147 New visitors p.2

All those encounters with the invited ladies felt pretty tiring, she felt exhausted just thinking back on them. So tiring she had to stop cutting down the vegetables and take a break. Anyway, she probably had enough for everyone now.

"What do I do with these?" Svae asked her as Calla put down the knife.

She pointed towards the large cauldron and held up her dress to sit properly on a nearby chair. Svae picked up everything she just cut and carefully dropped the hill of vegetables into the indicated container to cook. Meanwhile, Calla let out a satisfied sigh and looked over the table and everyone sat around it. The number of girls in the house just kept growing didn't it? At least they weren't boys, it would have been even more stressful for her.

Eight girls came as invited after Kaisla and for some reason, all of them stayed even though there clearly wasn't enough space in the house for everyone. Not all of them were at the table right now thankfully. Most were either there or around her to help with the food but there was a few still missing. The table was wide enough to receive everyone but If they had all been thereat once, it would have been an ordeal for her again.

She was pretty sure there shouldn't be so many nobles attending just a single girl like her but here they were. The thing was that they were all good people so Calla couldn't bring herself to tell Emp to refuse the assistance of any of them. She didn't want any of them to feel left out even though she felt guilty about how it made Emp's life so much more complicated.

Because of her indecision, he was the one that had to divide the six rooms over and over again in order to fit all thirteen girls in them. Emp looked really tired about this, obviously, it hadn't been his intention to fill his house with girls. He just wanted one or two girls that knew what they were doing to come over and help Calla learn what she needed to know. Instead, he picked up two slaves, two personified calamity and a diversified host of noble girls and warriors. There was no more empty rooms left in their house so Emp was already starting to scratch his head on how he'd ever fit some kids inside like she wanted. Even the giant table felt cramped.

Currently, Sarissa, Svae and Lanavera were helping her with the cooking while Galana, Kaisla, Maria, Bailey and Lusine where talking around the table. Erin and Leo were outside with Destiny and Victory while the last girl, Lea, was hidden in one of the bedrooms with a book.

The girls in the room were all trying to explain to her how important it was to stand with dignity even when she felt like hiding behind Emp. They had a hard time making her use any form of authority whatsoever. The only place where she truly commanded anyone was here in the kitchen. She chose who she wanted to help her and assigned them precise tasks to help her. She would have done everything herself but cooking for fifteen by herself everyday was a bit rough, even for someone like her who loved to do it.

"I never realized how hard the cooks had it before I came here." Bailey commented while she watched the others work.

"Dear lady Muracier, why are you so proficient at commending others in the kitchen but so hesitant elsewhere? It simply baffles me." Lusine added.

"It's normal to be afraid to impose your will onto someone else. I wouldn't want to hurt or upset them after all, I'm sure our lady feels the same." Sarissa said in her defense.

Calla agreed with her, she nodded and pointed her the next step of the recipe which Sarissa executed gently.

Her full name was Sarissa Greathorn but Calla failed to remember what sort of noble rank she possessed. She was the first one that arrived after the letters were sent. She got here one day with a horde of guards on her heels, wearing a scary armor and a long spear strapped to her back. Calla got quite scared seeing her but she quickly removed her helm and revealed a soft face with a gentle smile.

Her voice was sweet and mellow and despite the wariness of her many guards as well as their insistence that they had to remain close to her and protect her at all cost, she insisted to come in and shake hands with everyone. She would take the hands of everyone in between her own two hands and shake them earnestly with a warm greeting, even Svae received the same treatment.

"If all of you are trusted friends of my lord than it makes you my trusted friends too, I am so happy to meet you all." She had said.

Aside from that, the girl had a stronger reaction in front of Marcy than Emp even when she learned who he was. She had a lot of respect for the woman who made the spear her father wielded.

"We're not all as subdued as you Sarissa, if you don't face your problems head on then you won't ever make any progress." Maria told the girl currently cooking.

"There's a difference between being respectful and being weak, I know beetle is in your name but you don't have to act like a rhinoceros beetle and bash your head into things to fix problems." Galana told her with a snort.

