I Came Back from the Dead, Quit Being a Holy Hero, and Just Wanna Shake My Hips in a Harem - Chapter 26: The Man Who Came Back

Chapter 26: The Man Who Came Back

The clouds in the night sky drifted apart, revealing a full moon.

Its pale light spilled over Lily, casting an unshakable, merciless high-priestess aura around her.

“For a thief… you don’t seem very used to rough work.”

Lily glanced down at Subordinate B, still trembling on the ground.

Well yeah—he’s a tech guy, not a fighter.

While Subordinate A and I stayed hidden in the bushes, watching for an opening, another figure stepped into the moonlight.

Even at night, her golden hair glittered—Filio.

“How’s he doing?”

“Appears to be in a mild state of collapse. I believe he’ll be able to stand very soon.”

“Whew, good. That means I managed to control my Drain properly.”

Filio let out a small sigh of relief.

So the threads were laced with Drain magic?

And she can control it now…? Don’t tempt me, woman—you’re making me expect lewd things!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite that kind of development.

“It’s all thanks to you, Lily. I can’t believe you even thought of something like this.”

“I recalled the succubus we met in Gosse Town. That creature’s body was practically pure flesh… and it used its tentacles to perform Drain. Likely, a standard Drain can’t cover such a wide area, and maintaining it would be too exhausting.”

Filio stared down at her own hand.

“I’ve never seen another succubus besides that one… but yeah, my range is super short.”

“In that case, you must have prepared a medium to direct your power. It’s less effective than absorbing directly, but far more efficient.”

“So that succubus had her tentacles… and I have my threads, huh.”

Alright, I get it now.

She basically copied Succubus Merlulia’s trick—

The magic threads were acting like her tentacle stand-ins.

But how did Filio manage such precise spell control…?

Ah, right—Lily probably lent her a hand.

“You really are amazing, Lily. Controlling someone else’s magic like that.”

“All I did was give Filio’s magic a specific direction. It’s like adjusting a pump that’s been left running—easy enough for me to handle.”

“So I just blast the magic out crudely, huh. Figures.”

“It’s the bond between comrades, after all.”

Lily said it loud enough for me to hear from my hiding spot.

…Pretty sure she hasn’t actually spotted me yet.

Filio glanced down at the still-collapsed Subordinate B, a flicker of worry in her eyes.

“Just releasing energy is a lot easier to control.”

I was still wondering what exactly “releasing energy” meant, but Lily answered before I could figure it out.

“Drain seems to work in three steps—contact with the target, release of energy, and then absorption. The absorption part is probably the hardest to control. If you stop at the release stage, you won’t end up sucking them dry unnecessarily.”

“Like this guy here, for example.”

Ah, so that’s why his symptoms were so mild.

The thread only released his energy while he was touching it—so it wasn’t that dangerous.

Actually, it was the perfect spell for capturing someone alive while they’re still somewhat conscious.

Totally the kind of technique Lily would love…

Ghh… so Filio can’t fully control it yet, huh…

She furrowed her brows, looking a little uncertain.

“I know it’s late to ask, but… since Drain is a demonic technique, should I not be using it too much?”

“You carry demonic blood, Filio, so it shouldn’t affect your mind. In fact, learning to control it would be ideal. …Perhaps you could practice on someone overflowing with energy.”

She said it in a way that was way too loaded with meaning.

N-No… I’m still not busted. Probably.

“(B-Boss, what do we do…?)”

“(I-It’s fine. It’s fine. If everything goes to plan, they’ll be here any second.)”

Yeah, I’d already accounted for Filio being here.

Since she’s good at sensing presences, I’d prepared a distraction to throw her off.

And then—loud, flashy music started up near the church.

Yes! It was the traveling Hiromeya troupe!

They had ladies in sexy costumes, loudly advertising a soon-to-open lewd goods store (totally fake).

Fuhahaha! No way Filio wouldn’t be distracted by the sound—

And curious about the content too!

Sure enough, even with her cheeks turning red, Filio couldn’t help glancing toward the Hiromeya.

“…T-This town sure has a lot of those kinds of ads, huh? Really troublesome, right?”

“The timing is far too convenient. Let’s restrain all of them. I’ll have the inquisitors dispatched.”

“Eh?”

Whoa—how’s her judgment that fast!? She’s not even considering they might be innocent!?

Seriously, that girl is terrifying!! And wait… has her ruthlessness leveled up somehow???

Then Filio frowned and rubbed her nose.

“…I smell fear.”

“Fear… you say?”

“Yeah. Remember how that succubus could sense emotions by scent? I thought maybe I could do it too, so I gave it a try… and now I can sort of pick it up. It’s still faint, but I can feel it.”

Filio’s sharp gaze turned straight toward the bushes where we were hiding.

H-Hey—that’s not something you could do in my previous life!

And it’s not just Filio—

The fact that Lily has zero resistance to demonic techniques is also strange.

