Editor : Amethyst00



The next day early in the 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, assigned to serve as Young Master Leo’s maid for a week. I look forward to working with you.”

Leo looked up from his book at Celia, who greeted him with dead-fish eyes.

“This is quite serious, are you sure about this?”

“It is one of our family mottos, is to take responsibility for what you have said.”

Though her eyes were dead like a fish, her posture was upright.

She looked like 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 excessively. Looks like I’ve picked up his habits without realizing it.”

‘Beauty is always the best. It’s eternal and immortal. When 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 [The Divine 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.

Seeing 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.’

Naturally, old memories resurfaced.

‘Lysinas, Luna. While your personalities are rotten, 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 such demand.

‘Even a pervert like that is revered as a great hero. So what does that make me?’

Ha-ha-ha—Leo let out a hollow, broken laugh and looked out the window.

Meanwhile, Celia carefully studied Leo.

She had definitely lost yesterday.

‘If I hadn’t let my guard down, I would've 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 certainly become a laughingstock.

‘But it’s something I have to endure.’

If she avoided it, it would only be more shameful.

‘Besides, there’s something I want to know about.’

She was curious how he could put that much power into his sword without using Aura.

“So, 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 some kind of a special training manual?’

“Mornings should be spent leisurely.”

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 related to great heroes.’

Not only fairy tales.

There were history books, research papers, all sorts of materials.

A significant collection of materials had been gathered.

“You seem really interested in great heroes. Well, it makes sense, they are the beginning of all heroes.”

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 to this.”

Research on great heroes is still one of the most active academic 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 deeds were real.”

“You think so too?”

“Of course.”

Among the feats accomplished by the great heroes, anything uncertain in origin was all 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 of it.”

Celia shrugged.

That’s the general consensus in academia.

“I see. So that’s what you think.”

“Hm?”

“Well then, shall we eat breakfast and do some training?”

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 to keep up with.”

“Hmph, I’ve easily endured the training of the Zerdinger household.”

Looking at Celia’s confident face, Leo gave a twisted smile.

“Really?”

Later, she would recall,

That was when she should have run away.

bl

Whoosh—!

Whack—!

“Ugh?”

“Your reaction is too slow.”

Leo’s wooden sword knocked aside Celia’s.

Celia hurried to recover 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 rolled in pain on the ground.

Since breakfast, Leo’s training continued without pause for a moment.

Once the pain faded, Celia snapped.

“Young Master Leo! Does this really count as training?”

To Celia, Leo’s training method was closer to torture than discipline.

He forced her to keep moving, squeezing out strength beyond her limits.

And of course, he never used Aura in the process.

She’d never heard of training like this.

As Celia protested, Leo muttered,

“Youngsters are weak these days.”

“What did you say!”

“I told you. My training is tough. Why not quit if it’s too much?”

“Don’t make me laugh! I can handle this kind of training as much as needed!”

Celia, her pride wounded, snapped back.

“Really? Then, shall we start again?”

“Fine!”

‘W-wait? This isn’t what I meant?’

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 but also in swordsmanship, she couldn't defeated him.

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 this evening.”

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!’

bl

“Don’t look down on me, you damned white-haired bastard.”

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 even imagine it.

Today alone, she had thrown up five times.

‘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 quickly, 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, refusing 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 remark, 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 triumphant, Celia opened the box.

Inside was a simple silver bracelet in the form of a chain.

She sensed an ominous magic from the bracelet.

“It’s a bracelet enchanted with weight magic. Wear it during training starting tomorrow.”

Leo smiled.

Crack—Celia’s face froze.

“I’m fine.”

“Isn’t it discourteous for a maid to refuse a present from her master?”

“Hey! Be honest, 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 are you calling 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 to come, Leo smiled dangerously.