Shujinkou no Osananajimi ga, Wakiyaku no Ore ni Guigui Kuru [LN] Bahasa Indonesia

 

Chapter 1: Princess Knight Academy

I died and was reincarnated into another world.

The person who summoned me went by the name of Luferia Avalonics.

A woman of peerless beauty, she was supposedly this world’s Queen, and yet—

“...Hey. I believe I ordered you to summon a powerful woman, did I not?”

The Queen crossed her shapely thighs, glaring down at the female priestess beside her.

“I-I... I performed the ritual precisely according to the sacred lore...!” the priestess stammered in terror.

“You fail to deliver results and dare offer me excuses? You incompetent priestess!”

Her fierce, domineering eyes narrowed, slanting upward with mounting fury.

“You shall be purged immediately. As punishment, you will be sent to the internment camp for male trash.”

“N-No! Lady Luferia! Please, I beg of you, have mercy—!”

The priestess pleaded desperately for her life as the guards seized her, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

“A useless wretch has no right to exist. Go let those male dregs tear you apart and hurry up and die.”

The Queen handed down the death sentence with utter indifference, as if swatting away a pest.

Arrogant and ruthless—in that single moment, I caught a glimpse of the true nature lurking beneath the Queen’s breathtaking beauty.

“...The victor claims all,” she declared coldly. “That is the rule of this world.”

As I stood dumbfounded by the bewildering turn of events, the queen addressed me.

"Furthermore, I am the strongest. As such, whatever I desire is permitted," she declared regally.

What she said... was most likely the truth.

Her overwhelmingly majestic demeanor served as ample proof.

"...In other words, this is a world where victory is the only correct answer..." I murmured.

For the moment, I set aside the trivial details about rituals and reincarnation.

"...And just like a dungeon, there is a proper final boss in this world..." I muttered under my breath.

If I could defeat this ultimate queen, surely everything would be mine.

My hunger, my thirst, perhaps even my empty existence—everything might finally be fulfilled.

"Could this be the place... where I can truly start my life over—?" I whispered softly.

All I needed to do was fight and win.

All I needed to do was stand at the pinnacle.

If that is all it takes, even someone like me could... Just as hope began to swell within my chest—

"—You. What is the meaning of that faint smirk?" Queen Luferia demanded.

Sensing the crushing wave of bloodlust directed at me, I instinctively cloaked myself in magic.

"A male possessing an aura...?" the queen muttered in disbelief.

She knitted her brows in suspicion. It seemed magic was referred to as sacred aura here, but—

"—Intriguing. Then perhaps I shall toy with you a little," she declared with a cold smile.

The moment her body flashed with brilliant light, an unseen force slammed me flat against the stone floor on my back.

"In this realm, sacred aura dwells within women alone," the queen proclaimed coldly.

"...I suddenly cannot move... Is this gravity magic...?!" I gasped out.

"Therefore, men possess neither freedom nor rights. You creatures are nothing more than subhuman dregs," she sneered.

No, this isn't magic!

After all, what rested in her grasp was no magic staff, but...

"And this is the majestic glory of a weapon given form through sacred aura—a Regalia," Queen Luferia proclaimed.

She raised a golden blade high, flaunting it before my eyes.

"Ordinarily, a Regalia harbors but a single ability. Yet I alone am different—"

In the blink of an eye, the queen vanished from her throne, reappearing directly beside me as I lay pinned and immobilized upon the floor.

"Ngh! Instant teleportation this time?!" I cried out.

"My power is Almighty Omnipotence," the queen scoffed proudly. "The heavens, the earth, and mortal kind bend entirely to my will."

An instant later, a piercing flare of pain shot through my lower body.

"Deem it a miracle. It is Queen Luferia's own foot that deigns to tread upon you," she sneered down at me.

Wearing a cruel, sadistic sneer, she ground the heel of her boot mercilessly into me.

"How is it? Surely it feels sublime, does it not?" the queen mocked.

"Ngh... ah... as if it ever could...!" I choked out through gritted teeth.

Forcing my gaze upward through the haze of agony, the ostentatious undergarments beneath her skirt caught my eye.

The tight silk hugged her mature curves with daring prominence, leaving little to the imagination—

"—Whose permission did you receive to leer at my sacred person?"

The queen's voice dropped into a low, terrifying growl.

"None shall ever lay a finger upon me, and even directing your vulgar gaze this way warrants the ultimate penalty."

"The ultimate penalty... just for accidentally catching a glimpse...?" I wheezed.

"Trash like you has no right to utter human speech. You will defile my royal ears—take that!"

Agony stole the breath straight from my lungs as she kicked me viciously.

The blinding torment left me with no choice but to grit my teeth and curl tightly into a ball upon the cold floor.

"Heh-heh-heh... Humbling a pathetic male never fails to provide the most delightful amusement—!" she laughed wickedly.

Watching me writhe in pain, the female knights standing guard around the hall chuckled with derisive amusement.

Just as the queen had declared, this world operated under matriarchal supremacy.

Every single one of them truly viewed men as nothing more than garbage.

"...Like hell I will just... lie here and let myself be butchered..." I ground out in defiance.

Perhaps as an aftereffect of the summoning ritual, my usual gear was gone, leaving me unable to cast any of my magic.

—Anything! Just give me a powerful weapon, anything at all!

The instant that desperate plea surged from the depths of my soul, it awakened.

"Hm? Why is this male's body suddenly shining... Could this possibly be... Ngh!" Queen Luferia gasped, leaping backward.

Immediately after she drew back—

Within my palm materialized a jet-black scabbard, just large enough to house a dagger.

"—Heh,haha...Hahahahahahahaha!" she burst into hysterical laughter.

Her initial wariness instantly evaporated, replaced by roaring mockery at such an underwhelming display.

"To think the first Regalia ever wielded by a male would manifest as a non-weapon," she sneered.

"...A male's... My Regalia...?" I breathed in awe.

"What is more, the power dormant within it is Absorption. Exceedingly rare, perhaps, but an utterly useless dud!" the queen jeered.

It was neither sword, nor spear, nor axe. Merely an empty scabbard.

Naturally, I had no clue how to wield it, but right now I had to make do with whatever was at hand—

"—I—I beg Your Majesty's pardon, but executing him now may be premature!" an anxious voice interjected.

Out of nowhere, an elderly man stepped forward to intervene.

"Malris... Does a figurehead bureaucrat presume to order me about?" Queen Luferia hissed frostily.

"F-For a male to manifest a Regalia is utterly unprecedented, Your Majesty!" Malris pleaded.

"And what of it? Do you imagine this weakling could ever transform into someone strong?" she scoffed.

"The possibility exists! If he were to be enrolled in the academy, for instance...!"

For some reason, this diminutive old man was putting his life on the line to save me, yet—

"Aaargh?!" Malris cried out in shock.

The old bureaucrat suddenly gasped in agony—wait, what?! Darkness fell over his face as his vision was violently extinguished!

"Breaking an old withered husk provides little amusement, so I used my ability to snuff out your sight instead," the queen scoffed cruelly.

As the old man collapsed to the ground in agony, every woman in the throne room sneered down at him in cruel amusement.

"I am the strongest and truly invincible. Any who defy me shall—"

"—You're not invincible at all," I cut in firmly.

Realizing that the old man would be slaughtered if this continued, the words tore from my throat before I could stop myself.

"Oh? Such insolence cannot be overlooked. Where, pray tell, is there a single flaw in my perfection?" Queen Luferia asked, narrowing her eyes.

"That is..." I began, stalling for time.

"Nothing more than a bluff, surely? All men are brainless fools, after all," she mocked.

Subjected to such relentless taunting, even my patience finally snapped.

“...Biologically speaking, a woman’s physical peak is in her early twenties,” I pointed out.

At the mention of age, the corner of the queen’s eye gave a sharp twitch.

“If you’re truly omnipotent—if you can really do anything—you would keep your body perpetually young,” I continued.

After all, an aging body is hardly the optimal solution in combat.

Yet she continues to age. Which means she has a finite lifespan.

“Your flaw is obvious,” I told her bluntly. “Even if you’re the strongest—you aren’t immune to death.”

A violent twitch seized her expression, and her face contorted into that of a wrathful demon.

“O-Obvious?!” she shrieked, her voice trembling with indignation. “Are you daring to suggest that I, Luferia, am past my prime?!”

“Judging by your mannerisms, your speech, and that rather thick makeup, your actual age is probably in your thir—”

“Silence, you piece of trash!” she bellowed, cutting me off. “I am still in my twenties!!”

On top of that, an absurdly fragile pride was yet another glaring weakness.

“I have had quite enough of this, you subhuman dreg!” she raged. “Defeating me is an utter impossib—”

Bellowing in fury, the queen surged forward with aggressive strides, closing the distance between us in an instant.

She came so close that our lips were practically brushing against each other.

The heavy scent of perfume washed over me, and her divine breasts pressed firmly against my chest, but...

“...If anyone’s been enduring this, it’s me,” I said flatly.

No matter what results I produced, I was never given the recognition I deserved...

Subjected to the queen’s endless abuse, toyed with by her overwhelming powers like some circus side show...

“...I’m sick and tired of living every single day in misery,” I declared.

I knew full well that fighting her right now was almost certain defeat.

Even so, tackling challenges head-on was the only thing I knew how to do.

“Duel me—Luferia Avalonics!” I challenged.

If you’re a dungeon delver, keep your gears turning.

Find a way to checkmate the enemy standing right in front of you.

If I’m doomed to die again anyway, I’ll at least land one solid blow before I go.

“Are you... daring to challenge me to a duel...?” she stammered.

I raised my scabbard into a fighting stance, but for some reason, my opponent stood frozen in sheer disbelief.

“...How long has it been since anyone challenged me...? And to think a man would pick a fight with me is unheard of...” she muttered to herself.

After closing her eyes in thought for a brief moment, she slowly sheathed her golden sword.

“I have changed my mind,” the queen announced, turning her head. “Hey, Malris. Perhaps I shall grant your wish and enroll him in the academy after all.”

The queen seized me firmly by the collar, dragging me close.

Fixing her gaze upon me, she laid out her reasoning.

“A mere execution is far too merciful a punishment for such insolence,” she declared coldly.

Her twisted eyes gleamed with a sinister, bewitching light, like a child who had just discovered a fascinating new toy.

“At my academy, I shall have you thoroughly tormented and broken, subjecting you to an agony far worse than death—!”

Torment me, break me, make me suffer endlessly.

And only then would she kill me, her sinister smile promised.

Finally, a blinding light enveloped her hand as she branded a strange crest directly onto my throat—

“This is the Curse of the Deserter’s Collar,” she declared. “Flee, and you will die instantly. Fail to break it before your time is up, and you will die just the same.”

“...What are the conditions to dispel it?” I asked.

“Proof of your strength! For starters, try defeating one of my personal knights at the academy!”

Naturally, the final boss wasn’t about to face me right away.

She was telling me that only by piling up victory after victory could I earn the right to challenge the queen herself.

“Should I lose, the entire world shall belong to you,” she whispered silkily. “And naturally, you may do whatever you please with this body of mine as well.”

She ran her hands down her stunning curves in a brazenly provocative display.

“You may hold my head down, claim my virginity, and ravish me to your heart’s content.”

“R-Ravish...?” I stammered, taken aback.

“I am saying I shall bear as many of your children as you desire,” she clarified shamelessly.

“N-No, wait, that’s not really what I—”

When I instinctively recoiled in reluctance, she leaned smoothly in until her lips brushed my ear.

“—Oh? Are you truly so certain?”

Her sweet, warm breath tickled my ear as she purred in a teasing, sultry whisper.

“My sweet cunt is an absolute delicacy, you know? The ecstasy of pumping your seed inside me will surely be otherworldly, wouldn’t you agree?”

She was deliberately trying to stoke arousal in a male who had shown zero interest in ravishing her.

“There is no greater bliss in this world than bedding me. The absolute peak of your life. I promise you a mating so exquisite you will know true heaven. Though, of course, that remains an impossible pipe dream for a piece of scum like you—”

“...I am not a piece of scum,” I cut in firmly.

She had been prattling on in her arrogant monologue, but there was one thing I needed to make abundantly clear.

“My name is Kageruya. Kageruya Noah.”

Hearing that, the corners of the queen’s lips curled upward into an even broader smirk.

“A man’s name is hardly worth knowing... or so I would normally say. But for you, I shall make a special exception,” she sneered.

Whether bedding her would truly bring any satisfaction was beside the point.

In this second chance at life, only two outcomes awaited me.

“Now then, in the name of Queen Luferia, let us decree your grand departure—”

Either I lose and die in solitary despair, or I win and seize everything for myself.

“—Enroll Kageruya Noah into the Princess Knight Academy at once!”

And so, my conquest of the great dungeon known as an alternate world began.

“I wonder if the weakest of men can truly pull off a coup against me, the absolute strongest—?” she purred maliciously.

* * * * *

—Princess Knights.

