Vol 1 Chapter 3 – The Demonbane Princess Knight 【Vol 1 – Ten Years Later, the Male Disciple I Reunited With Had Somehow Turned Into a Succubus】

The capital of the Succubish Kingdom was bustling, loud cries from merchants ringing out from every direction. On top of all that energy, people dressed like warriors kept catching my eye.

Just like the guy at the Adventurer’s Guild had said, maybe this really was a place where people confident in their skills gathered.

“Come to think of it, Shion and I came to this capital together once…”

I remembered. Shion was a troublesome disciple who would immediately get separated and lost whenever we went to a big city. So when we came to the capital, I’d decided in advance on a meeting spot for when Shion inevitably wandered off.

That spot was the fountain plaza in front of the great cathedral.

Shion puffed out his cheeks and insisted, “I won’t get lost, Master!”, but later on he did in fact get perfectly lost and ended up sitting at the fountain with the most dejected look on his face.

As I passed by that very same fountain for the first time in over a decade, I saw something really strange.

“…What is that?”

Perched on the edge of the fountain was an unbelievably beautiful girl.

She wore a finely crafted set of mithril light armor that made it obvious at a glance she was a top-tier knight, and a sword hung at her waist.

Not only was her face flawless, her figure was insane—her chest bulged so much it was practically criminal, and beneath the light armor, bare, thick, powerfully trained thighs spilled out from a miniskirt.

As I secretly watched her, she kept looking out at the flow of people. Sometimes she’d suddenly look lonely, like she’d remembered something, and other times she’d just as suddenly break into a little nostalgic smile, or shyly duck her head, or kick her legs in embarrassment.

In short, the girl stuck out like a sore thumb.

First, there was that knight equipment—high-end gear that screamed money from every angle. Then there was her beauty and figure, like someone had taken a man’s wildest fantasies and given them a human body. And finally, there were her mannerisms, totally at odds with that mystical appearance, like those of an ordinary girl her age.

Anyone would assume that a girl like that sitting out in the open street would be drawing all kinds of attention.

Yet none of the passersby reacted to her at all.

“Whoaa. That’s impressive.”

──There is such a thing as breathing techniques.

Human breathing is the foundation of martial arts—and also its secret technique. Those skilled in breathing can suppress their breath and make tiny adjustments to their movements, blending into their surroundings, killing their presence, and diverting other people’s awareness.

They make it so that, even though they’re clearly in someone’s line of sight, that person’s mind just sort of slides right past them, as if they were nothing more than a rock.

It goes without saying how useful that is. If someone hits your vital points in a surprise attack, that’s it for you. Naturally, breathing techniques are plain and unflashy, but essential, and extremely difficult to master.

Back in the day, I’d taken my disciple Shion and drilled the techniques into his hands-on, step by careful step.

Because the way you erase your presence around monsters or wild beasts is different from how you do it around humans, we would sometimes leave the mountain training grounds to come into town. The reason we went to this capital of the Succubish Kingdom at the time was for that very purpose.

So what happens when you push breathing techniques to their limit?

The perfect example was that very same busty girl knight right in front of me.

Even with that over-the-top eye-catching face, body, outfit, and all that weird behavior, people only registered her on the level of “oh, just some random person over there,” nothing more.

“But still, no matter how strong the knights in this country are, that’s got to be beyond ridiculous.”

That girl was without a doubt one of the top knights in this entire kingdom.

If so, why was a knight that strong sitting in a corner of the city, kicking her legs like some lovestruck maiden? She was acting like a girl so impatient to meet her lover she couldn’t stand it.

As I watched her from a distance, wondering about that, a certain possibility occurred to me.

“…Wait. Could that be the Demonbane Princess Knight…?”

It hit me.

Even in a place like the Succubish Kingdom, which gathered talented people from all over, there couldn’t be many girl knights who had it all—status, strength, and looks.

And there was one person who immediately came to mind.

The one the Adventurer’s Guild guy had called “Shion, the Demonbane Princess Knight.”