The next one to show up to their house had been Maria Starbeetle, she arrived on a rainy day and complimented the huge fireplace in the main room. That girl really hated the cold even if it was only minimal and went around with thick clothes all the time, even in the worst of summer. She greeted Emp by saying he did a good job with the house and when he answered he wasn't the one who made it she just casually said that it wasn't "his" good job then.

Then, she told Galana "You look like shit.", she had exhausted herself with magic training and wasn't looking good. Of course Galana got angry and started arguing with Maria. Calla thought it got pretty scary, more so when Galana started complaining about how nobles were always so frustrating but somehow, the argument never escalated. It went on for an hour straight and at the end, Galana thanked Maria as it somehow made her feel much better. Calla didn't understand one bit of what she had just seen.

"I don't need your thanks you disheveled bookworm." Maria said, turning her head away with a satisfied smile.

"We'll see about who's the disheveled one next time!" Galana answered with an equivalent smile.

"Are you angry at each other or did you just make up?" Emp asked them in confusion.

"Idiot, read the mood!"

"As if we'd get angry at something like that."

Some things would always remain impossible to understand. Maria Starbeetle ended up sharing Galana's room and they kept on arguing with each other all the time even though they somehow seemed closer to each other than with anyone else. A complete mystery.

She was the one to create the most discord out of everyone yet no one could bring themselves to dislike her and she was most often the one pointing out the problems between others, helping them fix everything more easily.

From what Calla see, she had everyone around her empty what was on their hearts in order to understand them better and help fix their problems, her intentions were good. Calla understood but... Maria tried to use the same tone and words on Calla once but after she saw her reaction she apologized right away and never spoke rashly to her again. She wasn't sure what face she had made exactly back then but it must have been pretty pitiful.

"What? You think I can't use my head in other ways too? You destitute librarian, I'll show you." Maria told Galana.

"Yeah? You'll use it to scare children away from the house?"

Maria and Galana both started laughing loudly to the dismay of Calla. They barely knew each other but they sort of acted like sisters. Calla had never seen sisters argue like that all the time before but they apparently found great satisfaction in it, making it seem like a surprisingly strong bond. Of course, it didn't get close to the bond shared between the Porter sisters or the Whisperstring sisters but it was still strangely heartwarming to see.

Thinking of them, they were the third to get here. Destiny and Victory Whisperstring had very strange names, Emp had made quite the face when he first read them on his teacher's files. He was used to gods naming things like that after all so he had a sudden fit of worry seeing people with such names. Those two had nothing to do with gods however, their parents just had a strange taste for dramatic sounding names.

It quickly became evident after they arrived here that their parents weren't the only ones that were strange. They showed up alone without any kind of escort one day and acted pitiful, claiming to be starved and parched even though they didn't look the part at all. They always used exaggerated gestures with their words and bloated any stories they told way out of proportion.

They said they were twins but they didn't look that alike at all. According to Emp, there was a type of twin who weren't identical which was a strange concept for Calla who grew up with a pair of twins as older sisters. Destiny said that Victory looked more like their father while she took more from her mother. Victory denied and claimed the opposite right away.

Victory had a longer and finer nose than her sister as well as a more pronounced cheekbone while Destiny had more sultry eyes and delicate brows. Both wore identical armors but completely different clothing underneath and didn't dress their hair similarly either. Victory had blue eyes where Destiny's were brown. Unlike her sisters Jonquil and Iris, they never acted in true concert, they were more like Erin and Leo then the twins Calla knew.

The day they came in, after they were served a good meal, they first thanked her as if she had saved their lives with her meal and immediately after, Destiny claimed to have fallen in love with Emp at first sight. Of course that wasn't true, both Calla and Emp could see it clearly, but Erin chocked on her last bite and jumped in a panic.

They made a whole scene about how she couldn't stay as her destiny lied elsewhere while her sister narrated dramatically from behind, claiming that her heart would one day be victorious. Then they had a ridiculous duel in the yard against Erin and Leo like the ones in stories with Destiny being defeated and imploring her sister to finish without her. Erin was just getting more and more frustrated that they'd take all of this so lightly until Emp intervened and revealed who he truly was.

