Chapter 146
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: Side Story: The Hero Party's S-Rank Porter (3)
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Then one day, it happened.
Luina's face looked utterly drained.
The Hero had told her straight up that she didn't need to stay by his side anymore. Naturally, this dumb priestess came running to me.
"P-please... I'm begging you."
"Begging?"
"Yes. If things stay like this, I'll be useless again. So please."
In the end, she dropped to her knees in front of me and started pleading.
"Useless? Heh heh heh. Even you can see that with your own eyes, right? The Hero's strong enough now—he doesn't need your help."
The Hero was plenty strong as it was. There was no reason to buff him anymore.
In other words, the priestess was already obsolete. And yet here she was, clinging to me and denying it.
"No, I..."
The funny thing was, this idiot's face was being brutally honest right now.
It looked slack and dazed, like someone addicted to drugs, with drool spilling from her mouth.
No wonder she'd been catching so much flak lately—even getting ignored by Plena and Luel made sense.
"Be honest. Do you just want potions from me so you can buff the Hero? Or is this something you really want?"
"Of course I want to buff him!"
"Then it's pointless."
"What?"
She was getting pretty pissed, but this wasn't something to get mad about.
She should be blaming her own incompetence instead.
"You already know, don't you? Let me say it again. The Hero's strong. No point in giving him Dragon Power Potions anymore. And can you even buff him?"
"Ah... No, I..."
Her brain probably wasn't working right.
Her head seemed totally fried. My own heroines could handle my mana because they were on that level—this priestess never stood a chance.
Her brain was probably pickled in Dragon Power Potion by now.
I leaned in close to Luina's ear and whispered carefully.
"You can't even use holy power anymore. Why? Because what you inhaled was evil mana."
"Wh-what the hell does that..."
"Exactly what it sounds like. It's a potion I made. And it turns people into monsters. Or... wait, different here, huh? Demons, right? Yeah. It turns humans into demons."
The priestess had already lost her holy power. Meaning she was no longer human—something else entirely.
"Ah... Aah... Th-then..."
"Yeah. You've got nowhere left to go. The Hero?"
"What grudge do you have against me to do this?!"
"You chose it."
Of course, I hadn't explained in detail, but she was the one harboring the grudge.
So she should've checked if weird potions were dangerous before popping them.
"You didn't tell me!"
"What are you, a kid? Should I spell everything out? You should've asked."
This wasn't like teaching a baby—I wasn't gonna hold her hand through it.
"What about the Hero, then? The Hero..."
"The Hero? He's got the Holy Sword—it filters everything out and just amps his power."
So I was totally innocent.
It only endangered regular folks.
"What did I ever do to you?"
"Watch your words. What did you do? When I joined this party, how much did you all sabotage me?"
They glared at me every damn day. Fucking bitches.
"That was because you were getting too personal with the Hero."
"Personal my ass. From my side, it was pure bullshit. Why the hell would I chase some lame-ass hero? Why should I feel shitty because of your drama? Is that what your precious goddess taught you? Or your mommy?"
It made my blood boil just thinking about it.
"It wasn't just me. I actually..."
"Playing dumb and keeping a safe distance is even worse than that annoying Bbeom-mi bitch or the elf girl. Lurking in the back with your ambiguous attitude."
"I-I'm telling the Hero!"
Go ahead—it wouldn't help. She'd just be digging her own grave.
"The Hero? What're you gonna say? 'Dragon Silver Ruk turned me into a demon'? Think that'll make the Hero avenge you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I made the Hero stronger, didn't I? That's undeniable fact. But you're a demon now. You'll end up dead by the Hero's hand."
Not that it would happen, but her IQ was tanking hard—her brain wasn't turning properly anymore.
I could just get kicked out, but she was a demon now, so the Hero would have no choice but to cut her down.
"No way!"
"You're not human anymore. Really? Plus, don't you know how much trust I've built with the Hero?"
I'd worked my ass off to earn the Hero's trust.
I did laundry, cooked, even let them use my subspace storage.
If I left and someone asked about me, he'd at least say my food was good.
I'd run plenty of errands too. The Hero wasn't stupid—he knew the heroines badmouthed me.
If Priestess Luina snitched, he'd doubt her, not kick me out.
Especially since she'd lost her powers and was trash-talking me.
"Ah, you're not fully demon yet, so maybe it'll be fine. Go snitch if you want."
"Think I won't?"
Right on cue, the Hero and the other heroines approached us.
No sooner had I finished speaking than the priestess scampered over to the Hero.
"H-Hero! This woman fed me Dragon Power Potion and took away my holy power!"
Damn, straight to the point. What a sneaky bitch.
"Is that true?"
