Honey Trap! ~The Honey Trap Encirclement to Ensnare the Summoned Hero~ - Chapter 163 & 164 & 165

Chapter 163: The Old Capital’s Slums and a Cool Girl’s Stirred-Up Heart (5)

The next morning dawned.

Having spent the late night creaking the bed and moaning, thoroughly indulging in their exchange of love, Yuri and Clara came down to the dining hall together and peacefully enjoyed breakfast.

“Here you are, Yuusha‑sama—your morning coffee.”

“Ehehe, thanks, Clara… Oooh, coffee tastes even better when a beauty makes it for you.”

“Fufu, I am happy as well, getting to share breakfast with you first thing in the morning.”

From early morning they were flirting, pouring a sweet atmosphere all over their surroundings.

Their outfits were impeccably neat (with Clara assisting the Hero), but they hadn’t quite managed to erase the afterglow of the previous night.

Then Lenoa came down, dark circles under her eyes, moving like a zombie.

The first thing out of her mouth was:

“Quite a night you two had, didn’t you… skirt‑chaser and lust‑drunk lady…”

““Geh—! Cough, cough!””

Her voice crawled along the floor.

The pair choked in perfect unison, then somehow forced the coffee down and turned bright red.

How did she find out…!?

Betrayed by the wall they’d trusted to be thick, Yuri slumped face‑down onto the table.

“I can’t believe it. That nighttime Clara would turn into… that…”

“Auuh…”

At the detached palace, nighttime topics were an everyday occurrence—the princess herself practically spread the stories around—but this was an inn in another town, and the one who’d heard them was her own younger sister. Clara felt so mortified it seemed steam might burst from her head.

“Hey hey, good morning, everyone! What a bright and refreshing day!”

“Fuaa… I’m dead on my feetなのじゃ……酒場のハシゴは面白かったけど……徹夜で眠いのじゃ……”

Here came Lily, riding a morning high, and a worn‑out Luwi on the downswing.

The two of them had snuck out of the inn and bar‑hopped till dawn—useless enough to shock even the Troublemakers. Watching Lily in her all‑nighter mode, Yuri was reminded of his no‑good college buddies back in his old world. Every bit as hopeless as she was, and Lily definitely gave off the same vibe.

“L‑Lily‑san, you’re a Vampire, right? How are you so energetic in the morning?”

Half lashing out as she asked, Lenoa got a beaming smile in response.

“Heh, appearances aside, I’m a Vampire Lord. Sunlight doesn’t bother me that much. If anything, I might actually be stronger in the morning now!”

“Sunlight is one thing, but being strong in the morning is just your imaginationなのじゃ。徹夜明けの幻なのじゃ。”

“…So it is that.”

With a sigh, Lenoa returned to the main issue. Lily had her own… issues, but first came last night’s shocking incident.

“Anyway… I now understand very well just how lovey‑dovey Yuusha‑sama and Clara are. I’ve also come to understand, with my own eyes and ears, that Yuusha‑sama is an even worse skirt‑chaser than the rumors say. It’s shameless. Lewd. Utterly indecent…!”

“Ugh…”

This was the fast lane to tanking the family’s opinion of him…!

Yuri panicked. If he didn’t improve Lenoa’s impression of him here, then come the wedding with Clara, she’d lace the speech with sarcasm from beginning to end. He absolutely had to claw back some points, and just as he was thinking that—

“Seems like a lot went down last night… Say, sharp‑eyed one, how about a morning walk with me?”

—for some reason Lily decided to start hitting on her.

“What exactly are you trying to do, Lily‑san?”

“Ahaha, I’m just in a good mood this morning. You looked grumpy, Lenoa, so I thought I’d share a bit of my fun with you.”

Lily and Lenoa walked side by side through the morning streets of the lower town.

The lively road was packed with people of all ages coming and going in an endless stream. Confidently cutting through the crowd, Lily strode ahead, while Lenoa followed behind her somewhat nervously.

“Hey there, young ladies! How about a tasty juice to start the morning?”

A bearded old man called out to them, and Lenoa flinched, shoulders jerking.

She had been groomed from childhood as Navarre’s successor. She’d never had any occasion to come to a lower‑town district like this.

“Hmm, hmm. Truth is, I pulled an all‑nighter… and I had quite a bit to drink yesterday… Got anything that’s good for times like that?”

