Let’s go to the next floor

“Let’s head up the stairs for now.” I say. “I’d like to see what’s up there.”

The three of use walk along the stairs to the next floor. We are immediately greeted with a door right in front of us, then a hall which heads towards our left and right again. I open the door in front of us and walk into a large bedroom. It is easy to recognize it’s a bedroom because all the furniture is still here. And talk about huge. This one bedroom is big enough for my room at the dark dragons to fit in 2 times. There is a huge bed, big enough for at least 5 people to sleep in. There is also no dust in this room. None whatsoever. I guess this must have been the first room the servants cleaned.

I start searching this bedroom, looking under the bed and moving furniture aside. Meanwhile, Kiara and Amelia notice there are 2 other doors connected to this room. Kiara heads though the door on the left and discovers a large bathroom. It is the size of a small public bath, except it is inside a mansion and so for private use. Amelia instead heads through the door on the right and finds the room there is a walk-in dresser. There are large wardrobes with more coat hangers than I have seen in my life, and at the end is an alcove made entirely if mirrors. The three of us each search the room we have chosen, but again, we find nothing that could clue us in on our quest. The only notable thing about these rooms is that they have recently been in use.

We head back into the hall and this time turn right until the hall makes a right turn. There we find 7 doors. 3 on the left, another 3 on the right and one at the end. I first check the one at the end and it’s a small bathroom with two toilets. Next, we try the 3 doors on the left and we each find a small bedroom. These must be the servant rooms. Kiara and Amelia are lucky and get a room that already had the dust cleaned out. The room I got is as dusty as the library. The cleaners must have left the mansion before they got to this one.

Well, I start searching, looking behind the closets and inside the shelves. The only thing I really find are the remains of clothes. I’m sure that whomever lived here left his clothes behind for the moths to ruin. But then I come across a shelf which contains both a book and a key. There is actually almost no dust on them. The shelf must have kept them safe for the most part. I take both items and walk outside, back into the hall. I blow the dust off the book and start reading the first page.

Day 14, month 3, year 1542

My name is Elliot. A week ago, I accompanied my father to the estate of Countess Anya Lomalet to deliver the food she had bought. I didn’t think she would bother to notice me. I am just a simple kid from some farm. But to my surprise, she approached me and actually talked to me. We had a long conversation and I was surprised that she is 5 years my senior. I swear she looked just like the girls my age. She admitted that she fancied me and would like me to work for her as a servant. I talked it over with my parents and they said I should accept. Nobility pays well and we could use the money. My parents did advise me to keep a diary, to write down any special things I see there. I’m not sure what use it will have, but I’ll just start doing so and see where it does. So yeah, that’s my first entry.

Day 16, month 3, year 1542

I am now officially working as a servant in the Lomalet estate. The countess was there to greet me on my first day and introduced me to the chamberlain of her estate. The chamberlain is a nice guy and he understands that I have never worked as a servant before. So, he gave me a simple job for now. Eventually, I will learn the other jobs as well. I hope I can pull this off. But yeah, looks like a good first start.

Just as I finish reading the second entry, Amelia comes out of her room. She spots me reading the book and immediately rolls her eyes at me.

“By Imris. We leave Darx alone for 5 minutes, and he is already reading a book again.” Amelia complains. “You have an addiction, Darx.”

Despite Amelia complaining, she can’t hide her smile. Which shows me she is actually joking. It was a good joke. I couldn’t help myself from smirking either.

“I can stop whenever I want to.” I tell Amelia with my chin up. “I just don’t want to right now.”

“Put down that book. We’ve still got a lot of rooms to check.” Amelia says.

“Actually, I think this book might tell us more about the mansion than any room.” I tell her. “This book seems to be a diary to some guy named Elliot. In fact, the first entries seem to have been written in the year 1542. That is like 103 years ago.”

“In that case, I propose we read it.” Kiara says, exiting the room she was in as well. “Let’s go find a place to read.”

We head back to the master bedroom. I find myself a table close to one of the windows overlooking the backyard. I get the most sunlight from there. Kiara gets comfortable on the bed and Amelia sits on a chair between the two of us. I read the entries one by one, but most of them are from when the owner was working at the Lomalet estate in the east. But when I come across something interesting, I read it aloud for the girls.

Day 27, month 5, year 1563

I have been working for Countess Anya for over a year now, and it has been great. But something big is happening. The king has invited Countess Anya to his court. Just Countess Anya though, not her husband. Could that be because he is a third son of a baron? I didn’t know rank could mean so much to nobility. Or maybe it is the size of Countess Anya’s possessions? At any rate, that means she is going to have to move to the capital. She will take 5 servants with her and I am one of them. I have always wanted to go to Riledo. I overheard Countess Anya talking about building a mansion in the Riledo farmlands. The lady has never been fond of big crowds, so it makes sense for her to have a residence outside of the busy streets. I wonder how long it’ll take.

There are a few more that are mostly about the journey to Riledo and the stay at the castle. Then I get to the arrival at the mansion.

Day 3, month 8, year 1563

The countess’ mansion is ready. It was built fairly quickly too. But that is mostly because she hired a few earth mages from the guilds to build it for her. It is amazing how quick those earth mages are at construction. What would take a year for normal people to build, mages can do in but a few days. Then Countess Anya of course had to buy furniture and decorations. Without those, I am sure this place would have looked like a prison. I’ve had a room assigned to me on the second floor. There is already a bed and everything and all of us have also received new uniforms from the countess. I already feel at home here.