It's the second day in this world. My first life. The world where I am Deed. It's a medieval world with superpowers and stuff, as usual. Just memories themselves aren't enough for me to learn more about this place. I need to experience it myself.
I woke up early in the morning, the sun still hadn't risen yet. I praised the almighty God as Deed originally did. Be thankful and grateful for being alive again today. But rather than continue sleeping, I warmed up and readied myself...
After that, I started running at the field, getting used to Deed's body. The fresh air of dawn is really refreshing and gives peace to my mind. There aren't many people training at this time, only about three people I could see. One of them is a man with a very muscular figure swinging a sword much bigger than him. Another is a man in his 20s. The third figure seems to just be watching and observing the two sparring.
It's still dark, so I couldn't see their faces very well, but I paid no mind to them and just continued my run on the big training field. I could feel the intensity of their training, so I tried not to look much. Even in my own world, when working out at the gym, it's just common sense to mind your own business and do your own training.
"Oh, it's not often for us to see a young knight training at this time." The muscular man said, noticing the young boy running around the field.
"That is..." The man in his 20s looked toward the boy, noticing something.
"My apologies, Lord. It seems I have made a mistake. Should I tell him to train later instead?" An old man with a refined look, wearing a suit and a monocle on his right eye, said.
"It's fine. It's great to see a young boy being motivated to train like that. Hahaha." The muscular man said with a hearty laugh.
"Isn't that one of Erica's bodyguards, though?" The man in his 20s said, wiping his eyes as if thinking he saw a hallucination.
"You know him?" The muscular man asked, curious.
"Of course... he's the number one slacker out of all our employees. If not because of Erica, I would have kicked him out already." The man in his 20s said, showing dissatisfaction.
"My Lord, that young boy is the one Young Miss Erica employed to protect her on her duty to develop new dishes for our duchy." The old man said, explaining. "His job is basically to first poison-test food, and then finish the dish."
"Oh, it's him." The muscular man said.
"Based on what I know, he isn't the type to train, and mainly offers services in exchange for money from other employees." The old man said. "It's also because Young Miss Erica took a liking to him that we employed him here. Despite being a slacker in training, he's known to ease the burden of other employees."
"That must not be him! That scoundrel just took advantage of little Erica's kind and noble heart." The man in his 20s said.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, Leon. I know that Erica spends less time with you, but that's all part of life. She needs to grow, too." The muscular man said.
"But Father!" The man in his 20s said.
"I remember Erica came to me and said she wanted to protect someone back when she was still very young. And I could see her determination clearly at the time, like a true-born noble." The muscular man said. "Focus, Leon! You, as the young lord of our FlameBlood family, mustn't let emotions control you." The muscular man said as he rushed towards the younger man, who parried with his sword.
"Achooo..." I sneezed, not sure why. My ears seemed to be quite itchy as I kept running on the field.
'That is...' Deed said, realizing who the figures currently training were.
'Alright, Null. After three more laps, go talk to the two figures that are currently sparring if you can watch them.' Zeroze said before Deed even finished pointing out who they were.
'Oh, sure.' I replied.
'But that...' Deed said.
'It's fine. This is an interesting development.' Zeroze assured him.
'?' I was not sure what my other self was talking about.
After three laps were done, the sun was finally slowly rising. I felt refreshed, and my control of Deed's body seemed to get lighter. I drank a lot of water as well. Slowly, I could finally see the three figures I saw earlier. I also got closer to them. The first to notice me was the old man wearing the suit and monocle. Suddenly, he was right in front of me.
"State your business, boy." The old man said.
Tall. This old man is tall. I could clearly see him now. Based on Deed's memories, this is the head butler, Old Man Fuhrer. He wore a 'kaiser mustache.' His hair and facial hair are mostly white, but his face is refined, and he wore a monocle on his right eye.
I could feel some sort of pressure as he stands in front of me. It somewhat makes me feel like I'm going to fall on my knees. It feels like some sort of power. However, I felt like I was being held up, as if a hand was keeping me from falling.
