In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 245

Chapter 245: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Elf Ninja

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The battle between the komusō Elves and the Ninja Elves became completely one-sided. The komusō Elves’ level of training was blatantly low. While it would be going too far to call them new recruits, they were far removed from the seasoned and eccentric combat style characteristic of elves. In contrast, the Ninja Elves moved exactly like an elite force, skillfully driving the komusō Elf soldiers into a corner.

In the end, it took less than ten minutes for the komusō Elves to be fully subdued. From the shade of the large tree where we were watching, one of the Ninja Elves waved toward us.

“Hello there! Hello! Are y’all unharmed?”

The tone was extremely friendly. Given the situation, it was hard to think they had done anything other than support us, so at the very least they were probably not enemies… But still, they were a suspicious bunch. Whether it was wise to trust them so readily was questionable.

“What should we do? They don’t exactly look like the kind you can trust at first glance.”

I looked to Gilberto and asked her. She wore a subtle, hard-to-describe expression, one of frustration that had nowhere to go. It was obvious she had wanted to defeat the komusō Elves with her own hands.

“…I think it should be fine to at least hear them out. If they intended to harm us, it would have been quicker to simply side with those oddly dressed ones and turn their swords on us.”

Even when her guts were boiling with anger, Gilberto’s strength was that her judgment stayed calm. She considered it briefly, then replied.

“I agree… All units, lower your guns. Don’t forget to decock them.”

I gave that order to the knights, who had already finished preparing to fire. They carefully pressed down the hammers with their fingers and pulled the triggers while making sure the guns would not discharge. Leaving the hammers cocked carried a high risk of an accidental firing. This was the kind of thing that needed to be clearly instructed.

“No problem! We appreciate the assistance!”

I stuck my head out from the shade and called out to the Ninja Elves. Fortunately, they did not suddenly change demeanor and raise their bows at us. Having been a bit tense, I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

“I am Albert Blondin,Castellan of Liseben, along with the knights under my command. If you don’t mind, I would like to ask which faction you belong to.”

“Ahh, we’re the Suppa! We’re under the command of Granny Dalaiya! We were ordered by the old lady to secretly guard yer person.”

Suppa—put in modern terms, that meant covert operatives. As expected, these people really were a kind of ninja. Well, roles like that had existed in military organizations throughout history, east and west alike. The reason I instinctively labeled them “ninja” was probably because I used to be Japanese…

Still, if what they were saying was true, that meant they had been stalking us since at least early this morning. Otherwise, there was no way they could have intervened at such perfect timing. Their stealth ability was impressive. I could only admire it. Even we were no amateurs, yet we had completely failed to detect their surveillance…

“Subordinates of Lady Dalaiya, huh…”

“That sounds suspicious. This attack itself might have been staged by that old elf.”

When I muttered that, Gilberto leaned in and whispered it to me with a wary expression. Honestly, that possibility was far from zero. To gain our trust, she could have fabricated an attack and then had her subordinates come to the rescue. A classic “crying red ogre” ploy.

That said, with the information we had right now, there was no way to determine whether this attack was Lady Dalaiya’s self-serving setup or not. We would have to put judgment on that aside for now.

“Well, if that’s the case, then they probably won’t try to harm us any further. At least for the time being, it means we’re safe.”

After replying that way to Gilberto, I led my subordinates toward the Ninja Elves. Several komusō Elves lay on the ground. Most of them appeared to be dead, but a few were still breathing. The survivors had been bound by the Ninja Elves.

“Thank you. You saved us.”

I gave a small bow and extended my hand to the woman who seemed to be the leader of the Ninja Elves. She removed her face covering, grinned, and returned the handshake.

…She just took it off. Well, okay then.

Seeing them up close, there was no doubt they were elves. What had looked like ninja garb from a distance turned out, on closer inspection, to be elven-style work clothes modified for combat. Once I calmed down and looked carefully, they honestly didn’t give off much of a Japanese vibe at all.

“No need fer thanks. Wasn’t nothin’. Those brats weren’t even worth the warm-up.”

“Brats…?”

“Brats” in elven dialect referred to youngsters or sometimes short-lived races. As I tilted my head in confusion, the ninja leader walked over to a komusō Elf who was in the middle of being tightly bound with rope. She forcibly removed the distinctive komusō hat.

Underneath was, as expected, an elf. She was terribly gaunt, yet still unnaturally beautiful. Of course, I didn’t recognize the face. But what the ninja leader wanted to show me wasn’t the prisoner’s face, it was the hat itself. She handed the eerie headgear to me.

“By our laws, half-baked elves ain’t allowed to show their faces to menfolk. So they hide ’em with junk like that.”

“K-kill me! After sufferin’ such humiliation, I can’t go on livin’! Just do it already!”

Ignoring the captive komusō Elf who was shouting, the ninja leader explained calmly.

I see. Elves strictly separated men and women during their upbringing. That was a method used in places like Sparta or Satsuma as well. With such extreme abstinence, no wonder they ended up weak against seduction… Or so one might think.

“Normally, these half-baked ones are strictly forbidden from ever setting foot on a battlefield…”

“Then who exactly are they?” 

Gilberto demanded, her tone sharp. I gently tapped her shoulder and signaled with my eyes for her to leave it to me. She snapped back to herself and nodded several times, looking ashamed.

“They’re most likely our own kin. We’ve heard that hardly any youngsters are left among the rebels anymore.”

Saying that, the ninja leader bowed deeply. Indeed, in the “Legitimate” settlements, I had never once seen elves wearing such headgear. That meant their affiliation being “New” was almost certain, but I hadn’t expected her to admit it so readily.

“We sincerely apologize that our comrades caused trouble for Albert-dono and his people. We ain’t got much to offer as an apology, but if y’all say we gotta take responsibility, I’ll cut my own belly.”

“N-no, you don’t need to cut your belly.”

Why did elves try to commit seppuku at the drop of a hat…? That kind of thing really caused problems. Please, give me a break.

“More importantly, I want to know why your youths attacked us. I don’t believe we did anything that would warrant having swords turned on us.”

“Course not. Harmin’ Albert-dono, who we owe such a great debt to… That’s somethin’ we’d never allow. These fools are a disgrace to Elfenia.”

With a look of pure disgust, the ninja leader kicked one of the captives. The young elf let out a scream and rolled across the ground. Well, with elves, you couldn’t actually judge age by appearance. In fact, the ninja leader honestly looked younger than the captive…

“They were probably fed some strange nonsense by Vanka-dono. That old hag’ll do anythin’, no matter how brutal, if it means wipin’ out the rebels…”

I recognized that name. One of the elven elders Lady Dalaiya had mentioned, a dangerous hardliner. That said, the information came from Lady Dalaiya herself, so it couldn’t be trusted outright. There was always the possibility she was trying to use me to bring down her political enemies…

“Either way, it’ll be faster to get the details straight from these idiots. We’ll hand over all the livin’ captives. Boil ’em, roast ’em, do whatever you like.”

…Wow. More prisoners, just like that. At this point, didn’t that mean we had no choice but to return to Carrera City? Well, honestly, the moment we were attacked, this had already stopped being anything like a date.

Haa… What a damn shame. Just when things had started to feel kind of nice between Gilberto and me, too. Damn those idiot elves…

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