Chapter 131 - 29 - Preparing Delayed Magic

Chapter 131: Chapter 29 - Preparing Delayed Magic

"Haaaahhhh..."

"Aaahhhh... why?"

"Why is this happening to me?" I muttered as I prepared myself for an honorable fight.

Unlike the duel that Master Reina had against Duchess Adelheid Von Blutfeld, the fight that I will do is purely a showdown between a Queen and Duchess, with their arbitrary decisions.

The Duchess also encouraged me to accept the challenge, offering a reward of 1,000 gold coins for each prince I defeated. Defeating just one prince would guarantee a comfortable life until old age, let alone defeating all the princes.

The four princes already competing to find followers to support them as future kings and this honorable fight considered their skills to handle the Belfast kingdom. Their lives aren’t as peaceful as mine, which having been granted the right to serve Master Reina and Master Amagi in the future.

To be honest, serving two different masters in turn, I feel more like their bodyguard than a exclusive maid.

"Uuhh... I won’t get in trouble if I hurt them, right?" I continued muttering as I swung the wooden sword that felt heavy in my hand.

"You don’t have to worry about beating them up, Liliana. They’ve been trained to endure harsh challenges rather than live a life of leisure like other nobles. After all, being fed gold from a young age won’t make them great kings in the future. Let’s show them how fearsome a properly trained maid can be, Liliana!"

Standing right next to me, Marchioness Shinano Vii Lichtberg said something that could be considered rude to the royal family.

Is it okay for her to say such things freely?

Isn’t she afraid that someone might overhear this conversation?

I shook my head and took a deep breath. The doubt I was feeling wasn’t due to my anxiety about facing four princes from the royal family. Rather, it stemmed from the increasingly dense magic mana leaking from one of the Belfast Princesses.

Without even looking at her, I could already see the girl who would become the future "Demon Princess." Her age wasn’t much different from Master Reina and Master Amagi, but her unique condition meant her body constantly regenerated mana, exceeding its maximum capacity. That would became a magic disaster for the future, leading the main character to kill her for the sake of the future crown Princess, who would become one of the Heroine in this novel world.

A tragic ending I didn’t want to see after I got involved in this troublesome noble-family conflict. As the youngest princess who longed to be loved, she had to suppress her desires to avoid hurting others.

The youngest princess didn’t have a personal maid to attend to her needs; she was directly cared for by someone who could suppress her mana leakage. Her body was like an overcharged battery, on the verge of exploding from the overload.

"I just need to hold back so they don’t die, right?" I replied, asking Marchioness Shinano Vii Lichtberg.

She was so surprised by my answer. Her eyes looked blank before she smiled softly at me.

"If possible, don’t be too enthusiastic when fighting all the princes. The King and Queen will be embarrassed if their proud sons lose to a mere apprentice maid."

"They must lose for my four thousand gold coins!" I replied, reflexively showing my greedy side.

"You’re too motivated by gold coins, Liliana. As a maid, shouldn’t you resist that temptation?"

"Do I really have to hold back from beating the four princes and getting four thousand gold coins after their defeat?"

"So, your goal is to beating them and get gold coins?"

"No, Your Honorable Marchioness Shinano Vii Lichtberg. My goal is to win and present my victory to my beloved owner. The gold coin is merely motivation to do this job well. I don’t look happy about all this, do I?"

Behind my serious-sounding words, there was a contradiction between my words and my facial expression. I said my primary goal was to dedicate victory to Duchess Adelheid Von Blutfeld and considered the thousand gold coins merely motivation.

Deep down in my heart, I want to get those gold coins as my future savings.

The Marchioness saw through my lie well; she gave up on digging any deeper and let out a heavy sigh.

"I don’t know what you’re planning. Just be sure not to overdo it. They’re still mentally immature and could end up harboring personal grudges in the future."

"A personal grudge from a defeated loser? That could be a valid reason to kill them in the future, right?" I replied without adjusting my tone so that it sounded like something fun to do in the future.

I don’t know if this is the effect of the bad and dark joke I made earlier to an unknown maid; that dark joke has carried over until now.

The back of my neck broke out in a cold sweat after I said that. There was no ill intent behind the dark joke, but every word could be misinterpreted.

Looks like I need to practice my tone and politeness again as a maid apprentice.

Greeppp...

My hands immediately began to weigh the wooden sword that had been in my grip. I swung it up and down to get a feel for its balance.

