Knock Knock!

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. I was brought back to reality and found myself sitting on my bed. The black book I was holding had already disappeared; there were no traces of a codex ever being used.

‘What time is it? It does not look like an hour has passed. Is an attendant here to give me my schedule?”

I recollected my thoughts and jumped out of bed. I opened the door quietly and found a nervous dark elf standing outside. She was wearing the robe of an attendant that contrasted with her skin colour.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Alex. I am here to deliver your schedule.” She bowed politely and handed me a scroll. “I am also here to inform you that the dining service will start in a few minutes. You are invited to go down and meet your new colleagues.”

“Mmm… Thank you.” I accepted the scroll. The dark elf left as soon as she completed her task.

As if it had heard the dark elf speaking about dinner, my stomach started grumbling. I briefly glanced at the scroll and put it in my storage belts. After a brief stop by the toilet, I headed downstairs to the dining hall.

I had to walk into the internal area of the Healing Temple by going through the main corridor. There were five statues in the corridor, each one representing a hall master of the Healing Temple.

The first statue represented a Lycan in his bestial form. It was a bipedal wolflike creature covered with fur. In their bestial form, the Lycans’ physical attributes were significantly enhanced and their senses would become even sharper than they usually were. However, this ability was physically taxing and in their bestial form, the Lycans were unable to cast spells. I did not spend too long observing the intimidating statue but I read the plaque twice to memorise the name of the Lycan. “Hedrick, The Salvation: Hall Master of the Healing Hall.”

The second statue depicted a dryad, seated on a throne made of twisted branches. A childlike creature whose body was made of plants. The hair of the dryad was a combination of grass and flowers. Its body was surrounded by thorns and leaves. Compared to most creatures, Dryads did not rely on food to survive; instead, it behaved like plants and relied on photosynthesis for food. The plaque at the bottom read: “Alanna, The Abnegation: Hall Master of the Medical Hall.”

The next two statues showed creatures I encountered earlier. The third statue represented an Everyoung, a baby who only looked a few months old with an oversized head. The plaque read: “Mello, The Vindication: Hall Master of the Spiritual Hall.” The fourth statue showed a succubus crossing her arms while holding a long whip. “Hera, The Temptation: Hall Master of the Lovers Hall” was engraved on the plaque.

The fifth statue represented a Heracross; a large and tall insectlike creature with a very similar appearance of Japanese Rhinoceros Beetles. It had a hard dark shell surrounding its body, a horn that was sharper than most spearheads and a pair of wings to help move its massive body. The statue showed the Heracross holding a halberd, valiantly staring in the distance. At the bottom, “Xylius, The Deception: Hall Master of the Forbidden Hall” was written.

I committed the name and appearance of each Hall Master to memory. They were my new bosses and it would be wise to avoid causing trouble in front of them, especially for the Hall Master of the Healing Hall, the hall where I would work at.

I stepped into the noisy dining hall. Hundreds of healers and attendants made their way there for dinner. Meals were provided for free by the Healing Temple and everybody took advantage of it. The line was long but fast moving. I found myself sandwiched between two groups of young attendants in the waiting line.

‘Smells good. Something roasted?’

My stomach growled in response. It was impatient but I could only wait for the line to move. After a few minutes, I noticed Copperbane and Bixi, the dwarf and gnome healers who assessed me earlier. Our eyes met and Copperbane raised his pint, inviting me to join him once I collected my food. I smiled and nodded.

It did not take long before I found myself holding a plate of boar ribs, roasted vegetables and two pieces of bread. A simple but filling meal, especially in the tower.

“You really joined the Healing Temple. I knew you would make it. Congratulations. Here, have a drink.” Copperbane enthusiastically pushed a pint of ale toward me as I approached him. I politely accepted the drink and sat down to eat.

“Now that you are one of us, tell us how you managed to enter the city? As far as I am aware, all humans are to be stopped at the gates and escorted to the city hall.”

“Oh? I just tricked the Bangaas into thinking I am a Lycan. I do not look very different from a hairless Lycan.” I explained.

I enjoyed my meal and chatted with Copperbane about various things. I did not mind revealing a few things to him as it would no longer make a difference. I spoke about Earth, the situation on the Zeroth floor, how I made it here and my aspirations for the future. Occasionally, Bixi would join the conversation and add her two cents. Only these two stayed close to me, probably because they were more focused on drinking than eating. Since I started eating, the two had already refilled their pints over a dozen of times each.

