The Female Knight Who Couldn't Even Last A Few Days Without Her Boyfriend Was Way Too Cute

The moment I went to meet the knight and saw that figure, I realized it immediately.

Ah, that’s Karen-san.

She was dressed from head to toe in jet-black armor, probably because she wanted to keep her identity hidden as much as possible, but the way she walked and all her little everyday mannerisms unmistakably belonged to the woman I loved.

And then there was her scent—that was another way I could tell. Ever since we started dating, we’d had plenty of physical contact and other forms of affection, so once you’d reached my level of Karen-san fanaticism, you could detect her by smell before sight the moment she came close.

Ah, yes. That’s right. I’m a pervert.

“Um, you’re the knight who’s going to be assisting me—is that correct?”

【…YES, THAT’S RIGHT. I AM CALLED BLACK KNIGHT.】

In response to my question, the Black Knight (Karen) spoke in an unnecessarily high falsetto.

She was clearly forcing her voice so I wouldn’t realize she was Karen-san, but it was painfully obvious. Also, why was she speaking so stiffly?

“Um—you really don’t have to force yourself that much…”

And at that moment, for the first time in a while, my sadistic streak began bubbling up inside me.

Maybe it’d be more fun if I pretended not to notice for a while—no, it definitely would be.

Karen-san and I had an extremely good relationship. However, lately, every time we saw each other, all we did was flirt and cuddle, and we didn’t tease each other nearly as much as we used to. Constantly stimulating each other to keep things from becoming stale and maintaining that fresh feeling throughout a relationship—that was apparently the secret to making a couple last, according to Madeleine-san.

“No, excuse me. It was nothing. It’ll only be for a short while, but I look forward to working with you, okay?”

【…THANK YOU. LIKEWISE.】

Apparently thinking I hadn’t noticed because of the polite smile I wore for strangers, Karen-san proudly held out her hand for a handshake.

For a moment, I wondered if my acting had been a little too obvious, but apparently my performance of pretending not to notice had succeeded.

So I immediately decided to throw out the first jab.

“Ah, um! Could I ask you something?”

Just as Karen-san tried to release the hand I’d shaken, I immediately grabbed it firmly with both of mine.

“You have such large hands… I’m jealous. I’m on the smaller side myself, so I’ve always really admired hands like these… Um, could I touch them a little longer?”

【U-UM…】

Naturally, Karen-san seemed bewildered, but I continued without caring.

“Black Knight-san… Um, would you be interested in seeing me personally?”

【――!!??】

I could feel Karen-san’s obvious shock through the hand I was holding. Of course she was shocked. The boyfriend she’d trusted enough to send away was suddenly asking some mysterious knight of indeterminate gender to date him in an island nation far from the royal capital.

“I know it’s strange to say this to someone I’ve only just met, but the truth is, when it comes to people with big hands, I have absolutely no restraint. Even if it’s a man, I still get all fluttery like this.”

【!?!??――!????????!!!!!!???】

Naturally, that was a lie. I had absolutely no such romantic inclinations toward men.

However, that verbal hammer apparently struck Karen-san so hard that her heavy-looking black helmet swayed from side to side. Her footing even seemed unsteady.

“――Oh, sorry. Looks like we’ve spent too long standing around talking. For now, I’ll show you to where we’ll be working, so please follow me.”

【W-Wait… You’re just leaving that there…? Your tastes…?】

Ignoring Karen-san, who had completely forgotten about maintaining her character and finally reacted in her normal voice, I skipped lightly away in a thoroughly satisfied mood.

“Listen, Haru… Even as a joke, there are things you should and shouldn’t say, right? Until just a moment ago, I was beside myself thinking, ‘My beloved boyfriend was actually a completely indiscriminate bisexual all along,’ you know??”

As we faced more than a hundred female warriors of the Republic, Karen-san smacked me on the head. But rather than anger, she looked profoundly relieved, and the blows felt more like she was patting my head.

“Sorry. It’d been a while since we’d had that kind of exchange… But Captain, you’re partly to blame too, you know? Why did you go out of your way to hide your identity and come all the way here? Is the Fourth Knight Squad (Black Hawk) going to be all right?”

“I-It’s fine――no, actually… it isn’t…”

Karen-san looked away from me with an awkward expression. Which meant she’d probably overheard my request for reinforcements somehow and gone directly to Erluka-sama to plead her case.

“――B-But! I couldn’t help it! I couldn’t stand having Haru away from me! You’re in a knight order full of nothing but women, surrounded by a harem! There’s no way nothing could happen!”

Considering they were currently glaring at me with open hostility, I really didn’t think anything was going to happen… Still, if you only considered the circumstances, I suppose it wasn’t unreasonable for her to worry.

“――And now you’ve seen the situation I’m in… Are you reassured?”

“Somewhat. Still, you’ve really managed to make them hate you… Wasn’t your greeting a little too intense? That’s the problem with you, Haru. You tend not to know how to hold back in anything.”

That might have been true. After all, ever since that fight, Lilia, the subject of my mission, had remained shut inside her room. The only people who knew the circumstances were Ena and Zena.

“――Hey, you old hag from before. Can we get started already? I’m totally ready to fight over here.”

“I! Am! Your! Elder! Sister!”

“Huh? You’re an old lady, aren’t you?”

“Graaaah!!”

With Ena’s rude remark, the atmosphere between the two instantly became explosive. Whenever these two were thrown together, a fight really could start out of nowhere.

