The Hero Wants to Take Off His Skirt!
The sky hadn't quite finished bleeding into dusk when the three of us gathered around the crackling campfire.
"Hero~ want something to eat? There's bread!"
I shook my head at Fresia.
"You must be exhausted. I'll set some water out for you."
Valeri placed an iron cup of water in front of me as she said this. I stared at it blankly.
Here's where things stood.
While Valeri and Fresia held down my flailing, raving self, the escort guards set off to hunt down the bandits. They hadn't caught them all, but they'd managed to seize a good number of them, and while they were returning, Valeri pulled some spare cloth from her bag and wrapped it around my waist.
At this completely unforeseen development, everyone froze.
That beam of light that hit me back at the shrine — that had to have been the Goddess's power, the one meant to complete the Holy Sword. The problem was that my lower half had taken the hit instead of the sword. Even after the guards returned with their captives, light was still leaking out from under the hem of the cloth Valeri had wrapped around me.
We were all probably thinking the exact same thing. What do we do now?
One thing was certain: I had zero confidence in going back looking like this.
We asked the elves at the shrine if they knew a way to fix it. Apparently they didn't have any bright ideas either. The Holy Sword ritual itself was the stuff of legend, after all.
Nobody in history had ever imagined the legendary power of the Holy Sword would take up residence in a dick.
In the end, I decided I couldn't return to Lord Org's Castle until we found a solution. I asked the guards to head back ahead of us — officially, to escort the captured bandits.
They obliged. Maybe they understood that I was deep in agonizing thought, or maybe they'd simply given up on the sight of me clutching a sword in one hand while my lower half radiated light...
Before long, the elves at the shrine departed as well.
Back to the present.
Somehow or other, the light had stopped pouring out of my crotch. I hadn't lifted the cloth to check. I just didn't want to see it today.
"Um... Hero~?"
"Yeah."
I answered Fresia's call absently.
"Why don't we head to the Elf Kingdom first? To the Elf Village? There's bound to be some way to fix this there, right?"
"A way?"
I looked up at her.
"Yep! The ones praying at the shrine were elves, weren't they? So wouldn't the elves know more about the Goddess's power and the Holy Sword than anyone?"
"That's a sound argument!"
"But... that still doesn't change the fact that we'd have to explain *this* to the elves..."
That my pants tore and exposed it, that I took the Goddess's light not on the sword but on... that thing, and that the thing is glowing...
"The elves who were at the shrine have already headed back, so I suspect a report has already reached them."
"...Fair point."
"All the more reason to hurry there and clear up the misunderstanding!"
Not that there's much of a misunderstanding to clear. Well, whatever. This is probably the best option anyway.
I gulped down the water sitting in front of me.
"All right! We're heading for the Elf Village!"
"Woo!" "Yes!"
Decision made, we set about preparing dinner. I helped Valeri chop up ingredients for the evening stew while Fresia stared at me for a long moment before opening her mouth.
"Hero, hand that over for a sec."
"Hand what over?"
"That thing you've got wrapped around your waist!"
Valeri and I both froze mid-chop and turned to stare at her.
"Fresia..."
"Did you not say you'd quit being a panty thief...?"
"That's not what this is about!"
Fresia waved her arms up and down in frustration.
"I'm saying I'll tailor it so it's comfortable for you to wear! Just lend it to me for a bit!"
She puffed out her cheeks and held out her hand.
"In that case, there is more cloth."
Valeri set down her knife and rummaged through her own bag, pulling out a piece of fabric roughly the same size as the one around my waist.
"Score~ I'll make it super pretty for you!"
Fresia beamed and accepted the cloth.
"You really don't have to make it pretty..."
As if my words didn't exist, Fresia was already seated off to the side, fussing over the cloth with a sewing kit she'd fished out of her bag.
"You carry a lot of cloth around."
"It has many uses when you travel. And it proved its worth again today, didn't it!"
Valeri replied as she returned to chopping.
Probably for stopping bleeding, or as a makeshift bag, or something like that? And that emergency supply is now serving as my pants. Or my underwear. Great.
By the time the stew was finished bubbling, it was ready to eat. The three of us sat in a circle over our meal, chatting about what would become of the bandits and what the Elf Village might be like. The moment dinner was done, Fresia began humming a little tune.
"Hm-hm-hmm~ And... it's finished!"
With that announcement, she held up the garment she'd made from the cloth. A long cord ran along one edge, emerging from both ends — clearly designed to be wrapped and tied around the waist. The hem had been neatly trimmed. And its shape was unmistakably—
"That's a skirt!"