'Now, now. A king will never bow down to a human. Only the true almighty God can make me fall on my knees.' Zeronoz said with a smile. I could see he was holding me from falling.
The head butler looked surprised by me still standing still.
"Oh hoh. You're actually still standing." Old Man Fuhrer said.
"What?!" The young man in his 20s was already falling down from the pressure emitted by the old man and was shocked seeing me still standing. "How could he still be standing in the head butler's aura?"
"Now this is interesting." The muscular man said with a smile. "You can stop teasing him, Head Butler."
"My apologies, my Lord. And Young Master." Old Man Fuhrer said.
"I assume you have something to say." The muscular man said openly.
I'm not sure what actually happened, but the pressure is now gone. I just scratched my head and said what my other self wanted me to.
"Is it fine for me to watch the spar? I'm weak and hoping to learn something." I said honestly.
The three looked surprised by my question.
"Weak?" The man in his 20s said. Is this guy mocking me? He thought. To be able to still be standing in the head butler's aura... Who are you really?! He thought deeper.
"Did your head get hit or something? You're in front of the Lord of this duchy! The man who ripped apart the mouth of an ancient monster with his bare hands! The strongest man on the battlefield, Duke Joseph FlameBlood! Do you have a death wish or something, you mongrel!" The man in his 20s said.
"Eh..." I was surprised. It's actually Erica's dad?!! The Duke himself!! I said to my other self. Why didn't you guys tell me... I'm dead...
Zeronoz couldn't hold himself back from laughing, seeing my life like some sort of entertainment. Meanwhile, Deed's mouth was being shut by thread-like tape. The other two were also enjoying it. In Deed's memories, I didn't seem to see the Duke himself, so I didn't really know him.
"Hahahahha!" Duke Joseph laughed. "It's been a while since I last saw an interesting young man." He continued. "Fine, you can watch."
"But Father!" The young master tried to refute. This was Leon FlameBlood, Erica's older brother.
"My Lord, we still have around twenty minutes left before the next schedule." Old Man Fuhrer reminded him.
"That's plenty." The Duke said. "Now, Leon, prepare yourself!" The Duke said as he rushed toward Leon.
Leon had a hard time trying to block the attacks.
"Since we've got a spectator now, we shouldn't make it boring, should we?" The Duke said as he continued his barrage of attacks. "As my successor, you need to be able to handle this much."
Amazing... I thought to myself. Leon, despite being smaller and his sword being thin—unlike the Duke—was still able to parry the Duke's attack and read it. It was fast... but unlike when being hit directly, this time I could still see some of it, but it was still very fast. The moment I took my eyes off or even blinked, I wouldn't be able to catch up anymore. And the Duke, despite being so big and muscular, was still able to strike so fast. It was as if multiple versions of him were attacking Leon from all directions.
'So that's how parrying works in this world.' Zeroze said, noticing some patterns in the fight.
The spar was intense and Leon wasn't going to catch his breath anytime soon. He didn't even have time to dodge, only parrying. Old Man Fuhrer stood right beside me.
"Is this your first time seeing the Duke fight, young boy?" He asked, seeing me so focused on the spar.
"Yes... it's amazing..." I said, amused.
"This is not even ten percent of the Duke's power." He said while smiling, also loud enough for Leon to hear and tease him.
"I'm not weak!" Leon felt as if he was being ridiculed by the head butler. "Father is just too strong."
"Leon, focus!" The Duke said as he saw an opening and hit Leon's body with the dull part of his sword, sending him flying until he hit a wall. I think I could see his soul leaving his body.
"Oh... I forgot to control my strength." The Duke said while scratching his head, seeing his own son look like he broke most of his bones against the wall.
Old Man Fuhrer was suddenly in front of Leon. Light could be seen appearing on his hands and flowing into Leon. Leon's broken bones suddenly healed, but he was still weak from the impact and was laid down to rest on the ground.
"What say you, young man? Would you want to spar with me?" The Duke said while smiling at me.
I felt some sort of pressure coming from him. What is this? Fear? I thought as I gulped. But yet, I felt like I wanted to try it... being hit into the wall... yesterday I was being beaten by his daughter... and now his dad... Am I a masochist now...
