•·················•·················•

The junior maid’s contract was finally up.

On the sofa in the sunlit parlor, Rosé reminisced about the days that had passed.

Beating laundry bats, sorting laundry, chopping onions, peeling ginger, throwing away vegetable scraps, mowing the lawn, filling cisterns, repairing stone walls……. It was a lot of hard work for little reward.

Although she had the chance to meet an S-class, she hadn’t seen him since that day they crossed paths.

No wonder. How could a lowly maid working in the kitchen chamber meet an S-class. It was a miracle that day, when the gate opened and the Duke entered by the back way, that she had seen him at all.

Rosé was now standing at a crossroads, contemplating whether to pursue money or the conquest of an S-class.

If she extended her time as a maid, she would earn only ten sillas, but she could close the distance between herself and the S-class.

But if you ask me if I can get closer with the S-class.

‘No. It’s difficult.’

Rosé shook her head. The difference between a duke and a maid was like the difference between heaven and earth. No matter how high the reward, it was hard to get greedy.
In the past week, I’ve found it difficult to see the Duke at all, so I’ve decided to change careers.

〈SYSTEM〉 ‘Test Subject’?
Yes
No

‘I’ll start by earning communication costs.’

Elion, who was watching over Rosé let out a silent sigh. He thought about intervening, but he concluded that it would be better for her to experience it herself.

“Miss.”

Recognizing the gesture, Rosé turned off the screen and looked back at Elion.

“Elion. When did you get here?”
“I arrived a little while ago.”

Elion, who had left for the mine the day before, returned home this morning. He must have been tired, but he brought her a homemade dessert.

The macaron-like dessert had been baked over an open fire, so its shape was not uniform, but it seemed to be all the more delicious because of that.

“It’s a latafia cake¹A/N: a dessert that was popular in Europe in the mid-to-late 18th century and is the predecessor of the macaron.. It was my idea to add orange cream’ but I don’t know if you’ll like it.”
“You made these yourself?”

Rosé immediately held up a slice of latafia. The fragrant, savory aroma of almonds and sugar swept over her. It was like a crispy cookie on the outside, with a sweet and sour orange cream filling on the inside.

Oh, she couldn’t resist. As she put a piece of the cake into her mouth, a “mmmmmm” sound came out involuntarily. The sweetness that filled her to the toes made her shoulders tremble.

“Elion, I want you to feed me for the rest of my life.”

Even though it was a joke, Elion remained expressionless. His face looked ominous, as if there was something else he wanted to say.

“I have a proposal for you, miss.”
“A proposal?”

At that moment, she should have sensed the crisis that would come once in her lifetime.

“How about learning swordsmanship?”

Little did Rosé know that Elion’s one word would take away her peaceful weekend at noon that day.

•·················•·················•

Rosé looked at the old man in front of her. He was a white-haired old man who looked like he could collapse at any moment, leaning on a single cane for support.

The old man introduced himself.

“I’m a wandering mercenary. I used to be pretty good.”

〈SYSTEM〉 Obtained the title ‘Disciple of a once-prominent wandering mercenary.’
Intelligence decreases.
Morality decreases.

A chilly wind swept through the training ground in the backyard of the Blue Rock Mansion. Rosé gave Elion a side glance. Her wide eyes were telling him.

‘I thought you said he’s supposed to be the best swordsman!’

The incident began at noon yesterday.

“How about learning some swordsmanship?”

Elion’s proposal surprised Rosé. She put down her empty ratatouille dish and asked,

“Swordsmanship all of a sudden…?”

For the past 26 years, Rosé had been someone who was far from swords.Even when her friend took up kendo to get some exercise, she watched from the sidelines.

But swordsmanship?

“Recently, there have been frequent occurrences of attacks. It’s unpredictable when and where demons will appear, so it would be good for you to be prepared in advance.”
“Oh.”

Rosé’s eyes, which had been vacant, suddenly became clear. She had momentarily forgotten that this was a place where demons were rampant.