Her reasoning’s sharper, her decisions faster… why?

Her skills might have reset, but she’s somehow even more dangerous than before.

Could it be… because she’s been watching me ever since I stopped being a Hero?

“That bush right there, Lily.”

“As you command.”

Their eyes glinted in the moonlight—cold and dangerous.

…Wait. Was I the only one whose shackles got removed?

Did they both break free too… and get even stronger?

Is this… the end of my carefree adventurer life?

And just when I was about to give in to despair—

“(…Boss, leave the rest to me. Run.)”

Before I could even tell him to wait, Subordinate A burst out of the bushes.

“We humans are the true light! We humans are the true light!! People-People Faith!! People-People Faith!!”

He raised both arms, forming a triangle above his head, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Even Lily and Filio seemed caught off guard, taken aback by the sheer force of his voice.

And in the middle of that ridiculous, over-the-top display, Subordinate A’s back seemed to say: Boss, go chase your goal.

For a moment—yeah, there really was a bond between us.

So this… is what comrades are?

“We humans are the true light! We humans are the true light!! People-People Faith!! People-People Faith!!”

He shouted again, as if telling me to get moving already.

…U-URRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH‼‼‼

Spurred on by his voice, I spotted an opening and dashed out of the bushes.

Shouts of pursuit rang out behind me soon after, but I didn’t look back—

I just ran full tilt until I vanished into the darkness of the night.

〇〇〇

The next day, at the adventurer’s inn.

Lily had said she wanted to enjoy some tea, so she invited me to her room.

On the table was a full tea set… and a list of People-People Faith executives.

“Apologies, I’m still in the middle of work.”

“Don’t worry about it~ If I can have tea with a cute girl, I’m happy no matter what.”

I winked and gave her my most easygoing smile.

Lily… you’re totally planning an interrogation tea party, aren’t you?

And sure enough, she didn’t change her expression in the slightest as she spoke.

“Last night, some People-People Faith members broke into the church.”

“Yeah, I heard~”

“Apparently, they were acting under orders from a new boss who’s after the goddess’s armor.”

“Ohhh, really~?”

“What’s interesting is…”

“Mhm, mhm~?”

“That new boss supposedly took down the previous boss along with all the other extremists. Sure enough… we found the extremists hanging from the bridge.”

I steadied my heart.

I hadn’t focused this hard since my Hero days.

Keeping the mind calm and still—yeah, I learned that trick back when I first got my hands on the goddess’s armor.

“Well, if the extremists all got rounded up, I’d call that a good thing.”

“…True. They were all already marked as high-risk individuals.”

Not getting the reaction she wanted, Lily looked a little bored—

But her eyes still studied me, like she was trying to see straight through my thoughts.

“What’s even more interesting is this: that gas mask guy on the run—presumably the new boss—was apparently shouting in front of the captured extremists, ‘The extremists are the bad ones. The rest were forced into the faith. And those guys? I’m the one who roped them in.’”

“Haha! Sounds like an idiot to me~”

“What could he have been doing, sticking around instead of running right away?”

“…So, what happened to the people you caught?”

“According to our investigation, they really were forced into joining… No other crimes on record either. The break-in and incitement were ordered by the new boss and never got far. So… we’ll just keep them in church custody for a little while.”

…Next time, I’ll go visit them in disguise and bring some snacks.

And I’ve gotta let them know—right now, the adventuring world’s short on manpower, so new tech like magic engineering is more welcome than ever.

“I… have someone in mind. Someone who just can’t seem to commit to being a true villain.”

Her eyes were basically screaming that someone is you.

I just sipped my tea in silence, pretending I had no idea what she meant.

Lily sighed softly, then spoke in a deliberately provoking tone.

“Well… there’s no way someone ridiculous enough to hide their face behind a gas mask could ever break through the Grand Goddess Church’s defenses.”

Hey now—the gas mask is legendary Hero gear from the Demon King’s defeat!

Still, I didn’t bother arguing.

I knew full well she was tossing me a challenge.

And if she’s provoking me like this, she’s already planning airtight countermeasures to trap me.

No way I’d just walk right into that.

〇〇〇

That night, atop the clock tower in the trade city of Granule.

The cold night wind howled past as a lone man stood with his cape billowing behind him, the full moon at his back, a gas mask covering his face.

I knew exactly what was going on.

I knew about the provocation, the trap—everything.

But now it was pride. My subordinates had pushed me into this, and I couldn’t back down.

My name… is the mysterious gas mask man, Haruya.

And I am also known as—

“My dream, once crushed, now returns—revived by pride and stubborn will! I am… The Man Who’ll Absolutely Destroy the Goddess Armor, Mark II‼‼‼”

At that moment, I couldn’t have predicted what would happen next.

Well… maybe I did have the tiniest hunch this was coming.

But still—I never imagined I’d take Lily’s dirty, underhanded trap… and bite down on it completely.
Practically leaning into it.