I Became the Hero's Bride! Chapter 14

IBHB Chapter 14 - Exhibitionist Eri

TL: Eevee
Ed: Hungry Panda

Ericia. Nickname Exhibitionist Eri. Clarice wasn't that close to her. Unlike her, her hyung-nims (orabunis?)(1)distanced themselves from the sword, being more the scholarly type than a warrior. But she was a member of the hero party that had rescued her during the demon king crisis, and Clarice had a very deep respect and grat.i.tude towards her.

To the point that she pitied the fact that this gallant and proud female knight, for some reason, had the shameful name of 'Exhibitionist Eri.'

"I heard the rumours, but you really did become a woman."

Ericia said after looking Clarice over a number of times. Clarice's eyes narrowed hesitantly.

"Rumours?"
"Nothing too major. Just that Your Highness couldn't endure your feelings for the hero and used a Potion of Changing Gender to become a woman."

That is very major!!

"What kind of nonsense…"
"Eh? Was that not it?"

Of course not. But Ericia looked surprised. At her reaction, Clarice asked further.

"How did you believe those rumours were right, Eri?"
"Well isn't Your Highness and the hero already in that kind of relationship?"

Clarice seriously did not want to enquire as to what 'that kind of relationship' entailed.

"People were saying. Yesterday, in front of all to see, the hero proposed to the prince-turned-woman."
"Proposed?!"

Clarice jumped upright. What manner of gibberish was this!

"Eri. Listen to me. That was a misunderstanding. The hero never did that."

Ericia tilted her head and said innocently.

"But that's what everyone's saying? Her Majesty the queen was going to imprison you, but the hero rescued you from your predicament and confessed his love…"

Waaaaaaghgg!!! Clarice collapsed where she stood and despaired. What they had been fearing the previous day had actually happened.

What Ericia had heard went something along the lines of this.

- O hero! Why must you be the hero?!

Clarice loved the hero, but were separated by the gender boundary. In the end, he went to the palace sage and had a Potion of Changing Gender made for him.

- I swear. No matter if I have to abandon my gender and my royal status I will always love you.
- I too shall swear. Clarice. By the light of the moon that reflect your eyes, I will only love you!

And the two eventually overcame their gender differences and came together. And in front of them the villainess(=queen) appeared in front of them.

- Foolish ones. Feelings naturally fade as the flesh grows apart. I shall see if your love endures being separated by heaven and earth.

The villainess locked Clarice up in a tower high in the skies. But Clarice let down her ma.s.sive b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the earth and allowed the hero climb up them. The two finally met again after overcoming gruelling trials. Yet on the way from escaping from the tower, they were cornered by the queen and her followers.

As the sword of death threatened their necks, the hero shouted in front of everyone.

- O heavens! If thou art merciful then hear my wish! I swore to have, hold and cherish my lover for my entire life! Please protect her!

Maybe the heavens were moved by their true love. The queen's frozen heart started to move. In the end, the queen acknowledged their love, took the hero in as her son-in-law and Clarice and the hero lived happily ever after.

Very good very good~

Having silently listened to the story, Clarice was completely and utterly lost for words. This went far beyond simple fabrication. Not less than a day had pa.s.sed and let alone being fattened up everywhere, it had turned into some fairytale.

It went without saying that this was Father's fault. He was one to fight and win fair and square by fabrication and fanning flames.

"But. Did people really believe such ridiculous stories?"
"They did?"

Clarice shuddered at those words. This was a big problem. Everyone's insane. Just when had the palace become a house of madmen?

"But seeing the prince in person made me realise that the rumours were exaggerated."

Clarice sincerely wondered just where those rumours that wouldn't even appear in a third-rate tabloid were 'just' an exaggeration.

"The b.r.e.a.s.t.s of our prince that became a woman are big but not to the point where you could drop them from a tower."
"……Did you really need to confirm that for yourself?"

Clarice's evaluation of Ericia took a freefall. Gallant and proud female knight + idiot.

Then again, it seemed like there had been people at the training grounds saying something of the sort. Haha. Clarice could only laugh emotionlessly. No wonder the royal knights got the c.r.a.p beaten out of them by the demon army.

"Anyway. Since you say it's not the case, I shall understand as such."
"It's not a case of understanding that wasn't how it went, it never actually was like that in the first place!"
"But why is Your Highness at the training grounds alone?"

Eri naturally let the topic pa.s.s over. Having nothing to say, as well as not wanting to wrestle over the topic any longer, she explained why she was there.

