Spec Up (5)
“Hic, C-Captain. W-Wait just a…!”
“What? Why?”
Kaya, who had been clinging to my neck and responding eagerly, suddenly looked around the room and shoved my shoulders away. It wasn’t a playful push or some coquettish nudge—she was putting real force into it, which cooled my arousal a bit.
“Shae… she’s gone.”
“…Yeah.”
Her words that followed made the guilt I’d suppressed in the heat of the moment surge right back up.
“It’s not that I hate doing this with you, Captain. My heart’s still pounding like crazy right now. It’s just…”
She straightened her disheveled clothes.
“Shae’s the one who bought me this outfit, the one who said we should show you something you’d like, the one who suggested gifting you clothes you’d look good in.”
“…What?”
My excitement vanished completely.
“Leaving Shae—who did all that—like this, while I hog you all to myself and chase her away…”
Somehow, the picture felt all too familiar.
I left Kaya right before the main event and headed out to find Shae. The big difference from back then, though, was that this was what Kaya wanted.
“Shae!”
In that short time, she’d already slipped out of the inn. I racked my brain wondering where she might’ve gone.
Damn, what the hell’s wrong with my head? Even if Kaya was acting all clingy…
Pushing Shae aside to pounce on Kaya? Sure, in the dungeon, the tents kept things separate, and there was that official excuse of tending to our broken mental states. But if I’d been in Shae’s shoes just now, how would that have felt?
…
I decided to stop imagining. She’d planned it herself, so she probably anticipated things turning out like this. She had to know about me and Kaya’s relationship, obviously.
But the same went for her. And most importantly…
Officially, neither Kaya nor Shae were anything more than comrades to me. No matter how extreme the circumstances, I’d taken their bodies all the same—and afterward, I hadn’t said a word about it.
In my temporary sage mode, I questioned myself. Had I really embraced Kaya and Shae purely for their mental care? Could I claim I’d only taken their bodies as a means to that end?
No, that’s bullshit.
Definitely not. The initial intent might’ve been that, but I’d enjoyed it too. In those moments, it felt like they were my women—I was happy, and reaching climax together was more ecstatic than anything. Not just their faces, but their scents, movements, gazes, moans—everything was lovable.
I got angry at how they treated themselves like defective goods, calling themselves dirty mixed-bloods or bodies covered in hideous scars, and even those parts looked beautiful to me. Kaya had done it not once, but twice, and the second time, she’d shown an obsession for me that anyone could see.
Yet I’d been acting like it was all just hero party comrade stuff. And then, the second Kaya showed off her sexy side, I’d lunged at her like a dog in heat.
Deep down, had I assumed Kaya would accept any of my desires without complaint?
This is some fucked-up trash behavior.
Back on Earth, I couldn’t have even imagined it. Sure, I’d dreamed of holding flowers in both hands, and I’d actually slept with both of them. But they weren’t flowers I could handle however I wanted.
“Fuck… I’m such a pathetic piece of shit.”
If it was a one-and-done glance, fine. But treating comrades you’re committed to till the end like this? Real classy.
Friends with benefits? One-night stands? No clue. How could I? I’d been a total loner until recently.
I shoved aside what I didn’t know or couldn’t know. I’d face it head-on with what I did know.
I know it’s a crazy idea, but…
I wanted to go all the way with Kaya. I wanted to go all the way with Shae. I wanted to go all the way with Kaya and Shae together.
Decide carefully, act swiftly.
“Excuse me, have you seen a woman with blonde hair down to her shoulders and a white dress down to her knees?”
“Hm? Kinda think I have…”
Ding-a-ling—
“Probably headed that way…”
“Thank you!”
Shae. Your shitty trash captain’s sorry. Where are you?
**
“Hm-hm-hm~ Hm-hm-hm~ Hm~ Hm~ Hmm~”
Shae wandered aimlessly after leaving the inn. She didn’t think she needed a specific purpose for anything, and right now was no different. Her goddess watched over her from the deepest, farthest place, so as long as she stayed within that gaze, she could move as she pleased…
“Hm-hm-hm~ Hm-hm-hm~…”
Buying a pretty dress with Kaya, eating delicious food, showing it off to Hendrick to startle him and see his reaction, splitting the cost to buy him cool clothes to wear… All of it was her own will, unfolding just as she’d foreseen. She was happy.
Yeah. Happy.
She’d been thrilled.
So why… wasn’t she happy?
“Hmph, hm, hm….”
She wasn’t an idiot. She knew the reason.
Sister Kaya.
How could any man not pounce when a woman like Kaya put on something like that and blushed shyly? Hendrick had even been relatively gentlemanly about it.
…It’s not like I couldn’t pull off clothes like that.
Did clothes choose people, or people choose clothes? Shae looked down at her outfit, which wrapped her arms and legs without a gap.
Aunt Kerilyn’s craftsmanship was top-notch as always, but… today, these scraps of fabric felt suffocating.
Back then… it was dark, that’s all.
A habitual smile crossed her lips, tinged with bitterness. Look at the people staring at her now. Some gawked openly, others snuck glances, but they were all admiring her.
