I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince - Chapter 278 [The Witch Test (2)]

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by James B. (9/14).

About a week had passed since Lizzy, who hadn’t known the witch test was a test of enduring shame, sat down on the altar alongside Lara.

Unlike the tumultuous chaos of the first day, now, no one made a fuss about seeing the naked Lizzy or Lara near the altar.

Rather, after several days had passed, the sight of the two women sitting on the altar had somehow become an everyday scene.

“Lili, something seems to be approaching from the lake – can you shoot it down with magic?”

“Sure, that’s easy enough now.”

Swoosh!

“Screech!”

Splash!

“Your skills keep improving, Lili. Didn’t you used to need to triple-cast to hit something like that?”

“That’s ancient history. It’s been a year and a half since I enrolled at Luminor Academy, I should at least be able to do this much.”

Our defense consisted of casual conversation while keeping our backs to the altar, with either me or Ethan dealing with anything that approached.

Usually, I would handle monsters approaching from the air or water while Ethan dealt with ground-based enemies. Of course, the roles would shift slightly when defending the altar with someone other than Ethan.

Lara and Lizzy’s naked bodies had become nothing more or less than part of the forest background to us now.

‘It only feels erotic when you first see it – after seeing it continuously, it just becomes normal.’

When I saw it in the game, it seemed like an erotic and arousing event.

Well, Luminor Academy didn’t show the month-long process in real time.

If, in my previous life, this scene had been made into an unavoidable hours-long video, it probably would have been considered boring rather than erotic.

‘It seems Lizzy doesn’t even have time to feel embarrassed anymore.’

As the forest’s energy passing through her body gradually transformed Lizzy’s constitution into that of a witch’s, witches’ pharmaceutical knowledge would have started entering her mind simultaneously.

What is dissolved in this ‘Witch’s Forest’ isn’t just forest energy. The knowledge that hundreds and thousands of witches who closed their eyes in this forest held dear – that knowledge’s owners are passing on their lifetime of wisdom to their successors, along with the life force they hadn’t fully consumed in their previous lives.

Thanks to that, she probably couldn’t feel hunger or fatigue, and instead, her mind was busy accumulating knowledge. If I had to make a comparison, it was like having hundreds or thousands of professors entering and leaving your mind for a month straight, cramming their expertise into your head until you understood it.

Since the circular barrier the elders had initially created was blocking things like leaves and flying insects, the two of them could focus entirely on their training without any problems.

‘Her level must increase tremendously after doing this once. She might even become a broken character in this world.’

As I’ve mentioned before, the biggest problem with ‘Witch Lara’ in Luminor Academy was that she wasn’t a ‘heroine’ in this game.

In Luminor Academy, the word ‘heroine’ means a female character who can be added to the party.

As mentioned before, Lara was just someone for a one-night fling who couldn’t be added to the party, despite her excellent capabilities as a pharmacist.

But if Lizzy awakened as a witch here and joined the Hero’s party, it might be possible to defeat the Demon King in a new way.

‘This might actually be a good combination. Since having a pharmacist can serve as combat support, she could probably fill Lilith’s position quite well.’

At the very least, I could use this as persuasive material if Gyeongmwajogyegigwat tried to force me into the party; that is, with a bit of emphasis on how Lizzy could substitute for me as Lilith.

In two weeks, he would arrive at the Witch’s Forest, and if we could just endure until then, we could finally finish this long summer break event.

‘If he starts making excuses again about not receiving the Saint’s power, I’m really going to force it into Seriste.’

There’s a limit to accommodating someone just because they’re the original protagonist, and I was reaching mine.

I’ve gone along with him because we’re from the same hometown, but if he thinks he can treat me like an NPC from the game… I’ll overturn everything then.

“Lilith has reached level 21!”

“Lilith has reached level 22!”

The level-up events in the Witch’s Forest were smoothly contributing to my XP.

Though there weren’t many battles since it was more like guard duty rather than actively hunting monsters in the forest, the monsters inhabiting the Witch’s Forest were of a decent level, so even those few battles provided quite a lot of XP.

Leveling up roughly once every ten days… 

To be honest, at this point, even such rapid level-ups didn’t feel particularly exciting.

In the past, Levels 1 and 2 were directly tied to my survival, so there was an urgency to raise them somehow, but now, I didn’t feel that kind of tension.

I even had spare skill points since there was no rush to assign them.

Story-wise, I was growing a bit faster than the original Lilith.

In terms of objective stats, I was actually far above those.

Especially since I had inflated my Maximum Mana and Luck stats from the beginning, these continued to increase smoothly as my level rose.

The original support one-trick Lilith who couldn’t use offensive magic and had to rely solely on Mana Blast was long gone.

I had already been reborn as an all-rounder Lilith for quite some time.

