Chapter 150: Cheerleading Squad (6)

Ten minutes later, Sion finally extracted a confession from Lancia, who was kneeling and crying before her.

It was about the cheerleading choreography plan documents that Martin had ordered her to discard.

Instead of getting rid of them, Lancia had secretly stamped her seal on them and submitted them.

Then, later, she had lied to the prince, claiming that she had been pickpocketed and the documents were stolen from her.

As a result, the cheerleading uniform was decided to be bunny-girl outfits.

“I-I’m sorry…! I really only intended to try stamping it once—I had no intention of actually submitting it, but before I knew it, my body just moved on its own…

At this point, I’ll take responsibility, reveal the truth, and get the plan canceled.

No matter what consequences I have to face. The prince will probably look at me with utter disdain, but that’s still better than carrying the burden on my conscience for the rest of my life…”

“Hmm…”

Sion looked at Lancia, who had her head completely lowered, and thought for a moment.

Then, in a slightly softened voice, she said,

“I don’t really mind, though?”

“What?”

“I said, I don’t really mind. Whether the outfit is a little revealing or not.”

Lancia blinked in disbelief. Her eyes were filled with shock.

“A-Are you serious? Even though it’s practically indecent?”

“Female bards dress like that all the time.”

After all, the more revealing an entertainer’s outfit, the more the men cheer.

That was an unchanging truth of the world, both in the past and present.

Back in Sion’s era, female bards often wore outfits that were practically half-naked just to capture more attention.

In extreme cases, they even took on roles similar to courtesans.

From that perspective, the whole bunny-girl thing wasn’t particularly shocking.

Unless it was literally just nipple covers and a C-string, which—judging from what she’d heard—wasn’t the case.

“Besides, reducing the outfit’s exposure just for my sake would be a kind of special treatment, wouldn’t it?

There’s no need for that. Here at this academy, I want to stand as an equal to the other students.”

“……”

It was quite the opposite.

The bunny-girl supporters had actually pushed for more exposure precisely because she was here, not the other way around…

But Lancia couldn’t bring herself to say that out loud.

Because, deep down, a small hope was beginning to stir in her subconscious.

Maybe… not only would she get away with this without much scolding, but she might also get to enjoy the sight of the hero in an adorable outfit.

“I-If… If you’re really okay with it, then… we don’t have to change it, right?” Lancia asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, of course. Especially if changing it would put a heavy burden on you as a consequence of your actions.

However, deceiving the prince isn’t exactly something I can just overlook, so make sure to confess the truth to him and ask for forgiveness later. Think you can do that?”

“Ah… Y-Yes, I’m sorry…”

Lancia replied in a small voice, and Sion gave her a merciful smile, patting her student’s shoulder.

“Alright, now that we’ve settled that topic, let’s finish our remaining training. We still have a long way to go.”

“Yes, Master.”

With that, the brief commotion in the training ground seemed to come to an end.

And then, the next day—

“…Now I see why Lancia warned me so much. This design really is quite something.”

Looking at the uniform she received from Charlotte, the cheerleading captain, Sion fell into deep contemplation.

Behind her, Exia seized the opportunity to tease her gleefully.

-“Oh my, what’s wrong~? Weren’t you brimming with confidence just yesterday?

Could it be that now that you’re seeing the real thing, you’re suddenly getting cold feet?”

“…Ugh.”

That was exactly it. Sion couldn’t find the words to refute her and could only swallow a groan.

As always, there was a huge difference between imagining something and actually experiencing it.

She had thought she had already been “trained” enough by Anatolia’s short school skirts.

But standing face-to-face with a skin-tight leotard and chocolate-colored stockings?

That was an entirely different level.

After all, she was still a man at heart.

And like any typical guy, she had an instinctive aversion to dressing up in a cute, revealing outfit.

Exia grinned mischievously.

-“If it’s too much for you, why not just back out now? There’s still about a week left before the final participant list is confirmed, you know?

If you want, you can always ask the teachers to change your assignment.

Or you could just flip the table entirely, claiming, ‘I didn’t know the outfit would be this lewd.’ That’s your specialty, isn’t it?”

