The Here-Knight's Common Sense
Once, an elf told me something like this.
"You really should understand this. Even if it's another race, you must never challenge the Here-Knight Tribe to a duel or any contest!"
"Seems like it won't happen anyway... Why?"
"Don't even think about it! Just... if your life isn't at stake!"
The day I remembered that conversation was probably the one when I harvested the plum, slicing through its resilient trunk with a sword as it twisted and lunged like a snake, trying to bite me.
"Just don't even try to win. It's hopeless anyway."
"What if I win?"
"Then... then you must run away! Don't look back! Why are you turning it into a question about winning? You cheeky, filthy yellow monkey!"
"No, I could ask!"
But I was busy, and the elf trailed off with a vague, half-hearted excuse when I tried to press about the Here-Knights, so I quickly forgot the whole thing.
[Challenge... huh... a challenge... a challenge against that legendary here-knight Dyna Hercules...!]
Was that the price I paid for not asking about the reason that day, like some butterfly effect?
The moment the word "challenge" left my lips, the scorching heat from Dyna's breath grew even fiercer, and her sticky, unblinking gaze made me instinctively step back.
[Where do you think you're going? Why are you retreating? You said you wanted to challenge me. Dyna Hercules and I will settle everything with a challenge!]
"B-but you never said that!"
Every backward step I took, she advanced the same number of paces, her footsteps heavy and deliberate.
"Uh...!"
Before I could even take ten steps, the cool, hard wall pressed against my back, and just as I panicked, her gauntleted hands clamped down on both sides of my head with a resounding thud.
"T-this is... a wall punch...?"
[No matter why or how you spoke those words, whether you meant it or not, you said the word "challenge." That action and its consequences cannot be undone.]
"So what the hell is wrong with you...?"
"?"
I was pinned against the wall with nowhere to run, and now, hiding her expression behind the black helmet, Dyna slowly stepped closer.
It was nothing like the honorable Dyna I knew, and a wave of pure fear washed over me.
But at the same time, recalling her declaration that she would never harm me and would stake everything on our challenge, I forced myself to stay calm and spoke.
"So... are you going to do it? Or not? Just tell me."
[I will not evade this challenge, the noble here-knight that I am! But given how she reacted... it seems she truly had no idea and challenged a here-knight like me... heh, what a relief. It's fine. Perfectly fine... so far, everything has gone smoothly. I almost like it.]
"?"
What?
Unlike me, who couldn't make sense of it and tilted my head in confusion, Dyna leaned in close, eyes sparkling with excitement, and continued with a hot breath.
[So! Is it a one-round match?! Or best-of-three?! Say it now! There is no way for a here-knight to avoid any kind of challenge!]
"One round."
For some reason I couldn't fathom why she was trying to hypnotize me into this, I quickly reached out with my fist right in her face to end it fast.
At that moment, Dyna stepped back several paces.
If only I could just run away to the elf right now...
"Wow, what the hell..."
[?]
Some things were possible, some weren't.
The elf's arrogant smile as she hid behind me made me shudder, and I stared at Dyna as she fidgeted with her gauntlets, readying for our challenge.
[I’m ready too. By the way, I’m going to offer a handkerchief.]
"?"
A psychological warfare out of nowhere?
'I've already decided what I'm offering, what kind of ice-cold trick is this psychological warfare anyway?'
It felt ridiculous, but I decided not to care and waved my hand playfully in front of Dyna.
"So, if I lose, I'll do whatever you say... rock-paper-scissors..."
[Go!]
"Kyaaah, you scared me!"
Dyna shouted with all her might, without any warning.
Because the hypnosis forced me to play scissors, my hand froze in surprise and I nearly offered my fist right to her.
'But this is already set up with hypnosis, I can't do that.'
One second? Two seconds? In that brief moment before hypnosis could be detected, I stretched my index and middle fingers with all my strength in a quick mental simulation.
"Huu... huu..."
[Ugh... l-lost...]
The result was clear from the start—my hand had already been completely away.
Since there was no tie option, the outcome depended only on Dyna's choice, and she offered a handkerchief just as she had promised.
I had no idea what she was thinking or why she did this, but I decided to figure it out later and slowly backed away from her.
[Why... why...?]
"?"
Why scissors? I clearly said I was offering a handkerchief. Normally I'd think you were trying to force me into offering a fist with some psychological trick...
"Just... weather's nice, right?"
She had ordered me to come up with a reason.
While I searched for a gap to escape and brainstormed a good excuse, Dyna trembled with excitement and continued.
[You were clearly about to offer a fist. I was trying to make you do so. I shouted loudly on purpose to freeze your body and then extend my fist, but even under my intimidating declaration, you didn't yield and played scissors...]
"Just because the weather's nice?"
It was exactly what she ordered, but why was she acting like this?
If I had offered a fist, the hypnosis would have been exposed, and since Dyna had tossed a coin to activate the hypnosis...
She must have conspired with the elf about this, so exposing that I wasn't hypnotized would mean punishment from the elf. It was obvious.
