A Walk Before Dawn
Ervan wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Paying the children's gazes no heed, he slipped his hand beneath her clothing and seized one of her breasts in a hard grip.
"Eek! B-Bishop! Aah!"
Merely having the nipple that had been aching upright since earlier caught in his fingers curled her toes and sent her senses reeling.
"You must give them a greeting, mustn't you?"
"Nnh, ngh... h-hellooo... haah...!"
"Huh? The Saintess receives the purification ritual too?"
At that innocent question, Serina felt every hair on her body stand on end.
"Yes. That is so. Might you all like to help the Saintess as well?"
And that vile reply wrapped her in a suffocating pressure. Every gaze nearby had fastened on the bare flesh Ervan was kneading.
"Nngh, Bi... Bishop... that is..."
"It's quite all right. These children are, after all, destined to become fine believers in time. Surely there is no better education than planting in them the fond memory of having been of help to the Saintess."
"P-pleeease... aahng... ahhn!"
Ervan set his other hand in motion and began rubbing at her nether lips. The soaked flesh, pressed shut until now, spread apart, and with it her thighs drifted slowly open.
"Hyaah!"
With the hand that had been kneading her breast, he caught her chin and tipped it upward, drawing his head back to meet her eyes.
"Saintess. You must set an example before the prospective believers. With even those little ones carrying it out so smoothly, it would hardly do for you to carry on like this, would it?"
"Nnnh... I... c-can't... nngh!"
Two fingers plunged inside. Sticky, wet sounds rang out bright and clear, and the children's eyes all gathered downward.
"Now then, what do you say? Anyone who would like to try, come along here."
His fingers working swiftly, Ervan began kneading her breast once more. He had always been exceptionally skilled in the art of caressing her, and for a body that had fallen into heat long before, there was no enduring it.
"Ah, aahng, ahn, nnh, ngh... ngh..."
In the end she could not last even a minute. She could not stop her cries from breaking loose, nor her tears from spilling over.
"We won't do it. The Saintess is crying even when you're doing it, Bishop. If we did it, I'm sure the Saintess wouldn't like it at all."
"Is that so? Then pay the Saintess your respects, and you may return."
"Yes! Goodbye, Saintess!"
Serina could not manage a single word. Tears blurred her vision until she could see nothing at all, and having come mere moments before, she could not even master her own trembling body; steadied by Ervan's hands, she sank down where she stood.
"Saintess."
The leash drew taut, and her head rose along with it.
"In the Order there are some, like those children, who have been given a proper education—but there are also not a few who do not yet know that this act serves a sacred purification. Sooner or later, someone will reach out a hand out of sheer curiosity, wishing to help the Saintess."
...
"See to the rest while you move along."
"...Aahhn!"
The collar was yanked hard, and her body pitched forward. Ervan caught her shoulders before she could fall, then took her arms one after another and pressed her palms flat against the ground.
"If you do not gather yourself properly, before long there will be many more eyes upon you."
Serina stared blankly down at the ground. Bare earth though it was, not a whisper of pain reached her hands or knees.
"It is a rare walk, after all. We ought to keep it up for an hour at least, don't you think?"
Only now did Serina grasp what Ervan truly meant. The moment he released her shoulders, she began carefully composing her posture—and once she was on all fours, her hips lifted of their own accord.
"Go on ahead, then."
"...Yes."
There was no turning back now. To survive, she had no choice but to obey his words. Slowly, she began to crawl across the ground.
The air of four in the morning was cold, and two full hours still remained before the priests would come this way for their stroll.
Watched from behind, Serina's crawl was awkward beyond all description. Each slow advance let the fallen cloth pool beneath her knees, the gown slipping down to bare her shoulders again and again—and each time, Ervan demanded that she set her clothing to rights.
That was why, after ten full minutes of movement, she had covered barely a hundred meters. Her greatest obstacle, of course, was the heat the sacred law had driven into her. It had been wound to its peak from the moment her palms first touched the ground, and it was no exaggeration to say that Serina was now more unstrung than she had ever been in her life.