But as Rosé knew, this world that represented modern Europe was a time when flintlocks²A/N: outdated guns that appeared in the early 16th century existed. So, wouldn’t it be more advantageous to learn shooting rather than swordsmanship?

“Some people attack with muskets, but they’re a tiny minority. Even though they’re heavy and have a long reloading time, the bullets are deflected by magic. It’s safer to use a sword to fight demons.”

Elion gave a clear explanation.

Rosé nodded her head, recalling that guns don’t often appear in other isekai stories. In a fantasy world, it’s all about swords.

“In that sense, we’re planning to have a swordsmanship teacher this weekend. Would that be okay with you?”
“This weekend…”

Rosé remembered last weekend. She had done nothing but sleep. She could probably learn swordsmanship if she wanted to, but she wasn’t mentally prepared yet. She hadn’t even fully committed to becoming a hero yet…

“Can we postpone it a little? If a gate appears, Elion can come save me, right?”
“Miss.”

Elion’s voice sounded serious, and Rosé found herself unconsciously clenching her fist.

“I can only track your location. I can’t confirm whether there’s a gate or not.”
“Oh…”
“So you have to learn to fight on your own.”

Well, that was a problem. Rosé’s wide-eyed expression said it all. And so, from now on…

“I’ll be teaching you every weekend. Ahmm.”

When Rosé asked if there was a teacher she could learn from, Elion proudly replied that he had already found the best swordsmanship teacher.

But I never thought that the best swordsmanship teacher standing there would be an old man who seemed to be in danger.

Even at this moment, Elion was beaming with pride towards Rosé. He seemed to genuinely believe that the old man in front of him was an excellent swordsmanship teacher.

‘Aah, Elion…’

Elion, who had single-handedly guarded the empty mansion, worked tirelessly to pay off his master’s debt and even took on mining jobs. On top of that, he started to cover his own living expenses.

Rosé couldn’t bring herself to tell him that his choice might have been wrong.

Finally, with polite hands clasped, Rosé bowed her head towards the old man.

“I’ll call you Master.”

From that day on, the old man became Rosé’s swordsmanship master.

•·················•·················•

“Huh, huh, huh!”

It happened about three hours into the lesson. Rosé, who had been walking with a wooden sword over her shoulder, collapsed onto the ground.

Her swordsmanship master, who had been sipping on the beer that Elion had brought over, clicked his tongue and shook his head at Rosé’s lack of strength.

“You don’t have any strength left. Tsk, tsk.”

Struggling to stand on her wobbly legs, Rosé glared at her master. She had at least expected to practice sword movements or learn basic stances, but her master didn’t even bother to teach her the basics of swordsmanship. This was no different from dog training.

“Master, can you teach me how to hold a sword properly…?”
“100 push-ups.”
“Ugh, please, Master…”
“200 push-ups.”

Rosé reluctantly took up the push-up position, but she couldn’t even do it properly since she had only been sitting at a desk all day. Eventually, she collapsed onto the ground again. Her master threw his beer mug at her and started to jab her with his cane.

“Ow! Ouch! Ahh! It hurts! Stop it!”
“Your muscles are so soft, they’re useless. Tsk, tsk.”

Tears welled up in Rosé’s eyes. Elion, who had been silently watching her, was at the edge of her vision. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Feeling heartbroken, Rosé pushed herself up and began doing push-ups again with all her might.

“At least you have determination.”
“Ugh!”

The swordsmanship master chuckled as he poked Rosé’s ribs with his cane.

〈SYSTEM〉 Your stats have changed due to your swordsmanship activity.
Intelligence decreased by 1.
Morality decreased by 2.

‘Why the hell is my intelligence and morality dropping.’

Rosé complained silently.

Ignoring her complaints, the master tapped her shoulder with his cane, signaling for her to resume her training.

Rosé, with tears streaming down her face, took up her position again. She caught a glimpse of Elion smiling broadly in the distance, his face bathed in the sunlight. Despite his handsome features, Rosé couldn’t bring herself to forgive him.

