c29 (2/2)

It is the same as yesterday up to now.

Why did master request a handshake before the mock combat.

“Hahahaha! Entertain me today, too, Lute!”

“L,Like wise please be benevolent to me.”

Master did not release my hands immediately after the handshake, and told me softly with a suppressed tone.

“I have heard from Gigi. The plan to help Chrisse regain self confidence by having her cooperate and have a pseudo feeling of having completed her objective.”

“The plan is strongly pushed by Gigi-san, although it is not known whether ojou-sama will be able to successfully regain her confidence even if we successfully complete it.. Perhaps, would it be possible if I am given a little more breathing room in today’s battle simulation?”

“Fufufu, that is not happening. That is because I enjoy having a battle simulation with Lute. I always take things that are entertaining, seriously.”

Of course. Even though I knew it.

Can’t I hold onto a sliver of hope.

After breaking the handshake with master, I went back to the starting position.

Gigi-san sat beside madam who is drinking tea.

I directed my line of sight to ojou-sama who is watching over here, at me, from the 2nd storey bedroom window.

Her eyes are shut.

She wore a nervous expression with her hand clasped on her chest.

……A cute girl is devising tactics until late night. I need to be resolute here, or else I’m a failure as a man.

Facing towards ojou-sama, I clenched my right hand into a fist and pumped it into the air.

Ojou-sama’s white cheeks blushed red.

We nodded to each other silently.

If all goes according to the plan set by ojou-sama, it will be possible to obtain 10 seconds from master, the A rank magician.

I took a long deep breath to circulate the air in my lungs and glared at the overwhelming wall-of-flesh-like master in front of my eyes.

Gigi-san raised his right hand up high.

“Hence, let the battle simulation……BEGIN!”

“UoOOOOO!!!”

In contrast to yesterday, I charged straight up towards master.

Of course magic is injected to strengthen my eyes and legs.

It seemed that master did not antic.i.p.ate such an action and only managed to dish out a half-baked right straight.

The reaction was captured by my enhanced kinetic vision.

I lowered my stance to evade!

Without stopping I continue to close the distance, then I strengthened my right arm and planted a punch into master’s abdomen.

“Kuh!”

My fist hurts when it hit the abdominal muscles that are as if they were made from a metal plate layered with rubber.

Master wasn’t fazed by an attack of this extent, and raised his left arm to catch the advancing me.

Compared to yesterday, his attacks were much slower.

As ojou-sama had said, his long arms and well developed, bulging muscles are a hindrance in close combat that is on the verge of touching each other, causing his movements to dull.

(If it’s like this, I could dodge it completely!)

To hit the persistent me, master swung his left fist down before doing a backhand attack upwards.

I had sidestepped to evade the fist before it had reached.

“Huh!”

I felt a chill on my back.

Master shot me a piercing gaze, my body was filled with pressure. His left hand gave pursuit from above.

Even at this frightening distance, I am able to notice feints of this extent by discerning how much power is exerted into master’s attack.

I am impressed with how good the movement of the feint is.

I ignored my body’s orders to retreat backwards.

Sound came from my molars as I clench my teeth, I stopped moving as I failed to suppress it.

Master noticed my inability to move and switched onto the attack.

A left hook was swung to me who was circling around by sidestepping.

I bent my spine as the punch pa.s.sed through in a close shave.

“Whoops!”

It was a hook thrown from an unreasonable stance and master’s body staggered.

Chance!

Again concentrate magic power on my right arm!

I gave my all into the right straight and swung it in……but, there in my sight is ojou-sama shaking her head! Why!?

Master gave me the answer to that.

He with nimble movement, he parried my straight punch with his left hand.

It is a technique called “parrying” in boxing.

His body staggering is a trick, and I had totally walked into master’s trap! Ojou-sama noticed it early and shook her head.

It is too late to regret now.

After having my punch knocked off, this time it is my body’s turn to stagger.

In a flash, master’s hard fist a.s.saulted me in the form of a right hook.

The sound of wind being pierced is not entirely different from those of a bullet.

There is no time to cast body strengthening magic to aid my head.

The future scene of my head being cleanly severed from the rest of the body in less than 1 second, floated into my mind.

“Stop right there!”

At the same time as Gigi-san’s voice rang out, Master’s right hook stopped.

The distance of the punch to my face is not even 10 cm.

“As 10 seconds had transpired, the winner of this simulation battle goes to Lute.”

“…………Hu,hurrraaAAaayyyyy!!!”

A very narrow win!

I unintentionally let out a cry of victory.

Master shook his head in disappointment, and I s.h.i.+fted my line of sight onto madam. She was smiling as she looked at the scene.

Then I left them alone and voiced out to ojou-sama who was observing from the 2nd storey window.

I pumped both hands into the air and joyfully sent her words of grat.i.tude.

“Ojou-sama! I did it! I managed to last 10 seconds against master! This is all thanks to ojou-sama!”

Compared to earlier, ojou-sama’s cheek had blushed and her eyes are moist, she clapped her hands vigorously, as if her life depended on it, while her body leaned out from the window so much that it seemed as if she might fall over.

In response to her clapping, I pumped my hands into the air continuously.

