The Mob Noble Who Got Reincarnated in a World Where Men Are Naturally Protected—So I Trained Like Crazy to Protect Girls Instead, But Their Love Got Way Too Heavy

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Chapter 27: Conquering the Giant Golem

While I was still figuring out how to attack, the first one to move was Wiz.

“Leave the girls from our class to me. —Sip, drip, and bloom. Blood Rose Wand.”

She dashed toward the entrance where the girls from our class had set up their magic circle, pulling out the rose wand she always kept pressed to her chest.

Her fingers clenched around the thorny stem.

Blood began to trickle down.

Then, with a flick of her wrist, she scattered those crimson drops toward the group of girls.

“Hah! What can someone like Delphia even do!?” “Got yourself a loser boy toy and think you’re all that?” “Sure, some people are scared of you—but not today! Only the brave got invited!”

Their mocking voices echoed through the chamber, but it didn’t matter.

I already knew just how terrifying Wiz’s magic truly was.

“First flower language—‘There is no one but you.’”

The moment her blood touched the ground, a glowing magic circle unfurled beneath their feet.

Half of them were caught before they even understood what had happened.

Blood-red vines burst from the circle, twisting upward and wrapping tight around their legs.

“Kyaa! It hurts!” “What is this!?” “M-My legs won’t—move!”

Blood spilled from their wounds, and every drop blossomed into new circles, spreading across the floor like wildfire.

Wiz watched her magic take hold, then turned back to us with a calm, satisfied smile.

“They’re all mine! Tect, shorty—focus on the golem!”

“Nice one, Wiz!”

“Not bad for a gloomy girl!”

Now that Wiz had all the enemy girls wrapped up, we didn’t have to worry about any ranged attacks anymore. That alone gave us a huge edge.

Still, Narcis’s golem was no joke. No matter how fired up we got, one wrong move and we’d be pancakes.

I took a deep breath and locked my gaze on the towering hunk of metal. Then muttered to myself—

“Calm down. It’s just another fight against someone stronger. I’ve done this a hundred times. Go all-out only if I have to—win with brains and footwork instead.”

“Tect?”

“Aegis! I’ll strike right after your defense. Think you can cover me?”

At my words, Aegis flashed a proud grin that could light up the battlefield.

“Finally letting me protect you? What an honor for a woman!”

We exchanged a solid nod.

I slipped behind her, taking my place in the shadow of her massive shield.

That’s when Narcis burst into hysterical laughter.

“Hahahaha! That’s right! A real man hides behind a woman’s back! For a second, I thought you were one of those fools who protects women—guess not!”

I clenched my jaw, biting back a comeback.

If he wanted to underestimate me, perfect.

Let him laugh all he wants—

I’d make sure that laughter turned into a scream later.

“But really now! What can a tiny girl like that possibly protect!? Let me fix that little mistake from earlier!”

Apparently, Narcis still believed Aegis blocking that first punch had just been a fluke.

So, like the idiot he was, the golem obediently drew back its massive arm and swung again—this time aiming dead-center at Aegis’s shield.

Aegis let out an exasperated sigh.

“Is that guy dumb or what? I blocked him once while I was flying midair. Now that I’ve got both feet on the ground, there’s no way I’m losing.”

The golem’s colossal fist slammed into her shield with an earth-shaking crash.

And the result—

“See? Told you so.”

A thunderous boom tore through the chamber, wind roared past us, and a wave of dust exploded outward—

But Aegis didn’t even flinch. She stood there, solid as a mountain, not a single strand of hair out of place.

“Wha—what!? Impossible! That’s a golem the size of an entire mansion!”

Narcis’s voice cracked in disbelief. Perfect.

I took a deep breath, muscles tensing.

“So, it’s Tect’s turn now, huh?”

“Yeah. Time for round two.”

“Then go get ’em! And when you’re done, how about a little kiss on the cheek as thanks?”

“If I do that, your mom’s gonna yell at me for ‘flirting with her daughter again,’ so I’ll pass! Pick something safer!”

I calculated Narcis’s blind spot, then broke into a sprint.

I fired my grappling hook from my left hand toward the golem’s side and kept running, the reel pulling me in tighter with every step.

