Friends and Lovers
“Hero!”
“Ugh! I’m sorry!”
The smile that had been playing on Dain’s lips from Cerestia’s farewell vanished the instant Gardan’s sharp rebuke cut through the air.
“I heard from Gerta. I won’t stop you, but you should have told me.”
“I’m sorry. Haha…”
“You’re certain there won’t be any problems with the operation?”
Looking at Dain’s dazed, lovestruck face, it was a perfectly natural question.
His expression hadn’t hardened. The corners of his mouth were still lifted in a faint smile.
Yet his eyes burned with clear, unshakable resolve.
“Of course.”
“…Very well. We depart in thirty minutes.”
He had finished all preparations before stopping at the outpost.
The broad outline of the operation was simple: while the main force drew the enemy’s attention, the Hero and the elite unit would function as a separate strike team.
Their target was a demon—most likely Zarco.
Images of cutting him down rose unbidden in Dain’s mind.
Cut. Cut. Cut him apart.
After he had killed Zarco dozens of times in his imagination, a soldier arrived to announce the start.
“Hero. Sir Galles says he’s ready.”
“Understood. Let’s go.”
I will kill him.
Zarco. The curse that had entangled both him and Cerestia.
Dain strapped the greatsword to his back,
then buckled the still-unfamiliar Hero’s Sword at his waist.
The sword qi might be weak. He had already beaten this opponent once before.
All that mattered now was the firm vow to end his life for good.
A thunderous roar echoed from far away.
After the clash of steel, clouds of dust rose beyond the forest.
The main force had begun their battle.
“Hero.”
Galles approached quietly.
“I’ve reconfirmed the entry route. Most of the enemy have moved toward the main force, but several strong-looking ones remain.”
“…Demons?”
“I believe the strongest are waiting deeper inside.”
“Understood.”
As Dain slowly rose from the underbrush, Galles gave a hand signal.
This would be their first true battle against the demons.
The Hero and the fifty-one elite royal soldiers drew deep breaths and advanced.
A quiet courage burned beneath their slight tension. They were in perfect condition for combat.
“Focus on the large ones! Protect the Hero and fight as a unit!”
“No, it’s fine!”
With a wet schlick, Dain sliced through another monster and shouted.
This was different from yesterday’s ambush. Stronger demonic beasts had been stationed here.
And that certainty only reinforced his belief that a demon was nearby.
“Hero!”
The soldiers weren’t being pushed back, but the battle had reached a stalemate.
No matter how elite they were, the difference in stamina between humans and demonic beasts would only widen over time.
After cutting down two more monsters, Dain spotted a narrow gap leading deeper into the horde.
“Deputy Galles!”
At Dain’s shout and the direction of his gaze, Galles immediately understood the plan and nodded.
“We’ll hold them! Go, Hero!”
“Thank you! I’m counting on you!”
Without hesitation, Dain dashed through the gap the moment Galles promised to endure.
Cut. Pass through.
While the soldiers kept the beasts occupied, Dain slipped past the crude wooden barricade the monsters had erected.
And there, right in front of him,
was a painfully familiar back.
Horns rising from the head. Curly hair.
Dark blue skin.
As the figure slowly turned, a voice thick with resentment and rage burst out.
“Zarco…!”
“It’s been a while, Dain.”
The demon’s presence seemed even stronger than before.
Step. Step. As Zarco slowly walked toward him, Dain reflexively raised his sword.
“Even though we’re friends from the same hometown, pulling a sword on me right away… how cold.”
“You are the shame of the Hero’s Village. I’ll erase you here and now.”
“I’m a victim too, you know? I was part of Lemaris’s plan. Oh, I suppose I should say Liliaas for you to understand.”
That slippery tongue again, twisting words in every direction. This time, Dain refused to play along.
“Haaah!”
Clang—
Dain charged with a battle cry, slashing diagonally, but the sound that rang out was metallic.
Zarco had drawn his sword with blinding speed and blocked the strike with ease, looking almost relaxed.
“The Prophet Serdin did the same thing to me. I’m the one who should feel wronged.”
“Hup!”
Clang. Clang. No matter how many times he swung, the blade never reached Zarco’s body.
“Where’s Cerestia? I heard she woke up.”
“…Die, you bastard!”
