Surely No Idiot Would Attack the Academy-Bound Carriage?
The carriage rattled violently as it entered the mountain path. That was why it felt so damn uncomfortable. It had nothing to do with Terina sitting beside me, subtly stroking my thigh. Though, now that I thought about it, the latter was pretty damn uncomfortable too.
"Mccallan, who decided the seating arrangement for this carriage?"
"I told you to call me Colin. And obviously, I handled the seating assignments myself. I may not look it, but I'm about to be appointed as an assistant professor, so I have the authority to coordinate things like this on-site."
Ha. So it was you after all. Then what the hell were you thinking—
"Why the fuck did you put me in this cursed seat?"
Across from me sat four men dressed in luxurious clothes that screamed "noble sons" at first glance. They'd been whispering among themselves since earlier, but my sharp hearing picked up every word. To my right, by the window, was Terina. To my left was Colin. There was another male student next to Colin, but unlike the others, he wore plain but sturdy clothes and simply stared quietly out the window. He wasn't bothering me, so I let him be. Whatever that guy did, he'd definitely be quieter than the dickheads across from us who were squealing like girls.
'Oh, right. Fuck. This is a gender-reversed world.'
Yeah. By this world's standards, those guys were probably the manliest of them all. Even if the shit coming out of their mouths was filthier than a used rag.
"It couldn't be helped, Ian. It's a bit awkward to put male students in a carriage with female students."
Colin's nonchalant shrug as if it were inevitable only pissed me off more. He wasn't even trying to hide the way he kept glancing at Terina, who was pressed right up against my side with a sly grin.
"Then what about Terina? She's a woman."
"Oh my~ Ian, do you hate having me next to you that much? I'm your master, so of course I should be by your side. Unless... you'd rather ride in the carriage behind us that's crawling with women?"
"Of course I—"
Terina leaned in even closer with a look of feigned shock. Her hand, which had been stroking my thigh, slid upward and brushed lightly against my neck. Our eyes met. My body trembled slightly, strength draining from me. Damn it. There it was again. I wasn't sure if she'd figured out I was weak to this or if she always acted this way. My body temperature rose little by little, a tingling sensation running down my spine. My heartbeat quickened. At twenty-five years old, I wasn't so clueless that I had to wonder what these feelings meant. I just didn't want to admit it. Because my status had become that of a slave.
"...Terina. You were from a noble family. You can't possibly not know what a slave is."
Just because I'd been unaware of this world's reversed chastity norms for ten years didn't mean I knew nothing. In fact, I could confidently say I knew more about war and combat than anyone else. Which was exactly the problem.
A slave was a status and property. It was also rational. The laws weren't so lax that you could just grab any decent-looking person or different race off the street and register them as a slave. Only criminals. Or social weaklings who couldn't pay their taxes. Moreover, in a world where every human except for extremely rare cases like my Mana Incompatibility Body could train with mana, having an imprint engraved and maintained usually meant the person was physically weak as well. And the world was always cruel to the weak. So much so that even if the owner wanted to free a slave, they couldn't.
It had only been three days since I'd become a slave. And less than a day since I'd met Terina. Yet precisely because of that, the thoughts swirling in my head grew even stronger.
"No one knows the future. Just as I don't know if your words are sincere, I can't be certain that your heart won't change someday. Besides, my stage is ultimately the battlefield. If you die, I won't become free. I'll simply go from a slave with an owner to a slave without one."
Whether I threatened a mage or dragged one in for torture, the imprint on the back of my neck wasn't something that could be erased just because I wanted it gone. Even the occasionally freed slaves would grow their hair long to cover their necks.
"So whether you're sincere or not, I have no intention of playing along with—mmph?"
"Ian, shh."
Terina's soft fingers pressed firmly against my lips, cutting me off. Startled, I looked at her. Unlike before, her red eyes had grown slightly subdued and serious.
"Someday, if Ian comes to trust me, there's something I want to tell you. Until then, and even after that moment comes, I'll make you two promises. First, I will never abandon Ian or let these feelings change."
Her unwavering red eyes were filled with conviction. Those eyes that neither teased nor seduced playfully like usual held my gaze without me realizing it. My heart pounded.