“Listen to you, kid, talking like some washed‑up drunk with that fancy getup… Can’t say I approve of drinking like that at your age. Here, this juice with kabosu in it’s supposed to help with hangovers.”

“Then I’ll take two. Much obliged!”

“Take it easy next time, you hear!”

Waving broadly, Lily parted from the stall owner and came back with juices in hand.

Taking a sip of the one she was given, Lenoa spoke quietly.

“This is the land where I was born and raised. And yet… you’re already so at home here, Lily‑san.”

“Fufu, you think so? Say, why don’t we sit over there and talk a bit? Walking non‑stop gets tiring.”

Sitting down on a nearby bench, Lenoa stared intently at the flow of people.

People. People. People. “Residents”—a concept she’d known only as information. And now she watched what they actually looked like.

“I’ve been learning about domain management from Father all my life. I’ve even handled administration myself, and I took pride in my talent for it. But… I never imagined that such utterly insane things could happen in the world.”

“Hahaha…”

“Maybe you can’t understand, Lily‑san—you seem like you’ve lived a life of stormy adventure on the high seas. But for someone who’s lived their whole life inside a glass, something like this feels like a full‑blown tempest.”

“That’s where you’re mistaken, Lenoa.”

Setting her cup down, Lily rose smoothly to her feet.

Her long golden hair shimmered in the morning light. As she turned with a spin, her red eyes softened in a gentle smile—so beautiful it stole the breath away, and at the same time, somehow fragile. The precarious air she gave off now, so different from the clowning girl of moments ago, drew Lenoa in.

“I’m Lily Klein. Noble daughter of the Klein family—and by the time I turned fourteen, I’d been stricken by a terminal illness. After that, it was nothing but the bed for me. I’d already accepted that I wouldn’t make it to twenty.”

Lenoa swallowed hard.

Who was she, to talk about “living in a glass”? The girl standing before her—

“You know that old line—‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’? You come on, you watch, you exit. The role assigned to me was the tragic heroine. Well, that in itself wasn’t exactly boring.”

Laughing lightly as she spoke, this girl had lived her life inside a coffin.

“So, since I was born anyway, I thought I’d at least leave some proof behind, and I started writing stories. At first it was a world consisting entirely of my bed and my books, and I did my best… but it just didn’t go well. There’s a limit to what you can write using only your head. By the time I realized that, I didn’t have much time left. I panicked, like, ‘What a joke, now I notice?’”

Lenoa could not understand Lily at all.

Why could she talk about all that as if it were someone else’s story? Why did she keep laughing from the bottom of her heart?

“So I had no choice but to ask Daddy for a favor and started talking with adventurers. That was fun in its own way. I gathered lots of material for stories… but my time was still running out. I was thinking, ‘Guess I’m not going to get a cool ending after all,’ when I met those five.”

Lily’s smile never faded.

She spoke like a wandering jester spinning a joke whose punchline she already knew.

“Yuri and the others realized they couldn’t cure my illness. But they didn’t give up—they went to see Luwi on the Dark Continent and… brewed up a drug that would change my species. Man, going from human to Vampire was a shock! The disease disappeared from the root, and suddenly I could do all the things I never could before. Just like that, my life switched from tragedy to comedy. That’s the story of me, Lily Klein.”

“…I’m sorry. I spoke like I understood something I knew nothing about. I never imagined you’d been through all that…”

“No need to apologize, sharp‑eyed one. It’s not really my personal history that I wanted to tell you…”

Placing a hand over her chest, Lily spoke as if singing, her voice full of joy.

“Between heaven and earth, there are things you’d never even imagine. That’s what I wanted you to know.”

“Things… I’d never imagine.”

“Yeah. This lower town is a first for me, and that old guy was someone I met for the first time today. This juice too—I only drank it today for the first time. Every last one of them is something I never would’ve imagined from on top of a bed. Lenoa, this might be meddling, but I think you should see more of the world. Look with your eyes, smell with your nose, listen with your ears… taste it, and touch it.”

“T‑touch… it…”

The image of Yuri and Clara intertwined flashed across Lenoa’s mind.

Her face went scarlet and she dropped her gaze on the spot—uncannily like Clara at breakfast that very morning.

