The body of the villainess, the soul of a gamer

"That's about sums up how it went."

Lazurii shrugged his shoulders and finished the explanation.

The young master of the house was visiting his younger sister together with their father.

The girl with her golden hair slicked back was sitting in the middle of an old smithy, that had been selected for renovations even before she was born, surrounded by piles upon piles of bent, crushed, and torn metal slabs and rods.

"If that's the task you have selected yourself to perform, Lazurii Fenrioette, then so be it. Do not expect any favors for volunteering to be a messenger without previous notice. If you're going to continue the errand, you can tell Zane that I am fine and won't be putting myself in danger so he should focus on getting better."

Melinda granted her older brother a single glance of her cold gold eyes and scoffed while sinking her fingers in a solid slab of metal so easily as if it was a stick of warmed butter.

"...ah…"

She let out a short gasp immediately, moving back her hands as if the experience was not just unpleasant but straight-up disgusting.

"That counted as an attack, too? But somehow, me grabbing Zane's arm didn't… No, wait... if it was an attack, the metal would end up getting pulverized, wouldn't it? I need to figure it out as fast as possible but it's so weird..."

The girl groaned, leaning back in her chair and tapping the stone floor with her feet.

"...you see what I'm talking about? That didn't count as an attack, and neither did it break the floor. It's like the physics can't decide whether to work or not, it's infuriating!"

While her father and brother stared at her with concern, Melinda pointed at her feet and frowned.

She then leaned forward and over the sturdy table with stacks of intact slabs and bars, grabbed a three-foot-long bar with one hand, and moved it around like a sword, clenching her fist on its end, furrowing her brows with great focus.

"...and it works again..."

Wondering whether the amount of strength she put into holding the object was any different this time, she then placed the bar back on the table… to reveal that it wasn't damaged in any way. There were no traces of her fingers sinking into the metal in the spot that she was grabbing at all.

"That's amazing, my dear! If you are focused, you can properly control your strength. It has a lot to do with your brain subconsciously, but to make sure you don't harm yourself, you have to raise your level. We are already organizing a group to capture monsters that you could finish off in a safe environment."

Brynhild praised the girl and clapped his hands together, announcing more good news.

"Hmm. Sure. Much appreciated, my duke. Now, if you two excuse me, I don't want to keep you here with your busy schedule and all. I require peace to concentrate and none of us want me to bring down the mansion and who knows what else."

Melinda's face showed pity for a split second before her face turned expressionless and she bowed her head towards the two men, politely asking them to leave in a flat voice.

"Alright. Don't overwork yourself, my dear."

"..."

Brynhild made a forced smile, grabbing the arm of Lazurii, who didn't quite recover after receiving the full name punch, and leaving together.

"Weren't you always her favorite? What did you do to make her act like that?"

"I don't know!"

As they were outside, Brybhild asked, but Lazurii could only cry in dismay.

Back inside the to-be-restored smithy - which was a separate building from the mansion but still within the walls surrounding it - Melinda flicked the metal bar she experimented on before with her finger, breaking it in half and sending both of those halves against the wall. Which resulted in two short bars stabbing deeply into the stones.

"Haa…"

Melinda sighed, looking at her perfectly fine finger while standing up and approaching the wall to examine the damage…

She then proceeded to raise one hand and push her fist against the spot between the bars, immediately punching a clean hole all the way through the wall dispute having no intention of the movement becoming an attack.

As she pulled out her arm and examined her hand. She confirmed that her knuckles and fingers weren't damaged at all, but the sides of her palm that she brushed against the coarse surface of the new air vent while retracting her arm were scratched, and slightly red.

"Haaa… it's as if the rules of my old world and the rules of the game world mixed together."

Melinda scoffed with a smirk, but her expression soon turned dark.

"It's so confusing... When I perform certain actions, I will not suffer any backlash as long as my strength stat is higher than the defense stat of the target. But some actions put my defense against the defense of the other party, and I get damaged..."

She grumbled to herself with a troubled expression.

"I need to level up and train my reflexes… but I also need to figure out which action is which... and that makes the duke's safe-environment plan inefficient."

Melinda pondered, grabbing the embedded bars and easily pulling them out of the wall.

"Hmm… the area at the north of the Fernioette's mansion should have low-level monsters… I remember being pissed off about that place unlocking late in the game when it would be so much more beneficial to have access to it from the start… Heh… lucky~"

The girl glanced between the bars and the door.

"Hey! Adi~!"

"Yes, my lady?!"

Melinda called out and her personal maid burst in from outside with an expression suggesting that she thought something went wrong during her master's practice time.

Well, her expression and a box with medicinal supplies she was clenching in her arms.

"I want to go back to my room to rest. Make sure that no one will disturb me. Duke will understand so don't worry about blocking him too."

"O-okay…. as you wish, my lady…"

The maid's eyes widened, but she nodded and backed off, making the way for the gold-haired noble.

Adrianna even breathed out, grateful for an easy task when Melinda moved past her…

"Oh, and... Adi."

"...?"

Melinda stopped a few steps ahead and glanced back at the relieved but vigilant maid.

"Before I get to my room, bring me some inconspicuous hooded cape. Please and thank you~"

"M-my lady!?"

The gold-haired girl grinned cheekily, causing the maid's face to turn pale.