It's been about a week since the news came to our village. Breathlessly, a messenger announced at the town square that the nobles of Renais and their army managed to save us from the demonic horde that had plagued the lands, and that night, the village began a massive celebration. Not just because we were saved from danger, but also because the army that saved us included three knights that came from our village—Franz, Forde and Kyle. So really, our village had a major part to play in saving the world! So that was a great reason to celebrate, and celebrate we did. For several days, in fact, all day and night the village was awash with celebration of the saving of the world and our hometown heroes.
But eventually, the celebration had to end, because we were running out of steam. People were downright exhausted, but only wanted to stop celebrating once it became clear that they really couldn't keep going. And as such, somewhere around midnight of the third day of celebration, everyone collectively decided it was time to get a good, long night of sleep. Everyone, except us, the skeleton crew of the inn—after all, if somebody were to ride into town and go to the inn, they'd expect someone to be there for them to get food or a room. And so, at about one o'clock at night, the inn is the only place in the village that is still lit up, and inside are three people: A barmaid, a cook, and me, the innkeeper. Everybody else is at home, sleeping, and really, we don't expect anyone to show up, hardly everyone ever does at night.
And yet, it is this particular night where we suddenly hear movement outside—the slow trot of a horse, the horse stopping outside the door, and someone landing on the ground and beginning to walk towards the front door. The three of us look at each other, unsure if we should get ready to serve someone or not, this is actually a new situation to us. But as the door opens and the person walks in, our jaws hit the floor—it is Franz! There he is, wearing the armor of the knights of Renais, and a bit older as we remember him, but it's undoubtedly our Franz! I immediately order the other two to get going and prepare the best food and drink we have for him as he slowly walks inside and sits down at the bar.
"Um... hello there... ${MC's name?}, was it? I think I still remember. Never really had to visit the inn when I lived here, after all. It's been a while, hasn't it?" he says, exhaustion visible on his face.
I walk out from behind the bar and up to him, giving him a friendly embrace, which he returns after a moment of hesitation. "Franz! It's been a while, indeed! You showed up a little bit late, actually... if you'd been here just a few hours ago, you could've seen our celebration of you!" I say before breaking the embrace again.
The look of confusion on his face is clear. "Celebration of me? Why would you be celebrating me?" he asks.
I shake my head. "Come on, Franz, you were part of the group that defeated the demon king! You saved the world! Sure, we were also celebrating all the others that were with you, but of course we were going to mostly celebrate our village hero! Well, and Forde and Kyle, of course."
Franz looks away, and I can tell there's a bit of discomfort in his expression. "Oh, I'm no hero... there were so many others that did more than I did, they should be the one celebrated, not me..." he mutters, a tinge of bitterness audible, and it makes me genuinely feel bad.
"Hey, come on, Franz. There's no way you don't get to call yourself a hero after what you were part of. How many people were in that group you were with?" I ask.
He thinks for a moment, then answers "About... thirty."
"Thirty? And are you saying your contributions didn't matter? That's like a small group of people, not a proper army that saves the world. There is no way you weren't a big part of this. Don't talk yourself down, Franz." I reply, laying my arm around his shoulder. "Hey, look, there's something worthy of a hero." I add, pointing towards the kitchen, where the cook just came out, holding some of his special roast, the meal that normally only gets served for special occasions—but, well, tonight is a special occasion.
As Franz eats, he tells us stories of the campaign against the demon lord, though it seems like he's really trying to focus on others' great deeds instead of his own. But with some goading, he does eventually tell us some of his own exploits as well, and of course they're just as heroic as the others. It seems like he's a bit down on himself for some reason, but we'll try and build him up a bit. And with some good food and drink, he does loosen up a little, but eventually, he yawns a bit.
"Are you tired, Franz? How long have you been riding?" I ask.
"I... think I've been riding for about six hours? And the last time I slept was, uh... two days ago?" he replies as I now notice his eyes have been a bit glazed over with exhaustion. "Just... give me a crappy room and I'll crash in it, I'll pay you later."
