Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Royal Road Hero Tale (3)
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[Two months ago]
"Oppa... Am I really that unattractive?"
"Siwoo again?"
"Yeah. You know, he didn't even touch the lunchbox I brought him. So mean."
Sophia whined at me, her pretty eyes glistening with tears.
The protagonist's defenses were sky-high. How the hell was a guy like this supposed to build a harem?
Fortunately, the two of them were already flirting before I even had a chance to intervene.
That was all well and good, but whenever Sophia tried to take things a step further, the protagonist threw up his walls.
I needed to have a talk with him. But whenever I brought it up, he'd subtly change the subject.
"Maybe it's not that you're unattractive. Maybe your lunchbox just isn't."
"Oppa, it was your cooking I packed!"
"What? You took the meal I made for you to eat?"
"But... eating out is better than at home... and, well, eating with others is better than alone..."
"Just say you wanted to eat with Siwoo. I would've made two portions."
"Ahaha..."
I'd taken it upon myself to play Cupid and get them together, but it wasn't easy.
Creating time for the three of us to hang out and then subtly backing off,
egging Sophia on until she asked him out,
I'd tried it all, but every time, the protagonist looked troubled and pulled back.
So recently, I'd even devised a strategy of forced skinship—a full-body assault—but it hadn't worked on him either.
Was he really impotent?
If a beauty like Sophia clung to me, I'd be rock hard in seconds, but he hadn't even twitched.
Sunlit hair cascading to her shoulders, eyes like the sky itself. A fresh girl's face carrying that innocent scent, paired with a sensuous figure ripe for the picking.
I couldn't wrap my head around staying unmoved when a girl like that liked you.
Was that what it took to be a harem protagonist?
"What... why are you staring at me like that all creepy...?"
"That's a pity-the-virgin look."
"Uuuu! I don't want pity—! I want love—!"
"From Siwoo?"
"Hah! Uu... Oppa... Am I really that unattractive? Huh?"
Called out on her feelings, Sophia blushed, then suddenly turned gloomy and clung to me.
Here we go again.
The protagonist kept stonewalling her, and it had tanked Sophia's self-esteem.
A girl who'd always been showered in love was getting rejected over and over, leaving her wondering if she was all that special after all...? She'd caught the disease.
To cure it, she needed the protagonist's love—but that wasn't happening anytime soon. So as a stopgap, I was giving her love.
Not as a man. As a brother.
I petted her head with Sexual Stimulation active, but it was true.
I had no plans to go after the main heroine this time.
If I didn't pet her like this, Sophia would really mope and sob all day.
This was just brotherly consideration to spare me the sight.
"Today too, she watched me train and said I looked cool, but he got all serious saying 'still a long way' and wouldn't even look at me..."
Pet, pet.
"I see. That guy wouldn't even look at Sopi."
"Brought him a lunchbox, but he said he'd already packed his own... said no to eating together... Does he hate me?"
Pet, pet.
"I see. Siwoo hates Sopi."
"What? D-does Siwoo really hate me?"
Whoops. That wasn't it.
I'd reflexively echoed the end of her sentence and slipped up.
"Sopi, listen up."
"Ung..."
"Guys always bully the girls they like. The more they like 'em, the more they tease."
"...Really?"
"Yeah. Siwoo's just pretending to hate you so he can enjoy watching you get sad, the pervert."
"Siwoo's not that kind of pervert!"
Puk!
Sophia thought it was a joke and headbutted my solar plexus with the very head I'd been petting.
A groan escaped me on reflex, but seeing her leaning against my chest, any anger evaporated.
She must've been really anxious this time.
I hugged the trembling Sophia in my arms.
Villages like this tended toward early marriages, and talk had started about Sophia thinking about settling down soon.
No wonder she'd gotten more urgent lately.
I really needed to have that talk with Siwoo.
"Sopi, you know Siwoo's super shy. It was probably that again."
"...Really?"
"Think about his personality—embarrassed about his sweat smell or the lunch sides or whatever. It's dumb to sweat a dense guy like that."
"Hmm..."
"Oh yeah, last time Siwoo said it himself: when you're next to him, he can't help smiling, so he puts on that serious face on purpose."
