Chapter 20 Oath of Fealty Ritual
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I’m not at fault.
It’s Yukari-san’s fault for being so cute. (greeting)
After that, things got… complicated.
I’d left Yukari-san in the water for far too long without thinking. She drank a huge amount of hot water and nearly drowned. What a tasteful scene—no, that’s a lie. I almost killed her. If I hadn’t earned a lifesaving certification in a company training course, Yukari-san would be drifting among the clouds by now.
She would have been remembered as the worst constellation, killed by a brat playing at sex.
Well, I suppose it does sound a bit like Greek myth.
Still, going over the cleanup after sex isn’t pleasant, so let’s leave it at that.
The next day.
”Sow-san,” I asked, “what if I used my body to win over one of the Imperial Guards?”
”Sow-san, you mean the classmates who keep harassing us?”
”Yeah. Even if they’re rivals, females are interested in men, right? So maybe that’s an option.”
”I will cut down that person. Afterwards, I will also take my own life.”
”…Right. That makes sense.”
”Please never say such sad things again…”
I checked, of course, but it looked impossible to make my tansu yokai story line up in a way that would make everyone accept it. I had wanted her to be my convenient mistress and toy for life, but that dream was out of reach.
Even if the setting said we hadn’t had intercourse, offering myself up and negotiating like that was a no-go for me.
For the next few days, though, things were fun. We struggled through school all day, and at night we enjoyed ourselves like monkeys. Every evening she prepared a Goemon bath for me; nights spent splashing in the tub and rattling the old wardrobe were the best.
But everything ends.
That idyllic, convenient happiness couldn’t last. The trigger came from one line from Vocal Slut-san one day.
”Huh? There’s a hair here I don’t recognize.”
”Huh? W-what do you mean, ‘don’t recognize’? Isn’t it one of the Imperial Guard’s?”
”No. I’m sharp about these things. Definitely from an outsider.”
”I honestly can’t tell… Maybe it just blew in from somewhere?”
”Oh! That must be it!”
Her little forensic-level intuition shook my daily life. A police dog, maybe?
Night came.
I faced Yukari-san again in front of the tansu.
She’d swung open the antique wardrobe’s door and was sitting partly on the base and a drawer, now looking like a bed. Her crossed legs were healthy; she toyed with the twin tails tied on her head with her fingertips—oddly seductive.
”Hiding a whole human being by ourselves is getting tough… I think the seams are starting to show,” I said.
”Yeah… I feel it too. I don’t think I can keep doing this forever.”
”It’s not like I’m the only one preparing meals or cleaning. If there were servants or maids, someone could hide someone long-term maybe, but—”
”That’s just the way it is. Males don’t usually fuss over people. Even if I had their status, they’d notice something off.”
We both frowned. The Imperial Guards were watching me closely.
They checked even fallen hairs, how much I ate, how often I used the bathroom—Yukari-san had quietly taught me that. Her presence altered the subtle rhythm of my life; not enough to be discovered right away, but eventually the ruse would break.
Yukari-san agreed.
”At this rate, we’ll be found by chance sooner rather than later. And when that happens…”
”Don’t say scary things,” she snapped.
She went quiet before finishing the sentence. I pictured the cruel outcome too. Could I do something? I didn’t want the woman who’d let me do obscene things to end up in misfortune.
”Can’t we wait for a moment and sneak her out?”
”Someone patrols the grounds during the daytime when you’re not here. The building’s perimeter is well watched; it would be difficult.”
”I guess they’re guarding against harassment toward the dorm. Everyone’s on edge.”
”That’s my own fault, huh…”
”If it comes down to it, I’ll try—really try—to ask for help.”
”…Thank you. I’m counting on you.”
She said it, but her face wasn’t hopeful. She didn’t really believe my plea would work.
What should I do—
Alright, let’s sort this out.
Right now I’m hiding a spy from another region in my private room and indulging in obscene acts with her. If this were exposed, it would be catastrophic for both of us.
If Yukari-san is found alone, she’d be killed for trespassing. Tensions with her homeland, Inubou, would flare.
If we’re discovered in the act—well, the Imperial Guards would probably assume I forced her, and the Red-Lord-like righteous fury would descend on the Kujukuri dorm. They’d storm the Inubou dorm, and Yukari-san would be killed.
Claiming it was consensual wouldn’t save anything either. My status would end; they’d mourn that the baths were prepared just for this reason, and my heart would die along with hers.
There are far too many Yukari-san death scenes in my head.
At first, I’d thought maybe I could free her easily. I considered distracting the Imperial Guards, calling them all together and slipping her out while they looked the other way. Or learning their patrol times and finding a gap.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no way to make it completely safe. A plan like that would be a last resort—failure would mean death.
