Chapter 25: The Chastity of Knights is in Danger (01)

  inally, being a knight was an incredibly expensive occupation.

  Just the mana saber alone was su expeem that an ordinary person could barely afford one in a lifetime of savings.

  And what about the armor?

  Armor capable of blog a mana saber, i.e., capable of mutual defense among knights, was tremendously expensive, costing more than the annual ine of a small fiefdom.

  Even in times before the development of the mana saber, armor was an expeem passed down as heirlooms among nobles, but now it had bee even more prohibitively expensive.

  Therefore, when knights joined a knight order, they weren't immediately equipped but borrowed the equipment in a lease-like arra from their knight order.

  Knights tracted to lend their bat skills in exge for equipment, and by demonstrating valor, they could capture oppos' armor or ons to eventually gather their own gear and roam freely as knights errant.

  Eveate knight orders like the Mado Knights were not free from equipment issues; they often shared armor or trained in non-magically coated armor, with no expectation of timely equipment support even after being official knights.

  To obtain personal gear, knights needed money, and for knights, the amount of capital support received at the beginning of their ission was crucial.

  Ireme cases, a knight in a poor order without patrons might start their knighthood wielding just a wooden club instead of a mana saber.

  Knights could more easily receive patronage from nobles who introduced them, and nobles also needed such events to draw talerainee knights to their orders, thus the sponsorship gatherings were anized.

  Essentially, these sponsorship gatherings were events for preselling trainee knights.

  'To think I fot su importaing!'

  No wohere was no training today.

  I felt foolish for just lying around, sug on Molng's milk, thinking it was just a day off.

  I tried my best to and iron the dirty spots on my formal wear using a branding iroed in a fire, but it was nowhere as as what a professional could achieve.

  "Ha..."

  Moreover, the sponsorship meeting was not just about finding a ron...

  After all, isn't that a romantiotion often found in knight novels?

  Meeting a lone dy at the ga, being her sole knight, and earning reition for their retionship by bravely proteg her.

  I heard that many nobles e to these sponsorship gatherings to find bodyguards for their daughters, aiful romances supposedly blossom betweeiful dies and knights...

  "Something seems off from what I expected?"

  There were plenty of dies present.

  About fifty?

  But... if there roblem, it might be that the dies were... a bit on the older side...

  "My senior assured me that at the sponsorship gathering, you could pledge loyalty to beautiful dies and secure patronage..."

  Today's senior dy knight in charge of the vehe one I saw during the st small hole i) respoo my question.

  "Really? Nowadays, young girls participate in gas in the capital, not these knightly sponsorship events."

  "What? But... in knight novels..."

  "Those would be the royal guard's sponsorship events, wouldn't they?"

  "Damn, I should've goo the royal guard!"

  Despite my grumbling, a senior knight smacked me on the back of the head, but I wasn't about to retract my statement.

  Dane, Levin, and even the souls seemed to be frozen in fear, staring at the older dies hunting for prey with an eagle-eyed gaze, and only Jake seemed a bit excited, puffing up...

  'Ugh! I saw it! I actually saw Jake getting aion!'

  Witnessing someone else's ere was a genuinely unpleasant experience.

  I could somewhat sympathize with Dane, who always scolded about ing up Molng.

  "Please feel free to mih the trainee knights."

  As the host's words cluded, the matronly dies, our peers in age, began looking us over one by one, hiding their faces with fans or masks, making us feel like merdise at a market.

  "Hey, the big trainee knight. Could you e over here?"

  "Me, me? This guy?"

  "Of course, you. e here."

  Dahe most spicuous among us, was the first to be summoned.

  He stood upright, more disciplihan ever, as dies crowded around him, toug his body and discussing their "reviews" of him.

  "Oh my, look how solid his muscles are."

  "Could you lift us with these arms?"

  "His chest is firm and well-spread..."

  Initially toug his upper body and arms, their hands gradually became more brazen, moving towards his lower body or slipping ihe formal wear he was .

  "Gasp!"

  "You don't o be shy, sweetheart."

  "His buttocks are firm too. Been exerg?"

  Amid roping by the matrons, Daurned back to us with a plea for help in his eyes, but we avoided eye tact, fearing we might be .

  this, an infuriated Dane quickly signaled us.

  'And you call yourselves rades!'

  rades, my foot. No rade would endure such a situation.

  I might sider taking a sword for them otlefield, but definitely not this kind of molestation.

  If it were younger dies, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad... but the age difference was just too stark.

  "Knight over there, e here."

  Levin, standing beside me, was chose.

  Levin looked at me and Jake pleadingly for salvation, but I avoided his gaze, and Jake, seemingly envious, was even ing to join Levin.

  "Oh my, look at that sharp jawline. Could cut with your hands, couldn't you?"

  "He looks so cute. Where do you live?"

  "Ever been with a woman?"

  "Save... me..."