"Really? Siwoo really said that?!"
"Yeah, he did. So no way he hates you. Got it?"
"Humph...! As expected, Siwoo could never hate me!"
Sophia wiped away her glistening tears like her gloom had never been, flashing her usual confident smile.
So cute—I petted her again, and she closed her eyes, savoring it.
"Hehehe... Consulting oppa really makes all my worries vanish."
"Then Sopi'll do the dishes today?"
"Hmph! That's that, and this is this!"
She jolted away from me in surprise, flashing a playful grin before scampering off.
What a cute little sister.
As an only child, I'd always wanted a big sis or little sis, but whenever I said it, my friends looked at me like I was nuts.
They swore you'd never say that if you actually had one.
Now I knew—they were full of shit. Liars.
Anyway, through all the recent love advice, Sophia and I had gotten way closer.
She used to be prickly when we met, but now she'd snuggle right into my arms.
Still, I had no intention of crossing that line with her.
She only clung because she saw me as family, and I saw her as a sister, not a woman.
Okay, that was a bit of a lie—but I was trying my damnedest to think of her that way, so no touching Sophia.
If she weren't the main heroine...
I headed to the clearing behind the village and spotted the protagonist training hard.
For some reason, the protagonist's name was Siwoo again this time, and his face wasn't much different from the usual.
In other words, handsome as ever. Just a bit taller and more muscular.
Maybe because he was the Hero this time, Siwoo was strong even before awakening.
Born with raw power and killer dynamic vision, I'd never seen him take a hit in a village scrap.
But even so, he never stopped training.
Sophia could come by coquettishly begging to play a dozen times, and he'd train without a single break—a total training freak.
Well, he could like training. Royal road Hero protagonist and all.
But this guy took it to extremes.
Swinging his sword with you cheering from the sidelines? Noise pollution to him.
Brought a special lunchbox? He stuck to his training diet—no touching yours.
Ask him on a date? Like hell he'd risk the training downtime.
But I was getting sick of watching this. I'd done my matchmaking bit; time for him to step up.
Both obviously into each other, yet grinding his teeth behind that wall—pissing me off.
Time to kick that exposed back and make him pick: training or Sophia?
"Eh, Deok-bae hyung! What's up?"
I didn't answer. Grabbed a nearby wooden sword and charged the Hero.
From my imaginary dantian, I drew up virtual inner energy, then swung the wooden sword down at his head like crushing Mount Tai flat.
-Pak!
Tch, Hero for a reason.
My wooden sword was parried by his blade and bounced away, my palm stinging from the grip.
But I couldn't back down here.
Using the rebound, I spun my body once and swept the wooden sword at his side like mowing down a thousand troops.
-Puk!
Damn, even that got blocked.
Not totally ineffective, though. The Hero tensed up, sword locked in place as he eyed me warily.
Now—the opening!
I thrust the wooden sword at him like a dragon soaring, too fast for the stiffened Hero to react.
This time he didn't move—my wooden sword slipped past his guard and nailed him right between the eyes.
Or so I thought.
My wooden sword halted right before his brow.
He'd caught it barehanded—the thrust I'd thought pierced clean through.
Lost after all...
The Triple Calamity Swordsmanship I'd honed mentally for over ten years was blocked like nothing.
Hero was hero, alright.
"What the sudden attack?"
"Kid, you made Sopi cry again? I said go easy."
"Hahaha..."
"Don't laugh, asshole. Get serious."
"But hyung, you gotta train more. Stance is good, but no power behind it."
Training freak... Seizing the chance to bring up training.
It's not like I'd been slacking.
To join the Hero's party, I needed baseline stats, so since entering this world, I'd trained nonstop.
But if nothing changed, why bother?
Even chugged an experience potion from a random box and trained—stats didn't budge.
"Whatever. How long you gonna keep treating Sopi like that? Got the fish, lost interest? Or she not good enough for you?"
"No way! It's not that. Just..."
"Just what?"
"Sorry... haha."
"This prick."
There are two ways to piss someone off: one is trailing off mid-sentence,
and the other is