Luck is on Our Side (1)

Lydia took charge of Lora and Neris’s recovery. Everything from washing their defiled bodies and dressing them to tidying up their new room where they could stay.

One might ask if it was really necessary to attend to them even for washing and changing clothes, but it couldn’t be helped. The knights had severed the tendons in their ankles to make them easier to handle.

They could eat with their hands while sitting, but they needed someone’s support every time they moved, and that naturally fell to Lydia, who was closest to them.

“I apologize, Lillith-yang. Because of me, I’ve unnecessarily burdened Lillith-yang with my duties…”

“What are you saying, Lydia-yang? At times like these, you must rely even more on your comrades. Especially now, Lora-yang and Neris-yang need your protection the most, so don’t worry about me and focus on helping them.”

“…Thank you for saying that, Lillith-yang.”

So, naturally, I had no choice but to take over the role of Head Maid, attending to the needs of the others.

In the original story, Lillith was also the character who prioritized the Hero Party’s convenience, so my role hadn’t really changed.

‘Even if Lydia is out, there’s Ethan, and The Hero is a capable fighter anyway, so it shouldn’t matter.’

Queen Veronica wouldn’t stop at just this much.

She would continue to attempt assassinations until she was absolutely certain that Princess Rainy was dead.

The Kingdom Knights she sent for the assassination attempts weren’t the main problem; the issue lay elsewhere. Because Queen Veronica caused such a commotion, Princess Rainy’s unique constitution had reached the ears of the Demon Tribe.

The ability to live the rest of one’s life in pure luck after suffering misfortune until the age of 20 was bound to be an annoyance to the Demon Tribe. That’s why they, too, would force an unprepared invasion to kill Princess Rainy before her unique magic could fully manifest.

In other words, this ‘Salvation Event’ for Princess Rainy involved simultaneously dealing with the Kingdom Knights approaching from the Royal Capital and the Demon Army advancing from the Northern Demon Territory.

‘It’s tough… but this event is the last one.’

Once this is over, my involvement with the Academy, the Hero Party, and the main characters will all be finished.

…I need to see it through to the end to ensure a good finish.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Two days had passed since we arrived at Princess Rainy’s Star Palace.

There was nothing particularly special that happened during those two days. I took over Lydia’s role as an errand runner, and Lydia focused on caring for Lora and Neris, who had difficulty moving.

Lora’s condition wasn’t too bad, so she even exchanged greetings with the other members of the Hero Party once, but Neris was the problem.

“Aargh! Argh! Aaaaaargh!!”

“N-Neris! What’s wrong all of a sudden?!”

“I-I was wrong!! Please forgive me!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!”

“W-What did I do wrong?!”

“No, it’s not Thomas-ssi’s fault…. I-I’ll explain later, for now…”

Neris, who happened to run into Thomas in the hallway once, screamed so loudly that she summoned everyone in the Star Palace.

Having developed an extreme fear of men due to what she had endured for several days, Ethan, The Hero, and Thomas naturally stopped entering the floor where Lora and Neris were staying.

And in that process… Princess Rainy inevitably learned what they had gone through in her absence.

“…….”

Although there was no direct mention of what had happened, it wasn’t difficult to guess the reason by observing Neris’s unusual fear of men.

I wanted to keep it a secret until the very end, but it ended up being revealed this way. Not just to Princess Rainy, but also to the others who were waiting downstairs that day.

“Be careful from now on, Thomas. Neris-yang seems to have been afraid of men from the start.”

“…If she was afraid from the start, how would she have done maid work until now?”

“Huh? What do you mean? Is there another reason?”

“…No, now that I think about it, Natalie, you’re right. I’ll be careful from now on.”

…Except for Natalie, who was insensitive enough to blurt out such things.

Aside from that one commotion, the other days were ordinary. The Hero took charge of cooking, I handled bath schedule management and miscellaneous errands, and the night watch was rotated among me, The Hero, and the other three maids.

“Today’s menu is potato soup and French fries.”

“…Haa, potatoes again.”

“We can’t help it, Agnes-yang. These were the only ingredients left in the Star Palace’s pantry.”

Normally, Lora and Neris would periodically go to a nearby village to restock ingredients or procure them from the vegetable garden and farm behind the Star Palace, but unfortunately, neither was possible now.

