Frills and Betrayal

The party, traveling along the well-maintained road, prepared to make camp as the day began to darken.

But a noble's camping was nothing like a mercenary company's.

Merencia drew a transparent case from the bag strapped behind her saddle. Inside it rested a miniature stone villa. She set the case down in a suitable clearing, poured mana into it, and stepped back. The transparent box vanished; the miniature villa swelled to full size and finished itself into a complete building in the blink of an eye.

The other knights, forgoing such cases, simply fed mana into compact bundles of cloth and poles, then tossed them lightly. With sharp pops, single-person tents sprang into existence. Food and cooking gear followed from small subspace pouches, and the campsite was complete in moments.

Every member of the party stood at Expert rank or higher; they could have reached their destination in a single day. They chose to camp midway only because the Guardian Order's forces would not assemble until the following day—so that they might conserve stamina and mana and enter battle at peak condition.

"What is this supposed to be?"

Arty's brow furrowed at the sudden appearance of an ultra-luxurious campsite. She turned on Lillian with an accusing tone.

"If camping could be this simple, why did you make such a production about setting one up until now?"

"Simple, sure. But just one of those costs half a year's operating budget for a mercenary company. Without noble patronage you can't field them on any real scale."

"I have no interest in you organics' circumstances. If something like that existed, you should have prepared one for Master."

"I asked him before. Kaisent refused."

"This is exactly why stupid organics—! Given Master's personality, there is no way he would simply say yes and accept something like that!"

"You're scolding me even though you already know that?"

Lilith ignored the comedy routine unfolding between the two and spoke to Priscilla instead.

"If you mass-produced these with only the deploy function and sold them at a reasonable price, you would make a fortune. Why have I never seen products like this?"

"Obviously. Convenience items this good are sold only to knight-class and above. They require mana to use in the first place."

"Looking down on commoners is the same in our world, but… yours seems especially extreme."

Priscilla offered a bitter smile at Lilith's assessment. Until she herself had become a free mercenary, she had thought this state of affairs perfectly natural.

Once the auto-deploying tents supplied by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Akina had been set up in companionable clusters, the conversation drifted naturally to the next topic.

"So why did they separate Kaisent from us for the journey?"

"Exactly. The excuse was that a mage needs to be guarded somewhere safe, but it only sounds like a pretext."

Lillian and Priscilla both felt the clear intent to keep Kaisent away from them. What turned that suspicion into certainty was the next exchange.

"What? Kaisent is staying inside that?"

"Yes. Ordinarily even we are not permitted inside, but because Kaisent is a young other-species, the Countess granted special leave out of consideration for his age."

They watched Kaisent being all but dragged into the villa by Patisha, Akina's second daughter.

That damn bitch!

She's trying to pair Kaisent with her own daughter!

When Akina had sent her two daughters along "for experience," they had believed the Countess harbored genuine wariness toward the Outer God Alliance. Wariness, my ass. She was using the situation to scheme a match between her daughters and Kaisent.

Outer God conspiracies be damned—they began seriously debating whether to raise hell right then and there to snatch Kaisent out of Akina's clutches.

The gap in understanding was, in its way, inevitable. The Luciarkenel royal household had never treated it as any great secret, so the basic fact that Lillian and Fredrick had been engaged was common knowledge. Later, when Fredrick became Priscilla under the curse, priests of every stripe had tried to break it; a curse that had already fully settled proved impossible to lift. The engagement itself, however, remained unchanged. Therefore the natural conclusion was that Kaisent and the two women could never develop feelings beyond comradeship—especially given the age difference.

Just as they teetered on the edge of exploding, Arty strode past a knight and headed straight for the villa.

"Hey—where do you think you're going?"

"Master protection. Top-priority mission."

When the knight seized her shoulder to stop her, Arty's voice shifted into a blatantly mechanical tone, as though reason itself had left her.

"Master kidnapping suspicion. Emergency protocol for Master rescue activation in ten, nine, eight—"

"Wait! Your master is right over there if you go that way!"

