Half a year after the Demon King perished, I was still a virgin.
I could have lost it any time. This was all part of a proper plan.
If I can lose my virginity, I want to lose it. They say that afterward, like an insect that has undergone metamorphosis, you are reborn as a living being. But even so, rushing is forbidden.
Because once you lose your virginity, you can never equip it again. Virginity can only be equipped once in a lifetime. If you fail when losing it, you might carry that regret for the rest of your life. But if it's a wonderful experience, it might become a memory for a lifetime.
That's precisely why I want to thoroughly refine the situation for losing my virginity.
The trading city of Gran Neal.
A large city on a great river, it's the relay point for half the countries and towns around here. The climate is mild, and freight wagons, ships, and magic ships (flying vessels)1 come through in a constant stream. Adventurers gather here too, from rookies to famous names.
Gran Neal's main street is lined with magic-guided street lamps, and the roads are paved smooth. The shops are flashy, and the whole place is loud with people.
I live here as a solo adventurer.
Plain breast armor and a longsword. My large hip pouch is stuffed with convenient adventuring tools. I could store items in a separate space with advanced magic, but... I don't use it, so that I can remain just an ordinary adventurer.
Fuhaha! Nobody even glances at me!
In the past, I couldn't walk through town casually. If I stopped by a shop to fill my stomach, it was all "The shop the Hero visited!" or "The chair the Hero sat on!" or "The Hero's favorite mushroom soup (he only ate it once)" used for advertising, and I had no privacy at all.
"But that hero is gone now."
I smirked.
The Demon King Chronova is publicly considered to have been defeated by someone. Who exactly defeated him, or perhaps he died a natural death? There was speculation and confusion, but people accepted only the fact that peace had come. Trade between nations normalized, and forbidden zones are gradually being opened. Which means the map's open again, and everybody wants a piece of it.
I make my way to the adventurers guild on the main street. Crossing the floor bustling with dozens of adventurers, I finished my report at the reception.
"――Yes. The Frozen Egg subjugation request has been received."
The beautiful bespectacled guild clerk confirmed the request form and said matter-of-factly.
Then she presses a special stamp onto my adventurer card. The mark glows pale blue for an instant and vanishes, and the number inscribed on my adventurer card changed.
"Sir Haruya's guild contribution value has reached the specified threshold. From here on, you may receive advanced support from the adventurers guild. Additionally, you are eligible to take the promotion exam for Silver-Iron rank."
"Really? Yay! All that hard work paid off!"
Even when I grinned broadly, the guild clerk kept a straight face.
The adventurers guild sets adventurer ranks. The ranks, from top to bottom, are [Rainbow Steel], [Platinum], [Silver-Iron], [Bronze]2, [Ash].
Ranks rise on fame and contribution, and what the guild will hand you changes with them. Make Platinum and they give you a guild house of your own. Not that many do. Most strong adventurers stall out at Silver-Iron.
"Sir Haruya, shall I reserve a promotion exam for Silver-Iron rank?"
"...Nah, not yet. I'll keep going at my own pace."
"I see."
Higher rank means better perks and worse obligations. A Platinum who can solo a monster horde gets emergency summons from the nation and the guild. That's exactly what I walked away from.
Moderate is fine. As long as I can earn.
Moderate is fine.
"So Sir Haruya stays at Bronze rank... However, you will receive guild support equivalent to Silver-Iron rank. I will prepare a magic bag for you right away."
A magic bag is enchanted with compression magic. It holds far more than it looks like it should, which is why every adventurer wants one. But they're expensive. However, the guild hands them out free to Silver-Iron adventurers it finds useful.
"Feels like special treatment."
"Sir Haruya rose to Silver-Iron equivalent in just half a year... and solo at that. You're a promising newcomer."
The beautiful bespectacled guild clerk stares at me as if probing.
I hadn't intended to stand out, but I wanted to lose my virginity quickly and pleasantly, after all.
"I have a dream, you see."
"I see."
The beautiful bespectacled guild clerk said, suppressing her emotions. She probably finds me repulsive on an instinctive level.
When registering with the adventurers guild, you're asked your reason for registering. Dreams and ideals... well, anything goes, but half a year ago I answered this:
'I'm gonna become the Harem King‼'
In this place where adventurers had gathered, loudly and without hesitation.
Well, before my death-return5, I'd said something like 'For a world where everyone can smile, I will defeat the Demon King!' to look cool. Because of that, I ended up being oddly expected to... well, I wanted to smash the flag to the hero route to pieces.
The effect was tremendous. Even now, the female adventurers around are whispering.
"Ugh... Haruya's here..," "Today's an unlucky day," "Huh, that guy's becoming Silver-Iron?" "Can he not? It'd lower the prestige."
Hahaha! My reputation is the worst!
Incidentally, my reputation among male adventurers is extremely good. They're even kind to me. Which girl at the high-class brothel is really nice, brothel etiquette, how to get back-door services. They bestow upon me lewd and wise information. Much appreciated.
If I want to lose my virginity, should I also put on a good face for female adventurers?