But if she bared even a bit of her nape? Rolled up her sleeves or hem just a little? Those gazes would turn to pity at best, disgust at worst.
Even Hendrick, who’d called this body beautiful and held her close—in a bright place instead of the dark dungeon? As just a man, not the hero party captain saving a comrade in danger?
Coward.
She wanted him to treat her like that again, but she was scared.
Sister Kaya’s… too beautiful.
Above all, Hendrick’s reaction had been genuine. His response to her had been satisfying enough, but compared to how he looked at Kaya, there was a clear difference in heat. It wasn’t just the exposure level of the clothes.
She couldn’t pinpoint evidence if asked, but… yeah. Instinct. A woman’s instinct, sharing the same man.
Shae felt she couldn’t beat Kaya in anything.
The connection with the captain that started before mine, her face, her clean figure… plus the calm and seriousness I lack.
She loved Hendrick too much, Kaya too much. But still, as a woman… she couldn’t just stand there watching them glued together in a deep kiss.
They’ve probably become one by now? How happy is she?
What face would a happy sister make? What face would the captain make above her? The same as he showed me? Or even more ecstatic?
Would he compare my body to hers? Cherish that flawless, smooth, unscarred body like glass?
Shae murmured her inner thoughts unwittingly as she walked on endlessly. Then, snapping to, she looked around. It was sparsely populated and quiet. The buildings looked rundown.
When did I get here…?
Had she walked that fast? No. She’d been walking longer than she thought.
The outskirts red-light district. Glitzy and bright at deep night, but since it wasn’t night yet, it was quieter and darker than anywhere. In a few hours, it’d burst with life.
Not a good place to be. Time to head back to the inn—no, at least somewhere else…
The moment Shae turned to go—
“Hey, miss. Looking for company?”
“…Me?”
“Yeah, white dress miss.”
Miss. The unfamiliar term made her repeat it, but it was clearly aimed at her.
“From your outfit and vibe, you don’t seem like one of our gutter girls, but wandering around here alone at this hour? Gotta be one of two things. Special customer, or special someone.”
“Sorry, but I’m neither. I took a wrong turn and was heading back.”
The woman by the window, puffing a long pipe and scratching her temple, scanned Shae up and down and smirked.
“Unless it’s your first time here as an out-of-towner, it’s hard to ‘wander’ into a dump like this by mistake.”
“No reason to lie to you.”
“Ah-ha. Suit yourself.”
“…What?”
Shae’s face hardened at the sarcasm in her words, but the woman snorted and jerked her head.
“Maybe you’re shooting some sappy tale of a noble miss who accidentally stumbles into this shithole, and a handsome knight who’s been searching for her finally finds her.”
“What are you even—”
“Shae!!!”
C-Captain…?
Hearing an unexpected voice from an unexpected person in an unexpected place froze Shae solid.
Why? Why is the captain here now? What about sister? He should be in the middle of loving it up with her…
“Shae, what the hell are you doing in a place like this…? Never mind. Let’s go back first. We’ll talk there.”
“Ah.”
Shae let Hendrick grab her wrist and pull her out of the red-light district. His steps ahead were incredibly urgent.
**
Whoa… that really scared the shit out of me.
Worth sparing the silver. One silver barely bought a decent meal in Seilroom, but if a few words got it out of someone, no one complained.
Asking around like that, I spotted Shae walking between the brothels. My fifteenth silver.
Lucky.
Maybe the woman holding her wasn’t a total scumbag, or Shae hadn’t been there long… whatever. Seilroom’s red-light district was never a place for a woman alone.
The official lore called it the city’s giant trash bin, and the rumors I’d heard firsthand were horrifying—beyond mere lust, a cesspool of every twisted, perverse desire.
Non-guild merchants mad for coin, fallen heroes scraping by daily then unleashing pent-up rage and lust in one go if they hit it big, half-assed wannabes too scared to risk life for money like real heroes but too greedy to leave for other cities, and city hall turning a blind eye instead of cracking down for the sweet revenue. All that birthed a nightmare.
Even in the afternoon, Shae wandering there alone for long? Hero, crusader or not, her life was done for in every way.
Even if some FM investigator like the one we met before showed up to save her…
Fuck.
Just imagining it made bile rise. Mixed with guilt toward Shae and anger at her for stumbling into that hell clueless.
“Shae.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
“I was worried.”
“…”
“Especially Kaya.”
“Why…?”
“Why what?”
“Why’d you come looking for me? Leaving such a pretty, charming sister behind—Captain, you were surely with her…!”
Could I yell at her for being in such a dangerous spot, seeing her face? I didn’t even have the right.
If Kaya hadn’t pushed me away mentioning Shae, I’d have realized only after devouring her body and long after.
Instead of answering, I opened the door.
“Shae!”
“S-Sister…?”
Kaya burst out and hugged Shae tightly. Kaya blaming herself for thinking only of her own desires, Shae patting her saying it was fine.
“Let’s go in first.”
I entered the room with them.