They were warriors who fought using Regalia—a supernatural power granted exclusively to women.

“And the place where those girls are trained and managed is Princess Knight Academy,” I murmured to myself.

Recalling the explanation I had received beforehand, I looked up at the colossal school gates towering before me.

At this academy, victory was absolute.

Every student was assigned a strict ranking based on their combat record, and—

“The top seven are bestowed the title of the Seven Sacred Swords directly by the Queen,” I recited aloud.

The Seven Sacred Swords supposedly enjoyed immense privileges and shouldered the responsibility of overseeing the entire academy.

“...And within one week, I have to defeat one of those Seven Sacred Swords, huh?” I muttered with a heavy sigh.

That was the trial imposed upon me merely to earn the right to challenge the Queen.

In short, the Queen was the final boss.

Which made the Seven Sacred Swords the mid-bosses barring my path before I could reach her.

“I’m curious about how strong the Seven Sacred Swords are, but first I need to find out more about this Regalia,” I said to myself.

Namely, that pitch-black scabbard I had manifested.

Even if I wanted to battle the Princess Knights, I didn’t have the slightest clue how to use it.

According to the Queen, it harbored an utter dud of an ability called 【Absorption】, but—

“...I guess my best bet is to keep a low profile, blend into student life, and make preparations behind the scenes.”

I was the only male student here. Living among them was bound to be miserable, but still...

I popped open the collar button of my uniform and took a single, deep breath.

Steeling my resolve with a quiet Alright, I stepped through the school gates.

“Wait, what in the world is that...? A squad of armed girls? Are they charging right toward me?” I blurted out.

I braced myself, wondering if the Queen had already dispatched assassins after me on my very first day, but—

“Dammit—that woman caught up to us already—?! ...Wait, above us?!”

The instant one of the girls in the squad clicked her tongue—

A meteorite came hurtling down from the sky—no, wait, was that a girl falling?!

The earth shook violently, sending sparks and spring petals swirling through the air.

“—Did you truly believe I would allow rule-breakers to flee beyond the academy grounds?”

A stern, commanding voice thundered from within the blazing crater.

“—Much less imagine that One-Star students could ever outwit a Seven-Star such as myself.”

She wore a lavish, custom-tailored uniform that marked her at a glance as an exceptional student.

Parting the flames with her shoulders, a gallant, striking beauty emerged into view.

Her long, reddish-blonde hair fluttered gallantly behind her.

“Verg Moldraid, Head of Public Morals, has arrived—!”

Her eyes burned with unyielding determination.

Blessed with an imposing stature, she stood remarkably tall.

Her entire body was thoroughly honed, her muscular thighs easily more than twice as thick as mine.

Her chest in particular was an astounding sight... truly a dreadnought-class pair of colossal breasts!

“You’re as relentless as a damn watchdog! But with these numbers, even against one of the Seven Sacred Swords, we can—!” one of the girls shouted defiantly.

Realizing there was no escape, the female students dropped into combat stances.

“—A Seven Sacred Sword—? That’s one of the Queen’s direct knights...?” I murmured in disbelief.

The instant my breath caught in shock, attacks converged upon the girl who called herself Verg from every direction at once.

“Taste the power of my Regalia, Inferno Karma: Abyssal Hellfire—savor it with your very flesh!” Verg proclaimed.

With that, the Seven Sacred Sword’s body radiated brilliance, and a crimson greatsword materialized in her hands.

“Eight Hells First Art: Sanjiva!”

The instant she swung the greatsword, the entire world erupted into flames.

In a single stroke, she annihilated the entire squad of girls who had challenged her.

The sheer force blew away the surrounding trees and buildings, transforming the entire landscape into a raging sea of fire.

“—Far too weak. Even for first-years, your training is woefully inadequate,” Verg muttered coldly.

She looked down with chilling disdain at the female students sprawled across the scorched earth at her feet.

“Ugh... Ahh, we surrender... Please, have mercy...!”

The only student who retained consciousness crawled along the dirt, begging for mercy, but—

“Cease your weeping, woman—!”

At the sight of the vanquished girl’s tears, the Seven Sacred Sword abruptly flew into a towering rage.

“Tears are the badge of the vanquished! If you were born a woman, you must never weep before an audience!”

Declaring she would beat some discipline back into her, Verg hurled the girl straight into the sky, and—

“A Princess Knight must stand proud, valiant, and ever honorable!”

D-did she just smash her with a full-force lariat?!

Sent flying, the student slammed violently into the school gate and collapsed, not twitching in the slightest.

“Th-this is supposed to be... a mid-boss...?” I choked out.

Every single blow packs instant-kill lethality. Isn’t she supposed to be the final boss?!

Her sheer volume of magic—or what this world called Sacred Aura—was on an entirely different plane from my own.

“Clearing this in just one week... is that even humanly possible...?” I stammered.

If I had to compare her to a monster—she was a dragon.

An apex species lurking within an SSS-rank dungeon, boasting cataclysmic flames and an overwhelmingly powerful body.

“—You must be the new student I have heard about, Kageruya Noah.”

Having smoothed out her rumpled uniform and adjusted her sharp tone, the Seven Sacred Sword dismissed her Regalia and walked over to me.

“I am Verg Moldraid, a second-year student of Princess Knight Academy.”

Facing her directly at point-blank range, one thought hit me all over again.

—She’s just ridiculously huge!

Not only was she tall enough that I had to crane my neck, but her thighs and rear were absurdly thick and voluptuous.

Most overwhelming of all was her hyper-colossal bust—no joke, she was packing the volume of two full watermelons.

“...That body is pure poison for the eyes... And she’s the one tasked with enforcing public morals...?” I muttered under my breath.

While boasting magnificent muscular definition, her physique remained steeped in luscious, feminine curves.

Her face was top-tier as well... To put it bluntly, her entire being was an assault of pure eroticism.

It was by no means the kind of body a girl in her teens had any right to possess.

“Verg Moldraid... You’re off the charts in way too many ways...” I murmured.

“—Did you just address me without an honorific?” she demanded.

Having inadvertently muttered that aloud, I was pinned by her razor-sharp glare.

“One must show proper deference to their superiors. As a member of the Seven Sacred Swords, you will address me with due respect.”

“...Demand respect the second we meet, huh? What, should I call you Senior Verg?” I asked.

“Precisely. As a student of this academy, you are expected to uphold etiquette and dignity,” she replied crisply.

Dead serious to a fault. Just a brief exchange was enough to make that painfully obvious.

Getting into a dispute over titles and manners would be completely pointless.

Playing along, if only on the surface, is probably my safest bet here...

"...Senior Verg it is, then," I said. "By the way, is the Head of Public Morals really allowed to throw around this kind of violence?"

I cast a brief glance toward the thoroughly battered female students strewn across the ground.

"It is for the maintenance of public order," she replied without a shred of hesitation. "A negligible amount of collateral damage is inevitable."

Negligible...? You literally incinerated the entire surrounding area down to scorched earth!

She seemed to be the type who prided herself on upright decorum, yet settled every dispute in the end with pure, unbridled brute force.

"Now that we have exchanged greetings, let me make one thing crystal clear—I am your enemy."

I knew that already. The bloodlust rolling off her had been on full display from the very beginning.

"I am told you boldly proclaimed that you would stand at the pinnacle of the world and impregnate Her Majesty."

"Th-the whole impregnation thing was said by the Queen, not m—"

"Excuses are unsightly!" she barked, cutting me off. "This is precisely why I detest men!"

Her murderous aura spiked as she glared down at me with unadulterated disgust.

"School Regulations, Article Three, Section Seven: 'Enrolled students must wear their uniforms in a proper and tidy manner.'"

She pointed an accusing finger at my unbuttoned uniform shirt.

"It is strictly mandated that violators of school regulations be punished—"

The instant the words left her lips, blazing flames erupted around her right fist.

"—Should you happen to perish under my instruction, it is simply your own fault for being so weak, is it not?"

Apparently, the special privileges granted to the Seven Sacred Swords extended even to murder.

"...Are you out of your mind?! The students, this whole damn school—everything about this place is unhinged!" I shouted.

Her heavy, wide haymaker came barreling toward me, but I slipped past it by a hair's breadth.

"Ngh—?! You dodged my strike?! A subhuman man like you?!" she gasped in utter disbelief.

That spine-chilling strike fully flipped the switch inside me, awakening the instincts of a seasoned labyrinth conqueror.

"This man... The air about him is completely different from a moment ago...!"

I was far too ill-prepared to trade blows with one of the Seven Sacred Swords.

"—Enemy ability is fire—cloaked around her body for combined offense and defense—touching her anywhere means severe burns—"

Still, if running away wasn't an option, my only choice was to fight right here.

"Even so, she must have vulnerable spots. For instance... her eyes!"

The eyeballs were organs composed almost entirely of water. If she cloaked them in fire, the moisture would instantly evaporate and blind her.

Kicking up a shower of dirt from the ground to create a makeshift smokescreen, I drove a knifehand strike straight toward her eyes.

"Targeting a vital spot from a blind angle... How utterly despicable!" she roared.

In response, towering infernos erupted not just from her right fist, but from all four of her limbs.

"—Fueled by pure rage, she unconsciously amplified her ability—?!"

The ground melted into a bubbling slurry beneath the ferocious heat, causing both of her feet to sink into the earth.

That sudden drop erased the height difference between us, causing my aimed eye-strike to slash harmlessly through empty air.

Worse yet, I couldn't arrest my forward momentum, slamming right into her—

""—?!""

Before either of us could react, our lips were pressed firmly together.

Wh-why the hell did it turn out like this?!

A supple, pillowy warmth met my lips, accompanied by the sweet breath of a woman brushing past my nose.

"...Mmh... ngh... hah!"

Her face flushed bright crimson, Verg... Senior Verg wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and shrieked.

"T-T-To kiss the enemy?! Just what on earth do you think you are doing?!"

"I-I didn't do it on purpose! It was an accident—"

"An accident?!" she screamed. "After stealing my first kiss... you shameless fiend!"

Driven purely by emotional fury, she lunged forward to grab me by the collar.

Reflexively, I threw both hands forward to shove her back—and felt my palms sink right into two massive, yielding mounds.

"Ahhn...♡"

Did I just... g-grope her massive breasts with all my might?!

A sweet, coquettish cry escaped her, completely at odds with her stern, upright demeanor.

"Nggghhh—! Just how far do you intend to mock my chivalry—?!"

Getting momentarily mesmerized by the sublime softness transmitted through my fingertips proved to be a fatal mistake.

Without missing a beat, she slammed her knee ruthlessly into my solar plexus.

"...Gahh!"

The breath was knocked completely out of my lungs, nearly forcing me to my knees.

"After heaping all these shameless indignities upon me—just how do you plan to take responsibility?"

Her brows knitted fiercely as she glared down at me, demanding an answer.

T-Take responsibility? Even if she asked me that, in moments like this, a guy who screwed up would usually—

"...I guess he'd say 'I'll marry you,' but there's no way in hell I could ever..." I mumbled.

"M-M-Marry?!"

Wh-what kind of superhuman ears does she have?! She actually heard that?!

"You dare suggest I betray Her Majesty and become your woman...?!"

Her face flushed an even deeper shade of scarlet, her shoulders trembling with indignity.

"Never in my life have I suffered such blatant provocation—!"

A stupendous torrent of crimson flame erupted from her right fist.

"There is only one way for you to take responsibility—atone with your life!" she bellowed.

It was a wide, telegraphed swing, but with my solar plexus thoroughly shattered, dodging was completely impossible.

"...I have no choice but to take it... In that case...!"

After offering what little resistance I could, her superheated fist blasted straight into my abdomen.

My body was hurled through the sky like a shooting star.

I smashed clean through multiple buildings and tumbled across the dirt over and over—before finally grinding to a halt.

"Gah...! At the eleventh hour... I managed to manifest... my Regalia...!"

Along with a mouthful of vomited blood, a black scabbard tumbled out from beneath my shirt.

Since my ability was supposedly 【Absorption】, I had wedged it against my abdomen right before the blow landed.

"It acted as a shield to cushion the physical impact of her punch, but..."

Because I had cloaked it in magic power, I managed to avoid an instantly fatal wound.

Even so, my uniform had been incinerated, leaving my stomach horribly burned.

—I failed to absorb the flames that mattered most?!

Going by my hypothesis, 【Absorption】 was supposed to let me take an opponent's ability and make it my own...

"...Damn it... My consciousness is fading... My thoughts are..."

If I blacked out here, she would finish me off in the blink of an eye.

If I had comrades, they might have come to my aid, but I had always been alone—

"—No. You are not alone any longer."

Just as I was bitterly swallowing my own inadequacy, wondering if this was truly checkmate—

A silver-haired woman appeared before me, accompanied by a voice as cold as ice.

Her attire suggested she was an instructor, and held firmly in her right hand was a silver sword...

"Even if every woman in the world becomes your enemy, I alone will stand by your side."

With a single swing of her sword, the residual flames around us froze solid in an instant.

