I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince-Chapter 494: A Goblin King (3)

"L-Lilith? She... hasn't come by our villa...."

"Is that so, Professor."

"Oh! Are you finally considering officially studying necromancy with Lilith under me? If that's the case, I would be more than happy to—"

"Thank you for your time, Professor Mamari. I must be going now."

"Y-Yes... take care...."

Ethan had come to Professor Mamari's villa, a habitat for ghostly monsters, who taught necromancy-related courses.

It had been two weeks since Lilith left Blackwood Mansion, and he was still tirelessly searching for her whereabouts.

"So, it wasn't Professor Mamari's villa either. I thought this place was a good possibility."

After leaving only a letter behind, Ethan had started his search for Lilith, but the task had proven far from simple.

The only clue he had was that she’d traveled by horseback, which meant a broad search area.

He’d been visiting each place she might have gone to and asking if she had been there, but naturally, this wasn’t easy.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

"I thought for sure she'd go to either Princess Seraphin or that woman, Lizzy... but that doesn't seem to be the case."

Ethan initially assumed that, when setting up a new place, she’d rely on a friend. So he began his search with her acquaintances.

The first step was to check her contacts at Luminoir Academy.

He spoke with everyone who was even remotely close to her, including Seraphin and Lizzy, who had wanted to pull Lilith over to their side. Most were only finding out that she had disappeared.

"Lilith is missing? And she only left a letter? What did you do wrong, Lord Ethan?"

"Lilith? No, she hasn’t come to our family... Hmm, I’ll let you know if the Auguste family hears from her."

"She ran away? Are you and she just messing with me? ...Wait, you’re serious? What did you do to her?"

"Lilith has disappeared? Could she have been kidnapped? Well, she's not as beautiful as me, but she might still attract evil forces... No, maybe not. Even I think it's unlikely anyone would want to kidnap her since she lacks noble blood."

"I... I don’t know. And I’d prefer not to be alone while we talk...."

Everyone seemed clueless about her whereabouts, and once they heard she’d left only a letter, they gave him suspicious looks.

It was as if they were convinced he was the reason Lilith left the mansion, which felt somewhat unjust. But Ethan couldn’t deny there was some truth to it.

If only he’d told her about his future plans a little earlier... then he wouldn’t be scouring the land like this, searching for her without knowing why she left.

“...Surely she didn’t go to that guy.”

For a moment, Ethan thought of the hero, the only man Lilith was remotely close to, but he quickly shook his head, dismissing it as unlikely.

The hero had no family or home to hide her or help her escape.

Determining that her escape had nothing to do with her academy acquaintances, Ethan began eliminating places she might go one by one. Yet searching the entire kingdom with only a month of riding experience wasn’t easy.

"If she fled the country, this could get complicated."

Two weeks was enough time for her to reach the capital of the Kingdom of Defrin. The newly crowned queen there did have a favorable impression of her, after all.

Since it was outside the kingdom, he decided to leave that as a last resort, and directed his horse toward another village.

"First, I should pay a visit to the Auguste estate. Lizzy was suspiciously unconvincing earlier...."

He hadn’t even considered that she might flee to some random town with no connection to her past.

"Mirif! Don’t lose consciousness, Mirif!"

"Ugh... cough... hack...."

Outside the cave where we had fought the Goblin King.

I rescued Mirif from the rubble left by the Mana Blast and held her as I rushed toward Ironhold’s church.

"I told you to escape! Why did you come back?!"

"I... I’m sorry... I just thought... I couldn’t leave you behind, Sister... it didn’t feel right...."

“......”

I was furious.

Furious at myself for not being able to protect even a single young priestess during a mere E-rank promotion test and letting her get hurt this badly.

Despite reaching level 40, I felt powerless, unable to handle a Goblin King alone without help.

...Until now, Ethan had always been the one leading at the front. Now that it was my turn, I realized just how helpless I was.

'If Mirif hadn’t come back...'

If the Goblin King hadn’t been distracted by her return...

The Mana Blast would have exploded, taking both me and the Goblin King with it, leaving nothing behind.

So I couldn’t scold Mirif for coming back. Without her, I wouldn’t have made it out of the cave alive.

"I’m... sorry. I only got in the way...."

"You weren’t in the way. It was thanks to the time you bought that I could complete the spell."

"So... you’re really a mage, Sister Lily...? I don’t know why you’re pretending to be an assassin, but... please keep it a secret... hack, cough...!"

"Don’t talk. Just rest. I’ll take you to the church."

"Okay...."

I held her tightly, surrounding her with a healing aura, hoping her life wasn’t in serious danger.

I didn’t want someone innocent to lose their life because of me.

After bringing Mirif to the church, I stepped aside so she could receive immediate care.

I wasn’t a priest, nor did I know healing magic. My healing aura could only do so much and paled in comparison to the divine magic of real priests.

All I could do was sit on the first floor of the church, praying for Mirif’s recovery.

-Footsteps approaching-

"So, you stayed behind, Sister."

"......!"

"Oh, you can stay seated. I just came to tell you about Sister Mirif’s condition."

"Is... is she safe?"

"Of course. All our priests «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» here in the Aurelia Church are skilled. Plus, healing spells are especially effective between fellow priests."

"......."

It didn’t seem like empty words to reassure me; it sounded like Mirif’s treatment was truly successful.

Finally, I felt like I could breathe, knowing my Mana Blast hadn’t taken her life.

"That said... she was indeed in a dangerous condition. Her injuries were severe, like she had taken a massive blow."

"......!"

"It seemed like she was attacked by a large monster... Could you tell me what happened?"

"...Yes."

I wasn’t sure if her injuries were from the shockwave of my Mana Blast or the Goblin King’s earlier assault, so I only mentioned the Goblin King.

I explained that the E-rank promotion test had led us to destroy a goblin nest, where we encountered the Goblin King. One of our three companions had died, leaving only Mirif and me to face it.

I also mentioned that we had decided to split up so at least one of us could escape, but she had come back, which led to her injuries.

"A Goblin King... are you sure you didn’t mistake it for a Goblin Lord or General?"

"I'm certain. I've seen a Goblin Lord before."

"Then you should inform the adventurers’ guild. Something strange is going on...."

...That was precisely what I wanted to ask. Why did a Goblin King suddenly appear near this village and attack us?

Maybe it was because I’d strayed from the main storyline. Perhaps adventuring in this world always carried this many variables, but I’d never noticed since I’d only seen it from the protagonist’s perspective.

"But if you defeated a Goblin King, Sister, you’re clearly not an ordinary adventurer."

"......."

"Oh, no offense. Everyone has secrets. And you saved Sister Mirif, so you’re clearly a good person."

"...Yes."

"She should wake up soon. Would you like to talk with her for a bit?"

-Head nods-

Since Mirif’s treatment was complete, I needed to see for myself that she was okay.

...I could confront the adventurers’ guild after that.