Ep.7 - An Uncomfortable Journey (1)
Ep.7 - An Uncomfortable Journey (1)
***
Clatter, clatter—
The carriage rumbled along the road.
"Puff—"
The carriage left two trails in its wake.
One came from the wheels pressing down the loose dirt,
and the other drifted from the archbishop seated in the driver's seat up front...
"Puff—"
She puffed out smoke.
The smoke from the thick cigar spread into the world, gradually thinning.
The smell of that cigar reached me as well.
Faintly. Subtly.
It wasn't a smell I particularly liked, but that scent, faintly reaching me where I sat at the back of the carriage, wasn't exactly unpleasant or irritating...
It made me miss something.
It made me long.
What was I longing for?
It made me faintly long for something I couldn't quite place. I didn't really know what it was.
The other women also kept their mouths shut, with no great complaints about the strong yet pleasantly bitter scent,
"How long must we endure this! Stop puffing away already!"
Only Kaede scolded the archbishop with irritation.
Chichi had already cast a spell to block Kaede's keen sense of smell, but Kaede didn't even like that numb sensation.
"It is too uncomfortable...! Kkiing, kking..."
"Ah jeez, I told you not to touch it! If you keep rubbing it like that, it'll come undone again!"
Chichi lightly smacked Kaede's hand away as she tried to rub her nose. She must not want to cast it again after already doing it five times. It was understandable that she'd be annoyed.
"But it feels as if my nose is completely stuffed...! Kkiiing..."
As those two women caused a fuss, an elegant voice came from the front of the carriage.
"I've nearly finished it, so please wait just a little longer."
"Just a little longer, you say!! I'll die at this rate! Aren't clergyfolk usually kind!? Kkiing... How can you torment me so by puffing on that cigar..."
"Making such a fuss over a single cigar, tch."
Riko spat the words out as if ignoring Kaede entirely. Sitting with her legs crossed and pressed tightly against me, she clearly found Kaede incredibly displeasing.
Honestly, it was worrying.
A deep gulf existed between the two of them.
Kaede didn't seem to mind at all, but Riko didn't look like she'd open her heart easily.
Yeah. I knew it couldn't be helped.
I wasn't such an optimistic fool as to pray that we'd all get along perfectly.
But still, I at least hoped they wouldn't snarl at each other to the point of a fight...
"Nnng... mm..."
...Hup!
This wasn't the time to be thinking about such things.
Right now, I had a bigger problem, so...
"Seobang-nim, are you alright? Look at this! Your complexion is poor as well!"
"Y-yes...!? No! I'm fine. Yes... hup..."
I, who had pressed myself into the deepest corner of the carriage,
was startled by Kaede's call.
And for good reason,
because at an angle the other women couldn't see, Riko was still fondling me...!
"Why is your face so red? You seem to be breaking out in a cold sweat as well..."
"I-it's motion sickness! Motion sickness..."
I was going crazy, seriously!
I'd thought she'd stop groping me once everyone got into the carriage, but Riko kept fumbling all over my body!
She'd shoot a fiery glare at Kaede, and then feel up my body even more persistently and lewdly!
How could she knead me like that without changing her expression in the slightest?
It was a devil's talent.
A terrifying talent, enough to be frightening...!!
"Motion sickness, are you alright? Want noona to at least cast some magic for you?"
Unlike the rough and lewd hand movements I felt at my flank, a hand that seemed to cherish me greatly settled on my knee.
Chichi.
Her eyes scrutinized me worriedly, checking my complexion.
"Yes... yeah..."
I had already made the excuse of motion sickness, so I couldn't refuse Chichi's magic. Just the thought that I'd have to pretend to feel a bit better after receiving the magic made my head throb.
Blue mana wavered from her hand. Without even drawing a magic circle, it approached me like smoke and wrapped around the nape of my neck.
"How is it? All better now?"
"Mu-much better, I think... Thank you..."
I'm sorry, Chichi noona...
But I'm not fine at all!
Staying like this any longer was genuinely driving me insane...!
"Didn't know you got motion sick so badly. Honestly, men are all such high-maintenance creatures."
Riko threw out the words as if she herself had nothing whatsoever to do with it, but her hand showed no sign of stopping, persistently and tenaciously caressing me.
She was doing it on purpose. I was certain of it.
She was kneading me right in front of their eyes just to check my reaction.
Hup...
Having been fondled like this for a while now, I was truly at my breaking point. I felt like my head would go crazy.
I tried leaning forward slightly and wedging my arm between my thighs to hide my now rather hard organ so the other noonas wouldn't notice, but I was unbearably anxious that I'd be found out before long if things kept going this way.
