As they walked toward the double-door that led to the inner part of the mansion the servant opened it while bowing his head. What greeted Harrison was a hall with a staircase on the right side. Art and tapestry were lusciously hanging on the walls with big flower pots decorating the corners. The staircase had an intricate red colored railing which continued on the second floor as a balcony. Further up ahead was the dinning room with a long table with open double-doors leading to it.The rest of the doors were closed.
"Are you hungry?", Sheina asked.
Before Harrison could respond, a middle-aged man burst through the door.
He said some incomprehensible words for Harrison, of which only Sheina was understandable. As he came towards Sheina, he hugged her and shook her a bit, then lifted her up in the air and hugged her again.
As he put her down, she gestured towards Harrison and introduced him and also explained what he told her. She also told him how he rescued her from the wolves, keeping the part that she was naked at the time to herself. The man looked at Harrison and measured him with his eyes before bowing and hugging him.
The hug surprised Harrison, and he just stood there like a mannequin looking at Sheina and begging for help with his eyes.
"Let me introduce my father baron Shalmoon Donaron magistrate of this town." Sheina said as she smiled.
"He is just happy I am safe. My horse came back on his own, still carrying my hat and jacket. He thought I was in an accident and was sick with worry. My father was already organizing a search party when the guards informed him I am home. So he rushed home to make sure I am all right." Sheina explained.
Sheina pa.s.sed the other sphere to her father.
"Sorry to startle you. I was just so worried about her. She always runs off who knows where. Ahhhh. Where are my manners? You can call me baron Donaron, or just uncle Shalmoon will do.", Shalmoon said with a smile with one hand stroking the back of his head.
Harrison looked at him and smiled. The image of a stuffy n.o.bility he expected went up in smoke and replacing him was a handsome middle-aged man of warm demeanour who clearly loved his daughter more than his image.
Harrison bowed like he saw the guards do it for Sheina and responded.
"No worries. I hope Sheina explained I can"t offer you my name since I don"t know it.", he explained his lack of introduction.
"For a man who saved my daughter from certain death no introduction is needed even if you never want to give me one. She told me there were four wolves running towards her when she got knocked out by that b.l.o.o.d.y horse. I can"t imagine how the both of you escaped almost unscathed.", Shalmoon said.
"I pulled Sheina into the pond nearby but they followed us which was a mistake since they lost their strongest weapon their speed. Then I finished them off one at a time while keeping Sheina on my back." Harrison explained, omitting the naked part from the story.
Shalmoon nodded and grabbed Harrison by the shoulders.
"Boy, this must be fate bringing you two together. My clan"s ancestor was saved a long time ago by a man who he later followed, and that man later became the first emperor of the Nilium empire. My ancestor saved the emperor"s life in return while following him and he got rewarded with a fief and a t.i.tle from the emperor himself. Since that time we have a rule in my clan. A life saved must be returned with a life." Shalmoon explained.
"Hmmm. What do you want to say?" Harrison asked as he looked at Sheila who was looking at her father who she understood nervously.
"Ohhh. You like Sheila. I can"t give you her. Well, at least not yet." Shalmoon joked and looked at both concerned parties blushing, then laughed at their expense.
"I mean to say that instead of her following you into the woods you should stay here with us and she will take care of you here. In a few years if you can convince her you can have her." Shalmoon shamelessly joked around some more.
"You should have been named Moon Moon not Shalmoon. How can you joke with your daughter"s life like that?" Harrison thought.
"What is Moon Moon?" Harrison asked himself.
"I....I can"t accept this." Harrison tried to get out of it even though he liked Sheina.
"Don"t worry. We have plenty of room and servants. I won"t even notice another person around." Shalmoon would not take no for an answer.
"Go get our guest some decent clothes and get him cleaned up and let"s have dinner together later. I still have some things to handle." Shalmoon said and tossed the sphere to Sheina before storming off.
"Did you accept?" Sheina blurted.
"I....I..." Harrison mumbled.
"You should have accepted. I can"t marry anyone else now according to tradition anyway since you have seen me naked." she said with a smile and winked at him seductively.
"Weren"t you blushing in shame in the cave like it was the end of the world when you noticed that? What changed your mind?" Harrison said angrily as he did not enjoy her teasing him.
"I kind of like you now. Look at you. A twelve something year old with a mature att.i.tude and brave enough to face four wolves for a girl he didn"t know. You have great potential even though you don"t look like much now." She said while smiling.
"Are you a pedo?" Harrison asked.
"A what?"
"A pedo. Ehhh. Nevermind.", Looking at her all fl.u.s.tered, he replied while smirking.
"How old are you, anyway?" he asked.
"I have 14 harvests. Follow me." she replied as she went up the stairs.
"That does not help me a bit. How many days is a b.l.o.o.d.y harvest. How many hours is a b.l.o.o.d.y day here. Maybe 15 is like 18 here. Maybe I am not a pedo. Well, with how she is looking at me she is definitely a pedo. " he mumbled in his head while following her.
She led him to a room and opened the door. As she walked inside Harrison stayed on the outside.
"Come in silly. I won"t eat you. This will be your room."
He entered the room and looked at the enormous bed, and neat red wood closets, then at Sheina who was smirking at him.
"Thank you." he said.
"This is the least we can do." she replied while smiling then took his hand and pulled him out of the room.
"Now let"s get you to our butler Englin so he can find you some decent clothes. I am sorry but if we have some stupid guests again tonight, my father can"t have you sit at the table in peasant clothes. He would not care, but they sure would." she said while rushing down the stairs.
"Englin. Ennnnglin..." she yelled with her clear voice before a raspy voice replied.
"Englin find him some decent clothes as my father wants him to join us for dinner. Also clean him up a bit. Take this so you can communicate with him." she ordered and gave Englin the sphere.
"Thank you for saving our little miss." Englin said while bowing as by now he heard the entire story and was genuinely thankful and no longer suspicious of Harrison as when he first saw him.
"Ahhh. Please don"t bow to me. And you are welcome, I guess." Harrison said, feeling awkward that a man five times his current age was bowing to him.
"I have known miss Sheina her entire life, so she is practically like a daughter to me. So allow me to express my thanks. If you have any needs, let me know, but first let"s get you cleaned up a bit and then look at some clothes." he emphasized before gesturing Harrison to follow him.
He led him to a storage room.
"We have some old clothes here from Sheina"s cousins who left them here when they visited. Don"t worry as we have washed them before being stored away and are in excellent condition. It was a pity to throw them away." Englin explained.
Englin chose some that were approximately Harrison"s size and gave it to him along with some boots.
"If you would follow me to the bathing room." Englin gestured.
Harrison nodded as Englin led the way to the second floor room that contained three large bathing tubs separated with screens.
"We have two communal bathing rooms for guests here. One for the ladies and one for gentlemen. An attendant will bring warm water and towels shortly. You can put the clothes over there. " He explained while pointing on the sofa and left Harrison there while he organized clean water for the bathtub.
The bathtubs were enormous, made from wood which was polished clean and shiny. Soon two attendants came with buckets of warm water and filled the bathtub after bowing, then left for more water.
After the second trip, the bathtub was half-full and Harrison was left alone in the room. Soon he got undressed and got in the bathtub while the sound of Bobby Darin"s Splish splash was playing in his head while he enjoyed a warm bath after who knows how long.