The combined force of the pull and my dash launched me upward, my body spinning in a burst of centrifugal force.

But it still wasn’t enough—I wasn’t gonna reach the head like this.

So midair, I whipped out a knife and sliced the cable clean.

For a heartbeat, I was weightless.

Then I swapped out the hook’s claw mid-flight and fired again, the grappling line catching onto the golem’s side just in time.

Using that as leverage, I started climbing—one hand, one foothold at a time—scaling the giant like a rock-climber with a death wish.

“Damn it, again! How could she block a golem’s punch!? Wait—where’s Garland!?”

Narcis finally realized something was off.

Too late.

“Let’s start with one clean hit!”

I activated the magic circuit—

Sparks erupted from the pile bunker as compressed energy built up inside, roaring like a caged beast ready to blow.

“Pile Bunkeeeeer!!”

I swung the weapon down toward the golem’s head—

But a sharp voice sliced through the chaos.

“Narcis! The golem’s back—behind you!!”

“What!?”

One of the girls who’d barely broken free of Wiz’s vines had spotted me.

A split second later, a massive arm shot upward, straight toward my face.

I was already mid-swing—no chance to stop.

The pile bunker fired.

The golem’s arm exploded into a storm of rubble—and the recoil launched me like a human cannonball, blasting me through the air.

“Wha—Whaaaat!? The golem—its arm! Its arm’s gone!?”

“Uwooooh!? That recoil’s insane!!”

“Tect!?”

I went spinning through the air like a ragdoll—until Wiz dashed forward and caught me mid-fall.

She let out a sigh of relief… then clenched her teeth, clearly annoyed.

“I’m sorry, Tect. The restraints aren’t finished yet—Fourth Flower Language: ‘My feelings will never change, even in death!’”

“““Mmph—!”””

A burst of blood thorns erupted from her wand, lashing out and ensnaring the girl who’d shouted that warning to Narcis earlier.

This time, the vines wrapped so tight they even covered her mouth completely.

Yikes. That looked painful.

“Gloomy girl! Is Tect okay!?”

Aegis came charging over next.

“I’m fine!” I yelled back—only for her to immediately snap, “Tect’s definition of ‘fine’ can’t be trusted!”

…Rude, but not wrong.

“I am fine! Wiz caught me just in time!”

“Good! Now, about the golem!”

The three of us turned our eyes back to the battlefield.

The golem’s left arm—the one that had blocked my pile bunker—was completely blown off, reduced to dust.

The weapon’s power was flawless.

If that hit had connected with the head instead of the arm, it would’ve been game over.

But… aside from that, the thing was still fully functional.

Even with one arm missing, it moved just as fast, showing no signs of slowing down.

The only one actually shaken… was Narcis himself, standing on its shoulder, groaning like his pride had just been ripped off along with that arm.

“Y-You Bastard…! Just how much longer do you plan to mock me!?”

“You’re the one who started it! Don’t start whining now that we’re hitting back!”

“Garland! You’re from a mere knight’s family—basically a commoner pretending to be noble! How dare you defy me!? You think just because I hit you, you’re allowed to hit me back!?”

The words spilling out of Narcis’s mouth were so absurd that the three of us just stood there, speechless.

So that’s how his brain worked.

He actually thought being hit back was some kind of crime.

I loaded another magic stone into the pile bunker, the mechanism whirring with a satisfying click.

“Alright. Let’s show that idiot what hell looks like.”

“Agreed. Go make him explode into fireworks.”

“…Yeah, I’m done defending him just because he’s a guy. Time to educate him properly.”

With both of them backing me, I couldn’t help but grin as I raised my arms.

“Keep formation! Wiz, finish restraining the class girls—don’t let a single one warn Narcis! Aegis—got a plan, need your help.”

I leaned in and whispered it to her.

She froze, eyes wide.

“Huh!? Tect, are you insane?”

But after one long look into my eyes, she let out a resigned sigh.

“Fine. You’re way too reckless for a guy, but you’re the only one crazy enough to make this work. I’ll back you up.”

“Appreciate it!”

“In exchange, I’m cashing in that kiss on the cheek later—seriously think about it.”

“You’re still on about that!?—Here it comes!”

The golem roared, its gears grinding as it raised its massive fist again.