'Is this person seriously right in the head...!?'
I wasn't the only one who'd be in massive trouble if we got caught, but Riko toyed with me as she pleased with staggering nerve.
She exploited their blind spots, secretly burrowed inside my clothes, and stroked me tantalizingly.
"Kkeuheut...!"
What was even scarier was that she would sometimes slip her hand to the front and tap-tap at my slit...!
I alone suffered from that utterly silent, utterly imperceptible, monstrous act of molestation.
No, actually, rather than suffering...
'It feels too fucking good, I'm going insane...'
She would briefly finger my piss hole like that and then stick it into her own mouth with a slide.
At first, I thought it was an insanely lewd act of scraping up and eating my pre-cum,
but once I realized the true reason inside my damply soaked underwear, I couldn't even close my mouth at her cunning.
Riko was doing that to erase the scent of the pre-cum my erect cock kept dribbling out! So that the others wouldn't catch the lewd scent coming off me!!
Timing it exactly to when the fluid would leak, evading everyone's eyes, in an instant!!!
'Wh-what a waste of talent this is...'
It had to be called a terrifying ability.
Just how many people's heads had she hit from behind with those hands, how many things had she stolen?
Clunk—
"Kkeuhup...!?"
Even now, the moment the carriage had briefly jolted, her hand instantly snatched away the first dribble of pre-cum that had started to ooze out.
My glans grew slick and shiny from the sticky fluid Riko had directly drawn out into her mouth. It became glossily wet.
Now, just the sensation of the carriage rocking made my underwear rub against my glans, making my head spin with pleasure.
And on top of that, combined with Riko's groping that could come at any time, from any place...
'I'm gonna end up coming like this...'
A restless anxiety, as if I might truly explode at any moment, flooded in. An impatience as if the slightest touch would set me off.
But I sensed it faintly. Riko would never let me come.
She would never let my semen be taken by the other noonas.
I could be certain of it.
Because the amorous glances she sent only to me and her licking tongue were smeared raw with a carnal lust she couldn't possibly hide.
"First, we've crossed the swamp, and we skipped right past Cetelasha, the closest city, so our destination will be Khalid."
The women, who could have no idea of my agonizing struggle, began discussing the future plans again. The one leading the conversation was Neva.
"Khalid? Why Khalid specifically? There are many other cities nearby!"
"Khalid has long been a gathering place for merchants and all sorts of adventurers, so there will be a heavy influx of people trying to enter the city. It is a place where it's difficult to enforce a sudden lockdown. That makes it just as easy to slip past their eyes."
"...For a former Knight Commander, you're quite proactive in scheming. Have you steeled your heart to abandon all loyalty?"
"...I am simply doing my best in the current situation. Once Her Majesty the Queen's misunderstandings are cleared, she will surely understand. So... somehow, we must reach God's Garden and put everything back to how it was."
I also tried desperately to gather my wits and listen to their conversation, but all my consciousness was inevitably drawn to Riko's secret touch.
"Keuheup..."
At times, she'd pinch lightly as if to tease me, and then caress me kindly as if petting a child...
Yet even so, she'd butt into the conversation and casually voice her own opinion.
"Khalid, good. I got some bastards I know over there. Gotta go and get some proper weapons first. How am I supposed to fight anything with this piece of scrap metal?"
Riko pulled out the extremely worn-out dagger Neva had given her earlier and vented her irritation by irritably tapping it against the seat. It ended up leaving a scratch on the chair.
"You guys have all your original equipment, why don't I have mine?"
"That's because you were a criminal."
"And if you get a proper weapon, you might do some harm."
Kaede and Chichi seemed to worry about Riko noona's behavior. Of course, I was just as worried.
If she got her hands on a proper weapon...
Wouldn't she be able to slit the other noonas' throats in an instant if she put her mind to it?
This wasn't a matter of soul bonds or enhancements. She was cunning. One wrong move and we could all be in danger...
"...No. We must give Philmark a weapon now. With us all branded as criminals and on the run, it's a definitive disadvantage to have a comrade who can't exert her full strength. Definitely."
Unexpectedly, however, Neva took Philmark's side, and she spoke so dryly with such a cold, indifferent expression that I almost suspected she had broken somewhere inside.
"..."
Neva stared at the back of the carriage for a moment.
Her vacant gaze lingered on the ever-changing scenery.
Perhaps she was,
looking at the road we had traveled so far.
"It was a long, ill-fated entanglement, and a brief journey together, but if we are to go together, we must trust one another, must we not."