The fragment bore the marks of countless rounds of folding and hammering.

Because it had broken from the sword's edge, Raine could clearly see fine, scale-like patterns left by overlapping hammer blows.

The blade had been forged by hand, but those layered marks proved that the smith responsible had been a master of the craft.

Raine would never look down on handmade work. In his previous world, a master fitter had once finished the casing of an atomic bomb by hand. That story was entirely true.

The forging arts of this world ran far deeper than he had imagined.

"Switch!" Bal's shout snapped him back to the present.

Raine wrapped the tiny fragment in a scrap of cloth, tucked it into his shirt pocket, and brushed the dirt from his clothes. Then he returned to holding down hooves.

[Training: Hoof Trimming]

[Hoof Trimming EXP +1]

[Focused Study: Hoof Trimming, 1 hour]

[Blacksmith Apprentice EXP +1]

[Hoof Trimming EXP +1]

---

By evening, after a full day of hard labor, Raine dragged himself back to the page boys' dormitory.

For ease of supervision, the boys slept on broad communal platforms, with more than a dozen sharing each room. Raine and George had been assigned to different dormitories.

Naturally, the merchant boys claimed the best places in the middle. Raine and the others slept along the edges.

"Raine! Get moving. Sweep the floor, then wipe down the bed boards and cabinets." Bushy Brow issued the order with his chin raised.

According to the rules, it was Bushy Brow's turn to clean.

Raine looked at him. *I've worked myself half to death all day, and now I'm supposed to clean up after you?*

"What are you staring at? Get to work, unless you want a beating."

Bushy Brow's heavy brows drew down as he strode forward and seized Raine by the collar.

Raine's hand came up, ready to strike. Then he remembered the thin arms and legs of his new body. Bushy Brow stood half a head taller. Starting a fight now could end only one way.

*So this is schoolyard bullying in another world. Fine. Give me two days. Then I'll teach you how I settle a score.*

What he said was, "I was looking for the rag. I'll get started."

Bushy Brow followed his pointing finger. The rag was right there. Muttering a curse, he shoved Raine and walked away.

Raine picked up the rag and went to work. More than a dozen bed boards and cabinets needed wiping. Then came sweeping, fetching water, and mopping. By the time he finished, he was barely on his feet.

As he worked, one question kept circling through his mind. What exactly triggered a Class Panel?

He had unlocked Blacksmith Apprentice while learning to trim hooves. Yet more than an hour of sweeping, mopping, and wiping down furniture had failed to produce a Servant panel.

Did no such class exist?

Or had he simply not spent enough time cleaning?

The page boys were too exhausted to talk. After a few mumbled exchanges, they sank into sleep.

Raine still had a bellyful of anger, and no matter how he shifted on the hard bed, he couldn't settle. His thoughts churned.

He needed a way to change his circumstances quickly. He refused to keep living like this, and he intended to teach Bushy Brow a painful lesson.

Several ideas flickered through his mind. He could exploit his knowledge from another world and offer a formula for gunpowder to Count Habsburg.

He dismissed the idea almost immediately.

According to the former Raine's memories, even the steward of Habsburg Estate held the title of knight. A mere page boy had no hope of approaching someone of that standing, let alone the count.

Could he go through the servant steward?

Even if the man were trustworthy and agreed to pass the message up the chain, how could a commoner's son explain where he had obtained such knowledge?

One mishap at any point could cost Raine his life. The promise of wealth brought out the worst in people.

In a transcendent world, personal strength would always stand above everything else.

His proper course was clear. Find a way to level up quickly and take his first step toward real power.

The thought brought the noble girl back to mind. She had been fierce, graceful, and beautiful.

Judging by how the others addressed her, her name was probably Miss Claire.

Was she Count Habsburg's daughter, or did she belong to another noble family?

Her heroic bearing lingered in his thoughts. So did the fitted hunting clothes that traced her athletic curves, especially the taut line of her backside.

Somewhere in that pleasant haze, Raine drifted to sleep.

