Chapter 21: The Night Shift That Night

When I returned to my room, the maid was still sound asleep in her chair.

I changed clothes quietly so as not to wake her and slipped into bed. The adrenaline from my midnight adventure made it hard to fall asleep. So many things had happened today — the visit to Lady Jacqueline, the shocking performance of the older maid in the bath, and seeing the knight and maid having sex. Even though the older maid had drained me thoroughly in the bath, I still felt like I could go again. But when I looked at the sleeping maid in the chair, my arousal naturally calmed down and I was finally able to fall asleep.

Tomorrow was Marin-sensei’s final lesson.

The weather was nice from the morning, and both my body and lower half felt light. I was already a man who had lost his virginity — my foreskin was pulled back and everything.

Anyway, I had history class in the morning and Marin-sensei’s martial training in the afternoon.

Because I had visited his academy last time, the history teacher was in an excellent mood and taught with great enthusiasm. When I honestly told him that I would prefer attending classes at his academy from now on because seeing the other students study was very motivating, he was overjoyed and said, "Please come to my academy next time by all means!" That was exactly what I wanted. When I glanced at Cass, she had a somewhat reluctant expression. Later, when I asked her why she made that face, she said that even for a worthless prince like me, it was unprecedented for royalty to leave the palace to study at a private academy in the city. Just thinking about all the procedures made her head hurt.

The history lesson was full of the teacher’s passion, making me wonder what the previous classes had even been for. It was a classic case — when students show no motivation to learn, the teacher also loses the will to teach.

I had one question, so I asked. The units of length in this world were inches, feet, yards, and miles. When I asked Cass, she told me 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 yard = 3 feet, and 1 mile = 1760 yards. I couldn’t make sense of it at all. One inch was a little under 3 cm, same as in my previous world, so the conversion seemed identical to Earth. But did Earth really use such strange increments? I asked who created this measurement system. The answer was that it had been brought by a summoned sage. Ah, so that sage was probably British or American. If he had come from somewhere else, he would have introduced the metric system. What a shame. Since feet didn’t feel natural to me, I decided to convert everything to meters in my head.

After lunch, it was finally time for Marin-sensei’s long-awaited lesson. I didn’t think there would be any more erotic developments with her. Still, during lunch, the maid who served the food was *that* maid. She maintained her usual composed expression, but since I had seen her completely naked and having sex the night before, my face turned red.

**Michelle Payne – 26 years old – Married – Maid**

So that was her husband. I felt relieved, but at the same time, my imagination wouldn’t stop. *That girl — no, that woman — was holding a man’s cock with these same hands...* Michelle noticed my red face and gave me a puzzled look while efficiently preparing everything. *Sorry... My imagination is running wild.*

This was Marin-sensei’s final lesson. She said firmly,

"Today is the last session. It’s a shame, but all things must come to an end. Today, please show me everything you’ve learned so far!"

It sounded like we would never meet again. But according to what Cass told me, Marin-sensei’s fiancé was a financial official, and they would be living in the same dormitory as Michelle for the time being. That meant there was still a chance I might run into her in the palace. But I probably wouldn’t be taught by her anymore. Hmm... I wonder if there’s any chance of something like her and Michelle having sex side by side with windows open? Or at least seeing them every other day. My fantasies just wouldn’t stop!

"Come at me with everything you have!" Marin-sensei shouted to start the lesson.

I thought if I went all out, Marin-sensei would be shocked, so I held back my power as I charged in. I raised my wooden sword and swung down toward her. She had predicted it and blocked with her own sword. I felt like my swings were faster than before, but it wasn’t enough to surprise her.

In that case, I took a back step and attacked again with a bit more speed. This was also easily blocked. Was the difference in skill — her Sword Skill 3 versus my Sword Skill 1 — really that big?

Then I used my Agile Legs to dash in! But it wasn’t as fast as I hoped. Last night’s jumping around wasn’t about speed, so of course it didn’t make me faster. Anyway, my dashing power hadn’t changed much, so my attempt to surprise Marin-sensei failed.

Even so, Marin-sensei praised me enthusiastically.