She had never known it firsthand, but even the nun who had delighted in this law-born heat had, upon reaching such a stage, been unable to meet Ervan's eyes for a long while. That nun, who spilled her nectar at the mere sensation in the soles of her feet when she walked, had endured barely ten minutes before turning into a beast—and Ervan still remembered with perfect clarity how she had lain belly-up, legs splayed wide, yelping like a dog.
But what of this Saintess? She, too, shuddered as though on the verge of climax whenever her bare skin brushed the fallen cloth, or in the instant she reached to straighten it. Though she had plainly spent herself beyond counting already, she was striving, composed, to crawl on.
He found himself wanting to commend Serina's fortitude.
"Hyaah?!"
Of course—in his own fashion. Ervan began caressing her upthrust hips with meticulous care.
"There is no need to be so frightened."
"I h-hate... it... haahn, aahng..."
Serina's head tipped back and her mouth fell open wide. With no leisure left to swallow, the drool welling there ran down her chin in a gleaming line.
Savoring that utterly melted expression, Ervan gave her buttocks a light pinch here and there as he moved his hand elsewhere. As it crept lower, tracing along her thighs, her reactions grew louder still.
"Nnghaah, nngh, haah... ah..."
"To see you enjoying yourself so puts me in quite a wonderful mood as well."
"Nnhaaah...! Haaah...!"
The moment his hand slipped along her inner thigh and grazed her clit, her head fell fully back, wracked by violent shudders. Watching her nectar spew forth until it soaked his wrist, Ervan had to struggle to hide the smile born of satisfaction.
"Now then, let us move along again, Saintess."
At that one phrase, the Saintess sprawled in undignified ruin could raise herself just as she had before—for she knew all too well that if she failed to right herself in time, even in the throes of a grand finish, those fingers would plunge into her without delay.
"Hyaah, y-yes..."
Her posture restored, she began to move again. Ervan trailed behind her with his hands clasped at his back, toying with the leash in playful little tugs; each time, she would jolt and whimper, tremble through her hips, then crawl on—again and again.
Without Ervan's protection, the Hero would see her dead one way or another in the end. She, too, had surely come to grasp that truth by now. This manner of submission was precisely the fruit he had so long craved.
He lifted his gaze to the night sky and broke into a broad smile—and with it, hauled the leash with all his strength. Even while Serina's whimpers rang out ahead of him, he did not slacken his grip; he pulled harder still.
"Aghk, nngh, aaagh...!"
Head level once more, Ervan discovered her writhing on the ground with the leash biting into her throat, and ambled over at his leisure.
"Dear me. Was it very painful?"
"Hck, hahk... n-noo... nnh, ah..."
Even as he took her by the shoulders and raised her up, she trembled delicately, as though still savoring the pleasure.
"Now then, begin taking them off, slowly."
And as that lovely face flooded over with confusion, Ervan tasted a pleasure of much the same kind.
"...Y-yes..."
Seated, she worked her hands with effort to slip off both shoes, then cautiously extended them in her cupped palms.
"...Here... you are."
"I shall keep them safe for you. Do take off the rest."
Serina rose slowly, undid the knotted cords, and began drawing the gown down with agonizing leisure. Still there was not a trace of resistance to be found in her bearing—yet if she strained to delay the act regardless, it could only be the revulsion of having to bare her nakedness beneath the open sky. And so that languid undressing tugged at Ervan's heart, little by little.
If the Goddess herself were to reveal her form, would she look like this? It was worlds apart from the faint charm he had once glimpsed through the veil of her clothing. When her full breasts and the parts newly coming to light filled his view at a glance, it seemed almost as though the moonlight spilling over her had designs of its own to adorn this Saintess.
Before long the gown slipped free, and Serina, wholly naked now, stood with her hands demurely folded over her lower belly, gazing up at Ervan.
He knew only too well what those tear-brimmed blue eyes were trying to say.