A/N: Chapter 6 of Mystical Eye of a Savage Hound
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own OC. Revenge of the Sword Clan's Hound belongs to the rightful owner.
Chapter 6: The 10,000 Book Library
Still within the unknown dungeon…
"Hmmm…seems like there's nothing else I can gain here, Beelzebub was the one and only prize. I should head back and gather up my earnings before the exam ends." I mused as I gave the dungeon a once over, the feeling of the sword hidden in my right hand akin to a pulsating heartbeat. Turning on my heels I headed towards the entrance before my eyesight blurred and a throbbing headache pierced my head.
I stumbled without warning and leaned heavily against the walls to keep myself upright, my mouth opened and closed like a fish as I attempted to keep my breathing in control. Then I folded in on myself when something more pressing occurred, a sharp twisting pain of my stomach; a loud noise reverberated in my ears, a noise that the stomach makes when it is empty.
Hunger pains?! I glanced at my right hand as a buzzing noise accompanied my stomach growling. It was then that I knew that it was telling me that it wants to feed and quickly. Slowly getting to my feet I stumbled out of the musky dungeon and into the night, keeping a hand over my stomach. This insane appetite makes my stomach feel like it's tearing itself apart. Is my smell more sensitive than usual because of the hunger? Something smells delicious…
"Buzz!" My right arm immediately swung out on its own, a red like wiggling tendril sticking out like a fly's tongue before solidifying into the point of a sword. No doubt it was guiding me somewhere and I moved my feet. Soon I found myself standing before the corpse of a hellhound that I had slain, hopefully somewhat fresh judging from the dried blood around its wounds. Immediately the tendril stuck itself into the hide and began to feast, little beads soon bubbling up along the surface and disappearing into Beelzebub.
The blood coming in through this artifact makes it feel like my stomach is finding its place once more. I guess it starved for a long time, the poor thing. I watched in wonder as I felt the hunger pangs subside. I glanced around and wondered if the terrible status of the environment was also caused by the insane hunger of this demon fly; another thought popped in my head, and that was figuring out how to satisfy this thing's hunger.
"Buzz~" There was a quick noise of approval and the tendril removed itself.
"Hmm? Is this Beelzebub's unique skill?" I looked as something akin to a popup status window showed up before my eyes. There were three empty slots – perhaps representing the three jewel-shaped containers on my hand – but the first one was filled with an interesting skill: Hemorrhage Hellhound (B+). Beelzebub the Gluttonous Fly, it was told that it had the ability to turn your opponent's ability into your own. It could practically absorb a limitless amount of skill and those who had their abilities absorbed were utterly destroyed.
"Three is the maximum amount of skills I can absorb since it's a corpse. Had it been in its original form…" I felt my body shudder at the thought of having limitless amount of skills, a crazy grin on my face. I looked back at the skill I had acquired, thinking about what it meant. "Hellhound's Hemorrahage… a skill that makes even the smallest of scratches pull out obscene amounts of blood. I can easily force my opponents to bleed to death, this one is quite useful."
"Buzz! Buzz!"
"Wait!" Startled by the noise I watched as Beelzebub gunned for Cerberus' dead corpse, piercing the creature's tough hide and began to feed excitedly. Frowning with slight disapproval I spoke in a stern manner, "You can't eat it all you gluttonous bastard. It'll be difficult for the both of us if I have to explain to the examiners why it becomes too damaged."
"Buzz~" It completely ignored my words and continued to drink, almost picking up the pace since the amount of bubbles that were showing on the surface were accumulating. The little bug bastard was definitely trying to get as much as it can before it's told no. I watched it for a few minutes more before using my left hand to smack it. Hard. The tendril immediately removed itself and scuttled back like a punished puppy.
"That's enough. I told you you cannot eat all of that." It sounded like I was admonishing it since another tendril showed up as if to rub the area where I hit it. Then a screen showed up and I looked at it with interest. The skill I got from the hellhound moved to the second slot, and in the first slot was Incinerate Cerberus (A+). What's even more surprising is that it also picked up a third skill: Rapid Regeneration Brown Rat Norvegicus (F).
