In the First Village (6)
Warning! There are mild BSS elements at the beginning.
Outside the cave, Luon and Sophie waited for Soira and Kiven without exchanging a single word, the silence stretching between them like something neither dared to touch.
They could easily imagine what was happening inside — and yet, at the same time, they couldn't imagine it at all. Something lewd was going on in there. That much was certain. They knew it was necessary to save Kiven, but that didn't make the embarrassment any easier to bear. And both of them were virgins, completely inexperienced. They couldn't even begin to guess what that "lewd something" actually entailed.
It might have been the first time since they'd become childhood friends that Sophie and Luon had sat together in a silence this complete.
"...Sophie."
"Hngh?! Mmph. Huh?"
Sophie was so startled when Luon suddenly spoke that a strange little noise escaped her.
"I'm sorry. If I'd stayed close like Soira told me to, Kiven never would've gotten cursed, and you never would've been in danger."
"Yeah..."
Sophie couldn't bring herself to say it wasn't his fault, or that it was okay. Because it was true — if Luon had been there, none of this would have happened. And more than that, the ones who were least okay right now were Kiven and Soira.
That was the last thing either of them said. Silence wrapped around them once more as they quietly waited for Kiven and Soira to come out.
How much time passed, they couldn't say. Then footsteps echoed from deeper in the cave, and Soira finally emerged. Kiven followed behind her, his face burning with embarrassment. Which was fair enough. Getting caught doing something dirty by your two childhood friends was pretty much exactly what this amounted to.
Soira, on the other hand, walked out looking completely unbothered.
But Luon noticed something. The front of Soira's chest was slightly damp. He was certain that stain hadn't been there the last time he'd looked at her.
So what was it? What exactly had she done to satisfy Kiven's lust that would leave a wet mark across her chest?
All sorts of thoughts crowded into Luon's head.
Suddenly, the three days he'd spent with Soira came flooding back. The time he'd walked into the house without thinking and run straight into her just as she was coming out of the bath. The clothes had been thin enough on their own, but the shape of a woman's nipples — the first he'd ever seen — had burned itself so deep into virgin Luon's brain that he'd never be able to scrub it out. He'd jerked off to that image more than a few times over those three days. Used it like a side dish.
And even after that, Soira had a strange habit of leaving herself completely unguarded. She'd squat down in those short pants of hers, and the gap between the fabric and her thighs would flash a glimpse of her panties. When she stretched first thing in the morning, those well-shaped breasts of hers would strain against her thin clothes like they were about to burst right through. Nothing quite like that first day ever happened again, but it was more than enough to keep the memory vivid. Once, in the middle of grinding through quests to raise her adventurer rank, she'd decided to take a quick break, plopped down in the seat next to the inn counter where Luon was working, and promptly face-planted into a dead sleep. The way she left herself so completely exposed — as if the idea that a man was sitting right next to her had never even crossed her mind — was an incredibly stimulating sight for a virgin like Luon.
Luon found those unguarded moments of hers sexually appealing, yes — but he'd also grown fond of her as a person. Soira was refreshingly straightforward in a way that set her apart from other girls her age. When a problem came up, she charged it head-on and dealt with it. If someone was being a pain in the ass, she wrecked them like she didn't give a damn about the consequences. At the very least, nobody who started trouble at the inn after a few too many drinks had ever beaten Soira in a fight.
Of course, that attitude of hers came from knowing this world was a game — that if things went south, she could just try again — so she never thought too hard and just barreled in. But Luon had no way of knowing that.
Regardless. Three days under the same roof with a girl like that. The girl in Luon's heart was Sophie. That much was certain. But three days was more than enough time for the fondness he felt toward Soira as a person to start taking on a slightly more romantic shade. She was just that attractive — as a woman, and as a human being.
And yet.
Because of his own mistake, what had Soira just been doing? Inside that cave. Satisfying Kiven's sexual desires. Something that would leave her chest wet.
What, exactly?
The more Luon thought about it, the more a painful feeling twisted in his gut. A painful feeling, and nothing else. Or at least, he wasn't sure if that was all it was.
I led a somewhat settled Kiven out of the cave, only to find Luon and Sophie standing there looking painfully awkward.
"What's with you two? Why so stiff?"
"No, it's just..."
Sophie's face was still bright red, and Luon was still drowning in guilt. It was like time hadn't moved at all since we'd split up inside the cave.
"Ugh. This is depressing. Were you seriously standing around like that the whole time?"
Okay, now I was getting pissed off. There's a limit to the sorry act. How long was he planning to keep this going?
Sophie hadn't done anything wrong, though. I should comfort her. And when you're cheering someone up, praise is the way to go.
I was about to clap her on the shoulder and tell her she'd done a great job sniping that shaman — when another thought hit me. I'd been fondling Kiven's dick with this hand for a good long while. I didn't care, but Sophie might find that pretty gross.
