I Came Back from the Dead, Quit Being a Holy Hero, and Just Wanna Shake My Hips in a Harem - Chapter 09: The Differences from My Past Life

Chapter 09: The Differences from My Past Life

The moment I knocked the incoming spear aside, the bedroom door burst open.

Two villagers stood there—still wearing those creepy, plastered-on smiles.

They charged in with farming tools raised high, like they were about to harvest me.

I immediately drew my sword.

“Lord Haruya! Please don’t hurt them more than necessary—!”

“I know!!”

One of them swung his hoe down with full force.

Instead of blocking it head-on, I twisted my sword and deflected it with the flat side.

The guy lost his balance and stumbled forward—

I caught him just right, hooked my blade behind him, spun him once—bam!

He crashed to the floor with a loud thud, groaning in pain.

“Brilliant technique!”

Lily praised me—while casually jabbing the second guy in the gut with her sacred staff like it was a spear.

He dropped instantly.

Even with less battle experience now, Lily still kept her cool in combat.

That part hadn’t changed one bit.

“Lord Haruya, you’re very skilled at holding back. Is that something your neighbour granny taught you too?”

“Y-Yeah, totally.”

…It was you, Lily.

You’re the one who taught me that.

Back in the day, she’d always say,

“Heroes should never harm more than they must.”

…Tch.

Now what’s with all that noise outside?

I left the two groaning villagers on the floor and cracked the door open just enough to peek into the hallway.

More smiling villagers.

They were slowly shuffling up the stairs like cheerful zombies—expression frozen, eyes hollow.

“Man, looks like we’ve got company.”

“They’re moving faster than I expected. I thought they’d wait until the mana corruption peaked under the moonlight.”

“So either the ritual’s already finished… Or they’ve decided to just wing it early, huh?”

The creepy dark ritual that’s probably puppeteering the villagers—

If they wanted full control, the smart move would’ve been to wait until midnight, when the dark mana hits its peak.

…Unless we’ve got the whole premise wrong?

Nah.

There’s no way this is just a village full of overly cheerful lunatics with violent hobbies and megawatt smiles.

“What shall we do?”

“Wreak havoc. If we stir things up enough, the caster—or whoever’s behind this—will show up eventually.”

“…Please try not to hurt anyone too badly.”

Lily, ever the paragon of righteousness.

We used to have these debates all the time during our last journey.

To the girl waiting patiently for my answer, I give her the only one she needs:

“I’ll try. Anyway—let’s go!”

I kicked the bedroom door open and jumped into the hallway.

Every smiling villager turned toward me at once…

And somehow smiled even harder.

“““Welcome to our totally not suspicious village!”””

“You guys are like a suspicious horror festival!!”

A tall, lanky man charged in with a spear—grinning like a maniac the whole way.

I stepped forward, slipped past the tip of his spear, and slammed the hilt of my sword right into his neck.

He dropped.

Next came a massive dude, arms wide open like he wanted to give me a creepy cult hug.

I ducked in, rammed my shoulder into his chest, knocked him off balance—then flung him down the stairs and into a table.

“Lord Haruya! Please be gentle!”

“You’re giving me impossible conditions here!”

Then—

Something felt… off.

This wasn’t human.

Above—!

Clinging to the ceiling like some nightmare prop was a giant bat—blood-red eyes locked onto mine as it slowly unfolded its wings.

This thing was the size of two grown men.

Right.

They were controlling monsters too.

I readied my sword.

But then—

Something didn’t feel right.

“Sacred Mark—Cell Overdrive (Heal Blast)”

A glowing halo lit up above the giant bat’s head and wings.

Its cells started bubbling—like water hitting a rolling boil—

Then BOOM.

It popped like someone crammed a live grenade inside it.

Chunks of bat meat rained down as I turned to Lily and deadpanned:

“…Weren’t we trying not to hurt anything? Isn’t this, like… monster discrimination?”

“It’s distinction, not discrimination.”

No hesitation at all.

Lily casually judo-flipped a charging villager mid-conversation, like she was politely repositioning furniture.

