1.
We were on the final stretch of the long pilgrimage that had saved the world, on the road back to our hometown of Greenfell Village.
A company of knights in resplendent armor escorted our carriage, and behind them, an endless throng of people followed in our wake.
"Let's tell Mister we're walking from here."
"Ha... you idiot, Louis. Let's just go comfortably."
Despite Lina's protests, I called out to the man leading the procession with dignified bearing before the carriage.
"Mister Alen. We'll walk from here on."
"Ha... you really are... honestly..."
Mister Alen, our steadfast companion on the pilgrimage and the King of Lumencia, chuckled.
As if he had expected this of me all along, he readily respected my wishes.
But Lina pulled at my cheek and said,
"You moron... why do you always have to choose the hard way...!!"
"Lina, if we go like this, I feel like I can reminisce about how it felt that day four years ago."
"Hmph... you think I don't know what you're really after? You're just afraid Tony will make fun of you..."
"Ah, no... that's..."
The escort knights, including Mister Alen, who had been watching our bickering with a pleased smile, knelt down before us in unison.
"Ha... what is this... how embarrassing..."
"Louis, this is the reverence you rightly deserve.
On behalf of the world, I offer you my gratitude once more."
The countless masses who had been following our carriage also began to kneel as one.
'Ha... what a relief. If I had brought all these people to the village like this...
I definitely would have been teased about it forever...'
But unlike me, Lina seemed quite regretful.
Watching her, I teased her inwardly.
'Hmph... you think I don't know what you're after? You wanted to show off in front of everyone...'
Lina always read my inner thoughts with perfect clarity. She said it all showed on my face.
And so...
Thwack.
I inevitably took a direct hit from Lina's terrifying "skull-smacking" attack.
"Ouch!!! That's too much... I didn't even say anything!"
"Hmph, I can read your mind completely. You just cursed me out, didn't you?!"
"Th, that's...."
I couldn't offer any rebuttal.
I was someone who couldn't even lie properly to begin with.
A possessor of an exceedingly pure and innocent heart.
That was the reason the Goddess chose me.
She sent a divine oracle to the High Priest and made me set out on the adventure.
To seal all the demonic energy that was spreading across the world into my body...
A colossal calamity that comes once every few hundred years.
Countless evil energies that bloomed from within people's hearts were said to condense and coalesce until they took on a single personality.
That was the Demon King.
To seal that energy into a single person's body before the Demon King could be formed.
To use one person as a sacrifice to avert disaster.
I wasn't actually a hero who saved the world, but a scapegoat.
'SCAPE GOAT'
Usually, the scapegoats chosen by the Goddess were said to go mad after completing their mission.
Or else, drawn by that evil energy, they would become the Demon King themselves, they said...
But I didn't really know hardship.
Nothing had changed.
I was simply living on as usual, enduring Lina's bullying.
"Ow... Lina... you. So brutish."
"You...! Want to get hit again?"
It seemed a large bump had risen on my head from Lina's attack.
Watching me rub my throbbing head, Mister Alen smiled a fatherly smile and said,
"Hahaha. I will never forget that journey we shared together. Why don't you come live at the palace..."
"Mister Alen. I told you I'm going to open an inn with Lina. This is my new dream."
At that moment, Lina mercilessly pinched my cheek and snapped,
"Ha... you idiot. Then why did you refuse all that enormous treasure they offered...!!!"
"Ouch...!! In our village, there's nowhere to spend that kind of big money anyway."
"Ha... Louis. You hopeless moron..!!!"
Like any typical girl, Lina had her share of vanity, and the riches that nations across the world had offered to me seemed to be a source of no small regret for her.
I had told them to distribute those things to the people in need I had met during our travels.
Except, of course, for the money to build the inn.
Alen quietly said to Lina, who was huffing in anger,
"For the two of you who saved the world, the doors to the royal treasury are open, so take out whatever you need whenever you need it."
Lina's eyes instantly sparkled like stars.
'Ha... for a girl, she sure loves jewels.'
I had only thought it inwardly for a moment,
but it seemed Lina read everything just from the expression on my face.
—Ouch...!!
Lina's sharp knife-hand strike came crashing down on my skull once again.
Really...
To have to spend my whole life with such a terrifying tomboy.
Truly...
Ha.....
It was something I was so incredibly happy and grateful for.
