episode_0056

Just a bit more. Just a bit.

The ecstatic mind whispers.

It’s not enough. This alone cannot satisfy.

With such profound joy in front of you, incomparable to this, all you have to do is grasp it.

“Ugh….”

Before the eyes of the wandering soul, who had been starving and wandering, a lavish feast exuding a rich aroma was suddenly laid out.

Freed felt an impulse akin to a crashing wave.

‘Ah, this can’t happen. It really can’t happen….’

Desires and lust surged like a tidal wave, seeking to break down the dam of reason. The taste of saliva left in her mouth was too sweet to resist.

That’s why.

‘…It’s Brunhilde’s fault, it’s Brunhilde’s fault for being bad…!’

Muttering excuses that no one would ever hear, Freed pressed her fingers, soaked with her own saliva, against Brunhilde’s lips.

At first, lightly tapping, then gently pulling away, as if delicately knocking on a firmly closed door, so as not to awaken the other. And then, lightly pressing the line of the slightly parted lips with trembling fingers.

As if applying cosmetics with care, savoring the sensation with her fingertips.

“Mmm….”

Brunhilde murmured lightly, like in a half-awake state. The warm breath seeping through her slightly parted lips gently embraced Freed’s fingers.

Unconsciously, Freed pushed her wrist forward.

With a soft sound, her tiny, saliva-soaked finger slipped into the slightly parted lips.

Slippery and sticky, yet irresistibly soft flesh warmly enveloped the uninvited guest in the mouth.

The sensation and warmth conveyed through her fingertips. Freed’s pupils became hazy, as if she were dreaming.

She inserted her index finger into Brunhilde’s mouth, filled with moist heat, and carefully explored inside, thoroughly examining every corner.

Lightly pressing the moist tongue, tapping the orderly teeth, and caressing the smooth palate.

The sound of gurgling water flowing through the lips. Saliva poured out, drenching the corners of the mouth and trickling down.

Freide quickly tilted her head, protruding her small tongue to catch the drool that was trickling down from under Hilde’s jawline. It was as if she was savoring an elixir from heaven.

Indeed, to Freide herself, it was nothing short of a heavenly nectar.

Of all the drinks she had ever tasted, not even the royal mead bestowed upon her during her days as a warrior by the royal family of Rhein, was as enchanting and sweet as this.

“Ugh… Mmm…!”

After what felt like an eternity, Freide, having obtained a slight satisfaction, withdrew her finger, relishing the pleasant sensation of release from Hilde’s mouth.

Between her receding lips and fingers, a translucent strand of saliva drew a soft line.

An utterly captivating sight. Freide shuddered with a blissful expression, her lips curling upwards.

As her left hand, thoroughly soaked in something other than saliva or sweat, naturally emerged from within her own pants, she resisted the impulse to put her finger into Hilde’s mouth.

‘No. Absolutely not. This, this is too wicked….’

Despite her wavering rationality, like a candle flame in the wind, Freide continued to argue that this was still going too far.

They weren’t even officially involved, and forcing “this” on an unsuspecting partner who was defenseless in slumber was simply wrong.

Lightly teasing with her tongue was one thing, but putting this left hand into Hilde’s mouth was an entirely different matter altogether.

The former could be passed off as a risky jest, but the latter was an overt violation that couldn’t be excused.

“Ugh….”

Therefore, despite her regret, Freide, while squirming, discreetly wiped her left hand on her clothes.

This was her last remaining shred of conscience.

And for Freide herself, it was a decision no different from a stroke of luck.

As she wiped her hand clean, Freide, about to pick up the cloth soaked in water, to wipe Hilde’s hair, heard, “Mmm…”

Hilde, who had been asleep, began to slowly lift her eyelids, letting out a faint groan.

Whether it was due to the effects of the sleeping pills administered by Gerda reaching their limit or due to the sensation of her mouth being violated, no one could tell.

“Oops.”

With her head bowed towards Hilde, Freida, wiping her lemon-colored hair with a damp cloth, met her dazed golden eyes with her half-melted icy blue ones.

======[ Hilde ]======

What’s going on now?

I blinked my blurry eyes a few times, struggling to focus as I had just woken up from sleep.

The girl’s face became clear.

Tiny beads of sweat dotted her soft red cheeks, and her large pupils and slightly parted lips revealed a sense of bewilderment.

“Freida…?”

“Ah, uh…!”

As I murmured her name, Freida jerked back in surprise, covering her face with her hand as if to hide her confusion.

It was a peculiar reaction.

“What are you doing?”

She seemed so flustered that I wondered what she could have been doing in front of me to cause such a reaction.