A cool hand gently cupped my cheek, and she drew me into a tender embrace.

"Awaken, brave reincarnator—come, it is time for a continue."

* * * * *

When I peeled my heavy eyelids open, an unfamiliar white ceiling came into view.

"—You are in the academy infirmary," a composed voice stated. "There are no enemies here, so please rest easy."

The sudden voice jolted my consciousness wide awake.

I hastily pushed my upper body up from the bed as the owner of the voice approached, her heels clicking against the floor.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the woman said. "I am Zeze, the school nurse."

Her silver hair swayed as she offered a deep bow, fixing me with a gaze from her sharp, almond eyes.

"Um... I'm Kageruya Noah," I introduced myself hesitantly.

"Yes. I am well aware," she replied smoothly.

She was a breathtaking beauty with a cool composure, appearing to be in her early twenties.

Yet her expression was as blank as a porcelain doll's, and her tone remained completely flat.

Beneath her white lab coat she wore form-fitting attire, and the black stockings hugging her legs possessed a strangely sensual allure.

"...Did you carry me to the infirmary, Nurse Zeze?" I asked.

I had only just been glared down earlier about my language toward superiors.

Not to mention, this woman was clearly older than me and, in all likelihood, my savior.

I phrased the question with as much deference as I could muster.

"Affirmative," she stated. "Left as you were, the Hellfire Lord likely would have killed you."

"The Hellfire Lord?" I repeated.

"It is the epithet borne by Verg Moldraid," she answered calmly.

A rather ominous title, but it suited that terrifying senior to a tee.

"For now, I have administered first aid," Nurse Zeze added.

Looking down, I noticed even my uniform had been swapped out for a brand-new one.

Of course I was grateful, but people's kindness never came without an underlying reason.

"Did you save me because... you want to overthrow the queen as well, Nurse Zeze?" I asked.

When I asked her point-blank, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"...You are quick on the uptake," she remarked with a faint nod. "It appears high expectations are warranted."

She commended me, but any basic reasoning would have led to the same conclusion.

After all, the only person who would save an enemy of the queen was someone who opposed the queen herself.

"—I am here as your 'collaborator,'" she declared.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Nurse Zeze began to unpack the background of the situation.

"My old acquaintance Malris instructed me to support you in every conceivable way," she explained.

"Malris... You mean that old man who proposed sending me to the academy...?" I asked.

"Correct. For the record, he was also the one who summoned you," she answered.

"Huh? But the queen specifically wanted a powerful woman—"

"He tampered with the summoning ritual beforehand, calling forth the polar opposite: a powerful man," she cut in.

Then why me...? I wondered, but held my tongue rather than interrupting.

"A world where men are unreasonably oppressed—changing that reality is Malris's lifelong wish," she said.

In other words, he wanted me to overthrow that tyrannical queen.

That was why he had pushed for my enrollment here, buying me a stay of execution.

"Change the world...? You're putting way too much faith in me..." I mumbled, unable to hide my dismay.

"And yet, I understand you successfully manifested a Regalia despite being male," Zeze pointed out.

"Though the queen mocked it as a total dud..." I muttered.

In truth, I hadn't even been able to absorb the Hellfire Lord's flames.

"The 【Absorption】 ability allows you to assimilate an opponent's powers, however—" Nurse Zeze began.

She proceeded to explain the critical flaws that led people to treat it as a dud.

"First, it is incapable of absorbing the abilities of opponents overwhelmingly stronger than yourself," she said.

To put it simply, an adult's foot could never squeeze into a child's shoe.

My scabbard was child-sized, while the Hellfire Lord's flames were adult-sized, apparently.

"Second, any absorbed ability will eventually become unusable as time passes," she continued.

Even if I managed to absorb an ability, it would never permanently be mine.

"However, the single greatest drawback of 【Absorption】 is..." Nurse Zeze let her words hang in the air.

When she revealed the third flaw, I could only nod in grim agreement.

No wonder they wrote it off as a total dud...

"—Enough about its flaws for the moment. Would you mind allowing me to inspect your Regalia?" she requested.

Whether she was truly an ally remained to be seen, but at the very least, she wasn't an enemy.

Right now I needed information above all else, so I produced the scabbard in question, but...

"Is something the matter? You bear a rather puzzled expression," Zeze noted.

"...It kind of looks like... it's gotten bigger than before," I muttered.

Where it once could only fit a fruit knife, it was now large enough to hold a hunting knife.

"Why did it suddenly change...? Um, what exactly is a Regalia in the first place...?" I asked.

"It is a weapon formed by the materialization of its wielder's aura," she explained.

That matched the explanation the queen had given me. Which meant—

"If aura is fundamentally the same as magical power, then its true nature should be life energy..." I reasoned aloud.

In other words, this scabbard was the physical manifestation of my own lifeforce.

"Did the scabbard grow because... my lifeforce increased?" I ventured.

But what could have possibly triggered such a sudden spike in my lifeforce—ah.

"Judging from that look on your face, something comes to mind?" Zeze inquired.

Reassuring me that her lips were sealed as my collaborator, she prompted me to continue.

"...Well, the truth is, just a little while ago, I... had my first kiss," I stammered.

"A kiss? With whom, pray tell?" Zeze asked.

"...With the Hellfire Lord," I confessed.

"Come again—?" Nurse Zeze gasped.

Nurse Zeze was struck utterly speechless. Even through her poker face, her absolute shock was unmistakable.

"I-It was an accident, all right?!" I pleaded defensively. "It's not like I wanted to do it!"

While I scrambled to make excuses, the nurse sank into deep thought.

"—Could it be that by developing as a male, your Regalia develops as well?" she murmured.

She formulated a working hypothesis for why the scabbard had expanded.

"The source of a Regalia is lifeforce. And lifeforce represents the fundamental potency of a living organism," she explained.

Physical strength, intellect, wealth, authority, and so forth.

Though there were countless forms of power a living organism could possess...

"However, in the case of a male, I believe the single most critical factor is 'sexual virility,'" Zeze stated clinically.

For any animal—especially males of the species—the ultimate biological imperative was to leave behind as many offspring as possible.

And a kiss was the very first step toward mating and reproduction.

Having experienced that, I shed a layer of boyhood and matured as a man, causing my Regalia to grow in turn... Was that what she meant?

"Then... what would developing further as a male entail...?" I asked.

"Becoming the sort of man capable of building a harem, naturally," she replied calmly.

Possessing the sexual virility to impregnate women in abundance.

Breaking them body and soul until they fell, siring children with as many of them as possible.

Well, there was certainly no way a man capable of assembling a harem would possess weak lifeforce.

"So if I have tons of sex and grow stronger as a man, my Regalia will grow stronger too..." I muttered, trying to process the concept.

I vaguely understood the underlying logic, but even so...

It wasn't like there was anyone willing to sleep with me in the first place—

"Finding a partner is simple," Zeze said without missing a beat. "You need only defeat them in battle. And then, ravish them."

"The victor claims all"—such was the undisputed rule of this other world.

"Allow me to ask frankly: what prior experience do you have with women, Kageruya?" Nurse Zeze questioned.

Seeing the grimace on my face, she posed the question as though she had already deduced the answer.

"None... whatsoever..." I admitted, shrinking back.

"In other words, you are a virgin," she concluded flatly.

Having my secret nailed so bluntly, I averted my gaze in pure mortification.

“Then as a trial run, shall we engage in intercourse?” she asked calmly.

I didn't even have any friends to begin with.

Losing my virginity was supposed to be a lifelong impossibility... Wait, what did she just say?!

“As your collaborator, it is my duty to claim your deflowering,” Zeze stated in the exact same even tone.

With that, the nurse climbed atop the examination bed and straddled me.

“In this world, one does not choose their means when it comes to victory.”

Her gaze made it clear: if it meant felling the Queen, she was prepared to do anything.

“B-But that doesn't mean you have to go... this... far...” I stammered.

Managing to lift my head slightly, my eyes were met with a panoramic view straight up her tight pencil skirt.

“Do the garter stockings meet your satisfaction?”

Beneath the skirt were luxurious panties adorned with delicate embroidery.

Right along the center of the crotch, a distinct, lovely crease pressed visibly against the fabric.

“Um, Miss Zeze, shouldn't we calm down and think this—mmph?!”

Her upper body leaned down, sealing my lips shut with a kiss.

“Mnh... ah... chuh... mm...♡”

Her tongue slid inside, intertwining with mine like an intoxicating serpent.

Our saliva mingled together, producing a wet, lewd squelch that echoed in the quiet room.

“...Regarding your operational directive from here on...”

Whispering softly through brief pauses in our suffocating kiss, she spoke with startling composure.

“...Your initial objective... is to seize the apex of your class...”

Her voluptuous, perfectly contoured bust squished firmly against my chest.

“...You will understand the rationale soon enough, but as a prerequisite...”

Her hips began to grind slowly against mine, rolling back and forth in an agonizingly sweet cadence.

The friction sent an electric, numbing jolt of pleasure shooting straight through my lower half.

“If you cannot even stand atop your own classroom, defeating the Seven Sacred Swords will remain an absolute impossibility.”

“S-So you're saying I need to grind levels in class first—hngh?!”

A cool, slender hand reached down, brushing against my bulge through the fabric of my trousers.

“You claimed to be unaccustomed to women... yet you are already rock hard.”

Brushing her lips against mine once more, she delivered her diagnosis.

“It appears urgent treatment is required here...”

Miss Zeze shifted from her straddling perch to lie beside me, pressing herself snugly against my side.

My upper arm was enveloped in her deep cleavage, while her stocking-clad legs tangled intimately with mine.

Every single inch of her was impossibly soft and fragrant.

The only trouble was that I was completely immobilized—

“...Pardon me, then.”

Her right hand slipped smoothly past my waistband, sliding into my underwear.

Her supple fingers wrapped directly around my throbbing member—

“Length, girth, and rigidity—all within optimal parameters. You possess an exceptionally fine specimen, far beyond initial estimates.”

A woman of otherworldly beauty was whispering clinical praises directly into my ear while caressing my bare shaft.

“...Ngh...!”

“Oh? Do you enjoy having your frenulum teased? Your legs are trembling, you know.”

Her masterful fingerwork robbed me of the ability to form words.

“If your hands feel unoccupied, you may touch my body wherever you please... Though I suppose telling a virgin to touch freely might only leave you at a loss.”

Taking my right hand in hers, she guided my palm around to rest upon her rear.

“Whether you choose to caress it relentlessly or knead it roughly, please suit yourself.”

Concealed beneath that doctor's coat was a luscious, generously curved bottom built for childbearing.

The velvet plumpness felt so intoxicating that just gripping it threatened to push me over the edge.

“An earnest handjob... would likely prove too overwhelming for you right now, so I shall stroke you gently for our first session.”

Forming a snug ring with two fingers, she pumped her hand slowly up and down.

“Catching the flared rim of the coronal ridge like this... Yes, I can tell. It is highly effective, isn't it?”

Only Miss Zeze’s hushed, deadpan voice and the wet, squishing friction of her stroking broke the quiet air.

“I would be more than happy to grant you relief with my hand like this, however—”

Bringing her lips even closer, she breathed into my ear.

“...Since we are already here, would you care to sample my womanhood instead?”

She matter-of-factly revealed that she had been masturbating with her free hand to prime herself with moisture.

“Insertion would proceed exceptionally smoothly at this moment. However, I am told my anatomy constitutes a prized treasure... The constriction may prove so intense that you might not last very long.”

“Just imagine it,” she urged softly.

“Parting that tight, unyielding passage with your throbbing shaft, savoring the drenched folds, and finally driving your hips forward to release your seed deep within... I assure you, it feels exquisite.”

The vivid image she painted made my throat go dry, and I swallowed hard.

Yet even with such blatant temptation laid bare before me...

Seeing a virgin paralyzed by hesitation, Miss Zeze spoke with her usual serene clinical tone.

“...It is only natural to feel anxious during your first sexual encounter.”

Beneath that icy exterior, however, resided an unexpected warmth that seemed to embrace me entirely—

“Even if you erupt the instant you enter me, or soften midway through, please do not concern yourself in the slightest.”

As her hand stroked me with meticulous rhythm, she blew a soft puff of warm air against my ear.

“Anxiety, fear, impatience—let yourself cast them all out without reservation.”

Shivering beneath the sheer bliss, all tension seeped from my limbs.

“...I shall accept every single part of you.”

It was the sweetest confession anyone had ever spoken to me in my entire life.

The instant those words caressed my ears, my lower half surged past the point of no return.

With an explosive spurt, a thick torrent of white erupted forcefully into her palm.

“Ah. You have released... No, there is no problem at all.”

She nodded reassuringly, assuring me that holding back was completely unnecessary.

“Since we have begun, let us drain every last drop. Let us entwine our tongues again... mnh... I shall stroke you thoroughly while we cuddle and share a deep kiss...”

Complete with supreme aftercare, she milked away every lingering droplet from the very core of my channel.

