Chapter 4. The One I Banged Was Actually a Hero? (1)
Chapter 4. The One I Banged Was Actually a Hero? (1)
Adventurers are those who make their living traversing a world plunged into chaos, resolving the problems that arise along the way.
In a world where the Demon King and his followers ran rampant, adventurers drew more attention than anything else.
And Serika was a novice who had just set foot on the adventurer's path.
To be precise, she had embarked on an adventurer's journey to fulfill a mission, but Serika didn't find it entirely unpleasant.
After all, she had spent her whole life training, and this was the first time she had ever left her hometown.
What kind of events would await her on the journey ahead? What kind of people would she meet...?
Anticipation had kept her up night after night, and when she met a kindred spirit who needed her help today, she thought those feelings would finally bear fruit.
But....
"I'm so, so sorryyyyyyy!!!"
Why had things ended up like this on what was supposed to be a memorable first meeting?
With a dazed expression, Serika cautiously clutched the blanket to her body and faced the man who was slamming his head against the floor.
"I-I think the trouble started because I was so happy to have a new comrade that I insisted on buying you a drink! I-I never imagined something like this could happen!"
"N-No, that's...."
"Aaaah!! How could this happen before we'd even had a proper conversation?! No matter how unused to alcohol I am, I should have kept my wits about me! I'm sorry! I'm truly sorryyy!!"
Thud. Thud. The man kept abasing himself with enough force to shatter the floorboards.
With every impact, her shame only grew, and a mixture of fear and concern for the man in front of her began to eclipse everything else.
"P-Please stop, Dave. I more or less understand what happened...."
"No. I can't stop here! I must atone for this sin with my own life...."
"W-What?!"
"Yes! Right here, with this knife, I'll tear open my own belly—!!"
"Aaaaah! Stop iiiit!!"
Serika screamed at his sudden and drastic declaration.
Casting aside the blanket that concealed her body, she seized the wrist of his dagger hand and shouted frantically.
"Life is precious!!!"
"...What?"
"You mustn't throw your life away over something like this!!"
She meant every word.
Serika genuinely did not want the man before her, Dave, to die.
Granted, she had lost her chastity while out of her mind, but from the sound of it, hadn't this been an 'accident' that happened when two new comrades shared a drink out of joy?
The memories of that moment were hazy, but surely a man who had been slamming his own head hard enough to draw blood the second they woke up wouldn't be lying.
If that had been his goal all along, lying quietly side by side in bed would have been odd too....
'I may not remember, but my judgment isn't so far gone that I can't even deduce that much.'
Yes, anyone could tell just by looking at the expression of the man whose hands she now held.
The clear tears streaming from the gash on his forehead were proof enough.
"Y-You forgive me?"
"Y-Yes. I forgive you. Actually, I'm partly to blame for this too...."
She had unintentionally burdened a stranger with such heavy responsibility. Wasn't this clearly a situation where she shared the blame?
"No, I don't think this is something where we should be assigning blame to anyone in the first place. It was clearly an accident...."
"...An accident?"
"Yes. An accident. That's what this was."
Serika tightened her grip on the hand she was holding.
The moment their eyes met—hers devoid of even a speck of pretense—the flood of tears streaming from Dave's eyes instantly doubled.
"Y-You're a saint...."
"...Excuse me?"
"Are you a living saint?"
"Huh? Wh-What? No, I'm nothing like...."
"Oh, thank you. Thank you, O Saint. To grant a filthy, contemptible man like me a chance at repentance!!"
Dave wailed and bowed his head before her. Faced with gratitude so vehement yet so sincere, Serika found herself unable to stop him and could only manage an awkward smile.
'W-Well, this is a good thing, right?'
Yes, it was truly fortunate.
By her own hand, she had somehow succeeded in saving an innocent man....
Or perhaps not just an innocent one. Seeing how ardently he repented something he'd done without any awareness of it, his true nature seemed to be deeply kind-hearted.
'I'm told we spent the night together without my knowing, but I barely remember it....'
Rather than reasons to be angry, perhaps it was better to say she was grateful that, because of this incident, she had glimpsed the true nature of the very first bond she had formed.
"...Um, Dave?"
Yes, in that moment, Serika felt her heart being drawn toward him.
"Yes, yes!! Speak, Serika! I, Dave, will devote my entire body to granting anything you desire!"
"You don't need to go that far!"
His attitude was a little overwhelming, but that was something they could work on over time.
"U-Um, by any chance... you're not going to give up on forming a party together because of all this, are you?"
"If you wish me to leave, Serika, then of course I must. Then again, if I turned myself in to the guards and went to prison right now...."
"You don't need to do that either! Just... stay with me!!"
Once again provoked by his extreme suggestion, Serika burst out.
Realizing what she had just said, Serika trembled, quickly composing herself before continuing.
