30. Hyosung Is a Per~vert~♥
30. Hyosung Is a Per~vert~♥
-Squeak, squeak.
At some point, the sound of wood rubbing against wood filtered in.
The moment I realized it was a bed rocking, my vision started to focus on the hazy figure in front of me.
No, even before I could see anything, I was already retracing the sensations touching my body...
-Smooch, mwah.
A wet heat against my lips.
As that sensation washed over me, a searing warmth spread from something that wormed its way between my lips and teeth, heating my whole body.
Like someone was breathing into me....
"Haa, haah~♡"
Yes, it was definitely breath.
The woman who had been pressing her lips to mine until just a moment ago had slipped her tongue and her breath into my mouth.
"Hyosung... how are my lips?"
Only then did a very familiar face appear in my finally focused vision.
The moment those characteristic smiling eyes met mine, a chill ran straight through my heated body.
"I-I'm quite warmed up now. I don't think I can hold back any longer."
"M-Ms. Marilyn. What in the... mmph!"
"Haa, mm, mwah~♥"
My breath was cut off as the kiss resumed.
My brain felt like it was boiling over from the heated atmosphere, yet a deeper sense of wrongness sent a shudder through me.
She had a playful side, sure, but she was a woman of quiet and dignified bearing. So what in the world was this situation?
Why was she lying in bed with me in nothing but her underwear, pressing her lips to mine?
"Don't worry."
She pulled her lips away and met my eyes.
Her slightly narrowed eyes glistened as her slender fingers traced my jaw, slid down my neck... then began to sweep gently down my chest.
"Don't think about anything... just enjoy this moment."
Slide—the hand stroking my skin traveled down my lower abdomen and reached even further down.
Just as a chill overwhelmed the confusion, she, positioned as if she were dominating me, let out a tinkling laugh.
"Hyosung, have you wanted to do this sort of thing ever since we first met?"
"N-No. That's...."
"You don't have to hide it. After all, this is a dream, so isn't it fine to just... let go?"
A dream.
What did she just say?
"Yes, it's a dream. Everything happening right now is just a fleeting dream."
It didn't take long to accept it.
First of all, I had only met her just yesterday, and even then, we parted with a promise to meet tomorrow.
Since I remembered that vividly, how could I possibly take this absurd situation at face value as reality?
"Even so, to dream of doing this with someone you've only met once, even in a dream."
She let out a giggle. "Pfft."
She nestled against me and brought her lips to my shoulder.
And after licking and nibbling my ear, she whispered low into it.
"Hyosung is a per~vert~♥"
My reason sank into the ecstasy of it, and before I knew it, my hands were reaching for her.
And then....
***
-Tweet! Tweet tweet!
The chirping of birds outside the window.
I propped my upper body up in bed, dazed, and quietly gazed out the window as if chasing the lingering traces of the dream I'd had.
The sounds of birds heralding the morning were loud, but what I actually saw on a branch of the tree growing alongside the inn's second-story window were two squirrels.
"Squeak?"
"Squeak~!"
Two squirrels that had clearly hit it off first thing in the morning. Just as they seemed to be getting along affectionately, one squirrel laid flat on the branch and presented its lower half to the other.
And the squirrel that mounted it from behind began furiously pumping its hips.
"Squeak squeak! Squeek!"
"Squeeeeak!"
I stared blankly at the sight for a few minutes.
Then, watching them enter their post-coital clarity, a surge of irritation welled up inside me.
Shit. Even squirrels are getting laid first thing in the morning, so why the hell am I still a virgin?
I was briefly lamenting how I needed to hurry up and find a compatible girlfriend so I'd stop having delusions about the wrong person.
-Drip.
Just as I got up, I felt something cold and viscous drip down my lower half.
Unable to ignore it, I stuck my hand down my pants, and a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
"...Looks like a good day to die."
The sunlight's really blasting today. I wonder if the river water will be warm?
***
"Huh? You want us to ride in the cargo hold?"
Anyway, after suppressing that suicidal impulse and getting ready, I went to the assembly point written on the request form.
