No Golden Finger

After they both had their fill, Amelia left her young master alone in the room to do the dishes in the kitchen.

Left behind was Roy, whose expression turned serious.

Who was he? He was the count's son.

He should have a dozen or so servants.

Yet surprisingly, there was only one person taking care of him in his most recent memories, and that was Amelia.

Except for her, he couldn't recall any servant coming to serve him, even though that was their job.

Roy grabbed his head. 'So far, she is the only one serving me. This is strange. I am the count's youngest son. On top of that, I need special care because I am supposedly less intelligent than a child. I should have a couple of servants at my beck and call, not just one Amelia. So why is she the only burdened with taking care of me and cleaning my clothes and dishes?'

Roy closed his eyes.

'I guess I will find out after going through the memories of Roy Badulf Baldwin.'

He closed his eyes and went through the memories belonging to the soul that had merged with him a while ago.

He went through them quickly and better understood his position in this house.

Growing up, Roy Badulf Baldwin showed a great lack of intelligence and thus earned the count's disdain.

When he was only four, The count had made it clear that a stupid and powerless fool like him wasn't worthy of being his son.

Two years later, the count also expressed to him clearly that the reason he was taking care of him was not to let down his wife in heaven. He had little value for the count and didn't have a bright future. Or any future at all.

Knowing this, his step-siblings and evil stepmothers treated him worse than the count.

He didn't have a sound mind and the capability to stand up for himself, and there was no one with status to speak up for him.

The servants took advantage of this fact and bullied him behind the back of the count.

When it came to him, they also slacked off.

'They aren't doing their job properly. That's why Amelia had to overwork so much the previous night that she fainted by my bedside. Those bastards are asking for a beating.'

Roy cursed the servants of the count's manor beneath his breath.

'Eh? What the heck? Amelia went to do the dishes not because she wanted to but because she had to in order to secure food for me.'

The further Roy went through his memories, the more his expression fell.

Because the count's family and the count alienated her young master, as well as because the servants bullied him because there was no one to punish them, Amelia had to clean the dishes so as not to get scolded by the kitchen master or have their next meals halted by him.

'The Kitchen Master is even shittier than the servants. Considering his actions so far against my maid and me, he doesn't deserve a beating. He deserves death!'

The dishes of the entire house were to be done by his maid as per the kitchen master's command.

One time, Amelia didn't do the dishes because she was feverish.

That day, the kitchen master refused not only to give dinner to her but also her fool of a young master.

The old Roy didn't stand up for her or himself. He was so lacking in intelligence that he failed to realize that the kitchen master was bullying them.

Amelia was fine with staying hungry for a night, but the mere thought of seeing her young master starve haunted her immensely, and hence she dropped to her knees and begged the kitchen master to give her food for one person.

The Kitchen Master treated her like a dog and three two chicken drumsticks her way. She couldn't catch them, and they fell on the dirty floor. She had seen them coming out of piping hot oil, but she picked them up, scalding her fingers in the process. She wiped the dust off them with her clean hands before bringing them to Roy to eat so he wouldn't sleep with an empty stomach.

Ever since that day, she had taken it upon herself to do the dishes so that a similar situation in which her young master might have to go hungry for a night wouldn't occur again.

'Even the feudal knights of the Great Sun aren't hardcore enough to throw away their pride to fill the stomach of a useless waste like me.'

Such a fiercely loyal person would shake even the heart of a stone-cold and ruthless man.

Roy was just a normal person.

He couldn't help but wish for a better life for her.

'Her loyalty to me is commendable.'

Roy's eyes warmed, and his heart moved for her.

After finding out how much Amelia had sacrificed for him, he promised to treat her like a princess in the future. Roy was no stranger to this continent, for he had read a novel that explained it vividly. There would be no future for them and everyone in the county if he didn't gain enough strength to match up to a sword master in three years. 

The Far West was one of The Five Great Areas of this World, and Baldwin county was just a small part of it.

Monsters and natural disasters were commonplace in this part of the Great Sun.

They weren't enough to cause its downfall.

But what if a danger greater than what the count can content against attack the county? What would happen then?

According to Roy Badulf Baldwin's memories, he was in the 23rd year of the Great Sun. If the novel was on point, the creature of chaos would invade the Far West three years later and cause the destruction of Baldwin County and the count's death.

'I do not care about the count, for he had been indifferent to me my whole life. But I must at least keep Amelia and myself safe. I need power, a lot of it for that.'

The servants of the count's family dared to bully him because he was too weak.

He needed to change himself.

He was suspicious his fat was a byproduct of someone's ill intention, but he had no evidence to back up his claim.

He believed, however, that he could become strong by training hard enough.

Roy Badulf Baldwin might not be as talented as the rumors claimed him to be, after all.

He was the son of a count that disliked weaklings, and he knew he needed to become a sword master if he wanted to survive the disaster three years later.

So he needed to get rid of his powerless status urgently and gain strength.

But unlike the protagonist of Stallion novels, he didn't have a golden finger that would help him increase his strength faster than the most talented residents of this world.

He called out the names of every golden finger he could recall in his mind and out loud, but nothing happened.

No window popped up before him, nor did an ancient soul call out to him or bring him to their sea of consciousness.

He went as far as to bit his finger and drip his blood on the black pendant around his neck, but again, he didn't gain some sort of law-defying treasure or technique or enter a space solely exclusive to him.

When Amelia returned and saw the bite wound on his thumb, she immediately went out.

After she came back, Roy noticed that her iron earrings were missing and there were meatballs in her hands.

He was no fool.

He understood that she had traded her personal accessories for food from the Kitchen Master, which she offered him.

"Young master, If you're hungry, don't keep it in and wait for me to go away to bite on your thumb. You should never do that again, ok? Just tell me, and I will bring big meatballs for you every time." Amelia treated him like a little kid and handed the two meatballs over to him. She thought that her young master was getting better, but seeing how he had cracked open his skin to feast on his blood made her think that it was all her imagination. "Now, eat them before they go cold."

Feeling utter defeated, Roy gawked at her.

'She has misunderstood me! I didn't bite my thumb because I was hungry, but she thought otherwise. How can I make it clear to her now that she had already gone so far, however? I might as well eat them and thank her as if I truly mean it.'

He ate the two meatballs in mere minutes even though he was feeling full.

"Thank you."

He patted her fluffy head.

"Anything for you."

She beamed at him.