When we first set out on the journey, we were just innocent kids, a boy and a girl of sixteen.
Me, who received the oracle as the vessel to seal the demonic energy, and Lina, who was chosen as the guardian to protect me.
Blessed by the Goddess, she was a genius magic swordsman who wielded both magic and the sword with complete freedom.
The long journey, where we always bickered and fought while overcoming hardships, flashed by like a panorama.
At first, I had disliked Lina, who constantly nagged and tormented me...
When was it?
Before I knew it, I had fallen deeply in love with her.
Perhaps she had suddenly read the emotion surfacing on my face again.
Lina's fair cheeks flushed red, and then she turned away with a huff, looking off at the distant mountains.
"Mister Alen. We'll be going now. You absolutely have to come visit later!"
"You fool... how long are you going to call him Mister. He's a king, after all, in name at least."
"Lina, you called him that too."
"Always talking back...!!!"
Lina grabbed my hand tightly and led me before Mister Alen.
And then, straightening her back, she offered a formal greeting, beautifully concluding our long, long journey at last.
At times like this, she seemed so mature...
Ha..
No.
She's a tomboy lady.
She hasn't matured one bit.
As soon as the people left, she started snapping at me again.
"Louis, you moron..! My feet hurt! I said let's just take the carriage..!"
Lina pulled at my hair mercilessly and threw a tantrum.
But soon, a familiar landscape came into view over the ridge.
Her sulky expression brightened in an instant, like snow melting.
"Lina, look! There's our village. We really came back!"
I stretched out my finger with an excited face and shouted loudly.
Lina also chuckled and swept back her hair, tousled by the wind.
"Yeah... it really has been a long time, Greenfell Village.
When we set out on the pilgrimage, it felt impossibly far away, when we'd ever return."
"At first, we got lost and ran into monsters, and we were really scared. Remember how I teased you for being a crybaby?"
"You're the crybaby. Crybaby Louis! I heard you sniffling every night saying you missed your mom.."
We were still bickering as we went. Before we knew it, we were getting close to the village.
"Now, let's hurry! I'm already picturing the warm stew Mom used to make."
"Let's go together! Louis!"
As soon as we entered the village outskirts, the warm cheers and applause of the villagers poured out, as if they had been waiting.
"Look there, aren't those kids Louis and Lina?!"
"Really! They've returned safely from the pilgrimage!"
Along the road leading to the village square, the residents came out one by one to greet us. Familiar faces approached, waving happily.
"Mister Igor! Grandma!"
Lina smiled brightly at the villagers and waved, while I greeted them a bit shyly, my cheeks blushing.
We had changed.
In the eyes of us, who had grown overcoming all sorts of trials, there was a solid composure.
But my mature demeanor didn't last very long.
Mom and Dad were standing before my eyes.
"Mom, Dad...
We've returned safely."
I threw myself into Mom's embrace.
Mom held her son, who had shot up over the four years, tightly and burst into tears.
"You've worked hard, our son... truly, well done. Lina, thank you so much too."
Lina, who always acted so brave and strong, was now also sniffling like a child in her parents' arms.
The warm wind of our hometown blew in and gently wrapped around our long, long journey.
Bright smiles bloomed on the faces of the boy and girl who had returned to the peaceful embrace of their hometown.
------
And before we knew it, a year had passed.
The two of us had put the honor of being heroes who saved the world behind us, and were running a cozy inn that also served as a restaurant together in Greenfell Village.
The 'Luna Inn,' made by combining one syllable each from the names Louis and Lina.
"My goodness, Louis! The stew today is amazingly seasoned, you know? Your skill gets better by the day."
Mister Igor emptied his large bowl completely and let out a hearty laugh.
"Haha, I'm glad it suits your taste, Mister. I barely got it right because Lina kept nagging me to check the seasoning."
Lina, who had been organizing receipts at the counter, lifted her head and glared.
"What, Louis? Nagging? Could you call it guidance and direction for the development of you, who's sloppy at everything?"
Even as she snapped primly, a playful smile spread across Lina's lips.
Before we knew it, we had become husband and wife.
Lina still acted like an older sister, nagging me constantly, and was a stubborn autocrat who always did as she pleased...
But she was the one and only wife in the world who knew me better than anyone and loved me deeply.
When all the customers had left and the restaurant grew quiet, Lina plopped down onto the counter chair as if her legs hurt and let out a long sigh.