“What are you planning to do for the night? Are you going to the Lovers Hall? Oh right, there probably aren’t any female humans working there at the moment but if you do not mind doing it with other species, there are quite a few slave elves and succubi who can please you. I would recommend the succubi; their illusion spells can make you believe you are doing it with a female human instead.”

I smiled faintly. “I’ll take a bath first and will see if I’m in the mood afterward.” I was naturally aware of the purpose of the Lovers Hall. It was the most controversial hall of the Healing Temple. Compared to the Healing Hall which focused on healing a person’s body, the Lovers Hall focused on healing a person’s heart from the psychological scars of relationships. And they did so by allowing the guests to unleash their carnal desires. In short, the Lovers Hall was a glorified whorehouse. It was the reason why the Healing Temple employed so many elven slaves; they needed them to work at the Lovers Hall.

I myself was not a saint and made several stops at the Lovers Hall of different Healing Temples in the past. But, I did not plan on doing so tonight. I was exhausted from the recent events and needed a good night of rest.

After finishing my meal, I left behind a loud and roudy Copperbane to drink with the other healers. I headed straight to the baths and requested one of the attendants on duty to bring me some clean clothes as I had nothing else to wear. I abandoned my night clothes on the zeroth floor together with my cleaning supplies and a few miscallenous items.

I walked in and jumped in the bath tub. Preparing the bath took less than a minute. I could finally get rid of the sticky sweat on my body. ‘Its so nice to have running water. You only enjoy the tiny things in life when you miss them.’

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to relax in a lightly scented bath. I felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

Click!

“I brought the clothes you requested.” A sweet female voice sounded from the entrance of the bathroom. I grunted in response, assuming that it was the attendant I spoke to earlier; only the attendant would have the key to the bathroom. We were separated by a thick opaque curtain and soon, I heard another click, indicating that the attendant had closed the door.

I did not think much of it but soon, I felt another presence in the room. ‘Did the attendant not leave?’ Even with my eyes closed, I noticed a dark silhouette moving in front of me. I opened my eyes and gasped in surprise.

“You…”

“Hello, handsome.”

To my surprise, the succubus I met earlier in the waiting line of the Healing Temple was leaning in front of me, completely naked and defenceless. She looked unconcerned by her nudity and even smiled seductively as she noticed my eyes wandering over her voluptuous chest. Instead of feeling ashamed or repulsed, she felt proud and pushed her assets closer to my reddening face.

She pressed down on my shoulder with her right hand to stop me from getting out of the bathtub. At the same time, her tail wrapped itself around my left leg. She licked her lips excitedly. “Did you think you could run away like that?”

“H-How did you get here? Were you not a patient of the Healing Temple?” I asked as I averted my eyes and tried to put some distance between us. Unfortunately, the succubus was much more powerful than I was.

“I asked the attendant outside to let me in. Tonight, I will be your personal attendant and take care of all your needs.”

“Don’t worry. We are in the Healing Temple. Even I would not dare to harm a healer here but we can still enjoy ourselves.”

I gulped down, unable to react as she grabbed my hardening member under water. This was not how I expected to spend my first night at the Healing Temple.

…

Just outside the baths, loud steps resonated across the area as a furious elder orc rushed to the baths accompanied by an attendant. He looked furious but froze in place as soon as he noticed the silhouette standing just in front of the door to the baths.

“This… Lady Hera… Can you please explain the situation?” The elder orc asked respectfully; he immediately displayed a polite smile. He held a relatively high position in the Healing Temple but facing a Hall Master, he could only lower his head. “This attendant came to me claiming that she has been chased away by a woman and had lost the keys to the baths.”

“Oh? She is not entirely wrong. The woman she is talking about is my sister, Keera. She found someone she is interested in and it just happens that her target was having a bath inside. She took the opportunity to take her meal.”

The elder orc lightly ground his teeth. “But… According to the attendant, the person inside should be the newly recruited human. He has been sponsored by Lord Hedrick…”

“I know.” The woman waved her hand to dismiss the elder orc. “My sister is not stupid; she knows how far she can go. The human would retain all his value as a promotional material for whatever silly scheme Hedrick has. My sister is just going after his male essence and tonight, no one will interrupt her meal.”