For Lord Ars, Even My Chastity
For Lord Ars, Even My Chastity
In a fantasy world, the so-called 'chosen hero' always begins with a grand flourish.
Drawing a legendary holy sword from deep within an ancient ruin, or being bestowed national-treasure-grade equipment by the king as the one destined to save the world—those were the typical clichés.
But reality was harsh.
What moved the world was not some grand destiny, but ruthlessly practical matters of money and supplies.
"Ars! Fall back! With that sword, you can't even scratch its hide!"
The short-haired mage Celine shouted at the top of her lungs.
But Ars, an eighteen-year-old pure-hearted boy hero, had already raised his standard-issue iron sword high.
"It's okay, Celine! I have the blessing God gave me, remember! I'll stake everything on this one strike!"
Ars's blue eyes flashed with pure passion.
The boy genuinely believed it.
He was a hero chosen by the Goddess, and he had no doubt that a hidden miracle would appear when the goodness in his heart and his sense of justice reached their peak.
However, the Ogre King, the gatekeeper of the dungeon's tenth floor, did not care about the boy's dazzling convictions in the slightest.
"Haap-!"
With a battle cry, Ars's downward slash struck heavily against the Ogre King's thick hindquarters.
And—broke cleanly.
Chaenggeurang!
With a pitiful sound, half of the blade of the old standard-issue iron sword spun three times through the air before plunging into the floor.
"Uh...?"
The instant Ars stared blankly at the iron rod that was all that remained of the hilt, the beast's enormous club came crashing toward the boy's waist.
"Ars-nim!"
The saintess Maria, who had been waiting behind him, screamed.
A pale-pink holy barrier hastily blossomed from her fingertips, but the barrier, barely stronger than a lowest-tier blessing, could not withstand the Ogre King's brute mass and shattered like a glass window.
"Ugh, aaaargh!"
Unable to absorb the impact, Ars's body flew into the air and slammed straight into the dungeon wall.
His crude leather armor crumpled, and his bones screamed along with him.
"This idiot, seriously! Lena, pull Ars out!"
"Tsk, what a high-maintenance idiot!"
Lena, the swordswoman with ash-gray hair tied in a ponytail, let out a sigh and sprang forward.
Lena lightly dodged the Ogre King's second swing, then grabbed Ars by his slack scruff and hurled him toward the rear.
Celine immediately unleashed a barrage of fire magic, blocking the monster's vision, and the party had no choice but to retreat miserably.
---
A shabby inn room in a frontier city.
Lying in bed with his entire body wrapped in bandages, Ars stared at the ceiling with a dejected expression.
True to his innocent and excessively kind nature, he did not blame or resent anyone.
He simply felt deeply disappointed in his own powerlessness.
"Ars-nim, does it hurt? I'll infuse you with a little more holy power."
The saintess Maria looked down at Ars with sapphire-bright eyes filled with concern.
Biting her pale-pink lips, she rubbed the faint cluster of white healing light rising from her fingertips over Ars's chest.
Even in her loose clerical robes, whenever she bent over, the curves of her bursting breasts peeked slightly through the opening of her collar and into Ars's view.
But the boy was in no state to enjoy even such a secret pleasure.
"Thanks, Maria. But I'm fine. It's all because my skills aren't good enough...."
Ars gave a weak smile and waved his bandaged hand.
"No! Your swordsmanship was perfect, Ars-nim. It's just... it's just that your equipment was too old, and the blessing the Church provides was too weak!"
Maria clasped the boy's hand tightly as she spoke, looking heartbroken.
Though Ars was smiling foolishly, Maria could clearly read the deep frustration in his blue eyes.
Ever since they had grown up together in a rural village as children, Ars had always been a kindhearted boy who stepped forward for the sake of others.
He was a hopelessly kind fool who could not bring himself to pass by even an injured stray dog or a monster cub without treating it.
That boy had come out into the world bearing the grand title of 'hero,' but the wall of reality was far too high and distant.
"Maria's right. Apparently, the Ogre King's hide can't even be scratched without a high-grade mithril sword."
