Toru Shirogane

The labyrinth calls, and is answered by adventurers, profiteers, and anyone looking to make a quick buck. And in this town inhabited by the dregs of society live a man, and the woman who owns him. Arwen, the Princess knight with lofty dreams of restoring her homeland—and Matthew, the town drunk. As Arwen challenges the labyrinth, Matthew spends his days in taverns and brothels living off the money he gets from her. But the town laughingstock has a side that no one knows about. In service of Arwen, Matthew would do anything—no matter how dirty he might get.

The Kept Man of the Princess Knight won the Grand Prize at the 28th Dengeki Novel Awards and was praised by acclaimed creators such as Carlo Zen, author of The Saga of Tanya the Evil, and Gakuto Mikumo, author of Hollow Regalia and Strike the Blood.

Matthew has a seemingly endless list of troubles. Arwin symptoms and recovery are worrying, and her party isn't making much progress in the dungeon. The Sun God's influence is spreading surreptitiously. And Imperial Guard knights have been dispatched from the royal capital to maintain public order in the Dungeon City. Their presence sends shock waves through Gray Neighbor, disrupting the normal flow of things in the vice-filled city. To top it all off, one of the knights in the Imperial Guard has come to investigate the death of a guild appraiser—his own little sister. What will become of Arwin when Matthew becomes a suspect and they are separated? The lifeline between the two strains, perhaps to a breaking point...

In a corrupt dungeon city, a man and the woman who owns him live out their lives. Arwin, the Princess Knight, is like a spotless crimson flower among the filth of this place. Matthew, one of the local adventurers, is among the lowest of the low, as far as anyone knows. He's a weak fighter and a coward, and he spends his money on alcohol and gambling. But no one knows the truth–he serves his princess knight, and he'll get his hands as dirty as he has to for her sake.