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Stella, having confirmed her victory, let herself fall limply onto the floor.

“Hehe… Did you see that? You’re still way below me…?!”

Her muscles seemed to scream in protest as Stella silently howled in agony.

‘As expected… that was definitely too much to handle.’

Nova, who had promised not to overexert herself, was about to scold herself for going overboard. However, upon seeing Stella’s delightfully satisfied face, she quickly abandoned that thought.

“…Just this once… I will definitely win next time.”

“What are you talking about? You will never beat me, at least… not while I’m alive…”

“Huh? What do you mean by that? So… can I get up?”

Stella took Siel’s hand and let out a groan as she stood up.

“I can’t tell who won like this. Isn’t that silly?”

“Well… I don’t really know what you’re talking about.”

Siel frowned as she saw the unique symbols glowing brightly on Stella’s neck. Upon closer inspection, it seemed the surrounding skin was sizzling as if burned.

“Is it some kind of curse? Is that why…?”

“Don’t misunderstand; this is just how the technique is supposed to work. It’s not your fault, so don’t apologize… huh?”

“Yeah, don’t apologize. It’s because this girl got too excited and lost control.”

Nova ruffled Stella’s hair and pulled her close.

“Um… Nova, there are a lot of people around… Ow! Don’t mess up my hair!”

“Shut up, you can’t even stand properly… Didn’t I clearly tell you not to do that?”

Stella’s expression shrank back, transforming into that of a puppy who had its tail tucked between its legs.

“…Are you mad?”

“Seriously… what were you two even fighting about?”

“Well… it’s a secret?”

For a moment, Nova almost fell for Stella’s cute babbling, but then she fixed her expression.

“…Alright. I won’t meddle in your business, but it seems a bit excessive…”

“It’s not like it has nothing to do with you!”

“What?”

“Yeah! If you think about it, it’s all because of you, Nova!”

As Siel spoke, Stella chimed in, shouting.

“What on earth did you do to charm that kid so much? How many are there… besides her, right?!”

“No, there’s some misunderstanding here… Hey, Siel, say something…”

“…Is there no second place?”

“Hey! Hey!”

At Siel’s bombshell statement, Nova’s face turned pale as he looked back.

At the far end of the sparring hall, a dazed-faced duke was pointing at Nova and shouting, “Caught that guy… immediately!”

“Hey, have you lost your mind? There’s a limit to how much I can let slide!”

“According to imperial law, if both parties consent, there’s no issue.”

As Stella and Siel tugged each other’s hair and cheeks while bickering, a group of knights from the north, with flames in their eyes, charged in, causing Nova’s head to throb.

“What the heck is going on… I’m really going to lose my mind.”

After the commotion settled down, the duke treated Nova as a guest of the duke’s manor.

This was mainly due to the rewards for his previous escort mission and for vanquishing the ancient monster, ‘Mobydick.’

Of course, Siel’s escort played a part, but most of the credit for defeating Mobydick, who had attacked the academy, belonged to Stella.

“That would be right…” “Hmph~”

“Why are you still like that?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that, guest?”

Just when I thought she was back from treatment, Stella appeared in maid attire, dyed black, cleaning up in the corridor.

I wondered why she would still maintain that maid concept when it had been uncovered, but she just answered me with a bright smile without saying a word.

After all, there’s no way I would stay here that long, so why bother?

“Did you want to do maid cosplay?”

Thud!

The moment she heard my words, Stella tripped and knocked over a nearby bucket of water.

Immediately directing her gaze toward me, she turned bright red and shouted defensively.

“W-Who wants to do cosplay! It’s not like that!”

“Oh my! What are you doing to a guest right now! Hurry up and clean the water!”

“I-I’m sorry, senior!”

The other maids, having not witnessed the sparring session, looked confused as to who she was.

Well, even though she might be a girl on the outside, I don’t think that girl would do something like that for me based on her mind.

When I asked the duke, he seemed just as clueless about her intentions. There wasn’t any particular comment.

Could it be that witnessing herself cleaning as a maid has awakened a new fetish…?

“…Hmm.”

As I observed Stella with a skeptical look, the head butler approached me.

