I Picked up a Corrupted Heroine (The Secret Boss), and When I Spoiled Her, She Became Uncontrollably Affectionate With Me

Chapter 18: The Mob Corporate Slave Meets His Favorite Character in Person

“So I’ll let you meet her—Saint Alicia.”

Sia smiled in a mysterious way and said that.

“Eh… Y-You mean Alicia!? You can actually do that…?”

Sia nodded deeply.

“Yeah. Saint Alicia is in this city! If I call her, she’ll come.”

“No way…”

Are Sia and Alicia really that close…?

“…H-How exactly did you meet someone as amazing as the Saint?”

“Let’s see… It was about two weeks ago? I saw Alicia looking really down and I talked to her. That’s how it started.”

“Two weeks ago…”

Around the time I picked up Ria, huh…

“Alicia asked me, so I let her stay at my place for a few days. After that she went to the port city… but we still keep in touch.”

Sia looked into the distance like she was remembering the past.

“I see…”

Sia getting connected to Alicia was probably because the hero messed up the story. No wonder I didn’t know about it.

“Then come to the front of the crepe shop around midnight. She should be free by then.”

“Got it…”

“I’ll go contact Alicia now.”

With that, Sia left somewhere.

…I’m really going to meet her. The person I’ve been chasing my whole life.

――◇――◇――◇――

Late at night. The noisy streets from earlier were gone like it was all a lie. The main street in the port city was so quiet you could hear bugs chirping.

“…Turn here and it’s the crepe shop…”

I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with air. The cold air cooled me from the inside out, and it felt like it calmed my excited brain a little too.

“Let’s go.”

I nervously turned the corner.

The first thing I saw was a girl sitting on a bench—Alicia.

Her silver hair shone beautifully like it had captured the moonlight, and her blue eyes were way clearer than any sapphire.

Ah… Alicia really is beautiful.

While I was staring at her in awe, Alicia noticed me too and smiled softly.

“Are you the person Sia said wanted to talk to me?”

“…Y-Yes. Nice to meet you, Alicia. I’m Asta.”

I tried hard to hold back my excitement and act calm. But still… I’m so happy.

I’m actually talking to my favorite character in real life…!

I had seen her from a distance before, but this was the first time we ever spoke.

“I’m Alicia, the Saint, as you know… Or I guess just Alicia now.”

“What do you mean…?”

Alicia looked down at the ground and spoke with a heavy voice.

“My step-parents and the church took away my Saint powers. So I’m not a Saint anymore.”

“…”

So the event really did happen…! On top of that, the hero didn’t save her and Alicia lost her powers.

…But in the original story, she should have become corrupted right after that…

“After that, Sia helped me and I managed to keep living.”

“Sia…”

Maybe because of some change, Sia and Alicia met and it accidentally stopped Alicia from becoming corrupted…?

That’s lucky in the middle of all the bad stuff.

At least I don’t have to worry about the world getting destroyed anymore. I let out a breath of relief.

“Alicia… do you plan to go back to the hero?”

“No way.”

Alicia answered right away and shook her head.

“W-Why? I thought you liked the hero…”

“Like him…? No way.”

“Eh…”

“First of all, the hero already has Luna as his girlfriend… And even without that, I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“Is it… because the hero couldn’t save you…?”

“Actually, I don’t really mind that part. If I think about it calmly, it was my fault for getting tricked and kidnapped.”

Alicia stared far away and said that.

“But… after that, I realized something.”

“Realized?”

Alicia bit her lip a little.

“That person is kind, so he tries to save every ‘person in trouble.’ I realized I’m just one of many ‘people in trouble’ to him.”

“…”

That’s… exactly right. In the original story, the hero was twisted like that, and there was a scene where Alicia told him something similar.

“I got the wrong idea all by myself and expected too much. I’m not anyone special to him, but I took his words about ‘I’ll definitely protect you’ seriously… and like an idiot, I waited that night for the hero who was never going to come…”

“Alicia…”

Alicia clenched her fists and stared into space with cloudy eyes.

I could feel a sadness coming from her, and it made my chest tighten.

If only I had been by her side when she was hurting… how nice that would have been.

“That’s why I can’t go back to the hero. I don’t want to keep misunderstanding things.”

“I see… yeah.”

“Plus, I have something new I want to do now.”

Alicia suddenly lifted her head and smiled gently.

“Something you want to do…?”

“Yeah. I found something I really want.”

Alicia’s blue eyes locked onto me. I could feel a strong obsession in her gaze.

…Wait, me? No no, no way. We haven’t even had any connection until now.