Just Holding Hands
After the sparring match between Ethan and Karaham ended, the remaining four bouts flew by so quickly they were barely worth mentioning.
Bouts that each took less than a minute to settle. With such an overwhelming gap in skill between those two and the rest of the applicants, it was only natural.
The applicants who had watched Ethan and Karaham's duel probably started feeling the pressure before their own matches even began, which certainly didn't help either.
In the end, the other bouts ended just as quickly as that one had dragged on, so the exam schedule itself wasn't significantly delayed.
…Though honestly, if I'd been paired against anyone other than Karaham, it probably would have wrapped up even faster.
I have no idea why a man born into a margrave's household, of all people, would leisurely ride a carriage to town and then show up for the entrance exam at such an ungodly hour.
Then again, I suppose it's not my place to talk, seeing as how I'm the one escorting a duke's heir who walked all the way from the inn to the Academy on foot.
With the six bouts complete, the swordsmanship department's entrance exam came to an end, and immediately afterward, Karaham and Ethan struck up a surprisingly earnest conversation outside the sparring grounds.
"Ahaha, I truly thought I was going to die. Your dual-blade technique is simply ferocious, Young Master Ethan."
"…Your sword was damned hard to parry as well. I'm in awe — how do you even swing a blade that heavy at that speed?"
"Haha, well, with my head stuffed to the brim with muscle, just as you said, Young Master Ethan, how else would I manage it!"
"…I apologize for what I said earlier. It seems I'll be seeing quite a lot of you at the Academy going forward."
"Hm? Did you say something earlier that warranted an apology, Young Master Ethan? I don't remember, but I accept it nonetheless, hahaha!!"
"……."
Ethan, flustered beyond measure by Karaham's utterly inscrutable character, shot me a glance as if seeking agreement, then ventured a cautious assessment.
"Now that I finally know, I have to ask — what does the maid think of Young Master Karaham…?"
"…He seems to lack the ability to read a room, and for a son of a margrave, his refinement leaves something to be desired. But as a person, he doesn't seem bad at all. The comment he made about looking young, Young Master — I imagine he simply didn't understand the context."
"…So that's how it was."
"And thanks to that, he apparently never took it as an insult to you in the first place."
The Karaham of the original game had been at least a somewhat more serious fellow than the one standing before me now. A far cry from the present Karaham, who seemed utterly without a care in the world.
His personality, which by all rights should have shifted at least a little after Lizzie's death, had apparently carried on unchanged.
It wouldn't be long, I figured, before the title "Oblivious Karaham" was upgraded to "Completely, Hopelessly Oblivious Karaham."
"By the way! It seemed like you two were talking among yourselves earlier while leaving me out — so it's true that you're on good terms with your personal maid, Young Master Ethan!"
"…Well, of course. Speaking of which, Karaham — is it simply not in your nature to keep a personal maid?"
"I couldn't tell you why, but for some reason my personal maids keep changing on me! Having to introduce myself to a brand-new maid every time is exhausting work, so about two years ago I simply stopped bothering with one!"
"……."
"But it's no trouble at all! Whenever I have business outside like today, my sister always looks after me!"
Ethan, whose expression made it abundantly clear he now understood exactly why the maids kept quitting, answered with silence.
And I quietly mourned Lizzie in my heart, for all the suffering she'd endured off-screen, outside the game's storyline.
Meanwhile, Karaham, who had been laughing with characteristic shamelessness, shifted his gaze toward me and, furrowing his brow ever so slightly, leaned his head in my direction.
"Now that you mention it, I'm quite sure I've seen this young maid somewhere before. I couldn't place her at first in that dark corridor, but…."
"…Is that so?"
"But when I met Young Master Ethan at the royal palace the other day, I never saw a maid who looked like this. A maid with such a striking appearance — there's simply no way I could have forgotten her…."
"…Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else."
"Am I? But seeing you sticking so close to Young Master Ethan's side, I feel as though something is coming back to me…."
"…Speaking of which, Karaham — didn't you say earlier that your sister was following behind in a carriage?"
"Ah, that's right! I told her I'd finish the exam and head straight home — I nearly forgot all about it!"
"Then you'd best hurry back."
Thanks to Ethan's quick thinking, Karaham — who had all but dredged up his memory of me at the masquerade — seemed to come to his senses and stowed his sword away.
Slinging the massive greatsword, nearly as big as his own body, across his back, he bid Ethan farewell.
"It was a true pleasure crossing blades with you today, Young Master Ethan! I look forward to seeing you at the Academy!"
"Yes, I'll see you soon enough—"
"My sister is waiting, so I'll take my leave now!"
—Tapatat!
"……."
Having displayed nothing but rudeness and shamelessness toward Ethan until the very last moment, the young lord of House Auguste vanished like the wind.
All that remained in his wake was Ethan's outstretched right hand, hanging forlornly in the air, its handshake declined.
…Well, I suppose someone had to shake it in his place.
-Tap.
"Thank you for your hard work, Young Master."
"Maid…?"