---

Early the next morning, before the sky had fully brightened, the page boys were dragged out of bed and put back to work.

They spent another day learning to trim donkey hooves. Once today ended, so would the lesson. The estate wouldn't trim the donkeys' hooves again until next month.

That left Raine uneasy.

*I finally get a system, and now I'm running out of donkey hooves?*

*Should I ask Master Bal to let me try the trimming myself?*

He looked down at his thin arms and immediately shook his head. He had neither the experience nor the strength. Even if Bal agreed, Raine would probably botch the job and turn the opportunity into a disaster.

The young nobles didn't appear in the outer bailey that day, much to his disappointment.

When the final hoof had been trimmed, Raine stared at his skill panel.

Hoof Trimming Lv. 1 (32/100)

What would he do tomorrow?

---

The answer came the following morning.

Bal stood before two rows of assembled page boys and announced, "Today, you'll learn how to shoe a horse. But before we nail on a shoe, we need to trim the horse's hoof..."

Raine stopped listening.

*Trim a horse's hoof.*

*That should still count as a hoof, shouldn't it?*

His heartbeat quickened. He flipped the transparent panel to its second page and checked the skill again.

Good.

It said Hoof Trimming. Not Donkey Hoof Trimming or Horse Hoof Trimming. Just Hoof Trimming.

Judging by the lifelike hoof in the icon, the skill probably applied to all odd-toed ungulates.

Donkeys and horses belonged to the same family.

He still needed to test the theory.

Before long, Bal led the page boys to the northeastern corner of the outer bailey, near the stables.

One look at the tall horses inside made every boy except Raine grimace. Even the merchant boys, who were half a head taller on average, began to complain.

Holding down donkey hooves had been difficult enough. These horses were much larger, and their legs would be even harder to restrain.

Raine alone could hardly wait.

Anticipation, curiosity, and excitement coursed through him. He wanted the horseshoeing lesson to begin at once so he could test his theory.

Soon, Bal led the first horse from its stall.

Judging by its size, it was one of the shorter horses in the stable, yet it still stood a full size larger than the biggest black donkey.

"This is a packhorse! We'll start with it. First group, Raine and George. Come hold the hoof!" Bal's voice boomed through the stable yard.

Raine and George hurried forward. Following Bal's instructions, they braced the hoof between them.

Bal took a prepared horseshoe shaped like an inverted U and held it against the hoof. After judging where the nails would need to go, he began clipping away the excess growth with sharp, precise cuts.

When the hoof had been trimmed to the right shape, he placed the shoe and began driving in the nails.

"The first step in horseshoeing is to fit the shoe against the hoof and judge its position..." Bal explained as he worked.

Raine watched every movement.

The horseshoe had seven holes, and Bal drove in seven nails. The packhorse struggled harder with every blow of the hammer, forcing Raine and George to use all their strength to keep its leg steady.

After the final nail, Bal trimmed away the rough edges. One hoof was shod.

By the time they had braced all four of the packhorse's hooves, Raine was drenched in sweat.

Then he went still.

A system notice had appeared.

[Training: Horse Hoof Trimming]

[Hoof Trimming EXP +4]

[Focused Study: Horseshoeing, 15 minutes]

[Blacksmith Apprentice EXP +1]

Raine stared at the increased EXP beneath Hoof Trimming, excitement stirring in his chest.

He had expected horse hooves to count, but confirmation was something else entirely.

More importantly, the EXP gain was much faster than it had been with donkey hooves.

A pattern was emerging.

While trimming donkey hooves, he had needed a full hour of focused study to gain one point of Blacksmith Apprentice EXP. This time, only fifteen minutes had passed before it increased.

The class entry now read:

Blacksmith Apprentice Lv. 1 (8/100)

Horseshoeing was most likely more relevant to the Blacksmith Apprentice class than simple hoof trimming. Greater relevance meant faster class EXP.

It was only a theory, but Raine was confident that he had found the right answer.

Just as one road closed, another had opened before him.

*I've got this.*