Honey Trap! ~The Honey Trap Encirclement to Ensnare the Summoned Hero~ - Chapter 77 & 78

Chapter 77: A Certain Female Knight’s Information Gathering (Part 1)

While the Troublemakers were launching their grand offensive against the capital’s shadowy Attra Kura, General Mikel, leading his knights, paid a visit to a certain orphanage. According to a messenger, Yuusha-sama himself had personally requested its protection.

Truth be told, Mikel would rather be fighting at the hero’s side. Yet the honor of being entrusted by that legendary figure fills his chest with pride.

Closing his eyes, he recalls the epic clash with the apostle of the evil god.

Mikel had once been skeptical of the “hero” concept. Why didn’t the king trust his own army? Why not order Mikel, a warrior worth a thousand, to slay the evil god? Such frustrations gnawed at him.

But when he faced the apostle at the border, a quiet resignation settled in.

That thing… It’s beyond human reach.

The faces of his wife and two daughters flashed in his mind. Dying would be bitter, leaving them behind, but if he could buy time for their escape… With that resolve, he and his men, prepared for death, confronted the apostle.

“Hey, an evil god’s apostle, right there! Man, picking a fight with the folks who feed me? Some guts!”

A mischievous boy descended from the sky, grinning like a delinquent. Behind him followed a massive dragon, a beauty commanding undead, and a dignified man cloaked in black. Mikel and his men could only watch as the world-saving heroes challenged the divine foe.

Staring at the mythic battle, Mikel realized something. The people who feed me. Summoned out of nowhere, forced to fight an evil god—yet what a noble soul.

It was probably for the best that Mikel didn’t overhear their later conversation.

“Man, being a NEET rocks! Free food, no work!”

“I, too, crave a job where I sit and meals appear!”

“I hunt my own food, mind you…”

“Tch, I’m working too, y’know! Like, hunting apostles right now!”

Some things are better left unknown.

※

“Uh, um… What do the knights want with our orphanage?”

“Oh, well, we’ve heard ruffians are targeting this place. Protecting the people is a knight’s duty, so here we are!”

Mikel snaps out of his reverie, addressing a boy from the orphanage, barely in his early teens. Yet, he’s a senior adventurer compared to the Troublemakers.

The boy’s reaction is dramatic, his face screaming, I know exactly what this is about.

“Geh, did Eremia-neechan do something? Look, she’s not a bad person! Sure, summoning undead in the city’s a bad move, but she doesn’t mean harm…”

“Eremia-neechan?”

A woman named Eremia, summoning undead. Mikel’s mind races. He knows that name. The silver-haired warrior in black armor, leading an army of the dead, who felled an apostle with her bare hands. The Undead Queen, one of the world-saving heroes… That was her name, wasn’t it?

“Huh? Not her? Then did Yuri-niichan mess up? He’s kinda airheaded, but he’s a good guy. If you could, y’know, go easy on him…”

Yuri-niichan. By some wild coincidence, the same name as the world-saving hero.

“Hmm, Agamemnon-san and Lucius-niichan aren’t the type to stir up big trouble… Though they’re both a bit spacey. Lucius-niichan’s got a knack for accidentally picking fights.”

Coincidences pile up—now the Dragon King and Demon King’s names drop, completing the hero’s party. No wonder Yuusha-sama personally requested this place’s protection. Mikel, uncharacteristically flustered, scrambles to cover.

“N-No, lad, that’s not it at all! Ahem, I, Mikel, have no clue about those four names! None whatsoever, totally unrelated!”

“Uh, okay? Phew, that’s a relief. I thought they’d gone and picked a fight with some noble, or let undead loose in the streets, or caused some crazy trouble…”

The noble’s Yuri himself. A marquis in title, but effectively above the king, as every noble in the land agrees. Picking a fight with him? You’d face a thrashing not just from the kingdom but from foreign nations and temples alike. He’s the most untouchable noble, bar none.

“Aye, no such thing, not a chance! Rest easy, lad!”

“F-Father… A word, please.”

Mikel’s daughter, Kris, drags him to a corner, whispering sternly.

“(Father, you’re making it obvious! Yuusha-sama is supposed to be incognito—show some tact!)”

“(Ugh, sorry. I’m no good at subterfuge. Alright, you handle it.)”

“(…Sigh… Fine.)”

※

Kris has never met the hero directly. Indirectly, she’s heard endless glowing praise from her father: noble, selfless, never boasting, yet braver than any warrior—a true hero. Her younger sister, Irene, shares tales from the harem: kind but mischievous, a bit absentminded, the kind of guy you can’t leave alone.

The impressions don’t quite align.

Determined to gather more intel, Kris wants to size up the man her adorable sister serves. He’s no villain, but she needs to know his character.

“Greetings, I’m Kris. Waiting around is dull, so… mind if we chat?”

“Huh? Sure, Knight-sama.”

“Those names you mentioned—are they your acquaintances?”

