Due to unavoidable circumstances, I formed an adventuring party with Lily.
Since it would be easier to stay in contact if we lived nearby, I changed my residence to the adventurer's inn that Lily uses. It's near the main street of the trade city Gran Neal, in a location with a good view. It's far from the brothel district, but I confirmed that I can sneak out at night through the back alleys. A former Hero must always secure an escape route.
On the night I moved in, Lily immediately set a honey trap for me. Through the bedroom wall, she put on a show of m* * *urbating.
From beyond the wall came the sweet, sweet "Lord Hero......♥" voice of the uptight priestess Lily, along with muffled, pleasured sounds like "aa......♥".
Just don't listen? Impossible!
That outrageous priestess! Sometimes she even calls my name, "Lord Haruya......♥"‼
I end up pressing my ear flat against the wall‼‼‼
But since I know it's a honey trap to secure me, I won't go charging into Lily's bedroom. I was completely composed, and I endured it just fine.
Four times at night, once in the morning, I took care of myself and got through it safely. Hmph, I'm not a former Hero who falls for an obvious trap. Though now I'm a sage.
But after doing something like that, I thought Lily wouldn't be able to look me in the face properly......or so I thought. As if last night's shameful behavior had never happened, she ate breakfast with a composed face, and I found myself dizzy.
I feel like I should just abandon my preferences and lose my virginity at a brothel already.......
And so, today I head to the Adventurers Guild again. To protect everyone's peace, and to earn money for pleasurable s*x. Lily said she had some business at the church, so I'm alone.
Forming an adventuring party widens the range of quests you can accept. There are merits to it, at least. Which one should I pick? Should I take a quest with good pay?
As for quest content, Lily never interfered even in my past life. She seemed to understand that travel is harsh without funds, so she never complained even when I prioritized rewards. A companion who speaks up about quest content is a different story. Thanks to that, I did unpaid work any number of times.......
Well, if I keep thinking about people who aren't here, the dead Demon King will be laughing at me.
At the Adventurers Guild, bustling as always, I headed to the reception desk to complete the procedure for changing my emergency contact.
"Certainly, sir. So this is your new lodging, Lord Haruya."
The Beautiful Guild Receptionist smoothly filled out the form. Then she looked at me and let out a small sigh.
"Hah... Just to confirm-given your record, Lord Haruya, you would be subject to emergency summons from the nation and the Adventurers Guild. But if you remain at Bronze rank... under the current guild law, you are exempt. Are you truly not going to advance to Silver-Iron rank?"
"That's right. My own pace suits me best, but if the guild's in trouble, I'll lend a hand."
"Huh? Um, uh...? Did I mishear?"
"When someone's in trouble, we help each other out. Isn't that right?"
I smiled gracefully. The beautiful guild clerk took off her glasses once, carefully wiped the lenses, and then stared at me intently.
"You are Lord Haruya... aren't you?"
"Haha, what's wrong? Sleepwalking in the middle of the day?"
"Ah... no, it's just, today you seem... somehow refreshing..."
The Beautiful Guild Receptionist was tilting her head as if exhausted.
"If something's troubling you, I'd be glad to hear it. The Adventurers Guild only works because of your efforts."
"Y-yes, ah, thank you...?"
The Beautiful Guild Receptionist wore a face as if she had been bewitched by a monster. She seems quite tired. I'll bring her a treat next time.
And so, I went to the Guidance board to look for new quests. Along the way, a magic stone came rolling toward me with a clatter.
I picked up the magic stone and called out to the female mage in front of me.
"You there."
"Hm? Geh... Haruya..."
When the female mage turned around, she made an openly disgusted face.
"This magic stone-it's yours, isn't it? You dropped it."
"Ugh... why'd you even pick it up..."
"Was I not supposed to pick it up?"
"Obviously. I don't want someone like you touching it."
The female adventurer reached out her hand as if touching something gross. Well, given how I usually am, it can't be helped.
