Chapter 3

Chapter 3

People always said that when it came to building stamina, consistency was what mattered. Just sweating for a few days was not enough to produce visible results.

I was living proof of that. Even after a week had passed, my body still screamed when I ran the same distance and lifted the same weight.

By now, I should have started getting used to it, but it was still hard.

“Huff!”

Up ahead was Jericho, running far faster than I was. We had exchanged greetings only on the first day, and after that, even when our paths crossed by chance, we simply ignored each other and passed by.

Jericho glanced back at me, then deliberately accelerated. He had already been running fast, but now he practically flew across the training ground.

Before long, he disappeared from sight, only to circle the grounds and overtake me again. Judging by the way he snorted as he passed me, he did not even seem out of breath. Fine, good for you. But you are you, and I am me.

I applauded him inwardly, then stopped to catch my breath. Jericho seemed to have taken this as some kind of competition, because he looked at me with a smug grin. The expression on his face, so pleased with his own victory, was almost ridiculous.

Ignoring him, I walked out of the training yard.

After throwing myself into this routine for several days, I had developed a sense for it. I could tell how far I could push myself without ruining the next day’s training.

This was enough for today. I went back to the manor to wash up.

“What has gotten into you? You have been working very hard. It is nice to see.”

“I suppose so.”

“If only you had started sooner. From now on, keep at it consistently. You must.”

Koromang clenched her fist as though trying to encourage me, and I burst out laughing at how amusing the gesture was.

Koromang had once been the maid of Dimone, Raphael’s deceased birth mother. She had first set foot in the Isaac family as a maid, but her abilities had been recognized, and she had risen all the way to the position of chief steward of the household.

She was, in every sense, a capable woman.

Though smaller than any of the other maids who worked here, Koromang carried herself with a sharp charisma. Even maids with years of experience would freeze at a single flick of her hand.

“Wash up and come out right away for your meal. You must be hungry.”

“I think I am going to take a while, so take your time preparing it. I will just eat something simple.”

“You are hungry, though. Will that really be enough?”

“Yes. It is fine.”

“No, it is not. You need to eat well to have strength.”

Koromang treated everything Dimone had left behind as precious. Not only Dimone’s child, but also the family, the manor, the furniture within it, and even the people who remained there.

Up to that point, she sounded like a dependable ally, but from my perspective, she was also someone I could not afford to lower my guard around in many ways.

Right now, at a glance, she seemed to be supporting me for my sake and for the family’s. But later on, she was fated to betray Raphael and side with my younger brother.

In a sense, she was a malignant growth with betrayal already written into her future, yet I did not think badly of her.

If she betrayed him, it was probably because he deserved betraying. What else could she have done when Raphael was the way he was?

In the version of the original I had read, Raphael was not only petty and foul-tempered, but completely lacking in the ability to lead the family.

No, it would have been better if he had simply done nothing. Instead, he actively ruined the family whenever he stepped forward.

“I will keep the menu simple, but I will prepare plenty of it. Eat your fill. But were you washing up at dawn too? Or was that because you were training?”

“No, why? What makes you ask?”

“You never take your rings off except when you bathe.”

“Ah.”

As Koromang said, I had taken off all the accessories I used to wear in layers and stuffed them into my pocket.

I opened my pocket and showed her the heap of jewelry packed inside.

For some reason, Raphael had covered himself in accessories. Rings, of course, but also brooches, pendants, necklaces, and all the rest.

Whether they suited him or not was beside the point. They were so uncomfortable that I could not fathom how he had worn them at all. Every joint in my body felt stiff.

“I just... find all of this uncomfortable now, so I am thinking of taking it all off.”

As I spoke, I watched Koromang’s reaction, and her gaze came to a stop on one old ring that had only barely fit on my little finger among all the jewelry in my pocket.

It was a ring with a blue center stone, though the blue gem was no sapphire. It looked more like a cheap cubic zirconia.

On top of that, it was too small and only barely fit on my pinky, and the thing positively screamed cheap.

“You... took off that ring as well?”

“Hm? Why?”

“It is nothing.”

Koromang answered quickly, straightening her expression and her gaze, but she still seemed bothered by it. Her eyes remained fixed on the ring with peculiar insistence. They shone brightly.

“Do you want this? If you do, just say so. I will give it to you.”

The moment she heard that, Koromang pressed her lower lip between her teeth, and her nostrils flared. She held her breath for a moment before saying,

“Would it truly be all right for me to accept this?”

“Yes. I am not going to wear it anymore, so it is better for it to find a new owner than to just be tucked away somewhere. Is there anything else you want besides that? I do not need any of this anymore. Ah, should I just give you all of it? I would be fine with that.”

“No. One ring is enough. One ring is enough.”

Koromang lowered her head so that I could not see her face and replied in a voice that had dropped by a tone.

“Thank you for the gift. I will treasure it.”

I did not know the details of the household’s finances, but Koromang could not have been earning a small salary.

If she had stayed here instead of leaving for elsewhere, then she was probably being paid fairly well. Loyalty or not, surely they had at least matched her worth.

With the salary she likely received, she could have bought several cheap rings like this one. It was strange that she seemed genuinely grateful, but I let it pass.

After all, it was only polite to show delight when receiving a gift. Koromang was socially adept, so perhaps this too was simply an extension of her work.

