The Female Knight Who Gave Me Her Freshly Removed Underwear As A Farewell Gift Is Way Too Cute

“Phew… I guess I can finally catch my breath now.”

After finishing my temporary farewells to the princess and Karen-san, who had come to see me off, I boarded the ship with my two guides, and we set sail.

Once we had pulled away from the harbor and I confirmed that I could no longer make out Karen-san, I lowered the arm I had been waving so vigorously and sat down on the spot.

“Karen-san just wouldn’t listen, no matter how many times I told her. She kept saying, ‘If you’re going, then I’m coming with you’… honestly.”

I murmured as I watched the royal capital gradually disappear beyond the horizon.

Life with Black Hawk had been hectic from beginning to end—and it hurt to leave it behind, but this was part of my job. I couldn’t stay gloomy forever.

—I’ve got to do my best. For Karen-san’s sake, too.

Just as I renewed my resolve,

“Hey, Shorty! I’ve got something to talk to you about, so quit hanging around over there and get your ass over here already!”

Ena’s loud voice came booming from inside the ship.

We had already introduced ourselves, so she should have known my name, but apparently that was simply what she had decided to call me. Technically, I was supposed to be her superior, though…

“…Ena has always been like that. Manners, formalities, appearances—she’s hopeless at all of them.”

As usual, the other member of the pair sent to meet me, Zena, had appeared beside me without my noticing. From the way she spoke, she gave the impression of being a quiet girl, and for a moment I thought that maybe she was the reasonable, obedient one who would actually listen to me, but…

“Um, Zena-san… there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“? What?”

“That sturdy-looking chain you’re holding, and the man on all fours wearing the collar attached to it… what exactly is going on there?”

“—Nothing in particular. I was just giving him a little punishment.”

Apparently neither of them was going to be easy to deal with.

Now then, what follows was the mission the princess entrusted to me.

‘To my beloved knight, Haru-sama,

Please forgive this wicked princess for suddenly ordering you off to such a distant country—or so I thought for a moment, but actually, you don’t have to forgive me at all.

In fact, please actively look down on me and berate me. Do it in that polite way you speak to everyone! With that gentle smile you always showed me, please torment me by saying, “You truly are an utterly irredeemable piece of trash, Princess!”

Ahh, what am I to do? Just thinking about such things has made the area between my legs grow warm and damp—’

Oh, excuse me. That was the dummy text from before I decrypted it. If that really had been an ordinary letter with no encryption spell whatsoever, then our princess would simply be an outrageous pervert. Surely a princess of an entire nation would never write something like that… right?

Putting that concern aside, let us move on to the document after decryption.

The final objective of the mission written there was as follows.

‘Seduce the princess of our allied nation, who serves as the representative of its female knight order, and bring her nation completely under our sphere of influence.’

When I first saw those words, my reaction was basically, ‘???’, but as I continued reading, I began to realize that it was actually a surprisingly important mission.

First, the country to which I was being dispatched—let’s just call it the ‘Republic’ here. It did have a proper official name, but it was long enough to make me bite my tongue, so I’ll leave it out.

The Republic had maintained an alliance with the country I served for many years. Aside from the exchange of people and goods, whenever conflicts arose with neighboring nations, the royal capital had continued providing support to the Republic.

Naturally, it wasn’t because we were ‘friends’ or anything so sentimental. It was purely for diplomatic reasons. The Republic was an indispensable partner both as a means of keeping the Federation of the western continent and the Empire of the eastern continent—nations comparable to ours in power—in check, and as a foothold for expanding our influence farther south.

Sending knights of the Royal Capital Guard to the Republic was supposed to be part of that support as well… but…

That situation had begun to change completely after a certain incident.

The clearest example of that change was the treatment Zena was currently inflicting on a male crew member.

“Um, Zena.”

“…You can just call me Zena.”

“Then, Zena. I know the Republic is a female-dominated society, but were men always treated this blatantly?”

Because of the 【Unique Physiology】 possessed only by women born in the Republic, they held a superior position over men. That was also why its knight order consisted entirely of women.

But as far as I knew, in exchange for society being centered around women, men were supposed to be protected. Children were necessary to carry the country into the future—and the seed required to produce those children was indispensable, so men couldn’t exactly be treated carelessly.

The country had even earned the derogatory nickname ‘Nation of Kept Men’ because of it…

“…You’re right. Things only became like this recently. 【Her Highness】 issued orders to that effect.”

“Her Highness… she’s the person who recently became the Republic’s new representative, right?”

“…Mm. And she’s also the supreme commander of the Republic Knight Order.”

Which meant, naturally, that she would also be my superior—and the target of this mission.

“Hey, Shorty, I’ve been calling you this whole time, so hurry up and get over to—oh, Zena’s here too?”

Apparently fed up with waiting for me to come to her, Ena showed up herself.