At the point, the Whisperstring sisters threw themselves to the ground and apologized sincerely. Apparently, they just really liked to play around like that. They found that the things happening in the many, many, theater plays they saw were so much more interesting than real life that they wanted to turn their life into one. They created drama were there was none just to spice things up and have some fun, they didn't mean anything serious by it and certainly didn't mean to lie to the great general's son.

If one thing was certain about them, it was that they had a very prolific imagination. After that rough start, they got along very well with the other pair of sisters. Each pair of sisters were quite something on their own but when all four of them combined their silliness, it became impressive to witness. As long as they were all having fun, Calla was fine with letting them act out all sorts of craziness. Emp said it was a bit strange because Victory and Destiny seemed too old to play like that with the sisters but Calla disagreed, no one was ever too old to play. Maybe he just had some sour memories about the time he acted the role of a bad guy for Erin and Leo.

Calla also discovered that, strangely, they were afraid of beards. They couldn't stand it at all.

"It looks itchy and gross."

"What if they want a hug?"

"Ew."

"Why is there even hair growing on their face? Isn't that strange?"

It didn't pose any problem to anyone but it was the first time Calla heard of a fear that specific. Whenever Emp forgot to shave for a day or two they'd panic and come to Calla to ask her to please convince him to shave it back again.

"Fair lady Muracier!" They'd call out to her. "A beast is trying to take control of your dear husband's body! Please, heed our warning and have him perform the banishing ritual before it is too late! We must stave it off a few days more so we may find a cure."

"Do not despair fair lady, we will cure him for you!" The other would say, brandishing a lamp of scented herbs, spreading its exotic odor all around.

It was quite the complicated play just to ask her to have Emp shave, she couldn't help but wonder if they truly were afraid of that or if they just disliked seeing it. Was it all just another layer of play? One could never truly know with them. Well, maybe Emp 'did' know since lies usually didn't work on the Muraciers.

In any case, by just the two of them, the Whisperstring sisters had more than enough energy for four people, which made up for Lea Duchêne who barely ever showed her nose even though she stayed here with the rest of them.

That girl was just like Calla if she was so scared that she never wanted to leave her bedroom. In truth, Lea didn't like people, being with them drained all the energy from her and she needed days spent alone to work up the will to speak to anyone again.

Her arrival had been pretty awkward too, she had refused to come but her father having read the letter thought it was a great opportunity to force her out of her room and sent her away dragged by some of his guards. She hid in a cart under piles of blankets for the whole trip and was then dragged to Emp's door. According to the guards, lord Duchêne was very worried for the future of his daughter who refused to ever leave her room and never met with anyone. He just wanted her to open up to someone even if she disliked it. The invitation from the Muracier heir was just the perfect excuse to push her out.

Lea was a short girl and that wasn't because she was the youngest of the invited lady, even if she was indeed the youngest. She had no talent in combat and no friends. The moment she was given a room, sharing one with Sarissa, she didn't want to leave anymore because she didn't want to have to brave the road again. It was too tiring, she said. She seemed to only want to sleep and read all day.

Hoping that she wouldn't come back, her father had all her things packed with her so she arrived with tons of books and many flower pots she liked to tend to. She even had a tiny tree growing in a pot just longer than a hand, with leaves just the size of a fingernail. It was extremely pretty and very impressive to observe. Everything was hauled into her half of the room and she made herself a fort of pillows in a dark corner over her bed. She was like a bear hiding in a den which Calla found rather cute.

When speaking to others, Lea was very nervous and barely said anything but she wasn't as quiet as Calla and didn't stutter like that boy in Emp's school. She hesitated for a long time every time she wanted to say something and most of those times, nothing at all ended up coming out. She'd space out awkwardly and stare at empty spaces until she felt so out of place and embarrassed that she ran away to hide. When she did talk however, her voice was clear and soft even if a bit hesitant.

The girl had long messy hair she didn't ever brush or tie because she didn't see the point if she wasn't going out of her room. This did embarrass her whenever she walked out for something like a meal however. She would walk around with her head lowered so that she wouldn't catch the eyes of anyone else and move around quickly and silently in order to return to her den as quickly as possible. One time, Leonni saw her in the middle of the night and thought she was an evil spirit shambling down the hall. It provoked a very exciting night and woke everyone up but it was still a fun anecdote.

