Ch.32Chapter 32. Mr. Hyoseong’s Thick and Hot Sausage~♥

Moving luggage and other odd jobs weren’t particularly significant matters for lower-ranked adventurers like myself.

After all, unless you’re a Hero, most people can’t even reach veteran status and can’t escape the fate of being mere laborers.

If there was a reason to be annoyed, it would be that I became an adventurer because I didn’t want to be a porter, but well… If struggling newcomers to society want to save money, they should do these kinds of odd jobs without complaint.

“Alright everyone, good work. The farm is offering us a meal, so come over here!”

The one consolation was that these farms don’t need to distribute their ingredients elsewhere, so they’re very generous with their local specialties.

To be honest, when they’re offering to slaughter a Korean beef cow on the spot, how many people would refuse?

“Whoa~ The meat color looks amazing! It’s been a while since I’ve had such a treat!”

“Hey, merchant sir. Can I open a barrel of beer and drink some?”

“Did you come here to work or to sightsee!? If you get caught drinking secretly, I’ll report you to the guild and lower your evaluation, so do whatever you want!”

That’s how a small festival unfolded in the village we stopped at on our way to the mission site.

It’s a shame I can’t drink alcohol, but I was grateful just to be able to eat grilled marbled meat. As I was thinking this, Merilyn approached me and held out a plate.

“Here, Hyoseong. Have some of this.”

“Oh, is that sausage?”

“I just brought some that the housewife over there grilled.”

I caught sight of the housewife-chef grilling sausages not far away.

Given the labor-intensive nature of sausages, it seemed they were only available in limited quantities on a first-come, first-served basis.

For her to bring some first and try to feed me…

She occasionally shows troublesome behavior, but she really is a warm-hearted person, isn’t she?

“Ah, yes. Thank you for—”

-Swish.

But just as I reached out to accept her kindness, Merilyn pulled her hand back.

Then she raised the hand holding the sausage toward my mouth, showing the mischievous playfulness she had displayed several times before.

“Um, Merilyn?”

“Aah~”

“…No.”

“Aaaahn~”

Merilyn insisted on feeding me the sausage, holding it out toward my mouth.

Her face was smiling, but her unwavering hand showed a strong determination to make me eat this sausage.

I didn’t mind her gesture of goodwill.

The problem was just that someone feeding me was terribly burdensome, and I was conscious of others watching.

“Merilyn, um. People are watching, so such noticeable behavior is a bit… mmph!”

“Hehe, be careful, it’s hot.”

Merilyn pushed the sausage into my open mouth.

Contrary to what she said, the sausage wasn’t as hot as I expected when it entered my mouth, perhaps because she had cooled it with her breath.

Yes, a sausage with her breath on it was now in my mouth.

-Gulp!

With that realization, the sausage went down smoothly, and Merilyn looked up at me and started to chuckle.

“How is it? Is it good?”

“Yes, yes. It’s delicious.”

“I’m glad. Well then, you should continue eating. Aah~”

“Ah, no. Now I’ll… mmph.”

“Hehe, you look so blessed when you eat, it’s nice to see~”

After feeding me all the sausage, Merilyn chuckled.

She seemed satisfied that I went along with it, but I felt uncomfortable enough that I didn’t want to let it slide.

This fox-like lady. Everything she does is so annoying, isn’t it truly vexing?

“Then let me taste some too… huh?”

“Merilyn.”

Let’s see how you like getting a taste of your own medicine.

I quickly grabbed the sausage she was about to take and held out the stick carefully as I spoke.

“A-aah… go ahead.”

“…”

Merilyn stared at me silently.

Her reaction was still subtle, but the fact that she didn’t immediately respond suggested she found my action unexpected.

Yes, I guess it’s embarrassing when you’re on the receiving end.

I was thinking that if she refused, I’d use that as an excuse to keep teasing her, but then—

“Ahm!”

“Wh-what!?”

“Ah, hot!”

She suddenly bit into the sausage, startling me, and quickly opened her mouth and stepped back.

