Roy failed to hide it from her.
She had chanced upon him when he had snuck back into his room.
Seeing him in tattered and bloody clothes and wounded was enough to give her an idea of where he had been.
She gave him an earful before realizing that he was her master and she was his maid, and it was not in her rights to lecture him about what he should and shouldn't do.
So she apologized to him and gave him the silent treatment.
Her anger didn't go anywhere.
She had raised this bastard for 16 years, but what did she get in return? A silent betrayal!
He could have died outside, and she would have never known.
She was going crazy for his sake because he had left without a word, going crazy trying to find him or any clue as to where he might be.
He left without a word, not even considering it important to tell her he would be risking his life to hunt beasts in the wild.
Did he consider her important, or was it only her imagination?!
Roy felt bad because of the way she was treating him.
He told her he had left behind a way for her to know where he was, but she said he was lying.
The letter he left was nowhere to be found.
Roy searched for it and found it under the bed. Amelia's watchful eyes were on him as he grabbed it out.
He had left the letter in plain sight, but a cold wind had blown it under the bed, creating this huge misunderstanding.
He showed her the letter he had left for her.
Only after reading it did she find out she had misunderstood him and calm down a little.
Roy grabbed Amelia's arm and made her turn towards him. He was not too hard, nor was he too gentle with his actions.
Their eyes met.
"Now, can you stop being angry at me?"
Roy didn't have anyone to talk to except her. Arlo had left the county for some reason. No one, not even the count, knew where he had gone. Amelia was the first person he had encountered in this world. She was the first to whom he had opened up. He wanted their relationship to stop deteriorating and go back to normal.
Amelia took a deep breath, calming down her nerves and spitting the anger out. "You've misunderstood me. I'm not angry at you. How can a maid be angry at her master? I just hope you can take care of yourself better. Do you know how terrified I felt when I saw you covered in blood? My heart stopped beating for a while. If not for you telling me that it wasn't yours but someone else, I would've fainted. I know you want to gain real experience to sharpen your sword like any other Knight, but please don't risk your life. There's a person whose life means not much without you, who will always be waiting for you. Please take into consideration said person's feelings, my master."
She kneeled on one knee, showing her absolute loyalty to Roy.
Roy was silent for a while. This wasn't a novel or a fake world. Amelia was a real person. She was loyal to him. But also overly protective and concerned when it comes to him. That was the instinct of a mama bear. She would never like to see her cub going into danger when she had told him not to.
"I can't promise you anything," Roy said, helping her stand up. Amelia's expression fell, and she didn't dare to look him in the eyes. She lacked the courage to. Just a look at her downcast face was enough to tell him what she was feeling.
He sighed, walked away, and continued, "I don't want to make empty promises to my only friend."
Amelia's expression brightened up. She looked at his back hopefully. He caught the sight of her from the corner of his eyes.
The look she gave him was saying, "I mean much to you, so you don't want to lie to me?"
Roy turned towards her, but he didn't nod or shake his head for a while.
Did he care for her or not? That was hard to say.
She was the only ray of light for the Old Roy, but to this one, who was a mixture of two souls of two different people, she meant something else.
To Old Roy, she was a capable maid and like a mother.
To this Roy, however, she was someone he wanted to lift out of misery and push towards glory.
That, however, didn't mean he cared for her.
It showed his desire to repay her for the things she had done for him over the years.
Roy asked himself one question: Would he protect her if she was in danger?
The answer he found was: Yes, he would!
"Mm-hmm."
A while after, a gentle noise of agreement came out of his throat, causing a beautiful smile to blossom on Amelia's face. Roy gulped. She looked too pretty at the moment, like a cherry petal. He looked away immediately. Eying this pretty-faced maid wasn't his intention nor desire.
...
Three days had passed since he had gone up the mountain to hunt the snow wolves.
