Chapter 9: His Own Path
Will was certain he had fainted, not simply fallen asleep from exhaustion, because he hadn’t dreamed. He had expected another nightmare involving Iaar.
Those two Extreme Flame Meteors… so tiring.
It also proved…
As a cannon fodder comedic character in the original work, his current body was indeed very weak.
But fortunately, it wasn’t as weak as he had imagined.
Being able to withstand two high-intensity Ancient Magic spells of 8000 Xi was probably a feat many commoners could boast about for a lifetime.
Placed at this current point in time, especially for the school he would soon be attending, it seemed quite strong.
Unfortunately, this strength would be entirely insufficient in the Dungeon era five years later, when battle power escalated and gods fought gods—that is, after the protagonist was kicked out of the party.
Truly embarrassing combat power.
“Mmm… what time is it now…”
He had just woken up when a comforting aroma of black tea wafted to his nose.
He looked around. He was on the bed in his room, as expected.
“Wuwuwu— Young Master— Young Master, are you alright—”
As soon as he sat up, Iaar gave him a soft hug. Her furry ears tickled his nose.
She seemed genuinely worried, crying in Will’s arms.
So the tea scent came from Iaar.
Will didn’t particularly like tea, but before, to test if Iaar would grow and change, he pretended to like it very much and had Iaar brew a lot of tea.
“Of course, I’m fine. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have just had you carry me back; I would have had you call a doctor.”
Will stroked Iaar’s crying head and sighed.
“So, the calibration board?”
“In the back garden. Iaar was too scared to touch it after carrying you back.”
“Then, that string of numbers…”
“Wuwu… Radius 2.38 centimeters, depth 3 millimeters… Iaar will never forget!”
“Mmm. Then, let’s take this opportunity to measure the specific penetration value of the first Extreme Flame Meteor…”
Will had only said half of it when he felt a killing aura emanating from within the room.
Something dangerous was slowly approaching?!
*Bang.*
Will’s head was lightly tapped from behind.
“Who is it?! No one in this house dares to… to me except Aunt Susan…”
He turned around. The head maid of the Hysterm Family, Aunt Susan, stood there with the door open.
Worry and anger mingled in her eyes. She looked at him with her arms crossed, her expression quite complex.
“Oh, it’s you… My apologies, my apologies.”
To be honest, since reincarnating here, he hadn’t feared anyone.
Except for this head maid!
The head maid of the Hysterm Family was no joke. It was hard to imagine a maid who was not only proficient in tea ceremony and household chores but could also explain magic and sword skills with great clarity. It was said that her previous masters, his elder brothers and sisters, were all raised by her from childhood until they enrolled in school.
Moreover, she truly cared for him, serving as a mother figure in this world for him.
“You’re supposed to enroll next week, right? And you’re still here playing such reckless games?! Aren’t you afraid you’ll fail the practical entrance exam?”
“Stop scolding, stop scolding. The admission letter hasn’t even arrived yet. I… I also didn’t expect Extreme Flame Meteor to be such a strenuous magic…”
This was a lie. Will had expected it, of course. But even if he expected it, he had to do it. The day he would face the true Witch was fast approaching.
“Besides, after today, I’ve heard people outside spreading rumors that Young Master Will has a perverse hobby of setting muscular maids on fire. What did you do?”
This time, Will was utterly bewildered.
“Ah? Muscular maids? What did they even see?”
“You, you’re fine as long as you don’t leave the house. But once you do, your reputation only gets worse. They say your magic is only enough to cast two fireballs, a weakling, and that your theoretical grades are good.”
“Ah? Those are called two fireballs? What did they even see?”
In that instant, Will somewhat understood how rumors spread and multiply, how three people could make a tiger appear. What kind of things had spread in just one morning.
“Mmm, and some people say you’re indulging in excess and being debauched with your maid, that just being pressed against her made you faint from pleasure.”
“Ah? Ah? Ah? What did they even see?”
“Pfft.”