Despite all that, Calla found a kindred spirit in her and often spent some time in silence with her and Sarissa into their shared room. Calla and Lea were fine with spending time like that with no one speaking, they enjoyed it much more that way. Lea had not expected that someone would share her distaste for social life like that and much less that they'd somehow end up friends. They had a lot of fun the other noble girls didn't really understand. It was easier for Calla to bond with this awkward girl than with the others.

One time, they were munching on apple slices when Lea decided to speak out of nowhere, almost scaring Calla to death.

"I can't help but think about the whole conversation in my head before I say anything. I try to build the whole thing up in my head before I start talking but by the time I'm ready, the conversation has always drifted far away. I don't understand how people make up whole sentences so fast when they talk to each other. I don't like people, plants, books and needlework makes me feel better."

Calla could understand her feeling even thought she did not face this exact problem. They were each awkward in their own way but shared their love of calm and serenity.

The next day, Calla told her about how she got scared and froze whenever someone spoke to her directly, how she used her confirmation gift just to speak properly and how she felt so much better when Emp was there to act as a buffer. Like that, they held a short conversation spanning over weeks. Each of them saying something short one day and receiving an answer only the next.

If Calla had to pick only one of those girls to be her friends, she would definitely have chosen Lea, even though she enjoyed the presence of them all. She was a stark contrast with the one that arrived after her, Bailey Sorenthal. That one was the most scary of all the ladies invited. Even Bor didn't want to let her inside the village.

She made a commotion at the village gate the day she arrived because she came with four wolves in tow. Of course, Bor and the guards at the gate wouldn't let those wolves in which angered her. She called them hateful and biased against dog owners to which Bor replied that those clearly weren't dogs at all. Those were forest spiked wolves, the same kind which killed Vesa, each were well fed and enormous, the girl couldn't have wrapped her arms fully around any of them even if they hadn't been covered in long and dangerous spines.

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Emp had to organize some special means of transportation just to move them from the gate to the other side of the village were they lived. Just that brought him a lot of trouble, the worst of those were created by Vesa's mother who already really disliked Emp, she made a fuss about letting the wolves in and many other people followed her opinion.

Calla herself was deathly afraid of those things and didn't want to see one anywhere close to the house. On top of that, Emp had prepared a spot to keep the wolves in the backyard in case Bailey brought them but he had not planned for them to be so big and he didn't think there would be more than two of them.

He had to rework a large place behind the house to keep those freakish creatures in check. After Bailey arrived, Calla kept worrying all the time about the wolves behind the house, what if a kid from the village grew curious and decided to come take a look? The young woman kept assuring her and Emp that the wolves weren't dangerous at all for them but there was no way Calla would ever believe this to be true. She had nothing against Bailey herself and wasn't even brave enough to voice her own objections towards her but she made it very clear to Emp that she wouldn't allow one of those four wolves inside the house, ever, under any circumstances.

Aside from that, like the information they received before said, it was true that Bailey didn't have good table manners but Calla didn't mind as long as she didn't waste the food. She would do some crazy things like cutting down her whole plate of food into tiny pieces before she started eating and often scratched her face as she ate. She even stole bits of food to give the wolves, slipping chunks of it into her pockets for later. Worse, the other girls had to keep reminding her to wash her hands before the meals and to please stop playing with the wolves in between the two.

Because of her mixed feelings towards the wolves, Bailey had come the closest to being told to leave by Calla. They were just that scary, even if they acted just like big dogs in her presence.

Bailey herself was so friendly and cute however, Calla had to give in. She would act just like a friendly dog herself and go around hugging people as she pleased, asking anyone she came across if they needed help with anything. She followed Calla everywhere hoping to show how helpful she was and often competed with Lanavera on who was the best attendant.

She was knowledgeable in many subject too, she was still a noble lady after all and knew about many things. What interested Calla the most was that her family lived close to the northern border of the kingdom of Grandbois where the Thornwatch ruled. This meant that the girl knew a lot about the place where Rica, the girl she met at Emp's school, would live in the future.

