Info:-
-You defeated Yiran, The Cruel.
-You gained 100 Experience Points and one Mini-Surprise box.
-You made sure to destroy Yiran thoroughly. You gained an additional award.
-Skill Orb Acquired. It's inside the Mini-Surprise Box.
Roy's EXP surged up to 110, and now he was only 90 points away from advancing to the 6th level of Body Tempering, but he had completed the repeatable quest so many times that it was only giving him bricks for rewards quite literally, making it impossible for him to abuse the questing system, and on top of that, he was currently in no state to think up a way to cover up why he would kill ants and bees in the count's garden, so he wasn't going to be leveling up anytime soon.
The Stamina Restoration Manual only restored his stamina and didn't do a thing about the huge amount of physical and mental strain he added on himself by beating the puppet and Yiran intensely, so what he was experiencing wasn't exhaustion, but cramps, and the only way to find freedom from them was to rest.
With his maid, he went back to his living room, which felt pretty stuffy to him, although undeniably luxurious.
Having no strength to take a bath, he directly sat down on the bed, and his petite maid freed his feet of their constraints. The shoes were put into a corner. And then his sweaty clothes were taken off before being thrown into a basket. Amelia felt emotional. This was the first time he had sweated so much, and it showed how determined he was to turn over a new leaf. They were in a warm area. The jacket that had blocked the cold for her out in the open was no longer needed. It was taken off. On the other hand, Roy covered his body with a black robe. "Amazing," he said, "There is actually a robe my size. It must be handmade. Who made it?"
"I prepared it as a gift for your 15th birthday."
It wasn't a tailor but Amelia who worked hard for weeks to sew a robe that would fit Roy.
"Sorry, a lot is going on my mind lately, and I forgot." Roy apologized, but she didn't need it.
"No need. I never told you." Back then, he wouldn't have understood. Amelia was the type that did good deeds without announcing a thing. She wasn't doing good for the sake of gaining attraction but out of the goodness of her heart.
Knock, knock!
"Come in."
Roy gave him permission and in came the person who knocked on the door.
Any other day, the servants would've rudely barged into his place, but the news of Roy's cruelty had spread among them, making them fear him.
Because of the newfound fear they had for Roy, they became more like his subordinates than his bullies. Although not the best, fear was the fastest way for one human to make others follow him.
"Have you come to deliver that?"
There was a pouch in the servant's hand full of gold coins. It was very, very fat, around the size of Roy's stomach. No doubt, it contained several hundred in it. He beckoned the servant to hand it over to him hurriedly.
"Ah, yes. A knight handed it to me, telling me to take it to you. I will take my leave since that's all."
The servant came close to him and put it in his hand, resultantly parting ways with it. It would be good if Roy were still a fool. He would've gotten to pocket this bag of gold then. But now things have changed. And if he wanted to keep his neck, he had to be honest to the one he was brought here to serve. Staying here wasn't a pleasant thought to him. He immediately hurried to leave. He was a man in his early twenties but looked more like an Uncle as he was unusually fat. His salary was enough to get him three meals a day. Yet he had a potbelly and pig-like legs.
"Wait."
Unable to defy Roy, the servant stopped in his tracks and cursed under his mouth before he turned back to him with a smile.
"Yes?"
"I won't hold you fools accountable for your past actions if you return half of what you've stolen from me so far. And I want it before the next night. Sell your houses, items, or kidneys. I don't give a damn. If you fail, I will send a lengthy report to the count. And trust me, it will be enough to spell your doom. Your father wouldn't come out unscratched either. He would be left alive because he had been serving our family for decades, but he would be sacked and crippled. With the wealth gone and the only two breadwinners of the house out of commission, what do you think your wife, two daughters, young son, and mother would've to do to survive? Relay these words of mine to the kitchen master too."
'Oh shit, he knows.'
The pot-bellied servant could hear his heart exploding. The count wasn't a stingy man. Although he clearly disliked Roy too much, he didn't cut off his allowances to save a few pennies. But then, where did it go? It went into the mouth of this father and son duo. One was the kitchen master and the other the plates cleaner. The crime they committed was grievous in nature. They weren't only stealing from Roy. They were also stealing from the Count. Yan was the son of Mart, the Kitchen Master. They had been stealing the money the count had sent Roy's way for the last decade. They had done more daring things. They ate the food meant for him and his maid, and they abused his maid, forcing her to do their job, clean plates, and prepare meals for hundreds of people. It was not wrong to say that they, too, had a hand behind the abuse Amelia and Roy had suffered so far. Roy found all that out after he inspected "Yan."
"I will," Yan said, sweating as much as a pig in a heated pot.
"And another thing." Roy picked up the lamp and threw it at the pot-bellied servant. It landed on his head, and blood burst out. Yan screamed and fell to his knees. The servants outside turned to him, and when their eyes thinned to the size of needles. They were worried for Yan but their own lives, for they thought that Roy would settle the matters with them after Yan.
"Do your damn job yourself. If I find her in the kitchen ever again doing something she shouldn't be, that would be your last day seeing The Great Sun. And you don't need to worry about your father being aggrieved over your eternal rest. I will send him after you."
Yan lowered his head, fear swallowing him whole. Roy winked at Amelia. For killing two servants, how badly would I be punished?"
"You might be forced to reflect on your actions for three or six months in solitary confinement since you're the count's blood."