Both ojou-sama and me are being bound with a sense of accomplishment.

Just how long did we stare at each other.

It was probably just for a few seconds.

After I recovered my sense of reason, it is extremely rude to openly express my joy so excessively over the defeat of my master.

Moreover, for a servant and the daughter to stare at each other.

I hurriedly apologise after noticing my mistake.

“I, I’m sorry! I apologise for merrymaking!”

“Hahahaha! Never mind! It is the privilege of the victor!”

“Indeed, there is no reason to worry. Actually you should puff your chest out more. You became able to survive 10 seconds in just one day, that’s a significant improvement.”

“No, It’s all because of what ojou-sama pointed out. I did no more than move according to her advice.”

I used this chance to increase the hikikomori ojousama’s share value.

“You don’t need to be so humble. It’s hard even for a B- rank magician to hold out against Master’s attack for 10 seconds. Lute-kun should be more proud like Madam said.”

“Gigi-san……”

Gigi-san, who put me through this ordeal, patted my shoulders and praised me.

Unusually for him, his expression loosened and he made a smile.

Tears spontaneously collected on my eyes……but Gigi-san himself ruined that moving moment.

“Next you will have special training to be able to take 20 seconds of Master’s attacks.”

“Ha, haaaa!? Wha! What do you mean!? O, ouuuuch! Gigi-san’s fingers are digging into me! You’re putting too much power!”

As I raised my head, I saw Gigi-san’s eyes filled with definite bloodthirst.

“Lute…. You should know this already, but in the end you’re just a servant. Keep your att.i.tude in accordance with your position. Understood?”

Even though both parents are okay with it, why is Gigi-san so angry!

Well he has been watching over ojou-sama since she was a baby, so he might think of her like his own daughter…. but still, a rematch against master is too much! It’s abuse of authority!

An ogre! A demon! Gigi-san!

I called him all the names I can think of in my heart.

But of course, Gigi-san did not take back his decision.

The evening party that night.

Mercè-san and I were being waiters, as always.

The teacakes for the evening party was an a.s.sorted fruits platter.

The head chef Malcolm-san took an apple-looking fruit and cut it into a rabbit shape like I taught him.

Ojou-sama smiled delightfully at such a cute thing.

The evening party’s topic of talk was of course about the mock battle I cleared with ojou-sama’s help.

“Thanks to ojou-sama’s advice, I could somehow endure Master’s fierce attacks. Please allow me to thank you once again.”

[I didn’t do anything. It’s because Lute-san worked hard. Lute-san looked really cool today.]

Ojou-sama bashfully took her mini blackboard in front of her.

But it was obviously the result of ojou-sama’s advice.

If it were just me alone, I would have been crushed again without being able to retaliate against Master today.

In order to boost ojou-sama’s self-confidence, I gave her counsel.

“No, It was really thanks to ojou-sama. If it weren’t for ojou-sama, I would have been defeated again today. It was all thanks to ojou-sama that I could win today.”

[No, it was Lute-san’s hard work. Even without me you could settle things on your own.]

“That couldn’t be so. It was thanks to ojou-sama.”

[It was Lute-san’s hard work!]

“It was ojou-sama”

[It was Lute-san’s work!]

“It was ojou-sama already!”

Pfft――Both of us broke into laughter.

Ojou-sama shyly laughed while hiding from behind her mini blackboard.

I put on an awkward smile.

Ojou-sama ran her fingers.

[Then, how about calling today both our victory?

“Yes, it was both our victory”

Again we confirmed our compromise and once again smiled at each other.

Ojou-sama seemed to be in a good mood, and started writing with her cheeks dyed red.

[Actually, I always wanted to have an [onii-chan]… if it isn’t too much trouble… can I call Lute-san [Onii-chan]?]

As she said that to me, I took a glance at Mercè. …. She didn’t seem especially opposed to that. Maybe it was something like “It’s okay if it’s for healing ojou-sama’s hikikomori.”

“You are of course welcome to. n.o.body would oppose getting such a cute little sister like ojou-sama. But, since we have our statuses to worry about, please try to not do it in front of people if you can.”

[Thank you very much! Lute-onii-chan.]

C, cuteeeeeee!

A golden-haired, loli, imouto-character I want to protect!

Truly a girl that triggers my protective instinct!

“Lute-kun!”

Suddenly, Snow’s words played back inside my head.

No no no, this is different.

Just a little sister! It’s only love for a foster sister’s cuteness.

I definitely did not mean that.

[Is there anything wrong, Lute-onii-chan?]

“N, not at all. I’m sorry.”

I put on a fake smile to sweep away ojou-sama’s worry.

It was a little scary how Mercè-san was silently watching us.

Thank you very much for reading this far!

Impressions, typos, and opinions are warmly welcomed!

I plan to update tomorrow, December 19th at 21:00.

This chapter is a bit long.

I wanted to split it at first, but then I thought that it would be more interesting to read this scene all at once. I would be glad if you enjoyed reading it.

Also, I’ve been busy IRL recently so I haven’t been able to do activity reports or fix typos. Please wait quietly a little longer until I can get back to you. Well then (￣^￣)ゞ

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