Ch.44 – Sickly (Not)

<4 – Sickly (Not Really)>

After yesterday’s commotion, the butler realized something.

He shouldn’t treat the young lady in his charge like an ordinary child her age.

“Personnel support, is it? And from you of all people.”

“She’s a child who requires a lot of attention.”

“The boss won’t be pleased about this.”

“I’m prepared to accept the consequences.”

“Is she worth it?”

“Her talent with the sword is genius-level.”

“Oh?”

“Her archery skills are nearly as impressive.”

“Then why request an assassination instructor?”

Jona carefully chose his words.

Unlike the boss, other competitors who served different “young ladies” would certainly not overlook Oknodie’s weaknesses.

Since he was the only butler granted the Wiheomhae surname, others would surely be jealous and try to exploit any weakness of his young lady.

“Stealth and balance movements are ingrained in her like habits. She was born to be an assassin.”

“I see.”

The butler thought to himself.

For a young lady with insomnia, avoidant personality disorder, and various other mental conditions, interpersonal relationships would be difficult.

If that was the case, she should pursue a profession where broken interpersonal relationships wouldn’t matter.

“Assassins use both swords and bows.”

“Indeed, versatility is good.”

The supervisor made his decision.

“I’ll send someone.”

“Thank you.”

“However, if the instructor determines the child lacks aptitude, you’ll pay the price.”

“I accept those terms.”

“You must be quite confident. I hope her talent matches your confidence.”

The dispatch of an assassination instructor who would also assist Oknodie was confirmed.

* *

“Night outings are absolutely forbidden. I will not permit any outings without my accompaniment.”

The butler’s treatment was frustrating.

It wasn’t a new thought, but after being treated like “a child who eats stones,” the surveillance had noticeably increased.

A pitiful child who might cause trouble at any moment.

This image of me seemed completely fixed in butler Jona’s mind, as he wouldn’t leave me alone for even a moment.

As a result, my experience points for the hiding ability had completely stagnated.

“Young lady, you need to value yourself more. Someone who doesn’t cherish themselves won’t be treated preciously by others.”

“Does it really matter? Being treated preciously. People live alone and die alone anyway.”

Whenever I showed even a hint of my male thinking patterns, the butler’s eyes would become complicated, as if resolving, “Sigh… I really need to take good care of her.”

How could I say anything under these circumstances?

Thanks to this, I’ve been training diligently, but for some reason, I get out of breath quickly and tire easily these days.

‘Is it because I’m in a female body?’

After seeing internet memes about how being reincarnated as a muscular male character would make life easier due to size and strength, I had always pursued the path of becoming a muscle man.

I’d never experienced being such a small female character, so the hypothesis that it was because I was female seemed quite convincing.

It must be that female characters receive fewer stat bonuses.

The solution is simple.

I just need to raise my stats more.

This won’t do.

I should go on an expedition to the next village to collect stat stones.

“I want to go out. Alone.”

“Absolutely not.”

The problem is the butler.

“Young Oknodie is frail. You’re still too young and not sufficiently trained to fully handle the threats of the outside world.”

“But I can proudly say I’m much stronger than others my age.”

“To me as your butler, you’re still a child. And in the outside world, you’ll face not just peers but adults as well.”

Fighting with facts alone is unfair.

But in this game, luck can bring unexpected dangers from anywhere.

If probability’s tricks overlap just a few times, a storm of insane bad luck far beyond same-level dangers could strike in an instant.

“Please just eat your meal quietly. When you’ve eaten well, trained hard, and become strong enough, I’ll permit outings with an escort.”

I have no choice.

The food is delicious anyway.

I’ll have to collect stat stones later when I can go out from the academy.

But aren’t I already strong enough?

My sword skills and archery are improving steadily.

As I was complaining, the water cup fell from my hand.

“Huh?”

“You see? Your arms are so delicate you can’t even hold a cup properly.”

“No, that’s not it. This has never happened before… My arms must be tired from training too hard.”

“I won’t listen to excuses.”

“But it’s true…”

The shock was considerable, as I never imagined I would drop a water cup.

Right, what outings could I manage with this body?

For the time being, I should add two hours of strength training to my regimen and train intensely.

