Inn. Lily's room.
Everything was neatly organized, flowers arranged by the window. On the bookshelf were scriptures of the Great Goddess faith and specialized books on sacred arts, and a magic circle for meditation was carved into the floor.
It's an adventurer's lodge, so the interior has been fairly customized. The trade city Gran Neal is a mecca of adventure. There are inns for adventurers. Such inns can be used as temporary homes; they don't offer meals or room service, but if you pay a lump sum it works out far cheaper than a normal stay.
Depending on the place, the innkeeper will even cook for you. This adventurer's lodge is like that too. The home-style cooking made by the proprietress gave even me, an orphan who never knew his parents' faces, a nostalgic feeling.
In such a commoner's inn, the sparkling aura of a noble person stood out. Across from me, Filio sat at the table looking somehow delighted. She smiled as Lily offered her black tea.
"Thank you. I am sorry to put the mistress of the house to work."
"It is my duty to entertain guests."
"...Will you not sit?"
"This is a matter between Lady Filio and Lord Haruya. I shall stand aside and refrain from intruding."
Lily bowed slightly and withdrew with great deference.
Did she notice that Filio is of exalted station? The person herself probably thinks she's dressed as a scout, but she's a noble cross-dressing beauty. Why didn't I notice in my previous life?
After smiling faintly and sadly, Filio turned her gaze to me.
"So......I lost to you, and thus became your companion."
"I don't remember making you a companion!"
"But it was you who said 'if I win, you will become mine,' was it not?"
"That didn't mean join my party!"
With a refreshing air, Filio brushed it off, saying what a shame. Her interpersonal skills are good. She's also relatively easy to talk to. It's just that what she demands of people with power is too great, or rather, she drags them into troublesome things... I'm not a Hero now, so it shouldn't turn out the same as my previous life... probably.
"...What do you want with a Bronze rank like me?"
"You needn't go out of your way to advertise that Bronze rank, surely."
"When you force yourself along with us, I get my guard up!"
"I intended to ask nothing of you......at first, that is what I thought. To be frank, I merely meant to give you a sharp lesson1. When those with ability do not flourish in the proper station... it is not good for the Adventurers Guild."
Filio took the remains of a rapier from her hip pouch (a bag enchanted with magic compression) and placed it on the table.
"I'm not paying for that."
"Goodness, no! I shall make it a family treasure and frame it, to chastise my own conceit!"
".........Really, you could just dispose of it as trash."
"And now, this! Look, look!"
She pressed in on me. Pressed in on me.
Lily's pressure is strong too, but Filio's is strong as well. If Lily is the type to calmly push things forward, Filio is the type to grab your arm and push things forward. In my previous life, when those two joined hands, my path as a Hero accelerated.
I gazed sorrowfully at the steak knife on the table.
"...It's a knife."
"Indeed! A perfectly ordinary steak knife!"
The sparkling aura around Filio shone even brighter. Her eyes especially gleamed, and despite having lost to me, she turned a look of curiosity and admiration my way.
She really is an honest girl... It's just that she demands too much of people with power...
"You carved through a sword with a mere steak knife!"
"That was a fluke."
"How many people in the world could manage such a feat, I wonder?"
"...Who knows. I don't know how wide the world is."
"That strikes a sore spot. ...You have just shown me how wide the world is."
Filio carefully put the steak knife away. She doesn't mind putting in effort to improve herself. She truly must feel she learned a lot from this. That virtue of hers is directed at people with power as well.
"But you see, you are absolutely not meant to remain a Bronze rank adventurer. ...Honestly, you ought to become a Platinum rank adventurer at once! Yes, Mr. Haruya Arden?"
Filio stared at me with a beaming smile.
From Platinum rank up, there are emergency summons from the nation and the Adventurers Guild. You end up carrying plenty of duty and responsibility. That would be no different from before.
Lily didn't interject, but she looked pleased. Things are conveniently turning out that way!
"I won by luck. If you like, we can have another match."
"I refuse. I dislike losing, and I dislike even more being allowed to win."
Filio puffed out one cheek in a pout. She suspects I have the strength of a Platinum rank or higher. She doesn't look like she'll be convinced so easily, so shall I just be blunt?
"I'm just a man who wants to build a harem. Don't place weird expectations on me."
"I have heard that story. And your attitude when we first met... Did you think I had something on you? I took you for a violent, arrogant fellow, yet speaking with you is entirely different. In truth... the harem business is a convenient lie, is it not?"
There, Lily cut in.
"No. Lord Haruya genuinely desires a harem."
"Eh? Is that so? How disappointing."
"Yes. It is most disappointing."
The two looked at each other and said "Quite," They're already becoming fast friends, this pressure duo. They got along in my previous life too. I don't want to let the conversation drag on. Here I need to at least show a willing-to-compromise attitude.
"...If everyone's in trouble, I'll help too."
"Truly!? Just as I expected of the one I had my eye on!"
Filio beamed, truly delighted.