“…Huh? I feel like I just said something pretty good, but… you’re not thinking of something else by any chance… Ah, don’t tell me—by ‘touching,’ you mean that kind of…”

“D‑don’t say it…!”

From that scene in the dining hall alone, Lily could more or less guess what had happened.

Well, if that’s where her mind goes… Lily thought with a wry smile.

“Well, since we’re here anyway… getting to know boys isn’t such a bad idea, you know.”

“Wha!? I—I could never do something that shameless!”

“…That’s quite the leap. That’s not what I meant. I was thinking you could go on a little date. For example, say—a double date. You, Clara, and Yuri, all three together.”

A double date.

Hearing those words, Lenoa’s mouth fell open, and she stood frozen like a statue for quite some time.

Chapter 164: Lust Goddess’s Blessing

Going back a little in time, this occurred while Lily and Luwi were bar-hopping.

As they were reaching their umpteenth tavern, Lily unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance.

“Oh my, if it isn’t you two… the vampire duo. Still drinking?”

“Good evening, sultry lady. Running into you in a place like this—I can’t believe it’s just a coincidence!”

“…Lily, hitting on a Lust Goddess… you really have no limits, do you…”

Wandering the night town was Lust Goddess Izabel.

Her hair, a mix of black and red, flowed down past her shoulders. Her golden eyes seemed to have trapped the moonlight within them. Her bewitching figure was truly inhuman. She possessed a majesty and awe worthy of being called a god.

…If only she wasn’t dressed as a tavern waitress.

“Finished with your shift, Izabel?”

“Yes, the shop’s closed up. But I have the day off tomorrow, you see. Since I found myself with a bit of free time, I thought I might grab a drink.”

“In that case, would you care to enjoy some alcohol with me? Beautiful lady.”

Lily extended her hand with a grandiose gesture like a stage actor.

With a wry smile, the inhuman Lust Goddess took the hand of the likewise inhuman creature.

“Heh, the daughter of the lord here, huh…”

“Yeah. The one with us at the shop was Earl Navarre’s daughter. My friend Clara, and her younger sister Lenoa.”

“I haven’t heard very good stories about the lord here, you know.”

“What a coincidence. Neither have I.”

Lily hadn’t been drinking aimlessly. While playing the clown, she had been going around gathering information on Navarre. This kind of subtlety was a dexterity Yuri lacked. She seemed far more genuine than a certain self-proclaimed secret agent.

“From what I hear, he thinks of even his current third wife as nothing more than a decoration. The first and second wives weren’t blessed with children, so they’ve been neglected, apparently.”

“Well, that’s a common story among nobles… wait, Izabel, you’re making a scary face.”

“…Oh, my apologies. Did I perhaps drink a little too much?”

Drank too much.

She certainly didn’t look like it.

Her expression had fallen away like a Noh mask, her eyes looking somewhere far away, yet focused with sharp intent. They were the eyes of a fortune teller or a prophet peering into a confirmed future. Lily had seen Meia make similar eyes back at the detached palace. But Izabel was, after all, a god. Her eyes weren’t those of one seeing the future, but of one determining it.

“So? What are you lot going to do with bad Mr. Navarre?”

“Hmm… personally, I was thinking of messing with him a bit. For someone with loose morals regarding women, I hear he’s strangely uptight. And then…”

“Yuri-bōzu is on good terms with Clara. With that lineup, it was an oppressive interview. He must have felt like his life was shrinking.”

“I think Luwi blasting off intimidation magic was the bad move there, though…”

“If you say that, then Lucius-bōzu’s gloomy face, Eremia’s thug behavior—there are tons of things to retort to! Agamemnon had a ‘I’m a harmless dragon!’ look on his face, but a dragon flapping around is weird to begin with!”

“I kinda sympathize with him a little…”

Izabel had clashed with the Troublemakers before. An oppressive interview with that bunch. She sympathized a bit—he probably felt like he was dying.

However, as a Lust Goddess, there were things she couldn’t overlook.

“Even so. Treating girls poorly is unforgivable to a Lust Goddess.”

“…Phew. Go easy on him, please.”

With a face that said “I give up,” Lily downed her wine. Burning with motivation, the Lust Goddess downed a few cups of alcohol before marching out in high spirits.

“What will we do, Lily? Despite how she looks, she is indeed a god, you know?”

“True. But well, from what I see, she doesn’t look like someone who would do something too cruel. I guess we just wait and see the results?”

