The home of Yuris, the Iron-Blooded Knight.
Befitting her title, her house and room exuded a strictly professional and austere atmosphere.
Her study was filled with books on tactics and swordsmanship, and her room housed the knight's uniform she wore daily and various types of armor displayed upright.
In line with her belief that she must always maintain discipline, even in her room, her cherished sword, which she always carried at her waist, was displayed on the wall.
That wasn't all.
Not a single luxurious item could be found in the hallway.
Yuris Belletaon.
The Belletaon family, a lineage of knights for generations, always shunned extravagance.
"A knight needs money to maintain and manage their forces. Value and save your money."
Until she became the Iron-Blooded Knight and gained independence, this was the constant advice of her father, the family head.
Shun luxury.
Use that money to train soldiers.
The reason Yuris avoided luxury was to strengthen her weapons and the equipment of her knight order with that money.
Thus, Yuris's room was so plain that it was hard to believe it belonged to a woman, let alone a noble lady.
It was quintessentially Yuris, pursuing nothing but efficiency, devoid of even a single frill.
In her room, which was supposed to be quiet for meditation.
"Haa, haa."
Moans drenched in humidity echoed through the space.
"Good. Right there, so good! Hng!"
With her uniform undone, Yuris teased her nipples with her fingers, her hips twitching as she felt a light climax.
She tickled her areola and squeezed her breasts tightly.
Each time, the pleasant sensation from her breasts made her hips tremble.
It feels so good.
In her room, where no one else's gaze could reach, this was the only place Yuris could unleash her desires.
Normally, she would have cautiously relieved her urges, but today, unlike usual, she aggressively played with her nipples.
In the past, such rough masturbation would have been more than enough to satisfy her.
But no matter how much she rubbed her nipples, something felt lacking.
The man's lips sucking her breasts.
The feel of his hot tongue and thick fingers.
"It felt so good when he used his mouth."
In a daze, Yuris grabbed her breasts and lowered her head, trying to suck her own nipples.
But her breasts weren't large enough.
All she could do was suck the upper part of her chest.
"It doesn't reach…"
She couldn't reach it alone.
Was that why it felt insufficient?
"Haa, haa. More… I want to be touched more."
In the illusion, I'm not the real Yuris.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Reflected was a naked woman lying on the bed, legs spread wide, shamelessly exposing her private parts.
Between her legs bloomed a pink flower against her pale skin.
A light pink pussy, tightly closed like a clam, without a single hair.
She looked at her pussy, untouched by anyone.
No, that wasn't quite true.
There was one person.
The bandit in the illusion.
"What am I saying? That was an illusion. It doesn't count."
Besides, the bandit in the illusion didn't directly see her pussy.
He only rubbed it with his hot cock.
"Cock…"
Was there anything similar?
As if possessed, Yuris grabbed the hilt of her sword hanging on the wall.
The perfect object was right here.
The sword hilt, with its textured grip.
She felt a strange thrill of depravity using a sacred sword meant for battle in such a vulgar act.
"It's fine if I don't put it in, right?"
Yuris, holding the sword hilt between her legs, moved it back and forth with her hand.
Each time, the textured grip, designed to prevent slipping, brushed against her pussy.
"Ahh, so good. So good…"
Closing her eyes, she could almost hear the bandit's voice.
It felt like he was about to forcibly grab her and threaten her at any moment.
- Move your hips yourself.
- Looks good. A noble lady begging and grinding her hips for a mere bandit.
- I'll let you go this time, but come back next time.
- Or I'll sell you to a slaver.
Each time she heard the bandit's voice like a hallucination, her body trembled with humiliation.
Before she knew it, she was responding to the imagined bandit's words.
- Who am I?
"Bandit…"
As she mumbled her answer, the bandit in her imagination sneered.
- A dumb pussy like you has a dumb head too. Let me ask again. Who am I?
She could guess what answer he wanted.
But if she said that word.
If she uttered that word.
It felt like she could never go back.
