Chapter 178

PHA – Chapter 178 – So, Hero = Fetish?

“…???”

Ciel initially thought she had heard wrongly when Alice revealed she was the Hero. However, when she saw the Hero’s Sword in Alice’s right hand, she could tell it was the real deal.

“…You are this generation’s Hero?”

Alice nodded. She had already made the necessary preparations to reveal the truth to Ciel. With a powerful mind magician like Luna here, it was a simple task to inspect the memories of Ciel, a high school magician, and verify that she wasn’t a spy. Hence, after the catkin had calmed down sufficiently, Alice promptly took out the Hero’s Sword and revealed her identity.

Originally, Alice had also thought about using the same method in the elven village. However, she eventually decided against doing so. Whether it was her request for a Seed of Nature or permission to study the elves’ taboos, both required the permission of the elven patriarch and the several elven elders. Unless Luna went around subduing and inspecting the memories of the entire elven council, Alice wouldn’t dare to reveal her identity as the Hero to the elves.

“But isn’t the Hero a tall and muscular man? Images of the fight between the Hero and the Demon King in the Elven Forest are all over the internet.”

Ciel still found this situation a little incredulous. As a high school student, Ciel was already an entry-level magician. So, she could tell that the divine runes engraved on Alice’s Hero’s Sword were the real deal. These runes couldn’t be replicated by mortals no matter what, so there was no doubt that Alice’s Hero’s Sword was genuine. Even so, she still found it hard to believe that the Hero she admired was a perverted loli who would kidnap girls and bring them to a small and dark room… This was just too much for her heart to accept…

Alice chuckled when she heard Ciel’s words. Then, she gripped the pendant on her neck and injected some mana into it. Immediately afterward, numerous pieces of metal flew out of the pendant and attached themselves to Alice, the metal pieces combining to form the appearance of a tall and robust man with tanned skin.

“There you have it.”

Ciel was thoroughly dumbfounded. She was still just a high school student, so she naturally didn’t know about the existence of power armor, a piece of magic technology that had yet to be publicized and put into actual combat. Even so, when she saw Alice taking on an appearance similar to the images and videos of the Hero she saw online, she understood that Alice was most likely the Hero.

“So, the reason I want to visit the catkin tribe is to study your taboos. I doubt this will cause any harm to your tribe, right?” Alice asked after retracting her power armor. Although the dwarves had done a great job making the power armor easy to use, Alice still found it awkward to operate since it wasn’t her actual body. “Of course, I won’t ask you to just let me read your taboos for nothing. If your tribe has any requests, you can bring them up with me. I’ll get Hatter to satisfy your requests.”

The catkins were only one of the many races among the beastkins. The catkins weren’t as strong as the elves, and they didn’t possess anything special like the Elven Forest’s Tree of Nature. So, there was no way Alice could get the Loli Goddess to grant the catkins a privilege as great as the Fruit of God.

However, of the several catkin tribes that existed in this world, most of them resided within the Gryffin Kingdom’s Beastkin Autonomous Regions. So, the catkins shared an inextricable relationship with the Gryffin Kingdom, and they complied with the Gryffin Kingdom’s laws to a certain degree. In exchange, they also received the Gryffin Kingdom’s financial support.

Hence, Alice could help the catkin tribes acquire certain benefits from the Gryffin Kingdom in exchange for the chance to study the catkins’ taboos. This was a win-win situation for both parties.

“So your identity as the kingdom’s princess is only a cover?” After coming to terms with Alice’s true identity, Ciel quickly realized that the matter of Alice being King Hatter’s illegitimate daughter was most likely a cover used to hide Alice’s true identity. However, at the same time as Ciel made this discovery, feelings of sorrow overwhelmed her as she muttered, “I can’t believe the Hero I respected is actually a pervert… This is too much…”

“Others can say this of me, but you’re the only one who’s not qualified to do so,” Alice said, curling her lips as she looked at Ciel’s sorrowful expression. Then, she stepped on Ciel’s waist and continued, “We are both perverts, so stop acting cold.”

“Meow~❤”

The pain coming from her waist and her reason told Ciel that she needed to endure it. However, she still ended up moaning out of instinct.

“Well? What is your answer?” Although Alice felt that her behavior was somewhat inappropriate, Ciel didn’t seem like she was willing to have a proper conversation with her even after learning about her identity. So, she decided that she might as well get physical with the catkin. It also seemed that the Ciel would only behave a little more obediently in such a situation. “Are you willing to convey my message to your tribe’s leader?”

“I…I understand, so please remove your foot,” Ciel pleaded in a coquettish voice. However, when she sensed Alice’s foot, which was deeply embedded into her waist, retracting some of its strength, she couldn’t help but say, “On second thought…please continue stepping on me ❤.”

When Luna saw this scene, she couldn’t help but cover her face. She truly couldn’t bear to continue watching this scene.

Fortunately, Ciel had finally agreed to help Alice. With this, Alice would get to learn new taboos, the catkins would receive benefits from the Gryffin Kingdom in exchange for sharing knowledge on taboos that most people couldn’t even use, and the Gryffin Kingdom would get the honor of helping the Hero in exchange for some negligible resources. It was a wonderful situation where all three parties involved benefited.

In reality, there was also a fourth party that had benefited from this situation. Ciel had discovered her hidden fetish thanks to Alice’s actions. However, with Ciel’s unyielding attitude, so long as Alice removed her foot, the catkin would most likely deny having such a fetish.

“You… You bastard! Just you wait! I’ll definitely get my revenge on you in the future!”

Just like Luna anticipated, as soon as Alice removed her foot, Ciel promptly began yelling out of anger and embarrassment.

“Yes, yes, yes. Once you finish the job I gave you, you are free to do whatever you want to me,” Alice said as she untied the ropes tying Ciel’s hands and feet. “But you best think it through first. You won’t have anybody to satisfy your fetish anymore if you offend me. You know my secret, so I won’t leak your secret to others. However, if you share your interest with others, there’s no guarantee whether they will keep it a secret for you.”

Ciel’s expression stiffened when she heard Alice’s words. What Alice said was correct. Although she now knew that she had a strange fetish, she couldn’t casually share it with others. This was also the case for Alice’s identity as the Hero. Since they both knew each other’s secrets, they could use these secrets as leverage against each other. However, it was a different story for other people.