After finishing our meals at the cafeteria, Ethan and I headed to the Swordsmanship Department Building for our scheduled afternoon class.

Today’s afternoon lecture class, entitled Basics of Magic Swordsmanship, was one of the few common subjects that students from both the Swordsmanship Department and Magic Department could take together, and both Ethan and I had registered for this class.

As an exclusive maid, I thought it would be advantageous to be ready whenever Ethan needed my help as much as possible, so I planned to take as many of these common subjects as I could in the future.

Of course, if Ethan wasn’t interested in this class, the premise of taking the same class would have been impossible, but as a scion of the Blackwood family, Ethan was in a position where he needed to learn magic swordsmanship more than anyone else.

You could say our interests aligned to some extent, as I needed to create as many points of contact with Ethan as possible.

 

“Since it’s our first time taking a class together, I feel a bit nervous.”

“Is that so?”

“Aren’t you nervous, Lilith?”

“As Young Master Ethan’s exclusive maid, I’ve already observed your swordsmanship lessons several times, so I didn’t exactly think this was our first time taking a class together.”

“Well, come to think of it, I suppose you could see it that way.”

 

No matter how much of a son-loving fool he was, in the end, Harold was fundamentally a Sword Master and a user of magic swordsmanship. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Even for someone like me, with a shallow knowledge of swordsmanship, listening to Harold’s lectures alongside Ethan naturally led to some of the things they were talking about sticking in my mind.

Thinking about the past, this class wasn’t exactly our first class together. If I had to give it meaning, it would be the first class we’re actually taking together, but…

With these thoughts, as we moved our steps to the Indoor Dueling Arena in the Swordsmanship Department Building, several students were already gathered there and waited for the professor of the Basics of Magic Swordsmanship subject.

As soon as Ethan, who had some recognition as the second-place student in the sword department, appeared, people started greeting him one by one.

 

“Hello, Young Master Blackwood.”

“Yes. Thank you for the greeting.”

“Are you taking this class too, Young Master Blackwood?”

“The Blackwood family has used magic swordsmanship, a combination of swordsmanship and magic, for generations, so it’s only natural.”

 

…Somehow, I’m suddenly getting angry again.

I’m already being treated as a person of concern in the Magic Department and can’t make proper friends, so why does Ethan have a never-ending crowd of followers wherever he goes?

Moreover, the high ratio of women among those approaching him was strangely unpleasant.

 

“Your fiancée is participating with you today!”

“Fiancée…? Ah, um. Y-yes…”

“You said your fiancée was from the Magic Department, right? Then did your fiancée learn swordsmanship separately from you, perhaps, Young Master Blackwood?”

“I didn’t teach her, Lilith was good with daggers from the beginning.”

 

…Whether I was originally good with daggers or not isn’t important right now.

Those stupid girls are misunderstanding me as your fiancée, so why are you vaguely evading instead of denying it?

I wanted to jump into the conversation right away and shout that I’m not his fiancée or anything like that, but interrupting him would only make the atmosphere weird.

Above all, arbitrarily intervening and speaking up while my master was conversing wasn’t befitting of an exclusive maid, so I refrained.

If it were two to three years ago when I was forcibly taking on the role of his exclusive maid, it might have been different, but now I had volunteered to become Ethan’s exclusive maid of my own accord, so I felt it was my duty to do it properly to the end since I had decided to do it.

I was just waiting for the professor to appear while listening to the conversation between Ethan and the other students.

…But suddenly, the appearance of a nuclear bomb-level figure momentarily stopped my thoughts.

 

“Hey, Blackwood. We meet again.”

“……Hmph.”

 

My thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of G. *1, the protagonist of Luminor Academy and someone who is currently presumed to be a fellow transmigrator.

 

“As expected, you’re taking this class too, Blackwood. Then again, the Blackwood family would naturally have expertise in magic swordsmanship…”

“…Aren’t you approaching me too familiarly? I don’t remember becoming this close with you.”

“We’ve met at the entrance ceremony. And we’re also the first and second-place students in the sword department. Isn’t that enough to be acquaintances, at least?”

“If that’s enough to call someone an acquaintance, then you must be acquainted with Princess Seraphine, too. The only difference between you two is the difference between the overall top student and a top student of a department.” [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

“Well, someday… No, don’t be so stiff like that.”

 

The hero approaches Ethan pretending to be friendly, and Ethan openly feels antipathy towards that attitude and isn’t letting his guard down.

That subtle combination that seemed like it wouldn’t match at all, yet somehow did, made my head instantly confused.

 

‘Why is the protagonist suddenly pretending to be friendly with Ethan?’

 

In the original game, the protagonist was far from being friendly with Ethan to the point of the latter being marked as openly hostile from the start.

In Luminor Academy, Ethan was a piece of trash who openly showed other students how he abused his exclusive maid, Lilith, from the beginning and strutted around with his gang, bullying commoner students.

Of course, the current Ethan has become a completely different person from that piece of trash and is far from abusing me, his exclusive maid. He tends to be considerate of my convenience, almost to the point of being overly accommodating.

If the protagonist of this world wasn’t simply a dummy character created by the game system, this kind of reaction would be a bit more natural.

