Chapter 1: The Explosive Birth of a New Technique

"The birth of a [Holy Knight], hm? ...Now this is troublesome."

A room within the majestic church.

Within that dimly lit space illuminated by candles, a single man rested his chin on his hand and muttered. His tone was warped as if to express his sheer irritation, sounding somewhat displeased.

"In any era, only a [Holy Knight] stands as an equal to a [Saint]. Both the [Black Knight] and the [White Knight] are, in the end, nothing more than superior knights; it is impossible for them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with legends."

Several hundred years had passed since a [Hero] last appeared.

By now, there should have been no Class other than the [Saint] that left its name as a legend—or so it was supposed to be.

The emergence of a [Holy Knight] was a complete bolt from the blue for the man.

"Curses... If things had just stayed as they were, the [Saint] would have fallen right into our hands...!"

Bam!! Giving in to his rage, the man slammed his fist onto the desk, then let out a slow exhale to calm himself down.

Then, with cold, ruthless—snake-like eyes, he spoke.

"I must devise a countermeasure. Well, considering the timing, there are plenty of ways to finish him off..."

Saying that, the man smirked.

◇◆◇

"Your feet have stopped moving...!"

"Wrong, Mei. I stopped them on purpose!"

Voyeur Charge complete! Sexual energy fully loaded!!

Pushing it to the absolute max—!!!

"[Holy Shield]!!!"

I deployed a brilliantly glowing shield in front of me, blocking the path of the beautiful blonde-ponytail girl... Mei, who was raising her wooden sword toward me.

Then, using that radiant effect to conceal myself, I launched a diagonal slash from her blind spot.

"Ugh...!! I surrender... To think you would use a [Holy Knight] technique as a decoy... Truly magnificent, Ars-sama."

"It's a pretty cheap trick, though. Quite honestly."

I forced a wry smile, humbly deflecting Mei's praise.

...No, seriously, I'd really appreciate it if you stopped praising me. It hurts my damn soul.

—Anyway, we were right in the middle of practical combat training using skills and wooden swords, and I had managed to score a clean hit on Mei to clinch the victory.

Given the sheer difference in our levels, there was no way I'd stand a chance in a real sword fight. I always won by relying on cheap, acrobatic parlor tricks, but... this time I think I actually won fairly head-on.

And it was all thanks to mastering a highly practical technique that would completely ruin my life (socially) if anyone ever found out about it.

"Like hell I can tell her I instantaneously jack up my libido through a Voyeur Charge..."

"Did you say something?" Mei asked.

"N-NO, NOTHING AT ALL," I stammered.

I thought to myself.

Extremely unfortunately, sexual desire has its limits.

Sure, it recovers over time, but since there's a hard cap to it, using too much at once runs a high risk of screwing me over when I need to fire off another skill later on.

Which was exactly why I developed a method to replenish my sexual energy mid-battle.

And that method was—

—The Voyeur Charge technique.

It was a technique with a laughably high degree of uncertainty since it only worked against women, but the results were absolutely guaranteed.

To explain the technique simply: it was the ability to observe Mei's bouncing boobs with all my might during a fight and fully load my sexual energy. Honestly... it's the freakin' best!

Moreover, while blatantly staring at a girl's chest in everyday life carried the risk of getting caught, doing it in the middle of a fight gave me the perfect excuse of "focusing on the battle," meaning it was an all-you-can-stare buffet! Man, when I came up with this, I actually laughed out loud at my own sheer genius. I really do have a ton of combat talent, don't I?

—By the way, the downside is that I focus on boobs way too much and end up taking quite a few hits. The bruises on my shoulder and stomach from Mei's strikes are throbbing like crazy, seriously.

...Also, I'm not some shallow guy who only thinks huge boobs are sexy, so my Voyeur Charge technique can be applied to anything as long as I find it arousing.

"Phew... Let's take a quick break."