My mind was busy with fast sword strikes combined with Gravitia Break magic, turning this wooden sword into a solid one with weight, and the density of matter increased until the weight of the wooden sword in my hand reached one ton.

That’s enough, right?

The problem with all of this is my mana pool. There’s still the Head Maid’s mana reserves, and my natural mana regeneration isn’t particularly abundant.

In my current predicament, I actually envy the youngest princess’s always-full mana pool. She doesn’t hesitate to cast hundreds of spells in an instant, seemingly without any effort. If it were me, I’d definitely be exhausted and close to fainting from the mana depletion. Just holding myself back from fainting is already difficult enough. I hope nothing bad happens to me after the mana depletion.

"Normally, that would be considered an insult to the royal family. However, if it really does happen in the future, you’ll have to settle that grudge privately, Liliana. I have a special place I always use to hide corpses without a trace. Would you like to hear it after you win your match?" Marchioness Shinano Vii Lichtberg replied with a faint smile that looked eerie to my eyes.

My dark joke didn’t inspire Marchioness Shinano Vii Lichtberg to do the same, did it?

I became afraid of the noblewoman who was easily influenced by her social environment, as if she didn’t think about some bad things that would happen to her in the future.

"..." I didn’t reply to that, turning my face to the side and feeling everyone’s gaze holding back their curiosity at my answer.

"I think it will be useful in the future," I replied reluctantly.

"Make sure you win big first, Liliana."

"I was definitely going to win after going through that crazy intensive training."

With all my preparations done, I headed to the front garden, which used as an intensive training ground. Wearing nothing but my light lace apron and a maid uniform, I stepped out into the middle of the field to wait for the princes to get ready in their elaborate gear.

I may look calm on the outside, but my mind is busy with various magic spells being chanted under my breath.

"Fire..."

"Water..."

"Wind..."

"Earth..."

"Light..."

"Dark..."

Casting six different magic elements, I tried to test delayed magic spells with the same word-ending.

The theory that magic can be delayed has been proven correct, but what about the same word-ending?

What I’m referring to are simple magic spells like Fireball, Waterball, Wind Pool, Earth Wall, Lightball, and Dark Mist. The three spells word-ending in "ball" will be my experiment during this honorable battle.

Today, I felt incredibly fortunate after a break from intensive training, do high-paying fight, and testing a new magical theory that builds on an earlier theories, which also interesting.

Yup, today, I was really lucky in every way.

Swwuuuttt...

Swwuuuttt...

After the six magic incantations were cast, I could feel my mana draining by half. That was still enough for another magic incantation that would drain my mana considerably.

"Looks like I’ll have to save my Gravitia Break magic for emergency attacks."

"Gravitia..." I said while rubbing the blade of the wooden sword in my hand.

"I will be counting on you in this honorable fight. Make sure you don’t get damaged during the fight," I said to my wooden sword.

As I muttered, the four princes had finished preparing. Three of the princes were much older than me, leaving the young prince who looked weak and could be defeated in one move. However, for the three princes who were much older than me, it would be a bit difficult to defeat them.

No matter how far my sword skills have developed, I have to be prepared for the worst.

Tap...

Tap...

Their footsteps sounded heavy, with all the protective gear tightly wrapped around their bodies. That would reduce their mobility, which would be a significant advantage for me.

Moving freely without being affected by the weight on my body, this will be an interesting battle.

"Forgive our mother for forcing you to do all this, little maid. Don’t hold a grudge against us when you lose, okay?" said the oldest princes.

Tsk tsk...

"This is my first time fighting a little maid with a wooden sword. We’ll be fine if we hit her lightly, right?" the second prince said, twirling his wooden sword on his wrist.

Tsk tsk...

"Don’t be reckless. She may seem helpless, but remember one thing! She has been trained by the most powerful woman in the Kingdom of Belfast," said the third prince with his wary attitude.

Tsk tsk...

"P-Please surrender immediately before my brothers hit you," said the fourth prince with his face lowered.

For some reason, I suddenly felt emotions in my head after hearing their arrogant attitude, and my hands felt itchy to hit their faces.

Ah, that’s right!

Instead of using a wooden sword, hitting their faces with my fists would feel good...

They wouldn’t hold a grudge over such a defeat, would they?

"Time to carry out my plan to punch the prince in the face with my fist," I muttered, holding back my smile.