The Academy Maid Steals the Heroine
The monster let out a grotesque shriek—kyaaaack.
I had already gone through three full sets of maid uniforms. My newly boosted strength had also increased my grip power, so dealing with monsters was no big deal. But instead of feeling proud that I was now as strong as the protagonist, all I felt was irritation.
“…Is this why you told me to handle it?”
The dying monster was spewing out disgusting, sewage-like bodily fluids.
“Ju Yu-bi. Are you challenging the head maid right now?”
“……Should I start cleaning?”
I couldn’t openly talk back, and she clearly didn’t want to dirty her own clothes, so she’d shoved the job onto me.
“Return the headdress after you wash it.”
“Should I return the headband too?”
“It’s not a headband. It’s a headdress. I won’t punish you for unauthorized absence, so just do the laundry properly.”
“……”
If the system window hadn’t existed, the headdress’s effect probably wouldn’t have been amplified this much. Maybe I should steal it later.
“Ju-bi! Good work out there.”
Kim Sae-kom, who had been clutching my sleeve, came running over.
“You’re stronger than I thought… Wait, you can use magic?”
“I just punched it.”
“To think you’re in the same category as Cadrac. Then why did you apply to be a maid instead of enrolling as a student?”
No, I can’t use magic. But as Sae-kom held onto my clothes to keep them from slipping, her eyes sparkled with anticipation while she waited for my answer.
Did she have some kind of pride in being a maid? Since she could use magic herself but still chose this job, she seemed to expect an equally passionate response from me.
“Well…”
And the truth was, I still hadn’t gotten over my maid fetish.
“Because maids are cool.”
“!!”
It was the day I earned a hug from Kim Sae-kom.
“By the way, what about the other monsters?”
“I heard Arthur took care of them.”
The monster that had appeared in the lobby where the civilians had taken shelter. Unlike the completely wrecked banquet hall, the lobby hadn’t suffered much damage.
Arthur… So the protagonist handled it after all.
The protagonist of Ascentio Academy. If it was Arthur, dealing with something like that must have been easy.
My maid uniform, now covered in monster sludge, reeked horribly.
“…Mi-ran still hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Mi-ran, floating in the air thanks to Opera’s magic and being transported, remained unconscious. I wanted to ask why the original story’s progression had changed, but I really didn’t want the predetermined future to shift.
As long as Arthur is safe… the events that are supposed to come shouldn’t be a big problem.
The basic setting of Ascentio Academy was a harem story where a overpowered protagonist crushed hell-difficulty events. As long as nothing happened to Arthur, I could live comfortably as a maid.
But the moment we laid Mi-ran down in the infirmary, I saw him.
“Ar… thur?”
The original protagonist, barely clinging to life, his body in tatters.
“Is his condition serious?”
It wasn’t the doctor treating him who answered Opera’s question.
“Opera, is that something you need to know?”
“…May, I was simply asking about a student’s condition.”
May. I had no trouble recalling her. She was the head maid in charge of the A-class dormitory—the one who had replaced Opera after pushing her out.
“So I’m asking, why do you care about a student you don’t even manage? And why aren’t you using honorifics?”
“…My apologies.”
A successor demanding honorifics from the senior she had demoted. I didn’t know how Opera felt about it, but my own feelings were crystal clear.
Should I kill her?
May wasn’t exactly a likable character in the original story. No, she was pretty much a villain. As a noble-born maid from a powerful merchant family, she was the type who would later get caught committing corruption by the protagonist and get kicked out.
The bitch who stuffed the story full of frustrating plot points is now my superior… And more importantly, why is she looking so worried about Arthur when she’s supposed to be the one who resents him later?
May’s expression as she watched Arthur was clouded with shadow. Hadn’t she cleanly taken him down in the original?
“Looks like catching the monster was quite the struggle.”
Since Opera’s glare was terrifyingly sharp, I asked in her place.
“If he hadn’t received support right before he died, his life would have been in danger… But who the hell are you to talk to me without even greeting me first?”
“Are you my superior?”
“…What?!”
I lightly ignored May, lifted Mi-ran from where Opera had set her down, and placed her on the bed.
