I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

About an hour after Lilith and Agnes met in front of the Dark Forest *1…

Agnes, who still hadn’t contracted with a spirit, was finally able to enter the Dark Forest to contract at midnight.

However, the way she entered was a slightly different method than she had initially thought.

‘Why, why do I have to enter this dark forest alone at this hour….’

In one hand, she held a lamp that didn’t use mana to look for magical reactions and prevent spirits from running away.

On the other hand, she held a map of the Dark Forest to avoid getting lost in the forest.

Both items were given to her by Lilith. The map, in particular, was suspiciously amateurish, likely drawn by Lilith herself. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Agnes rationally knew she shouldn’t hold a grudge against Lilith, who had been so thoughtful in preparing her until the very end.

Rustle.

“Eek, eek?!”

…Still, Agnes hadn’t imagined that she would be left alone in the Dark Forest at this late hour.

‘I didn’t think I’d be going in alone….’

Although she had somewhat prepared herself when told to meet in front of the Dark Forest, Agnes hadn’t expected to actually go in alone.

She had naturally assumed she would enter with Lilith. After all, Lilith always wore an expression that suggested she wasn’t afraid of anything.

Of course, Agnes herself wasn’t afraid of things like large monsters or high falls.

However, the darkness of the night was an environment she didn’t particularly like.

In fact, the reason she became obsessed with fire magic was because it could produce light in the darkness.

If she had an aptitude for light magic, Agnes would have undoubtedly majored in it.

<…I guess that’s true. …Wait, don’t tell me….>

<…H-Hmph. Of course not. Give me the map and the lamp. I’ll enter by myself.>

In fact, it was a reasonable concern.

As soon as Lilith’s presence, which she had naturally expected to be there, disappeared, Agnes was trembling with inexplicable anxiety.

As a result, even her mana, which she had managed to control and hide, was constantly leaking out.

Belatedly noticing that her mana was leaking, Agnes hurriedly controlled it using the method Lilith had taught her.

‘Any spirit will do. Any spirit as quickly as possible….’

It didn’t matter if it was a low-level spirit or not, even if it wasn’t a fire spirit, as long as she could form a contract.

She just wanted to get out of this chilly forest as soon as possible.

Of course, it was better to assume that she wouldn’t be attacked by dangerous monsters. At least not tonight.

The Dark Forest was, after all, a training facility within the academy designed to match the level of the students.

There were no monsters in the forest yet that could defeat the current Agnes, who was already stronger than most second and third-year students despite being a first-year.

Whoosh!

“Hnnggh…!!”

…However, this fact did little to reduce Agnes’s fear as she was left alone in the forest.

‘I’ve only come about halfway….’

Why was this Spirit Pond that Lilith mentioned so deep in the Dark Forest?

Why did she have to be pushed into such a dangerous place if spirit contracts could only be formed here? [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

For a moment, she wondered if Lilith had sent her to this place alone to deceive her.

“…Huh?”

But as soon as she saw a young spirit appear before her eyes, Agnes was finally able to dismiss her suspicions about Lilith.

Bzzzz.

“Could it be… Is this really…?”

So, it was true that young spirits are born anew on the day of planetary alignment.

Although it was still just a small sphere, not yet in the form of a spirit, Agnes could be certain from the mysterious power she felt around it.

The blue sphere, beginning to bloom before her eyes, was the young spirit she had been searching for.

‘There’s still a bit more to go until the pond, but….’

Lilith hadn’t specifically said that the contract had to be made at the pond.

She had only said that many spirits would appear at the pond, making it easier to find a spirit that suited her taste.

In other words, if she could form a contract with a spirit right here, she wouldn’t have to stay in this dark forest any longer.

Agnes’s steps towards the newly born spirit became a bit more urgent.

Tap. Tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.

“Um, excuse me…!”

Whoosh!

“…Huh?”

However, as soon as she approached, the young wind spirit disappeared from right in front of her eyes.

As Agnes lost the spirit right before her nose, one of Lilith’s pieces of advice from the supplementary lessons quietly crossed her mind.

“…Ah.”

…She had known this.

In her haste, she had momentarily forgotten.

She had gotten carried away with the feeling that if she could just contract with a spirit, she could somehow quickly get out of this darkness.

“…It was a wind spirit.”

If it had led to a contract, it would have been a good partner for her, who uses fire magic.

But since regret wouldn’t bring back the disappeared young spirit, Agnes could only continue walking into the Dark Forest, relying solely on the lamp and the handmade map.

Fortunately, not long after, she was able to encounter another spirit.

Rustle.

‘…Found one.’

It was an earth spirit, quietly wriggling and rising from the ground.

Seeing its appearance, not yet fully formed, she could confirm that it was a newly born spirit.

Agnes approached the spirit with careful steps, trying not to repeat her previous failure.

Step. Step.

“Um, excuse me….”

|…?!|

“Would you… like to form a contract… with me?”

|….|

|…Ah!|

The spirit seemed surprised by her sudden appearance, but it didn’t run away when she calmly started the conversation.

It was the first time that a spirit didn’t run away from Agnes when she spoke to it.

Of course, she was completely hiding her mana, which usually made spirits feel uncomfortable.

Being a young spirit born not long ago, it was at a stage where curiosity outweighed caution.

That’s why it didn’t run away despite Agnes’s awkward communication skills.

|Con…tract?|

“…Yes.”

|What’s… that…?|

“……”

How should she explain what a contract with her is to a young spirit that lacks even the ability to understand the world? [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

For Agnes, who had rarely had deep conversations in her human relationships to the extent that Lilith was the person she had talked to the most recently, persuading a young spirit was not an easy task.

“A contract is…”

|….|

“W-Well…”

|….|

“I-If we do it… we’ll be together, continuously…”

Rustle-rustle-plop!

“W-Wait…!”

The earth spirit, uninterested in her inarticulate words, returned to the ground.

Agnes hastily reached out to where the spirit had been, but it was impossible for her hand to reach the already disappeared spirit.

Having wasted her second chance as well, Agnes quietly dusted off her uniform skirt and stood up.

‘…Let’s go to the Spirit Pond.’

Lilith had said that it was the place where the most spirits would be born in this Dark Forest tonight.

Among those many spirits, maybe one would appear that wanted to form a contract with her.

With such vague hope, Agnes moved deeper into the Dark Forest.

About 20 minutes after she had started walking again, having used up about half of the fuel in the lamp Lilith had given her, as she followed the map…

“…Huh?”

A short exclamation escaped Agnes’s lips as she discovered a faint light leaking from behind a large tree in the dark forest.

“C-Could it be…”

Could this be the Spirit Pond Lilith had mentioned?

Trying to suppress her pounding heart, Agnes walked around the large tree, holding onto it.

As she moved step by step, circling around the tree, the pond that had been hidden gradually revealed itself.

“W-Wow…”

Agnes could only utter a few words of amazement as she confirmed the full view with her own eyes. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

A beautiful water surface shining with all colors of light in the middle of the pitch-black forest.

Hundreds of newly born spirits emitted colorful lights, and those lights reflected on the pond’s surface, twinkling brilliantly as if reminiscent of a spirit ballroom.

It was truly a dreamlike place for her, who had rarely even encountered one or two spirits properly before.

T/N

Changing all instances of Black Forest to Dark Forest from now on. I’ll be going through previous chapters when the site is more stable and editing them then.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!