Certainly, deepening bonds through adventures and finishing with lovey-dovey ahn-ahn4 acts would be the best.
But I want to play!
I'm looking for a no-strings-attached relationship‼
Therefore, my virginity-loss plan is this. At a high-class brothel, nominate several of the top-class girls at once and lose my virginity to them, then go on a brothel-crawl.
From there, the true harem road begins‼
When I declared this frank confession of my complicated virginity in front of the male adventurers.
'You're a hero!' 'So blunt!'
'Hero!' 'Hero!' 'Hero!'
Even though I hadn't revealed my true identity, they treated me as a hero. That was a fresh reaction. Before my death-return, I was somewhat disliked by men with 'don't act so high and mighty'...
"Sir Haruya?"
Lost in thought, I was called out to by the beautiful bespectacled guild clerk.
"Oh, ah, just thinking. Are there any new quests?"
"Several postings dated today are up on the guidance board."
"Oh, then let me check. I've got to earn for my dream, you see."
"I see."
The beautiful clerk narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and pointed at the guidance board with her hand, as if to say hurry up and go.
Hahaha! That reaction is fresh too! Good, good!
I head to the guidance board with a skip in my step.
Ahh! I'm so glad I came to the trading city of Gran Neal! Transportation is convenient, the food is good! Having a brothel district is the best!
Having your stomach and lower half directly connected really feels like a human town. When I was the hero, I only used it as a transport relay and mostly passed through...
That was true even when I was a rookie adventurer. That was all because the priestess Lily Arsiana was there.
Lily was a girl dispatched by the Great Goddess Church, which had noticed my potential. A girl who was also my hero-education minder, she lectured me at every opportunity to 'be a hero.' I couldn't speak strongly against her partly because I received support from the Great Goddess Church, so I couldn't hold my head up against her.
Lily also had an aura I couldn't defy...
For example, meals. During a fat-restriction period, when it was so tough I complained, Lily said this:
'I exist to share in suffering alongside the Hero. Should we bear the same hardship, the Hero's pain shall surely be eased.'
And she spent a month on nothing but cabbage and water. She was clearly in poor health, and even when I tried to force her to eat, she'd throw it up, so in the end I gave in. I was made to swear never to complain about my diet again.
...Should I call her the Iron Maiden3?
Because she was like that, I could never hold my head up against her, and honestly it's kind of a trauma.
But! She's not here anymore! I'll never meet her again in this life!
She openly hated this city's brothel district, and anything against the church is surely out. She's probably relaxing in peace at the church as a priestess right now.
I stand at the guidance board and try to peel off an interesting-looking request. That's when it happens.
"Oops."
A girl tried to take it first, and our hands touched. I'd been thinking about my old companions all morning.
I reflexively said a familiar name.
"Sorry, Lily."
"Huh?"
The priestess Lily Arsiana stood there with a puzzled face.
Trivia:
- Haruya deliberately sabotaged his own hero-route reputation by declaring his harem ambitions at guild registration, precisely to avoid the burdensome expectations and fame that trapped him in his previous life.
- He intentionally refuses advanced spatial storage magic and rank promotion not out of laziness but to preserve the anonymity and moderate life that his former heroic status denied him.
- The offhand reflex of saying Lily's name before even seeing her face hints that his former minder left a far deeper imprint on him than his casual "trauma" framing admits.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A coined fantasy compound meaning "magic-going ship," rendered as magic ship or flying vessel; conveys that this world's transport includes enchanted airborne craft alongside conventional ships and wagons.
2 ↩ The guild rank literally uses the metal "bronze"; the source orders ranks Rainbow Steel, Platinum, Silver-Iron, Bronze, Ash, with Platinum oddly above Silver-Iron, a hierarchy English readers may find counterintuitive.
3 ↩ Literally "Iron Maiden," a reference to the medieval torture device; here used humorously to describe Lily's extreme self-discipline and unyielding will.
4 ↩ Wordplay combining "love" with "ahn-ahn," an onomatopoeia for intimate acts; the pun resists direct translation and signals the narrator's coy euphemistic register.
5 ↩ A genre term meaning "returning after death" or reincarnating back in time; rendered here as death-return, it explains Haruya's foreknowledge and second life.
Notes:
• Demon King Chronova - A powerful demon lord who fell from grace while serving Goddess Flora. Attempted to plunge the world into darkness. Bound his soul to the Dark Temple to drag the hero down with him in death. Speaks with archaic, grandiose diction. Ruler of the Dark Temple who wears high priest-like garments. Possesses defensive and offensive magic including Chronowall and Chronosfang. Dignified yet easily flustered, particularly by the intruder's nudity. Values formality and tradition.
• 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.
• Lily Arsiana - Priestess of the Great Goddess Church and Haruya's former hero-education minder, dispatched after the church recognized his potential. A girl who shares suffering with others to lighten their pain, once subsisting on cabbage and water for a month in solidarity with Haruya's dieting complaints, which broke his will. Had an aura of unyielding authority and left Haruya traumatized and unable to defy her. Now appears unexpectedly in Gran Neal.