"Buzz~ Buzz!" It sounded like it was scolding me for hitting it when it was expecting some form of praise.
Hmmmm did it eat the brown rat corpse hidden under Cerberus too when I wasn't watching? I spotted the small brown carcass that was squashed underneath Cerberus' chest. Squatting down I pulled the small prey out by the tail and smirked, "Not that I'm not grateful for having such a skill, but harvesting the 'Incinerate' skill from Cerberus is huge. If you take into account that one of the worst ways to die is to be burned alive then…it's much more foul than the Hellhound's Hemorrhage."
"Buzz."
"Seems like the skills are determined by its grade much like how we determine the rank of demonic creatures based on their danger level, so it makes more sense for the higher graded skill take the first slot. Those that follow after are either bumped to the next slot or completely overwritten." I mused, rubbing my chin in thought. "So that means that if I end up getting a skill that's higher than Cerberus…."
"Buzz!"
"I don't suppose you'll let me decide which skill to keep if I overstep the maximum number, would be great if you did. Maybe we can discuss it when the time comes…" I lightly rubbed the top of my right hand with my other hand, as if I was petting a docile animal. "Anyways I've already finished preparing the demonic creature for the practical exam." I stared at the corpse before me with a smile, already knowing that I had secured my place in the exam. "Then I'll relax until it's over."
It didn't take long before all the young hounds who had survived the horrifying ordeal returned to the starting place, some of them sporting scrapes and marks of intense fighting. On a table brought out by the exam proctors were parts of demonic creatures that have been hunted, laid out for evaluation. Once evaluations were completed, the corpses of the creatures that were caught were crafted into various equipment and jewelry before being returned to them as spoils. However, the one corpse that a young hound brought shocked the elite members of Baskervilles that were present.
"Who caught what?" Hugo uttered from where he was sitting back in his office. He was so shocked that he was worried that he was losing his hearing. "Repeat what you just said."
"Young Master Viktoria 'accidentally' crossed into the unexplored area during her exam, and hunted down a Cerberus, a monster with a danger rating of A+." said John Barrymore. "The Guardian Knight who started to watch over her said that after observing her movements he decided to tail another young hound. He wasn't aware that she crossed the line, and he felt guilty "I will reprimand that one at a later time, but we're not here to talk about that. Are you talking about the same Cerberus that's a high-rating demonic creature the Guardian Knights of our clan also have a hard time facing?"
"I was notified that it had already been injured from the Barbarian tribes and had been poisoned. It's possible that the creature was wounded enough for a mere eight year old youngling to defeat if they were cunning enough."
"Hmmm what kind of poison is strong enough to bring down a Cerberus? As far as I'm aware the Baskerville family doesn't have such things in storage….and where the hell did she get her hands on that? Is it possible that she got the poison out in the wild in an area that we haven't explored yet?"
"Well that's certainly a possibility…but, nothing else was recorded in the hunting log; it's quite frustrating because there weren't much detail in the kill. I tried to ask the young master about it, but she returned to the dorms stating she was tired so I couldn't do much but allowed her to rest." John explained and Hugo snorted in mild laughter, rubbing his chin in thought.
"What a sly brat…well, knowledge is power and power is your worth."
"If I may be honest, I was extremely surprised." The head butler spoke, getting Hugo's attention. "To think that a talent like that came out of a young master with the 'Van' name, not 'La' or 'Le'. I don't suppose those of high pedigree will throw a fit if they caught wind that a child not from the main family took first place."
"You really don't know me if that was the case." Hugo leaned forward on his hands, fixating his stare at the man before him. "I'm different from the previous heads of this clan. I couldn't care less about bloodline when I raise a hunting dog. It doesn't matter whether it's from a royal family or a prostitute. All I care about is their talent and their determination."
"Sir…"
"What I'm saying is that even weaklings can come from good bloodlines. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Is he being conscious of his second son in secluded training? How rare of the Clan Head to be thinking of such... John thought before issuing an apology, bowing at the waist. "…I apologize."