"And second, I won't die. At least not for the next ten years. This isn't an empty promise."
Those weren't the eyes of a naive, sheltered noble who knew nothing of battlefields and death. She looked at me as if simply trying to comfort me, with an attitude that made even me want to believe in that baseless certainty. Before I knew it, I found myself nodding.
"Yeah, yeah. That's how my Ian should be. And since Ian is my sex slave, shouldn't you be worrying about where we'll spend our first night together instead of all these complicated things?"
"What?"
Damn it. The serious atmosphere vanished in an instant as she broke into a bright smile and shattered the mood completely. I was so flustered I accidentally used polite speech.
"Oh? Ian? Does this mean you've finally acknowledged me as your master?"
"No! It was just a mistake! A mistake!"
Colin was called a "top woman." In other words, as the only woman in a carriage full of men, it meant she was more sincere than anyone when it came to stealing glances at the male students or peeking at the skin revealed through gaps in their clothing. She'd arranged the seating with exactly that in mind from the start.
To protect the male students from the lecherous gazes of the women, she'd seated them all in the first carriage. As the supervising assistant instructor, she naturally rode with them to prepare for any possible attacks or sudden situations. In truth, at the rear of the carriage procession bearing the academy's emblem were knights from various families dispatched to escort the noble sons and daughters, so only bandits with screws loose in their heads or complete rookies would attempt an attack. The excuse was nothing more than that, but few freshmen knew it.
How perfectly reasonable.
Just as Colin had planned, none of the male students were wary of her. Instead, they chatted among themselves or fanned their clothes because it was hot. Under normal circumstances, she would have used her martial artist's body control to narrow her eyes like slits while still observing everything, or stared intensely enough to burn their reflections from the window into her mind.
That is, if the two people right beside her weren't filming a romance comedy with serious expressions.
'That woman named Terina Grade... she's a freshman this year, right? Her skill at seducing men is no joke.'
Just moments ago, Colin had been lightly observing them—thinking how annoying it was that Terina kept stroking Ian, or how impressive her pickup lines were. But gradually, her thoughts shifted from interest to pure admiration.
'Wow, Ian said something like that? That's insane. Back in my day, if I gave him a decent pickup line during class, he'd just tell me to go die, or if I approached him during sparring, he'd slam me into the wall with one strike. And that guy is now...'
Because of Ian's exceptional strength, he'd entered the academy at just eighteen despite being two years older than Colin, so they'd been in the same year. She remembered every detail of what Ian had been like back then at the academy. That's why she knew that watching the two of them wasn't like watching a simple romance comedy—it was closer to a thriller suspense romance.
'That's what makes it even better. Fuck, I want some popcorn so bad.'
At least six hours remained until they reached the academy. Colin thought that if she burned this scene into her memory and embellished it properly with her storytelling skills to share with the professors, she'd get some expensive drinks out of it. She made a grasping motion in the air as if craving snacks.
"Ah! I-Instructor...?"
If only that high-pitched, distinctly male scream hadn't come out.
When Colin turned her head, what entered her field of vision was the other window seat—specifically, her own hand wedged against the side of the plainly dressed male student sitting next to her. A combat instructor in her mid-to-late twenties, in her prime, groping a delicate male student's sensitive side? It was clearly a situation that would become both a report and a confession of misconduct. Anyone would see it as harassment, or at best, reckless intent.
'Ah, shit.'
The seat she'd assigned for her own desires had tripped her up here of all places. Even in this situation, thinking that the soft, warm, and subtly firm sensation against her hand was incredible was probably because Colin was a pitiful beast in her prime as a woman.
Countless memories and random thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant. Ah, so this is what people call a flashback?
'No, it's too early to give up. At least I could claim the carriage jolted and I grabbed him by mistake... No, that excuse would never fly. Unless I say I was trying to protect him from bandits or something, I'm heading straight to prison...'
In less than a second, Colin ran countless simulations in her head. She decided that even if she was going to prison, she might as well look at the face of the male student whose side she'd touched. After all, they say even ghosts who die full look better. If she was going to get caught anyway, touching a handsome guy's side would feel better.
