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 - Chapter 37 & 38

Chapter 37: Substitute Father

The day before Shia’s scheduled curse-breaking, I showed up at her dorm at my usual time—five-thirty in the morning.

“Good morning, Ms. Hedda.”

“Good morning, Sir Tect. I look forward to working with you again today.”

“Yes. Leave it to me, Master!”

“I’m the Head Maid.”

After our usual light greeting, I headed straight to the kitchen and began the prep work.

Ever since I became the one in charge of waking Shia up, some parts of the cooking routine had been taken off my list.

Right after handling her morning tasks, serving freshly made food on time was basically impossible.

So I did at least the prep at top speed, then rushed around cleaning the first floor.

When that was done, I moved on to cleaning around the dorm’s exterior.

All that took about thirty minutes. Once I wrapped up the whole round of chores, I returned inside.

“You’ve finished already? As expected of you, Sir Tect.”

“It’s nothing special, hehe.”

“Oh? I was thinking of increasing your pay since you’ve grown so much.”

“I think I’ve grown a lot.”

Receiving a pay raise from Ms. Hedda—who treated me more like a grandchild than a worker—I headed upstairs with confidence.

I opened the bedroom door and found Shia asleep.

Sleeping soundly again today.

I walked closer and called out to her.

“Shiaaa~ Lady Shiaaa~. Morning’s here, time to wake up~”

“Nn… nnh…”

“Alright, not waking up. Then let’s do it the usual way.”

I set her clothes beside the bed, slipped my arms behind her back, and lifted her up with a soft “heave-ho.”

I’d tried all sorts of methods to wake her with the least contact possible, but in the end, this one was the fastest.

Which meant—well, thanks to that—I always ended up touching her soft body, but oh well.

Once I got her upright, I spoke to her.

“Okay, time to get changed~. Arms uuuup.”

“Banaaa~…”

“Good job, good job, you can lift your little hands today~. I’m taking this off now~”

“Aaai…”

With her half-conscious “banzai” pose and my help, I quickly slipped off her nightgown.

That left Shia completely naked—but by now I kept my eyes shut out of pure habit, so it wasn’t a problem.

“Putting your bra on now~”

“Nnn… nooo… the bra… tight…”

“Yeah yeah, bear with it~”

After practicing for days, I had mastered the miraculous skill of getting her bra on without touching anything and without opening my eyes.

So I smoothly covered her chest with the bra and fastened the hooks on her back.

Heavy. Seriously heavy. I thought it again today.

And from this angle, her face was ridiculously close.

“…Aaeh… Tect…?”

“Morning, Shia.”

“Tect… mornin’…”

“Gh…!”

She gave me that soft, goofy smile of hers—like her usual gentle smile, but even younger and purer—and it hit me right in the fatherly instincts.

Yeah… that was the problem.

I’d taken care of five little sisters back home.

This kind of pure, childlike trust was my greatest weakness.

And honestly, Shia’s inner self was a bit younger than her polished, elegant exterior.

She acted mature and clever, but there was always this faint “sulky kid” vibe tucked somewhere inside her.

And that same Shia clung to me like this every morning.

I called it unfair.

She was cheating.

“Alright, next is your uniform! Arms up for me.”

“Arms uuuup… ♡”

With that relaxed, sleepy smile, she obeyed perfectly, and I dressed her piece by piece.

After about a dozen minutes, I finally finished getting her uniform on.

“Phew, done. Shia~? You awake yet~?”

“Nnn… papa, piggyback…”

“I’m not your papa~ but fine, piggyback time~ up we go.”

I lifted Shia onto my back and headed toward the washstand.

“Okay. Let’s wash your face without drowning today~ splash splash~”

“Wabububububu.”

Like a two-person puppet act, I scooped water from behind her and washed her face for her.

She was kind of drowning, but I had full control, so it worked out.

“Alright, all washed. You awake now~?”

I called out and checked on Shia.

Shia usually woke up little by little while I moved her around getting her dressed, and the face-washing finished the job by snapping her fully awake.

