01.

Allen, who had finished a lewd contract in his office, pulled up his pants with a refreshed face. Lea frowned, complaining that she had to wear pants without underwear.

“It’s already rough, and now it’s even rougher.”

Having had something large enter and exit her, she felt strange and the chafed area stung. Wearing only pants in that state felt odd and somewhat uncomfortable. Lea picked up her underwear that had become a useless piece of cloth.

“Will you personally buy me a new one, Commander?”

“Sorry.”

“Is sorry an answer?”

“Let’s go to my mansion.”

“So you can grab me again.”

“……I won’t do that.”

“I can’t trust your words, Commander. With that innocent face, you leave things like this.”

Lea was buttoning her top when she showed a mark that had reddened and slightly protruded as if bitten by an insect. Allen cleared his throat awkwardly.

“You often imagined tearing my clothes.”

“I only imagined it, I never actually did it.”

“If you feel wronged, then tear mine too.”

“I should record those words somewhere. Wait a moment.”

Lea, who had been huffing continuously, suddenly pulled out a blank paper. Her handwriting was surprisingly elegant despite her scribbling, but the content wasn’t.

‘I promise to tear the Commander’s clothes during our next s*x.’

Before Lea could put a period, Allen snatched the paper.

“Wait! Why leave evidence of this! At least change the word!”

“What’s wrong with the word?”

“This s… word!”

“s*x?”

“Please, stop!”

Allen quickly covered Lea’s mouth. He didn’t want to write or hear that word because it embarrassed him. Perhaps it made what he did with Lea too clear.

Though they had already seen and done everything and even made a contract, he wasn’t mentally prepared to verbally define their relationship. There was a big difference between saying they slept together by mutual agreement to eliminate delusions and…

“Then what word should people who relieve s*xual desire with each other use instead of s*x?”

That word felt too explicit. When Lea continued to use such blatant terms, Allen jumped.

“S-s*xual desire relief?!”

“You’re the one who proposed it, Commander. Why are you acting like this?”

“I just……”

Strictly speaking, Lea was right. Whatever the reason, it was a loveless s*xual relationship. But for his pure self, it was difficult to accept, and he wanted to deny it.

“……Let’s change it to ritual.”

“Huh? What ritual?”

“It’s just… a ritual to clear the Vice Commander’s mind.”

「What bull… Ah, unconsciously… sorry.」

Allen didn’t rebuke Lea’s thoughts. He had nothing to say even as Lea’s expression soured. No matter what elegant expression he used, s*x was s*x. He knew that making excuses after vigorously moving his hips lewdly was something only trash would do, but Allen didn’t want to admit he had a s*xual relief relationship with his direct subordinate.

“I know I’m shameless.”

“You know it yet you act this way? Commander, let’s admit what needs to be admitted. After making that contract, what are we? We’re s*x partners.”

“Okay… okay, just stop emphasizing it.”

Lea seemed determined to tease him. Maybe because her underwear was torn. Or maybe she found his reddening face amusing, but she kept repeating ‘s*x, s*x’ next to him.

Allen bit his lip firmly and grabbed the office doorknob. The office still contained hot air from his passionate lovemaking with Lea. Even with the window open, the sticky smell hadn’t completely dissipated and lingered in his nostrils. Hearing lewd words in such a place sent blood rushing to his unnecessarily healthy body’s center. He needed to cool down his body and mind with fresh air. Allen reopened the locked door and said:

“That damn s*x… if you say it one more time, I’ll have s*x with you until you can’t say that word anymore……”

“Eek!”

The noticeably horrified sound wasn’t from Lea. Allen’s thought process stopped. He felt terrible. He slowly turned his head toward the sound, hoping desperately it wasn’t what he feared. But the voice ringing in his head was one he knew well.

「Our Commander finally……」

Evan with a sad face stood in front of the door.

「Got addicted to that……」

“I didn’t hear anything.”

Evan’s thoughts and words didn’t match. He even sobbed. He deeply bowed to Allen with an expression that said ‘our Commander couldn’t be like this,’ then looked at him with determined eyes.

“Commander, I’ll follow you no matter what you become.”

「I’ll serve the Commander until the end even if you become a s*x addict.」

“Evan, you misunderstand.”

No matter what Allen said, Evan showed no signs of changing his mind.

“Then I’ll discreetly leave you alone.”

“You said you didn’t hear anything!”

The unnecessarily loyal knight walked away with tears in his eyes. Allen pounded his chest in frustration. He had s*x with Lea by mutual agreement to avoid showing shameful erections to his knights, but now another misunderstanding had arisen.

‘What the hell is a s*x addict!’

