Chapter 21
If I kept moving forward without giving up, someday a path would open.
I just made that up.
If the future was still pitch-black even after all that effort, then my sweaty, struggling self in this moment would be too miserable.
So I refuse to settle for reality and flail with everything I have. That is the best, and only, desperate struggle I can make right now.
Recently, I'd done everything I could to get on Renoa's good side.
Cleaning, stable work, fetching water, dishwashing, chopping firewood, weeding...
I think I'd tried every kind of labor this manor had, as if clearing all the challenge objectives.
As a result, my status window went to hell.
======
Name : Leon
Status : Servant
Master : Renoa Edelheid
•Held Skills
【Housekeeper】
【Protean】
【Blessing of Chains】
•Held Proficiencies
【Cleaning Lv.3】
【Dishwashing Lv.2】
【Chopping Firewood Lv.2】
【Weeding Lv.2】
【Laundry Lv.2】
【Animal Empathy Lv.1】
======
“What a total trash all-rounder.”
All of that was the result of the random chores Renoa kept dumping on me. She'd have me do this, then that, and when she got bored she'd send me off to something else.
She never leaves me alone for a second. I can't make heads or tails of what she's thinking.
Thanks to that, I got the proficiency fever time bonus, but it ended before I could really use it.
That said, I didn't know whether I'd actually succeeded in winning Renoa's interest.
“I... am moving forward, right? I'm not just standing still, am I?”
Please let it be.
Please, let me move at least one step farther from the edge.
“Leon, are you done cleaning?”
“Yes. I just finished.”
“Oh, really? Already? Good work. Come eat a snack.”
Even in the hellish grind of labor, there was one ray of light.
As I helped out, I grew closer to the manor maids.
At this point, we were just an ordinary older-sister, younger-brother pair you'd find anywhere.
“The young lady really is too much, though. Working Leon like this and all. Right?”
“Oh, I offered to do it myself.”
“Leon does our share too, so it's convenient for us, but don't push yourself too hard. If you get hurt here, only you lose.”
“Phew, this is nothing. Compared to where I was before, this place is basically a vacation.”
It's the truth.
Compared to a place where I never knew when I'd die, this is heaven.
I could do this all day.
“Of course he looks dependable, being a boy and all.”
“Right? Even though he's young, he's so steady and sharp.”
“Haa, I wish Leon were my little brother. We're both the same type, so why are we so different?”
“While I'm here, I'll do my part as a younger sibling. Please treat me like a younger sibling too, noonas.”
“A little brother like that is welcome any time!”
Ahh, the air here is already different from that sweat-and-blood-stinking arena.
The air is sweet. So sweet.
I should be practicing my breathing in a place like this.
“Oh, right! We have to bring snacks to the candidates!”
At that, Nina cried out in surprise. With that one line, the peaceful kitchen instantly turned into chaos.
“Oh no, I forgot! What do we do? They're all so sensitive, and if we're even a little late they'll get furious...! We're not late yet, are we?”
“We're cutting it a little close...”
Behind this manor was a training ground where apprentice knights trained to become knights.
Most of them were from fallen families or collateral branches pushed out of the line of succession.
They're here to become knights of the Edelheid house and restore their declining fortunes.
It might seem odd for a magical noble house to have knights, but the DPS-tank balance has to be right.
That way the mages can shine comfortably.
The manor maids were in charge of their meals too, but they must have forgotten because they were chatting with me.
“If you're short-handed, should I help out?”
“Really? We'd be grateful if Leon helped, but... Are you sure? You just finished working.”
“I got to eat such delicious snacks, so I should at least do this much.”
“If Leon says so... all right! Then could you help make sandwiches? We'll prepare the ingredients, so just stack them up.”
“Got it.”
I made the sandwiches, packed them into baskets, and went with the maids to the training yard behind the manor.
It was a far cry from the picture-perfect villa and lake.
The smell of sweat and dirt hit me all at once. Shouts and the dull thuds of wooden swords colliding.
Under the knights' instruction, more than a dozen apprentice knights were swinging wooden swords.
It was a scene not unlike the arena.
“Knights! Please come eat!”
“Already that late? All candidates, stop training! Take a short break.”
“Yes!”
The candidates collapsed to the ground as if they'd been knocked over the moment they heard the word rest.
We weaved through the panting candidates, handing out sandwiches and water.
“Here are your sandwiches and water.”
“Hoo... You could've moved a little faster. I was about to die from how hard that was.”
The candidates who took the sandwiches stuffed bread into their mouths like starving wolves.
Just from swinging a wooden sword, and they're already acting like they're dying.
What a fuss over nothing.
Back in my day, when I fought a match with my life on the line, I couldn't move the next day.
We didn't even get snacks, let alone proper meals, so we were practically starving.
And yet they eat regularly, even get snacks, and still pant just from swinging a wooden sword.
Kids these days really are hopeless. They don't have any hunger in them.
Tsk, tsk.
So weak.
-click.
“Hey, servant. Give me another sandwich.”
Someone tossed a pebble at my pants. Just as I turned my head to see which rude bastard it was.
“...Huh?”
I involuntarily sucked in a breath.
Blood-red hair.
Eyes of the same color.
A sharp face with a hint of meanness in it.
Someone I knew.
Gerard, Renoa's escort knight.
Renoa's escort knight is Jain now, but the escort knight I know is Gerard.
An arrogant bastard just like his master, the kind of trash who enjoyed trampling the weak because he had a little skill.
So that's where he'd been. It looked like he wasn't an escort knight yet.
“Hey, servant. Didn't you hear me tell you to give me another one?”
“It's one per person.”
“What? You expect me to swing my sword after eating just this? Are you kidding me right now?”
“Why are you asking me that...”