"Now I would like something to lift my mood. Call Viktoria to my office immediately, and make sure she doesn't get distracted along the way; I don't doubt the other young hounds will try and either talk to her, or think of ways to get better than her." Hugo issued his order before leaning back in his chair, pondering and thinking about what the butler had told him as the aforementioned individual left to do what was ordered of him. Never in the history of the Baskervilles had there been a young hound who was able to tackle a high-level demonic creature, much less a Cerberus of all things, and come out of that fight alive. He knew that even the most senior of the Guardian Knights wouldn't dare to approach the creature without preparations.
"Young Master Viktoria is here." John spoke up, dispelling any other thoughts from the clan head, and I stepped through the door to stand tall and proud before Hugo. Sure I only got a couple of hours of sleep after coming back from the exam, but I made time to groom and shower to make myself presentable for the leader. I held my hands behind my back, purposely keeping Beelzebub hidden from Hugo's gaze.
"I heard you killed a Cerberus during the practical exam, which is quite the achievement for someone at your age and rank." Hugo spoke, fixating his gaze on me but I didn't even flinch, continuing with the smile plastered on my face. John once more moved to his spot slightly behind the Baskerville head. "How did you kill it?"
"Chocolate by mouth." I answered simply as if it was the easiest answer on a test, looking at the two adults in the room stare at each other in silence. Since they didn't wish to speak, I continued explaining the reasoning behind the method, "Chocolate is practically a deadly poison to dog-type demonic creatures."
"Is that why you requested chocolate as your reward?"
"Yes."
They're just going back and forth on questions and answers without even saying hello….is this really what a talk between a father and daughter should look like? John watched and listened to our conversation silently, but his ever piercing gaze was calm and calculative. And for that matter, are any of the interactions between Hugo and his sons any different? I don't remember any hound answering Hugo with a greeting…
"I heard that you didn't answer him properly when he asked you about the specific of your hunt." I didn't need to ask who Hugo meant by 'him', the butler was clearly in the room with us. The clan head kept his eyes on me, gauging my reaction and growled in warning, "Why?"
"Obvious isn't it? He isn't my master."
"Then who is?"
"What a silly question. Since I am a member of this clan, the clan head is my master." I tilted my head while still grinning, matching Hugo's stare with my own. "Who else could it be?"
"What an obedient child, you've learned well from your lessons." A ferocious grin appeared on Hugo's face, and he nodded his head in approval. Clearly he was very pleased with my answers to his questions, and he intends to give me a gratuitous reward for my achievements. "The corpse of the demonic creature you've caught will be given solely to you. And as a bonus since you've placed first in the practical exam, I'll grant you a wish."
A wish? I've been waiting for this moment! If I could express my current emotions I would be jumping and hollering with glee. But I held back and practically schooled myself to remain calm and collected, discarding any hints of emotions or feelings. With this wish, I'll be able to get everything that I wanted…! Perhaps even more so…
"So, daughter, what is your wish that I can grant you?"
"I wish to enter the 10,000 Book Library." I said after pretending to mull over a bit, and I witnessed the shocked expressions on both Hugo's face and John's face. The 10,000 Book Library is a massive library located in the deepest parts of the Baskerville Clan's main castle. It's practically one of the biggest in the empire, and many of the young hounds that aren't part of the main family wouldn't even think of stepping foot in that building.
"The 10,000 Book Library…" Hugo's gaze was sharp and calculative, pondering my request carefully. He was confused as to why I would ask for it knowing my family lineage as an illegitimate, but he decided to entertain the idea. "Were you aware that only the clan head, the vice clan head, and the members of the main house were allowed to enter it?"
"…If it's something that isn't allowed for someone like me, then I will give up on it." I kept my voice steady, trying to downplay the disappointment that threatened to creep out; for extra acting I shrugged my shoulders, displaying a behavior of indifference. Shit…I guess there's no choice but to sneak in then…may have to prepare in the coming days if it comes to that.
"You can enter. I'll permit it." Now it was my turn to be surprised and I looked at the man before me, strangely he had a creepy smile upon his face that just rubbed me the wrong way. "In the deepest part of the library…I want you to read 'Baskerville Swordsmanship: 6th Fang' which is located in the 6th restricted area."
