Vol 4 Chapter 45 – Child Shion【Vol 4 – Stop Shion’s Fabricated Engagement】

When I asked the Shion look-alike girl who’d become my limited-time disciple for her name, she replied with a blank expression.

“Number 11.”

“…No, I don’t mean like a military code name or anything. You’re going to be my disciple for a little while, so won’t you tell me your proper name?”

“That’s why I said Number 11. When using pseudonyms, it’s R-28, or 40010 Shiman, or 1145141919 Iiyo Koiyo Ikuiku—”

“Okay, okay, I get it, you don’t need to say any more.”

Apparently this girl only had military code names and no actual name.

I’d figured there were probably some special circumstances, but I hadn’t expected them to be this directly sketchy.

“Um, so. Instead of numbers, is there no name you’d like to be called?”

“Not particularly. I am me. Doesn’t matter.”

“I see.”

I thought for a moment, then said,

“In that case, for now, I’ll call you Koshion.”

“—Koshion?”

“Yeah, just temporarily until we find a name you want to be called. Is that okay?”

“—Good. Koshion is very good.”

Child Shion, because she looked just like Shion as a child.

There was no way the girl before me could understand such a simple origin for the name.

Koshion kept murmuring “Koshion, Koshion…” as if savoring it.

Training should always involve creativity and ingenuity—that’s my creed.

Well, what I’m really saying is you should train in fun ways that don’t get boring.

Humans reach their limits quickly when they’re always tense, after all.

It was thanks to this mindset that I maintained my sanity even during the seemingly infinite time in subspace. Self-praise.

“—So with that said, the first training is ‘up we go!'”

“?”

“Heave-ho!”

I took the puzzled Koshion’s hand and threw her straight up with all my might.

Koshion flew high into the sky screaming “Whooooaaaa—!?” and then, several minutes later, came falling back down at cannonball speed.

Right before she crashed into the ground and created a massive crater, I caught Koshion perfectly.

“How was it? Fun, right?”

“—Super mega fun!!”

It was only natural for Koshion’s eyes to sparkle.

After all, what I’d just done was a super-enhanced version of that thing adults do where they lift toddlers high up to make them happy.

Of course, if you fail to catch them it becomes a disaster, so good children must absolutely never try this.

“But is this training?”

“Of course. Balance in midair, shifting your weight, and being able to grasp space no matter what position you’re in—all of these are very important, you know?”

“I see…!”

“This kind of training is difficult to do alone, and it’s fresh, right?”

Since Koshion had been silently swinging weapons by herself, her basic movements were solid.

So first, I wanted to aim for the kind of flexibility that would let her make use of those basics in any situation.

When I explained this policy, Koshion nodded happily multiple times.

“Eventually, even with that ‘up we go,’ I want you to be able to pull off two thousand mid-air twists while landing on the ground with perfect precision, like you’re stuck to it.”

“I-I’ll do my best…!”

“Now then, next is ‘super-speed which way are you looking.'”

“Which way are you looking” is a children’s game passed down in the East, and while the rock-paper-scissors part is generally thought to be left to chance, that’s completely wrong.

For practitioners above a certain skill level, rock-paper-scissors is a game of observation and reading, absolutely not left to chance.

After all, whether it’s rock, scissors, or paper, you just need to see through the preparatory motion of forming the hand into that shape.

In other words, “which way are you looking” becomes training in observing your opponent, reading their thoughts, and conversely evading their observations and readings, while also training reflexes afterwards—truly an optimal game for training.

“Which way, which way, which way.”

“…Damn! I lost again…!”

After less than five minutes, when Koshion had exceeded 1,000 consecutive losses and started tearing up, I ended this training session.

“So next, want to play hide-and-seek? Koshion hides and I’ll search.”

“—This time for sure, I’ll win!!”

Koshion seemed to think she had the home field advantage and was brimming with fighting spirit.

But however.

The master’s reputation isn’t so cheap that I’d lose to that level of handicap.

What’s required of the hiding side is observational power and thinking ability to exploit blind spots in the opponent’s thoughts.

If you’re going to move around without being found, you also need the ability to time your movements and decisiveness.

Naturally, erasing your presence is a prerequisite.

And as a special rule, I added the condition that even if found, you’re safe if the opponent doesn’t touch you.

This made even your escape skills when the moment comes a necessary ability.

—That’s right. Hide-and-seek is mixed martial arts wearing the skin of a game.

Weak beasts are hunted by strong beasts.

