Chapter 8: 2.2

Aine was alone, left behind in the room waiting for Lunois to return. ‘Heat’ that would come without fail once a day—only this was something she couldn’t do anything about.

Always being left alone and such until becoming docile when she had just fallen into slavery… She had gone through nothing but misery.

Because of the effect of the collar, Aine hadn’t had even a single peaceful day in her life.

However, there was Lunois now. Aine knew full well that he cared for her to no end.

Gentle with his fingers, and would never try to do anything Aine would hate—that had been the case yesterday. …Though, today was a bit different.

“…” Recalling what had just happened, Aine’s body shivered.

She had thought she could endure it, but being touched by Lunois was a whole different story. His slow, gentle fingers felt so good in every way, and at the same time, so excruciating for Aine.

By no means did it feel unpleasant—but today, she just hadn’t been able to endure it.

So she had resisted, but Lunois had forcefully restrained her from doing so and continued the act.

…A-am, am I, aroused…?

The heat should have already stopped, yet she could feel her own private part getting wet—she could feel her body burning up when she remembered it.

Additionally, even the kiss at the time she’d been fingered forcefully… Her face was burning up; she couldn’t help but cover her face even though there was no one around.

It was because, she hadn’t expected Lunois to be so aggressive.

It’s, my fault I couldn’t hold down my voice, but… t-to think he went for a kiss… B-but…

—She couldn’t believe that the act earlier had felt the most pleasant—

No, that makes me… sound just like a pervert, doesn’t it. I mean, Lunois did it so my voice wouldn’t get out, so…

She could tell that he was being really earnest regarding Aine in every way. He had also apologized about the kiss; she could also tell that Lunois somewhat hadn’t bought it even after telling him that she didn’t mind it. And of course, saying she didn’t mind it would be a lie.

What bothered Aine was, whether Lunois hadn’t been reluctant himself about the kiss.

She would like to confirm it, but there was no way Aine could confirm such a thing out of her mouth.

If he were also doing it regularly and instead of at a place like this… he doesn’t hate it, maybe, Aine thought in such fashion.

Her voice had ended up becoming loud, so he had decided to kiss her without a second thought. For example, if this was at his home or a situation where she could let out her voice and it wasn’t blocked…

…I, shouldn’t even be in a position to think about such a thing… I wonder if it’s okay.

Hugging her knees, Aine was just repeatedly wondering to herself.

Always so in the time Lunois was not around—Aine liked Lunois. However, now a slave, she thought that she had no qualification to have feelings for Lunois.

And yet—although the effect of the collar—as she was touched by Lunois and the act kept on, that feeling grew stronger and stronger, a far cry from being repulsed.

Lunois… please come back soon.

Aine was alone, worrying until Lunois came back.

＊＊＊

Carrying several request papers with me, I returned back to the reception room where Aine was waiting for me. When I entered the room, Aine sent a glance at my direction, saying, “welcome back. It took a bit long, didn’t it.”

“Is that so? I don’t think it took that long, though…”

“I feel like I waited pretty long.”

“Then sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s now go back to the inn.”

“Nn.” Aine nodded and stood up.

Her body seemed to have recovered and she didn’t look wobbly.

Today’s objectives were done with this—though, I had planned to take some more jobs, but there was Aine so I hadn’t taken that many.

I needed to stay in the royal capital for a while to complete several jobs. For the most part, the requests were about ‘monsters’ subjugation. It wasn’t like it was only jobs that couldn’t be taken unless you were an S-rank, but the adventurer’s guild was flexible in that regard.

If the request was something needed to be done quickly and was of high urgency, it would often be sent to me.

In fact, there had been a time where I’d been requested to deal with monsters that had appeared near the main road connecting the royal capital and another town requiring the ability comparable to A-rank.

Although called ‘comparable to A-rank,’ there were also some monsters with a strength requiring manpower on the scale of several people; some monsters even possessed the strength of ‘many in number.’

And adventurers who were able to deal with all of that would be recognized as S-rank.

In my case, I was the type who was more suited to a one-on-one fight rather than a fight against several monsters, though.

