BXBX NOVEL Chapter 80 - Eighty: Lunch At Serin's
I was surprised yet again. This really was a library. Every wall of the place was lined with bookshelves all filled to the brim with books. There were even several free standing shelves in the middle of the room. Seriously, she had more books than the small local library where I came from. I wondered once again, just how wealthy she was.
"Please feel free to look around as you see fit. I\'ll be back shortly once I\'ve checked how things are going."
"Right, okay. I\'ll see you in a bit."
Serin left me there alone. I was a little unsure where to begin, when faced with this many books and no idea of what I was supposed to be looking for. In the end I decided to just dive in and start browsing the books.
There were titles of every description fictional works of literature, philosophy, magic and finally I came to something that looked like it could be of some use. A history of the line of human kings in the age of light. It seemed like a good place to start. It turned out not be the kind of history that I was expecting.
Instead of explaining the kinds of things that each king did or what happened in their reign, the book focused more on their blood lines. It went into meticulous details about who their ancestors were and who they were related to. None of this seemed particularly related to what I was looking into in anyway and it was also incredibly tiresome to read. By the time that Serin came back to see how I was doing, I was glad of the interruption.
"How are you getting on? Have you found anything of interest?" She asked.
"No, nothing yet. I don\'t think going through the bloodlines of the kings of men is going to help us much. I should probably look through other books."
"I wouldn\'t blame you." She giggled. "That book, is incredibly boring!"
"It really is!"
"Well after dinner I can try and help you search. I\'m not sure how much help I\'ll be, but I can at least steer you away from volumes like that."
"That would be a great help."
"Great, then we\'ll come back to this later. I came to get you because the food was almost ready, so should we head back downstairs?"
"Yeah sure, I\'m ready to eat."
"Follow me."
We left the library and went back to the ground floor of the building. Serin then showed me to her dining room. It was another large room. The table only took up half of the room and it was probably big enough to seat a dozen people. I was looking at the massive thing, thinking how it might feel a little odd, for just the two of us to sit and eat there. It was definitely overkill.
I followed her around top the end of the table where two places were already laid out for us. Serin sat down at the head of the table and gestured for me to take the seat next to her.
"I would have preferred if we could have sat opposite each other. The staff find things like that a little awkward. So, I\'ll have to sit at the head… I hope you don\'t mind."
"Not at all." I answered, remembering what John had said about calling me sir in front of Serin.
I guess that the class system was quite inground here. I could imagine Serin trying to treat her servants as equals and them finding it off putting.
"Good. I don\'t like being formal, especially in private, but it troubles the staff, so I make sure to keep up appearances around them… Don\'t worry, I don\'t expect you to address me formally in front of them."
"Okay… I mean, I don\'t mind."
"No, it\'s fine. Please just called me Serin in front of them, otherwise I would find it strange. Especially considering everything that has occurred between us. Don\'t worry they are used to Altria and Lillia addressing me normally."
"Sure."
Well, we did know each other quite intimately, but two princesses addressing a noble familiarly and me doing so wasn\'t entirely the same thing. But she was right, it would feel a little awkward to address her formally.
While we talked a door opened at the far end of the room and a maid stepped inside pushing a trolley with several dishes of food. I had to double take, as the maid was one of the bunnykin. She wore an outfit just like a French maid. Her white bunny ears poking out the top of her pure white hair, she even had a small round and white tail sticking out the back of her dress. It was really cute. To me it looked just like a pretty girl cosplaying a bunny maid.
The maid smiled politely at me as she passed, before stopping on the other side of the table next to Serin.
"Lady Staphenidie, Sir Theo, your lunch is ready." She said as she stopped.
"Thank you, Jill. Please just set it down on the table. I\'ll call when we\'re done."
"Yes, my lady."
Jill quickly placed the food on the table for us before a quick curtsey to Serin, then leaving us alone in the room once again.
"Please just help yourself."
"Will do."
This was a light lunch, some slices of chicken along with a fancy looking salad. Having not stopped for breakfast this morning I was pretty hungry. I wasn\'t sure that this was going to be enough to satisfy me. After quicky eating everything on my plate, I was still hungry.
"You ate that fast. How was it?" Asked Serin.
"It was really good. That chicken was delicious. I haven\'t eaten something that tasty since I arrived here."
"Good I\'m glad you enjoyed it. My chief is rather good, not that the cooks at guild aren\'t good at their jobs…"
"No, the food there is good, but you can tell this was prepared by an expert."
"Well, I hope you have room for dessert. They are her speciality."
That was music to my ears, seeing as I was still hungry after the first light meal.
"I think I can squeeze some more in. I\'m excited to see what it is now."
Serin ran a small bell that was on the table that the maid had left behind and a few moments later Jill returned to collect our plates.
"Was everything to your satisfaction my lady?" Asked Jill.
"Yes, thank you Jill, it was lovely. Could you bring out the dessert next?"
"Yes, my lady, I\'ll go and get it now."
"There\'s no rush, please take your time."
Despite what Serin said, Jill was still visibly rushing to collect all the plates so she could retrieve our dessert. I could tell by the look on Serin\'s face, that she wished she had asked for the dessert after Jill had collected the plates and cleared the table. A few moments later and Jill was leaving the room with our used plates.
"I do wish she didn\'t feel she had to try so hard to please me." Serin said once she left.
"Well, you are a noble and her employer…"
"I know, but I don\'t like being in this position and I have known her and my other servants for so long, I wish we didn\'t have to keep such distance."
"Well, I can understand why they do, when society demands it of them…. I\'m sure they are still happy to have a nice employer, that looks after them well like you though." I added.
"I hope so."
Jill was only gone for a couple of minutes before she returned with our desserts. She rolled her trolley next Serin once again and placed down two small plates with what looked to be cheesecake down on the table for us.
"Thank you, Jill. I will let you know once we\'re done."
"Yes, my lady."
Once we were alone again, we both tucked into the dessert. Just Like I\'d guessed it was cheesecake and it was probably the best cheesecake I had ever tasted. It could just have been because it was the first sweet thing I had eaten since I had come to this world. Then again from the way that Serin seemed to be enjoying it just as much as I was, it probably was due to the skill of her chef.