“Initial treatment concluded successfully. I am delighted to see your satisfaction—”

Enveloped in an otherworldly euphoria that felt like ascending to the heavens, I could only lie there trembling.

“...That shall suffice for today. The warning chime will sound shortly.”

Even after sharing such intimacy, her tranquil expression had not shifted by a millimeter.

Even if it was all to strengthen my Regalia, why was she treating me with such profound kindness?

Just what reason drove her to such lengths to see the Queen defeated?

“...Um, Miss Zeze, there's something I wanted to ask...”

“We are out of time. Please prepare yourself with haste.”

Her crisp, decisive refusal cut off my question before it could leave my tongue.

“Tardiness violates school regulations. It would merely offer the Hellfire Lord an excuse to enact punishment.”

A vision of that furious, towering upperclassman charging forward to pulverize me flashed through my mind.

If I break another rule... she'll definitely kill me this time!

Fearing for my life, I scrambled to change out of my soiled undergarments in a panic—

“Regrettably, the main act must be postponed. Please exercise patience for a short while.”

By way of consolation, Miss Zeze leaned close, whispering in my ear once more.

“Next time... I promise to grant you the most exquisitely pleasurable deflowering imaginable.”

* * * * *

“—The Hellfire Lord is exceptionally strict regarding discipline. Be prepared to be executed if you are even a moment late.”

Just before leaving the infirmary, Miss Zeze had given me that chilling warning.

Dying just for being late has to be an exaggeration... I had thought, but apparently she was deadly serious.

“...H-Hah... somehow, I barely made it...!” I wheezed.

Shoulders heaving as I drew ragged breaths, I finally reached the front of the classroom.

Relieved that I had avoided being late, I gently slid open the door.

“—We shall now begin homeroom,” announced the teacher.

Standing behind the lectern, a young female teacher addressed the room at that precise second.

“First, regarding the matter of that male transfer student—”

Pushing her spectacles up the bridge of her nose with a finger, she pressed on, utterly oblivious to my presence.

Not that I wanted to draw attention to myself, but... is my presence really that faint?

“We have breaking news! It appears our Head of Public Morals has officially put him down!”

“What wonderful news, isn't it?” She beamed, prompting the students to applaud.

“Even though you've only just enrolled, you should all follow the example set by the great Seven Sacred Swords and—”

“I'm still alive, you know,” I interjected.

Only when I spoke did the teacher finally notice me. Isn't her reaction time a little too slow?

“T-T-T-Transfer student?!” she shrieked. “Weren't you executed?!”

It wasn't just the teacher; the entire classroom erupted into a loud murmur of shock.

Apparently, every single girl in the room had genuinely believed I was dead.

“For a first-year—let alone a man—to fight one of the Seven Sacred Swords and emerge unscathed is impossi—” the teacher stammered in disbelief.

Here, too, everyone looked at me like I was some kind of freak. What awful treatment.

“Q-Quickly now! Transfer student, introduce yourself at once!” she snapped, trying to regain her composure.

Commanded in a hurried fluster, I stepped up onto the platform.

It was a wide, rectangular lecture hall where two-person desks were arranged in stepped tiers.

“Er...” I began.

Roughly thirty classmates fixed their gazes on me all at once.

Every single look was laden with suspicion, disdain, and undisguised malice.

Miss Zeze might have been an exception, but still.

Just as I had feared, from teachers to students—every single woman at this academy is my enemy.

“...I'm Kageruya Noah. It's a pleasure to meet you,” I said.

I kept it brief and inoffensive, making sure not to provoke anyone unnecessarily.

Instructed to take an empty seat in the back, I was making my way down the aisle when—

“...So that's the guy who picked a fight with Her Majesty?” 

“...I heard he was admitted under a special exemption.” 

“...To think he survived an encounter with the Hellfire Lord...” 

“...He's definitely no ordinary man.” 

“...Shh! He's coming this way!”

Their hushed whispers drifted straight into my ears.

Just as expected, this place was going to be intensely uncomfortable. Maybe I'll just sleep through every break...

“—Uuuugh. This is the ab-so-lute worst!” a sharp voice snapped.

The female student sitting at what was supposed to be my adjacent desk kicked her leg up onto the tabletop with forceful arrogance.

The buzzing chatter across the classroom instantly died into dead silence.

“It's bad enough this classroom is crawling with worthless small fry, but now I gotta smell a disgusting male stench too?” she sneered.

She was a stunning beauty with long, reddish-brown hair styled in a high side-ponytail.

She sported piercings in her ears, polished manicure on her nails, and a thoroughly spiteful smirk in her slanting eyes.

She radiated pure, bratty insolence... the textbook definition of a vicious school bully.

“You're all making way too big a deal over some subhuman dreg.” She clicked her tongue.

At her every single gesture, the surrounding students flinched with frightened expressions.

Judging by the atmosphere, she was unmistakably the reigning despot of this classroom.

“—Can't really help it, Urz!” piped up a cheerful, tomboyish voice.

“—Indeed. Which class one ends up assigned to is purely a matter of luck,” agreed another girl with silky composure.

Apparently, this delinquent girl went by the name of Urz.

Her two attractive lackeys—a tanned, tomboyish girl and an easygoing girl with gentle, drooping eyes—nodded along in agreement.

“...Could you please move your leg off my desk?” I asked politely.

She was completely barring my way, making it impossible to sit down.

Even if we were the same age, it was our very first exchange, so I made an effort to ask courteously, but—

“Haaah?! A male actually thinks he can tell me what to do?” she barked.

Such courtesy was completely wasted on her, as she glared back with mocking contempt.

With that, she brought her slender, shapely leg slamming back down onto the desk.

With her skirt shortened far more than anyone else's, her red thong was exposed in plain view.

The razor-thin sliver of fabric cut deep into her vertical cleft, leaving her smooth, hairless mound swelling prominently in bold relief.

“...Aren't you embarrassed flaunting that in public...?” I muttered under my breath.

Looking at the string panties she displayed with such brazen shamelessness, an involuntary sigh slipped out of me.

I already understood that forging a friendly relationship was out of the question.

Still, couldn't she do something about an outfit practically tailored to provoke a guy's lust?

“—Heh, daring to talk back to me, are you?” she sneered.

Apparently, she took my reaction as outright defiance against her authority.

Urz shoved herself to her feet and stalked right up into my personal space.

“I'll introduce myself. I'm Urz. The undisputed top dog of this class, and—”

Despite her blatantly wicked attitude, was she actually going to introduce herself properly?

Maybe she's surprisingly decent after all... The exact instant that naive thought crossed my mind—

Ptooey! She spat a glob of saliva square into my face.

“Dumbass! Who told you to drop your guard, you moron?!” She laughed derisively.

Ghk... Right. It was my own fault for expecting common decency from someone here.

I wiped away the spit—which smelled curiously like strawberries—with the back of my hand.

“Hey, Sandy, Kurud. If I recall, our first period today is—”

“—Rank Matches!” Sandy yelled enthusiastically. “—Indeed it is~” Kurud affirmed with a slow, silky lilt.

Hearing her underlings’ replies, Urz broke into a vicious grin.

“I just loooove guys who are fun to bully—”

Fixing her sadistic eyes on mine as we stood face-to-face, she made her wicked promise.

“—Don't you worry, little lonely boy. I'll make sure to play with you lots and lots.”

The tumultuous homeroom finally came to an end.

For our very first lesson, the facility we relocated to was—

“—Tch. I wanted to use the Grand Colosseum's Main Stage, but we're stuck in the Sub-Stage Training Arena today?”

Having changed into her combat uniform, Urz clicked her tongue in irritation.

This was a circular arena enclosed by thick, towering walls.

All of us had assembled at its center, but...

“...Everyone's dressed in the exact same outfit. I suppose this is normal here, but...” I murmured.

The combat uniforms were made of skin-tight material and left an excessive amount of skin exposed.

Since they were worn directly over bare skin, every single curve and contour of their bodies was outlined in sharp definition.

The prominent shapes of my female classmates’ nipples and intimate clefts were plainly visible... I was at a complete loss for where to look.

“—Now then, allow me to explain the Rank Matches once more,” the teacher announced to the class.

Pushing up her glasses by the bridge with a nervous finger, our homeroom teacher began explaining the structure of the class.

“First and foremost, here at Princess Knight Academy, students are awarded ‘stars’ based on their combat records,” she stated.

According to her, the number of stars denoted one's “rank” within the academy.

“The lowest rank is One-Star, while the highest is Seven-Star. Naturally, the vast majority of first-years fall into the former category, but...”

The teacher cast a hesitant, sidelong glance toward Urz.

“—Hmph. In a pathetic excuse for a class like this, it's only natural that I'd be promoted,” Urz scoffed, tossing her hair with a sneer.

Emblazoned across the chest of her combat suit were two stars.

Meanwhile, I possessed a single star. Rock bottom.

“Your treatment at the academy as well as your career prospects after graduation will vary drastically according to your rank, which brings us to—”

So our lessons are all about slaughtering each other... is that it?

It was a completely twisted school philosophy, to be sure, but a ruthless meritocracy where victory reigned supreme was something I actually welcomed.

“However, no one loses their life during Rank Matches,” the teacher interjected, cutting off that line of thought.

Almost as if reading my mind, our homeroom teacher shook her head.

“A special barrier has been erected over this field, you see—”

In an instant, the entire surrounding area was enveloped in a brilliant veil of light.

“With this, no matter what fatal injury you might sustain, you will make a full recovery the moment you step outside the field.”

Even if you lost your limbs, they would return to normal, and even if you died, you would supposedly be revived on the spot.

...Isn't that setting a little too convenient?

I wanted to inspect the barrier more thoroughly, but there was simply no time for that right now.

“However, Rank Matches may only be conducted against someone of equal rank, or someone one rank above you,” the teacher explained.

Hold on. You can only fight people close to your own rank?

“This measure exists to prevent completely one-sided slaughters—”

The Hellfire Lord, one of the Seven Sacred Swords who essentially served as this world's mid-boss, held the rank of Seven-Star.

Which meant that in order to challenge her formally...

“...I have to reach Seven-Star, or Six-Star at the very least?” I murmured under my breath.

Miss Zeze had told me to “first seize the apex of your class.”

There was a proper order to things. The true meaning behind her words was finally beginning to—

“Ugh, aren't we done explaining the rules yet? This is such a drag!” Urz whined, cutting in loudly.

At Urz's insolent outburst, the teacher's shoulders jerked with a start before she forced a strained, timid smile.

She clearly appeared to be a novice instructor, incapable of scolding a student even when pushed around like this.

“W-Well then, let us proceed directly to the Rank Matches...” the teacher stammered.

“The first match is already decided,” Urz announced. “It's gonna be me and the transfer student.”

Flipping her hair back with an air of smug superiority, Urz strutted right up to me.

“—I'm gonna beat you down and make you my personal slave.”

Her massive breasts jiggled with a heavy bounce as she delivered her boastful proclamation.

“Make me your slave... I see. So that's how you crowned yourself boss of the classroom,” I remarked.

“Might makes right,” Urz scoffed. “The victor can do whatever she pleases with the loser.”

Urz glanced over her shoulder at our classmates, practically daring them to disagree.

The entire class nodded in terrified unison, though a few among them looked close to tears...

“...You must be tormenting them pretty relentlessly,” I muttered.

“Don't be so dramatic. I'm just showing them a little affection to kill time,” she replied with an arrogant smirk.

Giggling maliciously, she tilted her chin up to peer straight into my eyes from below.

“You never actually fought the Hellfire Lord, did you?”

“Huh?”

“You figured that if you spread a wild rumor like that, everyone around you would chicken out and leave you alone, right?”

She snorted derisively, confident she was far too sharp to be taken in by such shallow tricks.

“If you're claiming otherwise, why don't you show us even a single shred of proo—”

In that split second, a sudden jolt of electrifying tension ripped across the entire arena.

Overwhelmed by a monstrous, suffocating pressure, every single person snapped their heads toward the entrance.

“—Excessive discord constitutes a flagrant violation of academy regulations.”

Striding into view with her imposing stature, stupendous bust, and swaying golden hair was...

“““““The Hellfire Lord?!”””””

The collective cry of shock from the entire class rang out as one.

Urz stood with her jaw hanging slack, the corners of her eyes twitching in utter disbelief.

“W-Why is one of the Seven Sacred Swords at a first-year Rank Match...?” she stammered out.

“I harbor no interest in the likes of you. Hold your tongue,” Verg commanded, silencing her in a voice like steel.

Intimidated by someone infinitely above her station, Urz clamped her mouth shut in bitter frustration.

“Kageruya Noah—I was under the distinct impression that I had slain you.”

Neither Urz nor the other students registered in the slightest to her.

Her piercing gaze was fixed directly and solely on me.

“...Senior Verg. Good to see you again after this morning,” I said, offering a cautious greeting.

Making her angry would be an absolute nightmare.

I had addressed her with the utmost delicacy, yet she glared back with naked, unrestrained hostility. It was downright terrifying.

