The Female Knight Who Gets Flustered To Death At An Inn During An Expedition Is Too Cute (Running Into Each Other At A Mixed Bath)

The “Black Hawk,” the unit I belonged to, was usually assigned to the very front lines of the battlefield. We rushed all over the kingdom—if word came that magical beasts had appeared in the west, an elite team was assembled and sent to exterminate them, and if there was a skirmish with another country in the east, our entire unit was deployed as a deterrent to keep things from escalating into unnecessary fighting.

In other words, we were basically handymen. The kind of unit people thought, “If something happens, just send those guys.”

This particular story took place when Karen-san and I traveled together to a farming village in the northern part of the kingdom. Our mission was to exterminate magical beasts that had nested in a nearby cave.

“Phew~ I guess that takes care of everything.”

After defeating the final magical beast, I breathed a sigh of relief. It had been easy enough that I hadn’t even needed to wipe the sweat from my forehead. I had originally been sent as part of my rookie training, so they had made sure not to assign me anything that would seriously endanger my life.

Karen-san accompanying me was part of that precaution. Just in case something happened.

“Captain, I’m finished.”

“————”

When I called out to Karen-san, who had been waiting at the entrance to the cave, she nodded, glanced down at the watch in her hand, and wrote something in her notes. They were for the report she had to submit to someone even higher-ranking than her.

“Hmph. Fine, I suppose. You pass. Rookies sometimes forget to finish their enemies off and get attacked the moment they let their guard down, but…”

No. That would absolutely never happen. I wasn’t the kind of person who would make such a mistake.

If something like that happened and I lost my life, or even survived but became unable to live normally, nothing could be more tragic.

Because then I wouldn’t be able to watch Karen-san from up close anymore.

That was something I absolutely had to avoid.

So there was absolutely no way I would mess up over something like this.

And yet, even after I had done all that and completed the mission by myself, Karen-san gave me a piercing glare as though she were reprimanding me.

“Your work itself was acceptable. But you need to be faster. That took far too long. Any of the other members could have done a better job in half the time. I could do it in half of that. If you can’t manage that, you’re useless to us and you’re fired.”

“…Yes. I’m sorry.”

The word “fired,” spoken in her utterly calm voice, instantly dragged my previously elated mood back down to reality.

If I could no longer stay in the Black Hawk, I wouldn’t be able to go on living. If I couldn’t work with Karen-san anymore, I would probably even quit being a knight.

I didn’t want that.

“What is with that face? If you don’t want to be fired, work harder next time. You weakling. The Black Hawk has no need for a useless parasite like you who does nothing but steal his salary.”

Unlike when she was doing paperwork or off duty, Karen-san was truly merciless during missions. She never offered a single kind word. She demanded results without compromise, and if someone consistently failed to deliver, she discarded them without hesitation.

That was why most members of the Black Hawk were veteran knights in their thirties and forties, men in the prime of their working lives. Most younger members failed to meet Karen-san’s standards and were either fired or quit on their own.

Because she was so severe, people apparently called her the “Demon Princess” behind her back.

“Understood, Captain… I’ll take it to heart from now on.”

“—Hmph. Well, the mission is over for now. Normally, we’d head back to the Royal Capital and do another job, but it’s already late today. We have no choice. We’ll stay overnight in this village.”

Without even glancing at my dejected face, Karen-san began walking toward the farming village where our lodging was located.

“Ah…”

As I watched her back gradually recede into the distance, the enormous greatsword made specifically for her strapped across it, nearly as tall as she was, I…

“Haa… haa… The usual Karen-san is cute too, but Karen-san when she’s working and being unbearably cold is just as good… I want her to bully me more. I want her to insult me more.”

I sank into a mild state of bliss.

Oh, of course I was aware that I was a pervert. Naturally, if anyone other than Karen-san tried that with me, I’d make sure they experienced a little pain themselves.

Now then, the farming village we had traveled to was actually fairly famous as a small tourist destination.

The reason was the hot springs that bubbled up throughout the village—

“Fwaaah~… I feel alive again~…”

At the recommendation of the innkeeper, I sank up to my shoulders in the outdoor open-air bath.