When I exited the adventurer’s guild carrying the request papers I’d received under my arm, Aine peeked with a glance curiously.

“What kind of requests did you get?”

“It’s nothing that hard.”

“Hmmm, can I see it?”

“Sure—ah, I guess after we get back. There’s also some top-secret request here.”

“Ah… If that’s the case, then all right. But, ‘top-secret’ and all, you look like an S-rank adventurer.”

“Ahaha, I am an S-ranked adventurer, though.”

I had almost shown Aine the requests there and then.

Among the requests I had taken—there was a request for investigation regarding ‘the Empire’s mages.’ There were two of them; one of whom was a man in a black suit with a hat pulled down over the eyes.

The other one was a giant man; clad in a robe, but he was said to be so large that he could be mistaken for a monster.

Both of them seemed like the type of combination who would stand out when seen in any town, but according to the story, they even had arrived in this royal capital.

It was also one of the reasons why I had decided to stay here for a while.

Of course, it didn’t look like these two knew about Aine, thus it also didn’t look like I would be able to obtain any information about ‘Sexualification Collar.’

However, it might even become a stepping stone towards the Empire—if I were to accomplish this job, I’d be able to demand a value-added reward, which would be to have an investigation done on information about the Empire.

Merely anticipating a similar situation to arise in the future, I would like to know about the Empire side of things… Were I to give such a reason, even an adventurer like me would be able to get quite a bit of information.

It might be a roundabout way to go, but this was where I intended to start my investigation.

If Aine were to know this, she might even end up misunderstanding it as me ‘trying to go to the Empire;’ I would not want to add unnecessary worry to her.

I would like to have her get used to this life first, and have her return to the girl she used to be—a relationship where we could improve each other, sword to sword.

Suddenly, with that in my mind, an arms store dealing with bladed weapons caught my eye.

It was a small store and had items that suited it. A store that was just right for someone just starting as an adventurer. Aine also, she was looking at the store with interest.

“Say, let’s stop by there.”

“! You have something to buy?”

“It’s not like that, though; well, there might be just some good buy or something.”

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“…If you wanna go take a look, okay then.”

Aine didn’t outwardly say that she ‘wanna look,’ but that expression of hers looked somewhat happy.

Before she had become a knight, she had just been a ‘swordswoman.’ She must be especially interested in weapons she herself had handled, such as swords and daggers.

Along with Aine, I entered the store. I already could tell from the outside, but it really didn’t seem to have that unusual of equipment—however, they were all simple made and looked easy to handle.

The large number of different types of straight sword to suit various physiques and such was astounding.

I used to look at weapons in places like this when I had just become an adventurer as well.

“Ooh, there’s quite a lot of stuff. Since knights only get supplied stuff, I think it’s been a while since I took a look at stores like this.”

“I see. Are you still using straight swords?”

“Right. The heavier ones really are easy to swing. I mean there are lots of girls using rapiers, but they’re easy to break against something like hard monsters. Well, it won’t matter if you just reinforce it with magic power, but straight swords really just have more power to it.”

“I think I’m with you there. Well then, should I buy a sword that suits you?”

“! For me…?” Aine said, looking slightly surprised.

I nodded and looked at the lined up swords. “Which one you like?”

“Wa-wait a second. You said you’d buy a sword for me… umm, is that okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine… Is there a problem?” I asked and Aine held her tongue.

Seeing her reactions, she must still like swinging swords. …Even if life as a knight had become a traumatic one, the core of who she was shouldn’t have changed.

So, that must be why she was looking at the swords wistfully.

“Not really a problem, I mean… Is it okay, me using a sword?”

“If you don’t want to fight anymore, then I’m not gonna give you a sword. But, if you still want to swing a sword, I just think it’s better to carry one. In any case, we also have to do jobs together.”

“Your jobs…? But, I, umm… have, that.”

Just from the word ‘that,’ I knew what Aine tried to say.

She even had ended up in ‘heat’ at the adventurer’s guild today—she must have a fear of holding me down because of that were we to do jobs together.

Naturally, I’d also think twice about taking Aine to do my jobs together if I gave that a second thought.

