Ch.22Chapter 22. This Makes You the Fourth Person to Know Lin’s Name

As dinner came to an end, satisfying both the one who prepared it and those who ate it, night descended upon the city.

Though Rabin didn’t particularly like Lucy, purely out of goodwill toward Lin, she gave the hero various clothes, including underwear.

“The bra and panties don’t fit at all. They’re not just tight—I can’t even get into them.”

“I’m sorry about that!”

When Lucy complained while trying on the clothes, the slender beauty Rabin bristled.

“Don’t you have anything bigger?”

“Those are my clothes, so no, I don’t!”

“Hmm.”

Looking around the office, Lucy spotted a bandana lying around.

She picked it up, unfolded the cloth, and wrapped it around her chest for support.

“Need help with the knot?”

“No, I’ll tie it in the front.”

“Oh, so you tie the knot in the front like that? Interesting.”

Despite her grumbling, Rabin’s attitude was quite friendly.

But Lucy paid no attention to it.

With considerable worldly experience, though not as much as Lin, she knew well that such subtle kindness often returned as favors difficult to refuse later.

After tying the knot, Lucy jumped lightly in place.

*Bounce*

Though she had tied it tightly, her considerable size still displayed an admirably dynamic movement.

“Hey, Lady Hero.”

“What?”

“With that size, don’t they get heavy and make your shoulders stiff? Don’t they hurt when you run? Especially during combat?”

“They’re extremely heavy, my shoulders get stiff like they’re sinking, and they hurt when they bounce around while running.”

“Heh, so bigger isn’t always better after all.”

Rabin stroked her nose, claiming a mental victory.

The hero tilted her head at the thief.

“What are you talking about? Bigger is better.”

“What did you say?”

“Breasts and hips are weapons to captivate the man you love. They’re a natural price to pay to win him over.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. I wonder who Lady Hero’s man might be?”

Though Rabin gritted her teeth and became serious, Lucy didn’t care.

Deciding it wasn’t tight enough, she untied the bandana and carefully wrapped it flat against her body.

“Well, he might be the one, or he might not.”

“Even Lady Hero can’t guarantee victory?”

“Because I’ve sinned against him.”

“Then have you properly apologized for those sins?”

After tying a firm knot, Lucy looked at Rabin.

Rabin didn’t avert her gaze either.

Both women found it difficult to maintain their smooth, relaxed attitudes when the conversation turned to Lin.

Lucy, in particular, was constantly repeating to herself that she shouldn’t hit the thief before her because she was Lin’s acquaintance.

“I’ve heard through the grapevine that Lady Hero has done quite a few hurtful things to the man she wants.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll eventually hear through the grapevine that I was forgiven and loved abundantly.”

I must endure. I am not Arsil. I’m not Arsil who gets angry immediately when provoked.

Rabin’s insides were boiling too.

But she held back.

Deciding to wait and see which woman would end up smiling happily by his side.

“If you’re done dressing, get out. Your room is over there.”

“Where’s Lin’s room?”

“Lin?”

“Oh, you don’t know.”

Lucy pretended to be surprised, quite obviously.

“His surname is Lee and his name is Lin. Lee Lin.”

“What?”

She threw a full-on mocking laugh at the dumbfounded Rabin.

“I thought you’d know, since you said your connection goes back to childhood.”

She deliberately walked slowly and with weight.

With each step, her chest heaved dramatically.

“Well, he did say only three people know his name.”

Opening the office door, Lucy turned around seductively.

“Thanks for the bra. In return, I told you Lin’s name, so we’re even, right?”

Her lips curved into a wide smile.

It was the smile of a victor.

“Congratulations. That makes you the fourth person to know Lin’s name.”

Click. She gently closed the door with an air of composure.

As the footsteps faded away, Rabin bit her lip.

“That damn woman…”

On the floor below lay the panties that Lucy had torn while trying to force them on.