  By then, more than ten hands were fondling Datempting to tenderize his firm muscles, while he desperately covered his lower body with his arms to prevent his genitals from being touched.

  'Damn, this is dangerous.'

  More and more of our peers were being dragged away.

  Fortunately, my clothes were so filthy that they almost acted as camoufge, keeping me from being dragged away, while my peers were getting just as dirty from being touched, and a few were being led away to secluded spots.

  Surely they weren't being taken aside to quietly discuss how much they would sponsor, and those who were taken...

  'This isn't right!'

  I gred at the senior knights, but they had long since fled the se, leaving only the senior dy knights who seemed to be enjoying themselves. With fewer than 50 dies and over 150 knights, what could possibly g?

  If anything, it was the knights' chastity that was in danger!

  'They call this a sponsorship gathering, but it's totally...'

  "Following me might improve your fate?"

  "I'll follow you even if it doesn't improve my fate, ma'am."

  Watg Jake voluo be taken by a dy, I realized there weren't many of my peers left, and I began to feel a sense of crisis.

  'Not many of us left...'

  Fortunately, I had kept my head down and hidden near a pilr or behind curtains, avoiding being a target, while most of my peers were being evaluated for their meat by the dies.

  "Shall we take a look at our knight's abs?"

  "Abs, you say?"

  "Exactly, show us your abs and I'll give you ten thousand gold."

  'Is this what they call a sponsorship meeting?!'

  Was this sponsorship not about supp a knight's abilities but in this sense?

  Such btaent made me think w in a sve market might be better.

  'This isn't right... let's just survive this.'

  I discreetly looked for an escape route, then turo leave the sponsorship event.

  Just as I was about to exit the ba hall, I ran straight into two dies entering.

  One was indeed an old dy with white hair and a face full of wrinkles, and the other rovocative red-haired dy with tear troughs under her eyes.

  Her dress en-top design that left nothing to the imagination above her chest, so low that her pink nipples were almost visible...

  'No, no, don't stare too openly, or you'll get caught!'

  "ing to meet me like this, you're quite perceptive, trainee knight."

  As I was trying to think of an excuse f to escape, fortunately, the red-haired dy misinterpreted my a, and I bowed aended my hand as if I had inteo escort her in.

  "Yes. I'll escort you inside."

  "Thank you."

  Taking her hand, I was led baside, failing to escape.

  "Announg the Duchess of Elridein and Baroness Melson!"

  Both women were famous enough that everainee knights knew of them.

  Both were well-known, even among trainee knights.

  The Elridein Ducal House, one of only two ducal houses in this try, boasted a might parable to that of a small kingdom, and its private knight order, the White Lion Knights, was rger aer equipped thaional Mado Knights.

  Baroness Melson had been married three times, each of her husbands dying under mysterious circumstances shortly after the wedding... Was she not called a "widow-maker"?

  In this case, she was ihe widow.

  "Ah, yes. That knight looks robust. e here."

  It was the aging Duchess of Elridein who spoke, and no o the venue could defy her words, so Dane, previously prodded by dozens of hands, was now freed to stand before the Duchess.

  "What is your name?"

  "Dane."

  "Good, robust. A knight should be just so. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

  Touched by the Duchess's warm words, Dane’s urned red as if he was about to cry, while the other dies, deprived of their prey, seethed with frustration but dared not challehe Duchess openly.

  'Thankfully, while Dane and the Duchess draw their attention, I slip away...'

  "You there, the deserter knight."

  Baroness Melson called out to me as I tried to back away.

  "Deserter knight? Whom do you mean?"

  "You. You look like you're scared and trying to flee the sponsorship."

  "Ha, no, not at all..."

  "Really?"

  Amidst the generally older crowd, Baroness Melson stood out with her younger and more voluptuous appearance.

  However, her niame was what again? The "widow-maker," known for ensnaring men. Ae being younger here, she was old enough to be my parent, so I had no i at all.

  "You seem quite sturdy... Follow me to the backyard."

  "Me?"

  "Who else would I be talking to?"

  I felt uneasy, but I had nht to refuse here.

  Rejeg her here could sour the mood with the dies, potentially jeopardizing any future sponsorships.

  'Ah, it's probably nothing.'

  Assuming she'd just touch a bit like the other dies and the me go, I followed her to the backyard.

  'If things turn sour, I'll just run.'

  A knight determio flee do so at speeds unmatchable by any dy without a horse, especially if I el mana.

  "This should be fine."

  We hadn't yet reached the backyard when Baroness Melson pulled me aside into a gap between the bushes.

  'Why is there such a space here? Obviously, if things get heated at the party, they're meant to... Wait, could it be?'

  As she pushed me inside, Baroness Melson licked her lips and began to undress, revealing she wasn’t wearing muder her dress besides a garter belt holding up her stogs, essentially useless as underwear.

  "Lick. Puppy."

  "Excuse me? Where?"

  "Wherever you like."

  Wait a minute. Did I really get myself into this?

  Ultimate-Harem-fan