The ominous countdown made the knights flinch. They hastily ushered Arty into the building where Kaisent waited. Fighting a golem bent on protecting its master offered no profit, and since they had no intention of harming Kaisent, better to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠avoid a scene that would bring Akina's questioning down on their heads.

Th-th-that—!

That bitch!

Lillian and Priscilla, who knew better than anyone that Arty was a fully sentient being who thought and moved like a person, nearly choked when she shot them a wink as she disappeared inside.

I've seen how ugly men become once they fall for women… but women who fall for men turn out just as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ugly.

Lilith, watching from the sidelines, clicked her tongue lightly and shook her head.

The villa's interior held no extravagant ornaments, yet every necessity of daily life was present, lending it a quiet comfort. The first floor contained a living room, dining room, and storeroom; the second floor held eight single rooms.

"Kyaa~ So cute~"

"Um… that… big sis……"

"What is it, you~ Your skin is so clean and soft? Making me jealous even though you're a boy. Eiit~"

"Abuaaa~~"

Three three-person sofas and a central table occupied the living room, along with a winter stove. After finishing her self-introduction, Patisha settled Kaisent between her legs and began treating him like a doll—pinching his cheeks, stroking his hair.

"Um… Patisha. He seems to dislike it, so maybe you should stop……?"

"What? You don't like me doing this?"

Merencia, unable to watch any longer, urged her to let him go. Patisha only hugged Kaisent tighter and asked in a voice carefully calculated to provoke guilt.

"It's not that I dislike Lady Patisha… just sit separately……"

"He says he doesn't dislike it. Here, try this too?"

"Wai—haeup."

"And what's with 'Lady Patisha'? So stiff. Call me big sis. Got it? Big. Sis."

"Bi…g."

"Kyaa~ So cuteee~~♥"

Cutting him off with excessive high tension, Patisha pushed a sweet directly into his mouth so he could speak no further. As she shifted from doll-play to petting him like a favored animal, she frowned at her timidly seated sister.

"But sis."

"Y-yes?"

"Why haven't you taken off your armor? It's so stifling just looking at you—take it off."

"I-I'm fine."

"I'm not fine. Besides, you usually hate how stuffy it is."

"Uuu……"

Merencia kept glancing at Kaisent, shy about removing the armor.

What if he sees my face and is disappointed? It's a rustic face I never even dressed up like Patisha's.

Patisha, sensing exactly why her sister hesitated, decided the situation would only grow boring and moved on.

"Fine. If you want to stay stuffy yourself, I can't stop you. Want to try this one too, Kaisent?"

The moment he swallowed one sweet, she offered another. The quality was high—noble fare—but Kaisent felt burdened long before taste registered, simply by the way she doted on him like a doll or pet.

I think I understand why they never let me meet Merencia big sis.

She did nothing violent, yet she pulled others into her own pace and unilaterally showered them with affection. No "bad big-sis" scent, yet the "good big-sis" scent was only faint.

"Kaisent. Want to do something fun with big sis?"

"Yes? Fun… thing?"

"Yeah. The moment I saw you, a desire rose up—'I want to do this.' Honestly, even for me this kind of desire is a first♥"

She scooped Kaisent up, carried him to the open space behind the sofas, set him down, and smiled.

"Then, won't you take them off for a bit?"

"…Yes?"

"No—I'll strip you myself. Eiit~♥"

"Uwahk!? Big sis! W-wait a minute!"

"Pa-Patisha. Don't……"

"I'm not doing anything weird, so sis, step aside!"

Patisha began forcibly stripping Kaisent's clothes. True to Akina's bloodline, she was stronger than she looked; being Akina's daughter, Kaisent could not properly resist. He was left bare except for a single pair of panties.

The faint residual muscle was a minor annoyance, yet the delicate frame that matched his androgynous looks, together with that pure white skin, delivered a far sharper stimulus than she had imagined.

"Bi… big sis… please don't……"

"Eut……!"

Eyes glistening, body trembling—Kaisent's appearance was so alluring that even she, a woman, felt the urge to pounce.

"I have no intention of doing anything weird. Big sis just likes cute clothes and has a hobby of collecting them."

