Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: While Asleep (2)
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A pitch-black darkness of night had settled over the city.
Moonlight trickling down the cold stone walls scattered faintly, dimly illuminating the dark streets now empty of pedestrians.
It was time when most people were asleep, but perhaps because of that, the occasional loud shouts from the distant entertainment district broke the deep silence of the night and filtered into the room.
The more Rin tried to force herself to sleep with her eyes closed, the clearer her mind became.
Finally, Rin opened her eyes on the bed and let out a sigh.
Faint moonlight seeped through the cracks in the closed window, dimly lighting the room.
A jet-black ceiling shrouded in darkness.
It was the familiar sight she always saw on sleepless nights.
Ever since deciding to become a mercenary, leaving her village, and arriving here, Rin had never had a moment truly alone.
In this city where mercenaries gathered to live for money, everything required coin.
Naturally, even having a private space demanded money.
When eating, working, washing, or sleeping.
In this city always packed with people, it was impossible for an aspiring mercenary with only a few coins in her pocket to have a quiet private life.
Masturbation amid such a life?
Because she'd lived so busily, Rin hadn't even had the leisure to think such thoughts until now.
With meal and lodging costs for the next few days being immediate concerns, such desires naturally fell to the back burner.
But now that she'd regained some leisure in her life, the embers of instinctual desire began to flicker back to life within Rin.
Pent-up sexual frustration she'd failed to release in time surged in like a tidal wave, reaching a point where Rin's patience simply couldn't hold it back.
Rin cautiously turned her head to check on Ian.
His breathing was steady and regular, as always...
Since he didn't respond even when she called his name, he was surely deep asleep.
...Is it okay to do this with someone right beside me?
Rin's deliberation was long, but no matter how much she agonized, she couldn't stem the unstoppable flow of desire leaking out.
After a moment's hesitation, Rin's hand began to move cautiously.
A touch laced with slight reluctance.
As her fingers reached down and pressed lightly over her clothes, a jolt like lightning shot through her entire body.
Rin's body, stimulated after so long, heated up in an instant.
It was just a faint brush through thin fabric, yet her body reacted with a violent twitch.
Rin unwittingly turned her head toward Ian's bed.
Through eyes adjusted to the dark, she could faintly make out Ian lying with his back turned.
Her rational mind kept nagging that someone else was sleeping in the same room, but even so, she couldn't stop her hand.
If she'd held back from the start, maybe, but now that her body had ignited from the long-awaited stimulation, stopping and calming down was impossible.
Rin slowly slipped her hand beneath the coarse cotton blanket, then further inside the layer of clothing hugging her body.
Her fingers very cautiously touched her sensitively heated spot.
"...Ngh."
A small moan slipped unwittingly from Rin's lips.
Panicking at the accidental sound, Rin quickly stifled her voice and glanced at Ian, but there was no reaction.
...He doesn't seem awake.
With that certainty, Rin cautiously moved her fingers again, careful not to make a sound.
Much slower than her usual pace.
The languid, crawling strokes teased over her skin like an itch, and each touch from her fingertips spread a burning sensation like embers seeping in, slowly permeating her body.
Hot breaths.
A faint sigh swallowed back a moan, spreading quietly through the room.
As the night deepened, the tavern on the first floor ended its business, and the noisy conversations gradually fell silent one by one.
The boisterous inn transformed into a quiet place utterly devoid of even the smallest sounds once everyone had fallen asleep.
Rin's very minor movements...
Even just slight shifts of her body made the cheap wooden bed creak unpleasantly.
It was an everyday noise no one in this inn would bat an eye at, but to Rin, it felt mortifyingly loud.
Rin moved her fingers very cautiously and slowly.
But whenever excessive stimulation made her body twitch, the creaking of the wooden bed echoed softly in the room like a moan in place of the voice she desperately suppressed behind clenched lips.
"──."
Creak.
Lost in the slow, torturous sensations enveloping her body, Rin heard an unfamiliar sound in her ears.
A sound she hadn't made herself... the eerie groan of old wooden planks from somewhere else.
Ian moving.