Roy had trusted several dozen of corpses of the beast he had killed to the local butcher house. It was a very big place with dozens of butchers that were good at dismantling. They had their handfuls with other customers, so even though Roy was the son of the count, they told him to come back next week. Roy did a magic trick to change their attitude. They promised that they would dissect all of them in seven days when he flicked several gold coins their way. Like money in Roy's previous world, Gold coins would make anyone go crazy.
Arlo was still nowhere to be seen.
These past few days, Amelia had served him well, applying healing cream on his wounds, wiping his body gently with warm water, and spoon-feeding him. The many bruises and internal injuries he had received from fighting the Snow Wolf Leader and its packs were now too pale to be seen by the naked eye. He was almost entirely healed.
Immediately, he opened his status window and looked at the details.
NAME: Roy
Age: Sixteen years and nine months old
Titles: Young Lord of Cruelty (Increase All Stats by one), Snow Wolf Leader Slayer (Increase Damage Dealt to Snow Wolves by 30%) (Increase Damage Dealt to Normal Monster by 10%) (Equipped)
EXP POINTS: 100
Power Level: Body Tempering Stage 11th Level (0/1200 EXP)
Health: 9/10
Mana: 0
Aura: 1100
World Energy Sensitivity: 80%
Strength: 50 (50)
Stamina: 42 (42)
Agility: 38 (38)
Perception: 7.5
Endurance: 8.8
Physical Defense: 1.76%
Magical Damage Negation: 0.98%
Stat points: 10
Skill point: 8
Item equipped: None
Just a few more hours, and he would be as good as healed. There was a considerable improvement in his Constitution. He was like a monster in a human being's body. One must know that the Strength of the Snow Wolf Leader was 50 points, and it was a boss-ranked monster of the tenth level. To take it down, even four level 10 trainees might not be enough. But Roy had the same state as it, and he was a human. Basically, he could tear trainees with his bare hands. That was just how dangerous he had become.
A young man that had lost five or so kilos was being closely followed by a maid. His metabolism had increased because of reaching the 11th stage of Body tempering. And during these past few days, he had eaten like a cow, consuming only organic green. That was why his weight had decreased so drastically. Still, he looked the same as ever. Dieting couldn't affect Mana Fat too much; only magic could. At best, his weight would stop decreasing after he lost ten or so more kilos. That was equivalent to 20-25 pounds.
"How many did you fight?"
"A lot."
"How many exactly?"
"You're better off not knowing about some things."
Roy patted Amelia's shoulder and gave her a smile. She was curious about everything he had done that day all of a sudden.
"If you don't want to tell me, then just don't. It's not like I am curious."
"Your face is telling me a different story."
"Hmph! You must be seeing things."
Those words were barely audible, but Roy chuckled as he had heard them and found out that she, too, had a silly and cute side. And he found it fun to tease her.
He pinched her nose.
"Ehh!" She yelped, closing her eyes.
By the time she opened them, he had walked away.
"What was that for?" She wondered why her master did that to her.
…
Roy had ten attribute points.
He put them all in his Perception.
During his fight with the wolves, he realized that the tingling feeling on the back of his head that was telling him danger was approaching was directly related to the fact that his Perception was higher than a normal person's by 0.5 points.
He would be able to discern danger better if his perception increased.
『Ding! Your Perception has increased to 15.5 points.』
『Ding! Congratulations on pushing your Perception beyond the Realm of Normality. You have gained Sixth Sense.』
『Your Perception has gone beyond the limits of a human, evolving into a sixth sense like that of elves, dwarves, and other higher beings. You can sense incoming danger. You may also discern their trajectory. You can sense changes in the world. The fluctuation of Mana and the energy of the world in your surroundings might not escape your notice.』
Roy only had this to say, "Fuck... this is the strongest system in both name and capabilities."
Elves were born with the ability to communicate with nature. Dwarves were born talented craftsmen whose lifespan was ridiculous longer than humans. There were fairies in this world, but there not be even one in the Far West. They had wings, born capable of flying. Humans... only they didn't have an innate racial trait. But Roy... oh Roy, he had broken the social norms.
And his innate racial trait was a ridiculous time better than others!