I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince-Chapter 490: E-rank promotion test (2)

The voices in my head might be telling me to kill that idiot, but I don’t actually intend to do it. Like I said, I’d rather keep a low profile and spend my time peacefully in Ironhold.

As distasteful as he is, I decided I’d let it slide as long as he didn’t cross a certain line—like suddenly deciding to kill me, trying to assault me, or, worst of all, attempting anything with Mirif, our other party member.

As I entertained these thoughts, we arrived at the goblin nest, with that idiot Baum leading the way, followed by Mirif and me in turn.

“Heh heh! Ladies, just sit back and relax! I can handle a couple of goblins, no problem!”

“How reassuring, Brother Baum.”

“Haha, naturally!”

Even Mirif, who initially seemed reserved, had started speaking sarcastically, but of course, the idiot didn’t catch on and just grinned back at her.

I kept my mouth shut, finding even a minimal interaction with him unpleasant.

‘If I had come alone, I’d have been done with this half an hour ago. Damn guild regulations...’

At this point, changing towns wouldn’t guarantee avoiding this kind of hassle, so I had no choice but to tolerate it this once.

And if the promotion went well, I might be able to work with Mirif in the future. I’d never agree to male companions, but a female priest, an essential party member, was another story.

-Kraargh!

-Kehek!

“They’re here! All right, leave it to me...!”

-Krrrk!

-Keeh!

-Kraakk!

“W-wait... Three, four, five... s-six of them...?”

The moment two goblins crawled out of the cave, he struck a ridiculous pose, trying to look impressive. But as their numbers increased to six, the idiot visibly panicked.

Sure, handling six goblins alone is a stretch for an F-rank adventurer. Even low-level monsters become tougher when they band together.

Still, given how much he’s been boasting, he should at least offer to take on four of them. Then I’d finish off two and pretend to be a standard adventurer.

“W-well! Six goblins, so two each sounds fair!”

“...Excuse me?”

“Y-you can handle it, right?! Just because you’re a priest doesn’t mean you should only think about healing! This is the time for teamwork!”

What the hell? A priest’s main role is healing and curse removal, and she’s a trainee, not even fully qualified. And “two each” means he has no intention of acting as a proper frontline, does he? If he had any brains, he’d take at least four himself or, at the very least, half.

“You... want me to handle two goblins? I-I might be able to manage one, but anything beyond that is...”

“Don’t be so weak! You can do it! We’re a party, right?”

“...”

Even Mirif, who had been tolerating his nonsense, seemed visibly exasperated. Still, she held her staff firmly, attempting to prepare herself. I leaned in and whispered to her so that the idiot couldn’t hear.

“Don’t listen to him. I’ll take care of it.”

“Huh? But Sister Lily, with just your weapon, won’t it be hard to handle so many monsters at once...?”

“It’s fine at this level. Just keep one busy like we talked about earlier.”

“O-okay...”

Her voice was hesitant, and understandably so. After all the boasting he’d done, the idiot was quickly crumbling in the face of actual danger, so it was hard for her to believe in my ability.

I nudged her behind me, then took my daggers out to face the approaching goblins.

-Slash!

-Slice!

-Rip!

In °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° swift, precise movements, I cut down three of the four goblins coming toward Mirif and me, aiming for vital points like the neck and heart.

-Stab!

...and the last one that the idiot had supposedly been handling.

“Kerk! Keerk!”

“Ha, you... damn creature!”

...Is this for real? An adventurer who can’t even hold off two goblins?

How did this moron even qualify for an E-rank promotion test? Does the guild not do internal verification?

I left him to handle his one goblin alone and focused on assisting Mirif instead. Honestly, I was secretly hoping he’d die in his one-on-one.

“Hah... Aaaah!”

“Kehrk!”

-Stab.

I stabbed the goblin lunging at the fallen Mirif in the heart from behind, finishing it off.

I had a faint feeling things would turn out like this, and it happened just as expected.

-Stab!

“Kek!”

“Hah! Look at this pathetic idiot! Serves him right, hahaha!!”

