A Less Than Ideal Encounter

“Roar——!”

Standing before us was a black lion-like magical beast, its body engulfed in purple flames.

I had to admit, the roar of a large feline creature was quite imposing.

Paired with its massive body, as tall as a whole story, its intimidation factor was maxed out.

But unfortunately, compared to a dragon, it was worlds apart—completely unable to faze us.

“Ailena! Cover me!”

Drawing her sword, the young miss charged forward.

I conjured water magic, summoning two water orbs each half the size of the beast, hurling them over the young miss straight at the monster.

The beast, which had been about to spew fire, had its flames instantly doused by the water orbs, leaving it raging helplessly in place.

Deprived of its means of resistance, it could only try to swipe at the golden girl speeding toward it with its claws.

But… an attack at such a speed—how could it possibly hit our young miss?

“Haa!”

As expected, after dodging the claw strike, the young miss leaped up in one fluid motion, severing the beast’s head with a single sword stroke.

“Shwick!”

Flicking the monster’s blood off her sword, the young miss sheathed it and flashed me a “V” sign.

Seeing those two slender fingers, I couldn’t help but recall that day’s events, my face unconsciously heating up…

Though we hadn’t swapped roles to the very end that day, we had indeed done things that lovers would do…

“Little Ailena, why is your face so red? Is it from expending too much magic?”

The blue-haired girl watching our battle from the side teased.

“Uh… l-let’s just say that’s the case, haha…”

“Hmm～”

Olivia raised an eyebrow, then began tallying the monsters we had slain.

“One hell tiger… three green venom beasts… nine giant rats… Hmm, very impressive results. Little Katarina, little Ailena, you…

did great~”

After that, she turned to “Sophina” on the other side.

“Hmm… two hawk-bats, three blaze oxen… For a first commission after joining the student council, that’s a solid performance.”

“Thank you for the praise, senior.”

“Sophina” said this, but her eyes were filled with dissatisfaction.

It wasn’t hard to understand why… After all, this was already the seventh extermination commission we had completed.

As for why it turned out this way, allow me to give a brief explanation.

After the short holiday, upon returning to the academy, we received an invitation from Olivia to join the student council.

Normally, even with an invitation, one would still need to complete individual commissions as an entry test… In comparison, being invited meant skipping a lot of tedious chores and saving time on building reputation.

But thanks to our contribution in subduing the demon Carmery, we bypassed the entry test entirely.

Originally, this invitation slot was meant for the multi-route heroine. The multi-route heroine would receive Olivia’s invitation to reduce the player’s repetitive grind of commissions…

But this invitation privilege was limited to one per student council member, and we had snatched it away.

That said, this opportunity was something our young miss had fought for herself—there was no reason for “Sophina” to be jealous or upset.

Thus, “Sophina” had to start from the simplest and most mind-numbing commissions, only passing the student council’s assessment and joining the day before yesterday.

But in truth, that was already quite fast. With the merit from the previous demon incident, she had skipped many commissions.

Logically, in the first playthrough, joining the student council usually required waiting until the end of the first semester. Now, just over a month since enrollment, though not as quick as an invitation, it was still outstanding.

By the way… has this girl still not given up on the prince route…

I could roughly guess what she was up to—probably aiming for the full reverse harem route.

In fact, aside from Lord Claude and Prince Edwin, she had nearly conquered all the other male leads.

Hmm… though I hadn’t seen the assassin Daniel at the academy,

“Sophina” definitely wouldn’t let him slip by.

I’d heard from my sister that this route only unlocks after perfectly clearing all the male leads’ routes, and it’s exceptionally difficult.

…Judging from “Sophina’s” frantic pace, that certainly seemed true.

And to achieve the reverse harem, there was one crucial condition—the right to make a wish.

That must be why she was so anxious.

Unfortunately, we needed that slot too. We wouldn’t yield it to her.

At times like this, the perks of early entry became clear.

“Ailena, how was my performance?”

Just then, the young miss returned to my side and took my hand.

“V-very impressive, Young Miss. Lady Olivia spoke highly of you—you’re one step closer to your goal.”

“Hehe～ Feel free to praise me more.”

“Hmm, our young miss is so amazing～”

“…”

“…”

Lost in the sweet atmosphere of mutual praise, we were completely unaware of a pair of eyes secretly watching us.

“…Could it be?”

The next day arrived.

Lately, the young miss had indeed been diligently completing commissions—I could feel her passion and effort toward her dream…

In that case, as her maid and boyfr— no, girlfriend?

Anyway… I wanted to reward her properly.

I had specially added many nourishing, vitality-boosting ingredients to the bento, contributing my small part.

“Humm hum～♪”

Humming happily as I headed to the classroom with great anticipation…

“Bang!”

“Ah!”

“Ya!”

At the corner of the courtyard, I collided with someone.

…The bento box!

The little square box… at the cost of me tragically face-planting onto the ground.

“Wah wah! Are you okay?!”

The person who bumped into me frantically pulled me up.

“I’m fine…”

It hurt a bit, but I wasn’t that fragile.

“Let me heal you… Eh? You’re the maid Ailena?”

“…Hmm?”

Only after she said this did I remember to look up at the culprit who had crashed into me.

Only now did I realize that the girl standing before me, casting a healing spell on my face, was none other than the heroine “Sophina.”

“I was just looking for you! What a coincidence!”

Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

“…Hmm? Why were you looking for me?”

“Eh? Did you forget?! You said before! If I ever had troubles with romance, I could come to you for advice!”

“Uh…”

I had said that, but it was just a polite excuse to escape the situation at the time!

I never imagined she would actually come to me for advice.

After all, her goal was something as unorthodox as a reverse harem! How could she possibly consult an unfamiliar maid about it?

“Right now, I’ve hit an unsolvable bottleneck and am really troubled… And just then, I remembered what you said!”

She grew more excited as she spoke, even grabbing my hands.

“I can’t believe I ran into you right after thinking about it! This must be fate!”

No, are you serious?

“Smack!”

At that moment, a hand intruded into our conversation, forcefully slapping “Sophina’s” hand away.

Looking back, a golden-haired girl was glaring coldly at us.

“What are you two doing?”