Iaar, standing beside them, giggled.
Aunt Susan tapped Will’s head again.
“Stop tapping, stop tapping. You’ll knock some sense out of this already brilliant head.”
“Today, you will lie here and rest properly. No reading or writing! And no measuring your calibration board! Don’t think I don’t know how late you stay up every night.”
“Okay… Okay, Aunt Susan…”
Will clutched his head.
He sheepishly shrank into the quilt.
“Then, I’ll lie down for a bit. Could you… could you bring the black tea over?”
With a combined psychological age well over thirty, facing someone who was like his mother, he instantly softened.
“Okay, okay.”
Seeing that her Young Master, who hadn’t budged despite her scolding, was now obedient, Iaar felt a bit relieved.
“Then, the tea is right here. Rest well, Young Master.”
Aunt Susan and Iaar left Will’s room together. After closing the door, Aunt Susan looked at Iaar sternly.
“Sigh, I won’t scold him anymore. But you, this maid, are also a cause for concern. Are you really letting him do whatever he wants?”
“Wh-what are you saying? Young Master, Young Master’s actions are… are quite normal.”
Aunt Susan looked at the collar around Iaar’s neck and couldn’t help but laugh wryly. She recalled what she had seen passing by the back garden yesterday.
The back garden, a small classroom, black bandages, a dog collar, two people.
No matter how you combined them, it wouldn’t lead to anything good.
And then today, this play had escalated, directly heading towards burning and abuse.
“What strange fetish is that Will developing now? He put that collar on you yesterday, didn’t he?”
“This… this is a gift from the Young Master to Iaar. It’s for special training… training heat resistance… it’s a very effective collar.”
“That child can talk more than anyone. I think he inherited the most from his father; the old man played around just as much back then.”
Aunt Susan sighed as she said this.
Madam had passed away shortly after Will was born. The old man had plenty of money and people, but he didn’t pay much attention to his child, appearing at home only once a month at best.
“If only Madam were still here, sigh… or if the old man paid more attention to him, he wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
“…B-but the Young Master is… is quite good. Aunt Susan, look at him, he’s training Iaar, teaching Iaar, and moreover… moreover, he even gave Iaar such a good thing. It’s rare for a Young Master to be so good to a maid, right?”
Iaar lovingly caressed the collar around her neck with her hand, thinking about how Will had spent a great deal of effort testing her this morning. She could tell that the Young Master had specifically tested the force with the calibration board before training her.
The Young Master truly took great care of her.
Thinking of this, Iaar smiled happily and sweetly at Aunt Susan, her furry tail wagging uncontrollably from side to side.
Aunt Susan remembered when Iaar was brought here at the age of three. She had never smiled, was extremely wary of everyone, her ears were always pricked upright, and she was even reluctant to make eye contact or speak with people.
At that time, she was like a wild wolf brought into a crowd.
She didn’t trust anyone around her, only seeing them as a completely different “race” that she couldn’t communicate with, interact with, or approach.
She would hunch her bony back, her blood-red eyes filled with fear and hostility, constantly emitting a low growl from her throat, “Don’t come near me.”
Moreover, Iaar at that time, having just been found in the forest, had poor physical condition and had not received systematic training. She couldn’t even cast the simplest magic.
She was weak and sensitive. If Will hadn’t taken an immediate liking to her, she might not have lived to see today.
Aunt Susan had once worried that even if she stayed, she wouldn’t be able to become a maid for the Hysterm Family and would be driven out upon reaching adulthood. This was because the servants of the Hysterm Family often had to take on roles as bodyguards and enforcers.
Now, she had become so cheerful. The sauna training room that Will had set up had actually helped her improve significantly. Among the current maids, Iaar could easily defeat a few opponents.
Perhaps, as Iaar had said, it was a good thing.
The seemingly abnormal Will was truly forging his own path.
As the two were chatting, a postman on a small bicycle, holding an admission letter from Entak First Academy with a gilded edge, slowly approached.
