The Incompetent Hero and the Bitch Knight
"Doryeong. Have we finished all our business in this place?"
Business, huh...
There was still one matter left unfinished.
The female knight Tiris. At this point in time, she would definitely still be here.
Given how things stood now..., it would be more than enough to exact a thoroughly entertaining revenge on her.
"No. There's still one more thing."
"I see. Then one more question. Doryeong claimed to sense events of the future — is there anything urgent that demands immediate attention?"
"Hmm?..., Well..."
I'd resolved this particular event, so what was the next major one again?
No need for that event..., that one could be ignored too..., honestly, so much time had passed that precious little came to mind. I'd barely even remembered the royal castle assault.
"Nothing pressing that I can sense right now."
"Understood. Then once our affairs here are settled, one might say there is nothing that requires immediate action?"
"Pretty much."
"In that case, Doryeong — what would you say to traveling to the Yeom Kingdom?"
The Yeom Kingdom.
Simply put, it was a nation of the murim style one might find in a wuxia novel.
It had an emperor and martial sects. Various sacred beasts and demonic creatures called yokai existed there, and additionally, those who inherited the blood of sacred beasts — people known as beastmen.
And..., among them was one of the Demon King's fragments. The Heavenly Demon.
Going to the Yeom Kingdom to take that guy down wouldn't be a bad idea, but...
The Success Story of an Incompetent Hero.
The final boss of this game was that Heavenly Demon.
Whether Hero Leon perished together with the Heavenly Demon, or Leon's spirit broke and he lived on as a wreck until he was assassinated, after which Heroes Ragna and Abel joined forces to challenge the Heavenly Demon — no matter which route you took, the Heavenly Demon was the end. The remaining three fragments of the Demon King — who they were, what they looked like, even their names — none of it was revealed in The Success Story of an Incompetent Hero.
More precisely, I heard a sequel introduces one more Demon King fragment in its first chapter. But I never played the sequel....
The sequel's title was something like The Masochist Hero's Adventure.
A sequel to the Incompetent Hero, telling the story of a female hero chosen to replace Hero Leon after his death.
...Well, looking at the game's title, you'd figure it out — every single route ends in a masochistic corruption ending, so the protagonist still has neither dreams nor hope.
"Why the Yeom Kingdom?"
"According to rumor, there exists in the Yeom Kingdom a secret pill known as Geogeonhwan. I thought we might go in search of it."
"...What?"
Just now..., what did she say?....
Every thought I'd been turning over was incinerated to blank white, and a single word alone rose in my mind.
"Geogeon..., hwan?... You don't mean..."
"Indeed. Precisely the one Doryeong is thinking of. Consume it, and a man's... particular region is said to grow larger. Together with the Virility Pill, it is frequently sought by wealthy gentlemen. You seem rather preoccupied with the matter, after all."
A warm smile, and behind Baekryeon I almost thought I saw a halo of light.
"Attending to one's husband is the duty of this humble one."
"Who's your husband?"
"Then after toying so thoroughly with a woman's body, did you intend to cast her aside? That would be rather cruel."
"Hey!..., You know what, never mind."
If the information on Geogeonhwan was real, who cared about the husband thing.
I could flip her over and bounce her all night if I wanted.
"Hah. Next destination: the Yeom Kingdom. Objective: Geogeonhwan."
"Understood. This one shall follow Doryeong."
"But first..., there's something that needs doing."
"...."
The dungeon beneath the royal castle.
In that damp and lightless place sat a blonde woman who did not belong there at all.
Tiris Kendel.
A female knight of the Prynn Kingdom, Hero Leon's first swordsmanship instructor, and now a kind of traitor who had left Hero Leon's party for the party of a foreign hero, Abel — she had been locked in this dungeon, held responsible for losing track of Hero Leon's whereabouts.
Her once beautiful, gleaming blonde hair was filthy with dungeon dust, and the accumulated exhaustion had left her haggard, her complexion dark.
...Is this the third week now?