"Amazing! You can swing the sword this well now! To be able to attack continuously like this — it’s like a dream compared to before. Incredible, truly incredible!!"

I wanted to improve even more to earn more praise, but I quickly ran out of breath.

"Keep going! Hit me more!!" she urged.

I stood up and attacked again.

"Wonderful! Your stamina has improved so much!"

Praised again, I pushed myself too hard and tripped. Exhausted, I lay spread-eagled on the ground, looking up at the sky.

"Are you done already?" Marin-sensei asked, peering down at my face. *I can still keep going!*

The lesson continued. When I was completely out of breath, Marin-sensei said,

"Since I couldn’t teach you any techniques in the end, I’ll at least show you some. Using a sword is primarily for war against other people. But wars don’t happen often, so most battles are against bandits, mountain thieves, and other non-regular soldiers. Occasionally you may fight magical beasts as well.

In any case, when fighting bandits or thieves, they will use any dirty trick to win. So you can’t rely on beautiful swordplay alone. You must use various techniques, deceive your opponent, and strike. Today I’ll show you the very basics — the most fundamental techniques. You probably won’t remember them after seeing them once, but please remember that such techniques exist."

Marin-sensei demonstrated the moves against an imaginary opponent, shouting "Ei!", "Ya!", "Tou!" with each strike. I watched, forgetting to breathe. If even Marin-sensei could use techniques like this, I wondered what someone with even higher sword skill could do. I really wanted to see it.

After the lesson ended, we were supposed to wash off the sweat, but Marin-sensei didn’t come. I knew it was unlikely, but part of me had hoped... Maybe she would say, "Since it’s the last time, I’ll give you a special service ♡" ...But of course a maiden about to get married wouldn’t do something like that!

---

After dinner passed without incident (as usual — nothing much ever happens during dinner), it was time to sleep.

Tonight’s night-shift maid was an even older woman. I thought, *Was there someone like this?* But as long as she fell asleep quickly, it didn’t really matter to me whether she was young or old.

I pretended to sleep for a while, then quietly changed from my pajamas into regular clothes, put on my shoes, and opened the window. Just as I was about to head out, a voice called out to me.

"Prince Robby, where are you going? Are you planning to sneak out?"

I froze and turned around. The older maid was sitting in her chair, smiling gently at me. Her face was smiling, but her eyes were dead serious — radiating a clear "I won’t allow any reckless behavior" aura.

"You were awake?"

I was so startled that only this dumb line came out. The older maid stood up and walked toward me with firm, confident steps. The sleepy, frail old lady act from earlier was clearly fake. Now her back was straight — she looked like a completely different person.

"Yes, I was awake. The maid from last night told me that Prince Robby had snuck out at night, so I pretended to be asleep. I can’t have you doing anything dangerous. If something happens to you while I’m on duty, I’ll be held responsible."

Well, that made sense.

"So... you’re going outside?"

"I was thinking about it."

"Then I’ll come with you."

"Huh?"

"I’ll accompany you."

"What? That’s impossible, right?"

"It’s fine."

"But I’m jumping down to the garden and climbing onto the roof, you know?"

"I can do that. No problem at all."

"No way!"

At that moment, I appraised the older maid.

**Lily Fonda – 44 years old – Maid**

She had no visible skills. *Of course that’s impossible,* I thought. But then she said,

"You just appraised my skills, didn’t you?"

She saw right through me.

"How did you know?"

"I possess a skill that allows me to sense such things."

"What kind of skill?"

"I’m sorry, but I cannot answer that. By the way, I also have skills, but I’ve hidden them so they don’t appear when you appraise me."

"Seriously!?"

"You’re still very young, Prince Robby, so there are many things you don’t know. It’s easy to mistakenly believe you’re the only one with special skills. If you head out into the world with that mindset, you’ll often get burned. Please be careful."

"I understand that much. In that case, can you teach me about these ’waves of the world’ you mentioned?"

Lily thought for a moment.

"...That’s not something I can decide on my own. I’ll need approval from higher-ups. Could you give me some time?"

"Then go get it right now."

"That’s impossible. It’s already the middle of the night."

"Ah, right. Then can you get permission by the next time you’re on night duty?"