"Indeed. The hero teaching the prince swordplay…. Hm…"

Ericia held her chin while giving Clarice a look that went unnoticed by her. She said with a doubtful voice.

"I worry if he really could teach Your Highness properly."
"Worry? Why?"
"Maybe if our prince was a man, but now you are a woman. From the beginning, as the bodies of men and women are fundamentally different, if you train like men do, your body may suffer for it."

Clarice unconsciously looked down at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Definitely. If she brute-forced it like him then her shoulders might fall off.

"My prince. As arrogant as I may sound, how about learning from me? As a fellow woman I shall teach you every step of the way."

Clarice was troubled. Although she wanted to learn swordplay from the hero she admired, her words sounded sincere. To such a hesitant Clarice, Ericia put forward a reasonable offer.

"If you're feeling so hesitant, how about this? Since it seems like it'll take some time before the hero comes back, learn from me until he gets back. You can make your decision then."
"……Mm. Than can I trouble you? Eri?"
"Of course. This Ericia, shall dutifully teach my prince to the best of my ability."

Ericia smiled rea.s.suringly. Clarice decided to reevaluate Ericia in her mind. Although she seemed to have muscles for brains, it seemed like she was a good person.

The end result. Clarice realised.

Just why she was called 'Exhibitionist Eri.'

Ericia. Nickname Exhibitionist Eri. Vice-captain and one of the few female knights in the kingdom's knight order, during the demon king crisis, among the endless string of defeats at the hands of the demon king army, she was famous as one of the few soldiers that rang the gongs of victory. Back when Minwoo was active as the hero, he had received an urgent message to help out the encircled kingdom army, and at the time it was Ericia that had almost single-handedly fended off the demon king army as the vanguard.

There were two reasons why Ericia was so effective against the demon king army.

Firstly, the demon king army was set up specifically to face 'men.' To satisfy the tastes of the l.u.s.ty demon king they were fully focused on capturing men, and naturally, the strong warriors of the kingdom were no exception. Because of this, women were completely out of their strike zone, and their 'anti-men magic' didn't affect Ericia, a woman.

Second. Ericia, too, was a warrior specialized in fighting 'men.' Since it was an army that had to suit the demon king's preferences, naturally it comprised of purely men. Because of this, their overwhelming strength when facing men was useless against Ericia.

As for how Ericia could fight men on equal terms—

"E, E, Eri. Uh, umeruh, why…"

To Ericia, who had taken off her robe for teaching swordplay, Clarice shouted aghast.

"Why are you only wearing underwear?!?!!!!!"

Since she so casually tossed off her outer robe Clarice thought that she was wearing armour underneath or something… but Ericia was only wearing two pieces of underwear under that robe of hers. A gold bra.s.sier that only just covered up her b.r.e.a.s.t.s that could rival Clarice's, and gold panties that only barely hid her full b.u.t.t and crotch from sight.

This was no better than being naked… at her shameless appearance that served to embarra.s.s anyone watching, Clarice quickly covered her eyes with her hands.

"Underwear? Ah, you mean this?"

Ericia put one hand on her panty thigh line and said proudly without a single trace of embarra.s.sment.

"This is armour, my prince."
"A, armourrr?"

Armour. That's right. Like she said, the bra.s.sier and panties that she wore were actually armour. As if it was made of actual gold, her panties and bra.s.siere shimmered with a gold light unlike any other underwear Clarice had ever seen.

Clarice removed her hands, opened her eyes a slit and stared at the armour. She made an effort to specifically look only at the armour and not Eri's perfect body.

"What kind of lunatic makes armour like that?"

Ericia scowled.

"My prince. No matter whether you are the prince or not, I cannot endure you insulting this bikini armour that survived life-and-death trials with me."

Clarice was taken aback by the fact Ericia's rage was actually genuine. Dafuq did this person just say? Bikini armour? Bikini, armour??

"That, bikini, you mean the swimsuit that's been popular among the commoners lately?"
"My. Please don't misunderstand. Bikini armour is on a completely different dimension that a simple bikini."

Sometimes, people mentioned someone talking in the fourth dimension. Was this a similar dimension to that?(2)

"I know quite well the doubts that my prince is holding. People who see this armour for the first time often doubt its effectiveness."

If it ended with just doubt then that would be a relief. Right now in Clarice's mind, her evaluation of Ericia was plummeting again and had hit the ground.

However, you could always go deeper.

"My prince, have you ever heard of 'Womb Power?'(3)"

Clarice raised a bunch of question marks.

"Eh? W, womb, what?"
"Womb Power. Your Highness might be aware of this, but women's wombs have a very special power within them."