For the first two weeks, meals had still been provided to some degree. For the past week, there had been nothing.
Yes..., starving to death like this might also..., be my fate.
Hero Leon..., that pure-hearted country youth she had dragged onto the battlefield, only to betray him in the end because she could not resist pleasure — Tiris thought this was a fitting end for someone like herself.
Clank, clank, clank.
In that moment, the heavy sound of iron armor moving drifted from far down the corridor.
Had the dungeon guards returned?
They had not been seen for days.
Thinking as much, Tiris turned her gaze toward the entrance. A single armored guard walked up and stopped before her iron bars.
"Tiris Kendel."
"...."
"Come with me."
"...What is to become..., of my sentence?"
Her own voice, cracked and splitting.
It had been more than a week since water or food had passed her throat, and given the place she was in, her body being a complete wreck was only natural.
But the guard showed not the slightest emotion at her condition, and without even answering, opened the cell door.
"Come out quietly."
"....Understood."
She staggered to her feet and followed the guard.
On the stairs leading out of the dungeon she nearly fell several times, but she managed to emerge, and for the first time in who knew how long, she took the sunlight into both eyes.
"Ugh...."
It had been so long that the sun hurt.
Once her eyes adjusted, she saw that the guard who had brought her out was not alone.
The clothes he wore were different, but he was unmistakably....
"L-Lord Leon?!...."
"Hey there, Miss Tiris."
Hero Leon.
The hero who had vanished without a trace during the exchange conference stood right there.
What she felt upon seeing him was gladness, guilt, and a faint unease.
Why she felt that unease, Tiris herself had no way of knowing.
"Forgive me, but would it be all right if the two of us took a different path for a moment?"
"A different path, my lord?"
"Yes. There's something I'd like to talk about between the two of us..., and something I'd like to see."
"Understood, Hero. I shall inform His Majesty accordingly."
....?
Something felt off.
But unfortunately, Tiris could not identify what that wrongness was. The fatigue piled on her body made it hard to notice, and the gladness of seeing Leon after nearly a month was simply too great.
"Shall we go, Miss Tiris."
"Ah, yes.... Of course."
Having taken custody of Tiris from the guard, Leon turned and walked away.
Tiris began to follow.
After they had walked for some time, she realized where he was heading.
This is..., the knights' exclusive training grounds?....
The distant shouts of effort and the clash of steel made it certain.
Why come to a place like this all of a sudden....
The thought made Tiris look down at herself. Her clothes were rags by any generous measure. Even though she had once been a knight, going there dressed like this was mortifying beyond words.
But Leon headed that way regardless.
So she had no choice but to follow him into the training grounds in her rags.
This place was the knights' training ground, but it was also where selected talents from across the land trained to become knights. Formal knights and knight cadets both lived and worked here.
"This area is not open to just anyone..., Hah! Hero Leon! What business brings you here!!"
"Good work. I'd like to watch the knights train for a moment, if that's all right?"
"For Hero Leon, it would be an honor! Please, come right in!"
"...?"
Having come this far, Tiris finally understood the sense of wrongness she had been feeling for some time.
Hero Leon.
The man once called the Incompetent Hero was being treated far better than anything she remembered. Was this respect? Reverence? Awe?....
Whatever it was, it was vastly different from what Tiris had known.
And with that, she finally managed to pin down the dissonance she had felt from Leon himself. He was remarkably self-assured. Whenever he used to come to the royal castle, the pressure would crush him into a timid shell — but now he carried himself as if this were his own home.
"Um, Leon...."
"Let's go in."
But she never got to ask.
Leon cut her off and walked inside. Tiris stared after him for a moment, then realized he was pulling ahead and hurried to catch up. Because of that, she failed to notice one more wrongness.
That the soldier guarding the training grounds had treated Tiris as if she did not exist.
"Hahp!!"
"Chaah!!"
Knights in light armor were sparring.
They were fine knights, their blades displaying the swift, heavy style unique to their order.
They might even be stronger than I am, the thought crossed Tiris's mind.
