Chapter 1
『Princess Lydia: Please accept these, Hero. The kingdom’s finest swordsmanship and elixir.』
「-The overlooked Princess Lydia of the Kingdom of Gallia celebrated her twentieth birthday.」
「-And that night, she handed a box to her lover. Inside the sturdy wooden box lay an elixir gleaming blue, along with a book inscribed in delicate handwriting with the words ‘Ember Swordsmanship.’」
『Princess Lydia: These are treasures left to me by the precious people I’ve lost. Take them, and take me beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Gallia. And protect me for the rest of my life. If I stay here, I’ll be nothing but a pawn in a political marriage…』
『Hero Arti: Yeah. I’ll protect you, no matter what. I love you, Lydia.』
『Princess Lydia: I love you too, Arti.』
『Hero Arti: Now, we can be free beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Gallia…』
『Princess Lydia: …Arti, I can’t wait any longer. Take my heart and body, too.』
『Hero Arti: … … ….』
…
[1] Accept Lydia’s request.
[2] Stay with Lydia forever.
…
[1] Accept Lydia’s request. ←
[2] Stay with Lydia forever.
Click!
「-He accepts Lydia’s request.」
『Princess Lydia: Mmph… Mm…♡』
「-The lips of the two who had promised each other freedom met. Beneath the bright moonlight, at Arti’s touch, Lydia’s dress slowly dissolved like mist in the night.」
『Princess Lydia: Hh…♡ I-I can’t let you see there…! It’s embarrassing…』
『Hero Arti: Don’t worry. You belong to me now.』
「-At last, what appeared was pale skin gleaming in the dusky moonlight. And plump, voluptuous—」
*
“Damn, what a load of crap. I can’t take this anymore.”
Year three in the game,
after the steamy event in the latter half.
Lee Dae-yoon, who had played straight through to the ending, let out a dry laugh.
“What kind of outdated ‘do it for me’ routine is this? They called her a hidden heroine, so I was excited, but aside from her blonde hair, she doesn’t have a damn thing going for her.”
The adult-oriented RPG <Chronicles of the Sacred Sword Hero>.
This medieval fantasy RPG borrowed elements from multiple endings and a real-time, choice-based simulator.
In other words, it was a dating sim for hardcore moe fans with sex scenes.
It was the quaint hobby of an ordinary male college student, Lee Dae-yoon.
‘I was looking forward to Princess Lydia’s route since it only unlocked as a hidden route after seeing all the regular heroines’ harem endings… But her route really isn’t my thing.’
…
Lee Dae-yoon pondered.
‘I can forgive all the pointless NTR endings and the grimdark elements since it’s an adult game. But making the final hidden route this boring is too much.’
He’d had high hopes for this new game, so the disappointment hit just as hard. For a moment, he considered leaving a scathing review on the official review site, but soon decided against it.
Maybe he’d just make fun of it on the forums.
Click!
Lee Dae-yoon took a screenshot of Lydia’s dialogue. It showed a beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girl gazing at the protagonist with pleading eyes.
『Princess Lydia: Please accept these, Hero. The kingdom’s finest swordsmanship and elixir.』
Along with the screenshot,
he posted on the <Chronicles of the Sacred Sword Hero> forum.
【Title: Spoilers) Couldn’t she just take them herself and get stronger? lol】
「Seriously lol, she does nothing and keeps asking people to ‘do it for her,’ so of course she gets left out lol. Now I get why Lydia’s at the bottom of the line of succession lol. She’s the definition of boring and useless lololol. I’d do a better job lololol」
└Anonymous (12.34): The blonde princess has big boobs, so let’s raise a glass~
└Anonymous (112.21): That just means she’s demure lol
Lee Dae-yoon snickered at the funny comments.
‘…Guess everyone thinks the same way. Well, as long as an adult game is sexy, that’s all that matters.’
Lee Dae-yoon shut down his computer and went to sleep.
And the next day…
“Waaah—!”
He realized he had been reborn as a heroine in an adult game—Princess ‘Lydia de Gallia.’
‘…I should never have said that.’
*
A solemn place.
Candles glimmered softly in the temple bearing the symbol of Lua, the sun god. Six women in white robes sat there.
They had left their girlhood behind and were now young women just entering adulthood. In quiet voices, they recited a prayer.