“Hmm…”

Hearing Exia’s suggestion, Sion pondered deeply but soon shook her head.

“No, I feel some resistance, but it’s not to the extent that I can’t do it at all.

More importantly, considering my goal, it wouldn’t be wise to stir unnecessary conflict and create hostility here.

So, I’ll just have to endure some embarrassment.”

-“Ohh? Really? You think you can handle it?”

“Of course. If we’re just talking about revealing outfits, I’ve seen much worse in the Demon Realm.”

In truth, the Demon Realm was a society that paid little attention to concepts like a woman’s modesty.

Morality and conscience were nonexistent there, so how could “indecency” even be a thing?

Her former subordinates, the succubi, wore far more extreme outfits without the slightest hesitation—outfits with absolutely no practicality, designed solely to arouse the opposite sex.

And as the former ruler of the Demon Realm, Sion had been tempted by women like that countless times, with Nelia at the forefront.

So, she had grown quite accustomed to outfits with high levels of exposure.

Even looking back on her time after leaving the Demon Realm and traveling with the Hero’s party, there were two colleagues of hers whose outfits were absolute eye hazards.

Compared to a sultry nun in side-slit garter belts or a mage flaunting her thighs, this was hardly even embarrassing.

It was well within her limits of endurance.

…Though she did wonder if her standards for comparison were a bit strange.

“Alright. Since I’ve decided to go through with it, I should hurry up and get changed.

The longer I hesitate, the stronger my reluctance will become.”

Having made her final decision, Sion wasted no time in changing clothes—transforming from a proper, modest, exemplary hero… into a charming and adorable bunny.

At first, she struggled a bit, not knowing how to put the outfit on,

but the other cheerleaders kindly helped her out.

And once the transformation was complete—

-“Pfft! Hahahaha! Sion, you look amazing!

Cute yet sexy—it’s just perfect! Hahahaha!”

Exia, upon seeing Sion’s new look, couldn’t hold back her laughter and burst out in a fit of giggles.

The massive sword on her back trembled violently with her shaking.

-“I never thought I’d see the day Sion wore something like this in my lifetime.
Our old master would have loved to see this.

If Esther had been here, the three of us would have laughed for three days straight.”

“…….”

-“Man, I can’t wait for the festival.

The boys are gonna be up all night thinking about this.

They’ll all be drowning in their filthy fantasies about you, Sion~”

“……………..”

While Exia was buzzing with excitement, Sion, in contrast, had a rather serious expression.

It wasn’t that she was embarrassed or ashamed.

Rather, she seemed to be deeply contemplating something.

Noticing the unexpected reaction, Exia felt a bit awkward and spoke up.

-“Uh… What’s wrong?

You’re just sitting there with a stiff face like you’re angry, and now I feel weird for even bringing it up.

Come on, when you look back on this later, it’ll just be a funny memory.

No need to be so—”

“It’s not that I’m embarrassed. I already braced myself for that part, so it’s fine.

The issue I’m thinking about right now is something else.”

-“Huh? Something else?”

Sion glanced around cautiously before whispering in a low voice.

“My goal is to join the cheerleading squad, build a friendly image, and increase my popularity, right?”

-“Hmm? Well, yeah, I guess?”

“And to achieve this goal, I need to stand out from the crowd during the actual event.
Would you agree?”

-“Uh… probably?”

Exia tilted her head but nodded in agreement.

It wasn’t wrong.

After all, going through all this embarrassment just to wear a bunny outfit wouldn’t mean anything if nobody even noticed her.

“But… is that really a problem? You’re already stunning as you are.
As long as nothing crazy happens, there’s no way you’ll lose the spotlight to anyone else.”

“I thought the same. Until now…

But…”

Sion looked around in silence.

At the fellow cheerleaders who would be performing on stage with her.

And the first thought that struck her as she observed their tall, curvaceous figures was—

“This outfit’s effectiveness scales way too directly with breast size, doesn’t it?”

She muttered this while squeezing her own chest, her expression dead serious.