Imagine this scenario.
The person you like has fallen asleep hugging you, wearing only a thin cloth garment.
Their sweet breath dampens your hair, their soft touch presses against your face, and their body heat, hot like a branding iron, transmits through your touching skin.
Would it really be possible to maintain reason and not be swept away by impulse in such a situation?
‘Endure…! You must endure, Friede…!’
For Friede, it was possible.
‘Hang in there…! If you do something here, it’s all over…!’
Unlike Hilde who had fallen into a deep sleep, Friede was waging a fierce internal battle with her eyes wide open, biting her lip.
A battle against the impulse to slip her fingers between Hilde’s legs right now and engrave an unforgettable memory on that body, to fully enjoy this one night Hilde had allowed in a way she hadn’t permitted.
However, Friede’s reason clenched its teeth and withstood the temptation of impulse, constantly reminding herself that this was one step back for two steps forward.
For the future she desired with Hilde, she had to endure now no matter how much she wanted it.
If she crossed the line once, she wouldn’t be able to control her own impulses afterwards. She would keep going until Hilde woke up moaning and writhing.
No, she probably wouldn’t stop even after Hilde woke up. Until dawn broke and the sun rose. Maybe even after that.
And after fully enjoying Hilde’s body and satisfying her own desires, what would await her afterwards?
Needless to say, it would be nothing but ruin.
Because that would be fulfilling only her own greed while completely disregarding Hilde’s body, heart, affection, and goodwill.
She couldn’t do such a thing to the person she liked.
‘…That would be like what Gunther did.’
Friede squeezed her eyes shut, telling herself this.
It was the first time in her entire life that the character named Gunther had been of help to her.
The moment she recalled his face, her excited body cooled down and she was able to regain her reason.
Although it didn’t dry her already soaked underwear, at least it prevented it from getting wetter.
“Whew…”
Friede, who had finally regained her reason thanks to Gunther’s face, let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her limbs that had been tense with tension.
‘Right, this is enough for today. Don’t be impatient. This alone is already great progress, isn’t it?’
There was no reason to rush and ruin things.
Although the direction was slightly off, they had confirmed each other’s feelings, and just hugging and sleeping together was already an incomparably intimate contact compared to before.
Even though Hilde said she was allowing this just for today as a special case, once she had allowed it once, it shouldn’t be too difficult to change the promise of ‘just for today’ into an everyday ‘today too’.
Friede believed this.
No, she resolved.
She resolved to continue striving to make Hilde consider sleeping together with Friede not as a reward or comfort, but as an ordinary everyday occurrence.
Until it becomes completely natural for her to spread her arms wide towards Friede herself when it’s time to sleep, urging her to come in quickly.
Waiting for the moment when such a wish would become reality, Friede buried her face deeply in the pillow allowed to her tonight.
Into the large breasts that were warm and soft like a mother’s embrace, soft and squishy like a water bag filled with milk, emitting a faint lemon scent.
“…Hehe.”
Although it became a bit difficult to breathe as the undulating flesh covered her entire face, Friede was nonetheless completely happy.
It was a face that couldn’t be happier.
“Mmm…”
Until the moment when Hilde, who had been letting out quiet moans in her sleep, hugged her even deeper and pressed her lower abdomen tightly against her, as if feeling good from the warmth.
The moment when Hilde’s two legs wrapped around her lower body and pulled, and the flesh full of moisture and heat touched without a gap through the thin cloth.
“Huk…!”
Friede immediately realized.
That there exists an even greater happiness above happiness.
‘Ugh…!’
Right after that, Friede proved that she possessed the qualifications of a hero.
By restraining with superhuman endurance the reflexive movement of her hips trying to rub against flesh.
A superhuman endurance that ordinary people couldn’t even dream of imitating. A hero was a hero even in bed.
At least she was, if no one else.
* * *[ Hilde ]* * *
…Maybe I should quit drinking.
That was the thought that came to mind as soon as I woke up, holding my slightly throbbing head.
No, to be precise, it was the thought that came to mind as soon as I saw Friede, whom I had been tightly hugging like a doll.
‘Ugh… what on earth did I say…’
Unlike the previous drinking session where I had blacked out, this time I hadn’t drunk excessively, so the memories of last night remained very clear.
Friede’s confession caught up in the mood, my answer acting like some tragic heroine, and what followed after.
Saying I’d allow it just for today as a special case. Even if I was drunk, really, what kind of nonsense was I spouting?
“Haah…”
Ah, this is really embarrassing.
I let out a sigh close to a groan while covering my face with my right hand.
Although it was my own actions, my own words… now that I was sober and recalling them, I felt my entire face heating up from embarrassment.
Even if I was drunk and caught up in the mood, how could a grown man act like some fatally charming woman?