The numerous wagons positioned in front of the gate surrounding the capital looked less like transport prepared by the Adventurer's Guild and more like the cargo wagons a merchant caravan would use to haul goods.
And my guess was probably right.
In garrison zones, supplies are typically handled by merchant caravans, and adventurers with low ranks are generally treated no better than baggage.
"Seeing you called here at this hour, you must be a newbie who just got their adventurer's tag, right?"
"They give us a free ride to the destination and even food, so you put up with this much. Oh, though if demon beasts attack, they'll have us act as escorts."
"Alrighty then. Guess newbies gotta rough it."
Well, whatever. Back when I was a porter, I got treated way worse, so getting annoyed at something already decided would just be my own loss.
Isn't it practically a godsend they didn't just tell us to walk on our own?
"Hyosung~ Over here~"
Just as I was looking for a decent spot among the caravan's hired supply wagons, I spotted someone sitting in the back seat of a cargo hold recognize me and wave.
Marilyn Sutherland.
The person who became my temporary colleague as a fellow adventurer just yesterday, and the being prophesied to preserve my life.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?"
Because of that, I need to get closer to her, but for some reason, I felt awkward closing the distance.
The moment our faces met, the dream I'd had earlier kept surfacing.
"...Hyosung?"
"Ah, yes. Well, I slept... well."
It wasn't just sleeping well; it was a truly blissful night.
Facing the person who caused it all, smiling so cheerfully at me, I felt a pang of guilt, but anyway.
"By the way, um, your attire looks different from yesterday...."
"Ah, you mean this?"
As soon as I pointed out the detail nagging at me, she smiled casually and spoke.
"There was a little accident on the way back to the inn yesterday, and the clothes I was wearing got dirty."
"An accident?"
"I wasn't really hurt, so don't worry. I left the clothes for laundry, so I can get them when we return...."
Sure, if she said she was fine, I didn't need to pry further.
But the fact that her new outfit was completely different from before put a stark dissonance against the image I had held of her.
"Black doesn't really show the dirt, so it'll be fine no matter what happens later. How is it? Does it suit me?"
"Ah, yes. I-it suits you well."
From pure white to its polar opposite, black....
That contrast itself evoked a sense of deviance, making the sensuality within her previously hidden modesty stand out sharply.
Yes, just like she had appeared in my dream earlier.
'Hyosung is a per~vert~♥'
...Get a grip, Woo Hyosung.
That was just a dream.
Marilyn might be a bit playful, but when it matters, she's serious.
"We'll be departing soon, so all adventurers sharing the ride, please take your seats!"
"If you fall off because you didn't strap in, we're leaving you behind, so just know that!"
Soon, when departure time arrived, the merchants' voices rang out all across the caravan.
As the adventurers in the same boat as us found their seats one by one, I also sat down in the back of the wagon Marilyn was on and strapped the safety belt around myself.
The cargo wagons began to lurch forward with a rumbling sound.
The pace was slow, but considering that if an accident happened, we'd be thrown off even more easily than the cargo, I couldn't exactly relax.
If it were just me, I wouldn't care, but since Marilyn was with me, a deep unease gnawed at me....
"The seat must be uncomfortable. Are you alright?"
"Hehe, I'm used to this sort of thing, so don't worry."
"Ah, now that I think of it, you did say you traveled around outside the Empire, didn't you?"
I'd heard that while there are other places where people flock together, everywhere outside the Empire is basically a living hell.
Given she'd traveled alone through such places, she must be plenty accustomed to most things.
"Still, the sun is especially bright today, so the weather is a bit hot."
"Yeah, well. Since your clothes are black, they'll be even hotter...."
Just as I was agreeing with her words, her sudden action made my breath catch in my throat.
Below her face glistening with sweat as she complained of the heat, her hand suddenly tugged at the chest of her robe.
At the spot where the revealed, ample flesh met, a cleavage appeared so distinct it cast a shadow....
"Whew~ I can finally breathe now~"
"M-Ms. Marilyn."
