Vol 1 Chapter 5 – I’ve Actually Been a Girl All Along【Vol 1 – Ten Years Later, the Male Disciple I Reunited With Had Somehow Turned Into a Succubus】

The place the princess knight brought me to was an empty field outside the capital’s outer walls, with not a soul in sight.

Once she’d confirmed there was no one around, the princess knight suddenly drew her sword, pointed the tip straight at me with a snap, and declared:

“──I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but to peek at my single most precious memory and then show up disguised as Master… you’ve got some nerve! I’ll make you regret this!”

“…Um, I have no idea what you’re talking about, so how about we start with a calm discussion—”

“No need for words!!”

Apparently, the princess knight preferred to communicate through the language of fists.

Well, to be fair, when two skilled fighters are involved, you can sometimes understand each other better by crossing blades than by talking. Once combat reaches a certain level, your style starts to show your personality and even your background.

──Besides, swordsmen, knights, warriors… they’re basically all idiots. Or what you’d call muscle-heads.

The type who hit first and think later.

“She does seem pretty strong, so having a quick bout might not be bad…”

“Save that kind of nonsense for after you’ve actually beaten me—okay!!”

The moment she said that, the princess knight sprang at me with incredible speed.

It was far faster than any arrow, so fast you’d mistake it for a bolt of lightning. Most people wouldn’t even have time to process what was happening before their head hit the ground.

But honestly—compared to the evil god, it was slow enough to make me yawn.

“Whoop.”

“Wh—?!?!”

I pinched the tip of her thrusting sword between two fingers and stopped it cold. The princess knight’s eyes flew wide in shock.

This was a secret technique from the East called “barehanded blade catch.” Normally, you catch the blade between both palms, but after all the training I did in subspace, even two fingers are more than enough.

She frantically tried to yank the sword back, but she couldn’t move the blade even a millimeter.

“Gh…! Nngh…!”

“And up we go.”

“Waaahhhhh!?”

With a flick of my wrist, the sword slipped effortlessly from the princess knight’s hand, spun through the air, and stabbed into the ground ten meters away.

“…Yeah, as a princess knight you’re seriously strong. But there’s always someone stronger out—”

“I’m not done yet!! Haaaah—!!”

“Can you at least listen to me for a second!?”

Even though most people’s spirits would have been crushed by now, the princess knight charged in bare-handed, unleashing an even fiercer barrage.

──Right, she was one of those types. The more the fight turns against them, the more hyped up they get.

My disciple Shion was the same way.

So I also knew exactly how to deal with the type who never listens and just keeps cranking their own hype. Specifically, you let them run around until they burn through all their stamina, then once they’re exhausted, you sit them down and talk—it’s surprising how cooperative they suddenly become.

So for now, I decided to put off the conversation and simply dodge the princess knight’s relentless attacks.

“Yup, hop, hey.”

“She’s casually dodging my serious attacks, and her center of gravity doesn’t waver at all…!? That’s exactly how Master fought…!”

──Yeah, actually fighting like this really drives it home.

It looks like all those unimaginable years I spent in subspace really did make me insanely strong. Even against a princess knight who practically radiated the aura of a top-class warrior, it was easy to read her moves at the last second, slip past them, and still have room to think.

And right now, there was something that had been nagging at me.

It was that line the princess knight Shion had thrown out earlier about me “showing up disguised as Master.”

Thinking about what that could mean—

“Something about that keeps bugging me… Oh, a four-leaf clover.”

“She dodged my ultimate vacuum flying knee strike like she was just bending down to pick weeds on the roadside—!?”

While I was trapped in subspace, my appearance hadn’t aged at all—but my disciple Shion has, naturally, lived out another ten years.

So when Shion and I finally meet again… when he sees me… what is he going to think?

“Hmm, I wonder… Ow.”

“What?! She took a spinning hook kick that could blow a bear’s head clean off, and she doesn’t look hurt at all!?”

I got a little too caught up in my own thoughts and ended up taking a direct hit from the princess knight’s attack.

Well, it didn’t do any damage, so whatever. She’d been yelling about something for a while now, but it didn’t sound like anything important, so I ignored it.

“Th-this ridiculous power…! It’s just like Master really did come back after ten years…! But that can’t be…!?”

“No, wait, I didn’t think this through… If I don’t explain right away that time doesn’t pass for me in subspace, she might actually think I’m some look-alike imposter…”

“Eh.”

“Uh, what?”

“D-don’t tell me… you’re really, truly… Master…!?”

What was this princess knight even talking about?

As I frowned, the trembling princess knight suddenly stopped attacking. She stared up at me, watching my reaction.

“U-Um… Master…!?”

“I’m definitely not your Master, but go on?”

“Do you… know someone named Shion…?”

“Shion is my disciple. We got separated ten years ago and I haven’t seen him since, but I finally managed to escape from subspace, so I’ve been wondering how he’s doing and looking for him—whoa!?”

“Masterrr!!”

For some reason, the princess knight threw herself at me and wrapped me up in a tight hug.

Two bulges bigger than fully ripe melons smashed against me and squashed spectacularly.

“I missed you, I’ve missed you so, so much, Master!!”

“H-Hold on!? What the heck is going on!?”

“It’s me! I’m your disciple, Shion, Master!”

“I do have a disciple named Shion, but he’s a boy!”

“Oh, that.”

I hurriedly denied it. The princess knight Shion let go of me, then stepped back with a shy, embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, Master. I’ve actually been a girl all along.”

“…Huh?”

For a second, I couldn’t process what she’d said.

“That Shion is a girl?”

“Yes. And on top of that, I turned out to be the strongest race you talked about, Master.”

“Wait, hang on. You don’t mean…!?”

There was only one thing that came to mind. The “strongest race on the surface” I’d mentioned to Shion in that stupid little story. And—

The princess knight in front of me, happily bringing up an episode that literally no one but Shion and me should know, because it was so incredibly stupid—

“Well then, Master, allow me to introduce myself properly.”

The girl pinched her skirt and dropped into a curtsey.

“I am the First Princess and Princess Knight of the Succubish Kingdom, a succubus, and the first disciple of the swordsman Master Hiromaru Bushidonald. My name is Shion Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Crispin Crispiano de la Santisima Trinidad Luis y Succubish.

──I look forward to being in your care from now on as well, Master.”

Wearing the exact same bashful expression I remembered from ten years ago, Shion smiled up at me.