This world was conveniently game-like. Most filth wiped right off without leaving a trace. So it wasn't like I actually had cum on my hand or anything. But feelings were feelings. I cast Clean, got my hands spotless, and then gave Sophie a reassuring pat.
Why hadn't I used Clean until now? Honestly, I'd just forgotten. In this world, even cum smelled kind of sweet. People back in reality compared it to chestnut blossoms, but here it actually smelled genuinely sweet, so I'd completely forgotten about it.
Once I'd gotten Sophie settled down, I took the lead on the road back to the village so we could report the completed subjugation quest. The whole way, Luon kept shooting me these meaningful looks, which was a little annoying. Well. He was probably scared because he knew I was going to beat the shit out of him once we got back.
Kiven, for the record, was still a little dazed. What can I say? My technique's pretty good. My only experience is in VR, but still.
When we walked into the Adventurer's Guild and reported the subjugation complete, the guild staffer nearly jumped out of his chair.
"You're already done? It hasn't even been a full day!"
"We didn't really need to hunt a bunch of them. Just filled the minimum quota and came back."
Quests like this paid more the more of the target monster you killed, once you'd hit the minimum. But this one was a quest Luon had thrown a tantrum to take, so there was no point going overboard. We'd cleaned out a single nest and called it a day. Finding another nest or combing through the forest would've been a pain in the ass, too.
"Alright, let me just confirm this. Wait. Hold on. A shaman?!"
The clerk who'd taken my adventurer card to check the kill count suddenly shouted in shock. I jumped too. Why was he yelling all of a sudden?
"Ah. Ahem. Sorry about that. It's just that shamans are almost never seen around here."
Ah. That explained why Luon and the others hadn't known what a shaman even was.
"We'd just been thinking the forest felt off, but two shamans showing up on top of that... there's definitely something going on. We might need to put out an investigation quest."
He kept glancing at me as he said it. Not a chance.
"I see. Hope you get results soon. Well, I'll be going."
"W-wait! Miss Soira!"
I snatched my confirmed adventurer card and the reward and bolted out of the guild. I could hear the clerk calling after me, but that wasn't my problem. I was planning to grab an escort quest and get the hell out of this village as soon as possible. No way was I wasting time on some investigation quest that might never end.
Back at Luon's family inn, I thoroughly beat the crap out of him first, then tried to split the quest reward.
"Soira, isn't this too much for our share?"
"Yeah. We only handled the ones coming up from behind."
"Mmph!"
Kiven and Sophie both objected, and so did Luon — his face swollen up like a cartoon character. I'd been hitting him loud enough that his parents came to see what the commotion was. Once they heard why I was beating him, they told me to hit him harder. We hadn't gone out there for fun. He'd made an idiotic mistake in a dangerous place. Of course they weren't going to take his side.
"No. This kind of thing gets split evenly."
"But you did pretty much everything, Soira."
"Sure, this time. But can you actually calculate exactly how much I contributed? That's why we just split it even. And if someone starts looking like they're collecting a paycheck without doing the work, they don't get invited to the next party. That's how adventurers do it."
Truth was, it varied by party. Especially when the ranks weren't the same — sometimes they split by rank, or by a rough estimate of contribution. I just did an even split because I couldn't be bothered.
"If you say so... then I'll take it gratefully. Thanks, Soira."
Kiven was the first to accept my reasoning and take his share. Sophie and Luon followed, thanking me as they collected theirs.
"Alright then. Luon, can I ask you something?"
"What?"
Reward situation handled. Time to ask Luon the thing I'd been wondering about. The swelling should've gone down enough by now. He could talk just fine.
"Why were you so desperate to take that subjugation quest? Don't tell me you actually had that much confidence in some swordsmanship you taught yourself. If that's your answer, I'm hitting you again."
"That's... well..."
"What, you don't want to say? I did that kind of thing because you asked me to, you know."
Pffft— cough cough cough!
The moment that came up, Kiven — who'd been listening like this was someone else's problem — choked so hard he nearly died. It was a handjob and a blowjob. I didn't even say it directly. I phrased it nicely for the kids in the room. If he was still this fragile, his tolerance was just sad.
"Ugh... if you put it like that, I can't not tell you. The truth is..."
Luon finally spilled it. And once I heard it, it wasn't even that big a deal.
"I wanted to buy Sophie a present. Her birthday's coming up."
Come to think of it, he had mentioned he was saving money for a reason.
"A present? What kind of present needs a subjugation quest's worth of money?"
"Yeah. Considering what you give me every year for my birthday, it wasn't like it had to be that expensive."
"Well... this time I wanted to buy her a spellbook. And also..."
Luon couldn't finish the sentence. It didn't feel like he didn't want to say it, though. More like he was embarrassed. A little time passed. Then, as if he'd finally made up his mind, he opened his mouth.