"……!"
Her guard down and immersed in pleasure, Rin belatedly noticed Ian tossing and turning, freezing in place.
Only then did she remember someone was sleeping right next to her.
Rin held her breath, frozen stiff with her hand still inside her clothes, unable to pull it out.
Since she was under the blanket, even if Ian saw, he wouldn't know what she was doing, but maybe he'd heard her voice.
Did I wake him by moving too much?
Was the bed too noisy?
Or did I fail to hold back my voice?
What if he finds out?
That I'm doing this right beside him...
That I was engaged in such an act.
A flurry of thoughts raced through her mind in an instant, but Ian merely shifted position.
His movements stopped, and his faint breathing resumed.
Rin couldn't budge, remaining statue-still for what felt like endless minutes.
Only once she was convinced he hadn't woken did Rin realize it was just him turning over, letting out a small sigh.
A deep sigh—relief or regret, she couldn't tell—trailed silently.
In the room shrouded in quiet silence, the pounding of Rin's heart thundered loudly.
Her body, chilled by tension, heated right back up the moment she knew it was fine, writhing as if urging her to continue.
After brief hesitation, Rin resumed moving her fingers, and her body responded as if it had been waiting.
As if forgetting the scare from moments ago, her body spread pleasure and pulled at her wrist.
As Rin reached her free hand to her chest, the stiff peak protruding under the fabric twitched.
Each slow finger movement dragged the slightly rough texture of the cloth over her nipple in tiny grazes, surging pleasure that nearly made her twist her waist unwittingly.
Sensations building very slowly, meticulously.
Instinctively sensing she was nearing the limit, Rin bit her lip hard.
In case she accidentally let out a sound again.
Harboring that anxiety, yet unable to stop her fingers, Rin desperately clamped her mouth shut and suppressed her trembling body.
"Ngh, hah......"
Shuddering waves of pleasure poured over her.
Rin's outstretched body twitched soundlessly beneath the blanket.
The pent-up desire overflowed, longer and slower than usual.
Even as it ravaged every deep corner of her body.
In Rin's mind, the fact that she was secretly doing this right beside a man just a few steps away lingered like a thorn, igniting an inexplicable emotion.
Even amid the lightning-like pleasure burning her nerves after so long, all of Rin's senses and nerves were focused on Ian.
"Haa......"
Deep into the night.
Rin's pleasure-soaked breaths leaked out unnoticed, swirling through the room.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Ngh......"
Rin frowned at the sunlight peeking through her eyelids and opened her eyes.
Sunlight filtered through the slightly open window gap.
Ian always set the day after a mission as a rest day, so she could sleep in today, but her eyes had opened on their own.
Rin stretched and sat up, glancing at the bed beside her.
Ian had apparently risen earlier; the bed was empty.
Rin picked up the water pitcher on the small table in the corner of the room and gulped down the lukewarm water.
Only then did the lingering drowsiness melt away, her mind sharpening.
"Haa..."
She'd gone to bed late last night, shorter sleep than usual, but Rin felt no fatigue at all—her body light, as if all stress had vanished.
Only then did she recall what she'd done last night, clutching her head in belated regret.
Holding out too long must have driven her mad with frustration.
Rin sat on the bed, lost in waves of self-loathing for a while.
It was some indeterminate time—morning or noon.
Having moderately finished regretting, Rin rose to head downstairs for a meal when a knock sounded at the door.
"Yes, come in."
Rin could tell it was Ian just from the knock.
From her short time in this city, she'd learned mercenaries just opened doors—locking if they didn't like it.
Amid those who pounded doors like they meant to break them, yelling to open up, only Captain Ian observed such noble etiquette as knocking.
As Rin responded, the door opened, and Ian entered.
"Oh... hey. You're up early."
"Good morning!"
Rin, looking cheerier than usual, greeted her captain.
◆ Night Event #23
During the night, mercenary [Rin] masturbated 3 times.
- Desire decreased by 31.
- Stress decreased by 32.
- Trait acquired: [Stealth E]
"......"
Ian's gaze awkwardly avoided Rin's face.