Baskerville Swordsmanship: 6th Fang?! Hugo, the Hugo, is not only allowing it but he is permitting an illegitimate child to read the 6th Fang? There has never been a case of an illegitimate child with the middle name of 'Van' ever reading beyond the 4th Fang…! My mind was muddled up as my thoughts of the previous life flashed by. Vikir himself only managed to get up to the 5th Fang while I had struggled to reach only the 3rd Fang. But with this, I don't have to sneak in. It's only the 6th Fang anyhow.
To my knowledge, the current Hugo's strength is at the 7th Fang. Before I regressed, Vikir and I knew that our clan head was capable of drawing out nine fangs, one short of a max of ten fangs. I still haven't forgotten the scorn I received as an illegitimate, nor the disgrace of being my brother's killer. In this life I'll surpass Hugo because hidden within the library is the Swordsmanship scripture which contains Baskerville's true 'pure essence'.
I discovered it alongside my brother on a recon mission, it was written by the first clan head of the Baskervilles, the one who killed the Seven Calamities. Now it's such a treat that none of the current members of the Baskervilles know about its existence, but Hugo Le Baskerville will be the one to serve that delicious treasure on a silver platter to me.
"Thank you, clan head, for allowing me access to the main family's library."
"I'll be looking forward to your growth after you've read the book. Good luck." He's smiling without a care in the world, acting as though everything is going the way he intended. He doesn't even realize what it is he just agreed to by giving me access to the library. It's absolutely perfect!
"Thank you. I'll do my best to meet your expectations." I bowed once and turned on my heels to leave, John following in step to escort me to the door. You will never know the value of the thing you're handing over, Hugo Le Baskerville.
Inside the 10,000 Book Library…
I hurried out of the meeting with Hugo and made my way to the main house to begin my research, oblivious to the scathing stares of the nobility that were there; I never was fond of those arrogant pricks, always trying to justify their superiority just by the status of their birth or by the blood running through their veins or by their middle names. I couldn't care less what they thought of me. I flashed the note Hugo wrote for me to the guards stationed outside the double doors, and after looking over and making sure the note was legit was I allowed to enter.
Golden chandeliers with their many candles lit, and polished wooden floors with rows upon rows of books lining the bookshelves, this library was as grandiose as I imagined. First time seeing it in person so I soaked in the view, engraving it in my memory. Rubbing my hands with glee I started to browse through the sections, my gaze reading through the titles that were on the spines pointed towards me.
"'Severing Incisor Swordsmanship', 'Crushing Molar Swordsmanship', 'Stabbing Canine Swordsmanship', 'Double-Impaling Snaggletooth Swordsmanship'….wooow that one sure is a mouthful… 'Lying Wisdom Tooth Swordsmanship'…" I pulled a face at some of the title names because they sounded so cringe. Who the hell came up with these titles? "The scripture for every swordsmanship my brother and I wanted to learn prior to my regression are all here."
As mentioned before, no matter how much mana an illegitimate child has they are not allowed to learn a swordsmanship above the 4th Fang. It's always been a rule in the Baskerville Clan. It was meant for the pawns meant to become hunting dogs can't bare their fangs to direct descendants that will become the masters.
I shuffled my way through a couple more rows before coming across a book strapped to a stone block with iron chains, a big padlock on its front. I pulled out a small golden key from my pocket, eying it precariously. "To think that that Hugo would recommend a 6th Fang Swordsmanship to me. I could never have dreamt of it in a million years prior." I moved to the book and inserted the key, turning it till I heard a 'click'. "Well, I'm sure that Hugo allowed it because he thought it'd be straight up impossible for an eight year old to memorize it in a day."
However, I studied the theory behind the first fang to the fourth fang swordsmanship like a rabid animal, I even got Vikir to demonstrate some of the techniques to me for reference. If there was something I was lacking, Vikir was there to fill in the necessary gaps, and I was able to correctly guesstimate the theory behind the other fangs: 4th and 5th fangs, one that I was struggling to reach once I got the 3rd Fang down, and the 5th which I was never taught. I think Vikir also wasn't taught but he too studied the theories.
