Chapter 1. Baron's Daughter (1)
Chapter 1. Baron's Daughter (1)
After my utterly uneventful life came to an end.
I reincarnated in a fantasy world.
It would've been nice if I'd been born as a noble.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
I was born as the son of a serf.
Days of starving were the norm.
The food quality was downright awful.
Watery oat porridge was the staple.
Except for feast days, meat was something I couldn't even dream of seeing.
Still, I was one of the lucky ones.
At least I'd survived to adulthood.
My eldest brother got dragged off to the battlefield and we never heard from him again.
My younger brother starved to death.
Today, like always, I was eating oat porridge.
My father sat across from me.
His face was as blank and grumpy as ever.
Where's my mother, you ask?
She died giving birth to me.
Slurp.
I took a spoonful of the oat porridge.
It was disgustingly bland.
I had some salt-pickled cabbage on the side.
But that didn't make it taste any better.
The Thomas family next door sometimes had chicken soup.
Our house? Oat porridge and pickled veggies every damn day.
Why, you ask?
Because whenever my father got his hands on any money, he blew it all on booze.
My father was a mean drunk.
Smashing up the household goods was par for the course.
He'd swing at me for no reason plenty of times too.
So my body was always covered in bruises.
I wanted to escape.
But there was no way out.
Well, technically there was one.
Rack up some war merits.
But that was impossible.
My body was already skin and bones from malnutrition.
If I got sent to the battlefield, I'd just be arrow fodder for sure.
In the end, I'd probably spend my whole life trapped in this pathetic rural barony.
But not everything was hopeless.
At least I'd been blessed with good looks.
I was tall with great proportions.
So village girls would occasionally slip me boiled eggs and such.
The flirting wasn't half bad either.
Thomas's little sister was blatantly throwing herself at me, and Abigail kept nagging me to marry her.
But it didn't appeal to me.
For starters, there weren't any pretty girls.
Working all day under the sun had left everyone's skin rough and dry.
So my heart never stirred.
I'm a guy too.
If anything, I'd prefer to hook up with a hot babe.
Our barony did have one pretty girl.
Exactly one.
But touching her would be the end of me.
She was the lord's only daughter.
She was my age, with snow-white skin and golden blonde hair—a stunning beauty.
Her figure was killer too.
Plump breasts.
Long, slender limbs.
If she'd been born on Earth, she'd have been a famous model.
Her name was Anna.
I'd caught a glimpse of her once while running errands at the Lord's Manor, and my heart nearly stopped.
She was that gorgeous.
If I could just marry Anna.
I'd be happy eating this damn oat porridge every day...
I shook my head to clear away the idle thoughts.
No point staring at fruit that's out of reach.
My gaze drifted into empty space.
Upper right corner.
Something hazy flickered there like a hologram.
0/1
Two numbers.
What the hell did they mean?
They'd been fixed in my vision ever since I was a kid.
Maybe it was some kind of otherworld reincarnation perk?
But not knowing what it meant was just frustrating.
If there'd been a status window or a shop screen or something.
This shitty medieval world might've been halfway bearable...
Suddenly, I heard footsteps.
I peered out the window.
Someone was approaching through the darkness.
The silhouette was all spiky.
Clanking sounds too.
The noise of armor, no doubt.
I had a pretty good idea who it was.
The barony's Old Knight—Yannick.
Yannick's steps halted in front of our house.
No knocking or anything.
Yannick flung the door open.
Then barged right in without permission.
"Come out."
"Yes."
I meekly followed Yannick outside.
"Where's James?"
Yannick asked.
James was my father's name.
"Probably drinking at the tavern."
He'd likely guzzle booze till late into the night.
Then stumble home and start swinging again.
"What brings you here?"
Yannick didn't answer.
He just scanned me up and down with his piercing eyes.
"Follow me. You'll find out when we get there."
"Understood."
I played along obediently.
Talking back would've been a bad idea.
He'd break my bones without a second thought.
Yannick was a knight holed up in the countryside.
And old to boot.
But I couldn't underestimate him.
Knights were professional soldiers.
They honed their killing techniques every single day without fail.
Plus, he could wield Aura.
Meaning he could tear a man apart with his bare hands.
There were even cases of one knight slicing through dozens of conscripts.
They looked human.
But they were something else entirely.
Yannick's footsteps led toward the Lord's Manor.
"Did the lord summon me?"
"Shut it. Didn't I say you'd know when we get there?"
"Sorry."
I bowed my head right away.
Yannick stopped and turned around.
He looked seriously pissed.
Some lowborn kept yapping questions at him.
Fuck, I should've been born a noble...
I inwardly cursed a god I didn't even believe in.
Something felt off.
The ruler here was Baron Kargon.
He held the power of life and death over us serfs.
Maybe the bastard wanted me for something.
I'd heard this goddamn medieval world had a lot of perverts into guys.
Baron Kargon might be one of them.
Maybe he saw my pretty face and wanted a night together.
Not that. Anything but that.
Reincarnating as a serf was bad enough.
But getting my ass reamed too?
