The Female Knight Who Gets Flustered To Death At An Inn During An Expedition Is Too Cute (Sleeping Together In One Futon)

Having thoroughly enjoyed Karen-san’s soft white skin under the pretext of treating her injury, I headed back to my room in a blissful mood.

It would have been even better if we could have stayed in the mixed bath together, but Karen-san flatly refused and ultimately threw me out.

Still, the sight of Karen-san without a single stitch of clothing had already been firmly engraved into my mind. Even if someone suddenly smashed me in the side of the head with a massive hammer right now, I was confident I wouldn’t forget it.

That said, I no longer felt like doing anything else today. Even though it had been an easy mission, this was the first time I had handled everything alone, so my body must have been tired after all, because my eyelids were starting to feel strangely heavy.

“—I guess I’ll just go to sleep for today.”

When I entered the room, a sleeping area had already been prepared in the middle, probably by the elderly innkeeper while I was in the bath.

A fluffy blanket had been laid out over pure white sheets—I would probably fall asleep instantly the moment I crawled inside. Apparently, in this farming village, rather than beds, it was normal to lay bedding directly on the floor—or, more precisely, on something they called “tatami.”

Without another word, I dove straight onto it.

“Fnya… I feel like I’m going to have a nice dream tonight…”

Wrapped in its warmth, my consciousness gradually began to fade.

Ahh, how comfortable.

At times like this, I found myself thinking how wonderful it would be if Karen-san were lying beside me.

Karen-san’s skin, which I had properly touched for what was practically the first time.

It had been so feminine and beautiful that it was hard to imagine such a body unleashing her tremendous swordsmanship.

I wanted to be closer to Karen-san.

Even if it could only happen in my dreams—

As those hazy thoughts drifted through my mind, Karen-san’s face suddenly appeared right in front of me.

“Huh? It’s Karen-san. Hehe, I’m happy you even showed up in my dream.”

I began patting the cheek presented right before me. Normally, something like this would absolutely, absolutely never be permitted, but this was a dream. An illusion created by me.

In that case, there shouldn’t be any problem with touching her. So I played with Karen-san’s firm cheeks to my heart’s content. Sometimes I patted them with my palm as though leaving handprints, and other times I poked them repeatedly with my fingers.

I wondered how Karen-san would react to me at a time like this. Normally she would probably yell, “Don’t touch me so casually, idiot!” But the Karen-san before me now was an illusion—the ideal Karen-san of my imagination. So just once, I wanted to see her react with something like, “Hey now☆, I’m not your mother or big sister, you know. Bad boy!”

—However.

“Eek…!? H-Hey, Haru, stop…!”

But the Karen-san in my dream—the illusion—responded a little differently from what I had expected. Her face still turned bright red in panic, but rather than gently scolding me, she shoved me away as though shouting, “Stay back!”

“That’s mean, Karen-san. I want to become even closer to you.”

“C-Closer…!? Y-You idiot, what are you saying in a situation like this!?”

“Guh!?”

With an especially loud shout, the illusionary Karen-san drove a powerful kick straight into my solar plexus. For a dream, that sure hurt a lot—

Or so… I… thought——.

“H… huh…?”

At that moment, I came back to my senses.

When I opened my eyes, Karen-san was right there, wrapped tightly in the blanket as though protecting her entire body.

“Cap… tain… why…?”

“Why are you in my room, Haru!?”

Huh? Why?

Obviously because this was my room—

“…Ah.”

And then I realized something.

This had happened before.

Immediately before this, in the bath, something almost exactly like this had happened.

Karen-san apparently realized it too.

“That old hag! That old hag did it again!? We came here for work! For a mission! What does she think the two of us are doing here!?”

Well, we were a young man and woman, so… you know.

“That said, it’s already the middle of the night. It’s impossible to have our rooms separated now.”

“Hmm… You’re right about that, Haru.”

“Exactly. So—”

I pointed toward Karen-san—or more accurately, toward the single sleeping space in the room.

“Captain, shall we sleep together?”

“Wha————!?”

At my words, Karen-san leaped backward with astonishing speed.

“W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-What are you saying!??”

Clutching her chest as though desperately protecting her chastity, Karen-san was already more shaken than I had ever seen her, her eyes spinning in complete confusion.

“Captain, is that… not okay?”

“O-O-O-O-Of course it’s not, you idiot!? An unmarried man and woman spending the night in the same room is already scandalous enough, but sleeping in the same futon while embracing each other… J-Just thinking about it is outrageous!!!”

Just because we would be sharing the same bedding didn’t mean we had to embrace each other.

But pointing that out might make Karen-san die of embarrassment, so I decided to let that part slide for now.

“But there isn’t any spare bedding in this room, you know? Unless you’re suggesting one of us simply lie down somewhere on the floor.”

“Th-That’s…”

But Karen-san surely wouldn’t consider that an option. This farming village became especially cold from late at night until early morning. Sleeping without even a blanket would affect our condition tomorrow and interfere with our next mission.

“Doing good work is difficult without a healthy body—that’s something you always tell us, Captain. Wouldn’t it be questionable for you to break that rule yourself?”

“Ugh…”

“Come on, Captain. Over here. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Grrr…”

Karen-san glanced at me two or three times as I sat in the middle and beckoned her over with a small wave.

“I… I suppose it can’t be helped. It would be unreasonable to complain at this hour, so… just for tonight, I’ll agree to it.”

Muttering that with her head lowered, Karen-san cautiously shuffled over to the bedding where I was waiting.

—Ahh, you’re cute. You’re so cute, Karen-san.

Karen-san, twenty-nine years old, had fallen for my smooth talking and agreed to sleep beside me in no time at all—she was ridiculously easy to persuade, and ridiculously cute.

Afterward, Karen-san and I lay comfortably side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and I was able to sleep soundly. It was a truly happy moment.

Incidentally, the next morning, Karen-san had such dark circles under her eyes that it looked as though someone had painted black ink beneath them.