”If only Maggot-san were here,” I muttered. “We could’ve smuggled her out hidden among the furniture… But she’s the only one who knows my real sexual quirks. I wonder how she’d take it, with another region’s woman involved…”
At this rate, Yukari-san’s life wouldn’t last much longer.
As I struggled to think of something, she caught my gaze and smiled softly, the way you’d look at a small animal. Maybe for her, it was amusing—seeing a rare male worry and suffer for her sake.
But this wasn’t the time for that kind of mood.
I finally spoke. What I said was, in a way, forbidden.
”You really can’t betray your master, huh? If you were willing to leave Dora-kun’s command, I could probably shelter you.”
”…That, I can’t do. I’m truly grateful, but no.”
She shook her head.
Sow-san had said that if I confessed everything myself, things might not turn out so bad. If Yukari-san were killed, I’d be heartbroken—and since my feelings were most important, they wouldn’t let that happen.
”I’m not saying you have to turn on them,” I said. “But… I saw one of your colleagues recently. She didn’t look very happy.”
”That’s not the point. A Guard’s master always comes first. No matter how we’re treated, our duty is to seek the best path for our masters. That’s the oath we took—to stand by the male, pushing aside countless other women. The hand or foot of the master must never turn against him. There are no exceptions. There mustn’t be.”
Yukari-san looked at me with solemn eyes, steady and sure. The sincerity in her gaze made me falter a little. She might be a woman convenient for my own desires, but she was still an exceptional Imperial Guard. There was no trace of the girl who’d nearly drowned while being taken in the bath.
…That memory suddenly resurfaced, though.
Fine, I’d let her go—but I wasn’t leaving without at least complaining a bit. Talking was free, after all.
”But you slept with me.”
I wanted to see her serious expression crumble—and it did, right away.
”Th—that was… it just sort of happened! I mean, there are exceptions to everything! It’s… a different issue!”
Yukari-san was flustered to the point of panic.
So, sex was the one exception to loyalty, huh?
”What, so I’m just some fling you used and threw away?”
Not that I was actually a virgin, of course. She didn’t know that, and there was no need to tell her.
”That’s really unfair—wait, I mean, saying this to a male sounds like something a rapist would say, but weren’t you the one who came on to me!?”
”Well, yeah. But you didn’t exactly resist. You went along with it. Happily, I might add.”
”T-that’s because I… I didn’t want to waste the chance! Honestly, I thought I was going to die, so I figured at least once before then…!”
She fell silent. Pretty honest, this woman.
I stayed quiet too, just watching her. She averted her eyes and cleared her throat to break the tension.
”…Ahem. Look.”
With that, Yukari-san climbed up onto the antique tansu. It was sturdy enough to hold her light frame without trouble.
A square section of the ceiling came loose with a click. From the space above, she pulled out some rations and a small water jug.
”Oh, wow. What’s that?”
”I made a hiding spot up in the attic when no one was watching.”
Sure enough, the hole looked big enough for one person to fit through easily.
”But I’m not going to die quietly. I’ll hide as long as I have to, survive, and one day—I’ll find a way to escape!”
”You even started stashing supplies?”
”Hmph. I may be from Inubou, but I’m still a proper Imperial Guard. I’ve already gathered some unnoticed items from around the dorms too. I refuse to keep losing to those Kujukuri Guards.”
Technically, all that stuff belonged to me, but whatever.
Anyway, that was the plan. It would lower her chances of being discovered, at least a little. I didn’t want her ending up as some tragic ‘mouse in the ceiling’ bad-end scene.
I decided to move up my own plan to vacate the dorm—create a day when I could leave early. There were some exceptions I could use, after all.
With that settled, I sat down beside the beautiful twin-tailed girl. I leaned in and nuzzled her neck and shoulder.
”You’re amazing, Yukari-san.”
”T-too close! Seriously, your sense of distance is broken!”
Good. Perfect.
I was determined to rescue this wonderful toy. No mere ‘tool of pleasure’ should be destroyed by some heartless female examiner.
If anything, she deserved not a failed Good Design Award, but a Red Dot Award for excellence.
A few days later, the time finally came—I was to perform the Oath of Fealty Ritual with the Imperial Guards.
The ritual required taking a part of the male’s body, processing it, and having the female consume it. That was what sealed the bond.
”It’d be way hotter if it were semen,” I joked.
Sadly, it wasn’t.
”For a first time, two fingers are quite respectable. Do you feel anything unusual?”
”No pain… just a strange numbness. Feels mysterious. Maybe a little scary.”
I looked down at my unmoving ring finger and pinky.
Yes—the Oath of Fealty Ritual was the act of removing a man’s nerve tissue and having the woman consume it.
The first two to receive this blessing from me, as part of the initial Exploration Squad, were C*mslut and Trash-san. Thanks to that, both of their units were now permitted to enter the dungeon.