And then?

“Don’t slack off.”

“Right, right…”

I followed her lead—lightly tossing villagers left and right.

Poof. Yeet. Bonk.

Gotta be gentle with the brainwashed locals, after all.

We burst through the front of the inn and into the village plaza—

CLANG!

A kitchen knife came flying straight at my face.

I deflected it with my sword, spotted the source, and flung a stone back in one smooth motion.

Thunk.

Judging by the sound, probably good for a bump. Nothing serious.

“You’re really used to this kind of thing, aren’t you, Lord Haruya?”

“Grumpy granny training, that’s why.”

She always said: “A real Hero doesn’t hurt the innocent.”

Drilled that line into me like a sacred battle mantra.

More grinning villagers rushed in like it was a festival parade,

And I kept taking them down gently—just enough to snap the spell’s grip without causing harm.

Once we disable enough of them, the whole ritual should unravel.

It’s not a big village.

They don’t have endless manpower or monster backup…

—Or at least, that’s what we thought.

“This… doesn’t feel right.”

“…Yeah.”

Right around the time Lily exploded that giant bat and I casually flung another villager across the plaza—

I noticed something weird.

The situation wasn’t changing.

At all.

Villagers who should’ve been knocked out were just… getting back up.

Same creepy smiles, same dead eyes.

Even the ones I saw writhing in pain back at the tavern were now strolling out like nothing happened—

Like it was just another cheerful Tuesday.

Wait, what?

The link to the mind-control spell… isn’t breaking?

Then—

Right in the middle of the plaza, a crowd of villagers surrounded us.

And in perfect sync, they started chanting:

“Strong! Strong! Strong! Strong!”

“Good vessel! Good vessel! Good vessel!”

“Who’s good! Who’s good! Who’s good!”

“Girl! Girl! The girl’s the best one! Pick the girl!”

Their voices didn’t overlap or clash—

They blended.

Like one massive creature was speaking through dozens of mouths.

No emotion. No individuality.

Just a hive mind with a smile.

And that’s when it hit me.

“…This is a parasitic monster…?! They’ve all been taken over?!”

“Parasitic…? That’s impossible.”

Lily tried to deny it, but even she had that “…okay yeah, this is super weird” look on her face.

And honestly?

I wasn’t totally buying it either.

Because—this should be impossible.

Yeah, parasite-type monsters do exist.

Some of them even form symbiotic bonds with larger hosts and level up together like cursed Pokémon evolutions.

If you catch the signs—like weird wing shapes or funky discoloration—they’re manageable.

But those are high-tier monsters.

Lyra Village isn’t far from Granule.

This place is starter town 101.

There’s no way one of those freaks should be showing up here.

Even in my past life, I didn’t run into a parasite-type until way later.

We’re talking “final dungeon, world-on-the-brink” levels of late-game.

There’s just no way something this powerful should be here.

And if I’m not mistaken… this thing might be even stronger than the ones I saw back then.

What the hell’s going on?

Something’s different.

Something in this world has changed—

And it’s way off from how I remember it.

And then—

As if sensing our hesitation, the smiling villagers tilted their heads…

And curved their grins into thin, sickle-shaped arcs.

Then, in perfect sync—

Each one slowly raised their weapon…

And pressed it against their own neck.

“Drop your weapons! Surrender now! The villagers are hostages!”

“Hand over the girl! She’s the perfect vessel!”

“Humans are weak to this kinda threat! We know it! We know it works!!”

…Wow.

These monsters were way too familiar with this whole “hostage negotiation” thing.

So that’s how they took over Lyra Village…

Not with raw power—

But with psychological warfare.

Wear people down.

Break their will.

Use the people they love as leverage.

If someone’s family or lover were on the line…

Yeah, it’d be easy to force them to give in.

Damn it…

This is bad.

Especially with someone like her—

Someone who’d fall for that kind of ploy without a second thought—

“I understand. If you’ll let them go, then… please, do whatever you want with me.”

Lily spoke up without the slightest hesitation.