My Room Has Become a Dungeon's Rest Area (LN) - Book 2: Extra 1 (2)

「That situation was no laughing matter – I might have been attacked by a monster at any moment. I was conscious and I could see, but it was dark……And my body wouldn’t move……I was terrified……」

It seemed the wise sage’s name was Sir Thor.

As his carefree……no, gentle face suggested, he was a very kind person.

Although he’d saved my life, he wasn’t trying to demand gratitude from me.

But I’m a knight. I have to pay my debts.

But how could someone like me repay a wise sage who lived amongst all these incredible artifacts?

I had almost nothing on me. My sole asset was my sword, but I had lost even that.

I thought as hard as I could……but in this situation, all that I could give him was……myself?

W-wait a minute. What am I thinking?

S-sir Thor isn’t a goblin. He doesn’t want that.

This is no good. Ever since I had collapsed in the dungeon, I had only had weird thoughts.

I’d heard from other adventurers that, when you’re alert to the possibility of death, sexual thoughts come into your head.

「I’ll go prepare a bath.」

What? A b-bath? In the middle of a dungeon? Suddenly, I couldn’t believe it. Surely both water and fuel are very precious?

But perhaps when he said he’d prepare a bath now, he meant to do it for me.

「What? A bath? In a dungeon? But I’d feel bad for doing something like that.」

「It’s fine, it’s fine.」

According to Sir Thor, the wonderful floor that blanketed this room was called tatami. He put me in the tatami room, since I still couldn’t move very well, and went to prepare a bath.

Why is Sir Thor…… encouraging me to take a bath that will use his precious water?

P-perhaps he… wants to make me beautiful?

S-surely that’s not it.

I don’t get that impression from him. I think it’s a genuine act of kindness.

「Actually……I got dirty in the dungeon……That’s embarrassing!」

I checked over the dirty condition of my body, which was still moving creakily.

Aaaaaaaah! I realised what a state the lower half of my body and the tatami underneath it were in.

Oh no! I’d –

Sir Thor returned.

「ーWait what!? Why are you kneeling down!?」

「I, I-I-I-I-I’m so sorry. When you talked about the bath I finally realised but……what a disgraceful thing I have……」

On top of that, I’d had such unthinkable suspicions of Sir Thor. There was no way he’d be interested in a filthy girl like me.

Oh, I’m such an idiot! Although I’m no longer a knight, I never intended to abandon the spirit of knighthood, but I’m a disgrace to all knights.

「No……but you couldn’t have been able to go to the toilet because you were paralysed, right? And it couldn’t have been helped because I scared you, right?」

Uhhhhhh… It wasn’t just that.

It’s so embarrassing I can’t say it.

What was that? ‘Because I scared you’? I went pale.

So it wasn’t after I came here that I lost control of my bladder, it was in the dungeon? Or on Sir Thor’s back?

I went white, and then my face flushed. Automatically, I reached out to touch Sir Thor’s waist.

「I-It’s wet.」

Probably – no, almost certainly – it was wet with the same liquid that had soaked my lower body.

「Ah……It’s because I carried you, Ria.」

「H-how could I have made…….a wise sage do something…. like that?」

「T-there, there, it’s not that uncommon.」

「That’s not true at all!」

I was so apologetic and confused that I burst into tears.

I didn’t even really understand what kind of tears they were.

「I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice all of a sudden……」

「No, it’s alright.」

「Even if you forgive me……I can’t get married anymore at this rate.」

From my own words, I understood the meaning of my tears, and I was aghast.

In this hopeless situation, I was still thinking about selfish womanly happiness that I ought to have discarded.

I was so ashamed that by rights I ought to have committed suicide.

「If you can’t then I would gladly take you……」

「What?」

Sir Thor looked away, blushing.

W-what he’d said just now……Was that what he meant?

N-no. I cast aside my womanhood to become a knight. No! But…….well, I’m an ex-knight……

「W-w-w-w-what are you saying!? Wise sage…」

No! But it was only Sir Thor who’d seen me in this shameful state.

「No, I-I mean. It’s a joke…….maybe……..hey…….」

A joke? My mind went blank. It was strange, but I couldn’t think at all.

「Is it……a joke?」

I knew I was angry, but why did I have to be angry with this wise sage who had saved my life and shown me every kindness?

I didn’t understand the reason, but in any case I poured all my energy into putting on a smiling face.

「I guess there are jokes that can be said and those that shouldn’t be.」

「That’s right. Boys cannot go back on their word, you know?」

Still puzzled and not really understanding, I pressed Sir Thor to agree that boys couldn’t go back on their word.

「T-that’s right. Boys cannot go back on their word.」

The moment I heard that, for some reason, I suddenly got embarrassed and became unable to look Sir Thor in the face.

「I will go take a bath now. Where is it?」

I tried to escape to the bath for the time being.

「Ah, wait a while. There’s a lot I need to teach you.」

Saying this, Sir Thor – worrying about me, because my body still wasn’t moving well – pulled me by the hand and helped me to stand up.