“These bastards are really pushing it.”
“Why didn’t you catch it yourself? As the head maid, you should be stronger than a second-year like Arthur, right?”
No matter how talented Arthur was, he was still only a second-year. The countless growth events that would make him stronger hadn’t even happened yet. And typically, head maids were ridiculously strong. Even if they weren’t academy students, they were mages, and the ones capable of controlling academy students were appointed as head maids.
“Is a maid a knight? Why should I be criticized? And by a low-ranking male rookie maid at that?”
“It was a joke. Don’t throw a fit like you bought your position with money.”
“D-did you just say ‘throw a fit’?”
Why was she stuttering so badly? At that moment, someone smacked the back of my head hard. Sae-kom had gone to change clothes, so the hand that rose was Opera’s.
“Ju Yu-bi, show proper respect.”
“But…”
“I’m doing it too, aren’t I?”
Then if you’re going to say that, stop smiling while you scold me. Opera was smiling brightly as she reprimanded me.
“I apologize, May. Our rookie was being thoughtless.”
“Hmph. No wonder you got shoved into Colonge if you can’t even control your subordinates. Remember that well.”
From the way she spoke, it looked like she still hadn’t suffered enough. Before Opera could continue, the infirmary door opened again.
Ah, you—!
Right, there was one more person. The protagonist’s heroine who had been showing off earlier. The magic swordsman Han Gi-hui had dragged herself all the way to the infirmary.
I completely forgot about her.
I hadn’t had the mental space to remember Han Gi-hui, who had been taken out in one hit by a monster. Arthur’s condition was far more important. It was quite surprising that the overpowered protagonist had been beaten this badly.
“You’re still alive.”
“…Shut up.”
“You got knocked out in one hit and now you’re—”
Opera swept her short hair back and kicked me.
“I told you to respect the academy students.”
“…I will humbly obey.”
I grabbed the barely-standing Han Gi-hui, who was clinging to the infirmary door, and hoisted her over my shoulder.
“Kyaaa—ack?!”
“There aren’t enough beds in the infirmary, so I’ll take her to the dormitory, Opera.”
“Good. Go ahead.”
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Put me down right now?!”
If Opera told me to carry her, then I had to carry her. Han Gi-hui, lifted in one smooth motion, was lighter than I expected.
Did she not get proper meals because she was a failing student?
I couldn’t help but ask.
“How did you even get into A-class?”
“…Shut up and get your hands off my ass.”
“I’m just holding you so you don’t fall.”
She was thrashing around on my shoulder; there wasn’t much else I could grab.
“Put me down.”
“I refuse.”
On the way back to the dormitory. I was following Opera’s order to show proper respect, but I couldn’t put Han Gi-hui down.
“You’re injured.”
“…It’s more embarrassing to be carried on your shoulder.”
The path crossing the academy’s main building was still lined with students who hadn’t returned to their dorms yet. What were they doing wandering around until this late? As if the ruined banquet hall had nothing to do with them, the academy students were enjoying the final highlight of the evening.
A freshman duel, huh. Even though the banquet hall turned into that mess, they’re still continuing it in the plaza.
The flower of the freshman welcome party. Originally, after the top and runner-up freshmen dueled, they would challenge the second-year top student—the protagonist Arthur. In the original story, the protagonist was supposed to show off his overpowered nature here. That was how the protagonist-worshipping harem story was meant to begin.
But everything had gone off the rails the moment the monster appeared.
Just what caused the future to change?
If Han Gi-hui hadn’t spoken next, I wouldn’t have realized I was the culprit.
“Why the hell did that bastard Cadrac suddenly break up with her…”
“What did you say?”
“It’s nothing. Shut up.”
Cadrac, who had asked me how to build muscle. He said he was going to train before heading to the banquet, but he hadn’t shown up in that state today.
“Are you dating Cadrac?”
“You didn’t know?”
“…Please just tell me in one go.”
No, you’re supposed to end up with the protagonist. Han Gi-hui, clearly enjoying dragging this out while draped over my shoulder, finally opened her mouth.
“Mi-ran and Cadrac are dating.”
“I thought… Wait, is that a problem?”
