Chapter 6
Next early morning.
Knock knock—
Leo was reading a book in his room when he heard a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
Bang—
The door opened, and Celia entered, dressed in the plain maid uniform worn by the Plov family’s maids.
“I’m Celia. I’ll be serving as Young Master Leo’s maid for the week. Please take care of me.”
Leo looked up from his book at Celia, who greeted him with lifeless eyes.
“This is pretty serious, are you sure about this?”
“One of our family mottos is to take responsibility for what you say.”
Even though her eyes looked dead, her posture was upright.
The ideal image of a maid.
Her naturally good figure made the navy cloth and white frills of the maid uniform suit her perfectly.
Her black hair shimmered as it caught the sunlight.
As Leo absentmindedly stared at her, Celia spoke up.
“I understand if you’re admiring my beauty, but if you’re looking at me with lecherous eyes, I’ll send you flying.”
“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
Leo clicked his tongue.
“I used to have a friend who claimed to be an artist. He was a guy who praised beautiful things to the point of excess. Looks like I’ve picked up his habits without realizing it.”
‘Beauty is always the best. It’s eternal and immortal. Once peace comes to the world, I plan to spend my life spreading beauty to everyone!’
That was Dweno, the great dwarf hero now hailed as [God’s Blacksmith].
He always seemed happier making works of art than weapons.
Even on the journey to defeat Erebos, he never stopped creating.
“He sounds like a good friend, someone who can truly appreciate beauty.”
If you’re born into Zerdinger, you need to have qualities to lead others.
Being attractive is one of those qualities.
Watching Celia puff up at the compliment, Leo rested his chin on his hand.
‘He was so genuine he was a fanatic, even asking Lysinas and Luna to be nude models for inspiration—that was the problem.’
Old memories naturally surfaced.
‘Lysinas, Luna. Your personalities are awful, but your figures are unrivaled. So be nude models for the sake of art.’
Of course, there was no way Lysinas and Luna would ever agree.
‘Even that kind of pervert is revered as a great hero. So what does that make me?’
He gazed out the window with a hollow laugh.
Meanwhile, Celia carefully studied Leo.
She was sure she had lost yesterday.
‘If I hadn’t let my guard down, I would have won… but that’s a foolish thought.’
Her defeat last night was the result of her own carelessness.
If her family found out she’d been a maid for a week, she’d surely become a laughingstock.
‘But it’s something I have to bear.’
If she avoided it, it would only be more shameful.
‘Besides, there’s something I’m curious about.’
She wondered how he could put that much power into his sword without using Aura.
“You read in the mornings? I thought you’d be training with your sword.”
Celia had intended to watch his training method.
‘Maybe that book is a special training manual?’
“I prefer a slow morning.”
With that, he closed his book.
Celia glanced at the title and looked puzzled.
‘A fairy tale book about great heroes.’
She peered at Leo’s bookshelf.
‘They’re all books about great heroes.’
Not just fairy tales.
There were history books, research papers, all sorts of materials.
“You seem really interested in great heroes. Well, it makes sense.”
Celia was also interested in great heroes.
“May I look at your bookshelf?”
“Go ahead.”
Standing before the bookshelf, Celia was amazed.
“This is incredible. Even most scholars who research great heroes couldn’t compare.”
Research into great heroes is still one of the most active fields.
“There are a lot of books about Kyle.”
“Reference materials.”
“Right. Some people doubt Kyle ever existed, but there’s a lot of evidence his exploits were real.”
“You think so too?”
“Of course.”
Any accomplishment whose origins were unclear often got attributed to Kyle.
‘Even if I’ve disappeared from history, I haven’t been completely forgotten.’
He felt proud.
“Maybe some swindler in later generations tried to claim those ambiguous achievements as their own.”
Leo’s eyes twitched.
“So you’re saying Kyle was a swindler?”
“There’s a good chance.”
Celia shrugged.
That’s the common view in academia.
“I see. So that’s what you think.”
“Excuse me?”
“Let’s eat breakfast and then train.”
Celia’s eyes sparkled.
“If you allow it, may I train with you too?”
Celia was curious about the secret to Leo’s strength.
“My training is probably too tough for you.”
“Hmph, I survived Zerdinger’s training just fine.”
Looking at Celia’s confident face, Leo gave a twisted smile.
“Really?”
Later, she would think,
She should have run away then.
* * *
Whoosh—!
Whack—!
“Ugh?”
“You’re too slow.”
Leo’s wooden sword knocked aside Celia’s.
Celia hurried to fix her broken posture.
But Leo moved even faster.
Whoosh—
Thud—
“Guh—!”
“This is why you leave your back open.”
Struck on the shoulder from behind by Leo’s wooden sword, Celia collapsed in pain.
After breakfast, Leo’s training continued without pause.
Once the pain faded, Celia snapped.
“Young Master Leo! Does this really count as training?”
To Celia, Leo’s training method was closer to abuse than discipline.
