A Maiden’s Trivial Worries

“After this mission is over,” she vowed to herself, her heart pounding, “I’ll finally confess to him.”

“Elka, what are you spacing out for?! Cast a healing spell, quick! I can’t hold on much longer!”

“Oh, right!”

Elka snapped back to reality, her cheeks flushing. She waved her magic wand, pouring a torrent of her mana into it.

“Heal!“

A brilliant, intricate magic circle formed in an instant. A surge of life-giving energy shot out as a vibrant green ray, merging with the body of the man in the tight-fitting, battle-scarred armor.

“Hah!”

His strength restored, Rod let out a mighty roar. His bloodstained longsword erupted with a sharp, crackling aura as he swung it down with immense force, cleaving the turbulent lake surface in two. The water was violently torn apart, revealing the colossal, nightmarish beast that lurked in the depths.

It was a giant black fish, at least twenty meters long. Its body was covered in scales as hard as forged iron and bristling with menacing bone spikes. Its head was protected by a thick, hard exoskeleton, and a single, sharp horn pointed to the stormy sky, giving it a strange, chilling, and almost beautiful lethality.

This was the Dominator-class magical beast, the legendary Lord of Lake Bepor!

Looking at this terrifying monster, even Elka, who had been an adventurer for three years and had seen countless fearsome creatures, couldn’t help but feel her legs go weak.

Am I still not cut out to be an adventurer?

During a lull in the spellcasting, she nervously twisted a strand of her hair around her finger, her gaze complicated as she looked at the man at the forefront of the battle, the one fearlessly clashing with the Lake Lord.

Rod.

His nickname was the “Iron-Blooded Knight.” He had become an adventurer three years ago and had risen like a soaring dragon, becoming a B-rank genius adventurer in just three short years. He was already a name of some renown in Belland.

And she, Elka, was his childhood friend. And she was hopelessly, desperately, and secretly in love with him.

I only became an adventurer because I wanted to be with him, but even now, I’m still so scared…

I’ve been in love with him for eight long years, but I don’t even have the courage to confess. Am I just too useless?

If I’m this useless, will Rod start to dislike me?

Will he think I’m not worthy to stand by his side?

What should I do…

Today, as always, Elka was trapped in the trivial, all-consuming worries of a young maiden in love.

But her worries were far from over.

“Now!”

Having forced the Lake Lord out of the water, Rod issued another sharp command.

“Attack it with magic, quick!”

“R-right!”

All distracting, romantic thoughts were instantly banished from her mind. The instincts she had honed over the past three years made her raise her wand and begin chanting without a second thought.

“O, god of ice and snow, I beseech thee, lend me your…”

“Explosion Magic!“

Someone was faster.

Beside her, a female mage with striking features and a very, very well-endowed figure seemed to have been preparing for this exact moment. The instant Rod gave the command, a powerful spell, one that had been cast so quickly it had even skipped the incantation, shot forth like a miniature sun.

A blazing, blinding light scattered the oppressive darkness brought by the storm clouds. The terrifying heat instantly vaporized a massive amount of the lake water and, at the same time, pierced through the Lake Lord’s iron-hard scales.

“Nice one, Tia!”

Seeing the Lake Lord’s defenses breached, Rod’s face lit up with joy. He praised her and seized the rare opportunity, plunging his longsword deep into the massive, carbonized, and smoking wound on the beast’s side.

“ROAR!”

The Lake Lord thrashed violently, its agonized roars echoing with the thunder as the rain poured down in sheets. But anyone could see that this fearsome Dominator-class magical beast was at the end of its rope, making one last, desperate, and ultimately futile struggle for its life.

Because Rod’s sword was now lodged firmly, and fatally, in its heart.

From tomorrow on, after having subjugated a Dominator-class magical beast, the name of the Iron-Blooded Knight, Rod, would surely rise to even greater heights in Belland.

But Elka didn’t feel very happy.

She cautiously glanced at the female mage named Tia and muttered under her breath, “He thanks her, but he doesn’t say a single word to me?”

It’s… so unfair.

Is it just because I’m not good at attack magic, so I’m not much help in these big fights?

But aren’t I your childhood friend?

I’ve been in love with you for so long…

Elka took a deep, shuddering breath, forcibly suppressing the ugly, jealous emotions welling up inside her.

“DIE!”

Rod twisted his longsword viciously, and the Lake Lord’s struggles finally, blessedly, ceased. He pulled out his sword and let the beast sink back into the water. The lake was stained a deep, dark red with its blood, and then the massive fish’s corpse floated to the surface, its pale white belly turned up to the stormy sky.

“Finally, it’s over.”

Rod deactivated his levitation spell and landed on the beast’s enormous corpse, letting out a sigh of relief as a look of pure, unadulterated joy spread across his face. After defeating this Dominator-class magical beast, he would have enough merit points to be promoted to A-rank! And with that, both his fame and his fortune would see a massive, life-changing boost! It was worth the risk.

“You two did a great job,” Rod looked up and gave the two women a hearty, charming smile. “Your magic was perfectly timed. You saved the day again.”

“N-not at all…” Elka looked down at her feet, her face flushing a deep, happy red as she said shyly, “It’s because you’re so strong, Rod…”

So he does care about me. He noticed what I did.

A sliver of pure, unadulterated sweetness bloomed in Elka’s heart.

“Ah, you’re bleeding.”

Before she could even properly savor that sweetness, she heard Tia’s concerned voice.

Tia flew to Rod’s side, a worried look on her beautiful face as she examined the wound on his arm, a nasty cut he had received from one of the beast’s bone spikes during the battle.

“Haha, it’s just a small scratch. It’s nothing.”

“You have to treat it right away! What if it gets infected?” Tia chided him gently, then took out a fragrant, silk handkerchief and carefully began to wipe away the blood and bandage the wound. “Even if you’re always so reckless, Rod, you have to take better care of your own body. Otherwise, you’ll make the people who care about you sad.”

Rod couldn’t help but look moved. “Ah, Tia, you’re so kind. It’s truly great to have a teammate like you…”

Tia’s cheeks flushed. “Not at all. I’m just doing what I should. It’s having you around, Rod, that always makes me feel so safe.”

“…” Watching the two of them have their nauseatingly sweet moment, Elka nearly snapped her magic wand in two.

In front of me, a HEALING MAGE, you two are having this touching moment of battlefield camaraderie?! If he’s injured, why don’t you just let ME heal him?! You seemed to remember I existed when you were about to die a minute ago!

And you, Tia! You’re just bandaging his arm, but your chest is so obviously, so completely, pressing against him! Are you doing that on purpose?! Are you trying to show off?! HUH?!

“If only,” she thought, a dark, hateful feeling in her heart, “there were something that could punish this shameless b*tch.”

But it was just a thought. After all, in front of Rod, her image had always been that of a cute, sweet, and kind young maiden.

And a kind young maiden should not have such evil thoughts.

Mm. She definitely shouldn’t.

…

Or… should she?

…

“Huh? Do you hear that? It sounds like… something strange?”

Rod, who had been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful girl’s tender care, suddenly looked around with a serious expression. But the torrential rain, combined with the thick steam from the Explosion Magic, completely obscured his vision. He couldn’t see a thing.

“Oh, don’t move. I’m still bandaging you,” Tia chided, pulling his arm back. “It must be your imagination, Rod. The Lake Lord is already dead. What other strange sounds could there be? It’s not like two Dominator-class magical beasts would appear at the same time. If they did, they would have started fighting each other over territory long before we even got here.”