In my previous life, part of it was that I was the Hero and couldn't refuse, and part of it was that she was a blonde, blue-eyed, baby-faced buxom girl, but I also lost to that smile...
"Then, then, I want you to look at this!"
Filio got all excited! She's about to pull out a red envelope2!
Filio cheerfully placed the red envelope on the table.
See---! It's a request form in a red envelope after all---!
"A request form in a red envelope?"
Lily looked at it with curiosity.
Well, of course. It's a request form issued only to those whose ability the Adventurers Guild has recognized. It includes requests made by nations and nobles. Only those with ability and trust are entrusted with these, and at minimum they wouldn't be handed out to anyone below Platinum rank.
In short, it's a troublesome, high-difficulty request form. The payout is good, but in my previous life Filio accepted only the bare minimum reward. She even used it to fund a collapsed village. Her intentions were admirable, and I agreed with donating too. I have no complaints about that. It's just-
'Look, Mr. Hero!! Everyone's smiling! The finest reward, is it not!'
'Mr. Hero, if everyone is smiling, nothing more is needed. Correct?'
'Mr. Hero, we are a wonderfully smile-filled, homey adventuring party, are we not!'
There's a limit to everything!
There were benefits to Filio joining. Not just combat strength-the town's services improved dramatically, and sometimes we could stay at luxury inns for free. Our travel funds improved too. But the hardship was proportionally greater, and smiles don't fill your belly!
The clincher was this. When we had no choice but to split up the adventuring party, and Filio single-handedly defended a village from a horde of monsters.
'Mr. Hero......Are......everyone......smiling......?'
Covered in blood, half dead.
Since she asked that while on the verge of death, I couldn't say anything more about what she'd done.
...Thinking about it now, I feel something similar to what lies at Lily's core. But honestly, I can't keep up with it.
The monster ecosystem is strange, but now that the great evil Demon Lord is dead, I don't think she'll be reckless either. Even so, give me a break from every day being red-envelope quests.
But if I refuse in a weird way, she'll probably drag me along forcefully. In that case.
"...A red envelope quest."
I said with a solemn expression.
"Do I really have the right to take on a quest like this...?"
"Of course! Mr. Haruya is someone who belongs on a higher stage!"
"An orphan who never knew his parents' faces......a man whose goal is a harem born of loneliness, is it......"
"Mr. Haruya......"
First, let me make things somber with my life story. I'll blend in a lacking-confidence, sad face too, so Filio won't step in more than necessary.
"Duty and responsibility are very important things, right? I understand, vaguely. But could you give me a little time to think......?"
Respecting the other party while buying time.
So, how about it!
"Indeed......I was hasty. Forgive me."
Filio got a repentant look and rose from her seat.
Good, good! Just leave like that!
"I shall come again to hear your answer."
"...I'm telling you now-never go on a red envelope quest alone."
"Ahaha, I know that much."
Filio gave a one-eyed wink as if to say she'd be waiting for a good answer, and gracefully left the room.
...Now then, let's run. It's time to pack up and vanish! If I hide until things blow over, Filio will give up too! I'm not a Hero anymore, so I can run away all sneaky like this!
Fuhahahaha--!
The next day. I suddenly woke up on the deck of a connecting ship.
I, who felt as if I'd been put soundly to sleep by a high-ranking priest's sleep magic, met eyes with a refreshingly smiling Filio.
"What a pleasant morning! And of course, I did not go on the quest alone!"
Damn it! My strategy of acting meek was seen through‼‼‼
But I won't lose to fate! Everything is for the sake of a radiant, carefree, sweet, and glorious harem life, and I'll resist!
Radiant and carefree3!
Trivia:
- The red envelope requests that Filio favors carry good payouts, yet in the previous life she accepted only the minimum reward and donated the rest to rebuilding collapsed villages, revealing that her idealism is genuine rather than performative.
- Haruya's comparison of Filio's underlying nature to Lily's hints at a shared self-sacrificing conviction between the two women, foreshadowing why they bonded so easily.
- The coined word 輝ハレ (kagahare) compresses his dream into a single mantra, blending radiance with carefree irresponsibility, showing his core motivation is not lust but a longing for a life free of duty.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Literally to apply moxa cautery, an idiom meaning to give someone a sharp lesson or teach them a harsh lesson.
2 ↩ A red envelope request form, a Japanese fantasy-adventure convention signaling a high-difficulty, high-reward commission issued only to the proven elite.
3 ↩ A coined compound combining kagayaku (to shine) and hare (a clear, carefree, festive state), used as Haruya's personal slogan for his idealized life.
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Haruya Arden - Former Holy Hero who defeated the Demon King and was resurrected after dying in a mutual kill, he now abandons the role for a modest life and a harem. Blunt, pragmatic, and self-deprecating, he hides his Silver-Iron rank combat skills while acting incompetent to avoid attention. Mentally scarred by Lily Arsiana's strict childhood training.