The Bet, What's at Stake
After returning to the lodging and waiting several hours for Ceres, Dain had only lain down on the bed for a moment when the accumulated fatigue crashed over him, and his eyes snapped shut in an instant. When he jolted awake, staring at the familiar ceiling, it was already the middle of the night. Outside the window, only the night watchmen patrolled; no one else was wandering about.
‘I needed to talk to Ceres….’ He flopped back down and tried to organize his thoughts. Lilias had been nothing but a misunderstanding on her part. He had truly sent her back without anything happening. Of course, he still remembered her body when she removed her robe. It had been too beautiful to forget. It would be a lie to claim he hadn’t been shaken, but the truth was that he had rejected her for Ceres’s sake. How could he explain it so she would understand? As soon as he began worrying about it, sleep fled entirely. Feeling restless just lying there, Dain left his equipment behind and stepped outside for a night walk.
The upper level of the still-unfinished outpost. Climbing the stone stairs, he thought he might get a clear view of the entire base. As he slowly ascended while looking down, the sound of footsteps descending from above reached his ears.
A white outfit—slightly, no, extremely revealing. From below, it looked as though he could see straight between her thighs.
“Dain?”
“…Ceres.”
The woman he had been searching for was coming down the stairs, her chest swaying with each step.
“What are you doing here so late at night….”
A hint of surprise crossed Ceres’s face.
“I couldn’t sleep. I was going for a walk.”
“Ah….”
The Saintess descended one more step, drawing closer.
“I heard you went on a mission. You must be exhausted.”
“Yeah.”
Was she simply going to pass by and continue downward? Unease gripped him, and Dain snatched her hand.
“Ah….”
“W-wait! Ceres!”
“Uh, uh-huh.”
“Back then, with Lilias… nothing happened.”
“….”
“It’s true. She tried to tempt me with some kind of reward, but I just sent her away. Really.”
“I-I see. I didn’t know that….”
Recalling how she had misunderstood and run away in tears, Ceres gave an embarrassed smile.
“Sorry for running off like that. You must have been surprised.”
“It’s fine. I just… wanted to keep talking.”
“Heh-heh.”
Meeting Dain after two days, with the misunderstanding cleared from her heart, Ceres couldn’t stop smiling. She had missed him so much, and this moment alone with him felt precious. The distance that had grown between them since Hargon seemed to shrink once more.
“How was the mission? Was it dangerous?”
The Saintess’s face, which had looked oddly downcast, had returned to the bright Ceres of the Hero’s Village, and Dain was glad that he was the one who had brought that light back.
“It was dangerous. Exhausting. I even slept sitting up.”
“Oh my.”
“There were strange bugs everywhere. Monsters came in swarms. I don’t know how I got through those two days.”
“…I see.”
At the mention of “two days,” Ceres’s head seemed to lower slightly. It was late at night, well past any reasonable bedtime. With the misunderstanding resolved, he wondered why she had been there.
“What about you? What were you doing here?”
“Huh? Me? I… I was just walking. Couldn’t sleep.”
“Same as me.”
Ceres glanced away for a moment, then looked up again with a small smile.
“Let’s go. I’m getting sleepy.”
“Yeah.”
Walking down the stairs side by side reminded him of the Hero’s Village. For a brief moment, it felt as though they had returned to those joyful days when she was simply Ceres, not the Saintess. Though neither spoke, they shared the same feeling.
“Ah…!”
When Ceres’s body flinched, Dain’s hand shot out reflexively. He took her hand and slowly, carefully pulled her toward him.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Ah, yeah. Just for a second….”
Startled, Ceres’s face flushed as she rubbed her thighs together and carefully descended one more step.
“I must have missed a step.”
“…Be careful, you dummy.”
“What, dummy?”
They laughed and teased each other as they descended, yet neither made any move to let go of the other’s hand. Caught up in the moment, Dain failed to notice that her other hand had slipped between her thighs. He didn’t see the Hero’s seed that had been inside her slowly trickling down her leg.
“Subjugating the demons?”
“Yes. A request has come in from the Kingdom Army.”
Gardan gathered the party in front of the barracks and began explaining while spreading out a map.
“It appears a new legion is being formed near the border where the Kingdom Army is stationed, centered around the demon Graut who was previously driven back.”
On the map Gardan had unfolded, the demon army—now swollen in power—spread widely enough to engulf the Kingdom’s main forces.
“If we leave them alone, the border will be breached. They might even push past the Kingdom Army and invade the interior. We should depart as soon as possible.”
“Don’t worry, Commander.”
Zarco, wearing his usual relaxed smile, grabbed Ceres’s shoulder and pulled her close.
“We’ll finish off those demons in no time and come back. The Demon King won’t take long either.”
“As expected of the Hero. Very reassuring.”
Watching Zarco made Dain’s blood boil. The pleasant feeling from simply holding Ceres’s hand the night before cooled rapidly. Ceres, who seemed to sense his anger, furrowed her brows slightly when their eyes met, yet still forced a smile. It irritated him that he had to pretend that smile was enough.