“…And so, we who have lived through twenty winters solemnly declare before the Angel of the Morning Star, in the deepest night in which we may dare to face the sun god, that we shall no longer remain lambs protected beneath the ‘Vow of Chastity,’ but go forth as someone’s wives and mothers…”
Then they fell silent, still in prayer.
Once this prayer was over,
the divine protection granted through their vow would be lifted.
They would have to protect themselves with their own strength and find a partner.
…
…
…
One of them spoke up.
“…Is that it? We’re done now, right? Goodness, I’m worried since we’re doing this without the priestesses.”
“…Who knows? It’s everyone’s first coming-of-age ceremony here.”
“Does anyone ever have a second coming-of-age ceremony…?”
…
“I wonder. Did anything change for any of you?”
Hearing that, the freckled maiden looked herself over through the unfamiliar folds of her white robe. Then she let out a scream.
“Huh… Wha—?!”
“Daisy, what’s wrong?”
“It’s gone!”
“What is?”
“The Vow of Chastity! Everyone, check your chests!”
“!”
There were only six young women in the temple, anyway.
Except for one brown-haired girl, the other five were ordinary friends from a quiet village in the Kingdom of Gallia. So the five of them, including the freckled maiden, casually opened the fronts of their robes and examined themselves.
And soon they discovered that the mark that had protected them since childhood was gone.
“!”
“!”
“!”
One of them asked in a trembling voice,
“Th-then does that mean we can, um… share love now? With a man, like, do it and… the sun god won’t punish us anymore?”
…!
At that timid question,
the other girls grinned.
“Oh?”
“Heehee…”
“W-What is it…?”
“Nothing. Just wondering if Vanessa already has someone~”
“N-No…! It’s not that! It’s just that Peter said…”
“Peter? Peter, the blacksmith’s apprentice? Vanessa, you little minx! You’ve been flirting with a man even while wearing the ‘Vow of Chastity,’ which the Angel of the Morning Star and the sun god bestowed to protect your purity~? What if Peter couldn’t hold back, got struck by divine punishment, and died? What would you do then!”
“!”
-Struck dead by divine punishment.
It had come up casually in their conversation, but none of them questioned whether it was true. It was something that really happened in this world.
“B-But…! Peter said we could go on a picnic by the river after the coming-of-age ceremony. He said he could control himself just fine, and that we could do the naughty stuff later.”
The other four friends burst into laughter at such an innocent Vanessa.
Vanessa’s face turned red. Sulking at their teasing, she went to a corner of the temple and turned her back to them.
“…I’m going to sleep.”
“Sure. You’d better get to bed early if you want to help increase the village’s population starting tomorrow.”
“Ahahaha!”
“Hohoho!”
The women’s laughter filled the temple late into the night. Even amid all the merriment, the brown-haired girl sat quietly in a corner, touching her necklace.
…
“Hey, you’ve been quiet this whole time. You’re from outside, right? Where are you from?”
“The necklace you’re wearing is really beautiful, too!”
“…The Royal Domain of Saint Croix.”
“…I-I see. You’re from a nice place.”
…
The village girls didn’t speak to the brown-haired girl again. Where someone lived determined their social class. And the Royal Domain of Saint Croix, which the girl had mentioned, was a wealthy merchant district near the royal capital of Gallia.
‘For the child of some high-ranking merchant to come all the way out here for her coming-of-age ceremony… she’s practically been abandoned…’
It was common sense among the commoners of this world that meddling in the affairs of nobles and wealthy merchants would get you hurt. So it was best not to ask any more questions.
“Yaaawn, I’m more tired than usual today…”
“Maybe it’s because the temple is… so quiet…?”
“I’m… sleepy…”
A moment of silence passed,
and soon the only sound inside the temple was their soft breathing.
…
…
…
The women, who had been preparing for the ceremony since early morning, had fallen fast asleep.
All six of them were deeply asleep in their respective places.
And…
All the candles illuminating the temple went out.
Then the main entrance, which should have been firmly locked, slowly opened.
Creeeak—
On the night the pure maidens came of age,
the ones who slipped in under cover of darkness were priests with leering expressions. Each held a small lantern in one hand and had cloth tied over their noses.
“…Heh heh. They’re sleeping without a care in the world.”
“They’ve been breathing in special incense laced with sleeping drugs all day. Once they fall asleep, they won’t wake up, ‘no matter what happens.’”
“My, my. What pitiful lambs.”
Tap, tap, tap
The priests strode toward the women and slowly reached out their hands.
“Ooh…! This is…!”
