I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

Two days after I attached a fire spirit to Agnes and received a punishment-like skinship from Ethan in return…

In Harold’s final class of the second semester’s sword technique lecture class, “Advanced Magic Swordsmanship,” I was nervously facing Harold. 

As I prepared for the sword duel with him, which was essentially the final assignment of this semester…

“……”

“……”

Grip.

The Sword Master, quietly holding just one two-handed sword, fixed his gaze on me, waiting for me to make a move.

Even though it was a handicap match, there was still an absurd gap between a Sword Master and an academy student.

Moreover, unlike Harold, who had lived his entire life devoted to the sword, swordsmanship wasn’t even my major. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Being in the Magic Department, it was possible to imbue the sword with stronger mana, but in the end, it was difficult to overcome physical limitations.

I could only grip the dagger in my hand a little tighter at his appearance, which still showed no openings.

‘…It’s okay, just do as you practiced.’

The last chance I have for this semester is the final duel.

Whether I can win a round in this match determines my grade for the second semester.

It determines whether I can get an A+ in Harold’s “Advanced Magic Swordsmanship” exam or not.

Of course, not getting an A+ wouldn’t drastically lower my grade, but I still wanted to achieve the highest grade if possible.

I had already confirmed last semester that, just like in the original game, additional rewards varied according to academic achievement.

If possible, I should win at least one round for stat growth.

…In a chance that only comes four years in a lifetime, I had to take everything I could get.

“You can come at me anytime, Lilith.”

“…Yes, mast… professor.”

“However, if you don’t attempt an attack within one minute, I’ll approach from my side. I can’t spend time on just one person’s duel.”

“…Understood.”

Since it would be dozens of times harder to counter Harold’s charge than to make the first move myself, I eventually had to move first, rolling my feet.

After composing myself to some extent, I leaped forward while utilizing a newly learned dagger technique.

『Opening Strike: Increases the Attack of blade-type weapons immediately after the start of battle.』

Dagger, First Technique: Opening Strike.

If possible, I didn’t want to invest more in daggers, but with half-hearted determination, I couldn’t even hope to defeat Harold.

Hoping that the course completion reward and grade evaluation reward would be worth the invested points, I charged at Harold with the new technique.

Simultaneously, I didn’t forget to apply the Sharp Blade buff.

Tap, tap, tap!

My body, sprinting off the ground, immediately moved towards the lower half of Harold’s body.

To aim for a decisive blow, targeting the neck or heart would be more effective, but that’s only an option for those with the capability.

For someone like me, with a short reach and a height difference from Harold, it wasn’t an appropriate strategy.

My target was his abdomen or waist.

With only the thought of stabbing the sword into that area filling my mind, I closed the distance with Harold. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

First, I attempted to thrust the dagger with the Blackwood crest engraved on it, held in my right hand, towards Harold’s solar plexus.

Clang!

“Ugh….”

Harold, confirming my approach to his waist, calmly moved his sword to block the attack.

I didn’t expect the first attack to be successful.

It was just an attack to draw out one of Harold’s moves. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fortunately, thanks to my reducing the impact with Shockwave, I didn’t lose grip on the dagger in my hand, and in that state, I immediately used a newly learned arcane magic.

『Energy Bolt: Fires a medium-sized mana bullet at the enemy.』

While the principle was the same as Mana Blast, it was a lower-level spell that could be fired much faster.

Of course, its power was significantly lower compared to Mana Blast.

Still, if it hit properly, it wasn’t so weak that it couldn’t cause damage. Even Harold would have to choose between dodging or blocking.

If three of these came flying at once, he would have to block at least one or two with his sword.

…Especially if it was in a Blurred Light where he couldn’t confirm his vision with both eyes.

Flash!

“……”

Along with a momentary flash, a pale mist of dim light enveloped Harold’s body.

Three mana bullets flew into the mist towards Harold, whose vision was temporarily blocked.

If luck was on my side, maybe two of them would flow into the trajectory. Given who the opponent was, it probably wouldn’t cause direct damage.

After forcing him to use his opportunity to block the attack with his sword again, I immediately prepared the next technique to take him down.

After all, the rules of the duel in the Advanced Magic Swordsmanship class were to use all available means to defeat Harold.

“Now, Sally! Sei!”

{Take this!!}

A massive fireball flew from the hand of Sally, the high-ranking fire spirit.

Despite consuming about a quarter of my maximum mana, its size wasn’t that enormous.

As expected, the efficiency wasn’t that high yet due to the temporary contract with Sally.