…Still, knowing the ending of these two people whom I’ve dealt with in the original game, it was an extremely uneasy meeting for me.

 

“If you’re thinking of building a friendship with me just because of my background as a member of the Blackwood family, I’d like to tell you to give up in advance. I have no desire to become close to you, and even if we did become close, I have no intention of lending you the power of the Blackwood family.”

“I wasn’t hoping for anything like that when I say I want to be friends. I just want to be friends as fellow top students in the sword department; why are you so on guard?”

“…You’re quite talkative for someone who showed up with women on both sides from our first meeting.”

“……”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to build a friendship with someone who lacks self-control like you.”

 

The hero, G., seemed momentarily at a loss for words, as if he had no rebuttal to Ethan’s logical argument.

The women Ethan mentioned appearing with on both sides were probably Serista and Selena.

Serista would stick to the protagonist like gum until the ending except for one or two episodes in the middle, and Selena would also have considerable affection for the protagonist at this point.

Both characters probably have their own circumstances for sticking with that guy now, but objectively speaking, a guy walking around with women on both shoulders doesn’t look very trustworthy. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Certainly, even I would feel cautious if I saw the protagonist appear with Selena and Serista on both sides without any background knowledge.

 

“Those girls and I don’t have the kind of relationship you’re thinking. We just became a bit close, and it happened that both of them were women.”

“For that, both women seemed to have considerable interest in you.”

“You’re also popular with women, aren’t you, Ethan?”

“But I don’t lack self-control and walk around with women on both sides like you. At least if you choose one of the two in front of me, I might be able to believe your sincerity.”

“……What?”

“I’m saying I can’t trust an indecisive guy who walks around with women on both hands.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible.”

“Then it’s also impossible for me to become friends with you.”

 

With those words, Ethan turned his head with a resolute expression, ignoring the protagonist’s gaze.

On the contrary, the protagonist seemed unwilling to give up on conversing with Ethan and tried to speak to him again.

…But for some reason, Ethan’s attitude remained firm from beginning to end.

 

“Don’t be like that…”

“You must have seen me cut off the hands of that piece of trash from the Raidenhart family.”

“…Yes. I saw it directly that day.”

“You’re no exception, G..”

“…What do you mean?”

“It means that even if you’re a Hero who received divine revelation, I won’t let it slide if you carelessly approach my Lilith.”

 

…Does he still think I’m his possession?

I’ve long since left the status of an indebted maid; what’s with this ‘my Lilith’ stuff?

Of course, considering my current position, it was true that I couldn’t easily separate from him as I had to continue my life as Ethan’s exclusive maid for a while.

 

“…Alright, I’ll keep that in mind regarding that matter.”

“That’s fine then.”

“But it’s true that I want to know more about you, regardless of Lilith, so if you ever feel like talking, let me know anytime. If it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t bring Serista and Selena along.”

“……”

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

 

With those words, the protagonist moved to a spot a bit further away.

I wondered where he was going, but this time, he immediately approached Natalie and started a conversation.

He really is quite busy running around. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Well, Natalie is worth building a relationship with since she’s convenient to have in both the early and late games.

Since he didn’t interfere with Thomas’s enrollment and left him alone, fully clearing the game is probably impossible, but if his goal is just a safe clear with a proper strategy, it’s not a problematic play.

Seeing this aspect, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps this Gyeongmwajogyegigwat was seriously trying to complete the game.

As I quietly followed him with my gaze, I started to feel a somewhat sharp gaze from the seat next to me.

 

“…Do you have something you want to say, Young Master Ethan?”

“Does that man bother you, Lilith?”

“…I was just trying to remember him since he seems to be someone you don’t like very much, Young Master Ethan.”

“I see. Remember him well, and if he ever tries to talk to you, don’t even bother responding.”

“……Yes.”

 

In truth, it was a difficult order to accept easily as someone who also possessed a character like him, but I just nodded for now.

As Ethan had expressed hostile feelings towards G., I, as his exclusive maid, had to respect that choice. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Thinking that there would probably be opportunities to exchange opinions with a fellow possessed person in other ways, I withdrew my gaze, and at that moment, the bell signaling the start of the afternoon academy lecture rang.

About one minute after the bell rang, a man walked into the dueling arena.

A new professor entered that neither I nor Ethan had expected at all.

 

“Huh…?”

“No way, that man is…”

“The legendary Sword Master…”

 

At the appearance of this unexpected famous person, the dueling arena instantly began to stir.

Even I and Ethan, who knew the identity of the person who appeared better than anyone, were overwhelmed with bewilderment as soon as we saw him.

 

“Lilith.”

“Yes, young master.”

“…Did you ever hear about this separately from Father?”

“…No. I’m learning about this for the first time, too.”

 

I never thought we’d meet again in this way.

I had been relieved thinking we wouldn’t meet for a while since the stage had moved to the academy.

This son-loving fool following Ethan all the way here… 

This was a situation I had never seen, even in the game.

 

“Greetings, everyone.”

“””……”””

“My name is Harold Richard Blackwood. Some of you may already know this.”

“””……”””

“From today, I will be in charge of the ‘Basics of Magic Swordsmanship’ lecture class, so I look forward to working with all of you.”

 

Oh, really…

Why is he following us all the way here?