Anomaly
Anomaly
Hamilton, breaking out in a cold sweat, took a step back.
Feeling a chill he couldn't quite place, Hamilton rubbed his neck for no reason and spoke.
"......Do we know each other from somewhere?"
"Is that really what matters right now."
He wasn't wrong.
Hamilton, looking slightly sheepish for a moment, frowned and raised one eyebrow.
"Hey. I don't know who you are, but right now I'm following His Excellency the Count's orders and teaching the young lady swordsmanship. So why don't you stop meddling and move aside?"
"Teaching swordsmanship, you say."
Daniel, utterly flabbergasted, let out a hollow laugh.
"Is committing violence against a child barely ten years old teaching swordsmanship? To boast of this as education, I suppose you were beaten quite a bit yourself growing up."
The smile vanished from Hamilton's lips.
"......I don't know what gutter you crawled out of, but don't run your mouth any further. If you're not careful, I might just end up teaching you swordsmanship, and you'd have no one to blame but yourself."
"How kind of you to say so. I was just getting the urge to beat the hell out of you anyway."
"Wow. I thought you were just brave, but you're actually insane, aren't you? You want to go up against me?"
Daniel nodded and looked back.
"Young lady. Give me the wooden sword."
But Lucy only shook her head.
Lucy knew.
She knew just how cruel the man called Hamilton, standing before her, was.
If Daniel were to lose, he might be beaten to the brink of death.
So she couldn't allow the fight to happen.
"No. If something goes wrong with you, I......."
"Will you not trust me?"
At the sound of his gentle voice, Lucy hesitated and raised her head.
Daniel smiled quietly at her.
"I will absolutely not betray your expectations."
It was a gentle persuasion that made her want to believe him instinctively.
After a moment of hesitation, Lucy finally held the wooden sword out to Daniel.
Daniel took the wooden sword, bowed his head lightly to Lucy in thanks, and then looked back.
He saw Hamilton give him a look of utter disbelief.
"You really want to go against me? When you're nothing but a servant of this mansion?"
"Do I look like I'm joking right now?"
"This guy's really a stubborn piece of work. Well, doesn't matter."
Hamilton rolled his shoulders and took a couple of steps back.
"Since you picked this fight first, His Excellency the Count will understand. I'm going to turn you into a half-cripple now, so don't hold too much of a grudge, alright?"
Having said that, Hamilton shifted his weight onto his back foot.
His intention was to explode forward in an instant and attack by putting his weight behind the wooden sword.
Daniel, who had been defeated by Hamilton before, took a deep breath and gripped the wooden sword tightly.
'Hamilton is a bastard who can use body-strengthening abilities at will. If this becomes a drawn-out fight, I'll be at an obvious disadvantage. So.......'
He would make it a short, decisive fight.
The moment Hamilton kicked off the ground, Daniel accelerated his nerves.
In the slowly flowing world, he saw Hamilton rise into the air.
The trajectory of the wooden sword he was about to swing was also clearly visible.
'It wouldn't matter if I just suppress the bastard like this but.......'
If he did that, there was a possibility that Hamilton would persistently claim he had used his neural acceleration ability, not swordsmanship.
'So I need to make it look like I won purely with swordsmanship as much as possible.'
The moment Daniel finished his thought, the neural acceleration released and Hamilton's sword was swung.
However.
Hwoong─
Daniel, knowing the sword's trajectory in advance, easily dodged and set his stance.
"......!"
The flustered Hamilton's eyes went wide.
Peo-eok─!
Daniel, seizing the opening, struck Hamilton's flank hard with the wooden sword.
Hamilton's body naturally staggered.
'He saw my attack and blocked it? How?'
He had no time to finish the thought—Daniel's attacks kept coming.
Hamilton forced down the pain and clumsily took up a defensive posture.
Pak!
The wooden swords clashed with a dull sound.
Hamilton, whose balance had crumbled, tried to push Daniel back with force, but—
'......What?'
Daniel's wooden sword, sliding around his guard, came down toward his neck.
When he stepped backward to avoid being struck in the neck, his balance broke.
Daniel did not miss that moment and swept Hamilton's foot away.
Kudangtang!
Hamilton, dropping the wooden sword, fell to the floor in a pathetic heap.
