I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

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“Are you really not hurt anywhere?! Or did that guy do something to you, Lilith…?”

“Ah, no… I’m really fine, so it’s okay…”

If I had to say, the arm that Ethan had just pulled was a bit sore, but I couldn’t complain about this to the person who saved me. It’s not like he asked me for a reward after he saved me from drowning.

If Ethan had been even a little later, I would have been dragged into a mental world I could never escape from. Now, there wasn’t even enough time to express my infinite gratitude to Ethan.

“By the way, how did you know? I was about to be dragged in, so I don’t think even my face would have been visible through that small gap.” [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

“…I just had a feeling that you were there somehow, Lilith.”

“What?”

“As the space was slowly closing, I saw a hand, and somehow, I felt it must be your hand. I’m glad I wasn’t too late, Lilith.”

“……”

Did he figure out that I was being dragged away by Machart just by seeing a hand? It seemed very touching but also strangely scary.

No, no. I decided to just be grateful now. The extent of Ethan’s obsession with me was a problem to think about later. After all, there was a different problem I needed to face right now.

“…What a pity. I thought it was over then.”

As Ethan pulled me out, Machart, as if he had no reason to stay in that space anymore, opened his mental domain and revealed himself again.

From the outside, it looked as if he was opening empty space and walking out, and once outside, he muttered while facing us, standing at a slightly distant position from me and Ethan.

“I was surprised to see you had already come from that commotion, but it seems you’re not that Hero guy.”

“…So it was your doing, after all. I was wondering what was going on when Miss Blaze’s disguise magic suddenly disappeared, and then Prince Antonio popped up.”

“Yes, wasn’t it interesting? Thanks to that, it seems the Hero and his friends are still tied up in the Banquet Hall. I was worried for nothing.”

Thanks to Ethan, I had somehow escaped from his mental domain, but the battle between Machart and me wasn’t over yet.

If anything, it could be said that it had just begun. Until just now, I had no chance of winning in a fight between Machart and me, but now, with Ethan, who had become a Sword Expert, joining, it was a situation worth trying.

‘It’s not just the sword, but blue energy is flowing throughout his entire body. Could he have fully bloomed already?’

Until now, he had only occasionally dipped his toes into the realm of being a Sword Expert, but the overflowing energy I felt from Ethan now was almost enough to say he had fully bloomed.

Of course, I had seen something similar during the Subjugation of the Kraken. However, at that time, I thought it was a temporary phenomenon as it cooled down again after the battle ended.

Seeing how he sometimes bloomed into an Expert during his duels with Harold, I guessed that Ethan might be the type to get stronger in difficult battles. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

Reflecting on Ethan in the original game, who was unusually strong in the miniboss battle for a trivial villain at the beginning of the work, he seemed to be the type who gets stronger in life-or-death battles. Whether this was a unique characteristic of Ethan as a person or just a coincidence that his abilities seemed to overlap with the original, I wasn’t sure.

Thud.

I, too, getting down from Ethan’s arms, grabbed my daggers with both hands, and prepared to engage in full-fledged battle. Anyway, it would take more time for Gyeongmwajogyegigwat and Seriste to arrive, and until then, Ethan and I had to face Machart alone.

“Be careful, Ethan. We must avoid being sucked into his world at all costs.”

“…Understood, Lilith.”

“Are you trying to hold out until those other guys with the Hero come? I’m sorry, but it’s already too late!”

“Oh no…!”

Along with Machart’s words, the surrounding scenery darkened again. Although a momentary feeling of confusion arose at the surrounding scenery losing color and darkening, I quietly smiled inwardly as I roughly grasped the scene that came into view.

I could immediately understand that this space, unlike the dense dark mental world that he had shown me until now, was a space that Machart had created just to bluff.

“It’s easier than stepping on an ant crawling on the ground to trap a woman who has once been caught by me in my space again. It’s a pity. You came to save your beloved fiancée, but instead, you’ve ended up being caught together.”

It was a bluff. If he had such means in the first place, it would have been possible to attack me inside the academy, and there would have been no need for the chase in the back garden of the annex just now.

Machart’s mental domain, which can be created while in physical contact with the opponent, is a dangerous ability that makes it difficult to move even an arm or a leg, but this mental world created in a non-contact state was not as major of a threat.

Machart couldn’t completely subdue me and Ethan who had entered together in here. In the end, this was a space where we had to have a second battle using our full strength; that’s probably why he had saved it until now. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

Of course, since it’s a space created by him, Machart himself would be able to use his unique abilities much more efficiently, but the same was true for Ethan and me. Especially in my case, as we had left the space of the annex, the restrictions on magic use had also disappeared.

No matter how much of a space he created, if we fought magic against magic, it was somewhat manageable. And if Ethan joined as an ally, it was hard to imagine a scenario where both of us would be defeated.

“Caught together? Don’t make me laugh.”

“…Hmm.”

“Anyway, a world without Lilith is just a fake one to me, so even if it’s a space like this, as long as she’s by my side, this is as good as my real world.”

“……”

…Geez, that’s really embarrassing.

I don’t know if he said it consciously, but Ethan’s words made me feel like my face was heating up for no reason. Fortunately, the change in my face color wasn’t very noticeable due to the dull black and white background.

Even Machart seemed a bit flustered by Ethan’s response, showing a slight wavering. Still, he soon regained his composure and continued what he was going to say.

“There’s no need to put on airs in front of a woman. In the face of the fear of death, men and women are all the same.”

“……”

“And you know, I wasn’t interested in anyone but that woman in the first place. I don’t particularly have a grudge against you. To be honest, I don’t want to fight you if I don’t have to.”

“Your tongue is unnecessarily long. Don’t you have the confidence to face me and Lilith simultaneously with the power you’ve gained from demons?”

“The woman over there should know best that I can crush both of you as I please within this space, right? If you think it’s just bravado, I’ll give you some time to ask her.”

“……”

Having stepped into his space twice already, Machart seemed to think I would be afraid of this space. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

Well, if I had really been ignorant of his patterns, I might have felt despair at being sucked into this space again, but originally, I was a veteran among veterans who had cleared Luminor Academy 24.9 times.

There was no way I, who had cut Machart’s neck 25 times in the game, couldn’t distinguish such patterns. If Ethan asked, I could immediately tell him the weaknesses of this space and that he was just bluffing…

“Unnecessary.”

“…What?”

“…Huh?”

“I said it clearly. No matter what kind of space this is, only the world where Lilith exists is the real world to me.”

“……”

“……”

“The biggest reason I wield my sword is for Lilith, so no matter how much you try to intimidate me or threaten me to run away leaving Lilith behind, it’s futile. Such a thing won’t happen until my bones are crushed to dust, anyway. Rather than prolonging a cowardly life leaving Lilith behind, I will take the lead and become a shield to protect her. You’ll only be able to inflict even a small scratch on Lilith after tearing my body to shreds. Even if you are a strong enemy I cannot defeat, rather than fleeing alone, I would fight to the end with Lilith in this unknown world and fall. That is the reason and result of why I started learning the sword.”

How does he usually think to be able to say such cheesy words without stumbling even once and so nonchalantly?

Ironically, I, who was listening beside him, found it hard to lift my head in various ways due to Ethan’s knight’s declaration.

…It was a moment when I had an intuition that it would be difficult to look at Ethan’s face after today ended, in a different sense from earlier.

T/N

………………Okay, Ethan, we get it.

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!