At the departure point in the trading city of Gran Neal, we boarded a carriage. While rattling along the highway in the cargo bed, we headed toward their destination, and Lily sat quietly at a slight distance from me.
Lily's luggage consisted only of her holy staff, making her lightly equipped, but that's because she can use Storage Magic. I had also received a Magic Bag from the guild, so my load was easier, but maybe I should unlock Storage Magic too. The convenience is on another level. Well, I'll refrain from using it in front of Lily, and even after returning from death1, I still form connections, huh.
When I let out a small sigh, Lily's eyes sharpened and glinted at me from the side.
"Would my accompanying you be an inconvenience?"
"No way. I'm really happy I get to go on a quest with a cute girl," I said in a deliberately cheerful voice.
"You do sound rather tired, though."
"I just didn't get enough sleep. You wouldn't let me sleep last night."
"I understand you are a man who surrounds himself with courtesans at a high class brothel and meant to lose his virginity there. Why, then, did you feel the need to put on a front?"
"Sometimes a guy just wants to look good in front of people."
A man's romantic history tends to invite boasting. Whether he has a girlfriend, whether he's still a virgin, men are creatures who can't help but show off when the chance comes up.
Even though I presented myself as a frivolous man, Lily still asked me to accompany her on the quest. There was a sense that if I refused, she would chase me to the ends of the earth, so I reluctantly agreed to go with her.
Did she really want to go on this quest that badly? I reread the request form to check what had pulled her in so hard.
[Request location: Lila Village in the northern part of Hawks Plateau. Request content: Investigation of Lila Village. There are reports of suspicious activity in Lila Village from neighboring villages. Also, there is a possibility that the monster ecosystem has fluctuated.]
Apparently they want us to investigate because Lila Village seems suspicious. It's neither a subjugation nor a gathering request, and I had been about to accept it thinking it would be easy work for both of us.
"Is something the matter, Lord Haruya?"
She was watching me like a hawk.
"Just thinking it's a strange request."
"Indeed. It is rare to hear of an investigation simply because a village is suspicious."
"The reward depends on the investigation results too, right? Even including the advance payment, honestly it doesn't seem worth it."
"If there are people in trouble, you extend a hand. That is the righteous path of a human being."
"I'm not a Hero or anything. As long as I can earn money, that's enough for me. Besides, the Demon King's been wiped out, so what's a priestess of the Great Goddess Church2 doing?"
Priestesses of the Great Goddess Church receive the oracle of Goddess Flora and strive to bring light to the world. Lily, the goddess's spokesperson, smoothly deflected my probing with a calm face that gave nothing away at all.
"Even if Heroes do not exist, this world still needs light."
So she has no intention of answering properly. Is she really searching for the absent Hero after all? I might have been marked by her, and I have no intention of ever becoming a Hero again in this life.
I'll of course conduct the village investigation properly, but I plan to let Lily take the lead. I'll go with the incompetent act and play dumb about every little thing I see. In time, she'll give up on me and look somewhere else for her Hero.
And so, we arrived near Lila Village, and it was not far from the main road, so it's more developed than my hometown.
There are item shops and weapon stores. It seems to be used as a lodging stop for adventurers, but the monsters in the area are probably all weak, so it must be a peaceful village. Where could there possibly be anything suspicious in a place like this one?
Well, the request will probably be over quickly.
I got off the carriage and entered the village with Lily at my side.
"Welcome to Lila Village, where smiles never cease!" the fat man cried.
They spun around like dancers on a stage as they spoke to us in turn.
"Smiles."
"Smiles."
"Smiles."
"Smiles are proof of good people."
"Smiles are proof of happiness."
"Smiles are proof of purity."
"That's why we're not suspicious at all!"
Damn it all, because I had never seen a village this absurdly suspicious. No way. If I do the incompetent act now, I'll be the one who looks suspicious to every eye here.
Try a little harder, and try to hide your ominous shadow, you idiots.
"What do you think, Lord Haruya?" Lily asked me without changing her expression.
Can't I just get away with calling them people with dazzling smiles? I pushed that thought down and kept my guard up while I chose my words with care.
"It seems we're being watched, but for now, why don't we state our identities and purpose?"
"That is a reasonable judgment. You seem quite used to strange situations, do you not?"
Ugh, did my Hero points go up? As I was sweating nervously, Lily addressed the fat man with a calm step forward into the space between us.
"We are adventurers. We have come on the investigation request for Lila Village."
"What? An investigation of Lila Village, where all the villagers have dazzling smiles? There is not the slightest thing suspicious here, but!"