But Yuris, already lost in the haze of masturbation, unable to maintain her rationality, finally spoke.
"M-Master…"
She ended up saying the line the imagined bandit wanted.
- Good girl.
He stroked her head.
It was the first time.
Being praised by the bandit.
Of course, the one praising her was just a bandit existing in her imagination.
"Ahh, so good. I'm, I'm going to come! Hnnggg!!!"
Gaining momentum, Yuris began rocking her hips back and forth, picturing the bandit's face again.
It was a rough, vulgar face.
At the same time, it carried a potent, musky pheromone scent.
And that scent was the same one she smelled every time she visited the illusion theater.
That's right.
The mage's scent.
The bandit's scent was identical to the smell coming from the mage's pants, the shop owner.
At the moment of climax.
"Hnnggg!!! I'm coming!!! I'm cominggg!!! Haaah…!"
The rough bandit's face and the mage's face began to overlap in her mind.
Yuris shuddered, her juices flowing freely.
"Haa, haa."
It was the best masturbation she had ever experienced.
"So… good."
***
"Commander, have you had some good news lately?"
At the training grounds for her usual practice, a knight asked Yuris.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, lately, your expression seems… softer than before? Brighter, maybe? That kind of feeling."
Following the knight's comment, her deputy, Jeko, chimed in.
"He's right. It feels like something good happened to you, Commander. Are you getting a new title or something?"
Jeko asked, his sweaty hair gleaming.
Yuris shook her head.
"It's not like that."
As she denied it, female knights from the First Knight Order swarmed around her, asking questions.
"Commander, you've got a man, haven't you?"
"Is there an arranged fiancé from your family?"
"If not, have you found someone to date?"
"Don't you have any man you're interested in?"
Unlike other knight orders, the First Knight Order was one of the few with both male and female knights.
Thanks to skilled female knights who trained relentlessly to join, inspired by Yuris, the goddess of victory, it could maintain its reputation as the empire's strongest.
But the female knights had a slight grievance.
It was that their idol and star, Yuris, was still single at 25.
In the empire, being single at 25 was on the precarious edge of becoming an old maid.
They didn't want their idol to become an old maid.
Perhaps that's why.
Once they latched onto the topic, they approached Yuris like hyenas, chattering away.
In contrast to the female knights.
"No way, the Commander has a boyfriend?"
"Our Commander lives with her sword."
"Isn't her sword her lover?"
The male knights were a bit different.
While Yuris was an object of admiration for them too, they occasionally indulged in fantasies of being with her.
How could they not?
Imagining building a family with such a beautiful and perfect knight.
Even if she was a flower on an unreachable cliff, since no one had claimed her yet, they held onto a sliver of hope.
Perhaps that's why.
The knights, for different reasons, were focused on Yuris's reaction to the female knights' questions.
"W-Well, yeah. I don't have any… guy I'm interested in."
Under their gazes, Yuris stammered without realizing it.
- Don't you have any man you're interested in?
The moment she heard that, two people flashed in her mind.
The bandit and the illusion mage.
They weren't boyfriends, but they helped her feel good.
Thanks to them, she could momentarily set aside the heavy burden of being the goddess of victory.
That must be why they said she looked brighter.
"Not a man I'm interested in."
The bandit was a vile creature who forcibly humiliated her, and the mage was the one creating those videos.
He even tried to deceive her with nonsense about it being her desire.
But the pleasure they gave her was better than any joy of victory she had ever felt.
That much was true.
Imagining the moment she panted under the bandit's commands, her face flushed, and her nipples hardened.
Oh, no, this can't happen.
Not with my knights right in front of me.
Turning her head, her shy response made the male knights, who had been skeptical, and the curious female knights freeze for a moment.
"C-Commander, do you really have someone?"
"Kyaaa! This is the first time I've seen you like this, Commander! Who's the guy?"
"Tell us! Let's have a girls' talk with you this time."
"How far have you gone? You're not dating yet, right?"
