Honey Trap! ~The Honey Trap Encirclement to Ensnare the Summoned Hero~ - Chapter 65 & 66

Chapter 65: Turmoil in the Royal Capital (1)

In the very depths of the most lawless district in the Royal Capital, inside a sturdily constructed basement hidden beneath an unremarkable building, men of ill repute had gathered. They were the Attra Kura, the shot-callers who managed the capital’s dark side.

“It’s been quite a while since the Flower Quarter boss got hit.”

“Hmph. He was too small-time to be an Attra Kura executive. It was inevitable.”

“But what about the Baron Yoram matter?”

“That one has me troubled. The slave trade has completely stopped, after all…”

Royal authority did not extend into this gloom. But even they were finding the recent string of events difficult to handle.

“Who in the world are they… The Troublemakers…!”

Yes. The Troublemakers, a nuisance party that had suddenly appeared in the Royal Capital. According to their intelligence, the party had blatantly sent undead at a family targeting an orphanage, and in broad daylight. Even by Attra Kura standards, they were insane.

The manager who ran the Flower Quarter and his entire faction had also been wiped out. With no warning, one day they were suddenly found wrapped up in straw mats and sent to prison. They were not fools. The manager must have been sending considerable bribes to the officials. For him to be imprisoned without a chance to appeal, it was only natural to suspect that some greater power was at work.

And the finishing blow was Baron Yoram.

“I heard they just sauntered right up to Baron Yoram’s mansion and asked, ‘Does the master of this house happen to kidnap girls?’ They’re mocking us!”

“He had ‘Iron Arm’ Appella with him, a former A-Rank adventurer. To think he was taken down without even being able to fight back… it’s hard to believe.”

“But in reality, they say the group didn’t have a single scratch. We don’t know if it’s true, but they supposedly crushed Yoram’s men like twisting a baby’s arm.”

“That is what’s unbelievable. They were a detachment of knights and an A-Rank adventurer, no matter how you slice it. Are those people some kind of Akki Rasetsu, evil demons?”

They hadn’t managed the capital’s nest of vipers for nothing. They possessed outstanding minds and had arrived at a conclusion agonizingly near the truth. So close! They couldn’t possibly imagine the idiotic truth: that the members who slayed an Evil God were now just playing adventurer to plan for their futures. Instead, using ‘sound’ logic, they arrived at an outrageous conclusion.

“Mmm. Does this not strike you as odd? The Flower Quarter fellow was, in the end, a mere yakuza. But Baron Yoram is a noble, is he not? For him to be sent to prison instantly, with no chance to make excuses…”

“You don’t mean… the Kingdom is involved!?”

“It’s the only explanation. A noble would surely struggle to cover it up. Or he would scheme to pin the blame on another. He should have had options. Yet, he was imprisoned without any resistance… The only ones capable of that are the Kingdom. And at its very highest level.”

“…You mean, the Royal Family…! Then the true identity of this ‘Troublemakers’ party is…”

“…Yes. They are secret agents, dispatched by the Royal Family. Nine times out of ten, I am certain of it.”

Completely wrong.

Well, not entirely. Prime Minister Daniel-sama had been exceptionally active in the Baron Yoram case, so it wasn’t a completely baseless assumption, which was the frustrating part. Considering Yuuri was now a Kōshaku—a Marquis—the situation was much closer to a Molotov cocktail dropped by the Royal Family. (Emphasis on dropped, not thrown—it wasn’t intentional.)

Worse, Yuuri and the others were all masters of Ten’i magic, teleportation. When a request ended, they teleported home. This meant their movements couldn’t be tracked at all. They vanished suddenly, only to pop up at the Guild later. The more one investigated, the more suspicious they looked. And so, the four of them had been certified as secret agents without their knowledge. As for what those agents were actually doing…

※

“Ehh, and so! Let’s raise a toast to this playboy over here, who has been successfully sent to the grave of life!”

“Fuhahahaha! Serves you right!”

“Umu. It was an ending we all saw coming.”

“Y-You guys…!”

The cafeteria attached to the Adventurer’s Guild. A group of four was gulping down ale in the middle of the day. It was a drinking party ostensibly to “commemorate” Yuuri’s decision to stay in this world… but really, it was just to make fun of him. Incidentally, the receptionist Sonia-san was off today. Meaning, there was no one to caution them.

“Isn’t marriage a little too soon?! I mean, I’m only twenty-one!”

“I hear nobles get married in their teens, you know? For the esteemed Marquis, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say you’re late… Pupu.”

“Besides, if you’re staying in this world, the final act is already obvious. It’s just a chicken race to see if you resign yourself to your fate first, or if you score a direct hit with your seed first.”