“And they’re purer than ever before.”
“The perfect bodies for carrying out the ritual.”
“What a shame our foolish brethren in the Holy Theocracy can’t understand this pleasure…”
From a corner of the temple,
a frigid voice rang out.
“…So that’s how it is.”
“W-Who’s there?!”
The priests were stunned and swung their lanterns around.
“Where are you?”
“Did you hear something?!”
Then flames sprang up in the darkness.
Whoosh—!
“…?!”
A vivid red flame swept through the darkness.
“Ghk…?!”
As the flames burst,
one of the lanterns in the priests’ hands shot into the air.
One of the priests’ hands had been cut clean off.
Slash—!
“Aaaagh—!?”
Along with their bloodcurdling screams, the priests’ eyes glowed red. The aura of black evil spirits billowed from their white robes.
“Who are you?! Identify yourself—!”
“You ignorant fools. Isn’t it only proper to identify yourself before asking who someone else is?”
“!”
One of the priests desperately chanted a curse toward the voice. A black shadow engulfed the girl’s feet, but she casually brushed it away with a burst of flame.
The girl quickly vanished into the darkness again.
The priests looked around once more.
“Damn—?!”
“…Still, I’m not particularly curious about the likes of your filthy identities. So I’ll tell you mine. Remember me as the ‘Ember Knight,’ who will take your lives, and die.”
“The Ember Knight? What kind of name is that? I’ve never heard of—?!”
The priests, their faces twisted like demons, turned toward the voice again. There stood a brown-haired girl holding a crimson sword.
“…You wretched creatures.”
The girl blazed like a flame.
A faint red aura flowed from the tip of her crimson sword. Like sparks leaping from a fire, it was burning away the priests’ sinister aura.
Crackle!
Crackle!
The power they had gained by defiling hundreds of maidens through dark magic rituals was burning away as helplessly as paper before a campfire.
“!”
“!”
“!”
The corrupt priests stared at that aura in horror.
“W-What? She’s driving back the power of the Dark Archduke with nothing but a knight’s mana…?!”
“Impossible! A knight’s mana can’t interfere with the power of the Dark Realm…! This is just like holy power…?!”
The girl swung her sword. A red flash, like a blow striking steel, flared across the room.
Whoosh—!
“!”
“!”
“Guh—“
Before they could even scream,
one of the priests slowly toppled, his head severed.
Thud!
The priests stared at the scene in horror.
“?!”
“?!”
‘We swore an oath to one of the most powerful Dark Archdukes, and she took us out with a single swing of her sword…?!’
The priests huddled together desperately, protecting one another’s backs.
Then they gathered the evil spirits,
and raised a black barrier.
The more of them gathered, the louder the sinister whispers of the evil spirits grew. They were souls corrupted by dark magic, unable to return to the cycle of life and turned into tools instead.
“Holy—It’s a power like holy power!”
“Draw up all the energy of the Dark Realm!”
“Stop her from swinging that sword again!”
The girl watched them and sneered.
“How laughable, priests afraid of a power like holy power. Is that the price you paid for selling yourselves to the high-ranking demons of the Dark Realm?”
“The Dark Archdukes are demons?! You narrow-minded woman! Just like those ignorant fools in the Theocracy, you dismiss the transcendent beings who rule over the darkness of the Dark Realm as mere evil spirits!”
“How disgusting, desperately defending the master who took your souls. Shut your mouths.”
The girl lightly sprang forward. Then she charged at the priests like a rushing flame.
Slash—!
In the blink of an eye,
the black barrier split apart.
The priest at the front lost his life in an instant.
“Ghk…!”
“!”
“!”
‘At this rate, we’ll all be dead in moments…!’
The priests exchanged glances, then hurriedly chanted an evil spell inside the barrier. It was a ritual to summon a transcendent being of the Dark Realm.
[O Asmodeus of ‘Lust’—!]
[Lord who governs the most alluring sin, lust—! Bestow your power upon us!]
[Bless us, your seven brothers!]
Something answered their prayer.
-I… grant… it….
The priests’ bodies began to twist grotesquely.
Their bodies melted together like clay. Their swollen arms turned into tentacles covered in slime, and their faces melted away beneath a mass of writhing tendrils.
“…!”
The girl sensed an ominous aura in the transformation and stepped back.
Rumble—!
The priests, having lost their human forms, became a gigantic mass. It roared, radiating an ominous aura. The power was so great that the temple shook and warped around them.
