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“MASTER, I overcame the ring of poison,” I said, showing her the ring on my right hand. Like the last time, we were in the forest.
“Is that so? I knew you could do it, apprentice!” Cassandra exclaimed. She seemed incredibly happy.
“Thanks to you, now I can eat poisoned food no problem. Thank you,” I said. Her method had certainly been something else, but my newfound poison resistance was a big deal. I was truly grateful for it.
“That’s good to hear. By the way, have you also been eating monster meat?”
“No, not for the past week…”
Despite the occasional poisoned dish, I was enjoying eating regular meals again enough that I didn’t feel any desire to go out of my way to eat any of that awful monster meat.
“Really? We can’t have that,” Cassandra said. “Wait here.” As soon as she finished speaking, she disappeared into the forest.
After some time, she returned, dragging a monster I had never seen before behind her with one hand. When I say “dragging,” it might sound like the monster was small, but it had to have been ten times Cassandra’s size. It was such a surreal sight that it made me doubt my own eyes.
The monster was covered in blood, and it looked dead. I’ve never seen a giant monster like that around here before. Where did she even find it?
Cassandra effortlessly tossed the monster upward, then, swinging her longsword with blinding speed, chopped it up in midair. What had once been a monster was instantly transformed into so many chunks of meat. Then, she took one of those chunks in her hand and held it out to me. I reflexively reached out and took it. It made a nasty, squelching sound in my hand.
“Eat it,” she said. “It’s the meat of a Great Basilisk. If you’ve conquered the ring, this should be no problem.”
A Great Basilisk? They were really dangerous; if a Great Basilisk showed up near a human village, an entire knightly order was often needed to bring it down as a group. And she found one and defeated it in that short period of time?
Wait, more importantly, I have to eat it? Raw?
“Master, may I cook it?” I asked.
“No. That would be less efficient,” Cassandra replied. According to her, it was best to eat monster meat as fresh as possible—raw was best. This apparently made it easier for you to absorb the monster’s strength. She lifted another chunk of meat in her own hand, and bit into it without any hesitation.
I could hear her noisily smacking her lips. She’s actually eating it…
“Hey, eat.”
Now that she had started eating it herself right in front of me, I couldn’t very well say, “No, thank you.” So, I reluctantly brought the chunk of meat closer to my mouth.
It reeked.
As you might expect, it smelled like blood. But it also smelled sort of like a wild animal. I felt like I was going to vomit.
Instead, I steeled myself and took a bite. The bloody smell, as well as an intensely irritating sensation, spread throughout my mouth, and my body started to ring alarm bells at full blast that told me: “Do not eat this!”
I have to throw up, I have to throw up.
But, Cassandra was staring at me. I chewed vigorously, then forced myself to swallow. It was disgusting. I felt like I was about to evacuate the entire contents of my stomach. It was as if my body had reverted to the state it had been in before I had built up my poison resistance.
“Master, this meat is pretty poisonous, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is,” Cassandra said. “The stronger the monster, the harder it is for a person to ingest its meat. Dragon meat is deadly. Right now, you can just barely tolerate this Great Basilisk meat.” As she spoke, she continued to eat the chunk of meat in her hand, and in the end, she finished the whole thing. Then, as if issuing my death sentence, she commanded, “Eat everything I gave you.”
It took some time, and I almost started crying, but I ate it all. It was the hardest thing I had ever gone through in my entire life—bad enough to make me wish I were fighting to overcome a thousand poison rings.
“All right, you did it,” Cassandra said when I finally finished. “Now, take up your sword.”
Training, after you made me eat poison? I can’t help but feel like this has gone past harsh and straight to murderous.
My hands and mouth were covered in blood, and I wanted to wash them off somewhere, but Cassandra wasn’t the type of opponent to allow that. So I drew my sword, faced her, and took a fighting stance.
“Come at me,” she said. She didn’t even have her hand on her sword. It was like she was saying she didn’t need it.
I felt simultaneously indignant that she was looking down on me and resentful at having been forced to eat that gross meat, so I decided to slash at Cassandra with everything I had. I had a right to that much, at least.
However, the instant I tried to raise my sword above my head, I was blown backward, and I slammed into a tree behind me. My stomach and my back throbbed with intense pain. When I looked up, I saw that Cassandra was standing exactly where I’d just been readying myself. She had seemingly punched or kicked me as I was raising my sword. But I hadn’t even seen her move.
“As I thought,” she said. “You’re slow.”
“Well… You’d never expect someone to attack just as you were raising your sword,” I said, trying to justify myself as I rubbed my aching midsection.
“Fighting is a matter of life and death,” my master said flatly. “Excuses are worthless. Don’t give your opponent any chances.”
She’s definitely right. And my daily life is the same way.
“Your movements are slow because your physical abilities are lacking. Take this.” My master took something out of her pocket.
It was a pretty metal armlet that glittered with a blue light, and when I looked more closely, I could see that the surface was tightly packed with etchings of spells. I could only imagine that they meant something unpleasant.
“This is an armlet that bestows Gravity’s effects on the wearer.”
Gravity. It was a type of hindrance magic that made the target’s body heavier and their movements sluggish. Usually, it was used against monsters.
“Gravity? On my opponent?”
“No. On you.”
Casting a hindrance effect on myself? I’ve never heard of anything like that.
“When you put on this armlet, it doubles your body’s weight. Just equip it.” She tossed the armlet to me and I caught it, then put it on my arm.
The second I did, I was overcome by the feeling that my body had become significantly heavier.
“Now try standing up.”
I tried to do as she said, but I couldn’t move very well. After quite a bit of struggling, I managed to use the tree at my back to prop up my newly heavy body. So this is Gravity.
“It’s pretty hard to move. What should I do while wearing this?” I asked.
“Live your life normally with the armlet on, and your body will get in shape on its own. You don’t have to do anything special and you’re still training—wonderful, isn’t it?” My master smiled without a care in the world.
She really does think it’s wonderful. But what’s so wonderful about making my everyday life even harder? I knew there was something wrong with her.
And, daily life aside, I didn’t even know if I’d be able to get back to the castle with this thing on.
I’ll take off the armlet for a bit. Just a bit. I need to get used to it first, little by little… Hm? It won’t come off?
“Master, how do I take this off?”
“You can’t,” Cassandra said, easily giving me her unthinkable reply. “It’s an armlet made to prevent prisoners from escaping. You aren’t supposed to be able to take it off yourself.”
It’s for prisoners?! First, a murder weapon, and now, the equivalent of a ball and chain. Where the hell is she getting these things? Please, don’t tell me it’s actually because people are trying to assassinate her, or because she was in prison.
“Do you know how to take it off?” I asked.
“I don’t. I was able to take it off after about a year of wearing it, but probably because I gained the ability to counter the binding magic on the armlet. So there’s no need to worry.”
I have nothing but worries! I’m worried about my own life, at this very moment. Binding magic wasn’t something you could easily break. It would have been pointless if you could break it. At that moment, I had no hope for the future.
III: A Certain Maid’s Monologue