‘We were good, Elion.’

He couldn’t have been a black-hearted person, could he?

It had only been a month since she had been transmigrated, but she was slowly waking up to the harsh reality of this world.

•·················•·················•

Muho, who had introduced himself as a wandering mercenary, clicked his tongue as he looked at his apprentice, who hadn’t even completed a single lap of the garden.

He could see her floundering through the overhanging branches. Even though she was a human woman, she was too weak.

“You’re pushing her too hard, aren’t you?”

Muho snorted at Elion’s words, and with a swiftly raised staff, he slapped Elion’s calf.

“You’re the one who asked me to come here, interrupting my closed-door training.”

Despite the loud blow, Elion didn’t let out a single yelp. Even with the full force of his staff, he reacted as if a fly had landed on him. He was as boring as ever.

“You said you came from a different world. That’s why you feel the barrier.”

Turning away from Elion, Muho focused on Rosé as she leapt again.

The key to wielding a sword is to channel your innate qi outward.

But there was a barrier in Rosé’s body that prevented her from amplifying that power.

“It was probably a way for her to increase her assimilation rate, so that her new body wouldn’t be able to withstand the possession and break.”

Rosé Mora was a body built from the ground up with possession in mind. Depending on its compatibility with the possessor, the body could shatter.

Perhaps a shield had been designed to prevent it. But Muho had a different idea.

“No, it’s not like that. The aura is too clean to be artificially created.”
“Is there a way.”

Muho bent over with his staff on the ground and let out a low groan. It might not matter when one is weak like this, but the more one learns swordsmanship, the clearer the limits become.

Moreover, at this rate, she could only acquire the level of skill that an average human could display.

The only way for her, who had lived as a human in another world for a long time, to excel in swordsmanship was to eliminate the barrier that had been created in her body for some reason.

“Let’s take her to the brink of death.”
“That means…”
“At least the third level of danger, if not the second.”
“That’s not possible.”

Elion said firmly, his face set in a scowl.

Muho tried to hit Elion’s leg with his staff, but Elion’s hand was faster than expected and grabbed the staff. Muho snorted in surprise.

“Do you have a conscience now?”
“No.”
“You were the one who wanted that human woman to climb the tower, whether she lives or dies.”

Elion remained silent.

“If she can’t survive on the boundary, she won’t be able to enter the tower anyway.”

There was no retort. For him, entering the tower was more important to him than anything else, there was no room for choice

“Your disciple is rude to her master. Tsk, tsk.”

Muho grumbled towards Elion about his disciple’s impudence. Suddenly, he regained his rough voice and complained to Elion about his disciple’s foolish use of magic to overpower him.

As he spoke, Muho’s hair, which had been pure white, regained its lilac color, and the wrinkles on his face, which had been sagging, disappeared, revealing his natural skin.

The massive pectoral muscles were more reminiscent of a knight capable of wielding a greatsword than an aging mercenary.

Muho of the Tiger Clan.

Descended from the White Tiger, one of the divine animals of the East also known as Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, this creature once enjoyed a promiscuous life with human women thanks to its handsome appearance. But everything changed with the appearance of a dimensional boundary.

Muho raised his staff again and kicked the cowardly apprentice in the thigh. He struck with all the force he could muster, but Elion didn’t even groan.

Meanwhile, Rosé had finished her laps and was running toward them. Muho, back in his old man form, shouted at her.

“Don’t come back! One more lap! No, two more laps! More laps!”

In the distance, Rosé’s rugged face was visible. Elion, who happened to make eye contact with her, couldn’t help but smile.

— Do you have a conscience now?

No, he didn’t. There’s no way he has one now.

As he watched Rosé walk away, the corners of his mouth slowly hardened.

T/N: hello. sorry for the inconsistent terms, this story is broad and i cant keep up with every word. just know that when i use rank, class, or grade, they’re usually the same thing! thank you ♥︎