Chapter 3:

"Huff! Huff! Huff! Phew..."

At the top of the hill, I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve, then gripped my wooden sword with both hands again, swung it about a hundred times, and massaged my shoulders.

I must have been pushing myself too hard lately, as my muscles were aching.

I paused while drinking an ion beverage that was on sale at the Shop for 1,800 won.

It's a drink commonly sold on Earth.

If I sold this here, I could make an enormous fortune. Enough to leave the mansion and become independent.

But... purchasing this depends on how much income my novel generates. Looking at the 1.92 million won that finally came in after 15 days, I had to push that thought aside.

"Well, still..."

Whoosh!

I smiled faintly as I watched the Low Expert Sword Aura enveloping my wooden sword.

"This is enough."

My stamina has been gradually increasing, and now I can swing the wooden sword about a hundred times. Though after a hundred swings, I become so exhausted I can barely move.

For nearly two months, I hadn't faced my family or my nanny. Balkis, who found even the cost of employing a nanny too expensive, fired her and had the maids bring meals to my bedroom instead.

At least that's fortunate. If he had decided food was too expensive and starved me, I would have run away from the mansion immediately.

"Haa... haa... Damn it. If I could buy that stamina potion that costs a million won, my stamina would improve a bit... but it's too expensive."

How wonderful would it have been if my novel had been a masterpiece earning tremendous profits like "Harry XX" or "The Lord of XX"?

Well, nothing would change even if it had been.

Having already mastered Low Expert Sword Aura, I'm at a level where I could be employed as a knight in most baronial households.

Of course, that would be difficult now due to my lack of swordsmanship, stamina, strength, and my young age with an immature body.

How long could I live without seeing the maids and my family?

Though I thought I'd run into them at least once, I quickly finished my meals and slipped out of the mansion.

Clatter...

"Oh, by the way... how is Eliana doing?" asked Milliena B. Terres, the Baroness of Terres and Balkis's wife, after sipping her soup, addressing Eliana's personal maid.

But the maid couldn't think of what to say.

Why? Because she had never once met the Young Lady.

Moreover, rumors had already spread among the mansion's maids, butlers, and employees.

The Young Lady, so plain-looking that her family abandoned her.

So the maid simply nodded without thinking.

"Yes, she is doing well."

"What does she do with her time?"

"Th-that is..."

Seeing the maid hesitating, Milliena sighed.

So she really wasn't checking on her properly.

Milliena never imagined that Eliana would not only leave the mansion but also sneak through a hole in the city wall to go into town. She simply thought the maid wasn't paying close attention to Eliana.

She didn't care that much, but still, this was a child she had painfully given birth to.

Well, that made her resent him even more. More than Eliana, she resented her husband who was eating dinner with a carefree laugh.

Baron Balkis B. Terres.

"Ho ho, why worry so much? She's eating properly, isn't she?"

"O-of course. The plates are always returned completely empty."

"Then that's fine."

As Balkis tried to dismiss the matter with a hearty laugh, Milliena sighed, while the maid breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, Milliena decided to visit Eliana's bedroom to see her only daughter after such a long time.

What could the child be doing?

But as soon as Milliena stopped in front of Eliana's bedroom, she shook her head.

Recalling those thin eyes, blunt nose, and freckles covering both cheeks, she couldn't bring herself to enter and turned away from Eliana's bedroom.

And so, it had been nearly two years since the family had faced Eliana.

Yes, two whole years. Not two months.

In Eliana's absence, the family was unexpectedly harmonious.

The maid only cleaned Eliana's bedroom or brought meals.

Over those two years, Eliana, growing up alone, had reached a height of 125cm.

Swish! Whoosh!

"Hiyah!"

With a comical battle cry, I swung my sword freely, beginning practical training exercises by visualizing an opponent.

Well, I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself.

The wooden sword I'd been using until now.

I had steadily saved my weekly allowance of one copper coin and finally purchased an iron sword from the village blacksmith.

The currency in this world consisted of iron coins, copper coins, silver coins, gold coins, and platinum coins.

100 iron coins = 1 copper coin, 100 copper coins = 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins = 1 gold coin, 100 gold coins = 1 platinum coin.

One iron coin was worth about 100 won in Korean currency, so my allowance of one copper coin meant 10,000 won per week.

Well, I don't know how much my two so-called brothers received, but I had saved up my allowance for two years.

A total of about 2 silver coins.

An iron sword could be purchased for 30 copper coins.

But... the iron sword I bought was a small one made for children's training.

However, at 1 meter long and weighing 7kg, the iron sword was quite heavy and difficult to swing.

Swish!

"Huff..."

After about twenty swings, I lost my grip on the sword.

"Why... why is it so heavy?"

I have to fight with a weapon like this?

I had a pretty good understanding of Zexitt's actions and the dungeons he had explored.

The problem was that I needed to leave this small kingdom, cross through Molt Kingdom, and head to Lkit Empire.

The Lkit Empire was where Zexitt's activities began.

Zexitt, who corrupted the forest-dwelling elves into dark elves.

And Zexitt's ultimate enemy was the Pope of the Holy Nation of Lugnas.

No matter how powerful Zexitt was, capable of defeating an army of a thousand with a single blow, the Pope was a professional when it came to defeating demons.

Well, he's the mid-earth boss character you meet after many twists and turns.

After that, the story continued into the Demon Realm, creating a long fantasy novel.

Can you believe I earned about 11 million won with this third-rate novel?

Even now, I think it's quite remarkable.