“Well then… shall we depart right away?”
“Ah, two more people will be joining us this time.”
“Two?”
Looking outside the barracks where Gardan pointed, Dain saw familiar faces. Rillen and Yujin.
“Yujin!”
“Heh-heh, big brother. I get to go with you too.”
“I’m here as well!”
“Haha, good to see you, Rillen.”
“Rillen is a seasoned warrior, and Yujin’s swift feet are well-known within the unit. Both will be a great help.”
Ever since seeing Ceres lose her virginity at the inn in Hargon, the mere thought of the three of them traveling together had left him feeling suffocated. Even if it was for the sake of healing, he couldn’t help the complicated mix of resentment and anger that rose whenever he looked at the Hero Zarco. For Dain, the addition of these two who could share the vanguard was a welcome relief.
“Now then, please depart immediately.”
It would take three days to reach the rendezvous point. While the three men and Rillen all knew how to ride, Ceres had no experience with horses. Dain had wanted her to ride with him, but the horse Gardan assigned to the Hero was unusually large and sturdy. In the end, the hesitant Saintess ended up mounted on the Hero’s horse, held by Zarco, as they set off.
Watching Ceres cling to Zarco’s waist, her newly fitted Saintess skirt riding up to expose her hips, felt like torture. Dain took the lead and urged his horse faster. He wanted to finish everything as quickly as possible—not just this expedition, but the Demon King as well—so he could return to the Hero’s Village with Ceres.
When Dain at the front sped up, the others naturally followed, and as a result the party reached their destination a little sooner than planned.
“…Shall we keep moving a bit more?”
He didn’t even want to call Zarco’s name or look at him. When Zarco glanced around and pointed at himself, Dain frowned and nodded.
“No, let’s rest here as planned. We already rode a little faster, didn’t we?”
Zarco smirked as if he understood Dain’s intention and jumped down lightly. He naturally extended a hand toward Ceres. Watching the Saintess take his hand and slowly descend made Dain turn his head away.
“Alright, let’s get ready.”
At Zarco’s words, everyone began unloading their gear and preparing the campsite.
‘Yujin, was it?’
The Saintess watched the soldier who hovered beside Dain with a cheerful grin. A fellow soldier around their age whom they had met in Gardan’s unit. Though they hadn’t known each other long, the two setting up the tent together looked quite close. Thanks to Rillen handling the campsite preparations, Ceres was able to sit on a suitable rock, but to her it felt more like a bed of thorns. She hadn’t expected this kind of treatment just because she was the Saintess. Wondering if there was anything she could do to help, Ceres headed into the nearby brush to gather firewood.
‘Firewood, firewood.’
She was so focused on collecting branches that the forest darkened in an instant. She had only heard that the nighttime forest was dangerous, but the sudden arrival of darkness covering everything around her was terrifying.
“Ah.”
Fortunately, through the trees nearby, she could see the party’s tents and the campfire just beginning to rise. Letting out a sigh of relief, she gathered the wood and was about to head straight back when someone’s hand grabbed the Saintess around the waist.
“Kyaa—”
Before she could even scream, a dark hand covered her mouth. It was a familiar hand that had touched her countless times before.
“What are you doing here?”
When Zarco’s voice reached her ear, the breath she had been holding slowly escaped.
“…Haa… I was gathering firewood.”
“Why? There are plenty of people over there.”
“It’s just… you know. I can do things too.”
“Forget that. You have a different job you’re supposed to be doing, don’t you?”
Zarco turned Ceres around and immediately thrust his tongue between her lips. Before she could even frown at the invasive sensation, the Hero’s hands lifted her top with practiced ease, exposing her breasts and kneading them.
“…Mmph!”
She quickly turned her head toward the campsite and saw Dain sitting alone in front of the campfire. They were closer than she had thought. Worry that they might be discovered flashed through her mind, but Zarco paid it no mind, continuing to grope her chest and stomach.
“…Haa, stop it.”
“Why?”
“…Dain is right there….”
Zarco chuckled and brought his mouth to the Saintess’s pale nape. As he enjoyed her reactions whenever his tongue brushed her neck, he whispered into her ear.
“Why don’t I just tell him everything? About you and me. Aren’t you tired of hiding it?”
“Don’t you dare say a word.”
The Ceres who was the Saintess—none of that existed in the time before Dain knew. At her firm tone, Zarco quietly pulled his face away and looked at the Saintess. His eyes were gloomy and frightening. Not the eyes of a friend, but of someone looking at a possession. Unable to meet that terrifyingly deep gaze any longer, she tried to turn her head away when—
“Then.”
Zarco’s face twisted into an unpleasant smile.
“How about someone else?”
Following Zarco’s gaze to the side, Ceres felt her breath catch. Rillen. And beside her, held by the arm, with an innocent face flushed with both embarrassment and excitement, revealing the outline of his arousal through his pants while staring at the Saintess’s breasts—
“H-Hero, Saintess….”
It was Yujin, who had been secretly watching them.