---

After Koromang left the room, I hurriedly washed up and returned. I had told her to take her time preparing the meal, so I had a little time to spare.

Then shall I begin?

I closed my eyes and tossed the mana stones.

My physical progress had been slight, but my skill at finding mana stones with my eyes closed had improved by leaps and bounds. At this rate, if I returned to the modern world, I could probably make a living as some sort of blindfolded stone-finding master.

The part of the body most sensitive to mana was the hand. Then what was the dullest part? The feet. In just a few days, my skill had advanced enough that I could now locate mana stones even with my toes.

I shuffled my feet across the floor, picking out the mana stones I had scattered one by one.

Now I had increased the difficulty. The larger the mana stone, the more mana it emitted, if only slightly, so I found them in that order.

There was only one thing that kept this growth from being wholly satisfying.

“At this point, I should already have manifested mana.”

I could find mana stones almost miraculously, yet I still could not use mana. That was all because I had not practiced enough.

Both my perception and the amount of mana I possessed were exceptional, but because that talent was so overwhelming, my body could not keep up with it.

In other words, I was the sort that bloomed late.

To properly manifest this enormous quantity of mana, I would need an immense amount of training.

It was irritating enough for me, and I actually knew the training method. How must it have been for Raphael?

After finding the mana stones two more times, I went out to eat.

“I will enjoy the meal. It looks delicious already.”

“Yes.”

“Have you eaten already, Koromang?”

“Yes. Earlier this morning.”

Koromang seemed distracted by something else, but I assumed she had her reasons and paid it no mind.

I stuffed food into my mouth, thinking that I would finish quickly and go right back to finding mana stones again.

---

When she had been in her teens, Koromang had been a mischievous girl utterly unlike the woman she was now.

Had it not been for Dimone, no young lady would ever have kept her as a maid, so fierce was her temperament. Her inner world had been so lively that she had flown into anger, burst into tears, and shouted at the drop of a hat.

Whenever Koromang thought back on those days, a smile still slipped from her lips. Had Dimone seen her as a younger sister? Koromang sometimes wondered why she had protected someone like her so fiercely.

“She was a kind woman.”

If not for Dimone, Koromang could never have grown up this well. Even in her own eyes, she had become a respectable adult. That was all thanks to Dimone.

Wanting to repay that kindness, Koromang had attended Dimone more devotedly than anyone when she fell ill from a dark mage’s curse and wasted away in her room. Even now, she regretted that she had not done more for her.

Even if Dimone was already dead, the grace she had received from her was undeniable. To repay it even a little, Koromang had tried to strengthen the family. She had devoted herself to preserving, as far as her strength allowed, the many things Dimone had left behind.

Interfering with the head of the house was part of that as well.

Nearly a year had passed since Raphael, the eldest son of the Isaac family, had inherited the title, yet he had not done a single proper thing in all that time. If anything, it would have been faster to list the accidents he had caused. Raphael had done nothing but trail after women, blind with infatuation.

People within the Isaac family had begun to talk. At this rate, would the family not collapse?

Koromang was one of the people who heard such talk most closely, and for the sake of the family, she had no choice but to think about it seriously.

Should Raphael be cast aside?

It was too soon to reach that conclusion immediately, but if Raphael remained like this forever, then she would have no choice but to change her mind.

“So he does have some sense after all.”

Koromang looked down at the ring Raphael had handed over.

The shank was rusted, and the prongs were bent, but the tiny gem set into it still glowed with an unblemished azure light. Because the light it emitted was faint, it looked like a toy at a glance, but anyone with a discerning eye would immediately recognize it for what it was.

A ring set with an Azure Lightstone.

It was a keepsake left behind by Dimone, and an object Raphael had cherished dearly.

Yet Raphael had gifted away a ring he had treasured for so long as though it meant nothing. Raphael of all people could not possibly have wanted to give up that ring. So why?

Raphael had sensed that the atmosphere within the family had turned against him.

But how?

Koromang tilted her head.

As far as information within the family went, nothing escaped her ears. So who had attached themselves to Raphael?

“He made someone his own without my even noticing.”

By gifting away the ring he treasured, Raphael had flaunted his access to information and revealed his desire to improve the situation.

Koromang chuckled to herself that perhaps she could be a little relieved after all. Then, that evening, she went to see Evelyn Isaac. Evelyn was one of Raphael’s two younger siblings, and of late she had been insisting with greater persistence that he needed to be replaced.

Like Raphael, Evelyn liked jewelry. In fact, she was worse. If there was a piece she could wear, she put it on without a second thought.

She started with hairpins, wore necklaces and even scarves on top of them, and covered her fingers in so many rings that one worried they must feel heavy.

Yet despite that extravagant appearance, Evelyn was the sharpest of the three Isaac siblings. Koromang had even thought, with some regret, that if only Evelyn had been born a man, she would have supported her instead.

“What is the matter?”

Koromang took out the ring she had received from Raphael. He had given it to her as a gift, but it still felt too burdensome for her to keep.

“How did you get that?”

Blinking, Evelyn rose from her chair.

“I received it from Lord Raphael. I believe he... realized it.”

“That idiot did?”

“It seems he is not quite as much of an idiot as we thought.”