“In my experience, the male who takes the initiative before the ‘oops’ baby happens seems the more capable sort.”

“Gununu… I can’t argue with that…”

But I just want to be a carefree bachelor for a little while longer…!

That was Yuuri’s wish, but this was after he had performed a nama nakadashi on the princess during her dangerous day. He had lost all self-control at the sight of her in the JK uniform; he couldn’t even remember how many times he had finished. He was barreling straight toward the grave of life, and with Royalty, no less. There was absolutely no escape.

“Well, just do your best to become an adventurer who earns a good living.”

“Becoming a papa while you’re still a NEET… even by Dragon standards, that’s just sad…”

“That’s the thing… Saisō-san said, ‘Yuuri-sama only needs to fulfill his duty as a noble.’ I wondered what ‘duty’ meant, so I asked Reza-san…Sh-she said it’s… ‘to produce an heir’…”

“Bwaha! ‘Papa, Papa, why are you always home?’ ‘Because I’m busy making your siblings!’ Fuhahaha, that’s a masterpiece!”

Just as Lucius dissolved into fits of laughter, Agamemnon splashed him with terrifyingly cold water.

“However, thinking about it… As the Dragon King, what work… did I actually do…?”

“Ara, as the Tyrant of the Necropolis, I splendidly… splendidly… I splendidly delegate all of my work!”

“I am the Demon Lord of the Dark Continent. Of course… my ministers yell at me, ‘Do not do anything unnecessary!’”

Stare—

Yuuri stared at the three of them with accusing, half-lidded eyes. A brilliant reversal of fortunes!

“Well I am just a Marquis-in-name-only, you see. But you three, aren’t you supposedly the top-level rulers? Isn’t just delegating everything bad?”

“D-Dragons and humans have different circumstances! Dragons, you see, we just do things at our own pace, so it’s fine to be loose…!”

“The Necropolis emphasizes the independence of its subordinates.”

“Reign, but do not rule. That is the ideal form of a Demon Lord…!”

“Like hell it is!”

This was the true form of the Royal Secret Agents (LOL). If the members of the Attra Kura could see this, they would be appalled by the reality of the situation.

Chapter 66: Turmoil in the Royal Capital (2)

Being a Guild receptionist was no easy job. It meant managing rough-and-tumble adventurers and responding to the unexpected troubles that occurred daily. Unlike a normal shopkeeper, every day brought a new incident in a line of work where people’s lives were on the line. Still, as a former adventurer herself, Sonia-san could tolerate a fair bit of roughhousing. Just as she was thinking the job suited her, The Troublemakers arrived.

Ever since, her days had been a series of headaches. But this, she thought, slipping into denial, is just too much.

“Hold on tight, beautiful! We’re shaking off our pursuers, so it’s going to get a little bumpy! Haha, to think a little date would turn into this. The world is more dramatic than I thought, isn’t it?”

“Truly, one cannot even relax and play in peace! This capital is as lawless as the Dark Continent!”

“That’s just because of today!”

Being princess-carried by Lily, Sonia was leaping, bounding, and racing through the streets of the Royal Capital. It was like being on a roller coaster without a seatbelt. How did this happen? Sonia wondered, her gaze distant.

※

The story began about an hour earlier. It was her day off, but with nothing in particular to do, Sonia was wandering the city. If she had a boyfriend, they might go on a date or two, but alas, she was single. She was thinking of inviting an adventurer acquaintance out for tea, just girls, when she was hit on.

“My, my, a beautiful person! Fancy meeting you here. Yes, let’s call this fate. How about some tea with me?”

“…Lily-san… um, are you always like this, Lily-san?”

“Hm? I am always this me. My true self, as I am!”

“You seem so happy… Yes, I suppose that’s the most important thing. Hai.”

Lily Klein. The daughter of the wealthy merchant Klein family, and an oddity who overcame a serious illness to become an adventurer. The way she spouted cheesy, theatrical lines and struck poses 24/7 was, to put it mildly, bizarre. Worse, she exclusively hit on women, which made her completely unmanageable.

Her appearance was a mix of adorable and gallant—a true beautiful girl. Her personality was aloof, yet strong-willed. When those clear eyes stared straight at her, Sonia felt dangerously close to opening a forbidden door.

“Haa… Lily is truly a pickup artist. That said, we are also bored. If you would join us for tea, I would be pleased as well.”

“Y-Yes, understood. To be honest, I was feeling a little bored myself.”

The magic caster who partnered with Lily was Luwi. She looked to be a cute girl of about twelve. Her twintails were adorable, and when Sonia-san first saw her, she’d felt a small kyun in her heart. However, she definitely did not seem to be twelve years old. Her manner of speaking was archaic, and she occasionally revealed glimpses of profound knowledge. She was clearly an expert, but she had a trigger-happy streak. Sonia’s memory of lecturing her for creating a crater outside the capital was a bitter one.