“...Shouldn't you be attending your own classes, Senior?” I asked.

“The Seven Sacred Swords possess the privilege of class exemption,” she replied flatly.

Even so, coming all this way just to spectate? Isn't she paying way too much attention to me?

“...Sandy, Kurud,” Urz hissed under her breath.

Beckoning her cronies over, Urz began hurriedly whispering something into their ears—

“—Kageruya Noah. You have not forgotten the outrageous barbarity you inflicted upon my person, have you?”

Kissing her, groping her breasts... Yeah, I remember. Even if the whole thing was an accident.

“The pride you so grievously wounded shall be reclaimed solely by striking you down.”

Right to my face, she openly proclaimed her intention to crush me in direct combat.

But I was still a mere One-Star; school rules made a Rank Match between us impossib—

“Excuses are worthless. If you wish to survive, your only option is to keep winning.”

The Hellfire Lord spoke with palpable venom, her words infused with intense, burning emotion.

“The one who strikes you down will be me—so hurry up and climb to where I stand.”

Leaving those parting words behind, the Hellfire Lord turned on her heel and departed the arena.

Taking that as words of encouragement... would probably be pushing optimism a little too far.

With the others clearing out of the way, only Urz and I remained standing upon the field.

“I don't know what you were whispering about with a Sacred Sword, but I'll make sure to teach you a lesson: a pathetic weakling like you isn't gonna survive this academy!”

With her wicked grin, the curtains were officially drawn on our battle.

“—Let's get this Rank Match started!” she yelled.

* * * * *

"Are both combatants prepared for battle?"

The instructor seated in the referee booth projected their voice through the loudspeaker system.

In the world I originally came from, we had magic tools designed to project and amplify one's voice.

It appeared this parallel world possessed a similar kind of technology.

"Their level of civilization is roughly on par... or perhaps..." I muttered under my breath.

Perhaps this world was actually slightly more advanced.

Either way, the difference was negligible. For now, it shouldn't pose any hindrance in battle.

"With that, let the Rank Match—commence!" the instructor shouted through the loudspeaker.

The victory conditions I had been told were exceedingly simple.

Either one side conceded, or one of us rendered the other completely unable to fight.

"Allow me to show you my Regalia—" Urz smirked haughtily.

A radiant light enveloped the body of Princess Knight Urz as she stood opposite me.

Manifesting in her grasp was a slender blade with a sweeping curve.

"...Judging by that shape, it's a shamshir, huh?" I muttered.

Given its lightweight construction, its raw striking power was inherently low.

In exchange, it was a weapon that could be wielded one-handed, boasting exceptional handling and speed.

"...They say a Regalia is the physical embodiment of one's life-force, but..." I muttered under my breath.

Did her blade manifest all crooked because her personality is just as twisted?

Even as I indulged in such idle speculation, I summoned my own Regalia.

"—A man with a Regalia?!" echoed a chorus of stunned voices.

The classmates waiting in the spectator stands erupted into an incredulous uproar.

"What is that garbage? A non-weapon type? Talk about a pathetic excuse for a shape!" Urz jeered.

Urz looked down at me with utter scorn, treating the entire display like a bad joke.

Against the Hellfire Lord, my sheath's 【Absorption】 ability hadn't activated, but...

"...If my hypothesis is correct, it might just work this time," I murmured.

It was a massive gamble, but it beat trying to fight her barehanded.

"Here I come! Why don't I be nice and toy with you using my 【Whirlwind】?!" Urz taunted playfully.

Swinging her shamshir, she unleashed the latent ability sealed within it.

A slashing wave of compressed wind surged forth, hurtling toward me with terrifying speed, but—

"Just standing there without even trying to dodge? Are you seriously an idiot or—" Urz sneered.

Without budging an inch from my spot, I caught the attack head-on with my sheath.

"—Just as I predicted. It worked this time," I whispered calmly.

The sheath flashed with a brilliant luster, causing the wind-forged blade to scatter into mist.

"My ability was canceled out... No, it was absorbed?!" Urz gasped in disbelief.

Thanks to my intimate contact—a kiss—with the Hellfire Lord, my sheath had physically expanded.

In other words, its storage capacity had increased.

Even so, absorbing the ability of a Seven-Star was likely still out of the question, but—

"If it's only a Two-Star ability, I can absorb it just fine," I said evenly.

As for how to wield the 'power to manipulate wind' I had just taken in...

My own Regalia relayed the instructions directly into my mind.

"—Ability Revival," I intoned.

Inside the sheath, a translucent, greenish dagger materialized.

"Tch, don't go getting full of yourself...!" Urz spat, clicking her tongue.

Urz unleashed a barrage of slicing wind blades in rapid succession.

"【Whirlwind】," I chanted.

Drawing the dagger from its sheath, I cloaked my legs in swirling currents of wind and accelerated into an evasive dash.

...Alright, I can use it properly too!

"A mere man, daring to rip off my ability...!" Urz snarled with venom.

Though Urz flared with sudden rage, she quickly recovered her composure, a smarmy smirk returning to her lips.

I had expected her to lunge at me in a blind rush... but she was surprisingly levelheaded.

"An ultra-rare 【Absorption】 ability definitely took me by surprise, I'll admit," Urz said smoothly.

She made it clear that she already knew the fatal weakness of my Regalia.

"Just how long do you think you can keep fighting with such a defective ability?!" Urz taunted.

Letting her sacred aura flare to the brim, Urz charged straight at me at breakneck speed.

In a flash, shamshir and dagger clashed head-on.

Sparks scattered wildly as our blades locked in a furious clash of steel.

"Ngh...!" I grunted under the pressure.

Both of our blades were wreathed in violent gales manifested by the ability.

Even when I parried her blade, razor-sharp backdrafts lashed out, slicing across my skin like secondary strikes.

Yet the only one sustaining additional damage from the crosswinds—was me.

"At the end of the day, yours is nothing more than a half-baked imitation!" Urz shouted with disdain.

Even though we were supposed to be wielding the exact same ability...

The power, speed, and precision of her wind were several leagues above mine.

"The greatest flaw of 【Absorption】—is the gap in experience!" Urz gloated.

Manipulating the surrounding atmosphere, the girl displayed dizzying, three-dimensional aerial maneuvers.

Even when I managed to mount a counterattack, she danced around it as if waltzing with a cyclone.

"Guh!" I gasped in pain.

The tip of her shamshir gouged deeply across my shoulder, tearing through flesh.

She immediately followed up with another barrage of wind blades; I attempted to replicate her technique to counter, but—I couldn't parry them all!

"I've been honing and using 【Whirlwind】 my entire life!" Urz shouted triumphantly.

Slipping through the gap between our blades, Urz drove a vicious spinning kick squarely into my abdomen.

"Whereas you're wielding 【Whirlwind】 for the very first time right here and now!" Urz jeered.

Though I guarded the impact with magic, the sheer kinetic force blasted me flying backward.

"Which one of us has truly mastered this power—surely you understand that much, right?!" Urz sneered.

Her logic applied to virtually anything in the world.

—Given the exact same musical instrument, could an amateur play with the same skill as a virtuoso?

—Given the exact same ingredients, could an amateur cook as brilliantly as a master chef?

"Not a... chance in hell..." I muttered wryly to myself.

Channeling strength into my trembling knees, I quietly hauled myself back up.

...Ngh. I managed to break my fall, but there's definitely a crack in my ribs.

This was the insurmountable gap in experience. An amateur could never triumph over a seasoned professional.

“...Things turned out... exactly as Miss Zeze said,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

Against a battle-hardened princess knight, 【Absorption】 was utterly useless.

I would always remain on the back foot, always be overpowered, and always end in defeat.

—Hence why it was dubbed a complete dud—the absolute weakest ability.

It might suffice against an ordinary person, but before a thoroughly trained princess knight, it was completely powerless.

“What’cha gonna do now? Ready to give up like a good widdle boy?” Urz sneered, her voice dripping with mockery.

She cackled shrilly down at me as I stood there battered and broken from head to toe.

“Your swordsmanship is totally mediocre, and you can’t hold a candle to my ability, so—” she continued to taunt.

“Then I just have to overturn the difference with something else,” I cut in calmly.

“Hah? What else could you possibly have besides that pathetic scabbard?” Urz scoffed.

How does the weak defeat the strong?

“—I have my strategy,” I replied.

No matter how formidable the foe, everyone had openings and weaknesses.

Finding them and staging an overwhelming turnaround—that was what it meant to solve the puzzle and clear the game.

“Save your pathetic excuses! I’m gonna shred you into a filthy rag!” Urz barked.

Once more, a furious clash of swords ignited between Urz and me.

Yet she steadily pushed me back, forcing me entirely onto the defensive.

“Once you step outside the barrier, you’ll be fully healed! But you still feel every bit of pain!” she taunted.

A barrage of wind blades slashed across my skin, spraying plumes of fresh blood.

“Come on, come on, come on! Hurts, doesn’t it?! Scared out of your mind, aren’t ya?!” Urz squealed with sadistic glee.

Knowing she held absolute superiority, Urz deliberately refrained from targeting my vitals.

Her intention was clearly to torment me within an inch of my life, but—

“—Attack patterns, signature mechanics of her techniques, environmental properties of this arena—” I murmured under my breath.

My brain operated at full throttle, dissecting every detail like a complex puzzle game.

Endure, endure, endure. Think, calculate, analyze.

“—I see the checkmate,” I whispered.

Midway through our clash of steel, I timed the exact moment and intentionally stepped forward.

And took Urz’s incoming blade flush into my flesh.

Piercing straight through my left flank, the tip of the blade jutted out from my right side.

“Wh—?!” Urz gasped, her eyes flying wide in shock. “You threw yourself into a fatal blow—?!”

A thick surge of blood spilled past my lips.

Enduring the blinding agony, I flexed my abdominal muscles, locking the blade tight within my torso so she couldn’t yank it free.

“That blade is wrapped in wind, you idiot?!” she shrieked in horror. “Your internal organs are completely mangled—!”

“...And?” I replied coldly.

Her mouth fell open in absolute disbelief at my unbothered response.

“E-Even if it was to pin me down, pulling a suicidal stunt like that is just—!” Urz stammered.

It seemed she was incapable of understanding such purely rational decision-making.

“Once you step outside the barrier, you’ll be fully healed... isn’t that right?” I asked.

Exploiting the environmental mechanics to their absolute limit was just another fundamental part of my strategy.

Instant death would be game over, but if everything was going to heal anyway, sacrificing a few internal organs was a bargain.

“Y-You... you’re treating your own life like nothing more than a tool—kyaaah?!” Urz shrieked.

My left hand shot forward, seizing Urz by her hair in a vice grip.

“—As long as I claim victory, nothing else matters,” I declared flatly.

Chivalrous courtesy toward women: unnecessary.

Fear of agony or death: unnecessary.

“Th-This guy is totally insane—?!” she cried out in terror.

She thrashed desperately to pull away, but I yanked her hair harder, refusing to release my grip.

“Ghk! You’re no ordinary man... So this is who you really are under that meek facade...?!” Urz hissed through clenched teeth.

For the very first time, the smug, taunting smirk vanished from Urz’s face, replaced entirely by pure terror.

“This is checkmate,” I told her.

I swung the dagger in my right hand with blinding speed straight toward her throat.

Everyone present—including myself—undoubtedly believed I had pulled off a miraculous comeback victory.

“...—?!”

It happened right on the precipice of deciding the match.

The ground beneath my feet suddenly ruptured, and a geyser of scalding steam erupted into the air.

Catching me completely off guard, the unexpected ambush caused my blade to hesitate for a fraction of a second—

“—Fool. Your endgame lacks thoroughness.”

Carried through the arena’s acoustic apparatus, Senior Verg’s cold murmur resonated across the stage.

“What—?!” I gasped.

Thick plant vines surged out from the fissures in the shattered floor.

They lashed tightly around my legs, binding me in place and robbing me of all mobility.

“The abilities of 【Scalding Steam】 and 【Briar Vines】...?!” I blurted in shock.

This made no sense. Neither of these belonged to Urz’s 【Whirlwind】 ability.

Even the Queen herself had previously stated that a Regalia could harbor only a single ability...

“...I get it! Those are the abilities of her two lackeys!” I realized in horror.

Back when the Hellfire Lord had spoken to me, while everyone’s attention was diverted.

They had covertly set traps within the stage beforehand.

“Ghk, if I use 【Absorption】—!” I cried.

I brought my scabbard against the two new magical manifestations, but 【Absorption】 refused to trigger.

With my scabbard’s current capacity, can I not absorb more than one ability at a time—?!

“‘As long as I claim victory, nothing else matters.’ How very true,” Urz sneered, her sadistic confidence rushing back.

No matter how underhanded the methods employed, the end result was all that counted.

Urz ripped her sword free from my abdomen.

Then, in a single fluid slash, she severed the left arm that was still gripping her hair...