If it were a man, I would have been convinced he was up to something mischievous while I was asleep… but Freida was undoubtedly a woman of my age. The likelihood of that was slim.

“Um, well, um! That’s it! I was, I was cleaning blood!”

Look at that.

Freida showed her right hand in a fluster. It was covered in blood and dirt-stained small pieces of cloth.

She must have been using that to wipe my face and hair. Given how much of a mess the giant corpse’s blood must have been, it was very kind of her.

Upon waking up, finding myself inside a cave, it seemed she had moved me to a safe place after defeating Gerda, and since then, instead of taking a rest, she had been looking after me first.

That level of kindness would have made her successful even as a cleric, not just an adventurer warrior.

“Oh… well, thank you.”

So, I smiled slightly and expressed my gratitude.

“Ah, no, no, it’s nothing…”

This much is to be expected… It’s not like I should be grateful, but Freide seemed a little embarrassed, avoiding my gaze and bowing her head.

It was a cute reaction. To the point where I forgot her actual age.

Is this girl really twenty…?

◆◆

Anyway, after waking up like that, I wiped my hair and neck with the cloth she had lent me and asked about what had happened during my absence.

As if gulping down sweet candy, she rinsed her slightly sweet mouth.

“So… you barely managed to defeat the Abyss Priest and returned, but then Gerda immediately brandished a dagger at me?”

“Yes, that’s right. The way that woman and Hilde were lying in a pool of blood seemed very precarious, so…”

Freide quickly nodded in response.

According to her, when she first saw Amy, she thought she was already dead, and she thought I was on the verge of death, so she immediately confirmed Gerda as a traitor.

It wasn’t particularly strange.

Even when we fought in the ruins, there were more than a few adventurers who succumbed to the Abyss Priest’s tricks and betrayed us.

Gerda, with only different methods, must have been convinced that she was one of the traitors prepared by the Abyss Priest.

Anyway, after removing Gerda, Freide checked on Amy and me, then brought us to a safe place to rest.

If she stayed there and encountered another enemy, she couldn’t be sure she could safely protect both of us alone.

“Really? Thanks to you, I’m alive. Sincerely, thank you.”

There were a few minor misunderstandings in Freide’s judgment.

The first misunderstanding was that Gerda didn’t switch sides to Hug Kasval, but rather had come to ambush me for the bounty on “Brunhilde.”

In fact, seeing her single-handedly take down the giant corpse, she was convinced I was Brunhilde.

From my perspective, it was truly a chaotic struggle, and I barely won, but looking at the result, I had only managed to bring her down with just four attacks.

Witnessing the power of Kang Wan, which easily surpasses the prowess of a typical knight, I finally became certain of my own identity.

The second misunderstanding was the assumption that Gerda was a traitor and that there might be other enemies besides her. Despite the slim likelihood of that being the case.

With Hugo’s attitude becoming increasingly arrogant after summoning the giant corpse, it seemed likely that no other enemies would have appeared even if we had stayed in that spot.

If they were to appear, it would have been the holy knights, for sure.

Of course, this was not something to blame Freida for. No, it was something to be thankful for, if anything.

Thanks to her, I was able to avoid the worst-case scenario of facing the holy knights while lying defenseless in front of the giant corpse, with my face fully exposed.

It was an unavoidable situation, so I fought, but it was something I shouldn’t reveal to others—that I had subdued the giant corpse.

Especially not with my face exposed.

If those who had seen my skills and appearance had reached the same conclusion as Gerda did, my life would have literally come to an end at that moment.

In fact, I was a little worried that maybe it was because of that, that Freida also figured out my true identity….

“…….”

“Huh? Um, hey, Miss Hilde, why are you staring at me like that…?”

“…It’s nothing. Just, thank you.”

Seeing her save me in this way made me feel relieved about that part.

If she had recognized me, instead of saving me and bringing me to the cave, she would have handed me over to people like the holy knights while I was still bound.

The fact that Freida saved me was clear evidence that she hadn’t realized my true identity.

Unlike Gerda, who had built up a long career as a patroller, Freida was nothing more than a rookie adventurer.

She wasn’t part of a national hero party, and she knew nothing about hero parties from other countries. Probably.

So, for now, I could relax.

…The problem is, it’s towards our mage who’s lying over there.

I let out a shallow sigh and turned my head to look at the red-haired mage girl lying across from me.

Perhaps she heard Gerda’s words, or even if she didn’t, a woman who might have recognized my true identity and yet showed no sign of it.

If she didn’t notice, that would be fortunate. But if she did recognize me, how should I deal with her?

Truly, this was an exceedingly perplexing matter in many ways.