Aegis stepped forward, bracing her shield with a gleam in her eyes.

“Impossible! There’s no way a human could block my golem’s punch! My golem is invincible!”

Narcis screamed, eyes bloodshot, as the giant’s fist came crashing down again.

But Aegis didn’t even twitch.

“Don’t underestimate the Little Fortress!”

BOOOOM.

The sound was deafening—metal on metal, thunder on earth—yet her defense didn’t move an inch.

And right then, I broke into a sprint.

This time, I didn’t bother hiding.

I wanted Narcis to see me.

Sure enough, he bellowed, “Garland! What are you scheming now!?” while barking orders for the golem to face me.

The colossus turned, its shadow swallowing me whole as it pulled back its arm for another punch.

Perfect.

I fired the grappling hook straight at its shoulder joint—the base of that massive, swinging arm.

The hook bit deep. The line snapped taut.

My body launched upward in an instant, the cable reeling me in like a bullet fired from a cannon.

The wind roared in my ears as I shot past the golem’s incoming fist—barely missing it by a hair.

Somewhere below, I heard our classmates screaming.

Didn’t matter.

Sparks crackled down my arm as I powered up the pile bunker again, its chamber humming like a storm about to break loose.

But Narcis wasn’t completely brainless.

“So that’s your plan, huh!? Couldn’t hit me from behind, so now you’re trying head-on!? How stupid can you be!? You think I’ll lose to something that obvious!?”

The golem swung again, its massive arm cutting through the air like a wrecking ball aiming to swat a fly.

I leveled the pile bunker at him and grinned.

“Yeah, that’s right, Narcis. You’re such an idiot that when I do something stupid—”

I swung the pile bunker—its steel spike roared to life, flames bursting from the barrel.

“—you actually fall for it!”

But this time—

I fired it midair.

The blast kicked like a jet engine, launching me upward with a thunderous recoil and sending me soaring over the golem’s head before gravity yanked me back down.

“Ghha—my eyes! I can’t see!”

The blinding flash from the midair explosion burned Narcis’s vision white.

I twisted through the air, fighting to steady myself—then landed with a sharp grin curling across my face.

“Narcis, you just lost the first round—the mobility battle. And when you lose that, you don’t get to pick the next one—whether it’s a straight fight or a mind game. And now…”

I touched down—not on the ground, but exactly where I’d planned.

Right on top of Aegis’s shield.

“…you’ve already lost the information war too. Which means you don’t even get the right to counterattack.”

“Tect! We’re doing this!?”

“Yeah! Hit it hard!”

I crouched low atop her massive shield, feeling its solid weight beneath my boots, the heat of the moment surging through me.

Aegis flashed a fierce grin, braced her stance—

And with a roar, launched me skyward like a human cannonball.

“Uoooooooh!!”

Mid-flight, I slammed the final magic stone into the chamber.

This was it—the last shot.

The grappling hook I’d left attached earlier was still holding tight, keeping my trajectory perfect.

I reeled it in, tension screaming down the line—

And my body rocketed forward, straight toward the golem’s shoulder.

Its massive head filled my vision.

“Narcis! I’m about to fix that attitude of yours—with one hell of a punch!”

“W-What!? You missed completely earlier—there’s no way you—gah, damn it! I can’t see anything!”

The golem flailed, swinging its massive arms in every direction under Narcis’s panicked orders.

But I wasn’t anywhere near its reach.

I was above it.

Coming straight down from the sky.

That’s the beauty of an ambush—

You get to hit as hard as you want, and there’s no one around to stop you!

“Stop! Stop right now! I’m a viscount! The heir to the Orvieto family! There’s no way I can lose to some knight’s son—!”

“PILE! BUNKEEEEER!!”

I roared, slamming my right arm down into the golem’s head.

PAGOOOOON!!

The pile bunker detonated with a thunderous crack—steel, fire, and stone bursting outward in a blinding blast that shook the entire chamber.

The golem’s head exploded like a firework.

And with a completely undignified “Agh-hun!” sound, Narcis was blown sky-high before crashing back down in a rain of molten debris.

As I landed, I caught sight of it—the thing I’d been aiming for all along.

A lump of molten metal, twisting and pulsing like living slime, gleaming faintly in the fading light.