"What is it?"
"No, it's just. Could you be a bit, more, careful with your actions...?"
"...Oh my."
Marilyn belatedly realized what she'd done as I hurriedly averted my eyes and forced the words out.
She stared at her exposed cleavage for a moment, then, seeing me stealing glances at her, her smile became even more pronounced.
"Hehe, is it bothering you?"
"I-it's not that it's bothering me, I'm just worried...."
"Is it really just that?"
Swish, the sound of fabric sweeping along the wagon floor.
"Hyosung, could you look here for a moment?"
Feeling her close the distance, I desperately turned to look at the forest outside the wagon and forced the words out.
"I-I can't do that...."
"So it really is bothering you, isn't it?"
Yeah, it's bothering the hell out of me.
To be honest, it's driving me crazy.
The stuff that happened in my dream last night keeps coming to mind, and it's making all sorts of things bulge and throb dangerously, so please, just don't come any closer.
"Aha~"
Whether she knew my inner thoughts or not, Marilyn just let out a playful laugh as she watched me struggle.
She smoothly leaned toward me, as I was pressed as close to the wall as physically possible, and brought her mouth to my ear, whispering low.
"Hyosung is a per~vert~♥"
The same line I heard in the dream....
No, what I heard just now was clearer than any dream.
Unlike a dream where you can let everything go, right now I could feel my suppressed desires being tested.
-Clatter!
The wagon gave a violent jolt right at that moment.
Having shifted her weight to get closer to me, her body couldn't withstand the shock and began to lift off the seat.
"W-Whoa!?"
She had a safety belt, so she wouldn't fall off, but the trajectory of her flight was aimed in a very bad direction.
Damn it, at this rate, my hand is going to touch her chest.
That voluptuous chest will touch my hand.... No, I can't sink any lower than this!
-Crash bang!
At the end of that inner conflict, just as I managed to twist my body and yank my hand upward—
The driver, having regained control of the wagon, turned around with concern in his voice.
"Whoa, looks like the wheel caught a rock. You folks in the cargo hold alright?"
"Ah, yes. We didn't fall off."
I replied immediately to the voice from the driver's seat.
However, while we hadn't fallen off, the situation wasn't exactly great.
My hands had successfully avoided touching her chest, but hers had landed squarely between my legs.
"......."
"......."
Tens of seconds passed as we remained in an uneasy silence, as if neither of us had fully grasped the situation.
Then, she put a little strength into her fingertips, rounded her lips, and let out a soft exclamation of admiration.
"It's hard."
One strike, an unfiltered fastball straight down the middle.
"Is it because of me?"
And then a second strike.
"N-No. It's because of the groin guard."
"Aha~ A guard~"
Even though I managed to foul off the ball with a desperate swing, she let out an exclamation of wonder and looked down at the hand she still had on my lap.
And then, seizing the opening, she fired off another overpowering fastball.
"Wearing a guard means it's okay to touch it. I'm curious, so can I touch it a little more?"
"...Please hold back."
Even with a guard on, you can still feel the sensation of a hand pressing against it from the outside.
Even that alone makes it react extremely sensitively and tighten like hell.... Damn it, I came so much last night, so why won't it just calm down?
"M-Ms. Marilyn. I know you like to joke, but, you should really exercise some restraint with this kind of thing...."
"Hehe, I'm sorry. I seem to have troubled you without meaning to."
Thankfully, she at least had some sense of how she appeared.
She made a show of pulling away from me for a moment, but then tilted her head and rested it against my shoulder instead.
"Ms. Marilyn?"
"Still, you're the first one, Hyosung. In all my travels, I've never met someone who puts my heart so at ease."
"......."
"...So, this much is okay, right?"
-Clatter, clatter.
The sound of the wagon's wheels carefully negotiating the rough forest path.
Relieved that the noise hid the pounding of my heart, I quietly placed my hand on her shoulder and drew her a little closer.
Purely to prevent another incident like before, I told myself.
Reassuring myself with that, I carefully closed the distance with this fox-like lady....