It was too risky for us, Princess Rainy’s companions, to enter the village during her period of strongest misfortune. And the vegetable garden and farm had been completely ruined by the knights who raided them a few weeks before our arrival.

Most of the ingredients left in the pantry had either been eaten by the knights or spoiled due to improper storage. Only a lot of potatoes, which weren’t popular and could be stored for a long time, remained, so naturally, our meals for several days consisted mostly of potato dishes.

It was fortunate that The Hero had a recipe that allowed him to make French fries without oil; if not for that, I and everyone else would have probably given up on eating long ago.

“Just bear with it a little longer, Agnes. Princess Rainy’s misfortune will end in just one more day.”

“…Can we go to a village restaurant when it’s over? It’s not that I have complaints about your cooking, Hero, but I’m tired of eating potatoes.”

“There’s no need to go down to the village. Once we can return to the Royal Palace, Princess Rainy will formally invite us to the Kingdom of Defrin. Isn’t that right, Princess Rainy?”

“…….”

-Nod, nod.

She was someone who never forgot kindness received, so the hardships endured now would surely return as help in the future.

-Crunch.

I continued my unenthusiastic meal, preparing for the final battle that would take place this evening.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Haa, haa…. Lillith, over here!”

“Understood, Ethan-doryeonnim!”

A large, black-bodied demon with two massive horns on its head.

Matching the opening Ethan created, I consecutively intercepted its right eye with three loaded Arcane Arrows.

-Thwack!

‘Graaaahk!!’

Two of the three arrows were blocked by the Minotaur’s agitated swing, but one of them pierced its eye, and a painful groan burst from its mouth as it suffered a fatal wound.

-Swish!

“Lillith, where next?!”

“After the Minotaur, we must deal with the Cyclops over there! Be careful, as it can attack using eye beams!”

“Right, got it!”

Ethan nodded at my advice, picked up the sword that had beheaded the Minotaur, and approached the one-eyed giant. I, too, quickly followed behind him, gripping my dagger tightly.

Starting with the third battle against the Kingdom Knights that appeared around evening, the demon attacks continued until midnight.

Unlike the nobles, whom we could surely handle as long as we didn’t let our guard down, each of the Demon Tribe’s soldiers was undeniably powerful. Even at my and Ethan’s level, it was difficult to face them unless two of us took on one.

Of course, under normal circumstances, Ethan and I could have handled them one-on-one to some extent, but now we had to completely eliminate any variables. Princess Rainy’s misfortune had the potential to interfere with our battle, regardless of her will.

Knowing this, I was killing enemies one by one without separating from Ethan, and The Hero was also sticking close to Silena, repeatedly taking down enemies and advancing. The remaining members were on the opposite side, dealing with the remaining knights, so they couldn’t provide support.

“Aim for its ankle, Ethan-doryeonnim! Its large eye is not its weakness!”

“Got it, Lillith!”

Hearing my words, Ethan lunged towards the Cyclops’s left ankle and swung his sword.

As a wound appeared on the demon’s ankle, which was relatively weak compared to its massive body, my Mana Chains bound its calf.

“Kuh-euh-euhk?!”

Taking advantage of its pain-induced disorientation, I tied the other end of the chain to the ankle of another Cyclops that was fighting Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot.

As the distracted Cyclops was lifted into the air, the ankle of our Cyclops was severed, and the one that tried to leap also had its ankle bound, preventing it from achieving the expected propulsion.

Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot cut off the breath of the exposed Cyclops, and two Cyclopes, along with their massive bodies, collapsed onto the battlefield.

“Haa, haaa…”

“…Are you okay, Lillith?”

“Yes. I consumed quite a lot of mana, but… I’m still fine.”

Perhaps because it was a Mana Chain strong enough to withstand the weight of two Cyclopes, the consumption was no joke. I had used almost half of my remaining mana in that last attack.

Still, it was enough, as we had killed the most threatening enemies in this raid.

Although these large giants weren’t the leaders of their kind, in the original story, whether or not these creatures could be stopped determined the success or failure of the Salvation Event.

…Only a few minutes until Princess Rainy’s ‘birthday’.

In just a few minutes, ‘luck’ would be on our side.