Celine, leaning against the window while fiddling with her staff, let out a sigh.
"And the Holy Spirit's Protection is the same. If Ars had even had a high-grade holy aura buff, he wouldn't have injured his bones. The basic standard-issue blessing provided by the Church is basically nothing more than a painkiller."
"Exactly. If Ars had a legendary weapon forged by a master of the Dwarf Mountains, or the highest-tier blessing from a holy altar, he wouldn't have been beaten so badly...."
Lena also sighed from the corner and rubbed her weathered forehead.
Ars continued smiling purely, trying to reassure his companions.
"It's okay, everyone. We can save up a little at a time, buy a better sword, and train hard. I'll work even harder. God will recognize my sincerity, too."
The boy believed in God and his own potential with almost blind purity.
That innocent, guileless attitude only made Maria's heart ache all the more.
'Ars-nim is so good and noble... Why does the world give Ars-nim nothing but trials?'
Maria gazed at Ars's face with a determined look in her eyes.
Her childhood friend, crushed so miserably despite bearing the world's expectations and pressure as a hero, all because he received no support at all.
Maria thought she could do anything for Ars.
Whether it was her mission as a saintess or her devotion as a woman.
---
As the night deepened, silence descended over the inn.
Exhausted from the day's battle, Ars had fallen into a deep sleep, drugged by medicine and fatigue.
Maria stood quietly beside the bed and gazed at Ars's sleeping face for a moment.
The youthful boy's face still showed clear signs of exhaustion.
'I... I will save Ars-nim.'
Maria tidied her platinum-blond hair and put on her loose saintess's outer robe.
Then, without anyone knowing, she opened the inn door and stepped outside.
After passing through the dark streets, she headed for the grand cathedral of the Imperial Church branch that towered over the center of the frontier city.
High Priest (Grand Priest)
Though his biological age had entered his fifties, magic and powerful elixirs allowed Lazarus to maintain the overwhelming vigor and robust physique of a man in his mid-thirties.
Within the Church, he was known as a holy priest who presided over miracles of holy power, but only the high-ranking priests knew the secret of what kind of greed lurked beneath the shadow of his authority.
"High Priest-nim. I apologize for coming so late at night. This is Saintess Maria."
Maria knocked on the door of the High Priest's office.
A heavy, low voice drifted out from within.
"Enter."
When she opened the door and entered, a huge room appeared, lined with imposing marble pillars and antique carpets.
Behind the enormous desk at its center stood a massive man nearly two meters tall.
High Priest Lazarus.
He was a man whose broad shoulders and brutally thick, muscular frame were visible beneath his splendid holy priestly robes.
His eyes carried the gentle smile of a benevolent clergyman on the surface, but deep within them flashed the desire of a seasoned predator.
"Oh-ho, isn't this Saintess Maria? What brings you to me at this late hour?"
Lazarus slowly stepped forward.
With every step the massive man took, a heavy sense of pressure filled the room.
"High Priest-nim... I came to ask a favor, though I know it is presumptuous of me."
Maria folded both hands before her chest and bowed her head.
"It's for Hero Ars-nim. Ars-nim desperately needs the Church's highest-tier blessing, the 'Protection of the Sun Spirit.' If he is to defeat the Demon King's army and save the world, the Church must provide him with bold support."
"Ars... You mean that inexperienced child?"
Lazarus gave a derisive snort.
"The 'Sun Spirit,' the highest blessing of the holy altar, is not granted to just anyone. It is a miracle that consumes vast amounts of holy mana and the accumulated essence of the Church. It is not a resource to be bestowed upon an immature boy who merely swung a standard-issue iron sword, got beaten by an ogre, and had to be carried back here."
"But Ars-nim is a hero chosen by God! Please... Please grant him the blessing. If Ars-nim can only fight properly, he will surely achieve results!"
Maria pleaded as she gazed up at Lazarus with an earnest look.
Tears pooled and glittered in her clear sapphire eyes.