He forced her to keep moving, squeezing out strength beyond her limits.
And of course, he never used Aura.
She’d never heard of training like this.
As Celia protested, Leo muttered,
“Young people are weak these days.”
“What did you say!”
“I told you. My training is hard. Why not quit if it’s too much?”
“Don’t make me laugh! I can handle this kind of training all day!”
Celia, pride wounded, protested.
“Really? Shall we start again?”
“Fine!”
‘W-wait? This isn’t right?’
After acting tough for no reason and restarting the training, Celia was soon struck by the wooden sword again and rolled across the floor.
Without using Aura, the difference in ability between the two was overwhelming.
‘Why! Why can’t I win!’
Not just in strength—she couldn’t win in swordsmanship, either.
Yesterday and today.
Her pride had been trampled completely.
‘It’s true, compared to five thousand years ago, Aura training has advanced tremendously.’
Looking down at Celia, who was sprawled out on the floor and gasping, Leo was impressed.
Compared to five thousand years ago, modern techniques for handling Aura had clearly advanced.
Thanks to this, the average level of knights was much higher now.
But the standard of absolute strength hadn’t changed much.
‘If anything, people were even stronger five thousand years ago.’
As Aura training advanced in this era, physical training had been neglected.
Aura is a power that maximizes the body’s strength.
So, if you train your body, your Aura will strengthen as well.
‘With the advancement of the Zerdinger Aura Technique, problems like this have arisen.’
“You’re still pretty good. I didn’t expect you to keep up this long.”
“Don’t underestimate me.”
“Should we call it a day for afternoon training? We’ll train again tonight.”
Having reached her limit, Celia clenched her teeth.
‘Even if I can’t beat him in strength, I’ll never lose in swordsmanship! I’ll win no matter what!’
* * *
“Don’t look down on me, you damned white-haired brat.”
After evening training ended.
Celia dragged her trembling limbs back to the mansion.
Leo had already returned to his room.
‘Ugh… Is that guy even human?’
Recalling Leo, who kept swinging his sword tirelessly without showing any sign of fatigue, Celia shuddered.
If he did this every day, it was no wonder his body was so well trained.
‘Still… at least I didn’t get pushed back in swordsmanship during evening training!’
Thanks to using every skill she had, she didn’t get defeated as easily during the evening session.
‘If I keep training like this, can I become like him?’
But she couldn’t imagine it.
She had thrown up five times today alone.
‘Come to think of it, that’s so embarrassing!’
Face flushed, Celia panted and sighed.
‘I just want to wash up and go to sleep.’
But before that, she had to prepare Leo’s bed.
For now, her status was Leo’s maid.
‘I’ll get his bedding ready, then I’ll wash up and sleep.’
Celia arrived in front of Leo’s room and took a deep breath.
She calmed her trembling limbs and put on a calm face.
It was pure defiance—not wanting to show any weakness.
Knock knock—
“Come in.”
Bang—
“You look better than I expected.”
“Hmph—That was nothing for me.”
Celia put on a confident expression.
“Didn’t you throw up five times?”
“I’ll get your bed ready.”
Ignoring Leo’s comment, Celia made his bed.
“Well then, Young Master. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Wait. Come here. I have a present for you.”
‘A present?’
At Leo’s sudden words, Celia approached him.
“Thanks for your hard work today.”
Smiling, Leo handed her a gift box.
‘At least he’s grateful.’
Celia felt the knot in her chest loosen just a little.
‘That’s right. I’m the daughter of Zerdinger’s head. He should be grateful I’m serving him.’
Feeling a bit smug, Celia opened the box.
Inside was a simple silver bracelet in the form of a chain.
She felt an ominous magic from the bracelet.
“It’s a bracelet enchanted with weight magic. Wear it during training starting tomorrow.”
Leo grinned.
Crack—Celia’s face froze.
“I’m fine.”
“It’s not polite for a maid to refuse something given by her master, is it?”
“Hey! You’re just doing this to torment me, aren’t you?! That’s what this is! How can you call it training if I have to wear this and do what we did today? That’s just torture!”
Finally, Celia exploded in protest.
“You’re so weak.”
Celia’s face lit up with anger.
“Who’s weak!”
“I used to train while wearing it too. But if you really can’t do it, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Who said I can’t?! I’ll wear this thing all you want!”
Once again, easily provoked, Celia declared it and stormed out of Leo’s room.
And right outside his door, she grabbed her head and cursed her own foolishness.
‘She’s so simple.’
Leo smirked.
‘Who’s the swindler now?’
Leo was still holding onto Celia’s remark about Kyle being a swindler from that morning.
Not very heroic of someone who saved the world, but Leo had no shame in his feelings.
‘If it were the others, they’d have made her suffer even worse.’
His friends were all bigger troublemakers than him.
‘I’ll make it a week of blood.’
Imagining Celia trembling in pain for a week, Leo smiled dangerously.