“Nova-sama, the duke is calling for you.”

“Ah, got it.”

“Cleaning, cleaning~ Let’s scrub it clean~”

“…I’ll be there shortly.”

*

“…Did she leave?”

Only after observing Nova, who was surely at a safe distance, could I finally lower the cleaning tools I was holding.

There’s no way I came to clean this massive duke’s manor, nor did I want to wear a maid outfit.

“Oh? The kid who was here a second ago… where did she go?”

After slipping out of the maid’s gaze, I began to search the duke’s manor.

“Not here… not here… not in this room either… It’s definitely going to be hard to find…”

Whenever someone passed by, I naturally pretended to clean the room to pass undetected.

“I need to find it quickly… if I get caught by either Nova or Siel, it’ll be a real hassle…”

What I was looking for was related to some forbidden book.

The title of the forbidden book is the Book of the Intangible, a technique that converts formless things into mana.

Why am I looking for this? The reason is simple: I’m running low on mana.

Reaching the realm of an Archmage at Tier 7 has significantly increased my mana consumption.

The destructive power and speed of the spells I was previously casting have greatly improved, but the amount of mana used has spiked.

Of course, it’s possible to control it with fine adjustments, but managing the flow like a waterfall was challenging.

Especially in the case of summoning stellar spells like small black holes or giant stars, the mana consumption was excessively high compared to controlling little meteorites.

Moreover, since my magical proficiency has risen, controlling mana even while casting Tier 6 spells has become quite difficult.

To put it metaphorically, it’s like having bought a high-performance computer but with absolutely no setup done.

In any case, the conclusion is I need to acquire a massive amount of mana to use magic.

So, what I had in mind was the book I secretly snatched from the Magic Tower that contained the spell for converting mana in exchange for memories…

“I got my ass handed to me last time and lost it…”

When I first awakened, I was shocked. How often does someone get to see a gigantic whale in the sky right after waking up?

If it had been the previous me, I would have struggled against it. However, for some reason, that day my mana overflowed.

Judging by the fact that I have no recollection of the previous night, I probably attempted to convert mana myself.

So, that day, I received enough scolding to put crust in my ears, and I ended up losing the book.

Most of the scolding revolved around how there’s no shortcut on the path of the magic arts, how dangerous that kind of behavior is, and whether I realized that.

“I’m sorry, but… I can’t help it, Master…”

From the rampaging monsters in the northern mountains to the executioners who are the Demon King’s subordinates, enemies are relentlessly closing in.

In the world I came from, situations evolving this rapidly were few and far between.

Among them, what’s worrying me the most is that masked figure bearing a dragon visage; that guy is the biggest problem.

Other executioners are strong, but for him, I can’t gauge his emotions or brute force.

“I can’t shake this feeling that he’s just a dangerous enemy for some reason… But seriously, where is he? I can’t see him.”

Even after rummaging through the room, I couldn’t spot a single letter of the ‘Book of the Intangible.’

“Erica said it’s definitely being managed in the duke’s manor…”

It seems simply searching the library won’t do… Given the circumstances, it might be worth the risk to sneak into the duke’s private chamber…

“Hey! What are you doing there?”

“Y-Yes? I was just cleaning here!”

I had been so immersed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the maid enter the room until she was almost upon me. Maybe I overdid it earlier?

The maid, who was watching my expression in surprise, quickly shifted to the main topic.

“The duke calls for you; he probably wants you to arrange your seat since you’re new here.”

“Seating arrangement? …Understood, I’ll head there right away.”

Moving around in designated areas can create restrictions, which can be annoying…

Especially if I’m assigned to a room near the quick-witted Siel… It would be easy to get caught…

‘Would I raise suspicion if I ask to help with cleaning the duke’s private chamber?’

Arriving at the duke’s private chamber, I scanned the room, quickly sweeping my eyes over the place.

As expected, there were a considerable number of books on the shelves.

“Aren’t you quite interested in books?”

Ugh… Did I examine things a bit too much?

“I’m also a practitioner of the magical arts… I’m always drawn to new knowledge, so may I take a look at them?”

The duke, who was meticulously examining me, smirked slightly and muttered.