“A-are you okay?”

“Ehehe, I burned my tongue because I ate too hastily. Sorry. You were being so kind to me.”

“N-no. That’s…”

Damn, I offered it to give her a taste of her own medicine, but I didn’t expect her to open her mouth so eagerly.

Does this woman have no sense of shame at all?

“…You don’t have to eat so hastily, take your time.”

“Yes, then… will you hold it for me while I eat slowly?”

Resigned to the situation, I watched as she bent slightly at the waist, brushed her bangs aside, and brought her mouth to the sausage.

But instead of biting it right away like before, she carefully stuck out her tongue and started licking the surface.

“Haah, haah…”

Merilyn trembled her tongue cautiously, exhaling breath outside her mouth as if afraid of burning her tongue.

Then she began to wrap her lips around the front part of the sausage after licking its surface.

But perhaps because it was still hot and she was hesitant to bite into it?

“Mmph, hmph~”

She kept putting the long surface of the sausage in her cheek and repeatedly inserting and removing it.

“…Excuse me.”

“Haah, haah… mmph~♡”

I called out to her because the act looked extremely precarious, but Merilyn paid no attention to me and continued to focus solely on that action.

Repeatedly inserting and removing the thick sausage that was too large to fit entirely in her small mouth.

So thoroughly that the grease on its surface was replaced with saliva…

-Slurp. Slurp.

When the oil from the sausage flowed down her lips along with saliva, she couldn’t endure anymore and removed the sausage from her mouth, swallowing what had pooled inside.

As if entranced by the taste created by the combination of sauce and spices just from sucking.

“Hwaah~♥”

After stroking her reddened face with her hand.

She soon whispered in a voice drenched in ecstasy.

“It’s very, good~ Hyoseong’s thick, hot sausage…♥”

Expression.

Please, mind your expression.

“It’s somewhat addictive, can I, taste more?”

“Ah, yes…”

“Yes, then I won’t hold back…”

Slurp, mmph.

Merilyn continued licking the sausage and repeatedly putting it in and out of her mouth.

I probably wasn’t the only one stimulated by that sight.

“Hey merchant, can I go to the bathroom?”

“Mmm, I’ll go with you.”

…Damn it.

This really isn’t something that should be shown to others.

***

Whether she’s self-aware or not, objectively speaking, Merilyn is an extremely attractive woman.

That’s evident from how all the men who saw her eating the sausage crossed their legs.

I too had to go to the bathroom after Merilyn finished eating the sausage, and only after relieving myself could I calm it down.

Though last night was unavoidable, this time it was by my own will… Damn, I really am trash.

“Hyoseong, are you alright?”

“Y-yes. I’m fine.”

By the time we boarded the carriage again to head to our destination, we had unloaded our cargo in the village, making the space more spacious, but despite this comfort, my mind wasn’t entirely at ease.

No matter how confident I was in my stamina, I was still below B-rank.

For someone like me with just the stamina of a top laborer, it wasn’t easy to exert myself after relieving myself multiple times in a day.

Add to that the motion sickness from the rough forest path causing weakness—staggering after boarding the carriage was practically inevitable.

“…Hehe.”

Seeing me like this, Merilyn laughed for some reason and soon began to reach her hand toward me.

Is she going to play another prank?

But whatever comes, I should be able to endure it now.

Whether it’s mischievous banter or suggestive teasing, I don’t even have the mental strength left to be swayed by such things. As I closed my eyes momentarily…

-Slide.

She pulled me toward her with the hand she placed on my body, laying just my head down and beginning to stroke my forehead.

No, feeling it more carefully, it’s not the carriage floor.

There is a cloth, but it’s something softer and warmer than that…

“If you’re going to rest, this would be better, right?”

Yes, she’s resting my head on her lap.

She’s even gently stroking my head, an action typically reserved for family or lovers, without any hesitation.

“…Merilyn.”

“I don’t do this for just anyone.”

Merilyn covered my eyes with her hand as I was about to open them.