“Haha, that’s a bit harsh.”
Clang. Clang.
Sparks flew between their locked blades.
His movements were far sharper than before.
The moment he heard Cerestia’s name from that mouth, a tiny sliver of strength left Dain’s attacks.
A wide horizontal cut.
Time seemed to slow. In that stretched moment, Dain watched the demon dodge and thrust his sword straight at him.
“Kgh!”
“Ah, what a shame.”
He barely managed to pull back, but blood trickled from the shallow cut across his neck.
Dain reset his stance.
But Zarco suddenly looked into empty air as if hearing a voice, and shouted. The horns on his head glowed faintly.
“Yeah. Oh, really? The outpost?”
“…”
“Haha, I didn’t think you’d actually leave her behind. Got it, Lemaris.”
Is that Flame Whisper?
When the glow on the horns faded, Zarco finally looked back at Dain.
“You hid her away tight at the outpost. Were you scared?”
“…”
The reason Dain’s mind remained calm despite the provocation was that he had noticed Zarco’s skill had risen noticeably.
He had won last time, but it had been far from easy.
Facing the demon Zarco now, every hair on Dain’s body stood on end.
One mistake and he could die.
“You think she’s safe just because she’s at the outpost? That’s naïve.”
“…”
Even while running his mouth, Zarco left no openings.
“…Ah, of course you don’t know. You weren’t in the command room that time.”
Every time he heard that sticky voice, Dain’s veins writhed.
Endure it. You have to endure.
“Me, Yujin… what were those soldiers’ names again? Anyway, the three of us.”
You came here to do it too?
The moment that scene flashed through his mind, Dain’s body lunged forward on its own.
But—
“And Grahn.”
His feet froze mid-step.
The eyes that had been glaring widened in shock.
Why had Grahn’s name just come out of his mouth?
Yujin, two soldiers, and Grahn had no reason to be connected.
When he had visited Grahn’s workshop,
he had seen Grahn entangled with someone.
When he went to the workshop late to find Cerestia,
her clothes had been slightly disheveled as she claimed she had been helping Grahn.
…No. No, that can’t be.
It was Zarco’s wicked tongue again.
Another attempt to toy with him.
“Hoo…”
“Huh? You don’t believe me? It’s true, though.”
“Shut your mouth, you piece of shit!”
He could no longer hold back.
Zarco, who had been mocking him, didn’t even bother clashing blades anymore—he simply dodged, yet every movement revealed refined skill.
“Did you do it with her? With Cerestia? How was it?”
“…Kgh!”
“She’s sensitive, right? I worked hard every single day to make her that way. Not just me—Yujin, the soldiers.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Of course Grahn too. He’s a half-dwarf, after all. I still don’t know how he fit that thick thing into her tight little pussy, Cerestia.”
“Stop it!”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Dain’s sword kept slicing empty air.
Zarco retreated, then leaped lightly onto the barricade.
“Let’s call it here for today, Dain.”
He pointed his sword at Dain’s neck with a mocking smile.
It was the exact spot where Zarco’s blade had grazed him earlier.
“I need to make some preparations too. Lemaris.”
“…Hah. Really.”
Black mist swirled behind him,
and the one who had to die next—Liliaas, no, the demon Lemaris—emerged and stood beside Zarco.
“I told you I’m not your carriage.”
“We’re done here. Let’s go.”
“…It’s been a while, Dain. Hehe.”
Lemaris smiled sweetly.
“You’ve become even more handsome. Hero.”
“Where do you think you’re running, you bastards!”
“Oh dear, how scary.”
The black mist began to coil around them.
“We’ll meet again soon, Dain.”
“…You bastards…!”
It was an anger unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Dain gathered strength in his legs and leaped toward them.
A light he had once seen from the Hero’s Sword wrapped around his body.
The jump was inhuman.
He reached the top of the barricade and swung his sword,
but Zarco had already vanished. Only black mist scattered in the wind.
When he landed, his knees trembled.
Emptiness. Defeat.
In that moment, the seed Zarco had planted began to take root inside Dain’s heart.
Grahn… Grahn would never…
“Aaaargh!”
The soldiers’ screams came from outside.
This was no time to stand still. Dain quickly regained his senses and rushed toward them.
The operation had failed. A complete rout.
