I had always meant to live true to myself.
It was true that I had occasionally been carried along by circumstances, but I didn't think I had ever lied to myself.
"I, I've never..."
"You haven't...? Then... who's the person most precious to you...?"
"That's..."
—Of course... it was...
I shook my head to deny the image of a red-haired youth.
It was true that El was my childhood friend, and that he was precious to me, but a "Hero" couldn't have such a partner.
A "Hero" needed to attend to and protect everyone equally, so...—
"Hee hee... You can't say it... or maybe it won't come out...? If you form special relationships... you can't say that you'll protect everyone, and then... you couldn't become an ideal 'hero,' right? "
—The succubus spoke as if she understood, and her words were right on the mark.
Something cold flowed down my back at those words, which seemed to have peeked into my mind.
But mind-reading techniques hadn't been developed even in Lescatié.
It had to be a mere coincidence... or else a bluff.
—If it wasn't... I...
A sharp pain ran through my breast, as if to mask my ugly self secreted within it.
In the moment I was preoccupied with that sensation, which felt as if my heart had been pierced with a needle, the succubus' hand softly slipped in through the opening in the breast of my tunic.
Even that clothing infused with unparalleled defensive and anti-magical capabilities, which was my personal armor as a "Hero," was unable to obstruct the monster's hand.
I realized that the succubus' slender fingers were crawling inside my white one-piece, which had readily permitted the invasion.
"So... first I will break that for you... I will chip away... your hero's mask... "
"Kuh... u... uh."
In an instant, I realized that the monster was burying her claws in my exposed cleavage.
There was surprisingly little pain as they scratched my skin.
On the contrary, a throbbing ache ran through me, and I ended up wanting her to touch me again in spite of myself.
But, going against the state of my body, my mind rejected that desire.
Surely that was only natural.
After all, she was an enemy I ought to hate, and a member of a race that had to be destroyed.
"Still... these clothes are surprisingly sexy. There's this opening at the breast... and the skirt is so short, too... the children who fight at your side must have a hard time holding back their lust. "
"I... I don't exactly dress like this because I like it..."
The opening in the chest certainly was embarrassing, and it wasn't as if I wouldn't have liked a little more length in the skirt.
Still, the reason for the chest was that I got itchy when I got sweaty, so there was no ulterior motive there.
The length of the skirt was because, as a "hero," I moved around a lot on the front lines, and I couldn't do that if it were too long.
Trousers were uncomfortable because of the itching, and so this was the only possible result.
"Well then... I wonder how you felt when you first put this on...?"
"Well, I..."
I needed clothes that could be worn as a normal one piece while still bearing religious symbols hear and there.
Still, I had been unused to it at first, and felt embarrassed about the exposure around the bust and skirt.
It had not exactly been just once or twice that the opening in the bust had been rudely stared at.
Such things hadn't happened much recently... but every time it did... I couldn't say that I hadn't thought about if the gaze had been El's...—
"Hee hee... So I was right; you did want to be looked at by a special someone, didn't you? And... you wanted him to get all worked up... and attack you, right...?"
"Y, you're wrong...! I, I...!"
I had only wanted to startle him a bit.
I had wanted no more than for him to take even a little notice of me.
But wanting him to attack me...?
Such a shameful thing had never once crossed my mind...—
—N, no... i, in the first place, I'd never thought of El like that...!
"Eee... gh...!"
The instant I made that denial, the succubus' hand softly spread open the bust of my tunic.
The gesture, seemingly intended to bare my underclothes, expelled my bust through the hole in the open-chested one-piece.
But the opening at my chest was a little too small for my breasts, and it ended up squeezing around the base of my nipples.
By cheeks burned with shame at that appearance, which seemed designed to emphasize the size of my bust.
"See...? Don't you think this is a very sexy look...? Maybe you can get him to attack you if you wear it like this."
"He, he's not like that...!!"
—El wasn't the sort of man to give in to his lust.
After all, if Lady Mercè was looking after him, his grades in practical skills must be among the best.
His marks in classroom learning, too, were well above average.
In the past few years, he must have been just about the only man the instructors at the training academy here had given their seals of approval as having no problems in mind or body across the board.
Even without any additional information, I could tell that El had matured still just as he was in my memories.
That youth, whose kind eyes, sparkling with purpose, were still just as I had seen them so many times in dreams, would surely never attack a member of the opposite sex without her consent.
"Oh? There is a special someone, then?"
"Ah..."
—The succubus' words made me at last realize my blunder.
Every last one of the questions I had reflexively denied had assumed the existence of a "special someone."
Having realized that, I searched my mind for some retort, but could find none at all.