Although I couldn’t see her expression, the gentleness in her voice made me imagine the face she must be making at this moment.

“I’m doing this because it’s you, Hyoseong.”

Yes, from the first time I saw her, she was always smiling.

And if what she’s saying now is true, she does so exclusively in front of me…

“How long have we known each other?”

But I still can’t take it at face value, can I?

Relationships with people require time, after all.

“Hmm, about a day.”

“Yes, just a day…”

In just one day.

Without even a proper opportunity to build a bond, is it even possible for someone to regard another as special just because they helped them in a crisis?

“…Why are you doing all this for me?”

Of course, the feelings I harbor for her are in many ways, and all of them lean toward the positive side.

But that’s only because I’m starved for human connection.

Most of the people I’ve encountered since coming to this world either couldn’t accept me or didn’t trust me much.

Even if I met someone who acknowledged me, they were mostly beings that couldn’t be accepted by human common sense…

“What do you mean?”

“Actions like this.”

But unlike me who said anyone would do, she has told me several times.

The mischievous pranks, these bold actions… they’re not for just anyone, but favors bestowed solely because it’s me.

“To be honest, it’s even a bit scary. What you’ve shown me so far are actions that I could easily misinterpret.”

How can I not be suspicious?

What reason could there be for her to treat me, a mere Foreign Laborer who isn’t even a Hero, so unreservedly?

“…Yes, I find that curious too.”

She quietly answered my question.

Still covering my eyes with her hand and stroking my head resting on her lap.

“On a journey, people are no different from leaves encountered on the path.”

In a voice softer than the gentle breeze coming from above the carriage, she whispers fragments of the journey she has traveled.

“No matter how unique and capable a person is, the impression they leave is less than the vast scenery viewed from a mountaintop. The more you travel the world, the less value you find in meeting people, and the memories formed with them also lose their luster.”

“…Don’t you value connections?”

“I do. However, there’s a limit to the memories and feelings an individual can carry…”

The intensity is only at the beginning.

With any experience, the more you accumulate, the more familiar it becomes, so both awkwardness and freshness disappear, and from some point on, everything seems futile.

Just as even the most beautiful gem, if dropped in a gradually accumulating gravel pit, eventually becomes just another shining piece of stone.

“As the value of connections gradually faded for me, I felt that your existence uniquely remained in my mind.”

Because that’s how she was.

Because she had accumulated so much experience that even the most valuable and beautiful gem seemed as trivial as a roadside pebble.

“It was just a one-day encounter, as you said. A trivial meeting that, as you put it, had nothing special about it, like countless others before.”

Among them, I stand out and am regarded as exceptionally special.

“…Merilyn.”

“But I feel that the memory that should gradually fade while I’m away from you continues to burn without extinguishing.”

Slide.

As the hand covering my eyes was removed.

“Even as we face each other now…”

What entered my vision when that darkness cleared was.

Her eyes, revealed as her closed eyes opened slightly.

“Despite my long journey, I feel a corner of my heart swelling in this moment as I’m close to you.”

Brilliant amber eyes.

Despite that sense of incongruity, the loneliness that couldn’t be fully concealed by them clearly reached me.

“Can you feel it? My heart.”

Even though the trembling of the hand still caressing my cheek had stopped, the flow of blood rising from within.

As the force pushing it out gradually intensifies, I feel that heat being transmitted to me.

“…”

Silently.

Inwardly recalling that sensation, I closed my eyes as if turning away from her face.

The reason… I can somewhat guess.

Although what I possess is insignificant, it’s still a power that clearly belongs to a category beyond this world’s common sense.

Even my infamy is eternally engraved…

This power, which is actually harmful for living comfortably, applies differently to her who travels the world collecting stories.

“Do you know, Hyoseong?”

But is it something I should tell her?

“Why I, who should just pass you by, am so drawn to you like this.”

The fact that the foundation of the kindness she has shown me was actually created forcibly…

Is it really something I should tell her with my own mouth?