"W-Why…"
Shocked male knights.
Frenzied female knights.
Yuris shook her head, pushing away the knights swarming her.
"It's not like that!"
How could she say it?
That she felt good because of defeat masturbation, not a boyfriend.
She could never say it.
Never!
***
"Ughhh!"
In the shop with no customers today, I stretched and focused on alchemy.
Since the illusion theater wasn't making money, I had to cover research and shop expenses through alchemy or crafting magic tools, so I couldn't rest for a moment.
That's when it happened.
Knock, knock.
"Mage, you have a letter."
Hearing the postman's voice, I went outside.
"A letter?"
"Yes, the sender is anonymous, but it's addressed to you, Mage."
"Ah, it must be for me."
There was only one person who would send me a letter like this.
My mentor, Meiko, the professor of the illusion school.
"Mage, it's COD."
"…Please wait a moment."
Is my mentor struggling with money too?
I handed the postman a silver coin and opened the letter.
Upon opening it, I pictured a girl in her early twenties with flowing blue hair.
- Disciple, how have you been!
Despite her lively voice, there were dark circles under her eyes.
Dark circles are a chronic ailment for mages.
"Mentor, you're as energetic as ever."
- Do I look that way? Haha! Being out and about gives me energy. Though it's exhausting. Anyway, I sent this letter to check in on you.
"It's good to see you're doing well."
- How's the theater doing?
"I've got a regular, so it's doing pretty well."
- A r-regular? There's really a woman who likes that shameless stuff?
That woman is even Yuris, the goddess of victory.
I couldn't bring myself to say that out loud.
Customer information must be kept confidential.
Blushing and flustered, that was my mentor.
Meiko, the youngest professor of the illusion school and a genius of her time.
Two years younger than me, she became a professor much earlier and mastered nearly everything about illusion magic.
The only issue, if you could call it that, was that she channeled her genius into adventuring rather than the lab.
She was the one who developed this letter, more like a temporary communication crystal than a letter.
A portable communication crystal, perhaps?
I don't know why she insists on using her invention when we have communication crystals, but a genius's mind is beyond a commoner's understanding.
If Droken was the Hagrid who got me into magic school, Meiko was the Dumbledore who raised me as an illusion mage.
This time, she went off to a dungeon, saying she'd find something to help with illusion magic.
Judging by her glum expression, she hadn't found what she was looking for.
"Did you find the material that allows multiple entries into an illusion?"
- Not yet. I haven't even found a clue. It's not easy.
Why is she so obsessed with that legendary material?
There are more important things to focus on.
Hmm, could it be?
"Mentor, you're not wandering around out there to avoid helping with my research, are you?"
- W-What's that supposed to mean! Are you saying I ran away instead of helping my disciple?
At my words, she pointed to her chest and shouted.
"Why that reaction? People might think I did something perverted to you."
- Y-You did! You touched my breasts for research!
Meiko's face turned bright red as she stepped back, pointing at her chest.
"You're the one who said we should do anything for research."
- I didn't tell you to become a pervert!
"That was for data collection."
- Ughhh! I'm worried about you. What if my disciple starts groping random women's breasts on the street for research and ends up in jail?
"I'm a man with some sense. I wouldn't do that to anyone but you."
Meiko still glared at me with suspicion.
- If that's true, I'm relieved.
When her expression softened, as if her anger had subsided, I asked.
"Anyway, when are you coming back?"
- I don't know. I'll return when I find the material.
"If you don't come back, I'll go find you."
- Huh? T-The time… seems to be… up. I'll… talk… later…
"I know you're faking. The video is still running."
- Tch!
Only then did Meiko's tone return to normal.
"I'm glad to see you're healthy. Just send word before you come back. I'll be waiting."
- Alright. I think it's time you toned down that weird research. No matter how I think about it, messing with women's desires…
Feeling a lecture coming on, I turned off the letter's video.
My mentor's definitely better when she's not nagging and just letting things happen.