"Is that all you've got!!"
"No, sir!!!"
"Louder!! Faster!!"
"Yes, sir!!!"
On the other side, still-green trainees gathered and swung live steel at a drill instructor's signals.
Scenes that stirred a sense of longing.
Long ago, she had decided to become a knight, defied her family's opposition, and run off to enlist.
Her skill had been recognized, and she had become a knight... and yet—
...How did I end up like this?
Where had the resolve and the ideals of those days gone?
Shame flushed her face red. What would her younger self say if she saw her now?
Probably look on her with contempt.
She had betrayed the master she had once sworn herself to, all because she could not resist a little pleasure....
"Oh, it's the Hero!"
"It's really him!"
In that moment, people who spotted Leon wandering the grounds forgot their training entirely and came running.
"What brings you here, my lord?!"
"Hero! D-do you remember me? I was in that battle!..."
"Hey, hey, there were dozens of knights and soldiers there — no way he'd remember you."
"Hero! If you have the time, would you teach us the sword?!"
Faced with endless requests for handshakes, Leon did not fluster. He listened to every single person in turn.
"I just came to watch you all train for a bit."
"I remember. You fought bravely, putting down the undead one after another."
"The sword I use probably wouldn't be much help to you. Still, I can look over a few things."
He had changed so much she almost wondered if this was really the Leon she had known.
What on earth had happened in the time since they parted, for him to become this mature..., this adult.
Besides..., a battle?...
Having been locked in the dungeon the whole time, Tiris had no idea the kingdom had nearly fallen, and could not make sense of their reactions or the topics of conversation.
But whether she understood or not, knights — even the trainees — kept gathering, the crowd wanting to see Hero Leon steadily growing.
"Lord Leon~ I heard you don't have a party right now. If it's all right, might I join as a member♥"
Among them were female knights like herself, mixing a little coyness into their requests to join Leon's party.
"Unfortunately, I have no intention of forming a party at the moment. I'm sorry."
"Aww..."
"What a shame♥"
"I could treat Lord Leon so much better, you know."
Saying so, one of the female knights shot a glance at Tiris in her rags, eyes full of contempt and mockery.
Tiris trembled.
But starting with that female knight, every knight around them — even the cadets — began to criticize and tear down the woman who had betrayed Leon, never naming her directly, yet making their meaning plain.
Tiris had no choice but to endure every bit of that scorn and contempt.
Because it was true.
A minute that felt like ten finally passed, and Leon at last left the training grounds. Tiris, who had to follow him, managed to escape that nest of knights as well.
"Um.., Lord Leon, could you tell me..., what on earth happened?"
She finally mustered the courage to ask, but no answer came.
Whether Leon chose not to answer or simply could not, Tiris had no room to wonder why. Because in that moment she came face to face with the person she least wanted to meet, the person she could not meet, the person she must never meet.
"F-Father!..."
"...."
Alass Kendel.
Head of House Kendel, and Tiris's father.
She had never wanted him to see her like this. She had never wanted it — and yet here they were.
"Hero."
"Yes. Alass Kendel..., was it?"
"I am honored you remember."
Or so she had thought..., but her father Alass Kendel did not so much as glance at Tiris. He looked only at Leon.
"With the Hero among us, the future of our Prynn Kingdom looks bright indeed."
"Oh, come now..., with fine men like Sir Alass Kendel assisting His Majesty, what could someone like me possibly do to brighten the kingdom's future?"
"Humility is a virtue, they say, but it hardly suits the Hero."
"Honestly, I think so too."
None of it made sense by any measure of her understanding.
Hero Leon chatting so casually with her own father,
her father elevating the man once called the Incompetent Hero so highly,
nothing made sense — so little that she almost wondered if she were dreaming.
And so, gathering her courage, she opened her mouth.
"F-Father!..."
"Incidentally, I hear you've been traveling alone."
"Yes. Ah, well, more precisely, I do have one companion."
