a nervous chuckle. Honestly, the entire situation up until now was rather ridiculous and mortifying. Although the circumstances were bad, nothing had actually harmed her. In fact, the one who did the most injury to her was her own stupidity. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. Humans normally never enter this realm. It’s only natural for you to be scared of the unknown,” the blue orb soothed.

“I’m Yuzuki Fujikawa. What are your names?”

The red orb bobbed up energetically. “I’m Crim!”

“And I am Azura,” the blue orb answered, kindly.

There was something comforting now being with these two. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it felt nostalgic somehow. It was strange, honestly. Holding her hands out, the two hovered over her palms instinctively and she could feel warmth radiating off of them. It felt cozy, like having a mug of hot cocoa on a cold day…

Suddenly, there was a loud chime going off within the quiet castle, like that of a clocktower, making Yuzuki jump out of her skin. It went off for seven chimes, resonating within the stone walls of the castle before eventually going silent. At this, Kerron began moving away from the conversation happening without so much as a proper farewell to anyone.

“Oh, off to fulfill your duties, Kerron?” Crim asked, turning Yuzuki’s attention back to the Lord of Death.

Kerron looked over at them, at Yuzuki and the two orbs, as well as the little rabbits around her feet, standing together within his throne room. His brows pinched a bit, but then smoothed over as he nodded quietly.

“Please take care of our guest, Crim. Azura,” he said, before making his way out of the chamber.

“Of course!” Crim chimed.

“Come back safe!” Azura called out to Kerron’s back.

There were no other words exchanged as the strange lord of the castle disappeared into the darkness of the hall.

“Well, now. Let’s get you cleaned up, dear,” Azura said, bringing the conversation back to the subject of Yuzuki.

The cook for all she was worth, was still capable of shame as she blushed thinking about how terrible she must look. Clothes stained from work and now, who knew what else from her romp in the forest. Days now, without bathing or trying to fix up her hair. Her long pale blonde hair had been allowed to remain loose the entire time, so it must be some kind of rat’s nest without any brushing to keep it neat. Coupling this with the immaculate Lord of Death standing so close to her before, honestly, the cook could die of shame.

“Yes, please.”

It would seem that, for the next little while, Yuzuki would be staying at the castle with them until she could properly sort out her own situation.

As her entourage of Laplunas and spirit orbs (Crim and Azura were both kind enough to explain to her what they all were) led her through the castle, they listened to Yuzuki speak about who she was, where she came from and what happened to her. Everything spilled out in a way that she hadn’t done in a long time. Her comfort person had been her grandfather for the longest time, after all, but she’d gone without him for years now, since his death. She also ended up talking about the man, at the prodding of Crim, even if there was no real reason to, it sort of made her feel better talking about the one who stepped up when her world had been turned upside down.

“...Grandpa was a great chef! He knew how to make everything and anything! Even if you gave him a weird list of ingredients, he could make something amazing!” Her grandfather was her idol, her goal. She had wanted to grow up to be a well respected chef, just like him, to work at the same place that gave him so many good memories. “I actually went to culinary school so I could work with him. Any time I could have with him, I made sure I could have it.”

“Sounds like you didn’t have much time for friends,” Crim remarked, sounding concerned.

Yuzuki shook her head. “I mean, I guess so, but I figured I would have all the time in the world after I got my chef’s license. But, er…I guess that didn’t work out so well. Grandpa died almost as soon as I joined the restaurant. What a joke, right? It felt like the gods were making fun of me…”

“Yuzuki…”

Crim floated closer, and it felt like a small weight was on top of her head. The way he moved reminded Yuzuki of being patted gently on the head; was he trying to console her?

Yuzuki put on her best smile and shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll get by, somehow…I have to. I owe grandpa that much to try and get back and save the restaurant he loved so much.”

“Are you sure that is what he would want?” Azura inquired, not sounding judgemental, merely worried about the choices Yuzuki was making regarding her own life.

“I don’t know, but…it’s what I want to do. Somehow…I need to get back. It’s all I have left waiting for me. I don’t have parents or any other family, so…” Yuzuki shrugged.

The castle was divided up into two sections; the west wing and the east wing. Dead center was the clocktower and the grand throne room as well as other communal areas shared by everyone, though the spirits did admit that there was hardly anyone within the castle. Yuzuki was being led to the east wing, where guests were allowed to stay. The west wing belonged to the lord and the lord alone and she shouldn’t wander in there without his permission.

“Not hard,” Yuzuki remarked. “This castle is so big, I don’t think I’ll ever need to go over there.”

There was, of course, more to tell her as time went on.

Taken to the bath, Crim stayed behind while Azura escorted Yuzuki inside, followed by the little Lapluna. The bath was large, big enough to be a pool, honestly, if not for how shallow it was. However, Yuzuki could actually sit down and have the hot waters be chest high. The Lapluna also got into the water with her and were actually competent swimmers, diving in and floating around lazily.

It felt amazing to just soak in hot water. Yuzuki let out a happy sigh as she worked through her tangled hair. Azura floated nearby, advising her on items she could use within the room and how to operate it.

While just sitting and relaxing, Yuzuki got to talking more with Azura, who was happy to supply information to her.

“So, um, were you expecting me? Sounded like it when I first came in.”

“Oh, indeed. After we found you and you ran off into the forest, Crim and I returned to the castle right away to report your arrival to Kerron. However, he had not arrived back just yet. And when we did, well, it took a bit of time talking to him, we lost track of time…” Azura sounded a bit embarrassed, but for spirits, Yuzuki supposed time was of no concern to them.

“You’re welcome, dear. It’s not every day we have a guest at the castle. Though he does not show it well, Kerron is actually pleased to meet you.”

Yuzuki said nothing about that.

Kerron was a mystery, but no surprise. Until a few days ago, she had no idea of his existence. And even now, she still knew nothing of him in the short interaction they had earlier. All she could tell was that he had an imposing, quiet presence and a handsome face. Two things that did not spell good things from where she came from.

Handsome guys are cursed, Yuzuki thought to herself, remembering her life back in Japan. Here she was, a hardworking Japanese woman with plenty to offer, but all the best guys were already taken. Not that she thought about it much, but the few times she attempted things like group dates ended up in abject failure as the flashier girls usually ended up with someone by the end of the night. And even if they weren’t interested in those kinds of girls, the fact that Yuzuki looked so foreign despite being born and raised in Japan with clear Japanese ancestry often bothered men back home.

Looking at her own reflection within the bath water, she saw her two mismatched green and brown eyes and recalled how the people of the castle acted towards her. It was much more extreme than how people acted back home. At least people would try to wait until she was gone before they started gossipping.

“You know,” Yuzuki began, “there are a lot of things I don’t know about this world. Can you tell me more about it, Azura?”

The blue spirit bobbed gently in her version of a nod. “I’ll answer what I can.”