My Korean conscience pricks me if I sleep on the bed. But the bed is a bit too narrow for us to sleep together.
When the room’s owner says this, what rebuttal is possible for someone staying over for one night?
“…Uh, then… excuse me…”
In the end, Friede had no choice but to move her belongings she had brought from her room to a corner of my room, quietly take off her outer clothes, and sit alone on the bed.
Her belongings were just armor and weapons, a backpack, and an opened bottle of alcohol, befitting an adventurer.
“Right, sleep well. We have to work tomorrow too.”
I leaned back against the sofa’s armrest and lay down, taking another sip of wine as I bid her goodnight.
“Yes… after I finish drinking this.”
Friede answered while slightly lifting the bottle of alcohol she had brought from her room.
“Go ahead.”
Seeing there was no glass, it seems she intends to drink straight from the bottle.
With that face, drinking alcohol straight from the bottle, I thought it would be a sight that would get her immediately arrested by the police in my original world, but…
Surprisingly, Friede is a 20-year-old adult with that face, so it wouldn’t be a problem even by original world standards.
“Gulp, gulp, gulp. Phaaah…!”
Visually, it was a scene I couldn’t get used to no matter how many times I saw it.
Anyway, Friede and I spent a relaxing time enjoying light drinks until we felt sleepy.
* * *
About thirty minutes passed.
‘I finished it… Maybe I should have brought another bottle.’
I clicked my tongue regretfully as I pushed the empty bottle to the corner of the table.
I had emptied the bottle pleasantly, but it felt somewhat lacking. I wondered if this was what incomplete combustion felt like.
But it would be awkward to go downstairs and ask for another bottle at this hour. It’s a bit disappointing, but I should stop drinking here for today and get a good night’s sleep.
As I made up my mind like that, habitually undoing my tied hair and taking off my outer clothes to hang on the sofa back-
“Um… Hilde. Can I… ask you something?”
Friede, who had finished drinking her alcohol straight from the bottle and put it down on the floor, spoke to me.
She was lying flat on her stomach on the bed, resting her chin on both hands. The fact that she had taken off her shoes proved that there was at least some common sense and morality in this world too.
Right, you must always take off your shoes when getting on the bed.
Anyone would be innocent even if they cut off the legs along with the boots of those who lies on someone else’s bed without taking off their shoes.
Like Procrustes from Greek mythology who invited travelers to lie on his bed and immediately fitted them to size.
“Come on, why are you asking for permission for such a thing? If you have something to ask, ask away. We’re in the same party, aren’t we?”
I took off my leather pants and hung them next to my outer clothes, then completely lay down on the sofa, covering myself with a roughly washed and dried cloak instead of a blanket.
“…Right. We’re in the ‘same party’…”
Friede murmured quietly in a slightly muffled tone.
It was a strange expression. She was smiling, but it didn’t seem like she was genuinely happy. There even seemed to be a hint of something like regret.
“Um, Hilde.”
Friede opened her mouth again.
“Do you remember Mr. Bardu and Ms. Jane?”
“Bardu? Of course I remember. How could I forget after just a few days?”
What’s with this sudden question?
“But why?”
It was a question whose intent I couldn’t even guess, one that would deserve about 20 points if included in a test.
“Ah, well, those two, I mean… lovers? They were lovers, right? Is that… common among adventurers…?”
Oh, um. So that’s what she was curious about.
Come to think of it, Friede was at an age where she’d be interested in such things.
Because of her brutal behavior of chopping up monsters and bandits alike with her greatsword, I hadn’t even thought about it usually.
“Well, it’s not rare, I guess? I’ve seen it a few times myself.”
Romance between party members. While it’s not extremely frequent, it’s not so rare that it’s hard to find either.
“Is that so…?”
“Yeah. When you have each other’s backs and go through hardships together, eating and sleeping together, it’s natural for affection to grow. Then it’s just a moment before feelings develop.”
Of course, whether that affection develops into romantic love is a separate issue.
Perhaps because they’re in a profession with a short average lifespan, most adventurers prefer casual one-night stands over long-term relationships even when affection grows.
It wasn’t quite the animal kingdom, but there was a joke going around that if an adventurer meets a unicorn, they should run away first.
“…Um, what do you think about such people, Hilde?”
Me? Well, I don’t have any particular thoughts about it.
To be honest, as long as it doesn’t cause me trouble, I don’t care.
However…
“I’ve seen several parties break up over this issue. That’s how it usually is with matters of the heart, right?”
All sorts of things happen.
Like close comrades fighting with knives over one woman, or a party with a 3:1 gender ratio ostracizing one person and the three forming a relationship, leading to the remaining one massacring them.
There was even a case where a man who had separately messed with three women in the party was eventually caught, causing a great tragedy?
After killing each other, the last remaining woman left somewhere with the man’s severed head.