Night deepened. The moon increased its brilliance, the town sank into quiet slumber, and at the lord’s manor—

“Hmph, so this is where I end.”

In his office, Navarre was tilting a cup alone. He didn’t know how many glasses of wine he’d had. He wasn’t a man who drowned himself in drink, but today was an exception.

When he called back his illegitimate daughter, she brought along an outrageous lineup.

He had resigned himself to the fact that his fate was sealed. As the kingdom’s sharpest mind, overflowing with ambition, he realized the time for the banquet was over. What happens, happens. So he tilted his cup alone, tasting the fine wine as if there were no tomorrow.

While spending such desperate time, a knock sounded, echoing unusually loudly.

“Who is it. If you’re an assassin, get it over with quickly.”

“Dear…”

Entering was the third wife, Lenoa’s mother. Not only her. The first and second wives, whom he had abandoned, followed her in. What in the world was happening? Was the alcohol making him see strange dreams?—That was what he thought, right up until the next moment.

“Ahaha, pardon the intrusion, Mr. Lord… I’m Izabel. I’ve come to administer a baptism to your wives.”

“…Y-you…”

Who are you? He tried to challenge her, but realized his voice wouldn’t come out. His mouth was dry, his throat stuck, and he couldn’t move a single finger. Why, how—questions raced through his head, but he realized immediately.

The woman in front of him was terrifying. More terrifying than any enemy he had ever seen—more than the savior heroes he met during the day. She wasn’t human. Not a demon either. He had never seen a being like this.

“It’s okay, I won’t do anything bad—just a little punishment for being naughty, okay? You poor, tiny human?”

In the freezing air, only the dry laughter of the bewitching beauty echoed, sounding terribly out of tune.

“Now, I shall bestow my baptism upon you all. Those poured with my nectar, those who receive the Lust Goddess’s blessing, shall regain their beauty. —If you want to make that man yours, do as you please.”

Izabel poured nectar onto the three women. As the liquid spilling from a small bottle touched their hair and foreheads, they all changed decisively.

Their faces rejuvenated in an instant, regaining their most beautiful, radiant appearances—no, acquiring a beauty surpassing that. Goat-like horns sprouted from their heads, bat-like wings from their backs, and tails from their buttocks.

“Succubi…!”

Navarre muttered in a squeezed-out voice as the three jumped on him. They pushed the man onto the floor, tearing off his clothes to leave him stark naked. Navarre tried to resist the sudden assault, but he couldn’t shake them off. Even with the strength forged as a warrior, he couldn’t shake off the strength of his three wives.

“Resisting is useless, you know? I blessed them, so an average warrior can’t stand against them. Well, all three said they wanted to drain you dry, so enjoy falling into a prison of lust. Still, well… there’s no accounting for taste, I suppose…”

Shrugging her shoulders and laughing, Izabel quickly left the room. Behind her, the intermingling cries of a man and women echoed loudly.

Chapter 165: An Anticlimactic Conclusion to the Homecoming

Unaware that her father, Navarre, had suffered a terrible fate due to Lily’s meddling, Lenoa returned to the inn after her walk, her cheeks flushed red.

Echoing in her mind was the phrase “double date.”

One man and two women on a double date. Something about that was fundamentally wrong in several ways, but Lenoa had no capacity to correct it. The vivid image of the Hero and Clara intertwining in the lamplight, overlaid with the idea of a double date. She didn’t know what to do.

The most cool-headed person in the group had been rendered useless. At that moment, the Troublemakers returned from their base.

“Heh, I imagine that lord must be suffering from quite the mental fatigue after being visited by a hag who could silence a crying child. I’ve brought some wine to comfort him.”

“It must be a terrible shock for a daughter to suddenly bring home a playboy. I brought some fruit wine from Necropolis.”

“A violent incident occurred right before his eyes; my heart goes out to him… I’ve brought some distilled spirits passed down among dragonkind. It’s a special product made with breath.”

All three had brought alcohol as souvenirs. Their thought processes were completely identical. The valid argument that them not coming would have been the best souvenir was spoken by no one. Lenoa’s mental shutdown was dealing quite a bit of damage to the group’s collective common sense.

So, they walked over to the lord’s manor.

Having already secured free passage, they were guided to the great hall, where they were greeted by a butler wearing a troubled expression.