“In Rank Matches, it doesn’t matter if you lose the brawl—as long as you win the match, that’s all that counts!” she crowed.

Urz’s sword plunged straight through my heart.

“Too bad for you—you... l-o-s-t,” she purred with cruel delight.

* * * * *

My very first Rank Match had ended in defeat.

One could complain that the tactics Urz employed were underhanded and cowardly, but—

“A loss is still a loss,” she sneered. “You've got no one to blame but yourself for failing to notice.”

The process didn't matter. In this world, results were everything.

Still clad in our combat uniforms, I was dragged away into a dimly lit storage room.

Flanking Urz from behind, her two smirking lackeys stood at the ready.

“With this, you're officially my slave,” Urz declared. “First, get on your knees.”

Planting her feet apart in a domineering stance right before me, she barked her command.

Gritting my back teeth, I began to bend my knees, when...

“Too slow! I said kneel, right damn—now!”

A sharp low kick struck my shin, sending me tumbling clumsily to the floor.

“Sandy, Kurud, pin his arms and legs down.”

“W-What are you doing...?” I stammered.

“Giving a defective slave a good, harsh punishment, of course.”

The moment her underlings pinned me flat, Urz lowered her hips—

“—Hup, and down we go!”

A facesit. She pressed her crotch squarely over my nose and mouth.

A stifling, syrupy-sweet fragrance resembling boiled strawberries hit my nasal passages at point-blank range.

“Hmm, not half bad for a chair, I'd say.”

“Mmph... Urz... st-stop...!”

“Haaah? What's that? I can't hear a single thiiing!”

Grinding her hips back and forth, she rubbed herself rhythmically against my face through the thin fabric of her uniform.

“Ahhn...♡ Look at you, sticking your tongue out, desperate for air... How pathetic♡”

I supposed there were men in the world who found this sort of play thrilling, but...

...I never imagined it would be this agonizingly suffocating!

Deprived of oxygen, my blood vessels constricted, and my lips and limbs began to tremble.

“Aha, ahahaha! Ahahahahaha!”

Looking down at my frantic squirming, Urz cackled with intoxicated delight.

Just as I was on the verge of genuinely blacking out, she finally lifted her weight off me.

“I'm not done with you yet. Next up is Sandy.”

“My turn! Leave it to me!”

The dark-skinned, tomboyish girl among her cronies chimed in with cheerful enthusiasm.

Striding over, she leaned right into my face—

“I'm gonna squeeze your face tight right in my armpit!”

Before I even had time to register the faint, citrusy scent drifting from her skin—

She locked me in a vicious armpit triangle hold, and my consciousness began to haze over.

“Squeeze him right to the brink... Alright, now it's Kurud's turn!”

“Okaay. But he looks practically on the verge of expiring already, doesn't he?”

The final lackey, a soft-spoken, voluptuous girl, stepped forward.

Lowering a pair of colossal breasts that resembled heavy water balloons right onto my face—

“With this, you will not be able to breathe at all anymore~”

Like heavy sacks of flour, her squishy breasts smothered my nose and mouth completely.

Unlike with the crotch or armpit holds, there wasn't even the faintest crack left to draw breath.

“Suffocating under huge boobs—isn't that such a blissful way to die?!” Urz taunted with a loud laugh.

Watching the male wither away under their torment, the trio broke into peals of laughter.

If... if I can just endure until the next period starts...

“We're skipping our lectures today,” Urz announced, sneering cruelly as if relishing the destruction of my last hope. “And we're going to keep this up on repeat forever.”

Her malicious smile cut through whatever remaining optimism I had clung to.

“I told you right from the start, didn't I?”

With that, she dropped her hips right back onto my face once more.

“I told you I'd have plenty of fun playing with you—!”

In the end, this edge-of-death torment dragged on for well over an hour.

By the time the prolonged ordeal finally drew to a close, I lay sprawled on the floor, devoid of all strength.

“Did a scrub like this really survive an encounter with the Hellfire Lord?” Urz wondered aloud.

She kicked casually at the side of my head with the toe of her shoe.

“Still, that cow-titted freak... acting all high-and-mighty all the time really pisses me off.”

“Especially the way she cracks down on us first-years!” Sandy agreed loudly.

“The Head of Public Morals isn't called the Rookie Killer for nothing, after all,” Kurud added in her sluggish drawl.

To maintain academy order, Verg disciplined unruly newcomers without exception.

Having both felt the brunt of her strict discipline firsthand, the girls’ stream of vitriol toward Senior Verg showed no sign of stopping.

“I'd love nothing more than to wipe that smug look right off her face for once.”

Suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, Urz turned a wicked grin toward me.

“...Oho. I just came up with a brilliant idea.”

Even after we returned to the classroom, my treatment remained thoroughly wretched.

And when after-school dismissal finally arrived—

“You're coming with me for a minute,” Urz barked.

Grabbing me firmly by the scruff of my neck, she marched me down the hallway.

...And here I wanted to consult Miss Zeze about the Rank Matches.

Completely disregarding my wishes, she dragged me to a halt in front of a certain room.

“There are plenty of locker rooms in this academy, but nobody ever comes near this one.”

“Which means...?” I prompted cautiously.

“It's claimed exclusively by a certain troublesome monster.”

Pushing the door open, Urz led the way into a room lined with rows of lockers.

“Today's task is ecological observation. We're going to expose what that monster is really like behind closed doors.”

With that, she retrieved a crystal orb from her uniform pocket.

“It's a recording crystal. As long as you keep feeding it a trace of sacred aura, it'll record footage non-stop.”

“You want me... to observe this monster with that...?”

“Bingo. A simple little errand that even a fucking scrub like you can handle.”

In short, they wanted to spy on this troublesome individual from the safety of the sidelines.

“Urz! I swapped out the water bottle!”

The tomboyish Sandy bounded over, clutching an academy-issued thermos.

It seemed she had pried open one of the lockers and rummaged through its contents, but...

“I mixed in a fast-acting draught,” Kurud piped up with an innocent smile. “Her stomach will be in complete ruins~”

Hearing her subordinate's explanation, Urz nodded in satisfaction.

“This is bound to yield some hilarious footage. Alright, into the empty locker across the way with you!”

I was forcibly shoved into the cramped, dark metallic compartment.

Through the thin ventilation slit, my eyes locked with hers.

“Listen closely. If you stop recording for even a second, you're getting lynched, got it?”

Having made it abundantly clear that I had no right of refusal, Urz and her cronies slammed the locker door shut and hurried away.

Trapped inside the dim, stifling locker, all I could do was activate the recording crystal and wait.

"—Good grief. Why must everyone persist in disrupting public order?" a weary, exasperated voice muttered from outside.

The figure who stepped into view, looking as though she had just concluded a grueling round of duties, was none other than...

...The "monster" they were talking about was Senior Verg...?!

Urz and her clique stood zero chance against her in a straight fight.

Knowing that all too well, they had opted for insidious harassment instead.

...And even if she finds out, they plan to pin the entire blame on me...!

The Hellfire Lord peeled off her jacket and hung it neatly inside her locker.

Then, she reached for the buttons of her shirt—

"Hm? A gaze...?" Senior Verg murmured, freezing mid-motion.

Her sharp knightly instincts had evidently picked up on a presence.

She began striding purposefully straight toward the locker I was crammed into.

—I-I'm finished!

With a sharp tug, my senior yanked a locker door wide open.

"...Merely my imagination, was it?" she mused aloud.

However, the locker she had opened was the one right next to mine.

A miraculous escape from death. I honestly thought my heart was going to leap right out of my throat.

"...Ngh..." I swallowed hard, stifling my breath.

Yet with Senior proceeding to change out of her uniform, my agony was far from over.

As she slipped off her shirt, the first thing that came into view was her taut, sculpted abdominal muscles...

And right above them, her astonishingly colossal bust sprang into full display!

"—This brassiere feels tight again... And right after I purchased a new one, too..." Senior Verg grumbled to herself in frustration.

She adjusted the snug fabric struggling to contain her immense fullness.

Holding my breath in absolute terror, I kept recording the entire scene with the crystal—

...If she catches me doing this...

I'd be dead. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I desperately wanted to stop filming and flee this place, but doing so would mean getting brutally beaten half to death by Urz.

...My only choice is to just quietly obey...

Thinking rationally, doing what Urz demanded was the optimal solution.

—After all, it doesn't matter to me if Senior Verg suffers a little humiliation.

Even as I tried to convince myself of that, my senior reached out her hand toward her drink bottle.

...That's the bottle Sandy and Kurud swapped out earlier.

There was toxic medicine laced inside.

While it didn't seem potent enough to be lethal, it was guaranteed to cause severe distress...

...Is what I'm doing right now really right?

Watching my senior bring the bottle toward her lips, I couldn't stop the nagging doubts from surfacing.

I was the one who had lost to Urz.

Being ordered around and treated like an errand boy by the victor was understandable enough in this academy.

...But Senior Verg hasn't lost to anyone.

She had never lost to me, nor had she ever suffered defeat against the likes of Urz.

Why should someone who achieved actual results and stood tall through merit have to suffer this kind of underhanded humiliation?

"Hurry up and climb your way to where I am."

Before the Rank Matches, she had openly declared her intention to crush me fair and square from the front.

Yet to someone like me who had always walked alone, that fierce threat had felt almost like a word of encouragement...

...Maybe I'm just projecting my own wishful optimism onto it, but...

Even so, the undeniable truth was that my senior had faced me with unyielding honor and integrity.

She was nothing like Urz and her pack of cowards who relied on cowardly tricks.

...I've known what kind of "monster" she really is this entire time.

What kind of person she was had been clear as day, even to a freshly transferred male like myself.

Steeling my resolve, I threw open the locker door with all my might.

"Ngh?! Kageruya Noah—?!" Senior Verg gasped in astonishment.

A flash of mortified embarrassment swept across her face at having been caught down to her undergarments.

Taking advantage of that split second, I hurled the recording crystal straight at her, but she reacted instantaneously, shattering it to dust with a lightning-fast fist.

However, that throw was merely a diversion.

Seizing the opening she created, I lunged for my true target—snatching away the tainted drink bottle.

"Infiltrating the girls' locker room of all places... You have committed an egregious violation of academy regulations!" she roared, her cheeks flushed with indignation.

Blazing plumes of crimson fire erupted from Senior Verg's entire body.

"And on top of that, to dare lay your hands upon my personal property—return that bottle at once!" she demanded, her aura flaring.

"I... I can't do that!" I yelled back, standing my ground.

There was no way I could hand this poisoned liquid over to her.

"...If words cannot make you understand reason, then perhaps my fists will," she said, her voice dropping into a menacing simmer.

She wasn't an opponent I could ever hope to defeat in a brawl.

But if the alternative is letting her drink this...!

"If I just drink the whole thing—!" I shouted, unscrewing the cap.

"W-Wait, stop!" she cried, reaching out in surprise.

Too late. Tilting my head back, I gulped down every single drop without hesitation.

She was free to beat me into a pulp now if she pleased. Come what may, I'd find a way to crawl back alive.

Yet contrary to my grim expectations, Senior Verg stood frozen in place, her mouth agape in utter bewilderment.

"...You are not merely a fool; you are an absolute idiot," she muttered, letting out a long, incredulous sigh.

Turning back toward her locker, she rummaged deep inside its lower compartment.

"This is the actual poisoned bottle," she announced calmly, pulling out an identical flask.

"...What?!" I gasped.

"What you drank was a fresh spare I brought along with me," she explained.

Senior Verg summoned a focused spark of flame in her palm, incinerating the poisoned bottle until not a trace remained.

"I am well accustomed to pranks of this caliber," she stated coolly.

"You noticed it had been swapped... right from the very start?" I asked dumbfoundedly.

"There are a great many within these walls who harbor resentment toward me," she answered matter-of-factly.

Glancing down at the shattered crystal fragments on the floor and piecing together my desperate antics, she gave a slow, perceptive nod.

"I can deduce with reasonable certainty why you were here."

Yet because she lacked definitive proof, she refrained from speaking the names of Urz and the others aloud.

"Enduring petty harassment has long been an everyday occurrence for me, but..."

My senior's voice softened, trailing off with unexpected sentimentality.

"...This is the first time anyone in this academy has ever stepped in to protect me."

With that, she turned her ruby eyes directly upon me, gazing straight into mine.

"I have reevaluated you, if only a little," she said warmly.

A natural, gentle smile graced her features, and for a fleeting moment, I couldn't help finding her adorable...

"However, extenuating circumstances notwithstanding, a violation of academy regulations remains a violation."

In the blink of an eye, Senior Verg's expression snapped back into her terrifying, demon-like disciplinary glare.

Curling her index finger against her thumb into the shape of a forehead flick, she cloaked it in roaring, concentrated flames.

"—Kageruya Noah, prepare to be blasted into oblivion."

* * * * *

Having survived the worst first day imaginable, it was now my second day attending the academy.

“...I'd heard our treatment would vary depending on how many stars we held, but still...” I muttered to myself.