"Then may I go now?"
[Defeat... I lost... heh, the proud here-knight Dyna Hercules has been humiliated in rock-paper-scissors against a human man...!]
Since I had almost staked my life on the game, I didn't know what she was thinking, but recalling the elf's warning to "run if you win," I immediately struck at her opening and fled the spot.
[Heh, this is fate. Even though I tried to scare you, I still lost. This is fate. Total defeat... Dyna Hercules has finally... ♥]
As Dyna muttered to herself alone, the moment I turned my back and tried to run without looking back,
"Wait."
"Even if you wait, I'll go first... uwaah?!"
In that instant, the familiar yet crystal-clear voice made me freeze for a split second.
Before I could even register the strangeness, a red-haired beauty suddenly appeared in front of me, pushing me hard back with both hands.
"W-who are you?!"
"Who are you asking? Me?!"
In my shock, my eyes widened as this red-haired sister suddenly exploded in anger.
I swear on the sky, the red-haired beauty in front of me—wearing a bold black bikini with a golden frame—was someone I had never met before today.
I had seen many beautiful women who followed the elf and could be considered her acquaintances, but this red-haired beauty was someone I had just met.
"Why are you asking me 'who are you' when it's not someone else?!"
"Dyna! Where did you go? Just a second... Dyna?"
I turned toward where Dyna had been, calling her name in a slightly brazen way, but the here-knight who was there just moments ago had vanished.
In her place, only the familiar black armor lay scattered on the ground.
"Wait a minute... the voice felt familiar..."
The here-knight who disappeared leaving only armor, the red-haired beauty who was furious at me, and that familiar voice...
Reaching that conclusion, I looked up in disbelief and called her name softly.
"...Dyna?"
"Speak louder! Didn't I say 'nu nu'?! Why are you staring with wide eyes like you've never seen something... no, no, thinking about it, this is the first time anyone's seen me like this."
The red-haired beauty nodded in agreement.
The usually dignified and heavy here-knight voice I was used to hearing inside armor was now coming directly from the red-haired beauty.
"Um, thinking about it, this is the first time. I've always been wearing armor, so I never thought about showing my bare skin!"
"N-no, why are you like this...?!"
Even after three years of knowing each other, I had repeatedly said I wanted to see her bare face, but Dyna had always refused, saying she could never show it to even me, yet here she was, revealing her bare face.
Moreover, the elf was also revealing an even more revealing outfit than usual, almost naked.
"Why are you showing this form? It's not common sense for a defeated here-knight to take off her armor and show her naked body! What strange words you're saying."
"?"
Thinking about it, this was the first time anyone had seen me naked, so I made a mistake because it was unfamiliar. If it was supposed to be naked, why was I wearing something on my body? That's probably why she asked.
The red-haired beauty nodded as if she had understood something.
The stream of confusing situations that had continued since yesterday, and the natural breeding instinct that usually worked so smoothly in my head, started rising.
I quickly shook my hands and said, "No, that's not..."
"I'm sorry. Just a moment, I'll take off these cumbersome cloth scraps..."
Tuduk!
"Now I'm completely naked! How is it? Do you like it?"
"N-no, that's..."
But whether she couldn't hear my words or had never intended to, Dyna was tearing off the remaining cloth scraps that had covered her.
The here-knight who had become completely naked showed no shame, revealing her entire body to me without even trying to cover herself.
The two hands I had hurriedly extended to stop her were now groping her plump breasts.
"Nnng... your grip is quite rough. It feels like it's embedded some sort of hard flesh different from mine..."
"P-please stop!"
"No! Don't stop! Grab even harder, explore to your heart's content! Squeeze with all your might! Huu..."
I had clearly been trying to stop her, but...
Every time I saw the elf's breasts, I had unconsciously nibbled on the air in excitement, so maybe that habit was why my lewd hands were squeezing the here-knight's breasts in front of me.
Startled by my dirty hand movements on the bare breasts, I tried to pull away quickly, but Dyna smiled with a satisfied expression and grabbed my hand that was about to move away, pulling it toward herself.
Looking down at the hand still gripping her breast, she let out a moan that matched her captivating smile, spread her legs slightly to show me more, and said, "Don't try to avoid me. Do whatever you want with me. From this moment on, my breasts, my body, and my noble heart and mind have all become yours."
"...Eh?"
"Are you pretending not to understand, or do you want me to say it? As expected, humans truly understand what to demand from our here-knight tribe..."
Dyna, muttering words she didn't understand, her eyes flickering with heat, spread her legs wider to emphasize her lower body, bared her teeth, and glared at me as if she couldn't bear it any longer and said, "You... you cowardly, shamelessly defeated me with a fair challenge...!"
"Do cowardly and fair really coexist in the same sentence?"
"...Crap, release me!"
"Shut up, you have nothing to say!"
The magical sentences that seemed to stimulate the primal instincts of a beast made my pants swell uncontrollably.