'Hahahahaha.' I could hear Zeronoz laughing.
'Should I?' I asked my other self.
But before I got a reply, suddenly I could hear a familiar young girl's voice.
"Dad, our noble family shouldn't bully the weak." It was Erica, yawning half-awake in her pajamas.
"My babyyy! Erica, you're awakeee~" The Duke said as he rushed fast towards Erica to hug her. However, Erica easily dodged him and he hit a wall...
How comical... I thought to myself.
"It's been a while since we last sparred, Dad." Erica said. "And what's that idiot doing over there?" She looked towards her older brother lying on the ground weakly.
"Oh hoh, my baby..." The Duke seemed teary. "How could you avoid my hugs..." He said, being upset.
'The Duke... he seems different from what I remember.' I could hear Deed say. It seems he was no longer being muted by the others.
'What do you mean?' I asked him.
'...' Deed said. 'The Duke that I know never even smiled... he's a cold-blooded monster.'
Erica took a sword from the ground, the one dropped by Leon. "Let's fight, Dad." She said towards the Duke.
"Noooo... I wouldn't want to hurt you, my baby girl." The Duke said like a doting father.
"If you aren't going to hit first, then I'm going to hit you." Erica rushed as fast as she could, hitting a barrage of attacks toward the Duke. Yet the Duke parried a whole lot of it. Unlike with Leon, the one blocking attacks right now was the Duke.
"Your attacks are getting heavier." The Duke said, complimenting his daughter.
"Are you saying I'm getting fat?!" Erica said, getting enraged by her father's remark, and hit much faster.
"Eh?" The Duke was confused. It was so fast that it was like multiple Ericas were attacking him. Some of the attacks actually did hit him. Flame even started appearing on her sword, like she was very serious about hitting her father.
"Wait, Erica, this is just a spar." The Duke tried to calm her down.
"First you called me fat, and now you're looking down on me?" Erica said emotionally.
"Eh?" The Duke was clueless about what his daughter meant.
Erica was getting furious, and a flame seemed to ignite from her body. "Fine... Dad... this is what you want." Erica said as the flame aura grew stronger.
I was seeing that this scene was getting serious. As someone who was used to Erica (at least in memory), I knew what to do.
"Duke, just apologize to her!" I told the Duke.
The Duke heard it and quickly noticed how serious the situation was and apologized to her. He quickly dropped his weapon and knelt toward her before her next attack struck.
"I'm sorry, Erica, my baby!!!" The Duke said. "I didn't mean to say that you're fat or that I was looking down on you!" He continued apologizing.
Seeing the Duke drop his weapon and apologize, she also stopped her attack, but her flame aura was still bright. Erica just stayed quiet. Noticing that, the Duke kept apologizing and tried to explain things, telling her that she was getting stronger and so on. However, Erica was still not satisfied.
"Duke, you've got to prove that you're sorry." I tried to tell the Duke, but Erica also heard it and a flame shot was thrown towards me. It missed me by a hair.
"Deed, you shut up." Erica said.
I almost died, wtf...
"I'll do anything you want, I'll give you anything... please, I'm sorry, Erica..." The Duke said, trying to prove his sincerity.
"?" Erica's flame aura finally lowered. "Anything..." Erica heard the keyword she wanted.
"Yes, yes. Anything for you, my baby girl." The Duke said.
"Good... I'll tell you what I want later." She said, finally calming down. But then she glared at me.
I got goosebumps... this pressure was way stronger than what the head butler or the Duke gave me.
"Duke, it's about time." Old Man Fuhrer said, reminding the Duke. The sun was also fully risen now.
"I'm really sorry, my baby... don't forget to tell me the thing you want, okay?" The Duke said as he stood up again. The Duke seemed to stand awkwardly in front of Erica.
"What?" Erica asked her dumbfounded father.
"Can I get a hug?" He asked.
"Ugh... fine." Erica said.
"Yippiee!" The Duke gladly hugged his daughter with love.
'Yippie?!!!' Deed was so shocked.