"Hmmm, so by snapping the flow of mana once, I wasn't able to make the 5th Fang." I mused as I flipped through the pages of the now unlocked book. Every level of the Baskerville Swordsmanship is defined by the number of fangs. So, level 1 is one fang, level 2 is two fangs, level 3 is three fangs etc. It's characterized by the crimson sword aura expelled when you draw the fangs. I quickly flipped through the rest of the pages, seemingly uninterested as I haven't found the treasure yet. I placed the book back where it belonged and headed towards the front door.
"Huh? Young Master Viktoria? You're already leaving the library?" The two guards stood at attention as I approached them, hands in my pocket in a nonchalant manner. "The swordsmanship scriptures are deeper in…if you're leaving to grab something you forgot, we'll go get it for you."
"There's no need, I'm done with my business here."
"Already? You can read more before leaving…"
"I plan on skimming through other scriptures before exiting," I told them, lacing my voice with the tone of compassion. "So you can ignore me and get on with your work. Wouldn't want the clan head to be upset that I held you two back from your very important duties as fine members of this household."
I turned my back and headed to another section, my ears picking up whispers of 'nothing but miscellaneous scriptures' and 'scriptures deep inside. Does she not know their value because she's young?' Well jokes on them because I do not intend on squandering my time listening to the thoughts of others. They obviously don't know that hidden within between the dusty, miscellaneous scriptures was an absolute treasure.
"Hmm?" My eyes soon caught what looked to be a really old, worn out, beaten scripture laying on the shelf. I picked it up and read the title: Lurking Embedded Teeth. Bingo, this was the scripture I needed to get my hands on. I opened up to the first pages and began to read it. It's quite basic for the 1st Fang that not even children read, not to mention all the pages were torn out in the middle, which made it be classified as part of the lowly miscellaneous category.
"Out of the hounds in this life, the only ones who know of its true value are myself and Vikir." I grinned from ear to ear, continuously absorbing what I was reading. Before regression, Vikir and I would tag along with some of the other hound units, and inside a particular dungeon we found a strange relic. It was a piece of a swordsmanship scripture, one singular torn out page. Obviously Hugo recognized the handwriting when we brought it back to him, it had Baskerville written all over it. So he ordered people to search through the entirety of the library to find the matching book. And that book was called 'Lurking Embedded Teeth'.
This scripture, which was personally written by an ancestral Baskerville, detailed the method on how to reach Baskerville 10th Fang. Losing his mind over the thought of honing such a skill, Hugo unleashed all the elite hounds at his disposal, to search for the whereabouts of the remaining six pages. We learned that the remaining pages were hidden in each of the other 7 Great Clans, and Hugo almost declared war against them should there be resistance. After countless hounds were sacrificed for the cause, we were able to offer all the remaining pages to Hugo.
"Good job" was all the reward we got for our efforts. What fake and meaningless words! At the time I could only hold my tongue and swallow the voice of protest that words were all we were getting for putting our lives on the line for the old man, and I could tell that Vikir wouldn't approve if I dared to argue against the clan head. Vikir was driven to be the strongest hound in Hugo's arsenal before that tragic night of betrayal; the stinging rage that blossomed continues to serve as a reminder that I will strive to become the strongest hound closest to Hugo, close enough to take his head off his shoulders.
Hugo overcame the wall of the 7th Fang and reached the 9th Fang, using the blood and corpses of the hounds below him as fodder. It made my blood boil as I remembered that day, and Vikir himself wasn't thrilled either, but we didn't dare to voice our displeasure. Since we fetched all the lost pages, Vikir and I actually spent the day looking over them and reading them before handing them over to Hugo. The contents of those lost pages are seared into my memory, but the reason why we couldn't climb any higher was because we never got to see the source text.
The first step of the 10th Fang is similar in essence to the 1st Fang. The moment you show aggression as you pull out your sword and draw an arc, all sword paths end up with the same limitation…
"Huh, no wonder. Most people would treat this book as a lowly book that's filled with lofty nonsense. But the moment you put the torn out pages in their rightful place, the content that seems like pretentious fabrications turn into a puzzle that depicts an epic painting." I muttered to myself, thumbing through the pages. Before I regressed I could barely get to the level of the 4th Fang, deemed the weakest of the Baskerville hounds and only survived because of Vikir.
