Hero Versus Maid
“Gah!”
Thud!
Her long hair was sheared clean away. Not only that—the blade carved deep into the nape of her neck. A fraction deeper and she would have been dead.
“Hah… hah…”
This was the second time today. Twice already, Lee Hye-yeong had stood at the very threshold of death.
Sword clashing against sword. Her right arm being severed. Her head nearly flying from her shoulders. Things she could never have imagined back on Earth.
She could only stare in terror at the lock of her own hair lying on the floor. A single heartbeat slower and her neck would have gone with it.
Yet there was no time to catch her breath after that brush with death. The woman who had just tried to kill her still stood right in front of her.
“Tch. You’re soft.”
The woman gripping daggers in both hands was unmistakably the maid who had hovered near him at the banquet. The innocent face she had worn then was gone without a trace; only a frigid expression remained as she locked eyes on her prey.
There was no mistaking it now—this maid was hunting her the same way the red-haired knight had at the banquet.
“You committed the crime of harming Young Master. So just die quietly!”
Thrust!
“Kh!”
Before Hye-yeong could properly wrap herself in Aura, the maid’s relentless assault left her no chance to block—only to dodge for her life.
Thrust!
“Gah!”
She threw herself into pure survival instinct and barely slipped aside. It hurt. It hurt so much. The phantom of her severed arm still screamed through her body, yet she poured every ounce of strength into dodging the next blade that sought to carve her open.
But—
Thrust!
“Khah!”
The attacks were simply too fast. All she could manage was a desperate dodge or a clumsy block with her arm, just enough to keep the wounds from becoming fatal.
“Hoo… hoo… No wonder Lady Grace couldn’t finish you in one blow.”
“Hah… hah!”
After taking hit after hit, Hye-yeong gasped for air. Could anyone really call this a battle between Hero and maid? It looked far more like a cornered mouse thrashing to escape a cat’s claws.
The maid gave her no room to breathe, pressing the assault without pause.
Thrust!
“Khuh!”
This was nothing like the knight she had fought at the banquet. From the very first strike, the maid aimed solely for her throat. The murderous intent was so naked that simply enduring it was already more than Hye-yeong could bear.
“This time—!”
Thrust!
“Kugh!”
“You’re good at dodging. I won’t give you even a second to properly coat yourself in Aura!”
Thrust!
“Khah!”
If she had only been given a moment to wrap herself properly in Aura, she might at least have defended. The hasty, half-formed Aura she managed was simply shredded by the Aura coating the maid’s daggers.
“Just die already!”
Thrust!
“Kyaaah!!”
“Does it hurt? Young Master is suffering because of you too!”
Thrust!
Ah… so Hyeonwoo is suffering as well.
“Hah… hah…! Hyeonwoo is… suffering…?”
“Don’t you dare call Young Master by that name!”
Thrust!
Yes… if I’m hurting this much, then Hyeonwoo must be hurting too.
“Gah…!”
Thrust!
Being cut and stabbed like this… Hyeonwoo must have felt the same pain…
“Gah!”
“You’re stubborn! Planning to hold out until someone comes to save you, are you?”
Thrust!
It hurts…! Getting stabbed… hurts?
“…”
“I’ve already put everyone around us to sleep. No rescue is coming!”
The maid seemed to have cleaned up the surroundings thoroughly. How she had done it, Hye-yeong didn’t know—but even if she held on, no one would arrive to save her anytime soon.
In that moment, however, none of those facts mattered to Lee Hye-yeong anymore.
“…”
“Given up at last? Then this ends now!”
Seeing the silent girl, the maid judged that she had surrendered. She drew up her Aura for the finishing blow and swung.
Yet—
Clang!
“Ugh!?”
Shhhk…
The strike was stopped by an Aura far darker and more intense than anything Hye-yeong had shown at the banquet. Only moments earlier she had barely managed a faint coating; now a powerful Aura flared around her body so suddenly that the maid faltered in surprise.
But to Hye-yeong, even the maid trying to kill her had ceased to matter.
“Hyeonwoo… Hyeonwoo…”
Ah… so you were hurting like this too.
“I told you not to call Young Master that!”
Enraged by the girl’s muttering, the maid unleashed even stronger Aura and swung her daggers again.
Yet—
Clang!
“Impossible…!”
Blocked again. Perfectly blocked this time—Hye-yeong took no further damage. She simply kept her head bowed, murmuring to herself.
“It hurt a lot, didn’t it…?”
I’m sorry. I never meant for you to hurt.
I didn’t know it would hurt this much.
I was just so angry for a moment.
I never wanted you to be in pain.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Because my own heart hurt so badly… I just wanted you to understand.
I just wanted you to look only at me.
I just wanted you to keep the promise we made together.