...Goblins, could you not have put up a bit more of a fight? I almost felt bad for these poor creatures, losing in a one-on-one to this moron.

For the first time in my life, I found myself sympathizing with a monster. Watching him stumble over, pretending to be a hero, I felt a new depth of disgust.

“Mirif, are you all right?!”

“...”

“Whew, that was close! Who would’ve thought so many would come at us all at once? Are you hurt anywhere? Not that it matters, since you can heal yourself as a priest.”

“...Thank you for your concern, Brother.”

“But hey, we managed to handle it somehow! Next time, I’ll take care of all the goblins myself, so just follow my lead!”

“...Yes.”

...I could never be a priest.

If I were Mirif, I’d have killed this idiot ten times over by now.

Admiring her extraordinary patience as a trainee priestess, I gathered the goblin ears I’d taken down. That’s when the idiot approached the goblin corpses I’d killed and raised his sword over one.

“...”

-Slice.

“...Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you touching the goblin I killed? You’ve got one right over there.”

“Oh, come on! What does it matter? We took down these goblins together, so we should split the rewards equally, right?”

“...Excuse me?”

“Why do you look so surprised? Isn’t it obvious? We’re a party, so...”

-Bam!!!

“Kheugh?!”

...Great. Now I’ve got idiot on my shoes.

-Splatter!!

“Gah! Kehak...!!”

The idiot had been mid-sentence when I kicked him square in the face, knocking him into a puddle of goblin blood and mud.

“Y-you crazy...! What the hell are you doing?!”

“What.”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Violence against fellow party members is subject to guild punishment! I’ll be reporting you as soon as we’re back at the guild...”

Screw it.

Forget promotion. I’ll just kill this idiot and skip town. I can rebuild my adventuring record somewhere else.

“Go ahead, report me.”

“...What?”

“Go on. If you can walk out of here in one piece.”

Honestly, I think I’ve held back enough.

It’s not my fault; it’s the guild’s for sticking me with this idiot who provokes my homicidal urges with every breath he takes. Or maybe it’s just weird for me to have chosen adventuring in the first place. I picked this job because it seemed like the simplest way to survive with a dagger and some magic, but surely there’s a job that doesn’t involve dealing with scum like this.

“Screw it. I’m quitting. I’ve held back long enough.”

“W-what?! You crazy woman...! Stay back...!!”

“If you don’t want to die, why don’t you try that 'Third Blade Technique' of yours? Though I doubt a guy who struggled with one goblin can manage.”

“W-what the hell! Why are you acting like this over a couple of goblins’ ears?!”

“Because I can’t stand the thought of even a single penny from my earnings going into your pocket.”

“A-alright...!! I won’t touch what you killed, so just put that away...!!”

Yeah, right. I’d rather party with goblins than trust a word from this idiot.

Honestly, from the moment he tried to take what I killed, he was no different from a thief.

And there’s no reason not to kill a monster, is there?

With my mind made up, I was ready to release all my pent-up frustration when I felt a weak tug on my arm from behind.

“W-wait, Sister Lily!”

“...Let go.”

“Even so, murder between adventurers isn’t right...!”

“It’s fine. I’m done with adventuring anyway.”

“P-please don’t, Sister Lily! This is your promotion test! There’s no reason to give up everything you’ve worked for just because of...him.”

...Damn. I really want to kill him, though.

I’m honestly past caring about the promotion at this point.

“...”

But with Mirif pleading like this, I felt a little of my resolve waver.

I didn’t feel any sympathy for the idiot, but it was hard to ignore Mirif’s efforts to mediate, given everything she’d put up with from him.

And Mirif, unlike me, wouldn’t be able to just leave and take another test somewhere else.

“S-Sister, I’ll speak to Brother Baum myself, so please...”

“...One more time.”

“Huh?”

“Mess with me one more time, and I really will kill you.”

“...”

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

“Not answering?”

“...Fine! I won’t touch anything that’s yours, so just back off!”

This is really it—I’ll let it go just this once.