She seemed to have been doing something of her own, as she had a wooden practice sword stained with blood resting across her shoulder.

“…Ena, you’ve been noisy this whole time. You’re loud and irritating.”

“Can’t help it. Unlike you, who mumbles so much nobody knows what the hell you’re saying, I’ve naturally got a loud voice.”

“………”

“What? Got a problem with that?”

“…Not particularly.”

I immediately sensed an ominous atmosphere forming between Ena and Zena.

At first, I had thought they made a nicely balanced pair—but maybe they actually weren’t that close.

“Um, Ena-san, right? You’ve been calling me for a while, but what did you want? Until we arrive, this was supposed to basically be free time.”

“Yeah, about that. Once we get there, you’re gonna become 【Her Highness’s】 toy, so I figured I’d do this before then.”

As she spoke, Ena pointed the tip of the wooden sword she was holding directly between my eyebrows.

“Your Princess Erluka said you’re supposed to be pretty damn strong, huh?”

“I don’t really think so myself…”

There were plenty of people in the Royal Capital Guard stronger than me. Karen-san, for example, or even the commander-general. I was still just a fledgling.

“Well, we’ll know all that once we fight. Come on, get into position already. I’ll play with you.”

Apparently she had never intended to listen to me in the first place. Judging from Zena’s muttered “Muscle-brain…”, she was probably bad at thinking through complicated matters. Her figure was slender, but the fighting spirit radiating from her body was unmistakably that of a warrior.

“Hmm… I guess there’s no helping it. Just for a little while, then.”

Honestly, I had absolutely no desire to fight someone who would presumably become my comrade from now on. However, Ena’s words and attitude made it obvious that she looked down on me even though I was supposed to be her superior, so it seemed necessary to firmly put her in her place from the start.

After all, educating subordinates was also part of a superior’s job.

When I raised the wooden practice sword I had brought with me beforehand, Ena lunged at me with a delighted expression.

(…Don’t underestimate the Royal Capital Guard.)

With that thought in my mind, I moved to meet her attack in order to straighten out my disrespectful subordinate.

After the commotion on deck had ended, the first words out of my mouth after I was tossed into the private cabin assigned to the commander were these.

“Oww… that hurts…”

I suppose I should first tell you how things turned out after I arrogantly thought, Don’t underestimate the Royal Capital Guard, and crossed swords with Ena—

I got completely and utterly demolished.

“That movement, that strength… she’s terrifyingly strong. This isn’t even on the level of comparing men and women anymore…”

Rubbing my shoulders and arms, now covered in impressive bruises, I reflected on the battle with my head still dazed.

The 【Unique Physiology】 that manifested only in the women of the Republic—before Ena’s attacks, which made full use of physical abilities far beyond normal human limits, I had been completely helpless and unable to resist at all.

Naturally, I had been on guard, but I had to admit she had exceeded my imagination.

Apparently, the stronger someone was, the higher they could rise within the Republic, so it wasn’t hard to imagine that 【Her Highness】, of all people, possessed strength far beyond even Ena, who was already exceptionally powerful.

Even elites from the main force of the Royal Capital Guard would probably flee from her barefoot. Would I truly be able to properly lead the Republic Knight Order, a group ruled entirely by strength?

As I reached into the luggage I had brought to pull out a bottle of healing potion, my eyes landed on an unfamiliar pouch beside it and a note written in familiar handwriting.

‘A farewell gift. Open it if you start feeling lonely….. Karen’

“Karen-san…”

My spirits eased somewhat at Karen-san’s thoughtfulness in secretly slipping it into my luggage without my noticing.

“…I don’t have time to be depressed.”

What I needed to do now was obvious. Completing the mission mattered, of course, but more than anything, I wanted to show Karen-san that I could stand tall and do my best.

‘Physical strength alone can never be true strength. Keep your heart strong’—holding close the words Karen-san had drilled into me over and over during training, I downed the healing potion in one gulp to fire myself up.

“But what’s inside this pouch…? It almost feels a little warm…”

Karen-san’s note said to open it when I got lonely—but curiosity got the better of me, so I reached inside the pouch and pulled out its contents—

—Inside were several pairs of ‘underwear (panties)’ that still retained Karen-san’s warmth and scent.

“Um… Karen-san. When I get lonely, what exactly am I supposed to do with these…?”

Come to think of it, she did seem to be fumbling around with something just before leaving the house on the morning of my departure—but who in the world had put this idea into her head?

Well, it was probably Madeleine-san’s suggestion.

“…………”

After gripping them with a completely straight face for several seconds, I silently returned them to where they had been.

For now, as Karen-san’s boyfriend, I figured I would thoroughly wash every last part of this underwear (panties) before returning them to her.

Whether or not I would use them first, however, would remain undecided for the time being.