"I know it's my fault, but being disliked that much stings."
When I smiled sadly, the female mage's eyes went wide.
"Whah!?"
"Let me put a charm on it so I never pick it up again."
For some reason she had frozen up, so I slowly opened her hand and made her grip the magic stone. Then I cast a smile charm on her. Now she'll never drop it again.
"Whah... whah...?"
The female mage was blushing. A cold?
"What's wrong? Your face is red."
"I-I'm not red! It's just, you're not acting like yourself, Haruya!"
"I'm still me."
"That's the point! Your smile actually suits you! A-and the refreshing aura is way too much... You're Haruya, right?"
The female mage turned hot eyes toward me.
I don't seem like myself? My smile looks good?
??? ...............Ah⁉⁉⁉
Did I jerk off so much that I entered sage mode and my ulterior motives completely vanished?!
I'm automatically shifting into refreshing smile Hero mode!
Curse you Lily‼ Curse you Goddess Flora‼
You hammered the ideal Hero image into me at the personality correction level‼ This is bad! At this rate I'll become rumored as a Hero-like adventurer!
"Weeell! It's me, Haruya!"
I made a sloppy smile.
The female mage's face looked as if she had awakened from a hundred-year love.
"So Haruya was Haruya after all..."
"Surprised? Surprised? I just thought I'd try changing my image! Hey, hey-did you fall for me?"
"As if! Gross! You're the worst!"
"Sooorry. I put a lot of thought into this hip-thrust thing! Me!"
I thrust my hips back and forth on the spot to show her.
Disgusted gazes, as if looking at the most pathetic creature in history, pierced me not only from her but from all around.
Phew......that was close. Being popular would of course make me happy, but I absolutely refuse to walk the path to becoming a Hero because of it. Ideal Hero behavior is nothing but stress.
Someone who can constantly be refreshing, with sparkling smiles, and carry themselves like nobility at all times......there was someone like that.
'Mr. Haruya. You are a Hero, so you must live up to the expectations around you.'
Filio said that with a refreshing smile.
The righteous thief3 Filio Valceid. She was the person who joined my party around the time I became widely known as a promising Hero candidate. Lily and I alone had enough fighting strength (since Lily was a priestess with attack magic), but we struggled with trap avoidance and enemy detection. Then, somehow having heard about us, she appeared before me and joined the party.......forcibly.
A scout class, skilled in trap avoidance, detection, and lockpicking. Incidentally, "righteous thief" is Filio's self-proclaimed title.
'I am, you see, a thief who aids the weak and smites evil!'
She declared it with a smile like a prince.
Around this point, I began to suspect that this person was a little strange. She was strangely refreshing, well-groomed, and didn't seem to be in any financial trouble at all. The clincher was when she made quest rewards unpaid, telling me as if performing good deeds were a natural duty.
'That is our duty, Mr. Hero.'
Lily didn't complain even about unpaid work. I should have noticed at this point. Lily serves the Goddess, but she's a rational thinker. Travel funds are absolutely essential, and she shouldn't have been able to ignore Filio's behavior, which could be called self-righteous. In other words, Lily knew that as long as Filio was around, money wouldn't be a problem.
Yes, Filio was a person of exalted lineage2.
'Mr. Hero, we are born bearing a mission.'
Filio laughed, saying bring on the heavy responsibility.
After Filio joined, high-danger quests exploded in number. After spending a month conquering a dungeon that a Platinum-rank party would challenge, Filio cheerfully told me, battered and exhausted as I was.
'In clearing this dungeon we gained something irreplaceable... the bonds of our comrades, and the smiles of the people!'
After nearly dying to conquer it and then doing it for free, that's the line I get.
If Lily applies pressure on me from the inside, Filio is the type who applies pressure from the outside. Accepting troublesome quests to fulfill the duties of the powerful, I nearly died any number of times.......
I was a Hero, and she was a boku-ko1 with big breasts, so I forgave her. Lily was also the type who happily headed into deadly situations if it meant I was getting closer to being a Hero.......When the two of them combined, it was rough.......