Princess Knight Academy was a fully residential boarding school.

Naturally, student living quarters were assigned strictly according to rank.

“To think I'm the only one stuck in this abandoned, derelict dormitory...” I sighed.

Perhaps because I was a man treated like subhuman scum, my living conditions were noticeably worse than even those of the other one-star students.

“At least I've got a roof over my head... I guess I should look on the bright side...”

It was certainly better than back when I couldn't make a dime clearing labyrinths and had to sleep under the open sky every night.

“That being said... my stomach is completely empty.”

Meals weren't provided at the dorm, and since I didn't have a single coin to my name, the school cafeteria was completely out of the question.

I had to scrounge up some food somewhere, somehow.

“—Yesterday sure was a riot, wasn't it?!” a mocking voice rang out.

I had hoped I could at least spend my time peacefully in the classroom.

Unfortunately, no such luck—Urz, seated right next to me, wasted no time picking a fight.

“How'd it go again? You tripped inside the locker, got caught red-handed by the Hellfire Lord, and took a forehead flick?” she sneered, leaning in close.

“Well... yeah. That's how the recording crystal broke...” I mumbled sheepishly.

In truth, I had stopped Senior Verg from drinking that poisoned drink.

Telling Urz the real story would only provoke her wrath, so I had simply reported that I made a clumsy blunder.

“No matter how you look at it, you're a colossal idiot!” she cackled.

She burst into ringing laughter, thoroughly amused by the thought of me getting beaten senseless.

“Too bad I didn't get to see that big-busted idiot make a complete fool of herself, but there's always next time,” she declared with a shrug.

Urz seemed satisfied enough, so as far as my duties as her slave went... I supposed I'd fulfilled them for the time being.

“Oh, but don't think you're getting away without reimbursing me for that crystal,” she added sharply.

“Wait, but I'm completely broke! I don't even have money to buy food...” I protested.

“Then go take on a quest and earn it, obviously,” she scoffed.

...A quest? What's that supposed to mean?

“There's a bulletin board right in front of Academic Affairs. All kinds of requests are posted there,” she explained.

When I tilted my head in confusion, she deigned to elaborate.

“Students in higher ranks receive stipends and supply allowances from the academy, but—”

“Those at the absolute bottom only get the bare minimum, is that it?” I finished.

“Bingo. That's why one-stars have to take on requests to scrape together daily living expenses,” she replied.

She had dutifully laid it all out for me, but this was hardly out of the goodness of her heart.

“—Which means you'd better work yourself half to death and hand over tribute to me!” she snapped with a wicked grin.

Not only did I have to pay for the crystal, but now she was extorting me for pure profit on top of it.

As the loser, all I could do was nod meekly in defeat.

At lunchtime, I found myself standing before the bulletin board.

“...Restroom cleaning... watering flower beds... It really is nothing but menial chores,” I murmured, scanning the parchment notices.

In this academy, the strong enjoyed every favor and privilege.

Which meant the distasteful drudgery everyone avoided was pawned off onto the weak.

“...The simple jobs pay practically nothing... Isn't there anything with a higher payout...?”

The Queen had granted me a grace period of only six days.

If I could knock out one or two major requests, I could devote the rest of my time to the Rank Matches.

“...‘Emergency Request: Building Demolition and Rubble Removal’?” I read aloud.

It was bound to be grueling manual labor—wait, the payout was astronomical! This was the one!

Tearing the request form off the board, I sprinted straight for Academic Affairs.

During our afternoon classes, Rank Matches were held just as they had been yesterday.

Naturally, my opponent was Urz once again.

However, between the inherent drawbacks of my Absorption and the gnawing pangs of starvation, she beat me black and blue.

“...This is bad. Really bad. At this rate, I'll be stuck as a one-star forever...” I fretted.

Rising to six stars to challenge the Seven Sacred Swords would remain a pipe dream.

Now that classes were over, I turned the dilemma over in my mind as I made my way toward the designated job site.

“...What if I deliberately broke school regulations to provoke Senior Verg into a fury...?”

If I couldn't challenge her through official channels, could I bait her into an unsanctioned match?

...No, that wasn't the optimal solution.

After all, I couldn't even defeat a two-star like Urz.

Challenging someone of Senior Verg's caliber in my current state gave me zero chance of victory.

“...Then should I really do as Miss Zeze suggested...?” I muttered under my breath.

Should I lose my virginity and bet everything on the evolution of my Regalia?

Yet there was no definitive guarantee it would actually trigger growth...

And I still wasn't sure whether I could truly trust Miss Zeze in the first place...

“...Above all, someone like me... actually having sex...” I flushed at the very thought.

Unlike tackling a labyrinth, I simply couldn't bring myself to take that final leap.

“—Ah, this must be the site specified in the request.”

Before I knew it, I had reached my destination. Sprawled before my eyes was a colossal mountain of rubble.

What in the world could someone have done to reduce an entire building to this much ruin?

“...Time to get down to business,” I said, bracing myself.

Using the borrowed shovel and handcart, I set about hauling away the debris.

...Just how many hours is this going to take?

A sigh of defeat threatened to escape my lips, but right now, all I could do was grit my teeth and work like my life depended on it.

“—You again?! What in heaven's name are you doing here?!” a booming voice barked.

As I toiled away, that all-too-familiar, furious shout shattered the afternoon air.

“Senior Verg?” I blurted, blinking in surprise.

Sporting a tracksuit jacket draped over her combat uniform, the Hellfire Lord herself had made her appearance.

“What am I doing?... It's a job. I'm clearing out the rubble,” I replied.

When I answered, the senior knight looked thoroughly taken aback.

She closed her eyes in momentary contemplation, then marched over with a shovel of her own... and began pitching in to help?!

“After all, I am the one who destroyed this building,” she stated flatly.

According to her, she had demolished it as collateral damage while sending a rule-breaking delinquent flying.

“Still, I was told menial chores like this were meant for one-stars like me...” I pointed out.

“One takes responsibility for one's own messes. That is merely common decency for a knight,” she declared with stern conviction.

She really was ridiculously straight-laced as ever...

Then you shouldn't have gone and smashed it in the first place...

“...You are also the very first person to accept this request,” she murmured quietly.

Once we had settled into shoveling side by side, Senior Verg began to speak in measured, hesitant fragments.

“With a reward this high, you'd think it would normally be a popular job...” I remarked.

"You do realize that means working alongside an outcast like me, do you not?" Verg asked.

Sweat dripped from her brow as she drove her shovel deep into the rubble.

"Hence, why no one else was willing to do it," she added.

It wasn't just Urz; every single one of our classmates lived in mortal terror of her.

I had lost count of how many times I'd overheard nasty rumors and malicious gossip behind Senior Verg's back.

"You are truly an odd one," she murmured. "Even though you are supposed to be my enemy..."

Her voice sounded strangely somber, weighed down by an unexpected gloom.

"—I only accepted this job for the reward," I answered.

Why was that? For some reason, I just couldn't bear to see Senior Verg looking so dispirited.

"So no matter how much you might be hated, Senior, it makes no difference to me."

"Kageruya Noah..." she whispered.

"Besides, if anything, my reputation is far worse than yours, wouldn't you say?"

As the sole male in the entire academy, I endured a relentless barrage of slander and abuse every single day.

"...Heh, quite right. You are just as much of an outcast as I am, after all," she chuckled softly.

A faint smile touched Senior Verg's lips.

She always wore such a frightening scowl, yet she was capable of smiling like this, too—

"Now then, that is quite enough idle chatter," she announced, cutting herself off.

Her smile proved fleeting, however. In the very next moment, she was clearing away debris with superhuman strength.

"I will remind you just in case: compensation for this request is piece-rate," Verg declared.

"Come to think of it, the request form did say... Wait, which means...!"

Senior Verg was already hauling away pile after pile of what should have been my share of the rubble.

A-At this rate, my own reward is going to shrink!

"—S-Senior, why don't you just head back already? Surely a member of the Seven Sacred Swords has plenty of urgent duties to attend to!" I pleaded.

"—Your consideration is unnecessary," she retorted. "Should you not be the one heading back to train instead?"

Who could clear away more rubble, and do it faster?

And just like that, an intense contest between me and a member of the Seven Sacred Swords began—

"Haaah... haaah... I'm going to die..." I wheezed.

Between the intense manual labor and an empty stomach, I had no choice but to brace my hands against my knees, gasping for breath.

"Collapsing from an exertion of this level? You are thoroughly lacking in discipline," Verg scolded.

Alongside Senior Verg, I stared out over the newly cleared expanse of land.

Incidentally, the reconstruction of the building itself would reportedly be handled by other princess knights using their abilities.

"—Kageruya Noah, you were of great assistance today," she said.

She stated it plainly in her usual stern, dignified tone.

"We managed to finish considerably faster than usual thanks to you... What is with that look on your face?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

"It's just that... you actually... thanked me, Senior," I stammered.

Every single woman in this academy was my enemy.

Each and every one of them treated me with unprovoked, unreasonable prejudice—

"I hold chivalry in the highest esteem," Verg proclaimed. "Even if you are a male, so long as you achieve results, I shall praise you accordingly."

It appeared her noble spirit truly set her apart from the rest of the academy.

"...The greater one's vitality, the stronger their ability, huh...?" I murmured.

She was the complete antithesis of someone like me, who had resigned himself to lurking in the shadows.

That was why she was able to keep claiming victory in the Rank Matches—

"The only reason I rose to become one of the Seven Sacred Swords was because I wished to dedicate myself to Her Majesty," Verg said quietly.

As I kept my head bowed, she began to recount her story in a subdued voice.

"This is merely a monologue," she added. "Do not mistake it for advice to someone trapped in a perpetual losing streak."

"Wait, is this your way of rewarding me because I helped out today...?" I ventured.

"Hold your tongue! Do not interrupt my monologue!" she bellowed.

"Y-Yes, ma'am! Terribly sorry!" I squeaked.

She really didn't need to fly into such a rage over it.

Clearing her throat with a sharp cough, Verg composed herself.

"I was once a war orphan," she continued. "It was Her Majesty who saved me."

An orphan... Just like me.

"It may be presumptuous of me to say, but Her Majesty has been like a mother to me," she confessed.

She meant the queen had taken in her young, helpless self and raised her to where she stood today.

"That is why, regardless of how despised I may be by those around me, I shall protect Her Majesty's academy. If I can repay the debt I owe her and be recognized as a true princess knight... then I will have lived my life with no regrets."

"By the way," she said, raising her voice with renewed intensity.

"Tell me, Kageruya Noah—for whose sake do you fight?" she asked.

Whose... sake?

Personally, as long as I look out for myself, that's enough...

"—Those who fight solely for themselves shall never know true victory," she declared, cutting right through my thoughts.

Having seen right through me, she delivered her sharp reprimand.

"It is a heart that cares deeply for others that allows one's blade to grow," she instructed.

"A heart... that cares...?" I repeated mechanically.

"That is the secret to my strength. If you wish to laugh at it as mere sentimental idealism, go right ahead."

The Hellfire Lord turned her gaze upon me one final time.

"Think long and hard about it. About whom you are truly fighting for."

After parting ways with Senior Verg, I made my way back to my dilapidated, abandoned dormitory.

"...Whom I'm fighting for, huh...?" I muttered to myself.

To be honest, I didn't fully comprehend what she had been trying to say.

What does caring deeply for someone even mean?

How could a feeling like that possibly make anyone stronger?

"...It really is just blind idealism... There isn't a shred of logic or rationality to it..." I grumbled.

Still wrestling with the thought, I pushed open the door to my room.

"—Welcome home," a quiet voice greeted me.

Waiting inside the pitch-black entryway was an expressionless beauty.

"M-Miss Zeze...?! Why on earth are you here?!" I gasped.

I hadn't sensed a thing. She was far too skilled at masking her presence.

"Is the reason for my arrival not self-evident?" she asked calmly.

Her silver hair swayed as she leaned in close, whispering directly into my ear.

"—Let us continue where we left off in the infirmary."

* * * * *

"—T-Thank you for the wonderful meal," I stammered.

Having thoroughly devoured the food Miss Zeze had prepared for me, I expressed my gratitude.

"Your sudden appearance caught me completely off guard, but I never expected you to cook for me as well..." I admitted.

"This, too, falls under the scope of my duties as your collaborator," she replied impassively.

Miss Zeze cleared away the empty dishes with detached, mechanical efficiency.

"Were it feasible, I would prefer to visit on a daily basis, however..." she noted.

"Given your position, you cannot afford to draw unnecessary attention to yourself, right?" I finished for her.

"An astute observation. As expected, you are exceptionally quick on the uptake, Kageruya," Zeze remarked with a faint nod.

If strange rumors were to spread, it would jeopardize our cooperative relationship going forward.

“Unfortunately, I cannot offer you assistance too frequently—oh? Your hair is still somewhat damp, isn't it?” she noted, cutting herself off.

“My hair? Ah, I just took a shower right before coming over to eat, so...” I murmured.

