The Belonged Man

The dining hall consisted of a central table stretched along the length of the room under a chandelier. Most of the seats had already been occupied by someone. Lady Primavere showed me to the seat next to Minerva. I happily took the seat after a long walk, but the Lady remained silently standing with one hand over her cheek. I glanced at her, not understanding what she wanted to convey. She eventually sat down after a few seconds in the empty chair on my other side.

“I think you were supposed to pull the seat back for her,” Minerva whispered to me, though I knew for certain that Lady Primavere could hear us.

“Oh. Sorry,” I spoke under my breath and clenched my fists. As I got a better look at the table, another issue came up. There lay five forks on my left side, plus two knives and three spoons on my right side, all mocking me with their ordered placements. A white porcelain plate, adorned with blue floral patterns at the edge, rounded out the assembly of the perplexing utensils.

During my confusion, Count Rainmour pushed a cart equipped with a tower of cooked brown meat. He stopped at the head of the table and stepped back again so he could face both the table and the cart. With a flick of his hand, a chunk of meat flew from the pile and landed perfectly on the dish of the closest person. Subsequent hand gestures evenly distributed the food among everyone at the table, from the closest to the farthest. His hands trembled throughout, but I dismissed it as a product of his age.

After retiring the empty cart to the corner of the room, the Count settled down in the chair reserved for him and addressed the others with open arms. “Praise be to humans. Praise to our predecessors who granted us today. Now we feast.”

The nobles recited the chant in perfect sync. Minerva and I also joined in, but notably weren’t able to match them. When the Count picked up a fork and a knife, the rest of the humans followed in mirrored motions and started their meals. But for me, I stared at my plate of what was obviously the remains of the monster from this morning, while troubled thoughts paralyzed me.

Lady Primavere noticed my indecision and put down the cutlery in her hands. “Do not worry. The meat is completely safe for consumption, and the taste is wonderful. All thanks to the Count’s tireless efforts to improve his cooking skills and the human ability to get better at whatever we set our minds to.”

So close, but maybe I expected too much for her to understand my struggles. “I’m used to eating monsters, but I don’t want to eat it wrong.”

“Oh my, that sure is troubling. May I?” She gestured at my cutlery.

“You may.” I could only hope that I sounded polite enough.

She reached for the fork farthest to the side and passed it to me. Her skin against mine gave me a shock, possibly a product of my imagination, but I still wondered whether she had just zapped me with magic. And indeed, I froze up from the jolt as the monster had done under the net, but my reflexes took over, and I clutched the fork from her.

She gave me a knife next and sat back straight in her chair. “Please observe. I will show you the proper etiquette.” Applying the whole of my self-control, I was able to keep my focus on following her movements and barely resist the temptation of appreciating her face in concentration.

What I thought was the impossible hurdle of complying with the rules turned out to be a breeze. More than the pleasure from tasting fresh game, the slow process of getting the hang of noble society got my heart bursting with excitement.

“I’m doing it! Lady Primavere! Look at me!” Completely by accident, my voice amplified as an embodiment of my desire to be noticed. My plate cracked from the force, and everyone at the table, instead of covering their ears, just looked at me as per my request. Too much attention on me. Overwhelming to the point where my thoughts only cared about my embarrassment.

“Let us carry on with our meal.” Although that was what Count Rainmour said, the adults sported smiles that I knew from dealing with Hallie were actually frowns in disguise. Lady Primavere was different. As expected from the only person here comparable to me in age, I sensed a genuine nature from her beaming face. Only she understood me and the precious feelings now flowing through my veins.

“So, is everyone here part of a family?” Minerva’s voice reminded me that she was on my other side. She broke the pressure of the room that had been building on me, probably unintentionally.

“Nothing like that, Ms. Minerva. We simply live in proximity, so we found it more convenient to share our meals. Other noble groups were the same.” Count Rainmour answered smoothly without an awkward pause for thought.

“How many humans live here?”

“I had not thought to count, but I estimate there to be at least two hundred.”

It came to my notice then that Minerva had already been using the cutlery flawlessly, as if she had a lifetime of practice.

Of course.

She had mastered a human custom before me, a human. The statement sounded so incoherent that my mind struggled to understand what it meant.

It was only when Lady Primavere tapped my shoulder that I slipped out of my inner world. “Excuse me. Sorry to bother you in your thoughts, Mr. Enos. Would you like to join me at the library after you finish dinner?”

I answered ‘yes’ without thinking and stuffed the rest of my supper down my throat, to the adults’ dismay. At least I remembered to bow to Minerva and others as a gesture of farewell. The library resided at the end, two corridors away from the dining hall. It took us a single minute to arrive there, but those two simple turns, illuminated by soft light seemingly in all directions, dazed my senses more than they should have. The never-ending vases made it worse too, causing me to question where they even got the resources to make them. Without a guide, there was no way I could navigate these passages.

Books and their shelves spread the same fragrance of paper no matter where I was, and this scent transported me back to the book room of my underground village, where I could read about the outside world and dream of an adventure.

How ironic was it for me to want to return now that I had the complete freedom to explore the whole of Frescia?

“What books do you prefer? We have everything important within our great history, even some that is unavailable to the Ethereal Libraries of golems.” I was used to reading in silence, but I welcomed the addition of Lady Primavere’s voice.

“Tales like those of Emperor Vandemar. Of the world before. Magic. I’d learned a little from my village and more from Hallie, but there is still so much I don’t know.”

“We have magic practice every day at the fifth bell.” At the what? Whatever that meant, I would be satisfied as long as I got to advance my magic. Most of what I knew now came from what Hallie taught me. What is Hallie doing now? Has she been able to recharge her mana?

The thought of Hallie led to a rogue question that I wouldn’t normally ask. “Do you know anything about the rumored human essence that could bring back our people?”

“I have heard about that. I think it is… this book over there.” She ran her fingers across a row of spines as if sensing the contents of the books in real time. Her search eventually stopped at a brown-covered book named the Legacy of the Hero Emperor Vandemar.

“Emperor Vandemar?”

“Take a look at chapter 15. There should be more information on that.” Her confidence reminded me of Hallie.

“Wow, you remember it this clearly. Amazing. You…” She reminded me too much of Hallie. I shot out my hand to catch her wrist, praying silently to the Emperor that my suspicions were unfounded.

Her skin felt a bit rougher this time, and whatever magical spark I felt before had expired. But I didn’t care about that. I wanted to know if what I expected to be there was present. That tiny swelling of the bulging line running across her arm. Rising and falling. Carrying life within.

She had a pulse!

“That is improper,” she chastised, but I couldn’t give her the look of remorse that she must have been fishing for.

“Sorry. I’ll try to do better.” A sweet grin overtook my face, and it only faded once I had read the chapter about the legendary human essence. Apparently, Emperor Vandemar had kept this fundamental piece to reconstruct the human race under lock and key in a protected structure, just in case the demons had successfully wiped them out. The drawing of the key looked familiar. At its head was a symbol of a man raising both his arms to the sky.

I had seen it before. I had seen it before in my underground village.