Well, there's no way Filio would come into contact with a Bronze-rank adventurer like me.
As I thrust my hips back and forth while girls screamed "kyakya" at me (breakdown: disgust, anger, murderous intent), a refreshing wind blew.
"Do stop that, you! The girl is clearly distressed!"
The righteous thief Filio Valceid was glaring at me sternly.
God......why.......
Why is it......that the fate leading to Hero is crawling up from the depths of the earth.......
Trivia:
1. Haruya's "sage mode" after excessive masturbation accidentally triggers his ingrained Hero persona, showing that the personality correction from his past life is still embedded deep within him and can surface involuntarily.
2. Filio Valsheid's "righteous thief" title is self-proclaimed, and his noble lineage explains why Lily tolerated his unpaid quest habits—she knew his wealth made travel funds a non-issue.
3. Haruya's escape route from the brothel district through back alleys foreshadows his lingering attachment to his old habits despite his new living arrangement with Lily.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A speech style where a female character uses the masculine first-person pronoun "boku." In anime and light novel culture it signals a tomboyish or boyish personality, often paired with a cute appearance for contrast.
2 ↩ Literally "exalted lineage." A Japanese phrase referring to noble or imperial descent, often used with slight irony or awe. Here it hints Filio comes from aristocracy, explaining his wealth and sense of duty.
3 ↩ Literally "righteous thief," a Robin Hood-style bandit who steals from the rich to help the weak. Filio's self-proclaimed title carries romantic idealistic connotations.
Notes:
• Lily - A servant-type companion to Haruya who addresses him with formal deference. She is also described as an innkeeper at an adventurer's lodge and a devout follower of the Great Goddess faith, serving as a priestess of the Goddess Flora. Polite, composed, and professional, she is attentive to Haruya's needs and practical about travel funds, never complaining about unpaid quests. She observes Haruya's duel and recognizes when he is holding back, using a promised reward to snap him out of his deliberate losing act. Skilled in sleep magic, she has a sweet, deferential demeanor and a teasing streak. Though strict and proper on the surface, she deliberately seduces Haruya through the wall at night.
• Haruya - Solo adventurer in the trading city of Gran Neal, formerly the Holy Hero who defeated the Demon King Chronova. Maintains a bronze-rank adventurer status deliberately to avoid responsibility and attention. Slim-built young man in plain breast armor with a longsword and a large hip pouch of adventuring tools. Harbors a singular life goal of losing his virginity at a high-class brothel and building a harem, a dream he loudly declared at guild registration, earning him infamy among female adventurers while being well-liked by male adventurers for his candid lewd talk. Secretly a returnee from death who deliberately destroyed his hero-route reputation.
• Filio - Given name of Filio Valceid. A noble-born scout-class adventurer who disguises herself as a man. She has radiant golden hair, clear sea-blue eyes, and a boyish, handsome appearance with distinctly feminine loveliness. Despite her light blouse-and-trousers outfit, her large chest is conspicuous. Cheerful, persistent, and idealistic, she believes those with power have a duty to help others and make everyone smile. Skilled in scouting, detection, trap avoidance, and lockpicking, she owns a falcon named Persha. She prioritizes civilians' lives, rewards others generously, and refuses to let talent go to waste. A trusted companion from Haruya's past life, she often pushes his party to accept unpaid quests as a duty to do good.
• Valceid - Family name of Filio Valceid. Filio comes from a noble lineage and disguises herself as a boyish young woman among commoners. She is a scout-class adventurer skilled in trap avoidance, detection, and lockpicking, and owns a falcon named Persha. A self-proclaimed righteous thief, she believes the powerful have a duty to help others and make people smile. Cheerful, persistent, idealistic, and generous, she prioritizes civilians' lives and pushes capable people to fulfill their responsibilities. She joined Haruya's party in his past life and often insists on taking unpaid quests with a refreshing smile.