A sense of defeat, something Rabin could understand but didn’t want to acknowledge, weighed her down.

—

Lin returned to the room with a freshly washed face.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a proper bath.

That Rabin has really made it big.

He noticed earlier that besides ingredients like bread and potatoes for sandwiches, there were also fresh ingredients like cilantro and herbs.

And the fact that warm water was readily available for bathing showed how successfully she had settled in Valtercrua and how much her living conditions had improved.

During their time in the Sewage Alley, it was really difficult to find food unless it was potatoes and sweet potatoes that they somehow dug up from the mountains or that grew well naturally.

According to the behind-the-scenes setting book, Rabin had only recently taken over the Thieves’ Guild, which had been treated as lackeys of the Union when she first arrived in Valtercrua, and elevated its status to be proudly recognized as a member of the Union.

“It feels nice not having sticky hair.”

Humming to himself in satisfaction with his bath, Lin entered the room.

As he closed the door and turned around while drying his hair with a towel, there was…

“You’re back?”

Lucy, half-naked with her chest bound by the bandana, waiting for him.

“Uh… Lucy?”

“What is it, my Lin?”

“This is my room.”

“And it’s my room too.”

“I’m sure I asked Rabin to prepare a room for you too…”

“What are you talking about, Lin?”

Lucy smiled softly and embraced Lin.

“I can’t rest or sleep without you, so why would I use a separate room?”

Huh? This is the middle of a proper city, not a forest or mountain.

Do we really need to stick together?

“But how did you know this was my room…”

“Shh.”

Lucy sniffed at Lin’s neck and chest.

After deeply inhaling his scent with a long breath, she pouted her lips after just a couple of sniffs.

“Since you bathed, I can’t smell your scent well. I only smell artificial soap.”

“Isn’t the soap smell better?”

“No, I like Lin’s natural scent the best.”

Lucy took the towel from his head and gently dried and fluffed his wet hair.

As their eyes naturally met while she dried his hair, Lucy immediately felt her heart and desire below her solar plexus heating up.

“Hoo… Hoo…”

Oh, what should I do?

The more she looked at Lin, the hotter and wetter her heart became.

Just looking at him made her smile uncontrollably.

Unconsciously, she bit her lip gently and traced his lips, nose, eyes, and forehead in sequence.

She wanted to kiss and lick every part of his face right then and there.

‘No, hold back.’

Before being a hero, she was a woman.

Rather than making the first move, she wanted the man to approach her.

She didn’t want to appear easy.

Of course, she could throw away all pride for Lin, but she didn’t want to be seen as a woman who approached him using only sexual appeal.

Lucy knew that simple physical advances wouldn’t work on Lin, who could casually pass by brothels in Efaltergah and brush off a succubus’s temptation.

She wanted to maintain a modest demeanor normally but become a seductive temptress at night to capture his heart.

For that, she needed to suppress her immediate desires and wait until Lin accepted her.

But instead of holding back this secret lust, Lucy revealed a different kind of darkness.

Covering Lin’s eyes with the towel, the hero smiled seductively.

“Lin, are you and that thief childhood friends?”

“Hmm, it’s not quite right to call us friends since we were often at odds, but it’s not like there’s no affection either.”

“I see.”

She deliberately nodded as if it didn’t bother her at all in front of him who was pondering.

It was a strategy to show him, ‘Look, Lin, I’m a woman with a big heart who doesn’t get jealous over small things.’

“When we were very young, she openly teased me, and the other kids said something about it.”

“She teased you? What did she say?”

“Just the usual stuff kids that age say to tease shy boys.”

“And what exactly was that?”

Oops, she unconsciously put force into her voice.

My expression, what does my expression look like right now?

“Um… that no woman would take someone like me except her?”

Crack!

Lucy’s expression immediately hardened.

“And? What did you say, Lin?”

“I didn’t say anything. There’s no point in responding to teasing.”

