My Master's Master

This world is made up of three continents and one independent city.

There is the Adria Continent, ruled primarily by humans, and the Katran Continent, home to the beastfolk kingdom of Kellan.

Then there's Payton, a port city at the edge of the Adria Continent, ruled by dragons.

Finally, the Bestia Continent is ruled by monsters and demons. The world is divided among these places, whose inhabitants continue to cooperate and wage war with one another.

There are also places where elves live, but no one knows their exact location.

Just as a Demon King rules Bestia and a Beast King rules the Kingdom of Kellan, each continent bestows a title upon its strongest warrior.

The Adria Continent has three such powerhouses, known as the Sword Saint, the Martial God, and the Sage.

Debates over who is the strongest are always heated, but right now, I’m certain the Martial God is the strongest of the three.

Why?

Because the person standing before me is none other than the Martial God, said to be the strongest, and the Duke of the Kastran Empire.

With the Duke and Duchess seated in the same room, the air itself felt heavy.

The moment I opened the door, the pressure was so overwhelming that I couldn’t get a word out.

"Kneel there."

"Ghk?!"

At the Duke’s single command, I dropped to my knees and couldn’t even move my head.

The pressure was so powerful that it continued until I could barely breathe, then stopped just before I lost consciousness.

"Cough, cough!"

I’d nearly passed out and collapsed right there.

Putting aside why the Duke was unleashing such pressure on someone who was nothing more than a maid, I was beginning to wonder if everyone here had a knack for treating people like objects.

"Do you know why I summoned you?"

"Kgh... I-I don't know."

"Four months from now, the Academy’s entrance ceremony will be held. My son Rael, your master, will be attending."

I could already guess what the Duke was going to say next.

I’d been expecting it ever since I became Rael’s personal maid, but I never thought I’d actually hear him say it.

"You will enroll at the Academy alongside Rael."

"How could someone like me, a mere commoner..."

"I’ve already taken care of that, so it doesn’t matter."

"Understood."

Seeing him arrange for someone like me—a commoner whose talent was still unknown—to enter an Academy that only admitted the gifted showed just how powerful the ducal house was.

"The reason I’m enrolling you at the Academy is simple. Give your life to protect Rael. You may kill anyone who gets in your way."

"Understood..."

"And no one must know that you’re connected to Rael. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Go find Lucille. She’ll help you prepare."

"Then I’ll take my leave."

It wasn’t until I closed the door and stepped outside that my breathing returned to normal.

I nearly suffocated to death in there.

"But why did he tell me to find Lucille? I haven’t seen her once since that day."

I’d only seen Lucille when I was forced into the soul contract.

I hadn’t wanted to see her, either, and the events of those few days had pushed her from my memory. In a way, it was only natural that I hadn’t run into her.

"Veronica!"

"Is something wrong?"

"Could you tell me where someone named Lucille is?"

"If you mean Lucille, she’s probably in the basement. Is this on the Duke’s orders?"

"Oh, yes. How did you know?"

"You can only meet Lucille if you have an order from the Duke."

That was something I hadn’t known.

So when I made the soul contract, was I taken there because the Duke had ordered it?

That rich father-and-son pair sure know how to cause me trouble.

Following Veronica’s directions, I reached the door leading to the basement. A chill I hadn’t felt before brushed against my skin.

I didn’t know what lay beyond this door, but it was certainly no ordinary place.

Hoo...

I took a deep breath, then pushed the door open and stepped inside. In the light of a small torch, I saw what looked like a familiar prison.

I had no time to wonder why there was such a huge prison beneath the mansion. All around me, I could hear screams of every kind.

The screams mingling with the smell of blood seemed to tell me just how horrible this place was.

As I went deeper into the prison with Veronica, Lucille came into view, accompanied by a scream that pierced my ears.

"What is it?"

"I’m here on the Duke’s orders."

"...Veronica. Would you mind stepping outside for a moment?"

"Of course."

No, Veronica.

Please don’t leave me here.

"You came on the Duke’s orders?"

"Yes."

"Please wait a moment. I still have something to take care of."

After telling me to wait, Lucille disappeared farther into the prison, and the ear-splitting screams I’d heard earlier started up again.

I thought this was a prison, but now that I think about it, it’s just a torture chamber.

The smell of blood overwhelmed my sense of smell, and the screams echoing through the basement made me feel like my ears were about to fall off.

How much time had passed?

