episode_0127

Not long after I rejected the proposal from Seraphine and Lizzie, two major and minor events caused a stir at the academy.

One was the rescue of Selena, who was being threatened by delinquent students in the swordsmanship department, by the protagonist, which led to a closer bond between Selena and the protagonist.

Since this event was not significantly different from the original story, I just confirmed it and moved on. It was probably just a typical heroic act that would be talked about among the female students.

For someone like me who had cleared “Luminor Academy” 24 times, bringing Selena along was just another event to complete, but for the sake of properly conquering Selena, rescuing her was a must. If I didn’t do it after bringing her here, it would practically be abandonment.

Not only did Selena’s favorability towards the protagonist increase when he rescued her, but if he didn’t, Selena would suffer a penalty due to the injury she sustained in this event until the end.

In that sense, the protagonist’s actions seemed to be moving towards clearing the game properly, and I also adjusted my evaluation of the protagonist a bit in my mind.

Of course, we hadn’t met in person or talked yet.

For now, it was fortunate to see that Ethan and I were maintaining a casual relationship without any unnecessary conflicts, and it seemed like he didn’t even consider Ethan as the original villain.

Considering how drastically his physique had changed, he probably didn’t expect the story to progress as it did.

While the romance story between the protagonist and Selena was nothing out of the ordinary, what surprised me more was the second event that occurred.

Compared to the main story progress by the protagonist, it was less sensational, but it happened unexpectedly sooner than I had anticipated.

The event where Luke, Seraphine’s escort, discarded his disguise as a man and became her exclusive maid felt even more surprising to me.

You might have gathered from the phrase “discarded his disguise as a man,” but Luke was the only “cross-dressing heroine” in this game.

In this type of game, having a cross-dressing heroine added a peculiar charm as she faced various situations with the protagonist.

Since she was a sub-heroine in the game, it was natural that she could be pursued. The easiest way to pursue her was to enter the swordsmanship department and use the same dormitory room as her.

Sharing the same dormitory meant that no matter how careful Luke was, there would be situations where the protagonist would find out she was a woman, leading to a story of building friendship and affection while protecting Luke’s secret.

Therefore, in most cases, only the protagonist and Seraphine knew that she was a woman, and in some routes, her gender was not revealed until the ending.

This time, Luke revealing herself as a woman and starting to attend the academy in a female uniform was a sight even for me, who had cleared it 24 times.

Moreover, not stopping there, she adorned her uniform with lace and even wore a head dress, clearly emphasizing her role as an exclusive maid.

Seeing her arrive at the academy dressed strangely similar to me made me wonder if I was somehow the cause of this change.

“Perhaps Seraphine left that position vacant to make me her exclusive maid, and when I refused, she ended up filling that position with Luke.”

Regardless, having an exclusive maid was essential for taking care of Seraphine’s long hair and body, and the role couldn’t be fulfilled by Luke, who had been cross-dressing and attending the academy.

However, it was not easy to trust other students at the academy as full-time maids, and it was possible to hire maids from outside starting from the next semester.

In Seraphine’s situation, it was probably the best choice to promote Luke to the position of full-time maid.

“Wait, so does that mean the reason the full-time maid position was vacant at first was because they were planning to put me there from the beginning…?”

To be honest, it was the most likely possibility.

Since this was the first time Seraphine had left her full-time maid position vacant and entered the academy, and she had a tendency to keep someone she considered competent close to her.

Originally, she would have brought one of her full-time maids from the palace with her to the academy, but the fact that she entered without anyone in that position suggested that she may have been planning to put me there from the start.

Even if I hadn’t been Ethan’s full-time maid, I probably would have rejected Seraphine’s offer.

After all, how could I, who was a man in my past life, take on the role of a female Seraphine’s full-time maid?

It wasn’t a matter of feeling sexual desire or not, but rather, it was just uncomfortable for me to think about doing things like changing clothes and washing her body.

It wasn’t about feeling lustful, but rather, my heart felt uneasy and I couldn’t bear it. Even now, sometimes when I entered the bathroom with Isabelle, the sense of guilt was no joke.

And the offer I heard that day to become Liz’s personal secretary… it was more like a rejection because I still found it difficult to trust her.

I had a feeling that if I accepted Liz’s offer to be her personal secretary, she would take advantage of me without missing a beat.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t be sure that the current Liz didn’t hold any ill feelings towards me, and above all, her proposal to hire me as a personal secretary was suspicious.

She was already so skilled at gathering and handling people to the extent of forming her own exclusive group among the new students in the pharmacy department, so why would she hire someone like me? Especially when she was competing with the princess?

