In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 256

Chapter 256: The Stepsister Knight and the Watch Duty

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I, Karina Blondin, was having a secret discussion with my friends. The location was the lookout platform set up at the tip of the main mast of the Michael Collins. Though to be fair, this ship only had a single mast to begin with. We had been ordered to stand watch at this spot.

The time was midnight… or rather, it was already late enough that it could be called early morning. Naturally, the surroundings were still pitch-dark. It was a slightly harsh time of day for a cow beastkin like me, whose night vision wasn’t very good, but since I was just tagging along with the officially assigned sentries, I wasn’t having too much trouble.

“So then, the Margrave told me to help her and Sonia-sama make up, you know. Isn’t that totally unreasonable!?”

While keeping my gaze on the surface of the surrounding water, I passionately explained my grievance. The ship was currently anchored in the dead center of the river so the crew could sleep. Because of that situation, we were being extremely careful about perimeter security. Well, obviously getting attacked while anchored would be a serious problem.

Incidentally, there were four people crammed into the lookout platform, myself included. One was my underling, Lotte, a squirrel beastkin. Another was Colette, a  dragonewt. She was a new recruit around the same age as us, whom I often hung out with. And lastly, there was a fox beastkin hunter named Lenael, who had recently come to the Liseben army as an instructor for forest warfare.

Around this time, I had been receiving forest combat training under Lenael’s guidance. Since she was a commoner, I didn’t call her that out loud, but internally I thought of her as “Sensei.” Because this Lenael-sensei was going out on watch together with Colette, I had been allowed to join in with Lotte as well. …After all, this lookout platform was the perfect place for private conversations.

“Sonia-sama is just too harsh, y’know. If you do even one thing she doesn’t like, it feels like she’d squash you as casually as crushing a fly.”

Lotte said that with her voice trembling. True enough, Sonia was terrifying. She was unbelievably beautiful, yet her eyes were frighteningly sharp, and on top of that, she was extremely violent. According to the Margrave herself, she had once dislocated her own mother’s joints.

I mean, what do you even mean by dislocating your mother’s joints? No matter how furious I got, I’d never think of doing something like that to my parents. That was way too scary. Combined with her battlefield reputation, just standing in front of Sonia made me feel like I was about to wet myself.

“Exactly. She looks scary, and she’s scary on the inside too. Honestly, I don’t even want to get close to her…”

Looking at the river surface glittering under the moonlight, I let out a sigh. And yet, unless I got that terrifying Sonia and the Margrave to reconcile, I couldn’t even reach the starting line. I really had stepped into a ridiculously difficult romantic path. And at this point, there was no turning back.

“B-but, actually, Sonia-sama is a surprisingly kind person.”

That was said by Colette, the new recruit. She was clad head to toe in a full set of enchanted armor, with a fine longsword hanging from her waist. At a glance, she looked like a reasonably well-off apprentice knight, but in truth, she was nothing more than a commoner foot soldier.

Apparently, during the Liseben War, Colette had shielded Onii-sama and suffered serious injuries. This armor had been bestowed upon her as a reward for that. She looked timid at first glance, but it seemed she actually had quite a bit of grit.

“This sword, too—Sonia-sama personally gave it to me, saying, ‘This is thanks for protecting Al-sama’…”

“Wait, really!?”

I reflexively looked over at Colette. Now that she mentioned it, it really was an impressive sword. It even seemed to be enchanted with magic. If she sold it, she could probably get enough money to buy a modest mansion.

…Honestly, wasn’t it better than my sword? The one I was using now was a hand-me-down saber from Mother Desiree. It was technically a magic sword, but it had apparently been something she kept as a spare, so it felt pretty cheap. Ugh, I was so jealous.

“But isn’t that just because Sonia-sama turns super soft whenever it’s about Castellan-sama?”

Lotte said that while pursing her lips. Hmm, yeah, that did sound plausible. Sonia clearly switched her standards depending on whether it involved her older brother or not… Like a loyal dog—or maybe a mad dog. Well, not a dog. A dragon.

“N-no, but still… I think Sonia-sama isn’t as cold as she looks. Probably…”

Still, Colette didn’t seem to change her opinion. She murmured that while staring off into the distance.

“Hmmm…”

I couldn’t help groaning. Either way, unless I dealt with that troublesome woman, I wouldn’t even be able to get to the main issue and that meant I wouldn’t get to spend a night together with my dear brother. I hated that. I really hated it. I wanted to push Onii-sama down onto the bed and make him cry out, like, right now.

“…In the end, unless you get along with Sonia-sama to some extent, you probably can’t even bring up the main topic.”

Lenael-sensei, who had been silently focusing on lookout duty until now, spoke up. Her tone was blunt, but it wasn’t because she was annoyed by us being noisy… Probably. She always talked like this.

“When hunting difficult prey… Sometimes it’s effective to step boldly into the enemy’s space and land a decisive blow.”

Keeping her gaze fixed on the distance, Lenael tapped the large hunting knife hanging at her waist. I see. What a very hunter-like advice.

“…That’s true. I guess I’ll just have to do my best somehow to become friends with Sonia.”

Know your enemy and know yourself, and all that. Onii-sama had said something like that during his military science lectures too. In the end, I really did have to summon the courage to step forward. …Becoming friends with Sonia, huh. There was quite an age gap, too. What should I even do? Hmm, maybe asking Onii-sama directly was an option. Since they were childhood friends, he might know some kind of strategy.

“…By the way, Karina-sama… Are you really willing to go through something that frightening just to, um… Spend your life together with Castellan-sama?”

“Of course I am! There’s no other man as sexy, cool, cute, and kind as him!”

I answered Lenael-sensei’s question sharply.

“S-sexy…?”

“He is sexy! Obviously!”

“He’s sexy, yeah.”

My underling Lotte nodded instantly. After all, she often got put through harsh training by Onii-sama together with me. She frequently had the chance to admire his indecently sexy body up close while he exercised in light clothing. Of course “sexy” was the only possible impression she had of him.

“……”

“……”

Lenael-sensei and Colette both fell silent. Since we were on watch, they weren’t facing us, but even so, I could clearly sense the exasperation in their expressions.

“What’s with you two? You should try joining Onii-sama’s hand-to-hand combat training sometime.”

“Hand-to-hand combat training?”

“Yeah! Grappling and joint-lock practice is the best! You’re hugging each other tight, touching butts all you want! You’ll never run out of material to fantasize about!”

“G-grappling!? Ground techniques!? Close contact!?”

For once, Lenael-sensei raised her voice in clear agitation. No matter how cool she looked, she was still at that age where interest in men’s bodies was inevitable. Anyone who wasn’t curious after hearing that would be the weird one.

“That’s a great idea! Even hunters won’t lose anything by learning close combat. Let’s definitely train together with Castellan-sama!”

At times like this, Lotte was always the first to get carried away. As Lenael-sensei flustered with a “T-that’s…” I couldn’t help but smile—

“Huh!?”

I spotted multiple moving objects in the distance. They were coming from upstream. But since bovine beastkin had terrible night vision, I couldn’t make out what they were.

“Lenael, what is that?”

When I pointed and asked her, Lenael-sensei pulled out a spyglass and put it to her eye.

“A small boat… There are people on it.”

A small boat!? In the middle of a forest, where there weren’t any settlements nearby!? There was no way that was normal. Lenael-sensei seemed to think the same, grabbing the hammer hooked to the mast with a tense expression. Then she struck the small alarm bell installed there with all her strength.

“Enemy attack! A group believed to be hostile is approaching from the rear!”

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