The screams that had briefly died down grew fainter and fainter, until eventually there wasn’t a sound to be heard.

I wondered if the person had died and was about to go check, but Lucille suddenly appeared, startling me into stepping back.

Her hands and face were smeared with blood, giving me a pretty clear idea of what had happened in there.

"Let’s go now. We have a lot to do."

"...Yes."

Without a word, I followed her until we reached a vast room deep beneath the ground.

Gray brick covered every wall, and the floor was marked with stains I couldn’t identify.

The monochrome space filled me with an indescribable sense of dread.

"From now on, you are to come here every day, at any hour—morning or night."

"All of a sudden?"

"The Duke sent you to me for one reason: he wants me to pass on every skill I possess."

"So you’re saying I should stop working and come here, no matter what?"

"That’s right. The other maids and servants should already have been informed, so there shouldn’t be a problem."

I was surprised to learn that everything had been arranged so quickly without my knowing—and then surprised all over again by the fact that I’d have to work even harder from now on.

Ever since I left the annex for the main residence, I’d wondered if I’d gone from heaven straight to hell. I hoped I was mistaken.

"What is your primary weapon?"

"My primary weapon?"

Why was she suddenly asking me about my main weapon?

Did she mean she was going to train me in combat here, just like Veronica had?

"An axe."

"An axe. Good. As it happens, I use one, too. I’ll be able to teach you properly."

"Well... that’s convenient."

Thinking of the sight of her in the prison and imagining her holding an axe, I realized it was a weapon that suited Lucille better than anything else.

Though Lucille had looked ready to fight me on the spot, she surprisingly did nothing and sent me back.

She said we’d start training tomorrow and told me to conserve my energy, so that day, I gave myself a rare chance to rest as much as I could.

For the first time since coming to the main residence, I enjoyed a little freedom without anyone interrupting me, then went to bed.

But that didn’t last long.

As soon as I got up, I headed straight to the basement where Lucille was and began my training.

At first, I’d learned basic drills and assassination techniques, but now I had to tackle even more difficult training, along with all sorts of bizarre techniques too outlandish to even mention.

And the axe techniques Lucille taught me were, at least for me, the strongest and most vicious techniques imaginable.

The axe style, focused solely on destroying and killing people, was called the Bellias Style and consisted of six forms.

Lucille said the techniques could be applied not just to axes but to every other weapon as well, which meant I absolutely had to learn them.

I’d need at least this much to survive at the Academy.

"You’re going the wrong way. Put more force into it."

"Ghk!"

"You’re hesitating when you swing the axe. That hesitation will become your greatest weakness and get you killed. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I understand perfectly."

"Let’s go again. This time, I’ll be going all out."

There was one thing I realized during this latest taste of hell.

I’d thought that [Maid’s Talent], one of my abilities, was simply a kind of passive skill.

But I couldn’t fight in a maid uniform during this training, so I had to wear the training clothes they’d prepared instead.

And that was when I finally noticed.

All the enhancement effects on the stats in my status window had disappeared.

Taken aback, I got thoroughly beaten by Lucille. When I put my maid uniform back on, my stats returned to their enhanced state.

'So it wasn't a passive skill. It was active.'

I wouldn’t be able to wear my maid uniform inside the Academy, so that was going to put a lot of restrictions on what I could do.

The skill’s influence was too great, since it raised my stats by almost two whole ranks.

A month after training began, snow was falling outside, and I’d finally reached the point where I could withstand a spar with Lucille without collapsing.

You might wonder what’s so impressive about that, but there was her fighting style and brute strength.

On top of that, every blow she threw with the clear intention of killing me was a critical hit. It was all I could do to block them, and I’d collapsed more times than I could count.

"You seem to have gotten the hang of it."

"Whew... You think so?"

"It’s about time, so you don’t need to come here anymore."

"What? Really?"

"I’ve taught you everything I had to teach you. Enjoy your remaining time as you please."

When winter deepened and snow surrounded us on every side, I was finally able to escape the hell of training.

And just as Lucille had said, I enjoyed my freedom without a single interruption.

Of course, that didn’t mean Rael stopped bothering me.

His usual dogshit behavior wore away at my mind, but I felt a little better knowing it would probably lessen once I entered the Academy.

'Just hang in there a little longer. Once I’m at the Academy, he’ll lose interest in me.'

As the snow melted and became water that soaked the earth, and new sprouts grew from the damp ground and began climbing the walls, the day of the Academy’s entrance ceremony finally dawned.