They say people who are deeply immersed in VR games come to their senses to find themselves walking on all fours with a collar, declaring themselves a female dog, and this is exactly what I was like yesterday.
It’s been nearly half a year since I entered this woman’s body.
I wondered if my own sense of self had twisted to fit this body without me realizing, becoming closer to a woman unlike before.
…I need to be careful. At this rate, I might end up really declaring myself a female dog later. For real.
It was a thought that sent chills down my spine.
Since it was a common scene I had often seen on the internet in the original world, the moment I had that thought, the scene immediately played out in my mind.
[Hilde is a female dog…♡]
‘Are you crazy? What female dog? Whose female dog am I supposed to be anyway?’
The image of myself, naked except for a collar, crouching like a dog with hearts in my eyes, slightly extending my clenched fists forward.
And someone holding the end of that leash, looking down at me with satisfaction and superiority.
Just imagining it made my back tremble with fear.
‘Stop thinking…!’
I shook my head vigorously, trying hard to erase the vivid scene that had appeared in my mind.
A voluntary declaration of giving up human rights, how horrible. I’d rather stab my own heart and give up on life than become like that.
Thinking back to the original novel, it’s certain that this world itself is perfect for turning Brunhilde into a female dog…
But didn’t even that buck-toothed uncle who gave birth to chicken instead of a child cry out? That we won’t become slaves.
The same goes for me.
I’d rather die than become a female dog.
I’ve been struggling to live here, running away to avoid becoming an RDO heroine, but being a female dog is a status with human rights regressed about 500 steps further than an RDO heroine.
To voluntarily accept such a status?
Not a chance. I’d rather die than that.
“Right, no way…”
“…What is?”
The words of resolution that escaped without me realizing. Friede, who had opened her eyes by now, asked while wrapping her arms around my waist and looking up at me.
Fatigue was evident in her golden eyes, which still hadn’t shaken off the sleepiness.
She looks like she didn’t sleep well. No, more importantly.
“Um, did you sleep well, Friede? If you’re awake, could you please…”
I greeted her with an awkward smile and tapped Friede’s arms wrapped around my waist, asking her to remove them.
She’s a girl who even confessed her feelings for me, if I let her keep hugging my waist like this, she might think I’m giving her a chance.
Given my position where it’s difficult to accept her feelings, I should avoid actions that might give such impressions as much as possible.
…Yes, I know. You might think, what’s with suddenly worrying about giving impressions when I voluntarily hugged her and jumped into bed?
But I can’t help it, right? That was something I did while drunk. An unintentional accident, you see.
…Good grief.
I never imagined I’d be in a position to make such pathetic excuses like ‘It was because of the alcohol.’
But when the situation actually arose, such excuses came out so smoothly.
Well, self-reflection can be postponed. For now, I needed to remove these arms first.
If possible, it would be best if Friede removed her arms on her own.
If I forcibly remove them, it would look like I’m drawing a firm line as soon as morning came, which would make me seem like trash who cuts off contact after a one-night stand.
That’s why, instead of removing her arms myself, I asked her to remove them…
“…Mmm, well, you see…”
Instead of nodding and removing her arms from around my waist, Friede looked up at me with half-closed eyes, smiling broadly as she said,
“…I don’t want to. I’m going to sleep more. You should sleep more too, Hilde.”
“What, no, wait a minute…!”
A childish whim. A girlish charm with a strange hint of sexiness in her tone.
However, the strength in the arms holding my waist was on a completely different level from a child or a girl.
Thud.
With a strength so strong that resistance was impossible without using Iron Arm, she pulled my upper body, which had been sitting on the bed, forcing me to lie down halfway.
It was shocking. Enough to make me open my eyes wide in surprise.
What’s with her, was she always this physically strong?
No, given how she swings around that huge greatsword, of course she’d be strong… but to this extent?
It was unbelievable. It meant that this girl, a full head shorter than me, actually had pure physical strength even greater than mine.
And not just slightly stronger than me, but a difference that felt almost like that between an adult and a child.
“Uh, um, Friede…? Just, for a moment. This…”
“…Yaaawn.”
I twisted my body trying to escape somehow, flustered like a deer caught in a trap, but Friede just let out a long yawn and closed her eyes again.
‘What is this…’
A situation I couldn’t escape from without using Iron Arm. However, I couldn’t activate Iron Arm. If I did, Friede’s arms would break.
Therefore, I had no choice but to continue lying there for a while, trembling with bewilderment, unable to do anything.
“Mmm…”
And then I dozed off again.
“…What kind of situation is this?”
Until Amy, who had come to my inn room for today’s work, expressed her impression mixed with bewilderment and annoyance at the scene she witnessed as soon as she entered.