"Kuk......!"
The moment he groaned and raised his head, Hamilton could only suck in a hollow breath.
Because Daniel stood over him, an imposing figure.
"You dare prattle on about swordsmanship with just this level of skill?"
"I......."
"Get lost. That is, if you don't want to become a half-cripple."
Hamilton bit his lip, full of resentment, then rose from his spot.
He glared at Daniel as if he couldn't tolerate losing to a mere servant, but he did not lunge at him.
He had felt the difference in skill firsthand.
In the end, Hamilton turned on his heel and left the training ground, and the servants who had been observing nearby shuffled awkwardly out after him.
Now that only Lucy remained, Daniel let out a low breath.
'That was dangerous.'
If Hamilton had lunged at him again, he couldn't have guaranteed victory.
Still, just as he was relieved that things had worked out, Lucy suddenly shouted.
"You idiot!"
Idiot? When Daniel turned around in disbelief, he saw Lucy biting her lip.
"......You're an idiot, aren't you? You're really just an idiot and a dummy, right? What are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Are you asking because you really don't know? If His Excellency the Count hears about what just happened, you could be in danger!"
Her words were rough, but Lucy was worried about Daniel.
Daniel was not unaware of what she was worried about, but it didn't matter.
Because he hadn't started this without a plan.
"Young lady. His Excellency the Count is a man who would even use a monkey if it aided his plans. So do not worry. If he hears of today's events, he will appoint me as your swordsmanship instructor, not drive me out."
Daniel explained this rationally, and Lucy's face became uncertain.
Daniel, still looking down at Lucy, let a slightly angry expression cross his face.
"And the idiot isn't me, young lady, it's you. Why didn't you ask anyone for help even when that son of a bitch Hamilton forgo... No. That bad man was beating you?"
Only after seeing Hamilton beat Lucy today did Daniel understand.
The reason she had insisted on wearing long clothes even in midsummer.
'She didn't want to show me the bruises on her body.'
Because she didn't want to worry Daniel, Lucy had been wearing long clothes all this time.
That felt truly frustrating to Daniel.
"If you had at least grabbed any of the servants and told them that Hamilton was using violence......."
Daniel stopped mid-sentence and shut his mouth.
Because he recalled how the servants observing the swordsmanship lesson today had so impassively accepted Hamilton's violence.
"Could it be that no one......."
In the wake of the soft shock, pity remained.
"Did no one ever consider your pain?"
Lucy remained silent, her gaze lowered.
When the lessons first began, Lucy must have cried out.
Telling them not to hit her, to stop using violence.
But each time, what Lucy saw were servants wearing cynical expressions.
No matter how much she asked for help, the only response was neglect and indifference.
So Lucy had given up.
She had come to accept that this world was made of pain.
Daniel, having understood all of that, knelt on one knee.
"Young lady. Whatever others may do, I will absolutely never ignore your requests. So if something difficult happens from now on, please, tell me."
Lucy gave a small nod, then suddenly stepped forward.
And then she lightly embraced Daniel.
Daniel did not bother to ask what that action meant.
Because he could see Lucy's small shoulders trembling faintly.
And so, without a word, Daniel raised his hand and gently patted Lucy's back.
So that the wounds she had suffered until now might heal even a little.
*
As expected, Count Kaledra, upon hearing of the incident at the training ground, appointed Daniel as the new swordsmanship instructor.
Daniel, who had become Lucy's attendant and teacher, was faithful to his duties.
He diligently took care of Lucy at her side and conducted education, not violence.
Thanks to this, Lucy smiled more with each passing day.
Daniel was satisfied, though he didn't know when Lucy would regain her memories.
He wished that Lucy could forget all of her heart's pain like this.
However, life was always bound to meet unexpected ambushes.
"Are you reporting to me with pride the fact that you still haven't awakened a new ability."
It was around six months after Daniel had become Lucy's swordsmanship instructor.
The day he happened to overhear Count Kaledra conversing with a confidant in the garden.
Daniel, who had been hiding behind a pillar in the corridor wondering what they were talking about, came to understand.
"It can't be helped. There's no need to leave behind evidence of the human experimentation. Dispose of Lucy Emilia as soon as tomorrow dawns."
That the history of this world had changed.