Chapter 20. Becoming the Hero's First (1)
Chapter 20. Becoming the Hero's First (1)
-Fwshhh.
After that sordid incident, Serika decided they should lie low for a day. She rented a room at a high-end inn, with Dave in tow.
It was worlds apart from the cheap inn they'd been using. Unlike the public baths where only gender was segregated, here every private room had its own shower and bathtub.
"...Haaah."
After washing her body with the hot water, Serika sank into the tub. The heat of her own pleasure, which had flushed her skin only moments ago, slowly drained away, swallowed by the warmth of the bath.
The sweat that had drenched her entire body from one climax after another. The arousal that had soaked between her legs. All of it.
"Ah."
It had probably all washed away the instant she stepped into the water. Even so, Serika didn't stop digging her fingers into her own sex.
"Nn, haaah...!"
This wasn't masturbation.
It was just cleansing. Cleansing the thing squirming inside her — the thing that shouldn't be there.
'Filthy.'
But it still wouldn't wash away.
That was only natural. What she was trying to shake off was a sensation buried deep within.
It was never something she could physically remove with her fingers.
'Filthy. So filthy.'
How had it come to this?
This awakening of her sexuality that had started recently. Whenever she grew conscious of a man nearby, she felt her body flush, felt that pleasure ruin her, numbing her reason.
Even so, she'd thought it was fine as long as no one found out. But that sensation kept accumulating inside her, altering her very constitution.
She only realized how deeply wrong it was after this incident drove the lesson home.
'I feel like I've become completely filthy.'
Yes, this was a mistake.
She wasn't just talking about surrendering to pleasure for a moment.
It was because she had never imagined pleasure could feel this disgusting — yet still deaden her mind enough to smother her own emotions.
And all of it soon curdled into self-loathing.
'Can someone like me still call herself a hero after this?'
What expression would Berdia wear if she found out?
Anger, surely. No — more than anger, open contempt.
The crowds would be the same. If they discovered the person helplessly groped in that alley was supposed to be humanity's hope, the Hero herself, they'd doubt everything and despair at reality.
So fleeing without calling for help had been the right choice after all.
Having belatedly reached that conclusion, Serika felt a quiet relief as she thought of Dave, waiting outside the washroom.
'Let's stay here and keep our heads down for a while.'
'Huh? But this place is expensive? Spending money here means we'll have that much less for the rest of the break.'
'No, I think resting here is the right call. Somewhere like this, the guards won't be able to track us down right away.'
'...'
'You didn't resist back there because you didn't want anyone to find out you'd been molested, right?'
She didn't know the precise reason herself.
But still, he had been considerate of her situation and led her somewhere they could avoid prying eyes.
'More than anything... when Dave caught me, it felt all right.'
Yes. Unlike that molester, his touch hadn't brought a trace of revulsion.
As if he'd held her hand countless times before.
As if the place her hand belonged was in his.
-Thump, thump.
Her heart pounded the moment her wet hand reached her chest. That sensation — serene yet vividly present — didn't feel entirely unpleasant to Serika.
At first she'd just been confused, but the difference was so stark when two different men touched her body that she understood at once.
'So that's what it was... I...'
It was like finding the answer to a riddle she'd never been able to solve. Only then did a sense of ease fill Serika's heart.
Soon, a faint smile touched her lips. She finished washing, wrapped her body in a towel, and stepped out.
Past the washroom, the bedroom awaited.
There, she saw a man sitting on the bed, bandaging his hand.
"Ah, Serika. Done washing— ah."
But the moment he tried to greet her, his body flinched. Averting his gaze, Dave stammered.
"S-Sorry. I just, without thinking..."
"No, it's fine."
This wasn't a state she should show just anyone. But with him alone, it felt all right.
Wasn't this even rather good?
Because the fact that he got flustered looking at her meant he was conscious of her too — and not just a little.
'He sees me as a woman.'
That thought alone was enough. Serika sat down beside Dave and quietly studied the bandages wrapped around his hand.
"Did you get hurt back there?"
