The Hero Stole My Lover, So I Decided to Steal the Hero's Lover Instead - Chapter 16-17

Chapter 16

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“Speaking of the Hero…”

Sharon shifted the topic of conversation to Hero Cain.

“How’s he doing these days? Has he been making any progress?”

“Well, I wonder…” 

Alicia tilted her head. 

“He hasn’t returned to Zwein lately, so…”

“He’s that busy?”

“Yes, it seems that way. He’s traveling to defeat the Demon King, after all.”

Alicia drank her alcohol with surprising boldness. Sharon leaned in close and spoke in a voice only I could hear.

“For someone on a journey to defeat the Demon King, he hasn’t even set foot in the Demon King’s territory.”

“He’s probably too busy fooling around with women.” 

I said.

“Sounds like the others in his group are having fun too.”

“The others?”

“You do know he’s not traveling alone to defeat the Demon King, right?”

“Oh… Right.”

Now that she mentioned it, that was true.The Hero traveled with a party—if I remembered correctly, it was a four-person group including him.

The Hero — front line. The wielder of the Holy Sword.

The Fist Saint — front line. Fighting with bare fists.

The Sage — rear guard. A mage, the main focus of the Sage was to cast offensive magic.

The Saint — rear guard. Focuses on healing and support magic.

All of them were incredibly powerful—so strong, in fact, that I didn’t even compare. Though truthfully, I didn’t know much about them. The leader of the party was the Hero, which meant he was probably the strongest among them.

What the Demon King Sharon feared most wasn’t Cain himself, but the Holy Sword, a weapon especially effective against demonkind. The sword’s power varied greatly depending on the mental state of its wielder.

In other words, if Cain’s mental state could be broken, the Holy Sword’s power would plummet, and it would no longer be a threat to Sharon. The threat to her life would be neutralized.

To break Cain’s spirit, I would need to steal his lover—Alicia. To steal Alicia—to get physically close—I would need to raise her affection toward me. But maybe I could already make a move on her now?

She’d had a bit to drink. Maybe I could ride the momentum and take things further?

“Don’t rush it, Luke.”

Sharon said seriously.  It was as if Sharon could read my mind. 

“There’s still plenty of time. If you try to force a relationship now and Alicia rejects you, the plan—‘Project NTR’—will be ruined. Isn’t that right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Right now, she just likes you. You need to be patient until that like turns into love.”

“Got it.”

I nodded and took a long swig of my drink to steady myself. Alicia, watching us whisper to each other, tilted her head in curiosity. Then she asked.

“Um… Are you two, you know, dating?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Sharon denied it immediately.

“That’s impossible.”

“Yeah, impossible.” 

I added. 

“We’re not dating.”

“We’re childhood friends—what they call ‘more than friends, less than lovers.’”

“That phrasing might be a bit misleading though.”

I said with a slight jab. Alicia let out a refined little laugh at that.

At the very least, she now seemed to understand that Sharon and I weren’t romantically involved with each other. If she had doubted our relationship, it could’ve affected how close I’d be able to get to her moving forward.

“Back to the topic at hand…”

Sharon said.

“The Hero—your boyfriend—isn’t fooling around with other women, is he?”

“Fooling around?”

“I mean playing around.”

“Well… I’m not sure…” 

Alicia tilted her head. 

“But I guess it can’t be helped. It’s okay if it’s just a little bit.”

“And what if it’s more than just a little?”

“More than a little…?”

“I’m talking about indulging in women excessively. Not refusing anyone who comes his way, and…” 

Sharon glanced at me.

“Maybe even going as far as to forcefully take what he wants. In other words, stealing someone’s lover.”

“That would be a bit…”

Alicia made a bitter face.

“But I don’t believe Cain-san is the kind of person who would do something so wicked and cruel. After all, he’s the Hero destined to save this world.”

“You’re right. A Hero wouldn’t do something that wicked. Sorry about that.”

