No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

Just a little more. Just a tiny bit more.

My head, in a state of ecstasy, whispers.

It’s not enough. I can’t be satisfied with just this.

Before me lies a deep rapture beyond compare; all I need to do is grasp it.

“Ugh….”

Before the starving wanderer, a feast of mountain and sea is lavishly laid out.

Friede felt a wave of impulse, like the tide.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t…’

The waves of desire and longing crash like a tsunami, sweeping away my reasoning. The taste of saliva lingering in my mouth was just too sweet to resist.

So…

‘…Brunhilde is the bad one…!’

Muttering excuses that nobody could hear, Friede rubbed her saliva-soaked fingers against Hilde’s lips.

At first, it was a light tap, tap, gently drawn back. Like knocking on a firmly shut door. But carefully so as not to wake the other.

Then, brushing lightly against the slightly parted lips with trembling fingertips.

As tenderly as applying cosmetics. Savoring the sensation with the tips of her fingers.

“Mm….”

Hilde murmured faintly as if in her sleep. A warm breath escaped between her slightly parted lips, softly caressing Friede’s fingers.

Unknowingly, Friede pushed her wrist forward.

Swish — her small finger, drenched in saliva, smoothly slipped inside the open lips.

Slippery and sticky, yet unexpectedly soft flesh warmly enveloped the unexpected guest in her mouth.

The sensation of the tongue and its warmth transmitted through her fingertips made Friede’s eyes go dreamy.

She pushed her index finger and then her middle finger into Hilde’s moist lips, carefully swirling her fingers around, exploring every nook.

Gently pressing the pliable tongue, she swept across it, tapping the neat teeth, and caressing the soft palate.

A faint, wet sound of slurping escaped between lips. The saliva that trickled out soaked the corners of her mouth, flowing in rivulets.

Friede hastily leaned in and stuck out her little tongue to catch the droplets of saliva dripping down from Hilde’s jawline. As if it were a divine nectar.

In reality, it was a droplet that was nothing less than heavenly to Friede herself.

No drink she ever tasted, not even the royal wine bestowed upon her in her hero days, was as rapturous and sweet as this.

“Ugh… huff…!”

After what felt like an eternity, having gained a small satisfaction, Friede withdrew her fingers from the depths of Hilde’s mouth.

A translucent string of saliva stretched gracefully between the distant lips and her fingers.

An undeniably captivating sight. With flushed cheeks, Friede grinned widely and trembled.

As her left hand, which had been wriggling inside her own pants, naturally pulled free.

Not wet with saliva or sweat, but something else entirely soaked her left hand.

Through the slightly parted index and middle fingers, an opaque and sticky liquid dripped like a beaded spider’s web.

Friede, exercising utmost self-control, fought against the impulse to shove her fingers into Brunhilde’s mouth.

‘No, no. This is really wrong…’

Her fading reasoning, flickering like a candle in the wind, protested that this was still crossing the line.

They weren’t even dating yet, so forcing ‘this’ on someone defenseless while they slept wasn’t right.

Touching her tongue a little and shoving this left hand into Brunhilde’s mouth were categorically different matters.

The former might barely pass as a daring prank, but the latter was unmistakably blatant misconduct.

“Ugh….”

Thus, even while writhing in regret, Friede neatly wiped her left hand with a cloth.

That was the last shred of conscience that remained to her.

And it turned out to be a decision akin to divine providence for her.

Just as she took up the damp cloth to wipe Hilde’s hair,

“Uuuh….”

The sleeping Hilde began to stir, slowly raising her heavy eyelids, releasing a soft moan.

Whether it was because the effect of the sleeping potion Gerda administered was waning or due to the stimulation in her mouth, no one could say.

“Ah.”

With her head lowered and wiping Hilde’s lemon-colored hair with the wet cloth, Friede caught sight of Hilde’s half-melted ice-blue eyes staring blankly at her golden ones.

======[ Hilde ]======

What in the world is going on here?

I blinked a few times to clear my hazy gaze, adjusting my blurred vision that seemed out of focus.

Now I could finally make out the clarity of the girl’s face.

On her soft, pink cheeks, little beads of sweat had formed, and the large pupils in her slightly parted mouth were filled with bewilderment.

“Friede…?”

“Ah, uh….”