“You will catch a cold if you do not dry it properly,” she chided gently.

No sooner had she finished her chores than she fetched a towel and began briskly rubbing my hair dry.

“You really don't have to go that far for me...” I mumbled, feeling self-conscious.

“This, too, is part of my duties as your collaborator,” she stated with clinical certainty.

Offering the exact same explanation as before, she continued to fuss over me with attentive care.

...If I had an older sister, would it feel something like this?

Since I was an orphan, though, I had no real way of knowing.

“Now then, allow me to brush your teeth and trim your nails next—” she began.

“T-That's quite enough, thank you! I can definitely do that much myself!” I interjected, waving my hands frantically.

Having a stunning older woman brush my teeth for me was far beyond my threshold of embarrassment.

“—Miss Zeze, why do you want to overthrow the Queen?”

After straightening my appearance as she had instructed, I posed the question that had been weighing on my mind.

“That is a rather abrupt inquiry,” she replied in a level voice. “Why do you wish to know?”

“Because you are strong, Miss Zeze,” I answered simply.

In this other world, it was unheard of for a woman of the superior sex to treat an inferior male with kindness.

Even our current arrangement would warrant swift execution if anyone were to discover us.

Normally, no one would ever take such a risk—unless driven by a powerful resolve.

“What is it that you are fighting for, Miss Zeze?” I asked.

Senior Verg's words had been echoing in my mind all this time.

—Please tell me. Because I have to win.

Miss Zeze closed her eyes for a lingering moment, letting the silence hang before she finally parted her lips.

“...I was originally a Princess Knight,” she confessed quietly.

I wasn't surprised. If anything, I had already faintly suspected as much.

“Not to boast, but I believe I was reasonably accomplished in my duties,” she continued.

It made complete sense. Her movements were simply far too refined for an ordinary school nurse.

The fact that she had waited in this room without letting me sense even a shred of her presence was prime evidence.

“Believing the Queen's commands to be absolute, I brandished my sword faithfully in her service.”

“However...” she continued, her voice taking on a chilling edge.

“My younger brother was murdered by the Queen.”

“......”

“Men are regarded as subhuman dregs. Even so, he was my only family in this world.”

Her delivery remained as flat and detached as ever, yet beneath it lurked a chilling, bone-deep frost.

“I challenged the Queen alone, but the outcome was a crushing defeat,” she stated evenly.

“And that left you with a body unfit for battle?” I ventured.

“You are quite perceptive... Yes. My right arm and left leg are ruined,” she acknowledged.

Apparently, it posed no hindrance to her day-to-day life.

As a Princess Knight, however, she could no longer fight to her satisfaction.

“To the public, I am officially presumed dead,” she said.

Having branded herself a rebel, she no longer had a sanctuary anywhere in this world.

“In truth, ‘Zeze’ is merely an assumed name, you know?” she revealed faintly.

“...Then what is your real name?” I inquired.

“That is a secret,” she replied flatly.

Shot down instantly. She evidently had no intention of indulging me on that front.

“—In conclusion, I fight for the sake of my deceased family,” she declared.

And for that purpose, she concluded, she would gladly aid even a reincarnator like me.

“...Thank you. For telling me,” I murmured sincerely.

Vengeance. That, too, was undeniably an action taken for someone else's sake.

“Will you not tell me that revenge is meaningless?” she asked, regarding me curiously.

“...Whether that is the right answer or the wrong one isn't something I can judge,” I replied honestly.

Feigning comprehension of something you don't truly understand just to talk someone out of it—

Nothing could be more disingenuous or irresponsible than that.

“If revenge is the optimal solution for you, Miss Zeze, then I think that's more than enough reason,” I stated firmly.

“Kageruya...” she murmured softly.

Without another word, she wrapped her arms around me from behind, pulling me into a tight embrace.

“Had my brother lived, he would have been the same age as you are now,” she whispered against the nape of my neck.

“Huh?” I gasped in surprise.

“Even your awkwardness resembles his somewhat,” she added gently.

“Um... Miss Zeze?” I stammered.

H-Her grip was tightening with overwhelming force—I couldn't move an inch!

“I simply cannot allow you to die after all,” she said resolutely.

Releasing me from the hug, she stepped around to face me head-on.

“You understand that you cannot achieve victory with your Regalia in its current state, do you not, Kageruya?” she asked pointedly.

The soft rustle of silk whispered through the air as she began stripping off her clothes.

“—Use my body to strengthen your Regalia,” she offered dispassionately.

Right before my eyes, her translucent, porcelain-white skin was laid bare.

While falling short of Senior Verg's colossal proportions, her twin mounds vastly exceeded the average size.

Together with her secret crevice, they were barely concealed by sheer, lace-trimmed white lingerie.

—An outfit worn for the sole purpose of mating.

Her peerless, exquisite figure radiated a breathtakingly intoxicating allure.

“I am fully aware that you are inexperienced and timid when it comes to women, Kageruya,” Miss Zeze stated calmly.

While I shrank back in flustered embarrassment before her unclothed body, she remained perfectly composed.

“I predicted you might show a certain aversion—however, that will not suffice,” she pressed on.

To survive at this academy. To triumph over the Princess Knights. And ultimately, to defeat the Queen.

No matter what underhanded methods it took, I had to become stronger.

I understood that full well, and yet...

“...Wait, why is... my body burning up...?” I muttered in confusion.

My limbs grew heavy and uncoordinated as a thick haze settled over my mind.

“Forgive me. I laced your meal earlier with Sacred Water,” she confessed without a shred of remorse.

“...S-Sacred Water...?” I stammered, my head spinning.

“In this world, it is a draught traditionally consumed during rituals and celebrations,” she explained.

Apparently, it was something akin to ritual sacred wine.

In and of itself, it was nothing extraordinary, but...

“On this occasion, I improved upon that Sacred Water—infusing it with potent aphrodisiac properties,” she revealed coolly.

A scorching, insatiable heat flared violently through my lower body.

...Sacred Water in name only—it's nothing less than an aphrodisiac...!

“It is still in the developmental stages, but I assure you it will leave no lasting aftereffects,” she stated reassuringly.

With my limbs completely paralyzed by the searing heat, she effortlessly led me over to the bed.

“Now then, let us continue where we left off last time—” she whispered.

“—Allow me to remove your clothes,” Miss Zeze murmured softly.

Miss Zeze's cool, dispassionate voice echoed through my heat-dazed consciousness.

With practiced ease, she stripped away every stitch of my clothing, laying me flat on my back completely naked in an instant.

“First, let us soothe your tension with a kiss... Mmh♡” she whispered against my mouth.

Crawling over me, she hungrily devoured my lips with a deadpan, impassive expression.

Our tongues intertwined with a wet, slippery squelch, sending sweet saliva sliding down my throat.

“Haah... I thought so previously as well, but... you possess quite the magnificent specimen,” she exhaled as she parted her lips.

Her slender hand drifted downward, gracing my rock-hard erection with a featherlight touch.

Shivers of pure pleasure shot up my spine.

"Even taking the aphrodisiac effects into account, isn't this roughly two sizes larger than the average man in this world?"

"...I wouldn't... know..."

"Could it be because you possess aura? Such a menacing shape."

After offering that clinical assessment, Miss Zeze shifted down between my thighs—

"—First, allow me to introduce myself properly."

Dropping to her hands and knees before my manhood, she bowed with deep reverence.

"My name is Zeze, and I shall be your companion today. I have no limits or restrictions whatsoever. I intend to serve you with all my heart and soul to ensure your utmost satisfaction."

"I look forward to being at your service," she concluded her formal greeting.

Though I had never visited one myself, she carried the unmistakable air of an ultra-high-end escort.

"Now then, without further ado, excuse me... Mmh, smooch♡"

She planted a tender kiss right against the swollen tip.

"...Ngh... ah...!"

"Sensitivity is excellent. Your shaft has reached sufficient hardness, and your sac feels heavy and full."

A shower of soft, wet pecks rained down against me—smooch, smooch, smooch.

A numbing, electrifying pleasure coursed through my mind and body, flushed hot with aphrodisiac.

"You seem to be in quite a bit of agony, so allow me to relieve you with my mouth first."

Opening her mouth wide, she took my erection between her lips.

She swallowed me all the way down to the base—and with a muted tap, the tip bumped against the back of her throat.

"...Aah..."

It was so warm. It felt as though only my lower half had been submerged in a hot spring.

The sheer, overwhelming euphoria threatened to turn my waist to jelly from that alone.

"I'll shtar' movin' now."

Yet the real oral treatment was only just getting started.

Her tongue moved like a creature with a mind of its own, flicking rapidly along my frenulum.

Then, she traced thick, languid circles around the engorged head, licking it thoroughly.

—She knows every single one of a man's weak spots.

As if to prove as much, she relentlessly delivered pure, precision-targeted pleasure.

"...Mmh... slurp... haah... shluck...♡"

Keeping my entire member engulfed, she continued her ministrations with master-class tongue work and effortless deep-throating.

"Shoon, I'll... get sherious."

At last, Miss Zeze began pumping her head back and forth.

Gulp, gluck, gluck-shluck!

A wet, lewd squelching of saliva and air echoed intensely throughout the room.

"...Mmh, your hips are floating upward in an attempt to escape the pleasure, aren't they?"

"I do not provide half-hearted service," she declared.

Firmly pinning down both of my thighs with her hands—

Shluuuuurrrrrrp!

Her cheeks hollowed indecently as she lewdly sucked up every drop of leaking precum.

Not a shred remained of her usual cool, composed beauty.

"Ngh—!"

There was no way a virgin like me could ever endure this.

All too easily, I reached my climax, shooting a thick white release straight down into her throat.

Miss Zeze swallowed it all in deep gulps, gently massaging my testicles so not a single drop was left behind.

"...Phew."

The sheer sense of release caused a spontaneous sigh to escape my lips.

"—Thank you for the treat. Both the volume and thickness were magnificent."

Wiping her mouth as she pushed herself up, she gave her evaluation with utter composure.

"However, today's main event is yet to come."

With that declaration, she shed her bra and panties.

Pink nipples, a neat, pristine seam between her thighs...

Stripped bare of every stitch of clothing, the icy beauty descended before me.

"I am already prepared, but one can never be too careful—"

Miss Zeze slipped her own fingers into her tightly closed slit.

Squish, squelch, squish—she willingly masturbated before my eyes.

"—This level of wetness should suffice. Thank you for waiting so patiently."

The two fingers she withdrew from her depths glistened wetly with thick, sticky juices.

"Do you recall what I told you back in the infirmary?"

The day we first met, things had been cut short mid-act.

Instead of taking my virginity right then and there, Miss Zeze had postponed it...

"As promised—I shall grant you the finest deflowering imaginable."

"You've done wonderfully to make it this far."

Her tone was calm yet laced with a tender softness as she straddled my hips.

"I made sure to moisten myself thoroughly just now, even bringing myself to climax a few times."

My body is completely primed, she added.

"Brace yourself. To be quite frank—the stimulation inside should prove extraordinarily intense."

Mounting me in the cowgirl position, Miss Zeze slowly lowered her hips.

My tip sank into her narrow entrance, advancing through the intensely ribbed interior—

"...There. You are inserted fully to the base."

Overflowing with melting honey, countless ridges squirmed and coiled tightly around me.

For the first time in my life, I tasted the depths of a woman's flesh.

Instinctively, I understood that this was what they called an exquisite sheath.

"Before I start moving my hips, congratulations are in order, I suppose."

Trapped in pleasure beyond imagination, I couldn't even squeeze out a voice.

"Congratulations on graduating from virginity."

For the very first time, Miss Zeze smiled.

"————ngh!"

I erupted. Holding it back wasn't even a remote possibility.

My groin throbbed violently, blasting my white desire directly into her deepest recesses.

A textbook rookie blunder. Yet Miss Zeze merely offered a tender smile.

"It's all right. You planted your seed so well. Good boy."

"...Ah, ngh..."

"Until you have emptied every last drop, shall we share a kiss?—...Mmh♡"

Still fully joined, she pressed her chest flush against mine, gently entwining her tongue with my own.

The aphrodisiac kept me paralyzed, but if my hands could move, I would have kneaded her breasts—

"My apologies. The holy water's potency appears to have been slightly too strong."

Promising to refine the formula in the future, she leaned her full weight forward, pressing her ample pair even harder against me.

"Though thanks to that—it seems this part of you remains remarkably energetic."

Even after releasing that much, my erection stood as rock-hard as ever.

Sitting up straight without pulling out, Miss Zeze began slowly grinding her hips.

"Tightness, pace, rhythm—please tell me whatever you desire."

"Ngh... guh..."

"A pile-driving piston rhythm, is it? Understood."

"...Eh... wait, no—"

She completely misunderstood the strained protest that slipped from my lips and gave an agreeable nod.

A long night was about to unfold. As if heralding its arrival, Miss Zeze whispered into my ear:

"This sheath belongs to you and you alone—please enjoy me to your heart's content."

ToC

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