I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by James B. Happy New Year!

Three people were assigned to the battle with the ‘Roaring Crescent Bear’, a monster that was supposed to appear – or rather, might appear – from the western part of the forest: me, Ethan, and Caraham.                                 

To be honest, it would be a rather close battle. The Roaring Crescent Bear was roughly around Level 35, while I was still only Level 22.

I couldn’t accurately estimate Ethan’s and Caraham’s levels, but since they were in the same year at the academy as me, their levels should be similar.

Normally, I should have felt a sense of crisis, but honestly, I wasn’t that scared. As I mentioned before, this battle had almost no chance of actually happening.

In this event, it was almost certain that the monster attacking the Northern Altar would be a pair of ‘Moonlight Wolves’. If this were a game, the probability would be nearly 99%.

‘The higher the combat power of the party members, the higher the chance of the Moonlight Wolves appearing in the north.’

The level of the party members gathered in the Witch’s Forest right now was truly remarkable.

Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, Ethan, and Knight Colt made three Sword Experts.

Seriste and I are two awakened Saints, each awakened through their own circumstances.

Caraham, a swordsman on the verge of breaking through the Sword Expert barrier.

Seraphine, known by the epithet of the Moonlight Shadow Princess.

Selena, the elf archer and future divine archer.

Agnes, the future Archmage of the Crimson Tower and fire mage.

And Antonio was… well, just somewhat useful.

It would have been impossible to gather this massive fighting force even in the game. This would probably only be possible by using cheats after installing several mods.

The most unrealistic part was having three Sword Experts and two Saints. Even Natalie, who was the first companion to bloom into a Sword Expert in the original game, only awakened around the middle of Part 3, and both Seriste and I were characters who only awakened as Saints in the latter half of Part 4.

In this situation, it would be nonsensical for the Moonlight Wolves not to appear and have the Crescent Bear appear instead. If this were a game, the Crescent Bear appearing would be practically considered a bug.

Of course, this world felt more like something between a game and reality rather than a perfect game, but what mattered most was that Luminor Academy’s main events flowed almost identically to the original work.

So, it was inevitable that I felt a bit relaxed.

The monsters that would appear would be a pair of Moonlight Wolves, anyway. Even if by some chance the Crescent Bear appeared, if we three could hold out for just two to three minutes, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s party would come to support us after hearing the commotion.

Of course, if no monster appeared on our side, we were planning to go help subjugate the Moonlight Wolves.

…It was such a perfect plan, but…

“Ethan! Lightning from the left! Don’t block it with your sword! And Master Caraham! It’s swinging from the left!”

“Lilith! It’s dangerous to rush out like that!!”

During the final event in the Witch’s Forest, the three of us – me, Ethan, and Caraham – had to engage in a life-or-death battle.

…Just how did it end up like this?

“Haha! Here we are, crossing swords again, Master Ethan. And Lady Lilith.”

During the final episode of ‘Lara’s Secret’, Caraham called out cheerfully as we moved to the western part of the forest for the Altar Defense Battle.

“Be precise with your words, Master Caraham. What we must do is not cross swords among ourselves but rather eliminate potential threats that might appear from the west.”

“I know. Since a monster might appear that could interfere with my sister’s trial, I naturally cannot sit still.”

Looking at Caraham, who was about 30-40 centimeters taller than Ethan and carrying a great sword as massive as his height, I was suddenly reminded that he was indeed the miniboss of Part 3.

Of course, in terms of skill level, Ethan, the miniboss of Part 2, was a bit more capable, but the pressure emanating from Caraham’s sheer physical strength was not easily ignored.

“Haha! The Hero said that the Crescent Bear is a massive bear-like monster! I hope it’s big enough for me to properly swing my sword at last! I’m not really used to swinging my sword at people, haha!”

“…I definitely have to agree that your sword is absolutely not meant for use against humans.”

“Your sword, Master Caraham, is merciless in many ways. In the last evaluation duel, you precisely split your opponent student in half…”

“Haha! It’s not that great of a feat! I’m just following Professor Harold’s teaching that since my sword is slow, I should swing while thinking about where the opponent will move! After that, with overwhelming power, cutting down one or ten people is no big deal!”

“……”

“……”

…We had meant it as criticism, suggesting he should control his excessive power, but both Ethan and I were left speechless at his muscle-brained response that completely missed the point.

