“It’ll be a while before Rosalia gets back,” I said to myself. I’d finally reached a good stopping point in my work, so I took a good stretch.
Not too long ago, I put in a specific investigation request with the local Adventurers’ Guild. I’d received word that their work was complete, so at the moment, I was waiting on Rosalia to return with the results.
Fortunately, I’d gotten fairly used to paperwork at this point, so I was able to make some time for myself. I decided to do some secret training on my own and made my way to the garden behind the house, where I made eye contact with Meg while she was sweeping.
“Ah, Lord Weiss!” she said. “Are you here to train? I bet you’ll get hungry, so let me bring you some sandwiches. They’ll be so good that you’ll say they’re even better than Rosalia’s!”
“Unfortunately for you,” I replied, “I don’t think you’ll so easily surpass Rosalia’s sandwich-making talents. She knows exactly what I love in a good sandwich.”
“I know. She really does adore you, Lord Weiss. All right, in that case, I’ll settle for being the maid who understands you most, second only to Rosalia! In exchange, I only ask that you make my salary the second highest.”
“Ha ha, sure,” I fired back, “I’ll consider it if Rosalia agrees.” Ever since the incident with Barbaro, Meg had grown quite fond of me, which was why we were able to joke around like this.
She wasn’t just behaving like this with me because I was acting like a different person now. Even I could see that. Unlike my old world, this one didn’t have labor laws. A noble could fire you, or even have you killed, over nothing. There was no way she would’ve been able to exchange jokes like this with a worse lord.
No, this was proof that she had opened her heart to me. Because she spoke well of me in front of everyone else, not only did those in the mansion start engaging more with me, but the traders who came in and out did as well.
After chatting with some of the other servants, I arrived in the courtyard and took a deep breath to focus myself. In the meantime, Meg came over with a basket filled with sandwiches. Didn’t she have work to attend to?
“Okay, time to get started,” I said quietly. “At this point, I can get away with casting two High-rank spells in a row before hitting my limit. But what about King-rank magic?”
I’d tested out all kinds of magic, but High-rank spells took a lot out of me at this point; I’d collapsed after only using two spells last week. Since then, I’d made it a point to use magic daily, so I should’ve been gradually increasing the number of spells I could cast.
However, that wasn’t what mattered at the moment. I wanted to see whether I could even use King-rank magic at all, regardless of how much it took out of me.
“King-rank magic is supposed to be more powerful than High-rank magic, right?”
“Yeah. It’s a level above that. In fact, it’s so incredible that only a handful of court mages can use it. Oh, but you know, according to legends, there’s even God-rank magic.”
The general understanding was that King-rank magic was the most powerful type there was. In game terms, they were spells like Kafrizzle and Firaga, the ones you learned when your magic level finally reached the top levels. Casting something like that would require me to grow by two whole levels, but if Weiss hadn’t died in the game, it was possible that he might’ve grown strong enough to use King-rank magic with proper training.
“Hey, Lord Weiss? You’re already training with Rosalia, so why are you going out of your way to train on your own just to learn how to use King-rank magic?” Meg asked.
Meg’s question was entirely fair. Normally, the lord of a territory wouldn’t need to stand on a battlefield. However, things were different for me; I knew that this land would be swept up in the fires of the war to come.
“You have to remember, people are underestimating our territory because it has an inexperienced lord. It’s possible we might get caught up in a war someday, and if that happens, I want the power to protect all of you,” I said with conviction. “In order to do that, I need to try out all kinds of things that could help me in the future.”
“Lord Weiss…” She giggled. “The way you talk about your dreams reminds me of how you used to be. It’s wonderful. Or perhaps you just want to show off how much of a man you are to Rosalia?”
“Come on, don’t tease me. I can always tell Rosalia you’re skipping work if you want.”
My retort was mostly prompted by how flustered her words left me. Someone had already seen me embrace Rosalia while I cried, which led to rumors circulating around the mansion.
That being said, our friendly back-and-forth helped me calm my nerves a little. Did she do that intentionally to soothe my nerves? On the other hand, seeing her gleeful reaction to my flustered state led me to believe that I was just overthinking things.
Either way, it was time to start training. I visualized the spell I’d seen over and over in the game, then began to channel my magic powers while performing the incantation.
“Heed my call, oh sword that rules over the everlasting darkness that protects the princess! God-devouring blade!”
My shadow took the form of a woman more pitch-black than darkness itself, and my sword was engulfed in shadows…then dispersed. I was immediately struck by a burning pain in my head that felt awful.
Dammit! Was this too much for me? Was King-rank magic beyond me? I felt my consciousness growing hazy as the ground drew near…
“Lord Weiss?!”
Someone called out my name and caught me in her gentle arms. It was a good thing, too. Collapsing right now might’ve been dangerous.
“Thank you, Rosalia,” I murmured.
“Sorry, but I’m Meg,” she corrected gently. “See? Even I can be a proper maid. Are you okay, Lord Weiss? I’m glad I followed you after Rosalia told me you might push yourself too hard.”
Now that I knew who was holding me, I noticed that she was smaller than Rosalia in a few key ways… No, that wasn’t important. She must’ve sprinted over to me when I started to fall. Her sandwiches were scattered all over the ground and her hair was disheveled.
“Sorry for worrying you like that,” I said weakly. “Thanks, Meg. I’m okay now.”
I tried to stand up, but either because I’d used too much magic power or because I’d tried to cast a spell that I was incapable of using, I’d reached my limit, and I couldn’t even stand.
“I swear, you are such a child sometimes. You mustn’t push yourself so hard. If Rosalia sees you here like this, I’m the one who’s going to get in trouble, you know? I’m taking you to your room.”
“Sorry. I can’t…stand…”
She was right that it’d be a problem if Rosalia saw us like this. Not that I knew the exact nature of her feelings toward me…
“That being said, hugging me in a place like this is quite the aggressive move, Lord Weiss.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“No, no. Not at all.” She had been smiling happily even after I grumbled at her, but now her smile was frozen for some reason. “Ah.”
“Lord Weiss,” came Rosalia’s voice, “would you care to explain why you’re out here embracing one of your maids?”
“Okay,” I said. “I swear there’s an explanation for this—”
“Lord Weiss is just so aggressive! How can a lowly maid such as myself say no?” Meg chimed in.
“You traitor!” I yelled.
Rosalia let out a loud sigh while watching our back-and-forth. Was I just imagining it, or was she pouting?
“I imagine you must have gone too far with your magic training and needed Meg to save you, right? Lord Weiss, do not push yourself like this.” Rosalia cleared her throat and stared at me with a serious look on her face. “Anyway, Lord Weiss. Just as you anticipated, the situation has deteriorated into the worst-case scenario. According to the guild, they’ve sent multiple adventurers to that same location, but none of them have returned.”
“I knew it…”
I could feel the air around us grow heavy. Even Meg went quiet, so she must have felt the change in atmosphere. I hated when bad hunches turned out to be spot-on.