Yune's Public Outdoor Virginity Certification
Yune's Public Outdoor Virginity Certification
Since the successor curriculum doesn't include equestrian lectures, the riding grounds were occupied only by our classmates, gathered in small groups without Kir or the Crown Princess.
The moment I appeared, they all broke into smiles as soon as they looked at me.
"Hello, Yune!"
"Good morning, Paula!"
"O-oh, hello. Yune...?"
"Laura, hello to you too!"
Starting with the marquess's daughter, even the baron's daughter who couldn't bring herself to talk to me properly yesterday was now shyly striking up a conversation. My face lit up with satisfaction.
'Mark of a Manly Man. People naturally flock to you!'
In fact, some of the girls' faces were flushing red, as if talking to me was an immense pleasure. Especially Laura, the baronial daughter I'd helped yesterday.
...Now that I think about it, was she okay after I left?
A sudden worry hit me, and I swiftly approached Laura, who was standing a fair distance behind.
I stretched up on my tiptoes with all my might, bringing my lips to her ear.
-Whisper.
"Laura. Nobody gave you any trouble yesterday, did they? If anyone said anything, you tell me in secret, okay?"
"...!!?"
When I asked if anything had happened, Laura flinched hard, scrunching her neck as if my breath tickled.
But afterward, she blushed yet shook her head gently, smiling. It seemed nothing really happened.
"Y-Yune? What did you say?"
"Huh? Just playing a little prank?"
"No, Yune, you're a noble son, so acting like that with girls...."
"We're friends, what's the big deal... Ah. Paula, you come here too! Hoo~!"
"Hya, hyaaah!?"
After that, I went around pulling the same prank on the other girls—blowing gently into their ears—until the lecture started.
It seemed everyone's faces got super red when you blew into their ears. Are nobles just really ticklish or something...?
* * * * * *
A short while later, when it was time for the equestrian lecture to begin, we were sitting and giggling on the chairs provided inside the riding grounds.
A luxurious awning was stretched overhead, and all sorts of refreshments were laid out in advance—a sight befitting the highest-rated course among the first-year noble requirements.
"Ah, cookies. Are we allowed to eat these?"
-Crunch.
"Already eating them, I see. Yune, do you like cookies?"
"Yep! The world is bitter, so shouldn't at least the cookies be sweet?"
"Pfft. What's that logic? Anyway, got it. You like cookies. Right, right."
'What's this, why is everyone laughing? Is liking cookies weird?'
As I munched on the cookies and expounded my cookie-appreciation theory, my classmates shared meaningful grins.
I was about to ask why they were laughing, but the professor rode in on a horse at exactly that moment, forcing me to turn my head forward without daring to ask.
"Greetings, new cadets. I will be instructing you on how to ride a horse elegantly in this lecture...."
From then on, the lecture's explanation continued. A noble who rides well is a charming noble. Just riding a horse well can make you look incredibly attractive to the opposite sex, and so on.
"Especially the young ladies would do well to learn thoroughly. At night... Ahem. It's nothing."
'...At night? Because riding a horse at night is dangerous?'
The professor glanced at me mid-explanation, trailing off, and my classmates around me suddenly burst into fake coughs. Still, the explanation finished fairly quickly.
But by the time it ended, my expression had slightly hardened.
'Th-this is a disaster!'
According to the explanation, this course taught the 'noble' way to ride a horse.
Which implied that already knowing how to ride was a prerequisite for the course.
I glanced around to see if anyone else was struggling like me, but no one looked particularly anxious. I must've been the only person among my classmates who couldn't ride.
Seeing even Laura, a baron's daughter, snort as if determined to show off something, I internally screamed.
'No, how does everyone already know how to ride? Why am I the only one who can't?'
"Now, let's choose the horses that will be your partners for the semester. First of all... Lord Yunes? As the only flower of this cohort, please choose first."
Without giving me a moment to confess I couldn't ride, the professor suddenly told me to pick a horse first.
Half on instinct, I smiled and waved my hand.
"I'll choose last, Professor."
"Oh? Are you sure that's alright?"
"Yes. Since the others seem to love riding so much, I'll yield the good horses."
"Ooh... how kind-hearted you are. Your beauty is not merely external, but internal as well."
I couldn't evaluate a horse, so I figured if I went first and accidentally picked a bad one, the embarrassment would be monumental. That was why I pushed my turn to the back.
Fortunately, the professor smoothly changed the order and started calling the others.
One by one, my classmates rose and headed for the stables...
'Alright. I'll pick a really scruffy-looking one. If I claim I took the last one because I felt sorry for it, no one can call me a bad judge of horseflesh.'
Having already calculated the outcome, I resolved to intentionally pick a pathetic horse. I didn't know how to pick a good one, but a bad horse would be obvious at a glance.
A bit of time passed.
"Then, lastly, Lord Yunes. Please proceed to the stables."
"Yes."
The moment for me to pick a horse had arrived.
* * * * * *
My plan to pick the worst-condition horse was shattered the instant I entered the stables.
'...Anyone could see that's the best horse. Wait, is that thing even a horse? It has a horn.'