"I don’t know if it will be granted, but I’ll ask."

"Please do."

"Understood."

"So... does that mean I can’t go out tonight?"

Lily thought for a bit.

"You’re already dressed and prepared, so a little bit should be fine. As long as you promise not to leave the palace grounds. I’ll accompany you — is that acceptable?"

"Yeah, that’s fine. From what you’ve said, it seems like you’re more skilled than me anyway."

"Understood. Please go ahead. I’ll follow."

"Got it. Thanks."

I jumped down from the window into the garden. When I looked back, Lily dropped down silently, making almost no sound. Her skirt didn’t flip up — it was as if it was stuck to her legs.

"Amazing!"

"What is?"

"You made almost no sound when you landed."

"Ah, yes. That comes from training. If you always stay conscious of moving silently, you’ll naturally be able to land quietly like that."

"Seriously? Even in daily life?"

"Yes. It may not have a huge effect, but it’s far better than not doing it."

"I see. I’ll try to be more conscious of it."

"I think your knees and ankles are still quite stiff, Prince Robby. Skills alone can’t solve everything. You still need steady, consistent training."

"Understood. Then I’ll jump now. Hup!!"

Maybe because Lily was watching, I put extra power into it and landed neatly on the second-floor balcony before jumping up to the roof.

When I looked down, Lily had a slightly dumbfounded expression. She jumped up to the balcony, paused once, then jumped again to reach the roof.

"Prince Robby, you really are young. I can’t jump like that."

She said it with a bitter smile.

"Well, I’m still a kid. Ideally, I want to be able to jump straight to the roof in one go."

"Ahaha, that would be quite something! Not many people can do that."

"Really? Then next I’ll move across the roof."

"Go ahead."

I walked across the roof and gradually sped up. Hmm... Lily made almost no sound behind me, but I was making noise. It felt like I was just a little short of perfection, but it was probably something very difficult to achieve.

I jumped across to the roof of the building across the path. When I looked back, Lily shrugged as if saying "Good grief." I gestured for her to come over, but she shook her head, clearly saying it was impossible. *Is this really okay for my instructor?* I thought, then jumped back to where she was.

"Prince Robby, no matter what, that’s impossible for me. I’m a woman in her mid-forties, you know? Plus, I’m wearing a maid uniform. There’s no way."

"I see. Hahaha. I thought since you’re an instructor, you could do it."

"If I were ten years younger, maybe. Also, if you have extra power in your jumps, you should practice switching between high and low jumps freely. That way, you can use feints when you encounter enemies. It’s one of the basics of tactics."

"I see. I’ll try that."

After that, I continued jumping while Lily watched.

The training (?) continued until past midnight.

When we returned to the room and I was about to go to sleep, I asked Lily,

"Are you part of the kingdom’s intelligence agency? Were you sent to monitor me?"

"My, you know some difficult words. So the rumor that the previous Prince Robby was only pretending to be stupid was true after all."

"As for your question, I can neither confirm nor deny it. I can only say that I am a maid of the inner palace. However, I can confirm that I was sent to monitor you."

"Why monitor me? I’m already being watched during the day."

"If you sneak out at night when no one is watching, we can’t afford not to monitor you, can we?"

"That’s true, but I’m only trying to train my body."

"If you want to train, wouldn’t it be better to do so during the day? That would be much more appropriate. There are plenty of excellent instructors in the palace — far better than someone like me."

"Well, that’s true, but until now everyone thought I was hopelessly stupid. If I suddenly started acting completely different, it would look suspicious. I don’t want to attract too much attention."

"Is that so? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to be recognized as talented and draw attention?"

"I’m not sure. I might be overthinking it, but I don’t want to get dragged into the muddy mess of succession struggles. I figured it’d be safer to stay seen as an idiot so no one bothers with me."

"That may be true, but such things tend to become known naturally."

"You think so?"

"That’s how it works."

"So you still have to monitor me? I only want to train at night like this."

"If you only train on nights when I’m on duty, that would be best. It would also make it easier to get approval from above."

"Got it. I’ll do that."

There was one more thing I wanted to ask.