Light blue hair and eyes of a similar shade. Clean skin, slightly small stature, and hands and feet. A face that looked a bit flustered but not displeased. Oh, a refreshing pretty boy!
"All carriages, halt! Do you know whose territory this is that you dare pass through? Stop and pay the toll if you want to continue. If you stop quietly, I'll spare your lives!"
And beyond the pretty boy's shoulder, through the window, a group of bandits came into view. Colin quickly slid her hand deeper, wrapping it around the boy's back as she turned his body to shield the window with herself, striking a pose as if she'd known from the beginning and was protecting him.
"Are you alright, student? Don't worry. Instructor Colin will protect you."
'Kyaaah! The mountain gods have answered! Thank you, God!!'
This world was a novel. To be precise, it was a gender-reversed harem romance novel called Men and Women Reversed World: Only I Lack the Iron Wall. At least, that was what Luke de Antarias believed.
Because Luke himself possessed memories from his previous life.
'Sea-like blue eyes and hair, snow-white skin, from a poor baron's family. This is definitely the protagonist's body.'
It had been a year since he'd recalled his past life. Unlike the original indecisive protagonist, Luke had written down all the novel's contents in a notebook and spent nearly a year researching how to deal with future events.
'Since gender reversal is the main theme anyway, it's hard for me to become strong myself. Training is tough, and my talent isn't that great. Instead, I'll seduce women to overcome the upcoming story and naturally build a harem. Since it's gender-reversed, if I show a weak appearance, smile at them, and initiate frequent skinship, they'll all fall for it.'
And after a year had passed, on the day before the long-awaited entrance ceremony, Luke knew that today, stupid bandits would attack the academy-bound carriages.
Since the escort knights would crush the bandits in no time anyway, there was no real need to prepare. What Luke was aiming for was the favorability of combat instructor Colin de Mccallan. She was a supporting character close to main in the story, and one of the early-game powerhouses who could defeat even the second-year top student within ten moves.
'Above all, I want that cheerful and easygoing personality. If I act appropriately weak and play along, she'll fall for me quickly.'
He'd been slightly bothered by the woman named Terina Grade and the massive, scar-covered muscular man named Ian Klein in the same carriage, but he soon dismissed them. In the early part of the novel, it had only been mentioned in a few lines that the academy-bound carriages were attacked by bandits the day before entrance but no one was hurt and it was quickly resolved. Since they weren't characters who appeared in the story he remembered, they were obviously extras.
The constant talk about "sex slave" was a bit strange, but he figured the novel had probably skipped over such details. Never imagining that this would become the biggest misconception of Luke's life.
Using vision expansion magic to look outside and timing his move, the moment the bandits appeared faintly in the distance, Luke subtly slipped Colin's hand—which had been staring at the two extras—between his own side and let out a high-pitched scream while blushing.
'Operation successful. Now I'll tremble a bit, thank Colin, and when the bandits are defeated, I'll gently grab her clothes and ask her to protect me. Perfect!'
Seeing Colin's trembling eyes, he smiled inwardly. That's what he'd thought just moments ago.
The shattered window. Blood and flesh scattered like a spray outside the carriage.
"Ugh... spare m—"
A snapping sound followed by a cut-off groan. And the extra—no, the monster—who casually stepped on the neck while wiping blood splattered on his face.
What the hell was that?
The bandits hadn't even had time to arrive and draw their swords. The man who burst out by smashing the carriage, the screams that spread before they could even lift their heads, the sounds of bones breaking and flesh tearing. How could a single man without any weapons, in a gender-reversed world no less, take on over thirty male bandits...!
"Hoo... Seeing blood helps clear my head a bit. I happened to need a sword anyway. Shall I use the bandits' swords for now?"
He didn't even have time to pay attention to his trembling hands. Luke's mind was overwhelmed by the horrific scene before his eyes and the thoughts swirling in his head.
Among the countless racing thoughts, only one stood out clearly.
'No way...?'
No, that couldn't be. The regressor whose existence had only been vaguely mentioned in the novel. There was no way an extra male character in a gender-reversed novel could be a regressor.