Evan had been mingling with the Northern knights lately and was being influenced by strange things. What was he doing instead of the training he was supposed to do? The discipline was clearly loosening. Allen gritted his teeth. He planned to double the training intensity starting today.

* * *

“Don’t you think the monsters have been acting strange lately? Just last week, small ones attacked three times.”

“Really? I thought that was common in the North.”

Evan, who was burning monster corpses, tilted his head at Jane’s words. Jane looked alternately at the monster turning to ashes and the broken iron gate, crossing her arms.

“No. This never happened before.”

Northern monsters were relatively docile creatures that roamed the forest unless provoked first. During the former era of the Northern Kingdom, the greedy king and nobles went hunting monsters for sport, causing various dangerous incidents, but since the North became part of the Empire, there was no reason for monsters to rampage. So it wasn’t normal for them to frequently leave the forest and breach the border.

Jane rubbed her chin with a serious face.

“I’ve observed monsters for a long time, so I know well. Those creatures simply pass by things they don’t recognize as enemies or prey. There’s even a saying that you can safely enter the Border Forest unarmed if you just breathe quietly and walk calmly.”

“Don’t they eat humans?”

“They’re not man-eaters. That’s why this is strange. There’s no reason for them to suddenly attack the North.”

Evan shrugged as he extinguished embers with his foot.

“They’re just monsters, why overthink it? Isn’t it possible they just suddenly turned aggressive for no reason?”

“I lived alongside monsters for over three years. I guarantee they wouldn’t do that unless they were given awakening drugs.”

“Just three years… no, I misspoke.”

Evan quickly shut his mouth, realizing his mistake. Time is subjective, and people can express it as short or long depending on how they perceive it, but he had heard things. Though he didn’t know the details, Jane’s three years as a gladiator must have been the longest time in her life. He shouldn’t have dismissed that before considering objectivity.

Sure enough, when he turned his head, Jane was glaring at him with eyes that said she was barely restraining herself from hitting him. Evan quickly continued speaking to change the subject and make up for his mistake.

“Th-that’s right! Maybe the monsters ate something bad in the forest!”

“……The capital knights must have brains full of muscle too. Contrary to what I thought earlier.”

Jane’s tone was cold. She seemed deeply offended. Evan scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Or maybe they’re trying to warm themselves because it’s cold…!”

“Just keep your mouth shut.”

Though he had spoken jokingly, it was a conclusion he had reached after serious thought. As Jane’s face grew increasingly frosty, Evan didn’t know what to do. In truth, the First Knight Division, starting with Commander Allen, consisted of knights with nothing but swords in their minds. “A strong spirit dwells in a strong body” was their motto. Having lived so simply, Evan found Jane difficult to understand.

Jane looked at Evan and let out a small sigh.

“Fine, fine. You’re right that I can’t make definitive statements based on just three years of observing monsters. Still, if monster behavior differs from the norm, it’s worth investigating.”

“Investigating monsters?”

“Yes. I’m going to speak with the Commander separately and focus on watching the forest for a while. No one can observe monsters better than me.”

She had diligently analyzed monsters to survive in the Colosseum. She took pride in knowing better than anyone their characteristics, weaknesses, and what excited them when touched.

“I’ll help if I can. By the way, did you see the Commander and Vice Commander when they caught the monster earlier? Their coordination was excellent.”

“Ah—”

On the way back to the training grounds after cleaning up the monster corpse, Jane agreed with Evan’s observation about Allen and Lea.

The Commander and Vice Commander were both tall and beautiful, so they looked like a well-matched couple based on appearance alone. Of course, she still thought the Vice Commander deserved better. But regardless of their difference in status, they did look good together.

‘But I never felt their combination was good before… there was even that unfortunate incident during the previous duel.’

Yet suddenly they showed amazing coordination, which was puzzling.

This time too, they attacked only the monster’s weak points without overlapping, draining its strength. If one showed a gap and was about to be hit by the monster’s secretions, the other would throw a dagger from their pocket to block it before anyone could shout “Dodge!”

In the end, they simultaneously plunged their swords into the monster’s heart, and all their movements happened so quickly and efficiently that it felt ruthless. It was like watching textbook fighting.

Evan seemed to share her thoughts.

“Do you think they train separately?”

“That’s possible. Or maybe it’s because they’re both so skilled. Perhaps they just naturally match well as equals.”

“You think so?”

“Ah, perhaps……”

Jane continued with a thought that suddenly occurred to her, hardly believing it herself.

“From frequently joining their bodies……”

“…?”

“Their coordination improves as their s*xual compatibility does……”

Jane made a characteristically Northern speculation, but Evan remembered “s*x addict” and shouted with his mouth wide open:

“Th-that can’t be!”