The golem’s core metal.

“Perfect timing. I’ll be taking this.”

I sliced off the tip of my grappling hook, snatched up the golem’s core metal, and jammed it into place where the claw had been.

The molten-looking metal shimmered, twisting and reshaping itself in response to my thoughts—until it cooled into a sleek, brand-new claw.

I gave a firm nod of approval and fired the grappling hook toward the ground.

Clang!

The claw bit deep into the stone floor, locking tight.

The pull yanked me down at an angle, and I used the force of the fall to redirect my landing into a smooth slide.

Dust flared around my boots as I skidded across the floor, then stopped dead—perfectly balanced.

With a sharp flick of my wrist, I disengaged the line at just the right moment, the hook retracting with a satisfying whirr.

I reeled it all the way back in, grinning like a madman.

“Flawless. Now that’s what I call a grappling hook!”

“Teeeeect!!”

Before I could even catch my breath, Aegis came sprinting straight at me—her stone armor dissolving in a flash of light, reverting her to her school uniform mid-run.

She tackled me full-force, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug, her voice trembling between frustration and relief.

“Doing something that dangerous again!? Seriously, you always make me worry!”

“Ha-ha, yeah, my bad. But hey—it worked out, didn’t it?”

“It did, but that’s not the point! Geez!”

“Hahaha!”

I couldn’t stop laughing, still riding the high of victory.

Aegis puffed up her cheeks, let out a tiny “Muuuh,” and muttered under her breath—

“Reward. Kiss on the cheek.”

“Wait, what—uh, hold on—”

“Reward. Promise. You said.”

“I—I don’t think I actually said that, but—uh—”

Her face turned bright red, and before I could even react, she suddenly shouted,

“Then fine—like this!”

She grabbed my shoulders, jumped up, and threw her arms around me—then planted a firm, unapologetic kiss right on my cheek.

“Ah—A-Aegis…!”

“Hehe… ehehe~ Maybe that was a little forceful, but hey—now the promise’s fulfilled.”

Aegis’s face went bright red as she looked up at me, grinning ear to ear, clearly way too pleased with herself.

“It’s your fault for being all wishy-washy, Tect. So there! Bleh~♡”

She stuck out her tongue with a teasing smile, a mischievous sparkle dancing in her eyes.

Chapter 28: The Royal Family’s Secret?

“Blood Rose Wand.”

“Owwww! What the—what’s with these red-black thorns!? An enemy!? Gloomy girl, is that you!?”

“You k-kissed his cheek, Tect—got kissed, Tect—got kissed—I’ll kill you.”

“Bring it on!”

“You two are exhausted—so please stop fighting with more energy than ever before.”

While I kept those two rampaging idiots from turning the hallway into a wrestling ring, I walked over to where Narcis lay sprawled.

One of the class girls—somehow freed from Wiz’s restraints—had him pinned. He didn’t look seriously hurt, at least not physically.

Gratitude, however, was not in his vocabulary.

“Dammit, dammit! It’s all your fault! You losers! Losing to a single Delphia like that and still calling yourselves my guards!? Shame—agh!!”

That attitude rubbed me the wrong way, so I gave him a single, sharp punch to shut him up.

“W-What!? What are you trying to do by hurting me more!?” he wailed, immediately dissolving into full-on crying. I sighed and grabbed his collar.

“So what were you even trying to do? What was your goal, attacking us like that? Spill it.”

“I—I don’t know anythi—ng…!”

“Should I hit you again?”

“No to violence!”

He still looked oddly smug for someone who’d just been obliterated, so I balled my fist tighter—ready to teach him a lesson in humility—when a grinding noise echoed from the far wall.

The mechanism there had begun to trigger.

“What the…?”

I dropped Narcis on the spot, gave him one good kick for the road, and turned toward the sound.

In the far wall, a section of stone slowly slid open—revealing a hidden staircase spiraling upward into the dark.

“Huh…”

I started climbing, one careful step at a time.

Up and up, deeper and deeper, the air growing colder with every turn.

At the top of the stairway, something waited for me.

A rusted sword—half-buried in the ground, as if time itself had forgotten it.

“What is this…?”

The whole scene screamed “legendary weapon.”

