I Came Back from the Dead, Quit Being a Holy Hero, and Just Wanna Shake My Hips in a Harem - Chapter 07: The Hero Witnesses a W-W-What Now

Chapter 07: The Hero Witnesses a W-W-What Now

“UwaaAAAHHHH!! MONSTEEEERRRR!!”

Yep.

That pathetic scream?

All mine.

Not a villager’s. Totally mine.

While we were out investigating the plains near Lyra Village, yet another Silver Wolf suddenly leapt out at us.

I started trembling like a jelly-filled slime, and Lily—calm as ever—raised her sacred staff toward the beast.

“Sacred Mark—Cell Overdrive (Heal Blast).”

The Silver Wolf got swallowed by a glowing holy ring—then BOOM!

Instant monster confetti.

Lily turned to me with the dead-eyed look of someone who just took out the trash.

“…Trash—I mean, Lord Haruya, what exactly are you doing?”

Wait.

Did she just call me trash?

Nice! NICE!

My rating’s tanking perfectly‼

Let’s gooo—Operation: Total Pathetic Man is a full go!

“Ahaha—what can I say? When monsters pop outta nowhere like that, I totally freak!”

“Lord Haruya, you are not the type to lose to a Silver Wolf.”

“Y’know, I’m just really bad with surprises. I’m the kinda guy who needs a full dungeon survey plan before diving in. That’s why I go solo, see?”

“…I see. Is that so.”

“Still—Lily, you’re not just cute, you’re freakin’ strong too!”

I gave her my best sleazy grin, full power.

We’d come out here to investigate the plains near Lyra Village, and so far we’d been ambushed by monsters non-stop.

Even Lily—who usually left the fighting to me—had started taking the lead out of pure annoyance.

Her long lashes fluttered ever so slightly.

“I trained hard so I could protect the Hero.”

Yeah… I know.

Back in my last life, when we first met, she was already stronger than me.

By the end of our journey, she’d turned into a full-blown combat machine—

Frontline, backline, support—she did it all.

An unstoppable super-priestess.

But from what I’ve seen so far… she’s not quite there yet.

Her Heal Blast isn’t as sharp, her footwork’s a little off, and her monster-sensing? Kinda meh.

My stats didn’t drop at all after coming back from the dead…

But it looks like Lily’s power really did rewind.

Even healing that arm wound earlier took her longer than I remembered.

Still—she’s definitely Silver-Iron rank or higher.

Probably just joined the guild recently, though.

“Hehehe—totally counting on ya~!”

“Is that really okay? Don’t you want to make a name for yourself as an adventurer?”

“Nah, I’m happy just earning enough to scrape by.”

“…All for the sake of your dream harem, I presume.”

“Bingo~ …Well, okay, yeah. But for the record, I’m legit scared right now, okay?”

I nervously glanced back toward Lyra Village.

The villagers were lined up in a perfectly straight row—like a human wall.

Still smiling.

Still watching.

Tracking our every. Single. Move.

Creepy as hell.

They weren’t attacking, but the tension? Suffocating.

“Maybe they’re sizing us up—trying to gauge our strength.”

“Sounds about right… I mean, probably? Honestly, I’ve got no idea.”

Yeah, makes sense.

Those monsters that’ve been ambushing us?

They weren’t just attacking at random.

They were moving like they were testing us—probing for weaknesses.

I let Lily handle most of the fights—

Partly to keep up the act that she’s more competent than me, but also because I figured… someone was watching.

And clearly, she picked up on that too.

She didn’t question it.

Lily cast a sideways glance at the ultra-suspicious villagers.

“Our investigation isn’t complete… but it’s enough to get the knights involved.”

“Oh? You thinking we head back and file a report? Yeah… it is just the two of us out here.”

“…That may be the best option.”

She sounded a little annoyed by it.

But honestly?

With how shady this place is, calling in the knight brigade makes total sense.

File a report, dump the problem on someone else, and boom—day’s done.

And hey, if we head back now with my garbage-tier rep still intact?

That’s a personal win.

But…

Something’s bugging me.

These villagers and their creepy, stuck-on smiles…

They’re too in sync.

Like they’re all being controlled by a single will.

Probably some kind of dark ritual stuff.

Either the villagers poked something they shouldn’t have, or someone else is pulling the strings behind the scenes.

And judging by how tightly under control everything seems, whatever’s going on is probably nearing the endgame.

If we leave now, things could spiral fast while we’re gone.

Yeah… this might be more serious than it looks.

Lily doesn’t remember anything from our last time around, so she probably doesn’t realize how close this is to blowing up.

I’m not a Hero anymore, but…

“…Yeah, nah. We can’t bounce just yet.”

I gave a lazy grin as I said it, and Lily blinked at me—genuinely surprised.

“Just a gut feeling, y’know? Like, zap zap zap, my instincts are screaming, ‘Going back now is a bad idea!’”

“Zap zap zap instincts, you say…”

“…Indeed. Zap-zap-level instincts.”

Lily gave a tiny smile—just enough to show she caught the joke.

“Understood. I’ll send a message to the city. In the meantime, let’s remain in Lyra Village.”

She kept her eyes on me, clearly still trying to figure me out.

Let’s just hope we can make it through this without something literally exploding…

〇〇〇

Lyra Village’s inn.

A big ol’ building that doubled as a tavern.

Luckily, they had open rooms—even without a reservation.

Though honestly, “lucky” felt like a stretch when the villagers welcomed us like:

“Ohhh! You wish to stay at our completely NOT suspicious inn!? By all means! Please do! Use this opportunity to prove just how NOT suspicious our village really is!”