The protagonist was supposed to build a harem. There was no way a simple senior-junior relationship would be an issue. As long as Han Gi-hui, who was supposed to be a heroine, wasn’t dating Cadrac, there shouldn’t be a problem.
But Han Gi-hui’s answer went in a completely unexpected direction.
“You need to know why Cadrac is dating Mi-ran.”
“…Because she’s pretty?”
“You think that muscle-brained idiot cares about faces?”
Right. He doesn’t care about anything except muscles.
“Because Mi-ran makes him sandbags.”
“…Excuse me?”
“She summons monsters for him. So he can train.”
…I think the original story mentioned something like that. I still didn’t see what the problem was.
“But that guy suddenly left after finding a different training method, so Mi-ran summoned that thing to try and hold onto him, right?”
“……Is that really it?”
“Well, she probably thought if she summoned an even stronger sandbag, he’d come back.”
Fuck. That’s the only reason? He dumped a girl just because he changed his training method? How do I fix this impotent bastard… Wait a second.
“By any chance, is that training method—”
“Supposedly eating a lot. I wonder which idiot taught him that.”
“……”
That idiot is me, so there’s no need to look any further. The monster crawling out instead of a girl group shower scene was my fault. I learned the truth, but I didn’t want to believe it.
“This bastard is right here.”
Han Gi-hui jumped down from my shoulder in one swift motion. Despite her battered body, she pushed through the crowd and stopped.
…What the hell is that?
What Han Gi-hui and I witnessed wasn’t anything special. It was Cadrac, whose jawline had disappeared and whose muscle definition was completely gone.
“Great work, freshman!”
Cadrac, with his hugely bloated belly, was finishing up a duel in the center of the plaza.
How much did this guy eat?
It seemed Cadrac had taken over the duel that was supposed to be the protagonist’s. The now-chubby Cadrac was easily overpowering the freshman runner-up.
“Just how much did you stuff yourself?”
“Oh! Isn’t that Ju Yu-bi? Thanks to you, I’ve become incredibly strong.”
“…But you don’t have any muscles?”
“What are you talking about? This is my completed form.”
Cadrac, whose common sense regarding muscles had been completely shattered, struck a posing stance.
“Can’t you see these perfect curves?”
His biceps, now so covered in fat that they had no definition. What the hell am I supposed to be looking at?
Cadrac’s greed didn’t stop there.
“Ju Yu-bi, spar with me.”
“Cadrac, I’m a maid.”
“You suddenly start acting so formal.”
You crazy bastard. You already beat up the freshman runner-up, why do you want to fight me?
“Let’s compete to see whose muscles are more magnificent!!”
This guy clearly wasn’t going to let it go.
“Before that, let me ask one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Is Cadrac the strongest among the second-years?”
“Haha, of course. My body enhancement magic is—”
“Apparently not?”
For a moment, Cadrac’s expression froze.
“…Who dared to say such a thing, Ju Yu-bi?”
“This person right here.”
I grabbed both of Han Gi-hui’s shoulders. She had been staring at Cadrac with a look of utter contempt.
“Gi-hui, I didn’t know you had such strong convictions. You’ve got guts.”
“What the hell are you saying, you crazy bastard? I was just pointing out how insane your training method—”
Heh, she walked right into it herself.
“Did you hear that, Cadrac? She says your training method is a complete mess.”
“I am ready.”
Having said that, Cadrac moved to the center of the plaza and turned around. The entire freshman class surrounded the square.
“You crazy bastard, can’t you see I’m injured? What are you trying to accomplish by forcing a fight right now?”
“Gi-hui. I have something I’m curious about too.”
A question that hadn’t been resolved from the previous incident.
“How exactly did Han Gi-hui get into A-class?!”
“……”
“You got one-shotted by a monster that had completed its mimicry. If you’re really A-class, show us.”
Han Gi-hui. The woman who was supposed to awaken as the protagonist’s heroine and later reach the pinnacle of magic swordsmen, being called the academy’s sword demon.
“Open your eyes wide and watch carefully, you pathetic maid.”
Han Gi-hui accepted Cadrac’s challenge.