Having already split evaluation duel opponents in half… no, bisected them, twice, Caraham had already risen to first place in the Swordsmanship Department’s ‘Most Unwanted Sparring Partner’ ranking for various reasons.

Even though the matches were conducted with Death Prevention Magic in place, the sensation and fear of death was not something one could easily recover from after experiencing it once. There were even people who said they would rather spar with the Hero or Ethan than face Caraham.

I could somewhat sympathize with that feeling, having sparred with Caraham several times in our shared Magic Swordsmanship class. The strongest emotion I felt whenever crossing swords with that crazy muscle giant was ‘helplessness’.

His sword itself was so brutishly large that it was impossible to parry with my dagger, which was only about the size of my fist, and his body was so damn solid that it felt like facing a knight in plate armor.

While he ranked 4th in the Swordsmanship Department’s internal rankings, he was overwhelmingly first place as an opponent people didn’t want to face. He truly was a living embodiment of fear.

I can’t express how fortunate it is that his future as the miniboss of Part 3 has disappeared. Though even if it hadn’t, it would have been the Hero facing him, not me.

“…Hey, Master Caraham.”

“What is it, Master Ethan?”

“A thought just occurred to me, but can you properly swing that huge sword of yours in this narrow forest? No matter how I think about it, it seems like you’ll end up changing the forest’s landscape.”

Though it might have been somewhat rude for Ethan to comment on someone else’s weapon, I couldn’t help but share the same concern.

If he were to swing such a massive sword in this densely wooded forest, he would end up cutting down five or six trees with each move, making it hard to tell if he was a swordsman or a lumberjack.

“Haha, you don’t need to worry about that, Master Ethan!”

“…Huh?”

“Ah, there’s a young tree over there, let me demonstrate with that!”

Saying this, Caraham suddenly gripped the sword on his back and made a large swing.

Anyone watching would have thought the trajectory of the sword would inevitably cut down the large trees in its path, but surprisingly, what happened next was enough to amaze both Ethan and me.

Snap!

“Wow…”

“…Hmm.”

Caraham’s sword cut down only a single young tree that wasn’t even in the blade’s path, without cutting any of the other trees that should have been sliced by his swing.

Both Ethan and I couldn’t help but express our amazement at this physically impossible technique.

“…How did you do that? I couldn’t see anything at all.”

“Haha, it’s the secret sword technique of the August family. Since our Northern Swordsmanship has traditionally practiced heavy sword techniques using great swords, it’s the duty of those who inherit the August sword to also master the technique of distinguishing between ‘what to cut’ and ‘what not to cut’!”

“…That secret sword technique of the August family is amazing.”

“Of course, I rarely use it because it doesn’t give the satisfying feeling of cutting! After all, a sword is most satisfying when swung with full force! Crack! Boom! Slash! The taste of cutting through monsters with a single strike, that’s what true swordsmanship is all about, ahahaha!”

As we walked while watching Caraham’s truly Northern-like behavior, we arrived at the approximate spawn point of the ‘Roaring Crescent Bear’.

If we waited here, the Roaring Crescent Bear would probably appear and head toward the altar within an hour or two.

It was the role of Ethan, Caraham, and I to hold it off for as long as possible.

“Though I’m not sure if that Crescent Bear will really appear, my heart is racing anyway! I wonder how it would compare to the brown bears of the North!”

“…As the Hero already mentioned, what’s most important is the safety of all of us. We don’t need to push ourselves to defeat it; we just need to buy time until the Hero and others come to support us, and then we can subjugate it together when our safety is assured.”

“Haha, but in the end, that’s only if the Hero’s support arrives in time! There shouldn’t be any problem if we manage to subjugate it before the Hero arrives!”

“…Did you not hear what Lili just said, Master Caraham? Prioritize safety as much as possible. And remember that the one most likely to be in danger if you act recklessly is your own sister.”

“…Of course, I know that, haha!”

…It was an unreliable and worrying response.

It’s even more so because you can’t predict the next action of such a muscle-brained character.

All we could do was hope he would exercise self-restraint since this battle involved his sister.

I desperately hoped he wouldn’t create any gaps in our defense with sudden actions like wanting to fight one-on-one.

T/N

Thanks for reading, see you in the next one!