"The eastern swordswoman, I take it. Truly a person of remarkable skill. I would have our knights take her as an example."
"Haha, the knights of the Prynn Kingdom were impressive in their own right."
But she was ignored.
As if she did not exist, as if she could not be heard, they simply continued speaking with Leon.
"His Majesty is looking forward to speaking with the Hero again. If you've finished your stroll, shall we go?"
"Ah..., I was so caught up in my own thoughts I hadn't considered that. Thank you. I'll head over at once."
"Then I take my leave."
And with that, her father turned away.
Without a single word to her, without so much as a single glance, he left.
"Go on."
"!"
"Didn't you want to talk with your father? I'll wait here, so go ahead, Miss Tiris."
"Ah.... Y-yes!..."
So she ran.
Toward the father whose figure was still visible, she ran in her rags.
"F-Father!!"
"...."
Only then did he stop.
And the expression on her father's face as he turned—
"!"
—was a gaze so cold it froze her body solid.
"What."
"...I, I... um...."
The words she had meant to say would not come out.
Neither an apology, nor that she had missed him, nor anything else.
Because he was looking at her as if he would not tolerate a single word.
"F-Fathe—"
"I have no daughter like you."
"!"
In that instant her mind went white, as if she had been struck hard across the head.
Because those words were the same as severing the bond between parent and child.
"F-Father!...."
"I!!"
Before she could say anything,
before she could even put some ugly excuse in her mouth,
her father — he — spoke.
"I told you clearly! That knighthood did not suit you!"
"Ugh..."
"And look at you now! You became a knight, and you could not even serve your own master properly! Could not even recognize your master's ability!! Chasing empty things and achieving nothing — look at yourself!!! What part of you is a knight!!! What part of you is loyalty!!! You did something more shameful than the whores selling their bodies in the back alleys, and you still have the nerve to call me Father!!! Tiris!!!!"
She took a step back without realizing it.
It was terrifying. It was frightening.
"I will not let the likes of you wear the Kendel name and disgrace this house. You are not my daughter. You are not a daughter of Kendel. From this moment on, you and I..., are nothing to each other."
Leaving those words, he turned and vanished.
Naturally, Tiris could neither stop him nor follow that retreating back.
She simply sank to the ground in hollow despair, trembling, turning her own sins over and over in her mind.
Step, step.
The sound of someone approaching reached her.
But she did not have the strength to lift her head and look.
"You've been discarded, Tiris."
"...Lo-rd... Leon."
Hero Leon.
The one who had said he would wait had come.
Had he come out of concern for her?...
The thought of Leon caring for her made something surge up in her chest. To have betrayed a man like this..., what had she even been trying to do.
"Same as me, huh?"
"....Huh?"
But Tiris did not know.
That he had only come to push her even deeper into the abyss.
"What, did you think I wouldn't know? How every exchange conference you'd go trotting after Abel and fuck all night long."
"!!"
He strode right up and, without a moment's hesitation, drove a spike straight through her heart. Then he dug around obsessively, casually dragging out the truth she had tried so hard to hide.
"Must have been fun. Your relationship with me was just a nice little seasoning to spice up the sex with Abel."
"Th-that's not—!..."
"Isn't it?"
In that instant she felt as if a mountain were crashing down on her.
Sword King Secret Art: Sword King's Oppression.
A technique that applied crushing pressure to freeze an opponent's actions — but when the power was dialed down, it could simply cow someone into terror. He had only used that much, but Tiris had no way of knowing.
And even if she had known, would it have mattered?
Her mind was already crumbling.
"Well then, let's hear the excuse. What was it? Did Abel say he'd beat me to death if you didn't share his bed? So you had no choice but to agree? How convenient. Fine, let's say that's true. But did you tell me about it? Did you talk it over with me and try to find a way out together? Or did you just decide on your own, judge on your own, and act alone?"
"Th-that's...."
"People don't call that doing something for someone else's sake. That's just deception."