Coming back to herself, she opened a subspace pocket in midair and rummaged inside.

"But clothes are only complete when someone wears them. I've grown too big, and sis doesn't suit them in the first place."

Merencia hung her head and muttered in a barely audible voice.

"Our family is a margraviate, so we can't find cute little girls inside the castle. For emergency readiness, young children panic too easily and aren't useful—that's the reason."

From the subspace pouch she drew a girl's dress of soft pink light, complete with cute frills.

"The moment I saw you, I understood what destiny feels like."

Watching Patisha hold the dress against his body to check the size, Kaisent realized the situation was even worse than he had feared.

"A bit small, but this much is within allowable range. Here~ then."

Patisha focused, then cast an unidentified magic toward him. The dress in her hand dissolved into motes of light that streamed onto Kaisent and reformed into clothing.

What remained was Kaisent wearing a cute pink frill dress.

"Eu… auuu……"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa~~~~~~~~♥♥♥"

The knee-length frill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dress suited him so perfectly that even knowing he was a boy produced not the slightest sense of incongruity.

"…Wow……"

Even Merencia, who had been pitying Kaisent's helpless slide into Patisha's clutches, let out an involuntary exclamation of admiration.

Bang—

At that moment Arty—who had pretended to be a mindless golem and received a free pass from the knights—opened the door and entered.

"Huh? Who are you? How did you get in?"

"Looking for Master… Master……?"

"A-Arty……"

That day Arty received a shock on the scale of the creation of heaven and earth.

A cute pink frill dress, legs pressed together in an awkward crouch, moist eyes glistening as they looked up at her—the sight transported her mind to another dimension entirely.

"…Did you people do this?"

As a machine intelligence she recovered far faster than any human.

"To be precise, I did?"

"……"

She strode toward Patisha, who had declared the fact so boldly. Neither averted her gaze; the air between them grew charged—

"Do you have other dresses besides this one?"

"Arty!?"

"Heeh~"

Kaisent startled at the unexpected bomb of a statement; Patisha's eyes lit with the joy of meeting a kindred spirit.

"In your view, what kind of dress would suit your master?"

"First, Master possesses pure white hair and eyes, so I believe a black gothic lolita that emphasizes the contrast of white and black would suit him best. Ah—gothic lolita is an Earth term……"

"It's fine, I know what it means. That aside, for a golem you have a good eye. Girls' dresses rarely come in black, but if it's this one……"

She rummaged through the subspace pouch and produced the smallest gothic-lolita dress she owned.

"A-Arty! Stop that and help me!"

"Master, I have now understood why humans possess hobbies and immerse themselves in them—how only humans can create works of art."

And she realized:

"I was born for this moment."

She had always known that Machinaroids exterminating humanity was an indefensible folly; with every passing day that conviction only grew firmer, and the counter-arguments multiplied.

Artemis! Anything is fine—just get me out of here!

As expected! I believed in you!

……

Betrayed by the allies he had trusted to save him, Kaisent became their toy with dead eyes.

"Shall we try this next?"

"Acceptable. However, there are far too many infant-style garments. How about something with a touch of exposure? Especially the thighs, for instance."

"Good! Not bad! But since I don't have clothes like that, I'll have to slit them myself?"

"Please do not make the slit too deep. Even looking like this, Master is male; if the pelvis is revealed the charm is halved. I recommend revealing only the leg line."

"Ah, that makes perfect sense! You're the first person ever to give me advice like that!"

The sudden intruder Arty and Patisha hit it off at once. Using Kaisent as their model, they unleashed the entire collection Patisha had amassed and feasted their eyes.

Aaa… so cruel……. Sorry, Kaisent……. I can't help you…….

Merencia abandoned all hope and turned her face away from Kaisent, who drooped without even the strength to resist.

Gulp……. But he really is pretty…….

Yet Kaisent—far cuter and more lovable than any little girl—wearing pretty dresses possessed a magic that dragged one down the path of corruption even while one knew it was wrong.

That day the boy learned what it felt like for his body to be defiled, and what the shock of betrayal truly meant.