Meanwhile, Lizzy surprisingly continued the witch test without giving up even as nearly three weeks had passed.

Compared to Lara, who had known the test’s contents and prepared since childhood, she was showing incredible results for someone who had only learned about it three weeks ago.

Though considering what she’d already done, stopping here wouldn’t make sense. After showing everything to others, giving up now would be an enormous loss in itself.

As the leader of the August Trading Company, Lizzy was unlikely to give up after coming this far. She would see it through to the end if only considering the sunk costs *1.

By the way, I had gotten firm confirmation from everyone that they wouldn’t reveal the contents of Lizzy’s witch test to outsiders.

It would be too cruel if she not only had to show her body to unfamiliar men but also became unmarriageable as a result.

‘Though, the men don’t seem particularly interested in Lara or Lizzy’s naked bodies anyway.’

For one thing, Ethan had seen my naked body in bed just a few weeks ago, so he had no reason to look at Lara or Lizzy.

While Lara had a sensual figure similar to mine, she was taller than Ethan, which might feel intimidating, and while Lizzy was similar to me in height, I clearly dominated in chest size.

So, except for when I had firmly told him to look that first day, Ethan didn’t particularly turn his gaze toward the altar. Sometimes, he would turn his head to catch monsters, but I often noticed him treating the two on the altar almost like scenery.

As for Prince Antonio, he was completely smitten with Agnes now.

Given that loving Agnes likely meant loving her body type as well, the bodies of the two on the altar probably didn’t catch his eye.

…Though this was actually a more dangerous preference, I decided not to worry about it since it wasn’t my business.

As for Caraham, it was just his sister’s body, so rather than any erotic feelings, he probably felt pity. He was likely just praying in his heart for the witch test to end safely.

Thus, quite a long time had passed since the witch test began, with about a week remaining until its end.

“F-Finally found it… Haaa….”

“The terrain is complicated, so we got pretty lost. If we had just followed the path properly, it probably wouldn’t have taken this long.”

“When we go back, please just follow the path properly, Miss Selena. And don’t ever say things like ‘Elves don’t get lost in forests’ again.”

“……Okay.”

The reinforcements to help with Lara’s witch test, Hero Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s party, had arrived.

Including the Hero, there were four members of the Hero’s party who had come to the Witch’s Forest.

Hero Gyeongmwajogyegigwat.

Saint Seriste.

Archer Selena.

And Princess Seraphine.

It seemed only the Hero and the three who could definitively be called heroines at this point had come along, excluding characters whose heroine status was still ambiguous.

‘Well, this event didn’t exist in the original anyway, so it can’t be helped.’

I wasn’t sure what combination they had used to handle things in the Northeastern Plains, but they must have had their share of struggles over there, too.

It must have been an event that required some recovery time, dealing with the tension between nobles and natives, as well as small-scale battles and duels.

One could say that only Seriste, Seraphine, and Selena had followed the Hero all the way here despite their fatigue, driven by their affection and rivalry over him.

“Si-Sister Sera…? What brings you here…?”

“I’m here for the regular merchant ship that trades with the witches, Antonio. And also because the Hero said we needed to help with Miss Lara’s witch test.”

“I-I thought you went to the Northeastern Plains….”

“Yes. We had many experiences there. By the way, Antonio, why are you here?”

“W-Well, since Lady Agnes was heading to the Witch’s Forest, naturally, I….”

“…He just followed me on his own. I kept telling him not to cling to me.”

“Sigh, Antonio. Are you trying to worry your sister, too…? And that’s not how you should approach a woman….”

“Si-Sister Sera….”

“Your Highness, perhaps we could have this conversation elsewhere?”

Antonio was immediately reduced to a crouch as Seraphine began scolding him, and Knight Colt led them both a bit further away.

Meanwhile, Agnes, being part of the Hero’s party, exchanged brief greetings with the other two heroines, and Gyeongmwajogyegigwat quietly approached me where I was standing alone.

“How’s the event going? And where’s Ethan?”

“The witch test is starting its fourth week, and Ethan is currently guarding the altar with Caraham.”

“…Caraham? You mean that Caraham from House August?”

“Is there another Caraham at Luminor Academy?”

“No, I know that, but why is he here helping with Lara’s witch test…?”

Gyeongmwajogyegigwat was bewildered by an unexpected event taking place somewhere he didn’t know about.

Rather than explaining the situation with words, it seemed faster to just show him with his own eyes.

T/N

1. In economics, a sunk cost is something that has already been paid and cannot be recovered. The sunk cost fallacy describes when someone makes a decision to commit to their initial investment (may it be money or time) and remain investing regardless of the state of their finances precisely because of that initial investment. 

Thanks for reading, see you in the next one!