[Wrrrraaa—!]
All the moonlight coming through the temple windows was blotted out. The colossal being had plunged the place into darkness. Something hideous writhed within it.
Even before that enormous horror, the girl stood firm.
…
The enormous horror, its hideous desires laid bare, stretched out a wet tentacle toward the girl.
[Savor a frac… fraction of our great power, then die slowly, violated—!]
The attack came like a surging tidal wave—with the force of a natural disaster. And from each of the tentacles came the wailing of women who had been violated by dark magic and died.
-I… have to go… to my wedding…
-Kill… me…
Rumble—!
…
The girl took her stance before the tentacles’ attack.
“Hoo…!”
She steadied her breathing and raised her sword. As she imbued it with white flames, the flames flickering beneath the darkness began to shine brilliantly.
Beneath the dawn’s first light,
the brown-haired girl declared firmly:
“Wicked monstrosity, carry this message to the Dark Realm, and let them tremble with you. The technique that will strike you down is my Ember Swordsmanship—‘Flash of Dawn.’”
[What… are you… saying?! The Golden Princess has dazzling blonde hair…!]
Before the monstrosity could finish speaking,
the flames flickering at the tip of Lydia’s sword converged into one.
Rooooar—!
A primordial power—a pillar of flames, blazing like molten lava.
And the pinnacle of skill: gathering unruly mana into a single, radiant blade.
A massive flame was bearing down on it.
A single strike that burned every tentacle as it advanced.
A dazzling sword of judgment cleaved through the waves of sin.
Fwoosh—!
[…?!]
Facing the red inferno surging toward it without hesitation, the monstrosity cried out in bewilderment.
[A Sword… Master…?]
“That’s right.”
Shnk—!
Lydia’s reply ended behind the monstrosity.
“…I am one of the four Sword Masters in the Kingdom of Gallia. Not many know that, so consider yourself honored—and die.”
[How… could this be…?! A Sword… Master… at just eighteen…?!]
The monstrosity had been split in two.
It began to burn from the cleft in its body.
[Aaaagh—! The Archduke… is…!]
Then the remains of the monstrosity writhed and disappeared.
At last, light fell once more over the wrecked temple.
…
Dawn had broken without her noticing.
The pure maidens were still asleep.
Only the girl with the flaming sword faced the sunlight.
…
And in the silence,
more people entered the temple.
This time, they were freed slaves from the underworld. Covered in tattoos and burly, they carried warm blankets in both hands and respectfully wrapped the sleeping women in them before escorting them to their carriage.
Lydia asked them:
“…Did Beatrice send you?”
“That’s right, Your Highness. We came at her command to return the innocent women to their homes.”
“I see. Good work. And while you’re on a mission, address me as Knight.”
“Understood, Knight Lydia.”
“Good.”
The freed slaves bade Lydia farewell with reverence. Their awe of Lydia was genuine, quite apart from their loyalty to their leader.
After leaving the temple, Lydia took off the necklace she had been wearing. Her brown hair and ordinary face vanished like an illusion.
What appeared beneath them was
brilliant golden hair and a beautiful face.
‘…This blonde hair stands out too much, so I have to hide it during missions.’
The Golden Princess—Lydia—let out a small sigh.
“Hoo…”
She had taken down countless demon worshippers, but this was the first time she had faced enemies who had appeared in the game, too. And the fallen priests’ actions were even more vile than the game had described.
…
Lydia recalled a vague memory.
「-The wicked rituals of fallen priests often caused trouble for the people around them.」
‘Trouble? The priests borrow power from the demon of lust to assault innocent, chaste women who have just come of age in some wicked ritual and corrupt them, and that’s all it means to “cause trouble”? This world really is abnormal.’
Even compared to the other violation events in the original, the fallen-priest event had been laughably tame. They were trap events designed solely to deliver misery and NTR, eating away at the world…
…
But Lydia accepted it.
‘…It can’t be helped. This is the world of a cheap adult game, after all. So I’ll be the one to normalize it.’
Leaving the temple behind, Lydia returned to the royal capital. It was time to enroll in the academy, one of the main settings of <Chronicles of the Sacred Sword Hero>.
‘First, I’ll have to train the original protagonist’s party thoroughly. I’ll feed them every opportunity the game has to offer.’
She planned to strictly train the protagonist’s party with both carrots and sticks… and turn them into her loyal subordinates.