If I washed her face first, she’d drown dramatically, panic wildly, and still not wake up properly.

After plenty of trial and error, this order became the official routine—

But when I looked at her, Shia was blushing and staring off in some completely random direction.

“Hm? Shia?”

“…I-I didn’t say anything.”

“What didn’t you say?”

“I-It’s fine. If you didn’t hear it, then forget it.”

She took the towel and wiped her own face, so she was definitely awake now.

“Still, ‘papa,’ huh. Hard to believe I’m already the father of one kid.”

“—! Tect!? So you did hear it!”

“Hahahahaha. Sleepy Shia’s fault.”

When I smirked at her, Shia puffed her cheeks, trembling in embarrassment like she wanted to vanish.

“E-Enough already! You’re done being my attendant tomorrow anyway! Just don’t go around telling anyone about this!”

“I know, I know. Come on, time to brush your teeth, and I need to fix your hair too.”

“…Yes.”

If I let Shia brush on her own, she missed half her teeth, so I carefully brushed them for her.

“To think I was worried about being worked to death as an attendant, and it ended up turning into this instead.”

I laughed lightly.

“At this point, I might know Shia better than Shia knows herself. Like that one wisdom tooth starting to peek out.”

“Nn—! Nn—!”

“Haha, don’t squirm.”

Shia flailed while I finished brushing her teeth.

I handed her a cup with a cheerful “rinse and spit~.”

Then I moved behind her and began combing her hair.

I’d only been doing this recently, but it was fun watching her hair get glossier day by day.

Even so, Shia still looked sulky.

“Gujuguju… spit! …Do not assume you know everything about me just because of this level of caretaking.”

“Big words coming from someone who gets pampered this much.”

“B-But that’s how it is! Even if a child is taken care of completely, one day they carry secrets their parent doesn’t know. So…”

Shia started to speak but stalled halfway.

She paused for a moment, then continued.

“…Today is the end of your job as my attendant. I will break the curse. Thank you for everything, Tect.”

Hearing her quiet, heavy tone, I lowered my eyes and answered,

“Well, if it gets rid of the curse on my arm and this dull pain, I’ll definitely feel a lot better.”

Chapter 38: Extermination at the Ruined Castle

After school the next day, fully geared up, I headed off campus with Shia.

“The ritual will take place at the Ruined Castle. Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah, yeah. The place full of golems, right?”

If it hadn’t been during my no-leaving-campus period, I would’ve gone there, smashed some golems, grabbed their core metal, and called it a day.

But thanks to fate—or bad luck, or whatever—I’d ended up with a cursed sword and an actual curse.

“Yes. I will wipe out the golems using my bloodline magic. Once that is complete, we will perform the ritual inside the castle.”

Shia explained the plan in a clean, matter-of-fact tone.

“By the way, why the Ruined Castle?”

“…Because the location is convenient.”

“Hm?”

She sounded like she was dodging something, but Shia wasn’t the type to pull weird tricks at this point.

I decided not to think too hard about it.

The Ruined Castle was a bit far from the academy, so we rode there on borrowed horses.

I’d ridden plenty back home, so it was smooth sailing.

If anything felt odd, it was this: Shia had taken me out with the same secret-outing vibe as before.

Meaning she brought only me.

No Hedda, no guards, no attendants—just the two of us, even though it was a long trip.

Well, Shia was royalty with powerful bloodline magic, so she probably had ways to protect herself.

Even so, considering her status, the whole setup felt a little strange.

Maybe she had her reasons.

After a while, the ruined structure came into view.

A tall, jagged tower.

Outer walls cracked and crumbling in places.

A castle ruin half-swallowed by the forest.

That was our destination.

This ruined castle actually had a bit of a ghost story attached to it.

It was the tale of a knight and a noble.

Long, long ago, there was a knight who served a noble with absolute loyalty.

The knight admired that noble like a father.

But one day, the noble sent the knight into a death trap.

The knight was pressured—basically talked into it—and decided that even if he died, he would still do it for the man he considered a father.