The kind of thing you’d see glowing in a holy temple, destined for some “chosen hero” with perfect hair and plot armor.

Wait—hold up.

Is this the royal family’s secret?

A national treasure? Some ancient sword of kings or divine heirloom?

Every instinct I had yelled Don’t touch that!

But… maybe it was my gamer brain. Or maybe the leftover RPG instincts from my past life.

Either way, I was weak to setups like this.

So yeah.

I touched it.

My hand wrapped around the hilt, and I thought, “Well, might as well see if it actually comes out,” before giving it a good tug.

That’s when it happened.

From the pedestal the sword was buried in, something black and foul erupted—a swirling wind that stank of curses and death.

And then, a voice roared out.

“You have drawn it! You have truly drawn it! At last, my hated foe! Bloodline of the Phantom Queen! I will never allow your kind to claim the royal throne! Rot away beneath my curse! Mwahahahaha!!”

The black mist surged up my arm, coiling tight like chains made of smoke.

A searing pain burned through my right hand, white-hot and merciless.

“Wha—AAAAAAAHHH!?”

I shouted, forcing myself not to drop the sword as my knees buckled and slammed against the wall.

Gasping for air, I tore the pile bunker off and glanced down at my arm.

Dark, vein-like markings twisted across my skin—lines of living ink crawling just beneath the surface.

“W–What? I got cursed? I actually got cursed for pulling the sword!? And—wait—did that thing just say it was after someone else!?”

I stood there, completely stunned.

What the hell just happened?

And more importantly—why did Narcis want me to be the one grabbing that creepy sword in the first place!?

I frowned, rubbing my aching arm. It still pulsed faintly, but not enough to stop me from moving.

After brushing off the dust, straightening my clothes, and slinging the sword across my back, I started heading down the stairs—only to find everyone staring at me like I’d just crawled out of a cursed tomb.

“…What?”

As soon as I spoke, Narcis suddenly jumped to his feet and charged straight at me.

“I can’t let you leave here alive after knowing that! Prepare yourself—!”

“Are you completely out of your mind?”

WHAM!

I swung the sword sideways and smacked him square across the face with the flat of the blade.

He let out a pathetic “Gyaaa!” and dropped like a sack of bricks—finally silent.

A few seconds later, Wiz and Aegis came rushing over.

Both of them threw a quick, deadly glare at Narcis’s unconscious body before turning to me.

“T-Tect! Are you okay!? I—I think that curse wasn’t even meant for you! It sounded like it hit the wrong person entirely!”

“Y-Yeah… that’s kinda what I’m thinking too. I mean, look—”

I rolled up my sleeve, showing them the dark, smoke-like markings still pulsing faintly beneath my skin.

The instant Aegis saw them, her expression turned ice-cold—and without a word, she grabbed Narcis by the collar with both hands.

“What’s going on here? Up until now it’s been trials testing royal worthiness—so why did it suddenly turn into a curse? Explain yourself! Spill it!”

“Ugh… gyaah… n-no—I won’t—! I don’t know anything—!”

Even after all that intimidation, Narcis still wouldn’t break. That was probably because Aegis had gone soft on him somewhere along the line.

In this world where gender roles were flipped, girls tended to be easy on guys.

So—if anyone was going to be truly brutal with a guy, it had to be a guy.

I took Narcis from Aegis, cinched the restraints tighter so he couldn’t bolt, and leaned in with a smile that was far too calm.

“Narcis. Funny thing—if you hadn’t been here, we might’ve beaten the golem, yanked that sword out on a whim, and had no idea what hit us. You being here actually helped.”

“I—I don’t know anything! I—won’t—tell you—anything!”

He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face away. I grabbed a handful of his hair and hauled him up.

“Ow! Hey! My hair’s coming out! You’ll ruin my pride and perfect cuticle! Let me go!”

“Haha. Look at you—acting like you’re untouchable. Always thinking you won’t be the one who pays the price.”

I let out a short laugh and kept pressing him.

“So? Narcis—what are you going to do now?”

“W-What do you mean, do what…? I—I don’t know anything…!”

“I mean all the crap you pulled.”

“Ow! Don’t—don’t slap me!”

I kept slapping him with the back of my wrist as I pressed him further.