Kris sees herself as a knight who’s “cast aside femininity.” Yet her striking, regal beauty leaves the boy adventurer blushing and fidgety.

Internally, he panics. Did I screw up? Asking about Yuri and the others right away—maybe the undead thing was a bad call…

“Yeah, they’re from my guild’s adventurer party. Their name’s… uh… Troublemakers…”

“…Quite the distinctive name…”

Kris covers her face with a hand. Mischievous, indeed.

Chapter 78: A Certain Female Knight’s Information Gathering (Part 2)

Troublemakers.

The party name of the world-saving heroes makes Kris want to sigh. As a diligent, no-nonsense female knight who’s lived a disciplined life, the name alone is jarring. But the stories that follow are even more outrageous.

“Everyone in the Troublemakers is, hands-down, the guild’s most talked-about adventurers. They’re famous in those circles. I mean…”

Because they’re the world-saving heroes, Kris thinks. But the boy’s next words nearly knock her over.

“I mean, they’re always getting called in by the guildmaster for a scolding. And then they walk out with these carefree faces, so we all call ’em heroes.”

He’s right. Dead-on, bullseye truth—but somehow wrong! There’s a proper way to be famous, isn’t there? Kris tilts her head skyward in exasperation.

“Scolded… Always scolded…”

“Once, they were gambling in the guild cafeteria. The receptionist lady chewed them out hard. They were kneeling for, like, an hour. But they bounced back with those same goofy grins. I could never pull that off.”

“You don’t need to pull that off, trust me.”

She wants to scream. What are you doing, Yuusha-sama?! Swallowing the urge, Kris forces herself to stay calm and listen. It feels like she’s stumbling onto highly classified state secrets.

Summoning undead for ditch-cleaning. The four, plus an army of the dead, picking fights with racketeers. Forgetting to collect proof parts on quests, turning monsters into bacon or sausages. The clincher: the Baron Yoram kidnapping incident.

“That one’s a big story, but, between us, Yuri-niichan really—like, really—asked at a noble’s mansion, ‘Hey, is the master here kidnapping girls or what?’”

“…Well. That’s, uh, quite the bold personality…”

“I couldn’t believe it, so I asked him myself! And he just goes, all casual, ‘Yeah, I did ask that, didn’t I?’ They’re all so clueless about the world. I’m kinda worried about them.”

“I’m… a little—no, very—worried myself…”

Yuusha-sama, braver than any warrior, a true hero—so her father claimed. But Kris is edging dangerously close to a perilous truth. Could it be… the heroes are just thoughtless?

“The baron was guilty, so it worked out, but accusing a noble like that? Normally, you’d be executed on the spot.”

“…Execution. Right… Well, maybe in the old days, but His Majesty today cherishes the people. Nobles can’t just oppress citizens without consequence. Rest easy.”

“Phew, that’s a relief… So, maybe just a night in jail to cool off? Those guys are so oblivious, airheaded, and reckless, but… they’re crazy strong. They took down Baron Yoram’s whole knight brigade, just the four of them.”

“I see. Very strong people, huh.”

Kris’s reply is painfully monotone. A baron’s knights? No match for them, obviously.

※

“Ahem. Mind if we change topics? So… do the four ever visit this orphanage?”

“Yeah, they drop by sometimes. Lucius-niichan does this ‘Demon King Pose Seminar’ or whatever, teaching weird poses and playing with the kids. It’s a big help.”

Finally, a heartwarming tale. Heroes mingling with common folk, hiding their status, bonding with orphanage kids—like a fairy tale. Kris decides to ignore the Demon King pose thing. It’s probably authentic, but still.

“They also play card games a lot. It’s super lively and fun, so all the kids wanna join in. But they use some pretty crude language, so I wish they’d tone that down.”

“I see. Crude language, huh…”

“Eremia-neechan’s the worst. She keeps yelling ‘Yarichin!’ at Yuri-niichan. When the kids asked me what it means, I was totally stumped.”

“Y-Yarichin…?” (T/N: Do-it guy/Playboy.)

Kris, daughter of a general and a knight in the army, isn’t naive to coarse talk. But this blatant term is a first. She freezes, rooted to the spot. The boy, panicking, rushes to smooth things over.

“S-Sorry, Knight-sama! I used a bad word!”

“N-No, you’re fine. Don’t worry… So, uh, Eremia’s the one saying it?”

“Yeah, all the time. Yuri-niichan grumbles, ‘My name’s not Yarichin!’”

Brain shutdown.

That’s Kris’s current state.

Irene’s letters had sugarcoated this part, phrasing it as “affectionate with women” or “enjoys dating.” But the boy’s words, stamped with Eremia’s bluntness, hit like a fastball.

Kris takes a deep, deep breath, narrows her eyes, and mutters to herself.

“Once this is over, I need to meet him…”

The man her revered father idolizes and her precious sister adores—the world-saving hero, Yuri. She must see his true nature with her own eyes.

Kris resolves this firmly.