Since we were in the north, white snow was steadily falling from the dim night sky. It was almost a fantastical sight.

At the moment, I was the only person in the hot spring. I felt a little guilty, but I decided to enjoy it without reservation.

It might have been a bit luxurious, but restoring one’s tired body and mind was also part of a knight’s job. We basically worked every day, so opportunities like this couldn’t be wasted.

“Still, if I soak for too long, Karen-san will yell, ‘How long do you intend to laze around bathing, you slacker?’… Well, I’m warm enough now, so I guess that’s fine.”

Thinking that I would come back properly the next time I got a long break—not that I expected to get one—I stepped out of the hot spring and turned around.

Then, through the steam, an unexpected sight entered my vision.

“Hehe… I can’t tell that idiot, but I was actually really looking forward to using this hot spring… Though I feel a little guilty since I didn’t do anything at all on this mission—wait.”

“…Huh? Captain?”

Standing there with bare skin as white as the surrounding snow was Karen-san.

The towel she was holding and the thick steam hid the important parts, but she was probably naked. She was about to enter the hot spring, so naturally enough, that was only to be expected.

“Fwah!? Th-That voice… Haru!?”

“Yes, it’s Haru. Captain, are you about to take a bath too?”

“W-Well, yes, obviously… but more importantly, why are you here!?”

“Huh? Because this inn only has one hot spring.”

“I know that! Of course I know that! But that’s not what I meant…”

Right. What Karen-san probably wanted to ask, more precisely, was “Why are you here during the women’s bathing hours?”

But I had my own side of the story. The elderly innkeeper had told me that this was the “men’s bathing period.” Since there was only one hot spring, she had explained that the schedule was divided into three periods: “men only,” “women only,” and “mixed bathing allowed.” So, out of consideration, I had specifically chosen the “men’s” time.

“So it was that old innkeeper…! Damn it, I wondered why she kept staring at us so much…”

Ah, so the innkeeper really was the culprit.

The old woman had probably lied about what was actually supposed to be a “mixed bathing allowed” period, telling me it was for “men” and Karen-san that it was for “women,” deliberately arranging for us to end up here together.

What an outrageous busybody. I supposed she had made her own assumptions about the relationship between the two knights who had come here on a mission.

Ma’am. As far as I was concerned, great job.

“Ugh…!”

“Huh? Captain, where are you going?”

“Idiot! Obviously I’m leaving! Th-There’s no way I could do something so shameless as b-b-b-bathing with a man!”

In stark contrast to how she acted on missions, Karen-san was visibly shaken as she turned on her heel and fled from me—

“Ah, Captain, if you run like that—”

“! Kyaa—!?”

The moment her footing became careless, Karen-san slipped on the wet, slick stone pavement and fell hard with a tremendous thud.

Because she kept herself so constantly tense during missions, whenever Karen-san finally relaxed somewhere like this, she suddenly became surprisingly clumsy.

“Captain, are you all right!?”

“Haru!? W-Wait… I’m fine, so—”

“No. Let me see. ‘Disaster always begins with the smallest crack’—that’s what you taught me, Captain. I’m checking whether you’re injured.”

I immediately rushed over and gently touched Karen-san’s ankle. It was smooth as silk, but this wasn’t the time to be thinking about things like that.

“It doesn’t seem… sprained. Captain, I’m going to move it a little.”

“N-No, Haru, don’t, ngh…!”

The instant I gripped her ankle a little more firmly, Karen-san let out a slightly high-pitched sound.

“Does it hurt? Then I’ll cast healing magic immediately—”

“No, that’s not it. There’s nothing wrong with the injury. It’s just…”

Karen-san’s gaze drifted down toward my lower body.

“We’re both naked… and being like this is… embarrassing…”

“…”

“H-Hey! Stop staring at me like that…!”

Oh, come on.

Just how innocent could this woman possibly be?

She was ridiculously cute. Far too cute.

And so, for the time being, that little incident in the bath came to an end like that.

But the meddling of the elderly innkeeper who had orchestrated the whole incident didn’t end there.