“I'll give it to him! Leon, we have extras, so don't worry about it and just hand them over!”
“Nyeh.”
Honestly, I wanted to throw it on the floor, but causing trouble would be pointless. It's not like I bought them with my own money anyway.
I handed out more sandwiches as instructed. Gerard snatched one away.
“You should've given it to me when I asked the first time. Anyway, you'd only know how hard it is if you actually swung a sword. What would some servant bastard know?”
“......”
“Besides, you look like someone I've never seen before. Are you new? Why are you a woman dressed as a man?”
As he said that, he sent me a lingering, sleazy look.
That's right.
This bastard's a womanizer.
Even in the story, backed by Edelheid, he ran around harassing helpless girls at random.
He was supposed to die with his balls crushed before he kicked the bucket, and unfortunately they still seemed to be intact.
“Why aren't you answering? Does what I said not sound like words to you?”
“Leon is a boy. He just looks delicate; his body is solid. He worked as a gladiator before coming here.”
“What? A gladiator?”
“Uh, noona?”
I was ignoring him because he was the type I didn't want to deal with, but Mari, who was normally famous for talking a lot, answered for me instead.
She started chattering excitedly as if she were some overprotective sister bragging about her little brother.
“Yes, a gladiator. He even beat a minotaur and an ogre. Our Leon is amazing, right?”
“Wait...”
“A minotaur? This kid?”
Mari's words drew the other candidates and knights' attention to me.
“Come to think of it, I heard a rumor. A rumor that the second young lady was sponsoring a gladiator slave. Don't tell me?”
“So that guy is the one?”
“That's right! That gladiator slave is Leon!”
“Noona.”
I couldn't tell whether my voice wasn't reaching her or she had no intention of listening.
Ignoring everyone's stares completely, Mari noona kept chattering away.
“Don't lie. That little punk beat a minotaur? It was probably a calf, not a minotaur.”
“I'm telling you it's true! How would I lie to the knights? He might even be stronger than the knights!”
“Ah.”
And then she went and caused a huge accident. The other maids nearby sighed deeply and shook their heads.
Is she trying to get me killed? Otherwise there's no way she'd be this clueless!
I shouted for help in my head, but there was no way it would reach anyone.
The apprentice knights all glared at me.
“That kind of slave... stronger than me?”
“You bastard, were you laughing at what I said?”
“How dare someone like you get the young lady's backing?”
“Draw your sword. I'll test for myself whether you're really stronger than us.”
“Fuck.”
***
Leon doesn't like fighting.
That's the truth.
The environment he was in simply forced him to wield a sword. He had no choice but to fight because if he didn't swing one, he'd die.
Ever since he left the arena, he hadn't looked at a sword even once.
And yet.
“Can't you hear me telling you to get up?”
Gerard, who'd stood up holding a wooden sword, looked down at Leon. His eyes were full of arrogance and sneering contempt.
Leon sighed inwardly.
“Uh, knights? I think there's been a misunderstanding, but I'm really weak. That guy is mistaken.”
“What are you talking about, Leon? If Leon were weak, why would the young lady have brought you here?”
“That's what I'd really like to know too... Anyway, as I keep saying, I'm ridiculously weak. I'm so weak I can't even lift a spoon.”
“You don't know unless you try! Don't get discouraged! Leon, you can do it!”
“Please, just be quiet.”
Even as Leon tried hard to explain, Mari was putting on an even bigger show beside him.
There was no way he could suppress her cheerful voice.
Thanks to that, the apprentice knights' hostility grew, making Leon's efforts pointless.
The apprentice knights staying under the protection of the Edelheid ducal house were no different from arena gladiators except for their social status.
Every one of them had some flaw, and they were all doing their utmost to get Edelheid's support.
If they couldn't become knights, all the effort they'd put in so far would be wasted. Their family's revival would be down the drain too.
In that sense, winning Renoa over was extremely important.
But then.
A slave who'd rolled in from nowhere had taken the place. It would be strange if they didn't resent him.
That resentment was even more bitter and intense than the feeling the gladiators held toward Leon.
Of course, the truth would be different from what they imagined, but such trivial circumstances were none of the apprentice knights' business.
Defeat Leon, whom Renoa had chosen.
Prove that you were stronger and more worthy than he was.
Then you could win Renoa's favor.
Become knights with Renoa at your back and restore your family.
That chain of thought alone filled their heads.
“Get up, you servant bastard. Grab your sword. Let's see who is more fit to serve the young lady.”
“No, you guys are stronger than me!”
“You're pretending otherwise. You think I don't know you're laughing at me behind that pretty face?”
“Maybe you should go to the hospital instead of becoming knights...”
Leon stubbornly refused Gerard's request for a match.
Now that the slave skill [Spartacus] was gone, Leon's physical abilities were weaker than before.
Besides, he had nothing to gain from sparring with a knight.
If he lost, he'd hear 'As expected, a slave is still a slave,' and the hard-won reputation he'd built with the maid sisters would take a hit.
If he won, the candidates' hostility would rise as they said, 'How dare a slave be stronger than us?'
It was a fight with nothing but losses.
Just as Leon was struggling and struggling to somehow get past the situation...
“Hmph! Why would I spar with some rent-boy-looking bastard? He looks weak as hell.”
“Oh, sure, sure.”
“If he looks like a girl, then his junk's probably tiny too, right? Hahaha!”
“When we strip him, maybe he'll actually turn out to be a woman? Hahahaha!”
-Jolt.
Leon stood up.
The air around him, which had been loose and carefree the whole time, sank low and heavy.
He walked toward the training ground and gave Gerard a slight nod.
“What are you doing? Aren't you coming? You're not going to fight?”
Leon.
Born a man, he could lose at everything else, but never a sword fight!