“Hell yeah!” I said triumphantly. “I finished my run!”
“Hee hee, you’ve gotten much stronger,” Rosalia said.
“Well, that’s what happens when you work out for a whole week. Also because, um…” I tried to find a way to offer my genuine gratitude. “You’ve been making really nutritious meals for me. Thank you.”
“Lord Weiss, please. I am your personal maid.” She smiled at me. “You have no need to say such things.”
According to what I’d heard from Meg, Rosalia worked constantly to try to make something that Weiss would actually eat—easily digestible foods, snacks, all sorts of things.
She really was completely loyal to him, and judging by the other maids’ reactions, this kind of trust wasn’t the standard. If I got the chance, I wanted to ask her about what happened between the two of them.
“You really are like a different person as of late. You make sure to do all of your work, and even the other servants see you in a new light now,” Rosalia said. “Especially Meg. She kept going on about how much you’ve changed.”
“Really? I’m glad to hear it. You seem happy too.”
“Of course! I’ve always known that you’re a wonderful person, Lord Weiss. It’s not your fault that the shock of what happened changed you. You have no idea how much it hurt to hear everyone bad-mouth you!”
Rosalia was furious, as though someone had insulted her personally. I couldn’t help but think fondly of her as I watched her rant, even if it hurt a little.
It wasn’t me she trusted, it was Weiss. Was it really okay for me not to say anything?
I tried to shake off those feelings and changed the subject. “I’d like to get in some magic practice, if that’s all right.”
“Of course! You’ve done so well relearning the basics this past week. Now that you can smoothly activate your magic, let’s move on to control.” Rosalia pointed at a tree in the courtyard. “I want you to hit that tree ten times with your shadow hand. You won’t be able to strike it properly if you cannot fully control your powers. This might be a bit difficult at first, but as long as you focus, you’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
Up until now, I’d been focused on summoning my shadow hand and raising its power. It was time to move on to the next step. Still, there was something I had to ask.
“Isn’t that a little simple?”
I mean, it seemed way easier than how I used my shadow hand to fetch documents in my office. Was there some other thought process behind it?
She chuckled. “People who aren’t used to casting magic often say that, but controlling and imagining one’s own magic is quite difficult. Wait, what?!” she cried out in surprise when I started smacking the tree with my shadow hand in the midst of her explanation. “I must be dreaming! How can you do it so easily? This normally takes at least a month of practice. You’re incredible!”
Thanks to playing games, I was more than aware of how important it was to repeat a task in order to get better at it, which was why I had done that for an entire week, drinking magic potions the whole time.
Actually, I’d been able to control my shadow hand on day one. Maybe Weiss was just genuinely gifted when it came to dark magic? There was no way for me to know, considering he died so early in the game.
“By the way, I can do this too.” I summoned three shadow hands and made them juggle some stones.
Rosalia widened her eyes in disbelief. “What? Yes, that’s still one of the fundamentals, but how can you do it so well? That requires incredible control! There’s nothing left for me to teach you…”
It felt pretty good to get these kinds of reactions out of her. Also, it made me super happy to hear my fave get complimented like this.
“Ha ha, right? Weiss is amazing! I’m so glad you get it!” I said to Rosalia. If being able to control and imagine magic was important, it was possible that I might have a bit of a cheat available to me.
“Lady Firis is incredible, but you are a genius as well,” Rosalia said.
Firis, Weiss’s sister, huh? I felt something in my chest for a moment. Unlike her stepping stone of a brother, she was an actual main character and one of the main hero’s potential heroines.
If memory served, she was currently studying at the magic academy in the royal capital. In the game’s story, she and Weiss had a less-than-ideal relationship, so I wanted to keep my distance from her at least until I’d gotten my feet under me.
“My apologies.” Rosalia must have noticed something in my expression, as she quickly changed topics. “I believe you’ve studied the fundamentals more than enough. Let’s get some practical exercises in.”
“Oh, that’s exciting. What exactly does that entail?”
“Let me see. How about this—you must land a single hit on me,” she said. “Ice, come forth!”
Rosalia stood before me with her usual smile. The only, but crucial, difference was that she had made a spear out of ice and was in combat stance.
I must have looked and sounded like a fool when I belted out my reaction: “Wuh?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Urgh, that was terrifying…”
“I apologize,” Rosalia said, following me. “I stopped before going too far, but, um, I didn’t really have the room to take half measures against you.” She was on the verge of tears after subjecting me to her dominating attacks, while I could only muster a pained smile on my face.
I grew up in Japan, a place that, in the modern era, was about as far removed from war as one could imagine. Hence, when faced with an ice spear, I was seriously surprised and terrified. She deflected my shadow hand attacks with her spear, and my sword didn’t get anywhere near her. That being said, it was also clear that Rosalia wasn’t just buttering me up with words; the task she’d given me didn’t seem impossible.
“Now that I think about it, I used to hit you when I got mad, right?” I asked, “Couldn’t you have dodged me easily?”
“Do not worry, Lord Weiss,” Rosalia answered. “I made sure to shift my body so as to take minimal damage. Besides, it wasn’t such a bad experience. Your punches fell well within the realm of role-playing.”
“Ergh…”
“And if punching me made you feel any better, then I was more than happy to let it happen.”
As we headed toward the meeting room, I was deeply impressed by Rosalia’s unwavering, some might say insane, loyalty.
“This might be impertinent of me,” she said, “but while I know you must be exhausted from training, please take care not to fall asleep during the meeting. People have begun to recognize your hard work, but that only applies to the servants in the mansion and the people you see on a daily basis…”
“Right. Thanks for always worrying about me and, um, I’ll be counting on you if something happens.”
I nervously stood in front of the entrance to the meeting room. This was it. I took a deep breath and nodded at Rosalia.
“Lord Weiss has arrived,” she announced when she opened the door.
As soon as she did, all eyes in the room were on me. It felt like they were judging me, and quite frankly, it sucked.
“Present for today’s meeting is the head of public finance, as well as…”
I listened to Rosalia’s explanation while looking at the large, serious-looking man next to the one she was talking about. Age-wise, he was in the prime of his life.
According to my research, my territory had a mountain of problems, the worst of which was public safety. I had to do something about it, so I needed to focus on whoever was supposed to be in charge of it.
Considering how serious the man in charge of public safety appeared to be, I had to wonder how things had gotten so bad.
“Next is the head of bathroom cleanliness, Sir Kaiser.”
“What?”
No way. How could this imposing man be in charge of cleaning toilets? And why was someone like that even attending this meeting? More importantly—
“Then who’s in charge of public safety?!” I practically screamed.
Kaiser piped up to answer me. “Sir Barbaro is likely drinking in a guest room…”
Why wasn’t he here? And seriously? Barbaro? That man was deeply tied to Weiss, and not in a good way.
In fact, I had only just finished looking into him. To think that he was in charge of public safety.
“What the hell is he doing?! Why isn’t anyone complaining about him?”
“Well, you appointed him as your representative, so no one could complain,” someone said.
WEIIIIISS! I imagined gripping my head and hollering, though I kept it together on the outside.
“Dammit. Fine. I’ll bring him here. Rosalia, take me to him.”
“As you wish, Lord Weiss.”
With that, we headed toward his guest room—and I made sure to have my sword on me, just in case.