* *

If he tried to monitor the young lady to prevent her from going out without his knowledge until the assassination instructor arrived, he would end up unable to sleep even at night.

Not wanting to suffer such excessive labor, Jona came up with a trick.

‘If she’s sufficiently exhausted in daily life, she won’t have the energy to cause trouble at night.’

Unbeknownst to Oknodie, the weight of every household item and object she used in daily life was increasing slightly each day.

The water cup she just dropped weighed 5kg.

He had been gradually replacing the wooden cups with ones containing increasingly heavy metals—from manganese to iron to copper—hidden between the wooden layers.

He had planned to stop increasing the weight when she finally collapsed, but surprisingly, the young lady endured every weight increase with incredible perseverance.

‘She definitely has the aptitude for an assassin.’

Training to remain in one place for long periods or lift heavy objects is essential for assassins.

Though he didn’t know exactly what training real assassins underwent, at least in Jona’s mind, an assassin should be able to do that much.

‘The instructor will be pleased.’

A teacher naturally likes a student who provides the satisfaction of teaching.

An assassination instructor would be no different.

‘This is necessary for the young lady herself, not just for the instructor.’

The poor young lady, who would drink any potion from street magicians and even swallow stones to satisfy her hunger, needed strength.

Human rights come from strength.

He needed to take special care to prevent her from putting herself in danger with hazardous part-time jobs or harming her health with poor eating habits.

With strength, she could earn money easily without dangerous jobs, and use that money to eat well.

‘Become strong, Lady Oknodie. I never want to see the lady I serve being discarded due to weakness again.’

He sincerely hoped this relationship with the young lady would last a long time.

* *

I eat well, sleep well, and train hard.

By now, I should have grown enough to go out alone, but today I dropped my spoon while eating soup.

“You are sickly.”

“Me?!”

“You are sickly.”

“No, how can someone who handles a sword so well be sickly? I’m excellent at running too!”

“You dropped your spoon.”

“Yes, I did…”

“You are sickly.”

“Ugh…”

The butler is right.

During meals, I keep dropping things, and sometimes I trip over my clothes.

Lately, even I feel my body is unusually heavy at times.

‘Did I get some negative ability?’

Something like [Clumsy] that makes me poor at handling my body, or [Frailty] that makes me easily susceptible to illness.

Sometimes characters are born with negative abilities that apply adverse effects to their bodies.

I’ve never tried this aggressive investment style of accepting penalties for greater benefits since it’s not my preference, but this body seems different.

‘So this is what negative abilities are like.’

I can only guess since I’ve never experienced it before.

But this is yielding quite good experience points.

[You have swung a medium sword for over 5 minutes while enduring extreme fatigue.]

[Sword skill experience +1]

If I had a male body, strong muscles would support my arms and experience points wouldn’t come so easily, but with this body, my arms tremble with just a little training, and experience points increase.

‘Female characters gain experience points more easily than male characters despite having weaker stat bonuses! Or maybe training efficiency increases as compensation for negative abilities?’

The speed at which experience points accumulate is very satisfying even by veteran standards.

If I had known this, I would have chosen a female character from the beginning.

Still, mealtimes are uncomfortable.

After training hard all day, even my fork-holding arm requires a lot of effort.

As I try to twirl pasta with my trembling hand, my strength fails and I stab the plate with the fork.

Crack

The plate cracked.

“You are sickly.”

“…I applied too much force and cracked the plate?”

“If you need to apply enough force to break a plate just to use a fork, you cannot be said to have proper control over your body.”

“…As frustrating as it is, I can’t deny that…”

“If broken fragments mix with the pasta, they could cause internal injuries, so I’ll serve you on a new plate.”

Am I really sickly…?

My verified physical abilities from training are quite high, yet I’m a sickly young lady.

It’s contradictory, but if negative abilities exist, it makes sense.

Perhaps it’s because of my strength and stamina that I can endure this much.

Oknodie’s body might have such serious negative abilities that if I became lazy, I might end up bedridden and dying.

“Say ‘ah’.”

‘Well, at least I’m a sickly cute girl.’

Setting aside the negative abilities.

Being protected like this gives me a strange sense of security.

Like a baby bird under its mother’s protection!

Surely it’s fine to be fed spaghetti by the butler.

I found myself acting a bit spoiled.