"It's nothing. Just punched a bit too hard and scraped the skin..."
"Hard enough to scrape the skin off."
She took that hand in hers.
"...Was it because you were angry that man put his hands on me?"
Serika asked carefully, drawing his hand before her eyes.
Until now, facing him had been endlessly embarrassing. But now that she was being honest with her own heart, nothing but calm composure filled her gaze.
If anything, all she felt was worry.
That the person she cared about had been hurt like this, trying to protect her.
"I'm sorry."
She knew that if that thug had been strong enough to retaliate, this wouldn't have ended with just scraped skin.
"I should have handled it properly..."
"You've done nothing wrong, Serika."
But even so, he wanted her to stop apologizing.
"You had your reasons for not struggling. I don't know the details, but... it's true you didn't want anyone to notice, isn't it?"
Yes — wasn't that exactly why, knowing the guards might follow her trail, she'd fled the scene as quickly as possible and rented a room in an upscale inn they'd be hard-pressed to find?
"You've done nothing wrong."
He could have been frustrated. He could have pressed her for answers. But Dave didn't mind. Instead, he clasped the hand that held his and spoke to her.
"So please — don't condemn yourself so harshly. If it ever gets too much, talk to me. I'll do whatever I can."
"...Whatever, you say?"
"Yes. Anything within my power."
Gentle. Kind.
Yes, he'd always been like this. Always looking out for her, always staying by her side.
To her — who'd endured the cruel weight of her duty as the Hero — he always came like a ray of light, offering solace.
"...Then."
She had come to love him.
Not as a comrade. As a woman.
"Would you..."
This man who could accept even a filthy, immature creature like her without rejection.
Unlike the foul man who'd mocked and degraded her — she could accept even this man's hand against her chest without revulsion. That was why she'd come to love him.
"Would you hold me?"
That was why, in this moment,
she could even let go of the very cloth that concealed her body.
"Serika. That's..."
"The truth is, I've touched myself while thinking of you, Dave."
Cutting him off.
Serika wrapped both arms around her own bare, uncovered body.
"I don't remember it clearly myself, but after meeting you — after that thing happened — my body got so hot... Every night, I'd soothe myself alone, imagining you. As if I was trying to replay the pleasure I got from doing it with you."
Her face flushed hot. Her heart began pounding fiercely.
Was it from the shame of showing a man her naked body?
"When that man nearly violated me, I was so disgusted... but when you touched me, I only felt relief."
No. The opposite.
The unease she felt right now wasn't from baring her naked flesh.
It was because she didn't know whether the man before her could accept just how debased she'd become — brazenly doing something like this.
"...Do you hate a lewd woman like this?"
Dave sat frozen at her careful question.
His answer came a long while later. In all that time, he hadn't taken his eyes off her body — not for a single second.
"Hate...?"
At last, Dave spoke.
"There's no way I could hate that."
The words she'd wanted to hear, delivered so simply.
"...Really?"
"Yes. Really."
Sliding downward, her naked body sank into his hands.
As Serika was laid onto the bed, the light from above was blocked, and a shadow began to fall across her.
The darkness steadily drew closer, but Serika did not reject it.
Instead, she wrapped both arms around his back in that darkness and pulled his lowered head toward her lips without an instant of hesitation.
"You're truly beautiful. So much so I almost worry whether someone like me even deserves to share a body with you..."
After their lips parted, Dave spoke.
At the hint of shyness breaking through his usual kind smile, Serika let out a soft laugh and made ready to pull him close again.
"It's only all right because it's you."
Their lips met and brushed together once more — and then went further, into a French kiss, tongues mingling.
The sensation was intensely warm and sticky, but for some reason, it also felt strangely familiar.
As if she'd locked lips with him countless times before.
'But it feels good.'
Yes. That alone was reason enough to accept him.
***
As I locked lips with Serika and reached my hand toward her body, I thought to myself.
'Just as planned.'
Yes. With this, I'd overcome the limits of my hereditary hypnosis ability.
Without even needing to cast hypnosis, I had secured the perfect pawn at my side — one who needed me and would fight for me.