There was definitely something fishy going on. Such a suspicious offer was obviously not something to accept.

Fortunately, the excuse of wanting to uphold loyalty to Ethan, with whom I had worked for a long time, was well received by both of them.

I was able to reject both proposals without causing any embarrassment to Seraphine or Liz.

In the end, I rejected Seraphine’s offer, and Luke ended up revealing his true identity and becoming Seraphine’s full-time maid, but it wasn’t my fault.

I simply upheld my loyalty to Ethan, and there was no reason for a servant to be loyal to one master to be scolded.

If there are any complaints, take it up with your mistress, Luke. Of course, I couldn’t do that.

And so, amidst various big and small incidents, the remaining period of the first semester at Luminoire Academy began to pass by in a blur.

Before we knew it, only the final evaluation event remained, leaving only the evaluation battle.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Lilith has reached level 10!”

“Lilith can now use ‘Enchant Magic’!”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As the classes of the first semester at Luminoire Academy came to an end one by one, the time to wrap up the first semester was also approaching.

As with any academy game, the most important thing within one semester was, of course, the final evaluation event.

In fact, as a student attending the academy, the mid-term evaluation exams were important as well, but the mid-term exams were not as interesting as the events that were highlighted in the game.

All gathered in the exam room, it felt like we had gone back to our school days, solving exam questions or having fun hitting targets with magic at the outdoor training ground.

Anyway, in order to properly finish the semester, it was necessary to perform well in this final evaluation event, and fortunately, my preparations were going quite well.

The biggest change was that my level had increased from 9 to 10.

By sparring with swordsmanship students three times a day in Harold’s class and earning experience points, my level had naturally risen to 10 during the sparring sessions.

Thanks to that, I had also acquired the ‘Magic Infusion’ skill, which is automatically learned upon reaching level 10.

It was a form of auxiliary magic that enhanced weapons by infusing them with magic, so even my dagger attacks had become more stable.

One might question why a magician’s dagger attacks would become more stable, but whether it was magic or melee attacks, it wasn’t particularly important in gaining an advantage in the final evaluation battle.

Using all the means at one’s disposal to defeat the opponent and emerge victorious. That was the essence of the ‘Evaluation Battle’ event, which held the largest weight in the first semester evaluation of the Magic Department.

By the way, this subject didn’t specifically pertain only to the Magic Department.

All subjects that taught combat-related skills concluded the first semester with an evaluation battle sparring match.

The Swordsmanship Department, of course, as well as the Spear Technique Department, Archery Department, and Martial Arts Department all concluded the final evaluation of the semester in this manner.

Of course, the completion rate of the subjects was important, so the evaluation battle alone didn’t determine the overall grade for the semester, but it unavoidably held the largest weight.

Originally, the academy was a place for nurturing talented individuals with combat abilities, and evaluating students based on their performance in real combat was perhaps the most natural and fair evaluation method.

Rather than an exam evaluation method that many wouldn’t understand, evaluating combat prowess was the most reliable method.

Anyway, in order to prepare for the end-of-semester event, the evaluation battle sparring match, I had put in a lot of effort over the past semester, focusing on increasing my ‘Luck’ stat, which had barely been at 2 when I enrolled.

Through the ‘Understanding of Magic Flow’ obtained from Lizzie, my Luck stat had increased to 2.

Having completed the Accuracy Specialization course and with the end of the semester, my Luck stat had increased to 2. With two of these, it became 4.

And finally, with the process of leveling up by 1, another 1 was added to the total.

Seeing my Luck stat rise by more than four times, from 2 to 9, I felt a surge of emotion.

To have brought my Luck stat to this point through Releas was truly miraculous.

Fortunately, with a stat of 9, my actual accuracy rate was around 20 percent. With this level, I could roughly raise it to close to 50 percent through Triple Casting.

This level was enough to secure a decent victory even if I couldn’t overpower my opponent.

“Really, I’ve worked hard.”

Still, if I could just get through this semester somehow, the next semester should be relatively manageable.

As long as I didn’t get matched with a stronger opponent in the end-of-semester sparring match, I should be able to finish the first semester without any major issues.

It was known that the evaluation battle sparring matches were only matched within the same department. And considering the matching system of the ‘Luminor Academy,’ where top students could choose their opponents for the final evaluation battle, there was no way I would be matched with a stronger opponent.

…Little did I know at that time.

In the evaluation match that marks the end of the first semester, there’s no way a crazy girl who chooses to face me instead of an easy opponent would be above me.