Yeah…

Nope. Don’t like this. Not even a little.

Still—step one: food.

We headed to the tavern for dinner.

One of the ever-smiling staff members proudly recommended the local favorite: “Totally-Not-Suspicious Special.”

Yeah. Hard pass.

I don’t know what’s in that, and I’d very much like to keep my soul unpoisoned, thank you.

So Lily and I sat at a table across from each other and opted for our own portable meals instead.

The tavern itself was lively.

Other villagers filled the surrounding tables—but every single one of them was smiling.

At us.

Like, laser-locked, full-eye-contact smiling.

No blinking.

As if we were the entertainment.

Yeah, definitely not helping the appetite.

But hey—rule number one of adventuring?

Eat when you can.

I pulled out a chunk of preserved meat and slathered it in a generous helping of my personal sauce stash—

The kind past-me was repeatedly warned would ruin my skin and probably my insides too.

With knife and fork, I sliced off a bite and started eating.

Across the table, Lily wasn’t touching her bread.

She was just… watching me.

“What’s up? Don’t tell me… you’ve got the hots for me?”

I mean, I’m not a Hero anymore, so there’s no way she’s gonna hit me with the old ‘No greasy food, it’s bad for your divine vessel’ speech again.

“I was just thinking… you eat very neatly.”

“That weird to you?”

“It suggests a refined upbringing. Could it be… you’re actually a noble’s son?”

“…Nah, I’m an orphan. Some grumpy old granny in the neighborhood beat table manners into me.”

“Well then, sounds like you had a very fortunate encounter.”

Yeah no—that granny was YOU, Lily‼

For a second, I thought about slamming my food down and eating like a caveman just to mess with her…

But at this point, it’s just muscle memory.

Still, for some reason, Lily kept watching me eat—hadn’t even touched her bread yet.

Guess my table manners were really that fascinating?

But being the only one under observation felt unfair.

“Stare all you want, but you won’t find anything interesting.”

“I’m not staring.”

“Wanna hear about my hometown? Total truth—I really am a plain ol’ orphan.”

Even when I set out to kill the Demon King after my rewind,

I swam across the sea alone just to avoid being spotted.

Wiped out every last trace of my ‘Hero’ identity.

Lily’s expression didn’t change, but…

She definitely wasn’t looking entertained either.

…Maybe it’s time to poke the bear a little.

“You’re still looking for the Hero, huh? But what’s the point if they’re gone?”

“Is that so.”

“There haven’t been any sightings, right? Maybe he died taking the Demon King down with him. Or maybe the Demon King just slipped in the bathtub and cracked his head open. Who knows.”

“That is impossible. Demon King Chronova wouldn’t simply die on his own…”

“Yeah, yeah. But still—no point stressing over it. Even without a Hero, the world keeps turning.”

I said it with the most casual, easygoing tone I could manage.

What I meant was:

“Relax a little. Life’s not supposed to be all pressure and duty.”

But Lily’s expression immediately stiffened.

“The Hero is the light of the world… and the very truth of existence, Lord Haruya.”

And with that, she quietly started eating her bread.

Still the same ol’ Hero fangirl, huh?

Not that she was obsessed with me specifically—

She worshipped the idea of the Hero.

The symbol. The ideal.

Most followers of the Grand Goddess Church are like that…

But Lily? She took it to borderline fanatic levels.

Back in my previous life, we never managed to get past that wall.

Couldn’t change her mind.

Couldn’t get her to see things from another angle.

Even now, I still don’t understand why she’s so dead set on chasing the Hero.

〇〇〇

Later that night…

In the upstairs room of the inn, I sat quietly on a chair in the dark.

Once the moon rises, the shady stuff tends to come out to play.

Whatever’s hiding beneath this village’s smiley surface?

Chances are, it’s going to make its move tonight.

And if they’re trying to erase evidence of some creepy ritual, this is their window.

I passed that theory along to Lily earlier—casually, of course,

Like I’d just “heard it somewhere.”

To avoid drawing attention, we agreed to hole up in our rooms for now.

“…Still, maybe I should talk to Lily a little more.”

In our past lives, our relationship had always been strictly defined—

Me, the Hero.

Her, the ever-dutiful tutor.

But now?

I doubt Lily still holds back just because of that old title.

So maybe it’s time to push things a little further.

And hey—if she ends up hating me for being a shameless, harem-chasing scumbag…

Well, I’ll survive.

Still geared up, I stood from my chair and quietly slipped into the hallway.

Total silence.

But from behind Lily’s door, I could hear a faint rustling.

Was she praying?

Yeah… she used to do that all the time.

Didn’t want to interrupt her, so I carefully cracked the door open—quiet as a whisper.

“hah… hah…”

Lily was lying on the bed.

Her pale skin had flushed a deep pink, like she was burning up with fever, and she writhed in slow, restless movements.

A light sheen of sweat clung to her skin, and her breathing was uneven—

Yet her face looked strangely calm. Content, even.

Her lip trembled ever so slightly as she bit down on it.

Those slender fingers of hers…

Were resting right between her legs.

Her usually serene, composed expression had melted into something… softer.

Something distinctly not priestess-like.

Something very womanly.

She kept squirming, hand subtly shifting, and then—

“Lord Heroooo… mmhn…♥”

Yup.

I just walked in on my ex-party member… in the middle of a solo boss fight.

H-HOLY—WAS SHE JUST—MASTU—!?