Bailey was energetic and fun, ready to laugh at all times. This held true even while explaining with a very serious face how she was teaching the wolves about the smell of everyone so that they would think of them as members of their pack. When someone refused to comply with her desires however, she would turn depressed and slump down on the table or whatever else was nearby with a pitiful pout. Usually it happened because of something Lusine said.

Calla decided to put an end to her break and got back up to work on the meal while Lusine Pierécorce continued to ponder aloud about her behavior. This woman could not understand how someone with a status such as Calla could possibly waste her time preparing food for others. She did see how it could be a hobby but regardless of Calla's obvious talent for it, Lusine firmly believed it would be for the best if she put the cooking aside while in company of others, more so if those others were of a noble lineage like them. She had been very clear on that, many times over.

That person reminded her of the old lady teacher Emp presented her once. She was very strict and formal, she obviously took her task of teaching Calla about the noble ways very seriously. She was exactly the sort of person Galana hated and the lady took a superior air in front of both her and Svae. She also always pointed out the gaps in the behavior of each and every ladies living here regularly. The redeeming part was that she wasn't doing it out of pettiness but instead out of a desire to better them all.

She came from a place in the kingdom of Dugo close to the mountain lines, near the eastern border of the empire and rode a carriage here, taking the long way around the mountains. It took her almost a year to arrive after the invitation was sent.

Lusine was tall and delicate, with elegant features and clothing. Calla wouldn't have been surprised if she was told that this young woman came from a clan of fairies or descended from the moon. It was the sort of beauty most stayed far away from however, she had a dead serious look despite her beauty and her words were said in such a cold way Calla always felt like eating some meaty stew after hearing her out to warm herself up again.

Calla could easily guess that her parents must have been very strict in her upbringing and nailed each and every little rule into her head so deeply it was now part of who she was.

Lusine mostly only used slow and calculated movements showing a careful elegance built with countless hours of practice. Watching her eat or hold a discussion was like watching Emp and Marcy work on a piece of steel. Every detail had a purpose and everything was done with careful thinking and planing, it was sort of scary. That person was exactly what Calla expected to see when people talked about high nobles, she felt so far out of place when compared to her it made her feel bad just being in the same house as her. The most worrying part was that she was just the first daughter of a Baronet, barely over the rank of a simple knight. How much worse could things get further up the ladder?

The girls that had been chosen to come assist and teach her were quirky and fun because they were close with the Muraciers but Calla expected to eventually meet people way worse than Lusine and this scared her.

With all that said however, Lusine wasn't nagging or frustrating in the least. Deep down, she must have felt just as out of place as Calla. All those noble ladies in the same house, sharing rooms and speaking nonsense, it must have been very far from what she was taught. Lusine was doing her best to improve the image of everyone else, she didn't want any of them to be looked down upon for their mannerism. What she showed them all wasn't condescension, it was disappointment instead.

The introductions with her might have been awkward because of her lofty attitude but even before Emp told her who him and Calla truly were, she remained respectful with them and didn't ask for anything outside of what could conceivably be provided by a village household. According to Galana, people like her usually imposed themselves as ruler of whichever place they visited when no one showed a higher rank than them but Lusine wasn't like that at all. She was polite, acted like a doll, complimented Calla for the delicious food and didn't complain about the shared room.

"I understand, there is no need to apologize for such a trivial matter. I am thankful instead to leave the carriage for once, and I apologize for my intrusion, I am merely following the instructions I received."

Emp had her share a room with Bailey after that, he hoped that Bailey quirky nature would make her less stiff and in reverse, that Lusine would improve the manners of Bailey. It made for quite a strangely divided room, with one side in perfect order and the other overly messy with clothes on the floor and disarrayed bed.

All of that brought her thoughts to the last woman to join them, Lanavera Verepe who was currently busy loosing a battle against an onion.

"I'll show you that an onion can't possibly defeat me. I'm stronger than that!"

She had been the last one to arrive, more than a year after the invitations were sent. She had been living deep in the kingdom of Greenpeaks trying to keep the peace when she received the letter and even if she left immediately, the road had been long.