"Haa... why were there so many customers today? I thought my back was going to break."
Seeing that, I roughly dusted off my hands, white with flour from cooking, and went straight to her.
Naturally, I began to gently massage her pale legs.
"You worked hard. Lina. This is why I said let's reduce the customers."
"How do you reduce customers...! Louis, you idiot.
An inn run by the hero Louis who saved the world.
You think people won't come...!!"
Even as she grumbled primly, Lina closed her eyes gently and surrendered to my touch, as if she didn't dislike it.
While massaging her legs, I brought my face close to Lina's ear and whispered lowly,
"Tonight, I'll prepare something really hot as a special menu."
"Wh, what, what kind of lewd talk is this in broad daylight..."
Lina's fair, lovely cheeks turned as red as an apple in an instant.
"Idiot, Louis... ha..."
Actually, I hadn't known until we got married.
That Lina, who seemed so fierce, was actually a lewd woman with strong masochistic tendencies.
By day, she bullied me and acted like an older sister, but at night, when I put my cock in her mouth, her eyes would instantly glaze over.
Outside the window, the peaceful evening glow of Greenfell Village was settling in red.
The daily life of us, heroes who saved the world and now a loving married couple, was flowing by more warmly and sweetly than any adventure.
"Hauk... Haang♥"
"Lina, what did I tell you to call me?"
"Ha... idiot Louis. Fine, uuuut...♥♥ Ugeuk!!"
Squelch, squelch.
Twitch, twitch.
"You won't say it? Then I'll stop now."
"Ha.. no... ha, haang♥. M, Master."
"That's right. Lina. At night, I'm Lina's master."
"Yes, Master. Haang.. heuup...♡"
In the middle of the night, deep darkness wrapped around Greenfell Village.
And we were feeling each other warmly, sharing a passionate love.
Squelch, squelch.
Twitch, twitch.
"Huuut!!.. ah,,♥ aaahht!! Oohhok!!♥"
Pshuuut, chiiiik.
"Hauuuk.... hoooooohk!♥"
"Master, it feels so good. Haang."
"Ah~♡ Aang~♡ I'm coming~~♡"
Pshiiiit♡
Pshut, pshut, pshut, tsuut, tsuut, tsuuuut.
Chiiiiik!!!
Today too, I had perfectly satisfied Lina.
Actually, I wondered if it wasn't that I was good at it, but that Lina simply had an excessively lewd body.
Do all women in the world originally become this lewd when night comes?
Having never experienced other women, it simply remained a deep question for me.
But I loved this Lina more than anything in the world.
That dual nature—acting like such a stuck-up tomboy by day, yet craving mine like an obedient masochistic bitch the moment night falls.
That side of her was so utterly lovable,
that I remembered trying to brag about it to Mister Alen and getting beaten by Lina literally like a dog.
The guardian who protects the hero.
Her fists were truly fierce.
'Ha... just thinking about it makes me dizzy.'
Sleeping soundly in my arms now, she was more lovable than anyone in the world.
Holding her tightly in my embrace, I closed my eyes.
"Wh, what...!!!"
The moment I closed my eyes, a situation unfolded in an instant that I couldn't tell was a dream or reality.
No matter how desperately I tried to open my eyes, my eyelids wouldn't budge.
My consciousness was definitely clear.
It wasn't a dream. It was vivid, as if it were reality.
In that place...
My wife Lina, the most precious person in the world, was being gang-raped, surrounded by the villagers.
"Tony..!! Mister Igor... Village Chief..!!! What are you doing..!!"
"J.. just for a moment.. pull it out..! I said pull it out...!
Aaaaah... ugeuk..♡ ugeuk..♡"
At first, she had resisted with her whole body, but as time passed, she was becoming steeped in pleasure.
"Hauuuk.... haa... haang.♥."
Squelch, squelch."
"Mister.. your cock... is too big.
Uuuut...♥ Ugeugeuk!! ♥♥"
My wife Lina...
She, who had ultimately surrendered to pleasure...
With unfocused eyes, letting out bewitching moans, she was indulging in the villagers' cocks of her own accord.
"Ah~♡ I love cock... aang~♡ I'm coming~~♡"
That lewd expression, looking at me with empty eyes while panting in pleasure.
"Keu... euk!! Aaht!!! No...!!"