And so, she was led by the two of them to a café, where they enjoyed a pleasant, friendly tea time. But partway through, the atmosphere grew ominous. First, the other customers disappeared from their surroundings. The moment she thought, Eh?, it happened.

“Oops. That’s dangerous.”

Lily gently pinched the incoming blow-dart between her fingers. Sonia hadn’t been able to react to the motion at all. To stop a blow-dart with one’s fingers was not a human feat. And what was even more chilling was that Lily-san had moved to protect her.

In other words: she had been the target.

Even with her tolerance for rough situations, Sonia could not remain calm in the face of such naked malice. A shiver ran down her spine, and her whole body began to tremble. If it was a blow-dart, it was surely coated in poison or a sleeping agent. Did that mean the attacker was an assassin?

In this situation, Lily and Luwi remained, to an almost abnormal degree, exactly as they always were. They grew more serious, but they never lost their aloof, nonchalant air. Their attitude was utterly composed.

“Hmph. How troublesome. Assassins are such a pain.”

“Luwi, what’s the best way to handle this?”

“If we weren’t in the city, they’d be moths to a flame, and I would just annihilate them in a sea of fire! But, uun, I feel like I’d get yelled at for that… so, most reluctantly… truly, really reluctantly…”

“We break away! Got it. Let’s go!”

“Eh, eeh!?”

※

And that was how Sonia ended up being carried by Lily, dashing through the Royal Capital. Perhaps it was a feat made possible by the strength of a Vampire Lord, but even carrying a person, her feet were as fast as the wind.

“Oops, another arrow! How dangerous.”

“Kukuku! They shot at us, so this is unavoidable no ja! Eat this, Self-Defense Thunder! Self-Defense Lightning! Self-Defense Death Stun!”

“Try not to hit any bystanders, Luwi!”

“Leave it to me! My self-defense magic is a precision attack that only hits my enemies! …Though it misses sometimes.”

Lightning bolts exploded, followed by terrifying booms. Belatedly, screams followed. This was in the middle of the city. The very heart of the Royal Capital. Normally, Sonia-san would have scolded them to show some restraint, but in this situation, she couldn’t say a word.

Besides, more importantly… Luwi had been floating backwards in mid-air this whole time, firing off magic while chatting. She was keeping pace with the speeding Lily.

She was an unhinged, unconventional magic user. Sonia could declare with certainty that not even the A-Rank adventurers she knew were capable of such a feat. In the first place, she had no idea how Luwi was dodging obstacles. She wasn’t even looking forward.

“However, I don’t recall us doing anything to be resented… Hah! Don’t tell me, they are after my purichii(pretty) good looks…! Oh, dear. It is a sin to be beautiful…!”

“This isn’t the time for jokes, Luwi! The one being targeted is Sonia! From the very first attack, their line of sight has been fixed on her!”

“You can see that!?”

“Ah… un. I wonder why? I just can. That’s why I can shoot down the arrows so easily. I know exactly where they’re headed.”

Those were not the words of a noble lady who had been sick in bed until just recently. It was the demeanor of a veteran warrior who had reached enlightenment in the martial arts through endless training. But in reality, she was F-Rank, just waiting for promotion to E-Rank. She had only a handful of combat experiences. Her ability to see the enemy’s “line of sight” wasn’t some advanced perception or enlightenment; it was just her Vampire Lord vision literally seeing it. The truth was, she was the one most confused by it.

※

For the attackers, the shock they felt was beyond words.

“Wh-What is that…!? E-F-Rank? You must be joking…!”

The Attra Kura executive leading the assassination squad stared with wide-open eyes at Lily and Luwi’s ridiculous display. Their plan was to kidnap the Guild receptionist, who seemed to have a deep connection with The Troublemakers, to lure the party out. But instead, a “mere” F-Rank adventurer who happened to be there caught a blow-dart with her fingers, then fled the scene at terrifying speed.

When they scrambled to pursue, they fell right into the enemy’s trap. His subordinates were picked off one by one by magic, and every one of their own attacks was deflected.

What was most chilling was that a master of this caliber had been operating as a lowly F-Rank adventurer all this time. No matter how you looked at it, there had to be some massive-scale background to this.

“What in the world is the Royal Family planning…? What are they doing, using the Adventurer’s Guild as a cover…!”

Regarding these two, the Royal Family was truly, completely innocent. They knew nothing. There was no way they could. But in the minds of the Attra Kura, the shadow of the Royal Family was growing larger and larger.

And so, a storm had come to the Royal Capital.