11 million won in two years.

Now, less than 10,000 won was being deposited monthly.

Currently, I had drunk a Mid Mana Potion that sold for 5 million won, leaving me with a balance of 3,098,230 won.

I didn't particularly need to change my appearance.

Of course, if I felt my height was insufficient, I planned to save some funds to increase it later, but it seemed better to master Mid Expert Sword Aura through my own efforts and save money.

"Well, I've already benefited quite a lot from this."

Typically, children aspiring to become knight apprentices train from around age 8 for 5 years, mastering Lowest Expert Sword Aura by age 13.

Then, on average, they train for another 8 years from age 13, mastering Low Expert Sword Aura by 21, and most hit a mana barrier at this point.

Most couldn't use Mid Expert Sword Aura due to insufficient mana.

But those with mana would rise to Mid Expert over roughly 10 years, then face another mana barrier when trying to reach High Expert.

Anyway, this small kingdom had about 100 Highest Experts, and assuming sufficient mana, one could reach Highest Expert after dedicating about 50 years to the sword.

"Well, among them, those specially gifted with talent and mana can... rise to Lowest Swordmaster."

The First Knight Commander of the royal family in this small kingdom was a Lowest Swordmaster knight.

That famous name across the continent. Marquis Alex T. Drucas.

His name was quite renowned even in neighboring kingdoms and empires.

Well, the Labadian Empire possessed a total of 27 Swordmasters, and the neighboring Molt Kingdom had 13 Swordmaster knights...

Making our situation rather embarrassing.

"How did this not fail?"

It was truly one of the seven wonders.

Of course, we were in a position of paying tribute to the Empire and living under their protection.

Anyway, I had already broken through the mana barrier.

This meant I was qualified to handle Mid Expert Sword Aura.

Swish! Swish!

"Huff... huff... huff..."

I regulated my breathing with each sword swing, maintaining a uniform speed.

Training based on my experience watching knights, I returned to the mansion drenched in sweat.

The sun had set, and it had become a dark night.

When dinner time came, I quickly finished my meal and resumed training.

And at around 10 PM, when most of the mansion was asleep,

I climbed the tree that had grown in front of my window and opened it.

Creeeeak...

As I stepped on the window frame and returned to my bedroom, I was startled by two eyes gleaming in the moonlight and fell backward onto my bottom.

"Ack... w-who's there?"

Those eyes were wide open with surprise and stared intently at me.

As the owner of those eyes approached, the hem of a dress became visible in the moonlight by the window... and finally, the face was clearly illuminated.

"M-Mother?"

"...Is that... really you, Eliana?"

Damn it. For two years, I had moved like an assassin, not being seen by anyone, and I thought I had become quite agile and skilled at detecting presences.

But it seems that was just my delusion. I had merely been hiding hastily after hearing the sound of knights' and soldiers' scabbards rattling and maids' footsteps, putting on airs.

I had truly been suffering from chuunibyou. But this feels kind of good?

"I... really..."

This expression of disbelief looking at my face that had changed two years ago! I definitely like it.

But I had long since detached my heart from her.

"Sigh... I want to wash up, so excuse me."

I headed to the bathroom attached to my bedroom.

The water was always cold, just like me.

Originally, my nanny would always fill the tub with warm water and bathe me.

But... after switching to a maid, I always had to wash with this cold water.

I wondered if perhaps the water had cooled down, but after hanging from the window to observe, I realized that was my foolish misconception.

"Well, no one would care if I wash with cold water anyway. It doesn't matter, right?"

My personal maid, Anilla.

With brown hair and black eyes, she had quite a cute impression, but her personality seemed rather foul.

And as I immersed myself in the bathtub, Milliena followed me into the bathroom and looked at my face again.

The bathroom had no lanterns or candles.

It relied solely on the moonlight coming through that small window.

"Let's... talk for a moment."

"You can see I'm bathing. Please wait a little."

"But why is it so dark..."

Milliena looked around as if searching for a lantern, moving her steps slowly.

As if trying to confirm my face properly.

Confused about whether she had seen wrong, Milliena waved her hands around searching for a lantern.

It was a consumable magical artifact with a small mana stone that would light up brightly at the push of a button.

The bathroom became pitch black as clouds covered the moonlight. Perhaps because of this,

Milliena slipped on the wet floor and fell with a splash into the bathtub where I was soaking.

"Kyaa! Ah... c-cold! Why... why is the water so cold...!"

"How would I know? I guess Father told the maid to fill it with cold water because warm water was too expensive. I thought it was a mistake too, but I saw Anilla filling it with cold water the other day."

Hearing her daughter's curt response, Milliena raised her upper body and could see her daughter's face up close in the moonlight shining through the window.

It wasn't a mistake. A girl completely different from the plain child she remembered was claiming to be her daughter.

It was unbelievable, but her daughter frowned and pushed her shoulder away.

"You're soaked too, Mother. You should hurry and dry your clothes. You don't want to catch a cold, do you?"

"...Yes, I'll come back later."

As I watched Milliena leaving the bathroom, I sighed and muttered.

"Just come tomorrow. I'm exhausted..."

After washing up quickly in the bathroom, I changed into pajamas and sat on the bed.

"This... hasn't been washed again. Damn that Anilla. I'll crack her head open later."

Grumbling, I sat on the bed waiting for my mother.

What's going on? Is she trying to play a trick on me?

Fifteen minutes had passed, and there was still no sound of footsteps in the corridor.

Eventually, I lay down on the bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.