However, it might become a burden to her if I wasn’t together with her and made her wait; more than anything, I was worried about leaving her alone.

I also believed that being together would have the distance between me and Aine to shorten. If there was any danger, I would just have to give my all to protect her.

“In that case, I’ll manage it so it’s gonna be all right.”

“Manage it… Doing it outside is, a bit…”

“Ah, that’s what you mean, huh…”

“B-but! I want to help you with your job, Lunois. Even now, I want to do what I can. That’s why, can we… buy this?”

What Aine chose was a sword with a silver blade with a slight green tinge.

It was a straight sword that looked easy to use and matched her physique—I took the sword Aine had chosen and, “I’m gonna go buy it, just a minute.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Carrying the sword, I headed towards the shopkeeper.

Aine was indeed a keen observer of swords—I felt, too, that she had picked a rather good one out of this store. Once she was a little more comfortable, I would like to bring her to some of the better stores. Because right now, she must have a bigger feeling of being reserved.

After sheathing the sword I had purchased, I made my way back to Aine.

And there—I saw a group of men standing in front of Aine.

“Lookie here, just when I thought someone glaring, it’s Lunois’ slave. What the hell you’re doing here?”

A big man—Dill—was standing in front of Aine, looking down at her.

Aine as well, she faced Dill undaunted.

The fact that I hadn’t taken a strong stand against him earlier, as expected, must have caused this. Aine, too, was conveying a clear intent to confront him. However, Aine clenched her fists tightly to hold it in, “…I’m not glaring or anything,” and she replied, briefly.

However, not looking pleased with that attitude of hers, Dill approached her while glaring.

“Hah! What a real irritating little girl. Got a good face, though… How ‘bout it? Really want me to train you?”

“I’d rather die.”

“The hell? You’re just a slave don’t go act all cocky!” Dill raised his fist.

Aine also readied herself in preparation for the blow. That sight of Aine bore a close resemblance of the old her. But, that fist was never swung down to Aine.

I drew out the sword on my waist and struck a blow—creating a wound on Dill’s big arm, deep enough to reach the bone. Blood scattered; I threw the robe I was wearing over Dill’s wound so that it would not hit Aine.

Dill was trying to hold down his wound in pain, but that movement of his came to a complete halt.

In surprise, Aine was also looking at me—at me who was positioning my sword against Dill’s neck.

“Arg, guh, bastard…!?”

“Lunois…!?”

The two were surprised. I looked down on Dill who fell on his knees, “it’s the second time, Dill,” and bluntly said to him.

“W-whaat…?”

“I have told you not to touch her. And yet, it looks like you tried to break it again. …It might be because I was being soft. So, this is your last warning—don’t touch her, don’t go near her, don’t show yourself in front of me again. If I ever see you again… I’ll cut your head off.”

Dill’s complexion changed. I’d never shown myself this headstrong before—I had never even drawn a sword in a town in the first place.

Dill’s followers were looking at me with a completely frightened look.

Although a quarrel between fellow adventurers could easily become a problem… if one side showed a thorough attitude, the problem could be solved surprisingly easily.

It took a form like redeeming from what Aine had criticized me earlier was not because what she had said—was to be honest, hard to say.

However, if I openly made this kind of display, at least there should be nobody who would try to mess with Aine.

Even Dill, who had been making an arrogant attitude towards me until now, finally showed an expression of unwillingness to fight, “I-I got it…! I’m not gonna appear in front of you anymore. I’m leaving this town…!” and said, hurriedly leaving with his comrades to run away from us—seeing that, I let out a small sigh.

“Aine, I want you to come to me right away in a situation like that.”

“…I-it’s because I thought you wouldn’t say anything back again.”

“If Dill didn’t raise his fist, I probably wouldn’t have said anything back, though. But, he tried to harm you—I’ll be mindful to do it that way from the beginning next time. Here, your sword.”

“…Next time, I will at least protect myself,” Aine said as she received the sword from me.

Certainly, she should at least be able to protect herself if she had a sword—with that in mind, if we ever came across such a situation, I would swing my sword faster than her next time. I swore so in my heart.

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