As I muttered her name, Friede was startled and pulled back her head, shyly covering her face with her hands.

What a strange reaction.

“…What are you doing?”

I wondered just what she could have been doing in front of me that would make her so flustered.

If it were a guy, I would be convinced he was up to some scandalous business while I slept—yet here was Friede, a girl my age. Such possibilities seemed slim.

“Um, um, that! I mean, I was, um! Cleaning the blood!”

See, I told you.

Friede fumbled to show me her right hand, which held a small piece of cloth stained with blood and dirt.

It seemed she had been trying to clean my face and hair. After all, the blood from the corpse giant must have made quite a mess.

How kind of her.

Seeing that I was in a cave, it looked like after she took down Gerda, she moved me to a safe place rather than resting herself.

That level of selflessness would have made her succeed as a priestess, not just an adventurer.

“Ah… thanks.”

So, I smiled faintly, feeling grateful.

“Ah, ah, it’s nothing….”

As if it were the most natural thing to do and not worthy of thanks, she averted her gaze, embarrassed, and lowered her head.

Such a cute reaction, it made me forget her actual age.

Really, is she twenty?

◆◆

In any case, after waking up, I wiped my hair and neck with the cloth she lent me and began to inquire about what had happened.

Gulping down water from my canteen to wash away the strangely sweet taste in my mouth, as if I had dissolved candy.

“So… after barely managing to take down the Abyss Priest and returning, I found Gerda brandishing a dagger at me, which made me throw down my sword.”

“Yes, that’s it! It looked like you and Hilde were in a very precarious situation….”

Friede nodded rapidly, explaining.

According to her, when she first saw me, Amy was already dead, and I was on the verge of death. So, she immediately deemed Gerda a traitor.

It wasn’t all that strange.

During our fight in the ruins, many adventurers fell for the Abyss Priest’s tricks and betrayed us.

Gerda must have been one of the traitors prepared by the Abyss Priest, even if she employed a different technique.

Anyway, after taking down Gerda, Friede confirmed Amy’s and my conditions and brought us to a safe place to rest.

She stayed behind, uncertain whether she could keep us both safe if another enemy showed up.

“Really? Thanks to you, I’m alive. I sincerely appreciate it.”

There were a few minor misconceptions in Friede’s judgment.

The first misunderstanding was that Gerda hadn’t turned to Hugh Casval but had come to ambush me specifically for ‘Brunhilde’s’ bounty.

Seeing her take down the corpse giant single-handedly likely made me look like Brunhilde to her.

From my perspective, I had barely managed to win, but in hindsight, I had only dropped the creature after four heavy strikes.

She must have finally concluded that my strength surpassed even that of an ordinary knight.

The second misunderstanding was that she considered Gerda a traitor, judging that there were other enemies left aside from her. In reality, that was very unlikely.

Given Hugh’s attitude—growing arrogant after summoning the corpse giant—it was probable that even if he remained, no other enemies would show up.

If they did, it would likely only be the Paladins.

Of course, Friede couldn’t be blamed for this. In fact, I should be praising and thanking her for that.

Thanks to her, I was able to avoid the worst-case scenario—facing the Paladins while lying unconscious, face exposed before them.

Although I had fought, there was no escaping; it was crucial that nobody knew I had defeated the corpse giant.

Especially since I would be fully exposed.

If those who saw my appearance reached the same conclusion as Gerda, my life would literally be over.

I was anxious that, because of this, Friede might have figured out my identity…

“……”

“Uh, hey, Hilde, why are you staring so intensely at me…?”

“…It’s nothing. Just, thank you.”

Now that she had saved me, I felt assured about that aspect.

If she had recognized my identity, rather than helping me and taking me to the cave, she would have turned me over bound, just like the Paladins.

The fact that Friede rescued me was clear evidence that she hadn’t noticed my true identity.

Unlike Gerda, who had built a long career as a patroller, Friede was more like a newbie just starting in the adventurer life.

She probably wasn’t familiar with foreign hero parties, let alone her own.

So for now, I could breathe easy.

…The bigger problem was the mage lying over there.

I let out a soft sigh and turned my head towards the mage girl with red hair lying opposite me.

Whether she had heard Gerda’s words or, even if she hadn’t, she might have realized my identity yet chose to hide it—how should I deal with her?

Really, it was an endlessly awkward predicament.

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