Vol 2 Chapter 8 – The Succubus and the Strongest (?) Knight Order【Vol 2 – The Succubus Knight Order】

The night after the shocking King Prostrates Himself Incident came and went.

The next day, same as always, I met up with Shion by the fountain, and we started walking.

Maybe this disciple of mine actually has way too much free time?

As I entertained baseless suspicions in my head like maybe the princess thing is a big fat lie,

“By the way, Master. Sorry to bring this up while we’re walking, but there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“What’s up?”
“Master, you’ve been in subspace this whole time, right? So I was wondering if you had anything you wanted to do now that you’re back here. Something you’ve been thinking about.”
“Not at all.”

I never even entertained the possibility that I’d be able to return to this world.

Yet somehow, here I am.

On top of that, I’ve already managed to fulfill my one lingering regret: reuniting with Shion.

So in a sense, my current situation is like suddenly coming back to life after already being dead.

Now what? is honestly where I’m at.

I did think about going back to living in the mountains like before, but I’ve already trained myself to death in subspace.

When I said as much, Shion puffed out her way too ample chest as if she’d been waiting for this.

“In that case, Master, I have the perfect idea.”
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
“For now, I think you should just relax in the capital for a while.”
“Relax…?”
“Exactly. Ten years ago, you sacrificed yourself to save the world, and even after that, you kept training in subspace, didn’t you? As your disciple, that just sounds like waaay too much work!”
“I didn’t really think of it as work, though—”
“Regardless, you’ve already worked yourself to the point you’d never have to lift a finger again, so you should take a break. As for money, we can just bleed Father dry for a fat reward for slaying the evil god and some extra fabricated consolation money on top. I’m a princess; I won’t let the chancellor complain!”
“U-umm…?”
“Come on, come on! As long as you say yes, a life of elegant leisure with no work and nothing but play will be waiting for you! A–and of course, as a liaison with the royal family and symbol of friendship, one marriageable princess who also happens to be your disciple will be dispatched to live with you and serve as your attendant…!”
“What are you even talking about, Shion.”

Whatever political scheme Shion has in mind, I have no intention of becoming the king’s kept man, and even less intention of spending my life just playing around.

Well, okay, the idea of spending my life playing around is extremely appealing.

But arrangements like that always come with impossible demands at critical moments, and if I’ve been taking money to do nothing but have fun all that time, I’d have no right to say no.

In that case, I’d rather refuse the money from the start and live a peaceful life training in some remote mountain, growing my own food.

Also, even if you are a princess, you probably shouldn’t be out here saying things like “bleed him dry.”

“If I’m staying in the capital, I at least need to find a job—”
“Yes, yes! In that case, I have the perfect job for you, Master!”
“…And what would that be?”

When I asked, Shion cut me off with incredible enthusiasm.

“Actually, I was hoping you’d join my knight order and provide training and guidance to my troops.”
“Your knight order?”
“Yes. I founded a new knight order a few years back. —A knight order that aims to be the strongest of all, by putting Master’s teachings into practice!”
“The strongest knight order, huh…”

I wondered what kind of knight order that could be.

When I urged Shion to continue, she grinned, like this was exactly what she’d been waiting for.

“Seeing is believing. So, Master—how about we go take a look at the knight order right now?”
“…Well, I am curious what kind of order you’ve put together.”
“Then let’s go!”

After all, this is a knight order my own disciple personally founded.

Saying I had no interest would have been a lie.

Granted, Shion’s boundless enthusiasm was quietly terrifying, but still—how bad could it really be?

—There was a time when I could still think that.

＊＊＊＊

Shion led me to a grand building behind the royal castle.

Apparently, this was the headquarters of her knight order. As expected of something backed by a princess.

In the courtyard, more than a hundred members stood in neat formation, waiting to receive Shion and me.

…Well, that much was fine.

She is a princess, after all.

It might look overblown at first glance, but if you think of it as knights welcoming their captain, who also happens to be a princess, it makes sense.

So as far as I was concerned, the problem lay elsewhere.

For example, the fact that every single knight raising their swords high and saluting in perfect unison was an absurdly voluptuous, impossibly well-stacked beauty—without exception.

“Welcome back, Captain Shion!!”
“Thanks for the warm welcome—huh? Is something wrong, Master?”
“It’s not that something’s wrong, it’s just…”
“?”

Shion tilted her head at me, looking genuinely clueless, which was honestly terrifying.

“…Let me just ask this: are there any men in this knight order?”
“None.”
“…Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I selected the members based on the Succubus Supremacy Theory.”
“The what now!?”
“What do you mean what—Master’s the one who taught it to me. You said the strongest race is succubi.”
“Oh…”

Now that she mentioned it, I remembered shooting the breeze with a young Shion and saying something that stupid.

“What do you think, Master? —In our kingdom, since the first queen was a succubus, there are actually quite a few succubus descendants among the nobility.”
“You’re kidding…”
“I’m completely serious.”

Shion stuck her chest out in a full-on smug pose.

“And so, in order to put Master’s Succubus Supremacy Theory into practice, I set about discovering, training, and forging succubi into proper warriors! The knight order that resulted—that is this Succubus Knight Order!!”
“…No way…”

—Ahh, what have I done.

Because of some nonsense I spouted that day on a whim,

what is almost certainly the first in history, utterly unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated Succubus Knight Order has exploded into existence──!