But it didn’t matter. With Sei around, even Sally’s mediocre power could be utilized much more efficiently.

[Uuut, huuuuuu…!!]

The sylphid, gathering her hands near her mouth, exhaled a fierce wind breath in the direction where Sally’s fireball had flown.

Sally’s fireball and Sei’s support magic collided in mid-air and were sucked into the pale light.

Immediately after, with a rather tumultuous explosion, the inside of the light mist burst out noisily.

KABOOM!!

“……”

For now, the explosion itself wasn’t canceled or blocked and seemed to have properly entered.

Surely, this wouldn’t kill him. Given who the opponent was, considering his physical strength, he should be able to withstand this level of explosion.

However, whether my attack had properly reached Harold…

I couldn’t tell. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

As I couldn’t be certain of victory yet, I prepared the next technique even in this state.

The cursed sentence uttered by Sally beside me made my heart a little more urgent.

{…Did we take him down?}

Swish!

{Ah, guess not…}

The fire spirit mumbled disappointedly upon seeing Harold reappear, cutting through the dust cloud of the explosion with just one sword.

I wanted to crush Sally’s mouth with my fist, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to be distracted now.

In a hurry, I threw Seraphine’s dagger held in my left hand at the approaching Harold using Dagger Throw.

Whoosh!

“……”

Harold dodged it by slightly tilting his head as if it wasn’t even a threat.

His body only had slightly dirtied clothes, with no signs of being burned or scorched.

In the end, it meant that even that explosion hadn’t caused significant damage to Harold.

‘He’s not just a monster…’

How did he burst through a combo that would turn any decent monster into monster barbecue the moment it was caught without a single scratch?

I naturally thought that he might have used his energy or mana to block it while his vision was blocked in the dim light.

Harold now pointed his sword at me with an intimidating presence that was almost frightening.

I tried to hold out against him somehow using support magic and dagger techniques, but it wasn’t difficult for him to subdue me, who had already used almost all of my trump cards.

Clang!

“Ugh…!”

Clang!

“Ugh, hah…!!”

The Blackwood dagger I had held in my right hand and Lizzy’s silver dagger I had hastily gripped in my left hand…

After a few sword strikes, Harold accurately struck the weak points of my blades, sending my last means of attack flying into the sky.

Harold’s gaze quietly moved towards me, having ended the duel in what was essentially a complete victory.

“…Not a bad attempt.”

“……”

Harold’s appearance indirectly states that it didn’t work on him.

Well, if it had been a good attack, it would have been me landing the decisive blow, not Harold.

Thinking he had clearly subdued me, Harold continued his evaluation of our recent battle as if wrapping up the duel.

“Right from the start, you restricted the opponent’s movement with an attack that forced me to block with my sword and immediately followed up with the next attack.”

“…That’s right.”

“The Blurred Light might have been better left unused. While it’s not a bad choice to block the opponent’s vision, it doesn’t work on me. At this level of mastery, one can sense where magic is coming from even with eyes closed. Moreover, you also missed one magic shot because you couldn’t find my faint silhouette.”

…It wasn’t really because of the Blurred Light that I missed. It just missed due to low accuracy.

Of course, I couldn’t interrupt and object while the professor was speaking, so I had no choice but to listen quietly.

“Your affinity with spirits seems quite good. It must have taken quite a bit of practice to use combo magic with such precise timing.”

“Yes. And this semester, I also took the Spirit Communication lecture.”

“If you can fight well by distributing your mana with the spirits, it will likely be a considerable strength in your life.”

“…Yes.”

Harold slowly relaxed his tense posture from the duel, quietly lowering the sword he had been holding with both hands. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

The final evaluation coming from his mouth was nearing its end.

“Your swordsmanship has improved considerably compared to the beginning of the semester. Especially that first strike as soon as you rushed in was the sharpest of your sword strikes so far. …Though the sword strikes in the final engagement afterward were a bit disappointing.”

Well, that’s because the effect of Opening Strike had ended. It couldn’t be helped. It was also a buff skill that couldn’t be used again during battle.

After that, Harold continued with my grade evaluation along with various explanations.

While pretending to listen quietly to Harold’s words, I slowly prepared for one last strike.

…To target Harold’s critical mistake that he had inadvertently overlooked in this duel.

“…So, overall, Lilith, your grade will probably be…”

“Professor Harold, before my grade evaluation, there’s one thing I’d like to say.”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“…The duel isn’t over yet.”

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!