“――I’m ready too. So is everyone else.”

“Yeah. Then come at us whenever you want. So, Karen-san――what should we do?”

“Hm? For now, I’m going to beat the crap out of that insolent little brat!”

Ah, she’d already stopped listening. Apparently, just because I was her support, she intended to leave absolutely everything else to me.

“――Understood. Then I’ll support you. Karen-san, just focus on attacking.”

Karen-san drew her beloved greatsword and nodded.

“Then――let’s go!!”

At Karen-san’s signal, I stayed glued directly behind her as we charged straight into the group.

“All right, let’s start with a little warm-up――take this!!”

The first person to block our path was Ena. She swung down a steel club that looked tremendously heavy, using her monstrous strength to wield it with the sharpness and speed of a sword while retaining all the crushing force inherent to the weapon itself.

“A good attack with plenty of power behind it――but…”

Rather than block the opening strike aimed straight at her face, Karen-san took another step forward and closed the distance between herself and Ena.

“――If you thought I’d block it, you were naive.”

“Wh――ugh!?”

Karen-san shifted her grip on the hilt and slammed the pommel straight into the area around Ena’s solar plexus. Ena had probably wanted to pit her club against Karen-san’s greatsword in a contest of strength, but Karen-san had completely denied her the opportunity.

Normally, however, landing a blow like that would have meant taking the opponent’s attack in return. Yet Karen-san remained completely unharmed and had already turned her eyes toward her next target.

So then, what had happened to the club Ena swung down?

“――!?”

Ena stared in astonishment when she saw.

And no wonder, because while riding on Karen-san’s back as she leaned forward, I had smoothly deflected Ena’s attack and redirected its impact into the ground.

“Seriously… You can fight like that?”

Of course we could. Though admittedly, it was a feat only possible because it was Karen-san and me working together.

Well, that was how seriously both Karen-san and I were taking this.

“Next!”

Karen-san sent Ena flying far behind us, then continued forward toward the center as though cutting straight through the entire group.

Attacks naturally came flying at us from every direction as we advanced, but we exploited their poor coordination to effortlessly deal with every single one, disabling them one after another just as we had Ena.

Karen-san should have been full of openings whenever she attacked, yet I covered them as though a snake were coiling around her, creating a formation with absolutely no gaps for the enemy to exploit.

Whirlwind――that was what the knight order called this method, which combined both offense and defense. At present, however, Karen-san and I were the only pair capable of performing it.

“――I’ve been waiting.”

After mowing down most of the group in one continuous rush, we came face-to-face with Zena, who had remained motionless at the center.

They seemed to be a group of assassins――unlike Ena and the other brawlers, these women continually kept their distance from us while remaining wary of an attack.

“Haru, want to switch? I don’t think I’m a good match against these girls.”

“Understood.”

The instant Karen-san moved behind me, Zena stepped toward me.

I thought she might be preparing to make a desperate last stand――but.

“…I surrender.”

“Huh?”

She raised the white flag without the slightest hesitation.

“You two are extremely strong. In the current situation, there’s no chance of winning, so…”

“Fighting would just be pointless. So you’re surrendering?”

Mm, Zena nodded expressionlessly.

Surrendering was certainly a perfectly valid decision. Since I’d just told them to eliminate unnecessary actions, it was rather difficult for me to criticize her for it.

“――I haven’t quite had enough rampaging yet… But this is basically a mock battle, so why not leave it to their judgment?”

“Hmm, if you say so, Karen-san――”

Thinking that was also a rational choice, I reluctantly began to return my sword to its sheath when—

At the same instant a faint whistling sound reached my ears, I felt something winding itself around my entire body.

“…Got you.”

Still kneeling in supposed surrender, Zena spoke with triumphant light shining in her eyes.

Apparently, during the brief period when we’d been dealing with Ena and the others, she had been setting up a trap.

The steel threads were as thin as spider silk, yet sharp enough that even the slightest movement would cut straight through whatever touched them.

“Pretending to surrender and striking once we’d relaxed our guard, huh. That’s a fighting style appropriate to your role.”

“…Flattery won’t get you anything.”

Admittedly, I would’ve liked to pat her on the head once, but in this situation I couldn’t move so much as a finger. Actually, if I did move one, it felt like I’d lose it.

“This is troublesome… I thought we had this easily.”

“…The tables have turned.”

Indeed. Now all she had to do was wait for Ena and the others we’d blown away to recover, then have them gang up on us while we were helpless.

But that would only have been true if I’d been alone.

So in the end, this was still our victory.

“!? What…?”

Zena’s eyes widened as she felt the steel threads, which should have been pulled taut, suddenly loosen.

At the end of her gaze stood my goddess of victory, who was perhaps a little too specialized in raw physical strength.

“――Unfortunately for you, tricks like this don’t work on me.”

The prey that had supposedly been completely entangled forcibly ripped the threads away through sheer strength, until she finally tore them apart entirely.

“――Monster.”

“How rude. There are plenty of people around the world at my level. You should have learned more about what lies beyond your borders.”

Karen-san shook the threads off like trash as she spoke, and Zena tossed her dagger and the rest of her concealed weapons onto the ground before raising both hands.

And so ended a battle of two against a hundred that had gone somewhat too far for what was supposed to be training.

Only a few minutes had passed.

――Needless to say, after this, the attitude of the women who had shown us nothing but hostility until then completely reversed.