"I'm innocent! I just gave her leftovers from what I'd given you before, but the priestess is saying weird stuff. You know more about Dragon Power Potions than anyone, Hero."
The Hero knew me too well.
Especially since he'd been chugging the ones I gave him daily. We had tons of contact.
I took their shit without complaint, so of course he trusted me.
"H-Hero, you have to believe me! This woman!"
Priestess Luina was frantically slandering me with her messed-up face, but sadly, her efforts would fail.
"Luina, that's enough! I know how much you've all tormented Silver Ruk, but he put up with it, so I let it slide. But losing your holy power? That's too far."
Now Plena and Luel were getting dragged in too.
Yeah, should've reamed them out sooner. This way, the heroines would naturally feel sidelined.
Especially Plena—his fiancée, and here he was taking another woman's side. Bet that pissed her off.
"H-Hero."
"Honestly, Luina, what do you even do besides pray? Nothing, right? Silver Ruk handles your laundry, food—everything! And you judge him by his clothes? Having a crest means he's nobility."
Not really nobility, but whatever—in this world, crests meant noble, apparently.
"No, we just..."
"I get that you like me, but there's a line. You can't treat a comrade like that."
In the end, after laying down the law, the heroines wore humiliated expressions.
"S-sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"Apologize to Silver Ruk directly."
Luel, Luina, and Plena bowed their heads before me.
"Sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"We won't let it happen again."
The Hero's heroines all apologized to me together, looking utterly humiliated.
So pitiful. Even if they knew they were wrong, they'd feel betrayed by the Hero deep down.
"Hero, they're just doing it because they like you. I understand completely."
"Thanks for thinking that way."
I glanced at the heroines—they looked twisted up in anger.
The heroines pulled Luina aside separately.
No matter how much I verbally abused them, it didn't stick, so they decided to gang up on just Luina.
"Damn it, Luina. Look at this mess because of you."
"Right! That crazy bitch is one thing, but why should we suffer because of you?"
Under the two heroines' verbal assault, Luina looked genuinely wronged.
This wasn't the time to turn on each other. In the end, you two would fall to me too.
"I-I didn't mean... it wasn't like that."
"We all promised to get along, and you just charge ahead? Lost your holy power and lost your mind too?"
Yeah, she'd lost it.
"Honestly, aren't you useless in the party anyway?"
"How can you say something so harsh?"
"Priestess my ass—just picks the sly fox shit. Got what you deserved."
Everyone was on edge.
Finally, Plena and Luel unleashed all their pent-up rage—plus stuff about me—tearing into Luina with gusto. Her mental state shattered completely.
The two heroines ditched her and left. I stepped out from hiding behind the tree.
How tragic. Our Luina, stripped of her holy power, could only kneel in despair.
"See? Told you to be careful. Why would I give you power for no reason? Now you'll just be a liability. Plena and Luel are at least dealers—you're not."
"Aah... then what about me?"
Luina hung her head low.
Now she was in full despair. No one to take her side, no one to hold her hand.
"Poor thing. Should've known better."
"What... what do I do now? This can't... this is bad."
She was shaking her head like a lunatic, muttering nonstop. So pitiful.
"Why?"
"I need... I need a reason to exist. I need to be useful to someone."
So that's what it was.
I could kinda see why Luina fell to the Demon King.
From her reaction, whether it was the church in this world or her childhood, she'd been told she was worthless her whole life.
She desperately wanted to be useful to someone. That craving.
And naturally, the Hero accepted her. Naturally, she fell for him and became his woman. But now, she was useless.
Even if the Hero said it was fine, getting chewed out by the guy she loved—and by the women she'd seen as comrades—had broken her.
Her mentality was wrecked.
Plus the drug effects piling on.
Probably in the NTR route, the Demon King approached after the Hero yelled at her and the other heroines bullied her into breaking.
"So that's how it was."
The answer clicked. When the crack in her heart opened, the Demon King swooped in, breaking her body and mind into submission.
This was exactly that moment. Unlike the original NTR route, the Demon King was too busy with the Hero's winning streak threatening his territory to pull off the NTR.
Alright then. Right now. This is when I claim Luina.
"Want me to make you useful?"
At my words, Luina lifted her head.
Her eyes had already lost their spark. Poor girl. From now on, I'd be her master.
"How... exactly?"
"Obey me."
Her deadpan expression turned toward me.
"What?"
"I can accept you."
"How? Why would I be useful to you? I don't even have holy power anymore."
Women didn't need holy power.
Just a hot body to seduce me and a tight, juicy pussy to prove she was female—that was enough.
She was ripe for the taking.
"Doesn't matter. Just become a demon, and we're good."
"Are you the Demon King?"
Demon King? Nah, I was way above that scrub.
[Title: The NTR Novel Genre Gets Pinched....jpg]