Cornered mentally,
bearing the full weight of the Sword King's Oppression,
having the guilt in her heart dragged into the open,
piece by piece he shattered Tiris's heart.
And through all of it, Tiris herself could not offer a single scrap of resistance.
"You know what? About a week ago, the Demon King's army invaded the Prynn Kingdom."
"!"
A week ago.
That was exactly when the food and water had suddenly been cut off.
Had the invasion left them no time to spare for prisoners?
"And I stopped it."
"Huh?..."
"You've felt it, right? How everyone in the palace treats me differently now. That's all because of that."
Hero! D-do you remember me? I was in that battle!...
Only then did those earlier conversations make sense.
"Funny, isn't it? You all decided on your own that I was someone who needed protecting, and then, even though we were supposed to be comrades, instead of relying on each other you ran around insisting you had to solve everything yourselves — and in the end you couldn't do either, so you betrayed me and latched onto other heroes like parasites. And once parasites like you were gone, I got stronger."
"Ah... aah...."
"Get lost. Right here. Disappear from in front of my eyes. I don't need the likes of you. Just a whore playing at being a knight."
With that single sentence, Tiris's heart shattered completely.
Yes. She..., had never been a knight at all.
Someone like her had never had the right to call herself one.
Because someone who could never be a knight had tried to become one, she had lost everything.
Then what am I?
What could she be?
Tiris's deliberation did not last long.
"...Wang..."
She carefully turned her body.
There stood the Hero, looking down at her with eyes cold and still.
Toward the Hero she crawled across the ground as coquettishly, as bitch-like as she could manage.
"Wang wang..., p-please... don't abandon me.... wang...."
"...Hah..., is that the answer I was looking for? Truly... a fitting answer for a bitch knight...!"
"Hiiikiiit♥♥♥"
Lying on her back in a posture of submission, belly exposed as she spoke — and her Master, so graciously, stomped down on her vulgar cunt.
A bitch like her took even that as pleasure.
"Does a dog need clothes?"
"Hit... I-I'll take them off!"
At her Master's command she stripped at once.
Her ugly body laid bare was shameful, but none of that mattered to her anymore.
"...From now on, you're a bitch. And I am your master."
"Yes!..., I-I am! Master's bitch!... So please...."
"....A dog that can speak human language. How curious."
"Ugh..., w-woof! Arf arf! Woof! Woof!"
Once she, who had been acting like a person despite being a mere bitch, finally behaved properly, Master at last showed her a gentle smile and spoke.
"From this moment on, I'll carve a pleasure into you that you'll never forget. Until I return, you will keep living as a bitch. If you don't...., even a stupid bitch like you should know what happens, right?"
"Wang! Wang wang! Wang!"
"What the hell? You said the Demon King's army attacked — why's it so peaceful?"
By the time Hero Abel led his forces to the Prynn Kingdom, everything had long since been cleaned up. The story in the Prynn Kingdom was that an eastern swordswoman who happened to be there had aided the royal army in a bloody battle against the undead horde, and that they had won in the end.
"Tch. I've been coming up empty everywhere and I'm already pissed..., well, might as well reclaim the one whore I've got waiting here."
He had been in a foul mood after repeatedly arriving a step too late for the artifacts Leon had supposedly discovered in various labyrinths. Abel headed for Tiris's home to collect her.
"There is no one by the name of Tiris here."
"What? What kind of bullshit is that!"
But Tiris was nowhere to be found.
Abel, along with Noren and Philia who had been with Tiris, sensed something was wrong and searched high and low for her.
In the end, they found her.
"Wang! Wang! Grrrrrr!!!"
"Wh-what the hell! Has she lost her mind!"
Stark naked, collared, howling like a dog inside a dungeon cell — the sight of Tiris was something no one could look at and still think of as human.
As if a dog's soul had been poured into a human body.
It was a wretched sight beyond measure.
Now she was nothing more than a dog waiting in a dungeon for a master who would someday return, serving as an outlet for the lust of guards and soldiers, waiting without promise — simply waiting without promise — for her master.