“Welcome, everyone… um, we would very much like to welcome you, but… my master is not feeling well…”

“Eh? Father is…?”

At the exhausted face of the butler, Lenoa regained her senses. Clara also put on a serious expression. After all, he was their blood relative.

However, their worries were betrayed in a truly pathetic direction.

“It’s fine, old man. I can… still move… ugugu.”

“Aahn, dear, don’t push yourself so hard? Come on, let’s go back to bed♪”

“That’s right, slowly and intimately in bed…♡ You don’t have to move this time, okay?”

“Ufufu, I’ll cast Heal on your lower back♡ Ei, ei♡”

Navarre arrived crawling on all fours, clutching his lower back and leaning on a cane. Surrounding him were three succubus ladies wearing dresses with high exposure. One of them cast a powan-powan Heal, making Navarre’s lower back glow pink. It was painfully clear exactly which part wasn’t “feeling well.”

“Heh, the sun looks yellow… Old man, is there a sandstorm coming from the east?”

“My lord… how pitiful…”

The butler wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. At this excessive scene, Clara froze completely, and Lenoa stood with her mouth gaping open. In particular, seeing her mother, the third wife, completely love-struck and transformed into a succubus looked like it might make Lenoa faint any second.

“Now then, where should I start… last night, a woman calling herself a Lust Goddess came here. She cast magic on my wives, and this is the result.”

“““…………”””

The party fell silent.

It was the person they had been drinking with last night. But they couldn’t let even a hint of that slip out…!

The four Troublemakers simultaneously looked off in random directions. Lily and Luwi harmonized a terrible whistle, feigning ignorance with blatant transparency. Clara clutched her head, and Lenoa covered her face with both hands. This was just cruel.

“Fu, I’ve grown dull as well… Ah, I wonder why… everything I’ve done until now seems… so incredibly trivial…”

Navarre had a distant look in his eyes, but upon closer inspection, his skin was dry, his cheeks were sunken, and his eyes were clear like a monk who had attained enlightenment.

Everyone guessed just how fierce a battle he had survived last night.

“Clara… may I speak?”

“Y-yes.”

Clara was shaken by being addressed by her father, who had entered some kind of enlightenment mode. After all, she was effectively complicit in this situation. The guilt was immense.

“My path and yours parted long ago, but… you are absolutely going to have a hard time. Brace yourself.”

“…I cannot deny that…”

She could only nod with a wry smile. She had nothing but premonitions of hardship.

“And Lenoa.”

“…Father…”

“You go to the capital. Stick with Clara and support your sister… You two are the only ones who can keep an eye on this Hero. This isn’t my ambition speaking. It’s for the sake of the country.”

“Father, but what about the earldom!”

“It’s okay, Lenoa.”

Lenoa pleaded desperately, but she was stopped in her tracks by a smile from her biological mother.

“Everyone and I and our husband will manage it together happily, so don’t worry and go have fun♡ Who knows, you might even get more brothers and sisters…♡”

“That’s right, might as well make a big family.”

“Hey deaaar… it’s for Lenoa and Clara’s sake, so let’s make lots of heirs? Okay?”

“Mugugugu!? L-let go! I haven’t slept since yesterday…!”

Navarre was mobbed by a storm of flesh-colored skin and dragged back toward the bedroom. Seeing him off with distant eyes, Clara and Lenoa sighed with gestures that were identical, just like sisters.

“…Hmm. Well, I suppose running into a Lust Goddess is just one of those things that happens in life!”

Lily, who had created the trigger for the incident, summarized the situation with utter transparency. Then, seeing their chance, the other members shamelessly jumped on the bandwagon.

“Indeed, as Lily says…! The world is vast, and one cannot predict what will happen…!”

“A Lust Goddess, huh! I have absolutely, completely, not even a tiny bit of an idea where she might be lurking! Mysterious things do happen!”

“I-I also have no idea what happened! Becoming a succubus doesn’t seem so bad, so I think we can just wait and see…!”

“Umu, there doesn’t seem to be any real harm… look, even that playboy over there is doing fine, so as long as he’s careful about kidney deficiency… it should work out somehow, yeah.”

Thus, Clara’s homecoming concluded in a way that went far obliquely above anyone’s expectations. And for some reason, the party ended up taking her half-sister Lenoa back to the capital with them.