That is the iron rule of hide-and-seek. Therefore.

The outcome of a match between master and disciple is clearer than seeing fire, and—

“Gotcha, caught you.”

“How did you know…?”

“Touch.”

“Th-this time I absolutely thought you wouldn’t find me…!”

“Found you in a place like this.”

“Why…!? I absolutely made sure I wouldn’t be found by hiding in the royal family’s secret passage…!”

And so I ended up showing off the gap between master and disciple.

Well, Koshion seemed to be having fun anyway, so it’s probably fine. Probably.

It was pretty much like this with Shion too, after all.

And so.

While the information gathering that was supposed to be my objective made no progress whatsoever, I continued my days of frolicking with Koshion under the guise of training, when one day.

Yuna-san came flying into the inn where I was staying, her face pale with shock.

“Master!! Senior Disciple, Senior Disciple is…”

“Calm down, Yuna-san, what happened to Shion!?”

“Senior Disciple has—gone missing!!”

Vol 4 Chapter 46 – Inside the Cell (Shion’s Perspective)【Vol 4 – Stop Shion’s Fabricated Engagement】

When Shion woke up, she was in a prison cell.

Her head felt foggy. Her muscles all over her body creaked and hurt.

When she tried to get up, Shion realized both her hands and feet were chained.

She tried to tear them apart with all her strength, but the chains only made clanking metallic sounds and didn’t budge at all.

It was obvious these were specially made chains that wouldn’t break even with Shion’s monstrous strength, which was among the best of the female knights.

“Where is this…?”

As her eyes adjusted to the faint light leaking from the corridor, she could see more of her situation.

A damp, stone-built cell interior. High ceiling.

The iron bars used for the cell were absurdly thick.

The handcuffs and leg shackles fitted on her were also several times thicker than standard chains.

Shion noticed she was in her underwear, but she had no mental space to be surprised by that.

The reason was simple.

Bloodstains were clearly soaked into various spots on the cell floor.

“Wh-what does this mean…!?”

She desperately forced her brain to work, checking if she had any memories of being sexually assaulted.

Her last memory before waking up was a direct negotiation with this country’s crown prince.

She remembered.

Shion had carelessly accepted an invitation to secret talks through a confidential letter from Crown Prince Vacanamessh.

—Normally, Shion would never have done such a thing.

Even if she did accept the invitation, she would have consulted with her beloved Master, brought Yuna, the First Knight Order Commander, as a guard, and approached the meeting with full preparations as a princess.

At minimum, she would naturally have Nagisa hiding in the ceiling.

But however.

Shion had obediently followed the instruction in the confidential letter to “never tell anyone and come alone.”

There were two reasons for this.

One was that Shion had appropriately evaluated her own abilities.

Shion recognized that as long as there was no opponent matching her Master or Yuna, even if she were ambushed by dozens of royal guards, she could definitely get through it.

And that recognition was correct.

The other reason was that the confidential letter said it would give her “what Shion desires” if she came alone.

What Shion desired—though it wasn’t clearly written in the text, when Shion saw those words, she could only think of one thing.

—A love potion.

It was absolutely a love potion.

This was definitely, seriously, for real, 100% undoubtedly a love potion.

Shion’s little gray cells were convinced of this.

At that moment, even if a vivid, full-color video of an intense kiss scene between herself and her beloved Master played in Shion’s mind, it couldn’t be helped for a healthy succubus maiden.

Furthermore, that mental video replayed over and over again, but that also couldn’t be helped.

Actually, after that, when she even imagined being pushed down by her Master and roughly groped, thrashing her legs on the bed, that was also truly unavoidable.

It was absolutely inevitable.

Because Shion was a girl at a marriageable age before she was a princess!!

And so, with her brain turned completely pink, Shion chose the secret meeting with the crown prince.

Shion had judged this secret meeting to be more than worth taking.

After all, if negotiations with the crown prince went well, she could get a love potion, and even if they failed, Shion had nothing to lose. That was her calculation.

She hadn’t told her Master or Yuna because she deliberately followed the crown prince’s instructions to increase the success rate of negotiations.

It absolutely wasn’t because she wanted to steal a march on Yuna and obtain the love potion. Absolutely not.

—And as a result, Shion had made a huge mistake.

The crown prince poured tea into a cup, and though Shion was still wary of poison, she confirmed the crown prince drank his own tea from the same teapot before bringing her own to her lips.

Shion’s consciousness cut off there.