The Voluptuous Proprietress of the Moonlight Shelter
The carriage rattled and jolted along. Every time the worn wheels caught on a stone in the unpaved road, the man’s backside screamed in protest. “Ugh… my back…” He curled tighter toward the window to escape the sweaty old man beside him, letting out a miserable groan. The way he hunched his shoulders, terrified of even brushing the man’s arm, looked utterly pathetic. The scenery beyond the glass was peaceful. A sky stained crimson with sunset, endless fields of golden wheat. I made it…
Hans. Twenty years old. An archer by trade, and a reincarnator who retained memories from his previous life. Armed with nothing but shallow, useless knowledge from Korea, he was simply an ordinary commoner in this new world—utterly worthless. His past life had been tearfully pathetic. A virgin who had never been on a single real date, spending his days shut in his room romancing pixel girlfriends in visual novels. When he was suddenly summoned to this isekai world, he had thanked the gods with all his heart. Born the son of a wealthy merchant with a rather handsome face staring back from the mirror, he believed a flower-strewn path had finally opened before him. What protagonist… I was probably just passerby number forty-seven.
Even when he enrolled in the empire’s most prestigious institution, Valhalla Academy, he had been bursting with dreams. Academy romance? A harem? Reality, however, was merciless. Surrounded by monsters who spat sword energy as easily as breathing and geniuses whose mana ran wild at the slightest breath, Hans had been little more than a transparent ghost. Women? He couldn’t even speak to them. The lovely young noblewomen there regarded a commoner like Hans as nothing more than an insect. And with zero experience with the opposite sex, there was no chance he could summon the courage to approach even an ordinary commoner girl.
After graduation, things grew even more miserable. The C-rank adventurer party he joined—knowing his place—turned out to be a total sausage fest. The stench of sweat, booze, and blood. Every night by the campfire he listened to his comrades’ vulgar sex stories, unable to join in. Instead he could only squat in the corner, gnawing on stale bread. If things continued like this, he would soon become an unnamed corpse rotting in some dungeon corner. Yet returning home penniless to face those scornful looks seemed unbearable. In the end, while scraping by as an adventurer, Hans headed for the rural village rumored to have the lowest danger rating. That place was Ludel—a remote backwater on the western frontier of the empire.
“Hey, kid. We’re here.”
At the coachman’s gruff voice, Hans snapped back to his senses.
Ludel’s only inn, the Moonlight Shelter. Hans stood at the counter, staring blankly. He didn’t even realize his mouth was hanging open.
The old coachman’s exaggerated stories from the rattling carriage on the way here—he had dismissed them as nothing more than crude jokes to pass the time on a boring journey. How pretty could a rural innkeeper possibly be? But now, Hans had no choice but to admit it. Whoa… jackpot. The rumor—or rather, the driver’s fussing—had been completely true. She was far too high-spec to be running a countryside inn. Early thirties? Yet she maintained herself so well that her skin was as smooth as a freshly peeled egg. What truly captured the eye, however, was that insane body. Above a waist so tightly cinched that her apron strings looked ready to snap, a pair of melon-like breasts swayed precariously, threatening to spill out.
“Guest? Hello there?”
“Ah, yes! Yes! Hello!”
Hans startled and bowed deeply at a perfect ninety degrees. The innkeeper’s eyes widened, then she let out a bright “Pfft!” of laughter.
“Oh my, how adorable. There’s no need to be that nervous. I’m not going to eat you alive.”
The corners of her eyes curved in a seductive arc. Hans felt his face flush crimson. Please eat me alive. I’m begging you… While such shameless thoughts raced through his mind, his mouth stuttered out something entirely different.
“N-no, not at all! It’s just… the inn feels really… cozy! Haha…”
“Hehe, thank you. I’ll give you the room at the far end of the second floor. It’s quiet and pleasant.”
She handed him the key, her fingers lightly brushing his in the process. A jolt shot through him. Hans’s nerves stood on end as if an electric current had passed through. He went rigid, creaking up the stairs like a malfunctioning robot. She touched my hand. She actually touched it! It was so warm and soft!
Once inside his room, Hans buried his face in the bed and kicked his legs wildly. He pounded the blanket with his fists. It might have looked pathetic, but he couldn’t help himself. This was the first time he had ever touched a woman’s hand aside from his mother’s. Ah. There was that one time I brushed against a girl’s hand at the academy, wasn’t there?
That night, a light rain was falling. Thirsty, Hans came down to the first floor for a glass of water. The atmosphere in the lobby, however, was anything but ordinary.
“Oh my, Hans?”