If that was the case, then this busty young girl knight sitting at the fountain, kicking her legs, might just be Princess Knight Shion herself.

“But if that’s true, why is a princess just hanging out there like that…?”

Maybe it was some kind of trap. What kind of trap? I had no idea. Still, if a princess were going to meet someone, she’d normally summon them to the royal castle or something…

After thinking it over for a while, I arrived at one conclusion.

“…Yeah. Let’s just pretend I never saw this.”

Let sleeping gods lie.

Making sure she didn’t notice me, I quietly slipped away.

Vol 1 Chapter 4 – M-M-M-Ma, Master…!?【Vol 1 – Ten Years Later, the Male Disciple I Reunited With Had Somehow Turned Into a Succubus】

A few days passed after that.

I tried asking around the capital, but I couldn’t find a single lead on my disciple Shion. No matter who I asked, all anyone ever talked about was Shion the Demonbane Princess Knight.

And there was one more thing.

“…That girl knight is sitting by the fountain again today…”

Ever since the day I arrived in the capital, the girl knight had been sitting in front of the fountain every single day.

As far as I knew, the job of a knight shouldn’t exactly be a leisurely one. So why was that girl always slacking off at the fountain instead of working?

“And on top of that, she’s 100% Princess Shion…”

At first, I figured there was a chance I’d just mistaken her for someone else. But as I continued asking around, all the details I heard about the princess knight—Princess Shion—lined up perfectly with the girl I’d been watching.

I mean, the portrait of Princess Shion hanging in the cathedral was basically her, straight-up.

If I really wanted to nitpick a difference, the portrait’s chest was a bit smaller. Then again, even in the painting it was already pretty huge. It’s just that in reality, hers was way, way bigger.

And so, the thing I was wrestling with now was this.

Since I’d hit a dead end looking for my Shion, I started wondering if Princess Shion might have heard something about a disciple of mine who shared her name.

The name “Shion” could be used for both men and women, but it wasn’t exactly common. So if she’d heard about a Shion who was my disciple, it wouldn’t be strange if it stuck in her memory. And if my Shion had kept growing steadily, his skills should be at a level that a princess knight might know of by now.

“Oh, whatever, here goes nothing!”

After agonizing over it for a while, I made up my mind.

Of course, a commoner like me suddenly talking to a princess would normally be outrageously disrespectful. They’d be well within their rights to cut me down on the spot.

However. However.

If you think about it, the princess knight herself was pretending to be a normal person and blending into the crowds of the capital. So if I pretended not to notice she was the princess knight and just did some casual asking around, that would be fine, right?

That was the brilliant plan I came up with—to play dumb and insist I’d never realized she was the princess, no matter what.

Trying my best to act natural, I casually made my way toward the fountain—

“Um, excuse me. I was wondering if I could ask you something.”

“Eh? M-M-M-Ma, Master…!?”

The princess knight’s reaction when she noticed me was dramatic.

At first, her face lit up in this huge, radiant smile! Then, as if something had suddenly struck her, her expression shifted, and now she looked like she’d just come face-to-face with a demon.

Deciding “okay, this is bad,” I tried to walk past her like nothing had happened—but my arm got grabbed from behind in an iron grip.

Needless to say, it was the princess knight’s hand.

“What do you think you’re doing, you demon!?”

For some reason, she was glaring at me with pure hatred.

“H–Hey, wait!? What’s this about ‘demon’!?”

“Hmph. You used my memories and copied Master’s appearance, didn’t you? How shallow. It’s been ten years since I parted ways with Master! Now prepare to be vanquished—”

“Hold it! I don’t know why you’ve decided I’m some demon, but if you start a fight here, you’ll drag everyone around us into it, and it’ll turn into a huge scene, okay!?”

“Ggh…!”

“I’ve got things I want to ask you too, and you don’t want to draw attention to yourself, right? Then how about we find somewhere quiet and talk this out.”

At my suggestion, the princess knight made a bitter face and thought it over for a moment.

“…This way. Follow me.”

Throwing that over her shoulder, she started walking off.