"Truly, even by my own eyes, it was magnificent swordsmanship. I don't know if I'm worthy of saying this, but the sight of you crossing blades with Young Master Karaham seemed even more impressive than when you spar with the Master."
"…Did it, now?"
"Yes. Granted, there is a difference between training swords and real blades, but at least through a mere maid's eyes, that's how it appeared."
And watching it in person, it really drove home that I was living inside the world of Luminor Academy.
Ethan and Karaham fighting at that level — are you kidding me? My chest swelled with awe.
At that level, Karaham could seriously go toe-to-toe with the protagonist as an even match. Of course, that's only measuring against the protagonist's skill under a "normal" playthrough.
Since I still knew almost nothing about the protagonist, I wouldn't be able to investigate their tendencies until Part 2, the main story, began.
I could only pray that things like "a world where the protagonist doesn't exist" — the kind of cheap twist I loathed — wouldn't come to pass.
"Th-then, Maid…."
"Yes?"
"If my sparring just now truly looked impressive to you… could I ask you for one small favor in return?"
"A favor?"
"…Mm. Like when I win my sword duels against Father back at the estate."
"Like when you and the Master sparred at the estate…?"
The moment Ethan deliberately brought up that particular detail, the events of two nights ago flashed through my mind unbidden.
Sensing danger, I hastily wrapped my arms around my chest and took a step back.
"N-no! If it were the usual reward from your duels with the Master, perhaps, but I cannot hand over my chest for this one! I-I won't deny that Young Master Karaham was a formidable opponent, but…!"
"Th-that's not it, Maid! I'm not asking for anything strange!"
"…I see?"
"…If it sounds strange when you hear it, feel free to refuse on the spot. I'm not going to ask anything weird like letting me touch your, uh… th-that part at the inn or anything."
"……."
For a fleeting moment I did wonder whether beating someone on Karaham's level might warrant surrendering a chest or two, but I immediately shook the dangerous thought out of my head.
If I let my guard down on this front and granted allowances one at a time, the line of what he was allowed to ask for would only grow looser over time.
Handing over my chest as a "reward" every time he beat an opponent like this was, in effect, declaring that he had a standing right to grope me regularly for my entire time at the Academy.
I was barely done winding down my regular duels with Harold — no need to manufacture a whole new pretext.
…Still, Ethan had said with his own mouth that it wasn't that kind of request, so it was worth hearing him out.
He'd even said I could listen and refuse if it sounded strange.
"Since you insist it's not a strange request, I'll hear it and decide, Young Master Ethan."
"…Remember what I said — that if the entrance exam ended early, we could stroll around the island together this afternoon?"
"Yes, I remember."
"It got a bit delayed meeting Young Master Karaham, but it's still before lunch. I think there's plenty of time for a proper look around the island. What do you think?"
"Yes, it seems to me as well that we have a few hours' worth of breathing room."
"Th-then!"
For some reason, Ethan was speaking in a stammer, his face taut with tension, and his nervousness was starting to rub off on me — but then I actually heard the request that came out of his mouth, and it felt almost anticlimactic.
"Would it be all right if, while we look around the island together today… we held hands? Just that much?"
"…You want to hold hands? You and I, Young Master Ethan?"
"Yeah…."
"Do you mean that in the idiomatic sense…?"
"…Just take it literally."
…What kind of request is it, suddenly wanting to hold hands while sightseeing?
Still, I suppose it beat being asked to let him grope my chest by a wide margin…?
It wasn't as if the prospect of walking hand in hand thrilled me, but neither did I have any particular reason to refuse.
"Very well, Young Master. A request of that scale, I can grant as many times as you like."
"…Really, Maid?"
"Yes. Holding hands with a man — ah, no, forgive me. If walking hand in hand with me is your heart's request, Young Master, then that much I can grant without the slightest hesitation."
Truthfully, even if it hadn't been a reward for beating Karaham, I wouldn't have refused.
I'm no celebrity — what's the big deal about walking hand in hand with someone?
Getting flustered over mere hand-holding when I'd already surrendered my chest would have been strange in itself.
Besides, a personal maid's master having to *ask* permission just to hold her hand was politely conscientious to the point of absurdity. That much fell squarely within his authority as my employer; he could have simply ordered it.
If we'd really been two men walking hand in hand, honestly, it would have been a bit embarrassing — but then again, my outer appearance was Lilith's now.
Which meant that as long as I carried myself with confidence, nothing about it would look strange. So without a moment's hesitation, I took Ethan's hand and started walking.
-Tap.
"Shall we be off, then, Young Master?"
"Ah, uh, yes…! Oh — is there anywhere you'd like to go, Maid?"
"I've heard there are many excellent restaurants on the west street of the Isle of Knowledge, perfect for lunch. Since your entrance exam is now behind us, Young Master, why don't we start by filling that hungry stomach of yours?"
"Th-that sounds good…."
Save for the moments when eating or other business forced our hands apart, we spent the entire day until evening strolling hand in hand around the Isle of Knowledge.
And despite it still being the depths of winter, my face kept mysteriously burning hot the whole while.