She showed up one day and knocked strongly on the door, showing a fierce smile and dauntless posture. This one was truly the daughter of a knight and was raised to surpass her father just like her numerous siblings. She had no escort or followers, just a bag over her shoulder and the will of a storm.

Lanavera walked inside in strides and pestered everyone all day about how she couldn't wait to meet the young lord Muracier and his wife, hopefully to impress them with her eager attitude and martial talent. Since she had known Kaisla already and met her many times in Highsteel, she requested a training fight right away when she spotted her, proceeded to loose by a small margin and immediately exclaim about how her opponent had improved and how she should do better as well.

Afterwards, she spent hours in the backyard training like a madwoman and failed to meet the whole household because of it. Then, she came back in when called to eat and got impressed that they'd give her a free meal, thanking them profusely and expressing how much of a pair of good people she thought they were.

Kaisla said that her new roommate didn't sleep at all that night because she was too excited about being so close to her destination. She kept asking her all night about how the new lord was and how his wife was.

"Should I show them a serious attitude or just go in and show honestly how eager I am to have the honor of working for them? I just don't know. What if the new lady is super scary? What if she's so much stronger than me that I'm basically useless? I hope the new lord can do something about Greenpeaks, the place isn't doing good at all. I just hope I'll get the chance to prove myself you know? Maybe I should have brought better clothes to wear under my armor, what if I look ridiculous? I'll have to show them double the might! Maybe I should have hunted something big on the way to show them."

According to Kaisla, this continued throughout the night. She spoke to Emp about it later and he explained that it might be due to her own circumstances. Her father was a mediocre knight unlike her grandfather who was great, putting her in a similar position as Erin and Leo. She wanted her family name to shine again and didn't spare any efforts for it but the kingdom she lived in currently faced great difficulties and people left in droves to escape famine. There wasn't enough food to strengthen all of her siblings and her, being the eldest, she had received the biggest support. If she failed, she would have failed them all instead of just herself. She could make all the efforts she wanted but there was almost nobody left to impress with her skills in Greenpeaks and those that remained only felt resentment towards people like her who failed to bring stability to their settlements. They blamed those in power for their problems and knights represented said power on the field.

Emp had not realized when he sent her the invitation that this would be like a light showing the path she had to take in the dark forest. She would not allow herself to fail and disappoint the new lord because the Verepe house as a whole would crumble and vanish if she did.

People reacted very differently to pressure, Calla just fainted, Emp steeled himself and accepted everything thrown his way and Lanavera just grew increasingly gung-ho.

The young woman got up at the first light of dawn with not a second of sleep behind her and left the house right away for Bêtéclair. Calla got up well before Emp did and had to send Svae to get her and bring her back before she walked too far. When told about what was truly happening and that she almost left the lord behind, she had a very interesting and funny reaction.

"What! But! The letter says you're in Bêtéclair! How could a Muracier lie? Why?"

"At this moment, the hopeful lady discovered the plot of the dark lord! Betrayed, she was at their mercy!" Destiny narrated from the back.

"How did I turn into a dark lord? I said the house was full of people I trusted, I didn't say whether I'd be there or not by the time the letter reached you all."

"Laughing in front of his hopeless victim, the dark lord cruelly exposed his plans to the maiden and to her dismay, they were without weakness." Victory claimed with her arms held dramatically in the air.

In the end, things turned out just fine, more so when they said they wanted her to stay.

With all of them here, the house was overfilled with ladies and Calla's brother didn't dare step inside it anymore. All her days were filled with learning and the strange antics of everyone in the house. She had a great time, that was true, but... She still felt like she was missing the most important part. She had built of family of friends along with Emp but what she desired most still escaped her. She didn't really care about noble bearings and giant castles, about fancy meetings and gorgeous dresses, what she wanted was the simple warmth of life and that was something that no amount of friendly noble ladies could bring her.

Two years, almost three had passed and yet no cries were heard in the main room of her house. She did not understand why she was tortured this way. Her wish was so simple after all. An even bigger house to fit everyone in, along with Mable, Celtine and Harriett too, big enough to give their own space to the kids she wanted, if her body ever decided to finally allow it...