“I-I see.”

That’s my Lin.

Wise and handsome even as a child…

“She always teased me for being ugly and weak, then said I wouldn’t find a woman to marry except her. It didn’t even make sense.”

“Who says you’re ugly?!”

“Huh?!”

Roughly rubbing his hair with the towel, Lucy snorted.

“Lin is handsome! I guarantee it!”

“Uh… Lucy, thanks for the kind words, but even I think my looks are not that great…”

“You are handsome.”

Lucy came under the towel.

Their noses touched, and when she raised her gaze to meet his, passionate crimson eyes were staring at him intently.

As he tried to gently pull his neck back in embarrassment, Lucy interlocked her fingers and stopped him.

A strange current formed between them just from their gazes meeting, from not avoiding each other’s eyes.

“See, I can’t take my eyes off you.”

“Yeah…”

“You’re handsome, Lin.”

If he denied it further, he’d probably get scolded.

Nodding slightly as he tried to remove the towel, Lucy whispered as if entranced.

“I was quite mean during our first meeting, but I think it was fortunate that I put a mask on you.”

Her gaze traced him from his forehead down to below his nose.

“Back then, I put a mask on you without really looking at you, but thanks to that, no one else can see how handsome Lin is.”

She was glad that she was the first, the very first among the party members to meet him.

Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off Lin’s lips.

Even as she swallowed, trying to calm herself, she wanted to claim those lips.

The moment they touched, it would be scorching hot like getting burned.

And within that heat would be the sweetest pleasure in the world.

Gradually, Lucy’s head and mouth started to operate separately.

“Lin.”

Can I kiss you?

“Did you know Arsil when you were young?”

Let me kiss you.

“…I was in Arsil’s group when I was young.”

“…I see.”

It’s okay, you’re by my side now.

More importantly, can I kiss you and pounce on you?

The distance between their lips gradually decreased.

“Lin, were you and Arsil close?”

What should I do? I can’t stop licking my lips.

“We were very close. Like no other.”

Halt.

“What?”

What?

“I was called Arsil’s left arm.”

Her thoughts stopped.

An unexpected answer.

The towel fell to the floor.

The expressions of the two revealed were very calm.

“I don’t care.”

Lucy was cool-headed.

“If the saint was so precious to you, you would have removed your mask.”

She wasn’t angry at all.

“But Lin, you didn’t remove your mask.”

She was only certain that there was nothing between the two.

“Even if you didn’t remove your mask for Arsil’s sake, you’re by my side now.”

That was the right answer.

“You saved me even at the cost of turning your back on Arsil.”

Now the connection between Lucy and Lin was deeper.

“And I, too, gave my all to save you.”

Lin acknowledged this.

Lin saved Lucy’s life and limbs, and Lucy saved Lin’s life when he died at the hands of the succubus.

The man and woman had done their best for each other and continued to do so.

That’s why Lin was trying to open his heart more to Lucy, to Lucy alone, and make an effort to accommodate her.

“So I don’t care.”

Instead, she smiled confidently and pulled Lin to the bed.

Though it was a shame his scent wasn’t as strong, she laid her head on his arm and chest as a pillow, positioning herself to hear his heartbeat in her ear.

“It feels so good to be like this with you on the bed.”

“Lucy, someone might misunderstand if they heard.”

“It’s their fault for eavesdropping on others’ conversations~”

But does Lucy know?

That Lin is still the porter of the hero’s party.

A porter is someone who carries the party members’ burdens.

Lin had long ago shouldered all the burdens of the hero’s party alone.

Those burdens were not in the porter’s bag but in Lin’s heart.

Would Lucy, who rests her head on his chest every night, be the first to notice those burdens?

Could she revive the heart that had been taken over by those burdens and the emotions that had died because of them?

All we could do, along with the goddess, was watch over these two.

Unaware of the thoughts of those watching, the two embraced tightly and soon fell asleep.