In any case, the ritual required the entire Imperial Guard to gather and stay together for half a day. That gave me the perfect window to free Yukari-san—her carefully modified attic hideout ended up unnecessary, but it worked out. The result, in the end, was good.
The next day, I returned to school.
Yesterday’s ritual had been a bit much—even by this world’s standards—but the injuries were minor, and, apparently, this was perfectly normal here.
About a hundred years ago, when dungeons first appeared in this world, a divine message came down.
Men carry within them the mystery that awakens women—and they are to offer it up. That devotion became the reason women swear eternal loyalty to men.
It makes sense, really. When a cute, fragile man literally gives part of himself, any woman’s affection is bound to skyrocket.
Once a woman absorbs a man’s nerve tissue through the Oath, she gains new power—skills and status that let her enter unexplored dungeon zones. It’s like the ability is pasted onto her body with a slap. And as long as the man stays alive and well, she grows stronger—beyond human limits.
Those who’ve undergone the ritual become the nation’s spearhead, its resource-hunting elite. Dungeons purified of danger continually produce food, daily necessities, and mystical energy sources. Most ordinary citizens work to collect and refine them.
Even the rations I eat and the white uniforms everyone wears come from those dungeon materials.
The rules of this world still feel strange to me. Part of me wonders how any of this makes sense scientifically. But maybe—just maybe—the god of this world, whether it’s the same one who reincarnated me or not, made it this way so men and women would need each other and learn to live in harmony.
In fact, the status of men—once treated purely as property—has improved a little. Though it’s also fueled the rise of anti-female movements.
Either way, it’s normal here. Perfectly normal!
So I decided to stop brooding. Just a bit of culture shock, that’s all. Think of it as a weird circumcision ritual after reincarnation. As long as I can have sex, who cares how the world is structured?
So there I was, walking down the school hallway, waving my hand cheerfully, when I spotted a familiar face.
”Yo. How’s it going? Hah! What’s with those bags under your eyes?”
”Oh, Dora-kun. …Morning.”
Since our first meeting, Dora-kun’s impression of me had shifted a lot. He usually picked fights, but today he wore a smug grin, looking down at me with pride.
”Listen to this,” he said. “Yesterday, one of my Guards came back from a mission with some serious results. Guess what her job was?”
”No idea. My playmate, maybe?”
”Watch your mouth! Hmph… though that sorry face suits you. Maybe now you’ll stop acting all high and mighty.”
He spat the words and turned away. Behind him, I spotted a familiar twin-tailed silhouette following. My heart warmed a little.
Thanks for everything, Yukari-san. Because of you, I barely slept for days. That last night—what a finale. We practically went at it till dawn.
”Hey, Dora-kun!” I called out. “Don’t stop sending your girls at me! I’ll take them all on!”
I shouted it loud. Asking costs nothing.
Dora-kun froze mid-step and turned back. “What did you just say!?”
”I said—if that half-baked harassment was Inubou’s best effort, then they’re slacking. I’m not afraid of women like you are!”
”You little… who are you calling scared!? Who!?”
He glared at me, eyes burning with fury.
I met his glare head-on. The man was practically a saint—offering high-quality escorts for free. Yukari-san again, or someone else—I wasn’t picky.
”Pathetic, aren’t you?” he sneered. “Acting tough when you’re barely holding it together! Fine, have it your way!”
”No swaps, no protection, full two hours,” I shot back. “Anyone’s fine!”
We stood there, locked in a stare-down.
Other students passing by stared in shock. They probably didn’t understand a word I’d said, but they could tell I was defying him.
Lately, my reputation at school had actually been improving. Even with no real achievements, I never slacked off despite my weak body, took my lessons seriously, and didn’t let the snide remarks get to me. People had started saying the boys of Kujukuri had some backbone after all.
”Ha! Fool!” Dora-kun snorted once more and finally left.
Let’s say I stood there frozen—not from fear, but from composure.
Sow-san, my bodyguard, was fuming, though clearly confused. After all, ever since the first prank at the dorms, there hadn’t been any direct harassment from their side.
”Young Master… what on earth was that?”
”I don’t know, but that was amazing, Young Master!” said another.
”I’m not totally sure myself,” I admitted. “But I talked back.”
Even Vocal Slut-san praised me for it. I brushed it off with a vague smile and headed for class.
If this ended up sparking a new round of harassment and caused them trouble, I’d owe them an apology later.
For now, though—it was fine. I could finally attend the mysticism lesson again.
Time to move forward.
Notes:
• Yukari – Dora’s imperial guard, the one who hide in MC’s wardrobe. Twintail.
• Dora – Antagonistic, older-looking male student with short hair, from an unnamed rural town.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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