Lazarus slowly scanned her skin, pale and smooth as white jade, her glossy platinum-blond hair falling to her waist, and the enormous curves of her breasts, impossible to conceal even beneath her clerical robes.
'A pure and holy saintess, is she...? I can see all the traits of a female vulnerable to ignorance and pleasure.'
The corners of Lazarus's mouth curled upward slyly.
He slowly approached Maria and lightly tilted her chin up with one large, rough hand, fixing her gaze upon his.
"Saintess Maria. God's grace is never granted for free. Every miracle in this world comes with a corresponding price and sacrifice."
"A, a price...? If you mean a donation to the Church, Ars-nim can pay it after his next dungeon expedition...."
"It isn't money."
Lazarus cut her off and whispered quietly, his face shadowed.
"To release the highest-tier holy power, I must directly inject the essence of the holy relics accumulated within my body. For that, the sacred Ritual of Dedication is necessary."
"The Ritual of... Dedication?"
Maria mouthed the words with her glossy lips and asked again.
Her expression showed that she still had not realized exactly what Lazarus meant.
Lazarus ran his fingertip lightly along the collar of her clerical robe, just beneath her collarbone.
"You said you were prepared to offer anything for Hero Ars."
"Y-yes! For Ars-nim, I would even give my life...."
"I don't need your life. What I want is your pure body, Maria."
Lazarus's heavy voice reverberated through the office.
Maria's clear eyes shook violently for an instant.
"My... body...? High Priest-nim, what are you saying...? I am a saintess who offered her chastity to God!"
"I know. That is precisely why it has value as a price."
With a rough hand, Lazarus pulled Maria by the waist and pressed her tightly against his firm chest.
Under the crushing pressure of his broad, nearly two-meter-tall body, Maria felt as though the breath had been knocked from her lungs.
"Think about it, Maria. If you endure a little humiliation and sacrifice beneath me... the young hero Ars, whom you love and cherish so dearly, will receive a legendary buff that lets him cut down even a Demon King's general in a single stroke starting tomorrow."
"Ugh... B-but this is wrong! God will never forgive...."
"It is a trial sent by God."
Lazarus murmured low against Maria's ear as his powerful fingers tightly seized one of her full breasts through her clothes.
"Aaaagh...!"
When her pale-pink nipple, which had never once been touched by a man's hand, was forcefully pressed through the fabric, a short cry escaped Maria's lips.
"Saving Ars is your sacrifice. If you refuse, Ars will have his limbs torn apart by the jagged teeth of a real magical beast in the next dungeon, rather than an ogre. The boy's death will become the result of the choice you made."
"Ah... Ars-nim... You mean Ars-nim will... die...."
Maria's mind was shaken violently by Lazarus's crafty and sadistic words.
'A sacrifice for Ars-nim... If I make this sacrifice, Ars-nim will become stronger and won't have to get hurt.'
In the innocent and good-hearted saintess's mind, sacrifice and the threat to her chastity began to become hopelessly tangled together.
Lazarus did not miss the opening. He lightly twisted his fist into Maria's platinum-blond hair and breathed deeply against her pale, smooth nape.
"Choose, Maria. Will you save the hero, or will you cling to your childish notions of chastity and stand by while the boy dies miserably?"
"Ah... Ugh... Ars-nim... Ars-nim is...."
Tears glistening with moisture spread through Maria's sapphire eyes, clouded with confusion.
The pure smile of her childhood friend Ars and the miserable sight of him collapsing, covered in blood, during the day flashed through her mind in turn.
"I... I will... make the sacrifice...."
A trembling voice leaked from between Maria's lips.
"If you grant Ars-nim the most powerful blessing in the world... I will... offer my body...."
The corners of Lazarus's mouth tore into a cruel grin, intoxicated by his triumph.
He immediately began roughly tearing open the buttons of Maria's clerical robe.
"An excellent choice, Saintess Maria. Even God will surely rejoice at your sacred 'devotion.'"
Her white-jade, milky skin and enormous F-cup breasts, which no man's hands had ever touched, began to be laid bare beneath the candlelight of the dark office.