I simply couldn’t think of any other way.
“Apologizing now won’t change a thing!”
Clang!
“Kugh!?”
The maid poured everything into another attack against the muttering girl—only to be stopped once more. At last Hye-yeong lifted her head, looked straight at the maid who was trying to kill her, and spoke.
“What are you? What are you? What are you?”
Whoooosh!!
“Krrgh!!”
Her power swelled further. The moment she thought of him, the fear of being wounded—of possibly dying—vanished completely. A fierce pressure rose with her overwhelming presence, forcing the maid to stagger backward.
“You.”
She addressed the maid who still sought her life.
“You’re just like me.”
Lee Hye-yeong understood perfectly. The maid who had come in secret tonight to kill her. The hate-filled eyes fixed upon her. How could she fail to recognize that every bit of it was done for the person she loved?
Whoooosh!!
“W-what!?”
As the energy wrapping Hye-yeong’s body intensified even more, the maid’s face twisted in alarm.
“No. Hyeonwoo only needs me.”
Yes. That’s right. Only I should be at his side.
Come to think of it, this maid wasn’t the only woman around him. There were so many others.
“There’s no place for the likes of you at Young Master’s side!”
“Shut up! Hyeonwoo is mine!”
The Hero, Lee Hye-yeong, made her decision. Every woman who got in the way—starting with the maid standing before her—would die tonight. Only she needed to remain at his side.
“Shut up! Hyeonwoo is mine!”
Ziiing!
“An Aura Sword!?”
Emma’s eyes widened. In the hand of the Hero who was once again screaming that strange name for her Young Master, a blade of dark Aura had taken clear shape.
Coating a weapon with Aura was something any trained woman in this world could do lightly. But forging a weapon’s form itself out of such distinct, intense Aura was rare.
Her level was this high…?
If she had been this strong, she never would have fallen so easily to Grace at the daytime banquet.
Does that mean she’s grown…?
Emma recalled the legends of the Hero she knew. The Hero who came from another world, another dimension, had not been strong from the beginning. Through harsh training and adventures with companions, she had grown powerful enough to defeat the Demon King.
But this is far too fast!
If this was growth, the speed was absurd.
Emma had struck the moment Pope Tenesa left her post. The moment the Pope stepped away, Emma had quietly scattered the drug she had prepared into the air, putting every Holy Knight standing guard to sleep. Her only business was with the Hero—the one who had robbed Young Master of his senses—so she had no desire to spill more blood than necessary. Dealing with even a single Hero already risked becoming a major incident that would bring trouble down on Young Master and the family she served.
The Hero’s arm had been torn off by Grace; she should have been completely absorbed in recovering it. After putting the surroundings to sleep, Emma had felt little concern. Sneaking into the room had been almost laughably easy—the Hero was full of openings—so she had grown careless.
The Pope had not been gone long. The idiot Hero hadn’t even noticed Emma entering the room. She should have invested a little more time and finished it at a more certain opportunity.
And yet—
The girl had started murmuring to herself.
Hyeonwoo~ Hyeonwoo~
Don’t call Young Master by that name.
No—don’t even think about Young Master at all.
That alone had nearly made her lose her reason in rage, but she had held back. She needed a sure chance.
Then—
That’s right, I was reborn into this world!
What are you talking about?
There’s no way you wouldn’t recognize me.
She kept going on and on by herself…
There’s no way you’d forget me!
What kind of nonsense is that?
Are you lying again?
Why are you suddenly getting angry at Young Master?
Hyeonwoo… Hyeonwoo!!
Ah, shut up!
She could no longer endure it and swung her blade. That had been the mistake. She should have finished it coldly; an attack laced with unnecessary emotion inevitably lost a little precision. Because of that, she had failed to take the head in a single stroke.
And now the Hero was growing—exactly the worst possible situation. The Hero’s energy, her Aura, was steadily intensifying.
She’ll become an even greater threat to Young Master!
Emma was certain: if she failed to eliminate her here, the girl would become a serious danger to her Young Master.
“Die.”
“The one who’s going to die is you!”
“!?”
Whoooooosh!!
As the Hero swung her Aura Sword toward her, Emma screamed and drew every last drop of mana from her body. For the Young Master she loved, she staked her life.
And so Hero and maid collided head-on.
KRAAAANG!!
Clang-clang!!
Crash!!
When their energies met, the surrounding objects shattered. And because an abnormally high surge of mana was detected by the magic circles installed throughout the grand mansion—
Weee-oooh! Weee-oooh!
—the magical alarm bells of the estate began to blare at full volume.
To monopolize the one she loved.
To protect the one she loved.
Hero and maid—similar yet driven by clearly different purposes—clashed in earnest for the first time.