"W-We are comrades so inept that this happened right from the start, so... l-let's both do our best. Together."
She felt it keenly: this incident wasn't a reason for them to drift apart, but rather a reason why they needed to stay together.
"...Comrades?"
"Y-Yes. Inept comrades, together!"
Still holding his hand, Serika closed the distance between them and spoke, letting her resolve shine through her eyes.
"Let's do our best! I-I'll take responsibility for you from now on!"
Responsibility.
It might have been an overly weighty word for the situation, but even so, Serika felt no hesitation in pressing her point.
Her own mistake had saddled him with an excessive burden, so refusing to abandon him and growing together—that, too, must be her role to play.
"I-I understand. If you put it that way...."
Had her feelings gotten through? Eventually, Dave reluctantly accepted her words, his flushed face slowly turning to the side.
She breathed a sigh of relief, hand over her heart, thinking she had resolved the matter. But only for a moment.
"By the way, um, Serika. First things first... how about you put some clothes on?"
"...Huh?"
Serika tilted her head in confusion.
A second later, she glanced down at her own body, belatedly realized she was in the exact same state, and her face began to burn red.
"I-I'm sorry!!"
Shrieking, Serika whirled around and frantically began pulling on the clothes and gear she had discarded nearby.
'I've lost my mind. H-How could I be stark naked in front of a man...!!'
Even if they had shared a bed, wasn't it utterly disgraceful to behave so brazenly when she had no memory of it at all?
As she dressed with trembling hands under the weight of that shame, her gaze gradually drifted downward to her own stomach.
A stomach toned and sculpted by training upon training. She could pride herself on being resistant to most blows, but she could never have defended against the intrusion that sought the cleft between her legs.
'W-We really did it, didn't we?'
A man's organ had entered her body. She still couldn't quite believe it, yet at the same time, she felt a not insignificant flicker of curiosity welling up inside.
'Wh-What did it feel like? Doing it with Dave?'
The moment she became conscious of that thought, her heart began pounding harder.
It was an utterly unfamiliar feeling for Serika, who had only just set out on the adventurer's path.
***
And later, once we had moved apart to change clothes.
"...Just as planned."
Midway through changing, I couldn't help but smirk at how smoothly things were going.
I had more or less grasped her disposition while we were tangled together, but I never expected leaning into it this hard would be so effective.
Apparently, this woman I'd slept with was even more exploitable than I'd imagined.
"If you want to put it nicely, she's kind. If you want to be blunt, she's a sucker."
All I'd done was grovel and apologize, and despite having no memory of it, she was already drowning in guilt and talking about taking responsibility, encouraging me, and so on....
It made me worry she might get pushed around in public, but looking at the bigger picture, I decided this worked out for the best.
Her being considerate meant she wouldn't ignore what I said—which meant plenty of opportunities to get her alone by accepting my proposals.
Even if the hypnosis only worked on one person at a time, the unconscious mind layered beneath conscious thought inevitably affected the target's emotions and judgments.
After enough repetition, I could turn them into puppets unable to refuse me—regardless of headcount limits.
"If I had my way, I'd grind her down into a slave right this moment... but I suppose I'll call it here for now."
Even a novice still carried the public identity of an adventurer. There was no rush—I could cast the hypnosis later, once I'd accounted for the image I needed to maintain outwardly.
So for now, I'd focus on playing the role of 'the bumbling adventurer Dave.'
Thanks to the opportunity this foolish woman had given me, plenty of time to further my own agenda lay ahead.
"Um, Dave."
Hiding those inner thoughts, I had just finished getting ready when she, now fully dressed, faced me with a blush and averted her eyes.
She was definitely conscious of it. Just as I wanted.
"We're going to be together from now on, so... um, could you spare some time after this?"
"Time, you say?"
"Yes. I'd like to introduce you to my companions."
Ah, right. She had mentioned that when I was gathering information during our time together.
That she was a novice but had comrades, and that every one of them was a seasoned veteran—sometimes so experienced that she felt intimidated around them.
"...Companions, is it?"
"Yes. Though calling them comrades might not be quite right—they're more like senior adventurers who guide me."
Serika voiced her concerns, feeding me the exact same information as before.
It seemed she was worried that a fellow novice might end up cowed by the veterans.
Well, sure, partying up with experts while you're still a rookie carried some risk, but if you played it right, wouldn't that only accelerate your growth through the veterans' connections?
"Yes, right now is fine."
It was simply a matter of whether I'd have one puppet to command, or several. Her offer was starting to look like a tremendous opportunity.
As long as there was a scene where we could be alone.
And as long as the other party felt no hostility toward me, the hypnosis I possessed would be absolutely effective against anyone who was merely human.
***
Yes, anyone who was merely human.
"Is this the one who'll be joining us as a comrade?"
Fuck.
What the hell was she doing here?