All the villagers nodded simultaneously with plastered smiles, and it was scary to watch. Lily, who was completely unfazed by this situation, was also scary in her own quiet way.
"We have heard that the monster ecosystem has fluctuated. That is what we are investigating, correct?" Lily asked with a face that suggested there was nothing abnormal anywhere.
"The monster ecosystem?"
"Has anything unusual happened?"
"No, nothing particularly unusual."
They shook their heads left and right while keeping their smiles. I can feel gazes from all over the village. Some are even peeking stealthily from windows. The suspiciousness is off the charts. Give me a break, because now I have to be seriously on guard.
"This Lila Village is not far from the city. The monsters that appear are weak, and the villagers alone can handle them sufficiently. Also, monsters rarely appear, so there is nothing that would trouble adventurers such as yourselves."
"That is troublesome. Then the investigation will likely take some time."
"Time, it will take?"
They really want us to leave quickly. Well, this area is basically an early game village as far as adventures go. It should be peaceful, and monsters won't conveniently appear just because we want them to show up.
I had thought so, but then a young man came running while shouting with a smile on his face.
"Big trouble! Two Silver Wolves have appeared in the village!" the young man shouted.
So monsters do conveniently appear, are they controlling them or something? They're absolutely doing something shady behind the scenes. Hide it! Properly! You fools!
I nearly clutched my head, but two Silver Wolves came running, so I put my hand on my sword. The reason I didn't draw my sword immediately was because Silver Wolves are weak monsters that even a Bronze rank could solo hunt alone. And also because they were heading straight for Lily, who stood still in their path.
Priestesses are support class. I think they targeted her first because of that plain fact. Normally, companions would cover for her in a fight like this one. This is the reason Lily can remain a solo adventurer, and I saw it play out in front of me.
The first Silver Wolf lunged at Lily, aiming for her neck with its sharp fangs.
"Holy Seal: Cell Hyperactivation (Heal Blast)."
She opened her lovely lips, pointed her holy staff, and spoke as if admonishing it. The Silver Wolf was enveloped in a halo of light like an angel's ring, and then its body swelled and bulged out of shape. And then, Splat! It burst like a seed popping, and chunks of flesh scattered through the air around us.
"It appeared conveniently for us. Indeed, it seems to be a weakling," Lily said flatly.
The villagers froze with their smiles intact, and the Silver Wolf also stopped moving where it stood.
You wouldn't think a priestess would have mastered such a lethal technique. Rapidly activating all cells to make them burst. It's Lily's specialty. Look at those eyes. A single life scattered spectacularly, yet there's not a single waver in her gaze. I think you can understand why I can't hold my head up against her. But that's not all there is to her trick.
"Lily? There's still a monster, you know?"
"I have used up all my Faith Power3. I cannot use any more spells."
Liar! You're trying to gauge my skill, aren't you? Lying and doing the incompetent act is not a good thing! What should I do? She'll probably see through any holding back, and if I go all out, I'll look suspicious to her sharp eyes.
As I was worrying about how much force to use to defeat it, perhaps sensing Lily had no will to fight, the other Silver Wolf growled and lunged at her. She was not even trying to dodge, so I drew my sword and cut down the Silver Wolf in a single stroke before it reached her.
"A splendid single stroke, Lord Haruya."
Lily had not tried to dodge the fangs and blood ran from her arm, yet she did not even glance at the monster split in two. This mentality, willing to sacrifice herself without hesitation for the sake of her goal, is why I can't hold my head up against Lily. I hallucinated a fanfare playing in my head, as if a Hero flag had been established over me.
Trivia:
- Haruya's decision to avoid using Storage Magic in front of Lily reveals he is actively concealing capabilities tied to his former hero identity, treating her presence as a surveillance risk rather than companionship.
- Lily's willingness to be bitten rather than dodge is a calculated test of Haruya, showing she prioritizes confirming his strength over her own safety, which reframes her apparent helplessness as deliberate strategy.
- The villagers' synchronized choreographed greeting and harmonized 'not suspicious' chant suggest coordinated indoctrination or a hive-mind-like unity rather than mere nervousness, hinting at a controlling force behind the village.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Refers to the protagonist having died and returned to the world, a common isekai/loop trope. The nuance implies a literal resurrection or time-loop return rather than simple survival.
2 ↩ The Great Goddess Church, a major religious institution in this world. The name signals a matriarchal/high-fantasy religious hierarchy, distinct from common shrine-based fantasy churches.
3 ↩ Faith Power, the resource consumed to cast divine spells. The English term obscures that it is a measurable fuel statistic in this world's magic system, akin to MP for clerics.
Notes:
• 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.