Sharon offered a light apology.

“But—what if? What if, I’m saying—Cain was actually that kind of wicked man?”

“If Cain-san turned out to be someone like that, then of course I would break up with him.”

As if to say “I got it in writing!” Sharon gave me a devilish grin.

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Chapter 17

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We had finished our meal and were about to leave the tavern. It felt like we had been drinking for quite a long time. An hour—no, maybe two, or even longer… My head was spinning, and I couldn’t think straight. My body wasn’t responding properly to what my brain was telling it to do.

I think I’m drunk…

“Are you all right?”

Alicia asked, looking worried.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

I replied—but I wasn’t fine at all. Damn. I had drunk past my limit. I didn’t feel nauseous, but I couldn’t keep my balance. And I was sleepy on top of that.

Sharon was paying the bill to the waitress. Alicia and I started down the stairs ahead of her. The stairs weren’t especially steep, but in my current condition, even that was a challenge.

“Whoa—”

I nearly missed a step. Alicia caught me from the side as I lost my balance. I felt the soft sensation of her chest against me, and I stiffened like a teenage boy in a romance manga.

“Sorry. You saved me there.”

I said, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead with a sigh.

“Ah, no… I’m sorry…”

Alicia quickly pulled her hand away. Her cheeks were faintly flushed. Was it from the alcohol, or was she embarrassed?

We descended the stairs slowly and carefully. Coming up from below, we saw an adventurer approaching. Although there was plenty of space on the staircase, the adventurer deliberately tried to bump into Alicia.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward me.

“Ah—ow!”

He shouted dramatically—or rather, deliberately.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing, bumping into me?”

“No, we didn’t bump into you…”

I was confused. He wasn’t even trying to be a proper scammer. The plan must’ve been to pick a fight after bumping into us. But since we dodged him, there was no collision. Yet he still went ahead with the original plan. It made no sense.

“Cough up some compensation money, will ya?”

Maybe he was drunk, just like me. Anyway, I stepped in front of Alicia, shielding her.

“I’m telling you, we didn’t bump into you—”

“Shut it! I said you bumped into me, so you did! You get what I’m saying?”

“No. Not even a little.”

I said, shaking my head. None of this made any sense. What was this guy? Was he a tyrant or something?

“You gonna pay up or not? Which is it!?”

“Like I said—”

“If not, then take this!”

The huge man swung his right arm with surprising speed. I thought about dodging to one side, but if I did, the punch would hit Alicia. Her slender frame wouldn’t withstand a single hit.

So I raised both my arms and took the blow head-on.

“Hyah—hyahahaha…”

The man seemed strangely excited, breathing heavily as he threw punch after punch in quick succession. It wasn’t just alcohol. Maybe he was under the influence of something stronger.

“Guh…”

I wasn’t exactly strong, not as an adventurer and certainly not in combat. One of his punches slipped past my guard and landed squarely in my gut. A groan escaped me.

“L-Luke-san…”

“I’m okay.”

The other adventurers in the tavern and on the first floor didn’t step in to help. They just watched with idle curiosity. Of course they didn’t. If you weren’t friends, you were just strangers and no one stuck their neck out for just another tavern brawl.

“Take this!”

The man swung a vicious uppercut to finish me off… But then, from the top of the stairs, someone came flying in with a jumping kick.

“Hmph!”

It was Sharon. The Demon King’s flying kick smashed through the man’s abs and shattered the bones inside with a sickening crunch.

He tumbled down the stairs. When he finally got up on the first floor, Sharon delivered a brutal uppercut. It struck his jaw cleanly and sent him flying into a wall, where he collapsed in a heap.

After a moment of silence, the crowd of adventurers erupted in cheers like they were watching a sports match. Sharon raised both arms in victory, like the winner of a bout.

Clutching my aching stomach, I slumped down and muttered.

“…I totally don’t understand what’s happening.”

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