It was the innkeeper. She sat alone in the empty hall after closing, slowly tilting a glass of liquor. The neat, proper appearance from earlier had vanished. Her hair was loosely tied up, revealing the pale line of her neck, and the corset strings that had once constricted her body were now undone, shamelessly displaying a deep, captivating valley.
“Ah…? You’re still awake…”
“It’s raining and I can’t sleep. Why don’t you come sit and have a drink with me?”
She gestured to the chair across from her. Hans swallowed hard. Refuse? How could he possibly refuse? He approached hesitantly and perched only the edge of his backside on the seat.
“Are you good with alcohol?”
“Ah… I’m not really that skilled… but would it be all right if I join you?”
In his previous life he had been a lightweight who got tipsy after two shots of soju. The only memory from his adventurer days was vomiting and passing out after being forced to drink strong ale. Still, his pride refused to let him say “I’m a lightweight” in front of a beauty like her.
“Perfect. I was just in need of some company.”
Masa poured an amber liquid into Hans’s glass. The sweet fragrance tickled his nose.
“This is quite an expensive bottle. I’m serving it just for you.”
She leaned forward as she whispered. Her heavy breasts pressed against the table, the soft white flesh spreading outward like spilling cream. Hans’s eyes trembled violently. Not knowing where to look, he fixed his gaze on empty air. I’m losing my mind. Those… No, don’t look. You’re not supposed to look. It’s rude.
Hans desperately pinned his eyes to his glass—an all-out effort to ignore the swaying temptation right in front of him. Then, as if something had occurred to her, she whispered in a slightly nasal, coquettish voice.
“Oh, that’s right. I never properly introduced myself, did I?”
When Hans looked up reflexively, her red lips curved into a smile.
“My name is Masa. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hans.”
She smiled with her eyes and offered her glass. “There. Now we’ve been properly introduced, haven’t we? Cheers.”
Clink. It was strong. His throat felt like it was on fire. Yet strangely, the liquor that had always tasted like dirty water when he drank with those gloomy men now flowed like sweet honey. Wow… so this is what drinking with a woman feels like…
As the alcohol spread through him, his body grew languid. The tension melted away and his mood lifted. A silly giggle kept slipping out. Masa continued refilling his glass.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend, Hans?”
“Huh? Ah, well… not yet…”
“My, how surprising. You look so gentle and sweet—I thought you’d be quite popular.”
“P-popular? Not at all.”
Hans scratched his head in embarrassment. Masa rested her chin on her hand and gazed at him with mysterious, probing eyes.
“Hans, look here a moment.”
“Yes?”
“There’s something on your clothes.”
Masa reached out and brushed his chest. Her fingers moved slowly, almost as if tracing the muscles beneath the fabric. A tingling current raced up his spine.
“You must have trained quite a bit. Your body feels so firm.”
“Ah, yes… I did train a little…”
“Hmm… I bet you’re very strong, too.”
Her voice clung stickily to his ear. Hans felt like his face would burst into flames. He couldn’t even breathe properly, holding his breath with a sharp gulp. Whether from the alcohol or her touch, his lower body began to swell heavily. If she noticed, it would all be over. He crossed his legs desperately, trying to hide it.
The rain grew heavier outside. The liquor bottle was nearly empty. Hans’s eyes had gone half-glazed.
“Oh my, it’s already this late,” Masa said, glancing at the clock on the wall. She stood, walked to the door, and flipped the sign hanging there.
CLOSED
She even locked the door with a soft click.
“Business is finished for the night.”
She turned back to him with a smile. Perhaps it was the lamplight, but her smile looked far more sensual than before.
“Normally I would head home, but…”
Masa approached Hans. The mingled scent of alcohol and her own warm skin washed over him.
“With the rain like this, it feels too troublesome to leave.”
She lowered her head until her lips hovered right beside his ear. Hot breath tickled the sensitive shell.
“So I was thinking…”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“How about we continue drinking in your room, Hans?”
“……Pardon?”
Hans doubted his own ears for a second. He blinked. Masa poked his chest with a slender finger, her eyes gleaming with seductive mischief.
“I said, let’s finish the rest of the bottle. Just the two of us.”
Hans stared up at her in a daze. His head spun from the alcohol. What was happening? The innkeeper wanted to come to his room? To drink more? The room was small—it might be uncomfortable. Should he offer her the bed? All sorts of anxious thoughts flashed through his mind, yet he could not refuse. No—he did not want to refuse. His heart hammered wildly.
“Ah… um, is that really all right?”
“Of course it is.”
Masa took his hand and gently pulled him up. Hans rose from his chair as if in a trance.