There were rumors that she fled to another country by boat across the river, or that she walked deep into a dungeon. Either way, it was truly a tragedy of tragedies.
“Ah… I see…”
Friede let out a faint sigh.
“So… you dislike such things, Hilde…?”
“Well, it’s not that I dislike it… just that there have been many such incidents.”
Contrary to Friede’s misunderstanding, I didn’t particularly harbor any antipathy towards such things.
If they like each other, what can I do? As long as they don’t cause trouble for the party, it’s fine.
Even Bardu and Jane we met before were openly dating, but since they didn’t particularly cause me any trouble, I just ignored it and let it pass.
“Personally, I don’t think it’s something to particularly like or dislike. As long as they don’t cause problems, I don’t really care either way?”
While I’m a bit wary because adventurers’ romances often do cause trouble, if they don’t cause any harm, I have no interest either way.
“You don’t care either way… I see. That’s so like you, Hilde.”
Friede chuckled while alternately wiggling her legs. I’m not sure what she meant by saying it’s like me.
Is it because I seem far from romance at first glance? Well, that’s not wrong. I wasn’t interested.
How could I, a nationally wanted fugitive, set up house with someone while hiding behind a disguised identity? It wouldn’t be right to do that to the other person, not to mention myself.
No, it would be difficult to find a partner in the first place.
While this body is undeniably a perfect female physique that no one could argue against, I still clearly remembered the time when I lived in my original body.
For someone like me to harbor feelings for a man would be impossible even if the heavens split in half and a goddess came down to threaten me.
So if I had to consider a partner, I’d have to look among women… but women who like women aren’t that common a preference, are they?
It wasn’t a very major preference even in the original world, let alone in this world which was originally an RDO novel with a male protagonist.
Whoever created such a world would hardly have set same-sex romance as a common phenomenon when there was no need to include it.
Rather than pairing a female character in such a world setting with another woman, it would be more typical to put both women in the protagonist’s harem.
In the first place, even if there was a woman who liked me, it would be difficult to accept.
That woman would like me seeing me as another woman, but the soul inside this body isn’t female, so if we dated, I’d end up deceiving her in the end.
For these reasons, I had decided to consider romance as something completely unrelated to me since falling into this world.
…In fact, even in the original world, I hadn’t had much connection with romance.
“Th-then, what about you, Hilde? I mean, do you have, or have you had, any man you’re interested in…?”
Therefore, when Friede asked this question, I could answer immediately without much thought.
“A man? I haven’t had any. And I won’t in the future. Probably never in my life?”
“…Oh, um. Is that so…? That’s a bit unexpected.”
“Unexpected?”
I asked back, wondering what she meant, and Friede flinched slightly, startled.
“Ah, ah. Um, was that rude of me…? It’s not that, I mean, I thought someone as pretty… no, as cool as you, Hilde, must have had many people confessing to you from before…”
Friede rambled on with an explanation in a confused tone. It was a bit amusing to see her fretting, wondering if her words had been rude.
That aside, confessions…
Well.
There were mountains of guys trying to rape me, but I’ve never actually received anything like a love confession.
Telling me to spread my legs obediently isn’t a love confession, is it?
In the first place, even if someone confessed, it would only be unpleasant, so I openly put up an iron wall.
“I haven’t had any. Even if I did, I wouldn’t have accepted them. Love confessions from dark men are rather unpleasant to me.”
“Ah, I see. Is that so?”
What do you mean by ‘I see,’ Friede?
Friede started grinning as if suddenly pleased by my words.
Her mood seemed to be jumping around like a madman, making me think that the alcohol she drank earlier must have been quite strong.
“Friede. What do you mean by ‘I see’…”
“Then what about women? How do you feel about women?”
Friede cut off my words and fired off a new question in a rapid tone as if rapping. It was almost like an interrogation.
…How do I feel about women?
“Women are a bit better…”
A reflexive answer. Friede’s tone was so sudden that an honest reply came out before I knew it.
Honestly, I regretted it as soon as I said it.
A woman who likes women sharing a room with me. If you swap the genders, isn’t this a complete horror story?
Of course, even if one has a preference for the same gender, it doesn’t mean they indiscriminately like anyone, so such an idea itself is a kind of prejudice, but…
…I don’t know how Friede might react.
In the worst case, this single remark could quickly make our relationship awkward and eventually lead to the party breaking up.
So I stopped mid-sentence and tried to make excuses to gloss over the words I had already blurted out.
“Is that so…?”
However, Friede’s reaction was almost the opposite of what I expected. Friede pulled up the corners of her mouth, beaming with a bright smile.
For some reason, it was an expression that made my chest feel a bit chilly just looking at it.
I hope not, I really hope not, but…
Could it be that she likes me or something like that…?
It can’t be. Surely not.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down my cheek.
For the opposite reason from my previous concerns, it seemed that a crisis that could cause this party to break up had arrived.