“Aegis might look small, but she’s the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Aragonia. Even if you’re a landholding noble brat, trying to kill a marquis’s heir—someone from a famous bloodline with a title—counts as attempted murder, you know?”

The moment I said it, Narcis’s face went ghost white.

“…S-So she’s high nobility? No way… there’s no way a noble family would ever let a knight’s son woo them—”

“Aegis’s line has produced Grand Generals for generations. Ever heard the name Little Fortress?”

“…”

Aegis narrowed her eyes. That alone was enough to shut Narcis up—until he broke completely and started bawling.

“No—please! I beg you! Forgive me! I never meant to kill you guys, really I didn’t!”

“That’s a hard sell.”

“It’s true! This world—it’s inside the mirror! Even if you die, you just lose your memory in here—there’s no real death or injury! Curse or not, it’s all fake!”

“Really?”

We all froze for a second, dumbfounded.

Then Narcis clung to me, snot and tears mixing as he wailed, “I swear! I told everyone that exact same thing!”

“So you’re saying it’s fine if we kill you here since only memories get wiped?”

“Ugh… I don’t want my memories erased, but—if you leave even one of my followers alive, that might be the least-worst option…”

“…”

To test him, I drew my sword and shoved the tip under Narcis’s chin.

“Ugh.”

He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes. It looked like fear—believable enough, given how rattled he’d been.

In short—Narcis was probably telling the truth. If you died here, you apparently only lost your memories; you didn’t actually die. So murder wasn’t his plan.

“…I see.”

One mystery checked off. The guy had never looked like he had the guts to be a real killer anyway.

That changed what punishment made sense. Killing him here and wiping his memory would just let him come back the same arrogant jerk later. Too annoying.

“Alright then. Either way, we have to break you and hear the whole story.”

If killing didn’t accomplish anything useful, I’d break him another way—shatter his pride and force the truth out.

I rested the sword on my shoulder and, smiling far too wide, said—

“Narcis, and all your little cronies—you’re all sentenced to… ‘Garland Boot Camp.’”

Narcis stared at me with eyes blown wide enough to see his soul.

“W-Wh-What’s that terrible-sounding camp…?”

“It’s nothing special. You’ll just learn to obey me completely. You won’t be allowed to cry or laugh on your own anymore.”

“Eek!”

He let out a pathetic squeal at my decree.

Luckily for us, even if nothing here caused real death or lasting injury, everyone still got tired. The memory-wipe outside probably didn’t take effect while we were inside, so physical exhaustion was still a useful tool.

“Narcis. Ready for it…?”

“N—No! Help—!”

I drew in a deep breath.

Time for education.

I bellowed in my loudest, most theatrical voice—nailing my best impression of my mother’s drill-sergeant tone from a nightmare dinner party.

“Alright, newbie! Welcome to Garland Boot Camp where even crying kids learn to zip it! First up: five sets of ten-kilometer runs! Sword drills till you drop! I’ll turn you into a proper man yet!”

I yanked Narcis as he lunged to flee, grabbed one of the girls who’d just escaped Wiz’s vines for extra muscle, and launched into the inaugural session of the family-friendly—terrifyingly strict—Garland Boot Camp.

“Don’t think you can run! Training’s until your body gives out! Tomorrow you’ll be best friends with muscle pain! Narcis! You’ll probably start screaming, ‘kill me, kill me!’ instead of ‘help me, help me!’”

“Help! Somebody help me! I’m sorry! I was wrong! Nooo! If you make me run that long I’ll lose my mind!”

“W-What! Don’t bully him! If you need to blow off steam, take it out on us instead—”

“You lot are running toooo!”

“““Eeeeek!”””

I swung my sword like a whistle, chasing them down every time they tried to slack off.

By the end of it, Narcis and his merry band had been thoroughly broken in—the inaugural class of Garland Boot Camp now fully obedient.

Wiz peeked from the corner, clutching her rose wand like a scared kitten.

“Hiii… iie…” She stared at me like she was watching an actual demon at work.

Aegis, on the other hand, was beaming.

“This is fun! Let’s do it together next time!”

Of course she’d say that—with that grin, she looked way too happy about my family’s brand of “discipline.”

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