Better to kill the baron first.
With that grim mindset, I arrived at the Lord's Manor.
The Lord's Manor wasn't that big.
Just a plain two-story building.
Proof that the Kargon Barony wasn't wealthy.
The outer walls were slathered in cheap plaster.
Making the whole place look stark and dreary.
Almost like a government office.
Light leaked from a second-floor window.
"Come in."
Yannick went inside first.
I scurried after him.
Two guards at the entrance smirked at me.
It felt like mockery.
But I couldn't complain.
Yannick headed up to the second floor.
Then stopped in front of a door.
Was this the lord's office?
Knock knock.
Yannick knocked.
With extreme politeness.
He cleared his throat and spoke to the door.
"Miss, I've brought Hans as you commanded."
Hans was my name.
Wait a sec.
Miss?
Did the baron's Noblewoman summon me?
The door opened soon after.
And a pretty woman appeared.
She was wearing a dizzyingly revealing dress.
Practically lingerie.
The thin fabric barely covered her breasts and crotch.
I instinctively stepped back.
No lust stirring.
Just total bewilderment.
What the hell was going on?
Anna, the Noblewoman of the Barony.
She stared at me with half-lidded eyes.
Someone stood beside her.
A middle-aged beauty.
Probably Anna's maid.
"How dare you! Staring at the miss with your eyes all wide like that!"
The maid pointed at me and yelled.
I hurriedly bowed my head.
In this rigidly class-based world.
Pissing off someone higher up spelled big trouble.
"Sorry..."
"Hmm..."
Anna took a step closer.
Then bent at the waist.
Her head nearly touched my chest.
"You stink pretty bad... Clara. Can you wash him up?"
My face burned.
Never thought she'd call out my body odor.
In my defense.
The smell was unavoidable.
Hard labor all day meant sweating buckets.
Baths were a luxury too.
Water was scarce.
Unless it was a rare feast day, I couldn't even soak properly.
"Understood, Miss."
The middle-aged beauty.
The woman Anna called 'Clara' grabbed my wrist and dragged me.
"Come on. A beast like you who reeks doesn't even deserve to enter the miss's room."
The nagging wouldn't stop.
But I didn't talk back.
Just meekly followed Clara.
We went back down to the first floor.
That's where the bathroom was.
A space finished in pristine white tiles.
A magic lamp on the ceiling made it bright even late at night.
The exterior had been kinda shabby.
But the inside was luxurious.
Maybe to avoid the locals' prying eyes.
Flash too much wealth and you'd lose the people's goodwill.
Pulling a lever unleashed a torrent of water.
Something I'd never seen since reincarnating here.
My jaw dropped on its own.
"What're you doing? Strip already."
"Ah, yes."
I flung off my rag-like clothes.
Soon I was buck naked.
Clara stared at me openly.
A smile tugged at her lips.
Her gaze slowly traveled down.
And settled on my groin.
Yeah, my dick's pretty big.
No, more than pretty big.
Exaggerating a bit, it was forearm-sized.
"That's a solid tool you've got."
"Haha..."
I scratched my head and laughed awkwardly.
Before reincarnating.
Back when I was Korean.
My dick was below average.
But not anymore.
This thing wouldn't lose to anyone in size.
"Hmm..."
Clara stroked her chin and hummed.
"What's wrong?"
"With that size, the miss might get hurt..."
Wait, what...
That's when I realized what was about to go down.
Clara stepped closer.
A face that must've been quite pretty in her youth.
She smelled nice.
Powder, maybe?
"Hey, listen up to what I'm about to say."
"Yes."
Clara gripped my shoulder.
Her grip was stronger than it looked.
"What happens in the Lord's Manor tonight? You absolutely cannot breathe a word of it. Got it?"
"Of course."
Obviously I'd keep my mouth shut.
Run my yap and I might end up in pieces.
"Good. Now let's get you cleaned up nice and proper. We've got a lot to do. Gotta trim that scruffy beard too."
Clara lathered up some soap.
Bubbles puffed up from the towel.
The faint floral scent lifted my spirits.
Clara started rubbing my body with the foam-covered towel.
The white bubbles quickly turned yellow.
From not washing for so long.
She rinsed them off with water.
Then soaped me up again.
Clara was mid-30s or so.
A sultry beauty.
And here she was, scrubbing my naked body with her hands and towel.
I tried to hold back.
But I couldn't control my physiological reaction with willpower alone.
My dick slowly rose.
The blood-engorged thing stiffened like a club.
Gulp.
I heard Clara swallow.
A sign she was tense.
She deliberately looked away.
She tidied my beard too.
Trimmed my shaggy hair into something neat.
There was a mirror in the bathroom.
I checked my face in it.
Damn, I looked good.
My sculpted features were already handsome.
Cleaned up with groomed hair and beard, I looked like an actor.
My body was decent enough too.
A bit skinny for my height.
But way better than being flabby.
"Put these on."
Clara handed me a white robe.
I slipped it on quick, and she led me back to the second floor.
My heart pounded like crazy.
Was I really about to spend the night with Anna?