Yan's body trembled. Roy dared to beat the trainee that had sworn servitude to the eldest young master; what other things did he dare not do? Not for a moment did Yan, the Son of Mart, think that he would not drag him and his father to the execution ground to behead them if he found them bullying his maid again or tampering with his food and allowances.
"I wouldn't dare, and I wouldn't let my father overstep your bottom line either."
Pah!
Another lamp shattered on Yan's head, and his cries got louder.
"What do you know about my bottom line? Get lost. Just seeing you is enough to disgust me." Roy scolded him. He wasn't a perfect man. And it was easy for him to lose control over his emotions when dealing with men like Yan and Mart, who take advantage of the powerless and mentally retarded.
Yan scurried away like a rat, leaving a trail of wetness wherever he went. He had pissed himself out of fear of Roy, for under his gaze, he felt like an innocent lamb gripped by the jaws of death. He really felt that he would die getting his head smashed with all sort of items. Consider his relief and happiness when he was let go?!
"Thank you. You're my master, but you treat me like your sister. I know you were extra harsh on Yan because of me, but if there's a similar situation in the future, I hope you won't let emotions get the best of you. Instead of burning all bridges, leave some ways to reconcile with people like him. You need people to kiss up to you. With the members of the house by your side, you'll gain a voice in this house."
"I already have a person to hear me out, and I find that quite enough. As for people like him, inviting them over to your side is like hammering a nail into yourself. They will backstab you the moment you're in an unfavorable spot."
…
The second Yiran had accepted Roy's challenge, the hundreds of knights and thousands of trainees had started a bet. Before the fight began, Roy had asked Amelia to participate in it. That's why he gave her his golden buttons. And Amelia had bet whenever she had on her at that time on Roy. Thankfully he won. Or she would have lost the diamond Jade hairpin that had been with her ever since she could remember, long before Lady Florence picked her up.
"Did you add your personal savings too?"
"Yes, I did."
"What if I had lost?"
"Well. You didn't. And we won a lot. So it's all good. If I don't believe in my master, who else would I believe?"
"Let's split it evenly."
"No, no. I don't have any use for money. You can keep them. What's mine is my master's."
"Alright, I guess. How much is this?"
Roy opened up the pouch.
What they saw inside was a world of yellow.
"This is too much. We've struck gold. We've become rich!!" Roy exclaimed.
Amelia giggled, her laugh nothing less than a soothing melody to the soul. "Everyone had bet that Yiran would defeat you. But I was the only one that bet that you would win. And because you won, we made hundreds of gold coins. I still can't forget the look of jealousy the knights and trainees had directed by the way when I picked up the pouch jiggling with gold. They were watching me as if they wanted to do nothing more than loot me like bandits."
"You are deserving of a reward."
Roy forced a handful of gold coins on Amelia.
"With these coins jiggling in my purse, I would become the target of ill intention. It will be safer for me if they are with you."
Amelia tried to return the coins back to him, but Roy gently curled up her fingers and pushed back her hand.
"Just hide them in your bosom, and no one will find out." These words came out of Roy's mouth naturally. Unlike the Old Roy, he wasn't a virgin. Amelia's face turned beet red like a riped tomato as she blushed. Not knowing how to respond to him, she pocketed the coins and changed the topic.
"What would you like to eat?"
"I will leave it up to you to order mine and your favorite dishes from the best restaurants in the county. Don't disappoint me."
"I won't, my master."
Amelia went away to do the things Roy requested. As for Roy, he got his long-awaited alone time. He had been too tense lately. And he wanted to find release by doing that. No, it isn't as what you might be thinking. He took out something, but it wasn't his wand but a blue screen. It showed a box. With just a thought, the box inside the screen vanished, and out of thin air, a box materialized next to Roy. Unwrapping, it came first. Roy wasn't good at tying or untying shoelaces. So he ripped apart the ribbons and stopped him from opening the box lid.
[Opened Mini-Surprise Box. You get +90 EXP, one low-level magic ring, and a skill orb.]
"Wow, I didn't expect this."
Just like that, Roy had received the EXP he needed to needed to level up.
[You leveled up.]
[You've advanced to the sixth stage of body tempering.]
[Your Basic stats have increased by a few points.]
His strength had inched close to thirty points. It was several times more than the average human of this world. It wouldn't be surprising If Roy rushed a stone with his bare hands.
The skill orb was opened next.
[You've received the Tyrant's Body Meditation Technique.]
[Would you like to learn it?]
'Learn.'
Information about the Tyrant's Body Meditation Technique drilled into his mind. It allowed him to convert Mana into Fat. But such Fats are called Mana Fat. And these Mana Fats can be converted back into Mana. For mages, this technique was useful, for it helped them escape the confines of their Mana Sea and store Mana directly into their body in the form of Fat, but for Roy, who shouldn't interact with Mana, it was quite useless.
"No, it's not entirely useless. This is definitely not present in the Far West. I can commercialize to mages. Most wouldn't like it because of its effect on the body. But some would pay a lot for it." Roy concluded.
Then he moved on to the next best thing.
"What does this thing do? Let's see."
The low-level magic ring was a runic item. It had a space inside of it. One could store items inside it. It also granted its wearer the magic skill, Mana Shield. It would be bound to the first person that feeds it, Mana. But Roy didn't have a hint of it.
Roy clicked his tongue. 'Tch! Isn't this also useless for me?'
Right then, as if to prove him wrong, a message popped up in vision.
[Would you like to feed it to the Mark of Shadow?]