But in this life, I'll surpass my old self and become stronger than I'd ever imagine before I reach the age of fifteen!
At the crack of dawn…
During my time reading through the pages the sun had set overnight beyond the horizon line, the beam of moonlight soon shone through the window to assist me. By the time I had finished the last few pages the orange-red with a splash of purple streamed through the window indicating that it was the dawn of a new day. Glancing out the window I estimated that I've spent most of the night hiding away in the library, and I whistled impressively to myself as the book closed shut.
"That should be enough. Hmmm, what a glorious sunrise. Did I focus the whole time?" I mused to myself before shaking my head lightly to dispel any feeling of falling asleep; I planned to take a quick naps throughout the day whenever I have the chance. "Well no matter. Thanks to what I did I've already memorized the book to the point that I can recite it backwards if asked."
I glanced towards the direction of the front entrance and narrowed my eyes in wonder. Usually there would be Guardian Knights to guard the entrance, or at least the members would rotate on shifts, but I didn't sense anyone around. I grinned because this was a good opportunity to test out what I read. I know I would be unable to draw the 10 Fangs with my current child body, but I was confident enough to reach both fourth and fifth fangs; I'll finally be able to reach a level or two higher than my previous self!
Taking a deep breath I concentrated and found myself standing in the middle of a different plane of existence, my opponent was a human dummy model of an elite male soldier. I felt the strong flow of mana course through my body, the light red glow as well as my glowing eyes which represented the familiar trait of the Baskerville Clan rose off my body like a flame. In this exercise, Beelzebub does not exist. I lunged forward, performing the 1st Fang by making a horizontal slash with my arm. Soon the other fangs followed, 2nd and 3rd, and as I gritted my teeth in pure focus I executed both 4th and 5th Fang in a brute force manner.
I remembered how ruthless my old life was and how I was looked down so much by everyone ranging from the main house to the other branches. I honed my skills with the 3rd Fang through hard work and dedication, and the only reason for being held back was learning any stages of swordsmanship was due to my family status. Vikir's status also held him back from reach the 5th Fang or higher. With pure anger roaring through me with the solid conviction of never falling back to living as I did, I briefly thought about Hugo's old self standing before me, and I slashed my way out. I came to a stop, no longer standing in the different plane and back in the library, my breath coming out ragged like I had just done a hard workout; I honestly thought of collapsing but found myself barely standing on my feet.
"It's lacking a bit…but I managed to draw both 4th and 5th Fang…" I remembered seeing the bright three fang-shaped lines, then a full fourth fang, and then a tiny fang that could only be the fifth fang. I squeezed both hands into fists and grinned like a lunatic, feeling the sun's warmth on the top of my head. A warm feeling also rose from within my heart, nearly choking me with this indescribable emotion; I could also cry tears of joy, but not here, perhaps later in my room in private.
"With this success, all I need to do is continue my way up to the final Fang. If I can boost my mana, I can probably reach a level that brother was at before his death." I mused to myself, thinking about my brother fondly with a wistful smile on my face. I also took note that the separate dimensional plane that I was just in – the Baskerville Clan members call it the Mana Hole and every young hound is capable of summoning it for their own training benefit once they harnessed the flow of mana through their bodies – had grown a lot though my enlightenment.
However, that wasn't the only thing that grew due to the power up. The liquid aura that was congregating in the palm of my hand – the reddish flame from earlier that was radiating off my body – indicated the mark of a graduate. I had leveled up from a high-rank sword expert to a low-level graduate to finally a mid-rank sword graduate. If memory serves me correctly Vikir could've reached this level had he reached the age of 30, but here I was, reaching this level at the age of eight. What a massive jump, no wonder I felt out of breath because I had never experience this level of strength ever; I took a mental note to keep practicing and fully harness the 4th Fang like I had done with the 3rd Fang before moving on to working on the 5th Fang.
At the sword graduate level the gaseous aura turns into its liquid form, something quite different from a sword expert, and its density increases and its ability to change form becomes less limited. A couple of the techniques I learned showed signs of limited growth, while other techniques has no limit to its growth. In my mind I started developing thoughts of possibly going head to head with hounds at a mid-rank sword graduate. Of course it was quite a tall order but if I look at the possibilities of carrying out a method, I'd have a one-hundred percent chance of success if it were an assassination and fifty percent chance if it were a frontal assault.