How else can I put it? It was embarrassing.

I got the feeling that it wasn’t just the embarrassment of letting him see me in a state that was unbecoming of a knight.

Before Sir Thor’s carefree……no, gentle face, I was – against my better judgement – forgetting that I was living as a knight.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎

The bath was a disaster.

Well, no, the bath itself was amazing, but I had no idea how to use the wise sage’s artifacts……It was even more embarrassing than having wet myself.

This was so hopeless, I might as well be dead. No, I wished that I was dead.

But whatever I did, Sir Thor smiled and forgave me.

Although I knew I mustn’t, I ended up depending on his kindness time and again.

Since I was afraid of sleeping by myself in a dark room because I’d collapsed when I was alone in the dungeon, I went to sleep with Sir Thor.

「Hey, Ria. This mattress artifact is really comfortable so would you like to sleep on it together? Actually, yeah, let’s do it. Let me show off the artifact I’m really proud of.」

Sir Thor laughed as he said it, but I’m sure that he was taking my situation into account.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎

I slept alongside Sir Thor. We stayed together in the bed until morning.

That is to say Sir Thor did me the favour of sleeping beside me, since I was afraid of sleeping in a dark room.

We didn’t do anything unseemly whatsoever.

B-but even sleeping with me……I wonder if that really was all right.

I’ve heard that when a woman is sleeping beside them, men start to want to do those sorts of things.

I must not hold any appeal for Sir Thor at all.

Or maybe Sir Thor doesn’t do that kind of thing because he’s an honest man.

I’m a little sad. I hope it’s the latter.

Suddenly, I realised that the way I was thinking about it, I really did hope it was true.

Wait a minute, Ria! Don’t you feel any shame, as a former knight?

But Sir Thor had already seen me in plenty of embarrassing states.

Sir Thor was kind and put me completely at ease, as did this room.

It was hard to hold on to the version of myself that had been living as a knight up until now.

If I went on like this, I really would end up taking advantage of Sir Thor’s kindness.

It made me sad, but I had to get better and go back home.

Time flies when you’re having fun. Or rather, the artifact called cola had cured me of the effects of the paralysis poison, and I had recovered my stamina in this comfortable space.

But there were still certain circumstances which kept me from returning to the surface immediately.

「Could it be that there’s a reason why you can’t go back up from the dungeon immediately, Ria?」

Sir Thor had even managed to work that out.

「Yes……actually, I did have a companion but……um, so……but we got split up, and I lost my sword as well. It is rather impossible for me to go back up alone.」

Perhaps he didn’t want me to go back……No matter how you look at it, surely I was overthinking it to make it convenient for myself.

After all, if I thought about it normally, having me stay would probably be a nuisance for him.

「I would think that some adventurers are bound to pass by here when they come to explore this dungeon, so I will join them when they do come.」

「But will anyone pass by here anytime soon? And there’s also a chance that the adventurers might reject you when you ask to join them.」

「Depending on the situation, there is a possibility that it might take quite a long time. If I wait in the dungeon every day, there’s bound to be someone coming through here in a week.」

「A week, huh?」

「Would I be causing too much trouble by staying in your house until then, wise sage?」

If it was going to cause him any trouble at all, I was resolved to face up to the dungeon with the aim of getting back to the surface, even though I was alone and weaponless.

But, with no confusion whatsoever, Sir Thor said,

「You’re not causing any trouble at all! Why, I’m a wise sage after all!」

There were times when I suddenly thought… Even though Sir Thor had made his home in the depths of a dungeon, and possessed such artifacts, sometimes he seemed like a very normal guy.

Which was great, but…

「If you want to……you can stay here forever.」

The wise sage was probably saying that so I wouldn’t feel like I was troubling him by staying here.

Even so, I was so overwhelmed with happiness that tears welled up in my eyes.

「I’m really happy……but I have to return up there no matter what so……」

「I-I guess you’re right……」

But he wouldn’t be this kind to a girl he really hated, right?

That’s what I wanted to think, since I’d done nothing but embarrass myself. Or rather, that’s how I wanted things to be.

If that was the case, I wanted to get up the courage to ask him something I’d been thinking about for a while now.

「But, could I come to this room…….to meet you again, Sir Thor?」

Sir Thor’s whole face lit up in a smile.

「Of course you can! Come back anytime.」

That was worth plucking up great courage for, more so than any enemy I’d fought as a knight.

No – perhaps the emotions that I’d always felt in the depths of my heart, emotions I felt as a woman, had grown stronger.

That’s how I came to be living with the wonderful wise sage until I might encounter another party of adventurers.

I’ve decided to believe that Sir Thor meant it when he said ‘Come back any time!’

I think that next time I want to come back to this room not as a knight or an adventurer but just as a woman.

And if I can……in front of Sir Thor……I want to be a little cuter.

I’ll go to meet him time and time again until he sees me as a woman!