Lilia's Tale

Chapter 13: Accusations

Tanaka-sama left the day after he arrived, so I went back to my routine, the work at the inn being simple. I would go to the same place to practice magic between each serving. I had gotten to know the person that looked after the arena, named Masahiko Yoshirou. I mostly trained on regaining my summoning magic, which was oddly difficult.

Days went on, and nothing specific happened. Most customers would still compliment me, or even ask for me to stay with them for a talk. The knight, Kyo, would visit every so often to make sure I was doing fine. I would wear my maid uniform everyday, twice a day, and changed into one of the many dresses Olivia had bought me to go train at the arena.

As I was training, a day after an overwhelmingly packed lunch, my mind wasn't properly focused on my summoning. I was somewhat tired due to the rather tiring lifestyle I had been going through.

"Hey there, Lilia!" a voice suddenly said behind me.

I jumped, and looked backwards slightly scared. It was Kyo-san.

"Oh, you're that knight."

"Kyo is my name. Do you not remember?"

"I'm bad at remembering names, and I don't think I've heard it many times either."

"Fair enough. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm practicing my magi-"

As I answered his question, I looked back towards what I was doing and saw around twenty goblins looking intensely at me. I could tell from a single look that they all were goblins I had summoned. This surprised me on the spot, and I looked around to check on the status of everyone else. They were all looking quite worried towards me and that goblin pack, including Yoshirou-kun. I heard a metallic sound coming from behind me, typical of a sword being unsheathed.

"Lilia, be careful!" Kyo shouted from behind me, pushing me aside.

"Wait, Kyo-san!"

The goblins had taken their dagger and were ready to fight.

"You all, wait too!"

"Huh?" Kyo blurted, as the goblins went back to an idle position.

"I-I think I accidentally summoned them all... I was trying to summon a goblin when you surprised me."

"Oh, is that so- Wait what!?" he shouted. "You summoned all of these twenty or so goblins?"

"Y-Yeah."

I did a hand movement to sweep across them, and they disappeared. I got back up from the fall due to having been pushed aside, and noticed that Yoshirou-kun was hurrying to us. When he arrived, he asked if everything was okay, and I made sure he believed me that both Kyo and I were fine.

"I'm sorry for pushing you, Lilia," Kyo apologized.

"It's fine, you wanted to protect me. The intention was good, it just wasn't necessary."

He seemed relieved that I understood, so he apologized again and left. I went back to my training, unable to summon corporeal goblins despite having accidentally summoned so many at once earlier.

Days passed, and my training didn't advance much. I was now capable of consistently summoning incorporeal goblins, but I still couldn't figure out why exactly I wasn't able to summon corporeal goblins. I asked the other people who trained, but none of them were well versed in summoning magic.

The work at the inn was increasingly enjoyable, although always erratic due to the sheer number of people. Many customers recognized me and even talked to me during service, which made the atmosphere more suitable to that of an inn. Everyone in the inn was friendly as well, despite what had happened at first. To my surprise, Olivia didn't tell anyone about me not being human. Kyo also continued to visit every so often to see how I was doing.