Removing a small handheld magnifying glass clipped to my pants and hidden underneath my shirt, I placed it facing away from the window and the book on the windowsill as well, still pondering how much of the information I should reveal to Hugo in this current timeline. The amount of strength to be revealed cannot be too much or too little, Hugo would detect that something's wrong in a heartbeat. I'll have to plant a sufficient level of expectation in him so that I can continue to reap and drain benefits from him. There was a sizzle noise that caught my attention and I grinned as a particular beam of sunlight came through the window, shining through the microscope glass till it was just a pinpoint, and started burning a small hole in the book's surface.
"With this the chance that Hugo and his hunting dogs reaching the fetal 10th Fang is as good as gone. No one will ever know how to reach that level of swordsmanship." Now the small hole turned into a small flame, burning brightly much like my thirst for revenge against the very man who betrayed me and forced me to end the life of my only family member with my own sword. "Except for me that is."
"W-Wh-What's that smell?! Is something burning?!" Immediately the sound of footsteps approached my location and two of the guards appeared before me. They turned their gaze from me to the now destroyed book on the windowsill with wonder, "Young master Viktoria! What did you…?"
"Th-That can't be a…"
"Sorry, I ended up burning the book I was looking at because I was careless." I apologized quickly, rubbing my head and schooling my expression to be that of a sorry child receiving a scolding from an angry parent. "By leaving the magnifying glass on it the sun caught it. I was too late to stop the destruction. If I need to report it, I'll go tell the butler myself."
"My goodness, young master there's no need to trouble yourself with that. There's nothing you should apologize for." One of the guards said immediately.
"It is our fault for not taking care of you enough, young master." The other spoke up as well in agreement, and I was under the impression that they were worried about feeling Hugo's wrath if anything happened to me. "More than that, it's a relief that it was just a random book that got burnt. Had it been one of the main books that our clan head recommends the hounds to read…"
"Well at least all the books here are all miscellaneous, so no harm no foul." I responded with a gleefully smile on my face. "Aren't the Knights busy with the conflict with Morgue Clan over the Ruby Mine? You shouldn't have the leisure to pay attention to every little problem like this one." I leaned forward, eyeing both guards and said, "Maybe it'll be best to treat it like this never even happened."
"If the young master can look past it, then…we can do it too."
"Then it's our little secret!" I clapped my hands and began to walk back, waving my arm in farewell. "You must be busy so sorry to take up your time."
"Yes, young master…!" Both guards answered, and once I disappeared from view they began to speak to each other.
"Young master Viktoria is a good person, she isn't anything like the females from the main house."
"Ain't that the truth, to even think of the perspectives of her servants'….back to that matter of the females of the main house, I swear majority of them act like real bitches!"
"Compared to them, young master Viktoria is a respectable young woman."
Back in Hugo's office…
Making my way out of the library I found myself standing before Hugo as he sat behind his desk, John the family butler standing next to him. I took those naps from earlier so I looked somewhat refreshed, at least awake enough to not cause suspicion that I spent the night; deep down I felt as though Hugo had a thought about it, but acted as though he didn't.
"And so, did you have an enlightenment?" asked Hugo.
"A little bit."
"Oh yeah? What did you feel and realize inside the library?"
"Hmmm…" I put on my thinking face and said, "Something warm and sharp, while also soft and wave-like? I felt something like that."
"Could it be aura, perhaps?" John questioned in amazement. The word 'Aura' in the context means that it is proof that one has truly entered the world of the sword. Prodigies who train without rest had to be at least fifteen years old to even enter the realm of low-rank sword expert. And that is really difficult to achieve.
What the hell am I thinking based on that description….she's only eight years old, seven years too young to even experience something like that. There's no way she could do it, this might just be a fluke. Hugo was silent but his eyes kept locked onto me. After a few minutes of silence he says, "Could you show this father of yours what that is?" I brightened and flashed him my biggest smile.
"I thought you'd never ask!"