"Yep. A skirt."
"Why a skirt of all things?"
I sighed and voiced my complaint, and Fresia gave me a genuinely baffled, blank look.
"Well, because I thought it'd suit you. Besides, you can't exactly make pants with what we've got here. Not enough material."
"Skip the first reason, please..."
"It should still be more comfortable than that cloth you're currently just wound around yourself," Valeri offered.
Since Fresia's point about the lack of materials and Valeri's point about comfort were both valid, I accepted the skirt.
"Then... I'll go change."
Clutching the skirt, I headed behind a thick cluster of trees. Valeri caught Fresia by the arm as she tried to follow me.
When I reached my spot behind the tree, I unwound the cloth from my waist and held up the skirt.
This is... not it. Well, better than nothing, I guess...
Suppressing my revulsion, I looped the skirt's cord around my waist, pulled it snug, and tied it off at my hip to hold it in place. Dressed, I looked down at the lower half now in my field of vision. There was no mistaking it: the lower half of a woman wearing a skirt.
"Ngh..."
Swallowing the shame already crawling up my throat, I gathered up the discarded cloth and stepped out from behind the tree. The two by the campfire were watching me.
"I'm dressed."
Not knowing what else to say, I mumbled that and shuffled out of the brush.
"It suits you wonderfully!"
Valeri offered the compliment awkwardly.
"Please... you really don't have to say that..."
"Nonsense!"
Fresia cut me off as I turned my head away, loud enough to startle me.
"I put real work into making it, so you have to appreciate it! Well? How is it? How does it feel wearing it?"
"How does it feel? It feels like a skirt! And more importantly, you trimmed the hem so much it's way too short!"
The skirt's hem sat well above my knees. It could genuinely be called a miniskirt.
"What are you talking about? A clean hem is the only way to show off the Hero's lovely soft legs~"
"I wanted them NOT shown?!"
Paying my grievances no mind whatsoever, Fresia grabbed my arm and steered me over toward Valeri.
"This part right here is the highlight!"
With that, she turned me sideways to show Valeri my profile — specifically the part bound by the cord, where the two layers of fabric overlapped ambiguously.
"When you walk, or run, this part goes — ta-da!"
Fresia crouched down and peeled the overlapping layers apart, baring the side of my hip and outer thigh.
"And behold! A function that gives you little glimpses of this uncharted territory — no underwear worn beneath!"
"What are you doing?!"
"Ow!"
I delivered a firm knuckle-rap to the top of Fresia's head. Turning my gaze from her, who was now rubbing her head with a pout, I looked toward Valeri.
Valeri had that signature pursed-lip expression of hers, eyes wide open, staring fixedly at my waist. I could feel my lower belly slowly starting to warm.
"Valeri!"
"Yes!"
"Please go check that the surrounding area is secure!"
"Knight Valeri, reporting for duty!"
Valeri snatched up her sword and hastily left her seat.
That was close... I almost broke the rules. Yes, the rules. And the rules just got a whole new variable added to them.
I looked at Fresia, who was watching Valeri's retreating back with a bewildered expression.
This one's the most dangerous of all...!
After stuffing my hand over Fresia's mouth as she tried to keep evangelizing the virtues of the skirt, we cleaned up the dinner things and turned in early. The plan was to set out for the Elf Village the moment the sun rose.
But sleep refused to come. The forest wind kept slipping up under the skirt. It traveled up between my thighs and caressed my entire lower half, and the unfamiliar sensation chased every trace of drowsiness away. Pretending I needed to relieve myself, I got up from my spot.
I have a feeling...
I slipped behind a dense thicket of trees.
Valeri did calm herself down when she stepped away earlier, so... I guess that alone really isn't enough?
I carefully lifted the hem of the skirt.
Swish.
The thing that had been tenting the fabric swayed into view.
Come to think of it — wearing a skirt means I'm... crossdressing right now, isn't it?
Goosebumps rippled across my body at the thought.
A guy like me, in a skirt, crossdressing — and even aroused... No! This is the resonance, okay?! I am NOT hard because I like this!
Staring hard at my defiant member, a realization struck me. Come to think of it, in all my time since arriving in this world, I've never actually taken care of things myself.
Last time... well, it did come out in the end, but... Yes! When I finished back then, the arousal completely drained away, didn't it? So even if it's the resonance, wouldn't taking matters into my own hands and forcing a wise-man's-time solve everything?
With that thought, I gingerly wrapped one hand around the cock beneath my skirt.
Well... might as well give it a try?