A lady standing still waiting outside for my answer... I'd say around the age of 30, wearing the usual maid outfit but with that damned lion insignia as well, black hair with a bun.
"Young Master. Please open the door."
Young master? This lady on the other side is serving this brat?
But that's impossible!? It should be impossible!
Elric von Eisenwald you lucky bastard!
Someone this drop-dead gorgeous should be already married to a high-ranking noble! If I met her in the past I would've asked her hand for marriage even knowing I could be rejected!
Wait, she must've been lost, just like I am; this is definitely a mistake— someone of her caliber shouldn't be serving a pathetic kid.
"... Uhm... I think you got the wrong room, Miss?" I replied, feeling distraught that I had to reject such a fine woman.
"It seems that you've really gone insane, as the rumors have said, Young Master Elric." She said with concern in her voice.
I'm starting to think that she really is serving this lucky bastard when she should've been serving me!
But ah well... I'm kinda dead.
[System Detected Increasing frustration from a nearby presence.]
It can detect things like that too? It would be handy in the future, even if it might hardly come by.
"Young Master Elric, please open the door, or else I'll be pushed to kick this door open out of my deep concern for you."
Kick the door, say what now?
"I'll be counting down to 10 now, Young Master Elric.
10...
9...
8..."
Hey, hey, hey! Is she really kicking down this door!? What if she sees this black rectangle glass thing in front of me!?
I simply panicked as she kept counting down.
And at the very last second.
"2... 1... Here I go!" She declared.
But before she could even raise her heels to break the door, probably cost us a fortune and make a ruckus— I opened it.
"Alright! Alright! Just st—" But before I could finish my sentence.
It was as if a bolt of lightning passed by me, grazing my left cheek, and in no way I could even properly react with that.
By the time I realized it, her leg and her heels were over my shoulder as sweat slowly started to form on my forehead.
"..." She looked so flabbergasted as if all color in her was drained; she also began sweating in addition to the awkward situation alone.
"... I won't get fired right?"
"..." My legs felt wobbly, and they were shaking a lot, but I kept the clueless smirk. "Something like this doesn't really matter."
Although even before I knew it, I knelt down on the floor still keeping the face as if my weakness wasn't already obvious.
...
[Tatiana]
So that's her name.
From the looks of it, she couldn't see the black rectangle hovering over her head and the one in front of me as well.
"Is there something wrong with my face, Young Master?" She asked while tending to the graze she inflicted on me closely.
By god, those silver eyes are making my heart race.
Calm down, calm down! You're in the body of a 19-year-old; this is normally frowned upon...
Unless...
Wait snap out of it!
"... Ah! Nothing really; I think I'm just in a daze lately." I replied but she doesn't look like she bought that.
"I don't believe the rumors they say about you. But I know it's been bothering you for a while now." She added.
I've only felt nothing but genuine concern coming from her voice; it makes me furious how such a brat like this could ever hire a maid, nor how a drop-dead gorgeous woman stays with him.
"Those rumors hardly affect me, y'know?" I responded in a reassuring tone, looking at the side awkwardly, but if I'm being honest, antics like this don't even affect a Knight like me.
Looking back at her surprised me, she had an even stronger expression as if telling me not to deny or hide any negative feelings from her.
"...Trust me?" I added hoping that would convince her.
But I got a sigh as a reply that sounded like a disappointment.
"If that's what you say then I'm in no place to doubt you... but please, Young Master,
If there's anything wrong — let me know about it."
I was taken aback as she held both of my hands with pleading eyes, good lord in heaven, my heart was racing due to how close this woman was.
She's too cute and gorgeous!
I can't resist it!
But nay! Remember your pride!
Remember the fact that you're a different body!
With my left hand clutching my chest, sweating profusely... "... A-alright! I'll let you know... about my problems going forward!" I awkwardly said, nodding.
That must've reassured her a little because I could almost feel her lighten up for a bit, and she smiled at me, but by the gods that lord over this world, my heart was having a hard time.
Like the lonely and inexperienced knight I am, handling such "fluttery" emotions that give butterflies in your stomach isn't really my expertise.
But I at least managed not to kiss her or ask her for marriage at this very instance.
"Very well then, Young Master... I shall return to my other duties. I just happen to visit you in my free time. I worry that you might've actually gone insane." She stood up, patting her thighs before bowing in front of me.
I'm starting to get more and more envious of this bastard, god I should've been reborn as myself in the past.
Regressed with a servant like this and I would've immediately asked my parents for permission to marry her.
"Y-yeah... I wouldn't really linger on that... I thought I was wearing the proper attire.
But I don't really care what the others say about me." I replied back scratching the back of my head.
With one final reassurance, she finally departed.
Now back to the main problem at hand—
This kid's afflictions and solving them would be a difficult task, especially including the fact that I'm still denied access to the information on how to remove them.
But my eyes darted towards that one certain line that piqued my interest from earlier...
