In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 323

Chapter 323: The Stepsister Knight and Enemy Contact

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I, Karina Blondin, had been panicking. From somewhere behind our position, the sounds of battle had been echoing. I had heard that the enemy had dug a tunnel and broken through the trench lines, but I didn’t know anything beyond that. It made me uneasy.

Normally, I stayed in the command dugout with Onii-sama, but when the enemy attack began, I had been at the front line’s first trench at the worst possible time. I had been ordered by Onii-sama to deliver documents to Josette-san of the knight unit.

“O-Onii-sama… I wonder if he’s okay?”

My voice came out strained without me meaning it to. The sounds of fighting from the rear were quite intense, mixed even with the war drums used by the ant insectoid soldiers. It sounded like a considerable enemy force had invaded through the tunnel.

I was worried. Very worried. The command dugout where Onii-sama was should have been heavily fortified, but the enemy were ants. They might dig through and break in by force. Would Onii-sama be safe?

An image surfaced in my mind of Onii-sama being forced down by those terrifying four arms. It was horrifying. Too horrifying. I had hated even the idea of Onii-sama kissing that old elf woman, so there was no way I could accept those barbaric creatures taking his chastity.

“Josette-san. I, I need to hurry back to the command dugout…”

I spoke to Josette-san, who had been peering through a telescope with a stern expression. She was one of Onii-sama’s childhood friends and the captain of the knight unit.

“No… in times like this, running around blindly isn’t good. Stay here until the situation settles down.”

Without taking her eyes off the telescope, Josette-san said that.

“B-but…!”

“No arguing! It’s dangerous to act alone in a situation like this! If the enemy targets you, can you handle it on your own!?”

At her sharp tone, I instinctively exchanged looks with my subordinate, Lotte. This timid squirrel beastkin, even more faint-hearted than me, shook her head frantically with a pale face.

…Honestly, Josette-san was right. In the battle the other day, I had fought those ant insectoid soldiers too, and I had been pushed entirely onto the defensive. If Onii-sama and the elf soldiers hadn’t supported me, I might have died there. They were truly formidable. If I started fighting without support from those around me, someone at my level, or Lotte’s, would simply be killed one-sidedly. It was a hard truth to accept, but there was no helping it.

“For now, come under my command. I’ll explain things to Al-sama later.”

“Understood…”

As I answered while hanging my head, there was a loud flapping sound, and something large dropped down from above.

“Eek!?”

I almost wet myself, but when I looked closely, it was a crow birdman. It was Uru-san.

“Messenger from headquarters. Enemy main force approaching from the east. Ignore the rear and focus on interception there. That’s all.”

“Mm, understood… So the one behind us really was a diversion. Well, with a makeshift tunnel, they can’t move large numbers through it anyway.”

With a calm, unbothered attitude, Josette-san nodded. As expected of someone who had trained alongside Onii-sama, she remained composed even in a situation like this.

“Well then, that’s that.”

Uru-san looked as if she was about to fly off, as though her business was done, and I hurriedly called out.

“Ah, wait a moment! Onii-sama… is Onii-sama safe!?”

“He is lively as ever and full of spirit. No need to worry!”

After saying that briefly, Uru-san disappeared into the sky in an instant. Still, I had learned what I needed to know. It seemed that Onii-sama was safe for now. I let out a sigh of relief, and Josette-san gave a wry smile.

“There’s no way Al-sama would be taken down by ants like that. And Sonia is with him too.”

“That’s true…”

The ant insectoids were terrifying, but Sonia was even more so. I couldn’t help but smile. The image of Sonia mowing down ant soldiers by the dozen vividly came to mind.

“By the way, let me ask you something. How many rounds of ammunition do you have? Rifle rounds, I mean.”

Her expression turning serious again, Josette-san asked. I quickly reached into the ammo pouch at my waist and grabbed the paper cartridges.

“Um, one, two, three… ten rounds.”

“Eight rounds for me.”

“That’s not much.”

With a slightly troubled look, Josette-san shrugged.

“We don’t go to the front lines very often… so we kept only the minimum amount of ammunition and gave the rest to the people at the front.”

The shortage of ammunition had already been a problem for some time. It had been decided that those with fewer chances to fire would hand over their ammo to the front-line soldiers. Of course, that wasn’t my own decision. It was Onii-sama’s order.

“Hmm…”

After a short groan, Josette-san beckoned me closer. When I did, she lowered her voice and whispered so others couldn’t hear.

“To be honest, we’ve only got about as much ammo as you do. This is a bit bad.”

“Seriously…”

That unpleasant information almost made me faint for a moment. Even the front-line soldiers only had around ten rounds? And Josette-san’s rifle was a new breech-loading type that made rapid fire easy. Once the fighting started, it felt like we’d run out in no time…

And it wasn’t just ammunition that was lacking. It seemed the elves were also running low on arrows. Well, both guns and bows had been used quite heavily every time a battle broke out. If it turned into a prolonged fight, it was only natural we’d run short…

“If the enemy launches a full-scale offensive, it’ll almost certainly turn into close combat. Fix your bayonets early.”

“Y-yes…”

Ah, I hate this. Those ant insectoids are seriously no joke. Do we really have to fight them in close combat again? Give me a break… I might actually die this time…

Just as I felt like I might start crying inside, an intimidating drumbeat sounded from ahead. A lookout shouted, “Enemy approaching! A large force!”

I quickly turned my eyes in that direction and saw a mass of enemy troops advancing along the boundary between the forest and the riverbank.

“Eek…”

No way! There were so many of them. That wasn’t just a hundred or two. At least five hundred, probably more. The ant insectoid soldiers, clad in black armor, though their chests and stomachs were still exposed, formed a tightly packed formation, with poncho-clad elf soldiers covering both flanks.

It was clearly different from the harassment attacks we had seen before. This was a formation meant to win a head-on battle. Even someone as inexperienced as me could clearly tell that the enemy was aiming for a decisive fight. 

This is going to be one hell of a battle…

“You ants really don’t know when to give up…! Time to teach these barbarians, stuck in their outdated tactics, what modern tactics look like! All units, prepare to fire!”

Josette-san raised her rifle like a command sword and gave the order. …But to carry out those “modern tactics,” we clearly didn’t have enough ammunition.

Are we really going to be okay…?

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