The knight fought desperately and somehow survived.

Barely alive, beaten to pieces, he returned alone to the noble.

And what did he see?

The noble holding a feast with his family.

The knight arrived just in time to hear:

“Ahh, how refreshing! I finally got rid of that fame-stealing thief!”

Hearing that, the knight fell into despair, killed the noble and everyone else in the castle, then ended his own life.

The golems wandering here were said to carry the regret of the servants who died in that tragedy.

Well, if you asked me?

“The one who had regrets was the knight.”

“Did you say something, Tect?”

“Nope. Talking to myself.”

We got off the horses and walked toward the ruins.

Our sturdy boots pressed into the uneven ground.

The smell of soil and thick forest air grew stronger—the scent that told you you’d officially left human territory.

Up close, the ruins towered overhead.

Whoever lived here back then must’ve been a pretty important noble.

Not that status guaranteed a decent personality.

“This should be fine.”

Right before entering the castle, Shia stopped walking.

She took a handbell from her pocket.

The handbell of the Phantom Queen bloodline.

“Then, I shall begin. Tect, it is dangerous, so please step back and watch.”

She said that, then rang the bell.

A sharp, clear chime echoed through the air.

In response, phantoms appeared.

They looked just like the knights I’d seen during the paperwork session.

But this time, it wasn’t only them.

Countless other soldiers materialized around Shia—

Standard swordsmen, archers, spear troops forming tight spear walls, giant mace soldiers in full armor…

Roughly thirty of them.

I couldn’t help going, whoa.

Then Shia spoke.

“Exterminate them, Phantom Knight Corps.”

『As you command』

The moment they heard the order, the once-silent army of phantoms burst forward as one.

Leading the charge—as expected—was the commander.

He sprinted toward the fortress faster than anyone, and the knights raced after him.

The knight corps formed a line and stormed into the ruined castle.

The thundering march of their boots echoed as they advanced.

In almost no time, Shia’s phantom army vanished into the ruins.

A moment of silence.

Then—an explosion of noise shook the air.

“!? W-What!? What’s happening in there!?”

“Things boys do not need to know. Boys are all bad at violent affairs like this, aren’t they?”

Shia, who apparently had no idea what my combat ability was like, calmly said something that completely underestimated me.

Weird.

I thought I’d explained the whole curse incident well enough for her to get the picture.

Maybe her assumptions were so strong she just couldn’t imagine me being able to fight.

The sounds inside the castle kept going—crashing, rumbling, walls collapsing.

Yeah, that was definitely the sound of golems getting worked over.

While I was thinking that, Shia frowned slightly and stepped closer to me.

“Tect, if you are scared, you may close your eyes. I will guarantee your safety.”

“Eh? No, really, I’m fine—”

And right as I answered with a confused blink—

Part of the castle wall crumbled, and a golem burst out from an upper floor.

Phantom knights chased it out like hunting dogs.

“Whoa!?”

The phantom knights launched themselves onto the falling golem, clinging to it mid-air without hesitation.

The golem crashed into the ground, and the impact cracked its head.

Clinging to its skull was the commander.

The phantom knights swarmed the crack, stabbing their weapons into it from every direction.

With sheer force—like an army of ants—they brought the golem down.

Its head shattered, spilling out its core metal and magic stone as it died.

Shia nodded once and looked at me.

“That was the last one. …You did not close your eyes? You are quite brave.”

“What do you think I am?”

“…Fufufu. True, Tect never seemed like the type to get scared.”

Maybe because this world flipped chastity around, being treated like a “brave girl” seriously rubbed me the wrong way.

Don’t underestimate me, for real.

But still—

“Today’s the first time you smiled.”

When I said that, Shia widened her eyes and touched her lips.

“…Did I?”

“Yeah. You’ve been sulking nonstop since yesterday, Shia.”

“I see… that was rude of me.”

Shia looked down for a moment as if thinking it over, then soon lifted her head and started walking.

“Then, shall we go?”

I followed right after her.