But that wasn't an option to me. "We could, but how about this: We'll just let you stay the night in our best room. And don't worry about paying, it's on the house. You saved the world, after all!"
For a moment, I could swear I saw a bit of a blush rise up in his cheeks, coloring his youthful face. "Yeah... I guess I did." he says, looking away, possibly embarrassed a little to be treated with all this reverence. He gets up from the bar stool, the chef and the barmaid start cleaning up the leftovers for him, and I start leading him up the stairs to our rooms. In particular, I lead him to the room at the end of the hallway, what we call our royal suite. Of course, it's not exactly worthy of being in the palace of Renais, but at the very least, it's the best bedroom you're going to find in this village, I made sure of that and take great pride in it too. And Franz deserves nothing but the best. As we enter the room, I can tell Franz is deeply impressed. The room has a large double bed, luxurious carpeting, nice furniture, a large amount of candles for a nice atmosphere, and even a small dining room area for when you want to eat in peace.
"Wow... and this is for me? I get to stay here for free? I... I don't think I deserve this, ${MC's name?}..." he asks, incredulous.
I wrap my arm around his shoulder. "Franz, remember, you saved the world. You're going to get everything this inn has to offer, and that includes my special massage service." I can tell that sentence intrigued him, and the expression on his face was inquisitive enough that I took it as a sign to elaborate. "You probably never knew this, but I do have quite the education in massaging. Picked some literature up from a traveling salesman and got a lot of practice. I bet you haven't had a good rest in a long time. So, what do you say, Franz? I can make all the knots in your muscles just fade away."
I can tell he's considering it, and after a few moments of silence, he nods. "Yeah. I could use that."
"Alright, hero. Just let me do all the work, OK? You've done so much for all of us, so just consider this your just reward."
And so, I motion for him to sit down on the bed, and begin undressing him. Bit by bit, I remove all that cumbersome armor he's been wearing, each piece softly clanging as it hits the carpet floor. He fidgets a bit as I do so, clearly not used to being undressed in such a manner, but I simply whisper gentle reassurances to him, and he seems to calm down. Before long, all his armor is on the floor, and all he's left wearing is a tunic and tights. Carefully, I then lift up his tunic, removing that as well and leaving him shirtless. Looking at him, I am struck with the feeling that what I'm looking at is no longer the little Franz I've known from back in the day. With all the training he's done to become a knight of Renais, he's grown into quite the specimen, with a slim and lithe body that still has just enough muscles all over to give him a very athletic build. He isn't large—both Forde and Kyle were always larger than him, and even age won't have him catching up in that regard—but that just makes him—dare I say it—cute. He's beautiful, cute, a good person, and just saved the world. It's almost like he's some sort of fairy-tale hero.
I motion for him to lay down on his stomach, and he complies, allowing me to begin the massage. The feeling of his muscles is wonderful, and from his reactions, I can tell it's working, with him letting out contented sighs every now and then. But as I massage him, I get an odd thought, and so I ask him "Say, Franz... while you were out on the campaign, you didn't really have any time for real intimacy, didn't you?".
This time, his blush is far more noticeable, and there's another moment of silence before he mutters a simple "Yeah...".
I keep massaging him and say "You know... I could help you with that. I would be honored to, in fact. You're a hero, and being able to make you feel good would be a great honor to me."
Another bout of silence, and I can tell he's seriously mulling it over as his eyes shut, leaving him deep in thought. Eventually, he simply nods.
"You won't regret this, I promise. I'll make you feel like the savior of the world you are." I whisper in his ear before I walk over to a nearby table and grab the special massage oil I keep for very special occasions.
I walk back to him and slowly reach inside the waistband of his tights, causing his face to go even more bright red in embarrassment. "Don't worry, Franz... I just need these out of the way for my special massage. Is that OK?" I ask.
Another nod, and so, I carefully pull off his tights and underwear in one slow motion, letting them drop to the carpet below and leaving him completely naked. Never would I have guessed that today, I would have Franz laying face down and naked on one of my beds. And oh, is he ever beautiful.
"Alright, time to get this massage going. You're going to love this, I promise." I then say, squirting some of the massage oil into my hands before