"Agreed. We've certainly worked up quite a sweat," Mei replied.

Looking a little bashful, Mei put some distance between us.

Huh? Why's she so far away? Wondering about this, I closed the three-person gap down to about one person's worth of space.

But then, Mei immediately shifted back, widening the gap once again.

Eh, wait, does she hate me?

D-Don't tell me she figured out I was staring at her boobs during the fight...!? Crap... This is really, really bad... What's so bad about it, you ask? Bad is bad, just think about it objectively and you'll understand!

"U-Um, Miss Mei? Why are you sitting so far away?"

My heart was pounding in my chest.

When I finally gathered the resolve to ask, Mei blushed slightly, her cheeks damp with sweat, and answered bashfully.

"W-Well... because I probably smell like sweat."

—Bikibikibiki!!

That sound effect echoed through my brain. Naturally, it was the sound of my little guy enthusiastically raising his hand.

Just her sweaty appearance alone was hot enough, but if there was any guy out there who wouldn't get a hard-on seeing a beautiful blonde girl looking embarrassed about it, I'd seriously question their sanity.

By the way, if that whole "I'm probably all sweaty and smelly" comment was actually directed at me, my iron-hard lower abdomen would definitely shrivel up in an instant. ...Wait, that wasn't what she meant, right?

That horrible thought crossed my mind for a split second, but I managed to avert a crisis by convincing myself that contextually, it had to mean something else.

"Sweat from training is proof of your hard work, you know? I wouldn't mind at all whether you smelled or not. Besides, you don't even smell in the first place."

"I-Is that so?"

Also, I was about to say that an incredibly beautiful woman smelling of sweat is honestly a huge turn-on, but she would definitely be creeped out by that, so I held my tongue.

"...Mei-san?"

"Yes, what is it?"

The moment I said I didn't mind, Mei closed the distance between us just a bit.

I had reflexively called out Mei's name, but thinking about it normally, having her this close was a welcome development, so I decided to keep quiet. Plus, I could feel a sense of trust we'd cultivated that had nothing to do with my sexual desires.

"Phew... by the way, how has the interrogation been going since then? Still hasn't said a word, right?"

"Yes. That man has an incredibly high level of loyalty to the Empire... No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that his loyalty was implanted in him."

—After Mei and Reese knocked out the Imperial man who had attacked Saint-sama and me, we successfully managed to capture him.

Even with [Prohibition of Suicide] activated, the interrogation wasn't going well. No matter how much pain he was put through, there was no sign of him spilling any information.

...We've been attacked twice already, after all. There's a chance more assassins will come in quick succession, or taking their failure into account, they might just sit back and watch for a while.

In short, it means we don't know a damn thing.

"What do you mean, his loyalty was implanted?"

"...If it were brainwashing magic, Reese's abilities would have been able to dispel it. However, it had no effect. ...Which means there's a possibility he was subjected to primitive brainwashing that doesn't rely on magic."

"Ugh... That's seriously messed up."

Basically, instead of magic, there was a possibility he had been subjected to prolonged brainwashing through physical and mental pain. Just imagining it made my balls shrivel up...

"Therefore..."

"...It means that more of these brainwashed soldiers might come attacking us from now on, right?"

I answered with a smile to the hesitant Mei.

At that, Mei looked at me with a puzzled expression.

Hah, it was to be expected, and what I have to do isn't going to change moving forward.

"My job is to be Saint-sama's... Luna's bodyguard. All I have to do is turn the tables on anyone who attacks us. It's simple when you think about it like that, right? That's what the training is for. That's what the hard work is for."

"Ars-sama... I will also assist you, however little my power may be."

Mei said that with teary eyes, her emotions on full display. Even though I just said something completely obvious.

Yeah, or rather, I can't even load up my sexual desires without Mei around, so I'll be counting on you too!!

Spinning such sleazy thoughts in my head, I never could have imagined at the time—that Mei and I would be separated a week later.