[System noticed that user had foreign skills before reactivation, analyze?]
Foreign skills?
Then this thing must've known that I'm a different soul but it kept saying I'm Elric von Eisenwald.
This is just outright confusing, but I'll have to leave it at that in the meantime.
"... Uh... Aherm." I started to notice how the pattern of the System Command so it wasn't that hard to figure it out after multiple failures.
It just took me a gruesome hour how to access that specific line.
"[Analyze, Confirm!]" Saying such words like a kid accessing magic for the first time makes me feel something odd; I can't explain it, but I don't like it.
[System Command Recognized.]
[System Skill Analyzing...]
[System Skill Analyze Complete.]
Multiple tabs of the same black rectangle glass appeared around me, startling me once more. Can't this thing be more sensitive to sort these things properly?
But there's no kidding about how outrageous the amount of these is.
[System Analyzed 1,378 Hidden Skills.]
No kidding!? So I can wield all of my former swordplay skills?!
[System Determined that only 2 out of 1,378 Hidden Skills can be wielded by the User without breaking their body.]
... I should've expected that.
Either way, it's better than none.
[Hidden Skills:]
Swordsman's Enhanced Footwork Lv.1
General Swordplay Knowledge Lv.1
[Confirm to add these Skills to your pre-existing Skillset?]
Enhanced Footwork but don't I have the [Curse of the Oathbreaker]? Not to mention I haven't seen the other information about the last 2 curses.
This thing might drain me but I can't really be picky with how disastrous and disappointing this brat's skills are.
"[Hidden Skills: General Swordplay Knowledge]." I need information about this interesting one.
[System Command Recognized.
General Swordplay Knowledge Lv.1
— Surface-level information about all swordplays of the current era. There might be missing information about other swordplays and other sword techniques, but it will be analyzed and stored after 5 minutes of spectating.]
It may not look like much, but this is the brighter side of things, a skill that gives me information and surface-level knowledge on the important stuff.
Not to mention it can analyze potential enemies in the future.
But... I don't remember having such skills, though?
That's strange.
Well, maybe it is Elric's hidden skill that he didn't even bother to unlock at all; even as a child, I wouldn't be even able to let this thing pass had it been an actual magic guide.
However, after imagining things I could do with this skill, I finally realized that the sun was already setting.
"Did I spend that much time pondering and messing around this thing?" I asked myself.
As everything still felt surreal. All of these things happened in one day, almost like a flash and I still couldn't comprehend how I ended up like this.
But it might be for a reason.
One that I have to find out while I'm still in this body.
I closed the windows before going to the bathroom once more to take a look at Elric's face in the mirror before splashing it with water as I took a deep breath.
"Hey, brat. You better be prepared."
I smirked.
"I'll go fix your reputation for you even if you're some kind of a twisted pervert. But I wouldn't make any mistake like that, yet.
I'm an old man in mind, soul, and heart, so I wouldn't be even interested in looking up some nasty kid's stuff.
But your main thought, I cannot stress how much of a lucky brat you are to have someone like that concerned for you!
But mark my words, you'll be renowned as the greatest knight in this kingdom. Even though I'm starting to hate it here already, and it's just the beginning."
There was no use for that declaration but I did it with a smirk anyway, this kingdom is the enemy of my empire but as long as I possess this body—
I have no choice but to rise and reclaim an honor that was meant for me.
But seriously, with all these thoughts, promises, and declarations, I'm being way too hasty when I couldn't even begin to solve the major problems of this kid.
"Who am I even kidding? I might die in the future without so much of a fight." I said to myself before getting out of the bathroom and stretching for a bit.
Resulting in a sharp pain uncalled for.
"A-ack..! My sides! My sides!" I groaned, clutching it.
"He doesn't even take an exercise? What the hell!?" I cursed once more as the pain lingered for a short while before sitting on the bed again.
Now it's time to plan how I will approach everything and set up goals perhaps.
"... Maybe I should write down some [Quests] or goals—"
Another tab of the rectangle box appeared before me, growing increasingly on numbers, and I knew how to make them disappear.
However, this one provided something that changed everything for me: it has the potential to help me shortly.
[System Command Recognized...]
[System Opening Quests]
[Quests]
Body Enhancement Quests:
[Sword Practice] Lv.2
— Swing a sword 200 times [26/200]
Reward: Beginner's Swordplay Lv.2 → Beginner's Swordplay Lv.3 + 20 EXP
[Stamina Practice] Lv.1
— Run 30 kilometers [16/30]
Reward: Increased Stamina Lv.1 + 10 EXP
[Awareness Practice] Lv.1
— Dodge 50 arrows [1/50]
Reward: Enhanced Reaction Speed Lv.1 + 10 EXP.
...
"Elric, you bastard!" I couldn't stop myself from grinning as I saw this tab, I take it back now.
This thing is crazy good for someone like; people aa nda chance to reduce the drawbacks of these damned curses!
But one thing caught my eye... something that could completely turn things around.