The moment Dain engaged Zarco, the number of demonic beasts had swelled, surrounding the elite soldiers.
Galles had only suffered minor injuries, but most of the men were badly wounded and some had died.
Dain had barely managed to fend off the beasts that chased them using the faint trace of the Hero’s Authority,
but when they returned to the main camp late that night and learned the main force had also been defeated, both his body and mind finally gave out.
“Over here! We have injured over here!”
“Kgh!”
Amid the screams of the wounded, healers ran frantically back and forth.
There were clearly too few of them to handle all the casualties from the main force as well.
He had kept Cerestia’s presence secret because he believed Zarco might appear.
And he had been right—Zarco had been there, and from the way he spoke, it was clear he was plotting something.
The decision by Dain and the command staff to hide the Saintess had been correct.
But now that Zarco had vanished again and so many soldiers were injured,
the Saintess’s power was desperately needed.
“Hero!”
“G-Gerta. Commander Gardan…”
Dain lifted his head at the voice that reached him in the chaos.
“There are many critically wounded. May we bring the Saintess?”
“Of course. Bring her as quickly as possible.”
“…But the problem is…”
When Gerta looked anxiously at Gardan, the commander let out a heavy sigh.
“Gerta’s mana has not recovered. It seems the strain of pushing herself for so long has finally caught up.”
“I’m sorry. I should have taken better care of my body…”
There was no need to say how hard she had worked. This was not her fault.
“Then how do we bring Cerestia?”
Gerta took Dain’s hand.
When she let go, another rune had been added to the back of his hand.
“With this, you should be able to move together with anyone whose hand you hold.”
“Understood. I’ll head there immediately.”
“Please, Hero.”
When he stood, his feet felt like they were made of lead.
He stepped onto the magic circle, trying not to show his exhaustion,
but Zarco’s words echoed in his mind and his body began to tremble.
Grahn would never do that.
He truly believed it,
yet he was terrified of confirming the truth.
While his mind spun with useless thoughts, the light enveloped him and the familiar sight of the outpost appeared.
The same place he had visited earlier that day. The place where Grahn and Cerestia had smiled and seen him off.
If it was night, Cerestia would naturally be in her quarters.
Yet Dain’s feet somehow carried him toward Grahn’s workshop.
The stone steps at night.
He had walked this same path when he went up to the command room that day.
Whether because of that memory or his growing anxiety,
his breathing grew heavier the closer he came to the workshop.
The workshop was empty.
But a faint light flickered from the window of the storage room inside.
And the moment he saw that light, Dain’s footsteps grew silent.
This is spying.
No matter how much he trusted Grahn and Cerestia,
the way he carefully placed each foot could only be called spying.
And Dain, who had always lived with integrity, felt guilt at his own actions.
I’m only confirming. Grahn…
The half-dwarf had laughed and clapped him on the back, helping him stand again.
Of course. There’s no way Grahn would do something like that.
He simply wanted to confirm it and put his mind at ease.
In the inns of this region… there are hidden holes that let you see into the next room.
The moment Dain peered through the window,
the image of Cerestia having her virginity stolen by Zarco flashed through his mind.
“Mmm, hnnngh.”
Slap. Slap.
Grahn and a woman’s body.
On a bed that looked a little small for Grahn’s massive frame,
the blacksmith Grahn was licking between a woman’s soft, plump buttocks.
It was an unfamiliar sight.
He knew there were many kinds of sex and positions,
but this was the first time he had actually seen two people licking each other’s genitals at the same time.
From Dain’s angle, he could not see the woman’s face.
Only Grahn’s bearded face buried between her legs, licking her pussy.
Clear love juices mixed with saliva stretched in long strands from a mound that looked disturbingly familiar.
It can’t be. It can’t be.
From the direction of Grahn’s cock, the woman’s head moved up and down, producing vulgar wet sounds.
Straight hair—but he couldn’t tell if it was gold or platinum blonde.
It can’t be.
Dain had still been clinging to hope—
“Hnnngh!”
Grahn’s waist snapped upward as his muscles tensed and trembled.
The woman pushed her head even deeper between his thick thighs.
After his trembling stopped, she slowly rose and turned around.
It was Cerestia Ruinas—squinting her eyes even as she smiled with lips glistening with Grahn’s semen.