Because there was a horse standing there that made all the others look like second-rate beasts.
A horse with a magnificent single horn on its head, clearly anything but ordinary at a glance.
"Excuse me, what is that horse...?"
"Ah. That is one of the Academy's divine beasts, the Einhorn."
When I asked the stablekeeper why such a horse was still left, she smiled and explained that it was the Einhorn, one of the divine beasts guarding the Academy.
But her expression soon clouded as she shook her head.
"I would not recommend a male ride the Einhorn."
"Huh, why not?"
"The Einhorn is...."
But before the stablekeeper could finish her explanation,
-Whoosh.
The Einhorn, which had been staring at me intently from the moment I entered, leaped clean over the wooden fence and surged toward me in a flash, as if to cut off her words.
Then, coming before me, the Einhorn lowered its neck slightly and greeted me.
"A truly pure and elegant gentleman has arrived. I am pleased to meet you."
"Yeah, nice to meet you to— Ack!? The horse can talk!!?"
"...What!?"
I was about to reflexively greet it back when I realized that a creature that looked like a horse by any standard had just spoken fluently, making me jump in shock.
The stablekeeper seemed aghast too, her eyes rolling.
"Does this thing always talk?!"
"N-no!? I'm hearing it for the first time...?"
"Shove off, vulgar female. I can barely hear this noble gentleman's beautiful voice."
"...!?"
Just as I was panicking, trying to figure out what was happening, the horned horse scolded the stablekeeper before turning its blue eyes to me.
"Dear me, strong words in front of a gentleman. May I ask your name?"
"M-me? I'm Yune...."
"Yune. What an excellent name. I am called Einhorn. In other lands I am known as a unicorn or a one-horn. Please, call me freely as you wish."
"O-other lands...? You must've traveled far and wide, huh?"
"Yes. But a gentleman like you, so perfect in mind, energy, and body and yet so splendid—I have never encountered one throughout my entire existence."
After that, the Einhorn praised me endlessly, saying it had been waiting for someone like me. Something about me nearly perfectly fulfilling its own theory of mind-energy-body.
The Einhorn, having extolled me in needlessly high-class, fluent imperial language, then came beside me and knelt its four legs. As if to invite me to mount it easily.
"Would you grant me the honor of carrying you upon my back, Lord Yune?"
"Uh, huh? I don't know how to ride a horse."
"It is fine. Simply trust me and let your body relax."
"No, you aren't even wearing a saddle or anything right now?"
"Ah, how clumsy of me. I was momentarily excited, as it has been a long time since I met someone as pure as you, Lord Yune. You, female! Hurry and bring my saddle!"
* * * * * *
Outside the stables.
Yune's classmates attending the equestrian lecture were circling the riding grounds on their chosen horses, settling into their new partners at a leisurely pace.
Naturally, their eyes kept drifting back toward the stables where they had taken the horses out from.
'Yune is late....'
The reason they kept glancing at the stables was because Yune, who had gone in last to pick a horse, had not come out for nearly ten minutes.
Some of those who had developed a fondness for Yune were worrying: how would that tiny body ride a horse? Could he even do it? Should they run over and help right now...?
But before their anxiety could overcome them and they headed toward the stables,
A white blur dashed out from the stables.
'...The Einhorn?'
It was the Einhorn, one of the Academy's famed divine beasts, and seated on its back was the boy they'd been so anxious to see—Yune.
"Waaaa! It's so fast!! Amazing!!"
"How is it? The riding feel of this Einhorn."
"The best! Less shaky than a carriage!"
Yune sat awkwardly, gripping the horse's mane tightly. The Einhorn conversed with him as it began circling the riding grounds at quite a fast speed.
Everyone's jaws dropped.
After settling at the Academy in search of the most pure male, the Einhorn had never once spoken to a woman, nor to any man who didn't meet its standards.
The fact that the Einhorn was a spiritual creature capable of human speech was revealed for the first time today. That alone was a shocking event.
But that was not why the girls were surprised. After all, the Academy housed several talking spiritual creatures.
The reason they were stunned was...
'H-he's riding that thing in front of everyone!?'
Yune didn't know, but that horse was famous for carrying only the most pure, virgin males who had no sexual experience whatsoever.
It absolutely would not allow a woman to ride it, and if a man had ever had sexual relations even once, the Einhorn would kick him out with its hind legs.
Thus, among noble young ladies, the horse was famous in many ways. There was even a saying that if you dated a noble son who could ride that horse, you were the victor.
And what that meant was.
'He was so oddly comfortable around girls, I wondered if Yune was secretly quite promiscuous. But he's a virgin...'
Right now, in front of all his classmates, Yune was vigorously asserting that he had a clean body that had never experienced sex.
The very proof of ideal 'masculinity' that every woman in the Empire would desire.
Realizing this, the faces of Yune's classmates naturally flushed red.
"Hm-hrm, ahem...."
'...What in the world has Lady Kirschblüte been doing? To have such a fiancé and not lay a finger on him? Has she no libido?'
But Yune, completely oblivious, smiled brightly.
"Einhorn, go!"