FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife

I woke up filled with two extremely contradictory feelings.

On one hand, I couldn't be more relaxed.

After spending several hours during which Selia and I did our best to exhaust the other and put ourselves to sleep, I'd now woken up within her soft, warm, and cushy embrace.

The night full of passion left us without any clothes. And with the chill of the night sneaking in through the gaps of the wooden window shutters, we instinctively sought each other for something as simple as warmth.

That's why, when I pried my eyes open, I thought I'd just gone blind.

It took me a considerable while to sober up to the point where I could realize it wasn't that my eyes couldn't see as much as they were simply blocked off from any source of potential light.

In fact, she didn't just hug my face to sleep like one would a teddy bear or other kind of plushie.

She wrapped her entire self around me, with her legs locking high on my back while her knees pushed tightly against my armpits.

It took me a few more moments to realize that what blocked my eyes was Selia's tummy, tightly pressed against my face, while her chest pushed hard against the top of my head.

With all of this, Selia still wrapped her hands around the back of my head, effectively cradling it all over.

My nose was full of nothing but the scent of Selia's slightly sweet, intoxicating sweat.

By all means, that was a blissful morning if I ever experienced any. A bliss coupled with a tingle of excitement whenever Selia's mouth would instinctively seek my ear, her steady breath hitting whenever she wasn't busy munching on my earlobe as if it were some sort of snack.

Within the cradle of Selia's softness and warmth, I felt like not doing anything at all.

What could ever be important enough to stop me from enjoying this blissful moment?

But this morning also had another face. One I knew I had to face sooner or later…

Or rather, sooner than later.

As if in accordance with my thoughts, Selia shifted a little, her silky skin brushing against my face.

"Mornin~"

Her soft, still drowsy voice was the sweetest thing I could ever ask for.

In fact, only the way she shifted around, the way her hands moved to gently brush through the back of my hair, could be comparable to her adorableness… One that I could experience even with my eyes still pressed too tightly against her stomach to see a thing.

—Wheeew—

I took in a deep, shameless breath through my nose, getting myself high on the slight aroma of her skin.

Just sensing her softness wasn't enough.

I wanted to take her.

Devour her.

Deprive her.

To see her break from pleasure under me and turn all silly in the moment of pure bliss and unadulterated ecstasy.

But somehow, after the wild several hours that we went at it before spending the last of our strength and falling asleep, I could control my urges. And to a degree, just cuddling like that first thing in the morning was good enough for me.

Sadly, it wasn't good enough for the world we lived in.

And as much as I wanted to just stay cuddled up and enjoy this slow, blissful morning…

I couldn't exactly afford to do so.

Not after putting so much on the line to organize a coffee-procurement process, not after making a deal with so many people… And especially not after getting myself into Greg's debt.

If I wanted to stop the decay of this town, I no longer had the luxury of doing whatever the heck I wanted. Starting today, there were responsibilities I had to see to!

"Already rushing to get things done, aren't you?" Selia whispered while pulling away just enough for me to glance up, past the two perky mounds of her boobs and then into her own perfectly blue, starry eyes.

"It's not like I can help it, can I?" I whispered back while feeling her hand gently slide up and down my head.

"Of course you can't," Selia smiled only to then let out a small giggle. She then raised her eyes up while pulling my face right into her chest, "of course you can't."

I just allowed the moment to linger.

The endless, welcoming softness of Selia's breasts cushioned my face, filling me with a sense of perfectness, a sense of everlasting peace.

And from within it, I found strength to pull away and then push myself off to the side of the bed before rolling off it and dropping directly to the floor.

With my body still perfectly relaxed, I ignored the sting of the fall before getting into position and starting to pump.

Once, twice, thrice, I pushed my chest away from the floor only to then slowly bring myself down on my arms.

Four, five, six.

Twenty-nine, thirty.

It was only after roughly a minute of this kind of light exercise that I finally stood up and breathed deeply a few times to cast off the last strands of sleepiness from my consciousness.

"All ready?" Selia asked from where she sat on the edge of the bed in all of her glorious nakedness.

The weight of her full breasts making them slightly hang, all the while her nipples perked up at just the right angle for me, or our future kid, to suckle on. The slight sheen on her crossed legs as she stared me down, fully aware of just how much my eyes were glued to the sight. The smile dancing at the very corner of her lips as she basked and reveled in my admiration… no, my worship.

"Neither of us is ready," I laughed it off once my eyes had their fill… Or rather, once my brain reached the point where it was about to stage an intervention about my drool actually making me drown.

Then, rather than lingering on the bit, I leaned down and grabbed Selia's clothes before tossing them over and moving on to pick up mine.

I'd already made my choice to stand up, wake up, and face the day. If I allowed myself to waver here, my desires would likely bloat to the point where I could no longer control them!

"Tsk," Selia playfully clicked her tongue, acting all dissatisfied that I somehow managed to resist her charms.

Still, she followed my example and started to get dressed.

We had a lot to do today, even if there were still some hours before we would be leaving for the jungle of death.

It was within those few short hours that we had to go out, gather some of the folks that we requested to show up early, have them help once we bought hand-pulled carriages, and then use those very carriages to get all the supplies our expedition would need.

Normally, one could achieve the same with just a single horse-pulled carriage…

But why buy a horse when we were already paying a lot for people who weren't all that useful in case of a fight?

Still.

For a planned two-week-long expedition and then a week worth of leeway in case something went wrong for a total of about thirty people…

It wouldn't be a small sum, volume, or weight.

Meaning, some of the workers we'd hired yesterday would start showing their worth before today could even properly start!

"Okay, I'm ready," Selia called out pretty much as I was locking in the last of my buttons before patting my clothes down to make them appear a bit more orderly.

"Same here," I turned, satisfied with my current look, "shall we?"

With our desires now left for another opportune night, we departed from the inn only making a quick stop to settle the tab and the bill for the board.

By the time we reached the street outside, however, our company grew several times as five "middling" adventurers had joined us.

"Ma'am," all six of them instantly fell down to one knee upon seeing Selia, while a whole two of them remained down when following it up with, "sir."

"Let's get moving, men," I called out, perfectly happy to take charge of the whole operation. "We have a lot to do but a little time. And trust me when I say this," I allowed my voice to linger for a while, "it's best if we venture out prepared."

What lay ahead was a simple yet laborious task.

And while buying enough hand-pulled carts didn't prove to be any challenge at all, filling them up with supplies?

That was a whole other issue.

From traders refusing to sell in bulk at all, through those that refused to lower down the price of their wares when bought en masse, all the way to those who were both understanding and happy to cooperate.

In the end, however, we still took a little longer than we were supposed to, all for the sake of getting enough provisions, blankets, weapons, and other supplies to last us not the entirety of the trip, not even one and a half trip's worth, but the full double of what we needed!

A task that ended up with two separate patrols stopping us for questioning all the while giving us a stink-eye… That is, until they learned that rather than giving up on this town, we were actively setting out to try to fix it somehow.

All of this culminated when we finally gathered up at the town's gate, where the rest of our party already awaited our arrival…

Or rather, the part of the people I'd hired that decided to follow up on their promise and show up.

"Should we wait for the rest?" Selia asked, looking around as if she expected the missing three to still show up.

A question I ended shaking my head to.

"No. We were already late getting here. If we wait any longer, we won't be able to stick to the schedule," I pointed out before throwing out a long sigh.

I closed my eyes and allowed the emptiness in my lungs to linger before breathing in again. And as I opened my eyes…

"Let's go."

I'd made all the plans and preparations I could.

Now it was time to turn them into reality.