“I see, you’ve quite the knack for acting charming.”

“…Huh?”

“Nothing worth mentioning. As you know, I did not plan on accepting a maid unexpectedly, which messed up the areas.”

…Is he hinting that he regrets giving me a job just by asking?

Well, who would want to assign a new part-timer to such an important task, even I think that’s a stretch.

“So, has it been decided upon now?”

“I’ve thought it over, and while you’re here, I intend to appoint you as a dedicated maid to serve the guests.”

“For the guests…”

Hearing my words, the duke nodded. I see… He’s deliberately trying to pair me up with Nova as a favor…

I had been thinking it was about time I saw him again, but this complicates my search for the forbidden book…

“Got it! Where do I go then?”

However, unexpectedly, my mouth was already asking for Nova’s whereabouts in an excited tone.

“He’s at the far end of the left annex.”

“Thank you!”

Just as I was about to exit, the duke spoke with an enigmatic smile.

“I hope you have a good time.”

As I turned to look back, the duke appeared unfazed as he began to conduct business again.

It’s only been a short while since we were apart looking for something, yet I already miss him this much…

Unknowingly, I started humming to myself, and my steps became a light skip.

“What could he be doing right now… Should I ask him to have a meal together?”

I hadn’t eaten anything all day while searching, and I really needed a break…

I wanted to sneak a bite of Nova’s food and gossip while having fun but… first…

“Don’t I smell like sweat?”

As I entered a nearby room to tidy up my disheveled clothes and hair, I tried on some perfume.

When I was at the Magic Tower, I could stroll around in disarray without caring, but lately, I had started to take a little more care.

Serena had insisted that I dress up, giving me perfume and showing me some simple hair-styling tips.

At first, I questioned why I had to go through all that hassle…

“Huh? You used perfume. And you got your hair trimmed a bit?”

“Uh… Uh-huh… You noticed?”

Why am I feeling this joy over such little changes…?

Sometimes, she can even guess the smell of my shampoo or rinse and that’s a little embarrassing… Yet, somehow, I’ve made it a hobby to change every two days and see her reaction.

“Hum~ Hmm~”

Knock, knock!

Upon arriving at the end of the annex, as I knocked on the door, I heard hurried footsteps and the sound of someone gripping the doorknob from the inside.

It felt as if someone was trying desperately to prevent anyone from coming in recklessly.

– Who is it?

“It’s me, can I come in?”

Nova’s voice came from inside, sounding unusually tense.

– …Could you hold on for a moment?

“What’s up? Are you stripping or something?”

– …Yeah, that’s why I need you to wait a moment… No, go somewhere else; I’ll come to you.

What’s going on…? Why is he acting that way? Is there something he’s trying to hide in the room?

“Is it the Book of the Intangible?”

That guy… Has he found that forbidden book? Is he trying to hide it from me because it would be dangerous for me to see?

As I pulled on the doorknob, I heard his flustered voice coming from the other side as he tried to close the door.

“You can’t! Stop right there!”

“What can’t I? That must be a forbidden book!”

As we wrestled at the doorknob, I fueled my mana as I tugged hard.

Crack!

“Ah…” The doorknob broke with a sound.

“Ugh…!”

“Ugh?!”

The doorknob slipped and the door swung open, launching Nova out and colliding right into me.

In a moment of confusion, Nova ended up on top of me, but I had no thoughts to dwell on that.

It’s only natural…

“…Did you see it?”

“…”

Nova sighed briefly, pressing his fingers to his temples.

In the 0.1 seconds before I fell, I had seen clearly what was inside the room, thanks to my superior dynamic vision.

“Did I… just see what I think I saw…?”

Is what I just saw really true?

No… it could have been a… figment of my imagination…

“…Nova… what I saw… it’s not what I think, right…?”

At my words, Nova covered his blushing face with his hands and muttered.

“Seriously… can you please not harass people…?”

The moment I realized it wasn’t just a misunderstanding, I nearly screamed.

Why, you ask?

Because through the opening of Nova’s room, I saw… long tools and small bead-like devices laid out at one side…

Things that belong in adult videos that you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else… those sexual toys were lined up side by side.