Ericia stroked her well-ripped lower belly as if she was proud of it. Clarice was dumbfounded.

'Is this person in her right mind?'

"The majority of women live life without knowing. But people like me, who can use the hidden feminine powers that the womb, exist."

"This strength is best when it is used to subdue men of the opposite gender. The reason that I could fight so well against the demon king army was all because of this Womb Power. But there is a specific condition to use such a potent power."

"The user must be aware of and bare her femininity to the world. That is why bikini armour exists."

To sum it up, this Womb Power or whatever's strength was directly proportional to a woman's exposure, and for that, wearing bikini armour, which covered as little of the body as possible, was effective.

"……In that case wouldn't it be better to just run around naked?"

Clarice said, unable to hide her disgust. Fu. Ericia merely sniffed and shook her head.

"How pure. Exposure is only meaningful when there is sufficient coverage. No matter how attractive a woman you are, if you strut around b.u.t.t naked than you would be nothing more than a simple s.l.u.t."

Clarice decided to stop talking. The reason that she was called Exhibitionist Eri was because of this perverted philosophy. Now Clarice's evaluation of Ericia had broken through the mantle and was about to reach the core. To think that Hero-nim adventured with this pervert among perverts. She could only lament in her sorrow.

Whether the person herself was aware of Clarice's feelings or not, Ericia nonchalantly continued.

"My explanation has drawn out. Anyways, now I shall be teaching my prince about Womb Power."

Clarice doubted her ears.

"You're teaching me what? Womb Power?"
"? Does it not suit your taste?"

That wasn't the problem.

"Waitwaitwait, you said you'd teach me swordsmanship but what the heck does Womb Power have…!"
"Oh. Did I not tell you? My swordsmanship is one that make use of Womb Power. To use it, you must first learn how to use Womb Power."

This was the first time Clarice heard of this. If she knew that beforehand then she wouldn't even have thought about learning from her to begin with!

"Uh… Eri. It might be better if we thought this problem over again. It might be the best if I learned from Hero-nim…"
"Your Highness."

Ericia had suddenly grabbed Clarice's backpedalling shoulders.

"It's too late."

She was smiling like a G.o.d of death.

"What, might, be?"
"My prince. I have always agonised over this."

Ericia was the Warrior of the hero party, as well as the vice-captain of the knight order despite being a woman, yet she had one problem not many knew about. It was the fact that other people didn't recognise the wonders of Womb Power.

Of course she did try to spread it to others. However, most of the reactions went along the lines of "If you say so(Minwoo)', 'In your dreams(Senyun)' as if she was an idiot. The only one that seemed enthusiastic about Womb Power was the Priestess, but once she learned it was not used for lewd purposes she lost all interest.

"But now it shall remain in contempt no more. If my prince learns Womb Power, and if it becomes known to the people that your swordsmanship incorporates it! No one will treat this power like a fool any longer! You and me! All will praise this power used by the treasure of the kingdom Prince Clarice until their throats are hoa.r.s.e!"

The sorrow and desire that she'd kept burning in her heart had nearly reached a frenzy. Clarice thought. They wouldn't treat you like an idiot but a pervert!

"My prince! To me, you are a new light! The opportunity that came like a miracle, I shall think of this as an omen from the heavens and not let it pa.s.s! Become the fertiliser for Womb Power to spread far and wide!"

This was it. This was Ericia's objective. Having shown her true colours, Ericia grabbed Clarice's clothes. At that moment, a blinding light shone from Clarice's clothes.

"Uwoo!! My eyes!!"
"Now! My prince! Let us begin! The first lesson in Womb Power!! Our historical first step!!!"

Clarice was so horrified her jaw nearly hit the ground. As the light gradually faded her body felt somewhat chilly all of a sudden, and her clothes, her clothes-

"Bi, bikini armooouuurrrrrr?!!!?!!!!!"

……Had turned into bikini armour.

Author's Note

Ohoho bikini armour very good~

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(1) Pretty sure I've explained this as well, but hyung = male addressing older brother, orabuni = respectful address of female to elder brother - notice the different usage depending on gender.
(2) The nuance is there, but hard to localise so I left it as is. 3D or 'normal' people, 3D or 'normal' conversation, then along comes someone who talks in 4D, i.e. spouting the most ridiculous utter bulls.h.i.t that has everyone thinking 'nani the f.u.c.k?' and you have absolutely no idea what's going through their minds.
(3) No I kid you not, that's what the author wrote, in ENGLISH no less.