Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Royal Road Hero Tale (26)
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There are all sorts of clichés in the world.
Like saying "Did I get it?" only for the enemy to be perfectly fine,
or declaring "After this war ends, I'll propose to her!" and then dying on the spot,
or posting a 5700-character comment and getting sucked into the novel,
-Kieee...
or stuff like protagonist correction, the way it is right now.
I mean, seriously, does that even make sense? Cutting lightning? You a ninja or something...
Look at the boss's face. He's so flabbergasted he's completely lost it. Sigh.
-Kieeeek!
The merciless Siwoo sliced through the boss, who had already lost all will to fight.
With a heavy thud, its massive body crashed to the ground.
Phew... I was watching all tensed up, and it ends this anticlimactically.
-Clap clap clap!
"...Excellent! Truly impressive!"
Then, from behind me came applause and a voice I remembered all too well.
I turned around to see Louise, vice-captain of the Marta Guard Unit, gazing at Siwoo with her face all flushed.
Behind her were her subordinates handing out clothes to the women, with Sophia helping them out.
Brutus! You passed the message right on time. Good thing the guards showed up at just the perfect moment.
I'd been worried Siwoo took down the boss too quick, but nope, it was all good. Just as planned, Louise didn't miss a second of his performance.
This oughta get her interested in him again, right? This time, I'll pull out all the stops to help those two actually start dating for real.
"Louise! Thanks for the backup!"
"Hmph! We rushed over, but it's already done. You lot really are the real deal, just like I thought."
"We got lucky. Haha."
"Nonsense! Luck counts as skill. And this is the second time already, isn't it? One coincidence is chance, two is skill. My judgment was spot on."
"Well... if you put it that way, thanks."
"And that guy over there... Can't believe he's a newbie adventurer swordsman. He even seems stronger than last time."
Oh? Great reaction. Feels like her affection's already maxed out.
Louise's eyes sparkled as she went on praising every single part of Siwoo's feat. Hmm, just a little nudge and they're golden?
"That's 'cause Siwoo's been training every single day since we got to Marta, no breaks. Him getting this strong is a given!"
"Oh! Every day without fail? That's awesome!"
Sophia sidled up next to me at some point and chimed in with her own praise. Louise perked up big time at the word "training," looking thrilled.
Is Louise a training freak too? They'd be perfect together. Suddenly motivated.
"Bro... you giving the doll back now, ah, Louise!"
"Meeting like this again so soon! And you've gotten this strong in the meantime! As a fellow swordswoman, I salute you."
"Uh... thank you! Getting praise like that from someone who wields sword aura—it's an honor for me as a sword user too."
"...Ahem!"
Nice atmosphere. Siwoo wrapped up cleanup and came back, Louise greeted him all hyped, and he responded just as happily.
Then they dove into swordsman talk and whatnot—it was a sight to behold.
"As a thank-you, how about you all come over to my place today?"
"Really? We'd love to any time..."
"Sorry. Not today."
"......"
What the hell. No, the mood just tanked...
Louise was riding high with her invite, I was about to say yes, and bam—Siwoo shuts it down stone-cold. This punk refusing 'cause he has to hit the brothel again?
Caught off guard by the rejection, Louise's smiling face just froze solid. Bet she never even considered it'd happen. Kinda felt bad for her.
"You little shit? Daring to refuse the vice-captain?!"
"Who the hell are you to butt in?!"
Wasn't just me—the subordinates nearby blew up in her stead.
They looked genuinely pissed, which showed how much they respected her.
"Whoa whoa, look at us. We're drenched in blood right now, aren't we? Accepting an invite like this would be rude to you, Louise."
"Exactly! Louise is Marta's goddess! Please, give us a chance to prepare properly before meeting our goddess!"
Left Sophia and me scrambling to make excuses.
Damn. Body's beat, so what's the harm in going and getting treated nice? Sigh.
Still, Louise wasn't out to beef with us and took our excuses with a laugh. And true to form, weak to flattery, she pretended otherwise but her ears twitched happily at the "goddess" bit.
Gap moe? That's kinda cute.
"My bad instead. I was thoughtless. I'll send a proper invitation later—please accept it then."
"Of course. Looking forward to it!"
Instead of heading to the guild, we went straight back to the inn. Guild meant getting swarmed by folks wanting the full story over and over—total time sink.
Handed it all off to the guards and called it a day for rest. Exhausted anyway, plus needed to shake off the shock from today.
Fat-preferring orcs... still makes my head spin.
Not long after we got back, Siwoo snuck over, called me aside, and took the doll from me.
Huh? Figured he'd bolt straight for the brothel. Guess not.
Does Siwoo have some connections in Marta I don't know about? Or is he planning to gift that doll to a whore?
Nah, just tired and overthinking.
-Creak
I shook my head and headed up to the room when Sophia came running and threw her arms around me.
Yeah, must've hit her hard too. Girls her age in that mess...
Seeing her trembling in my arms made me feel guilty for not checking on her sooner.
She'd put on a brave face in front of everyone else. True saintess.
"Sopi, you okay?"
"Oppa... can we just stay like this a little?"
"...As long as you want. Forever even."
Sophia buried her face in my chest, sniffling away until I stroked her back—then she broke down sobbing loud.
All the emotions she'd bottled up came pouring out.
"So pitiful... sob, hic... why'd they have to go through that?"
"Sopi..."
"Huh? Oppa... hic, why couldn't I protect them...?"
"It wasn't your fault."
"Waaah... but, but! The goddess gave me this power... hic, to save people!"
Had it been eating at her, not saving them before the orcs got to them? Sophia was drowning in guilt—even though it wasn't on her.
"We saved them in the end, didn't we? To them, you're the hero. So no more tears."
"Uu... waaah...!"
I kept comforting her, holding her tight until she calmed down.
Maybe I've been taking this world too easy. This is a real-deal Royal Road Hero Tale. Unlike all those subverted cliché fantasies, here it's a straight-up righteous boy as the hero and a truly compassionate girl as the saintess.
She genuinely believes in the goddess's mission and gives her all to save the world. If I'm gonna enjoy this place, I should play along to some degree. Yeah—for Sophia's sake too, time to get serious myself.
With that resolve, I laid the exhausted, tear-streaked Sophia down on the bed.
"Oppa..."
"Yeah?"
"You know... why orcs are so crazy for sex?"
"...Huh? No clue."
And what's this out of nowhere?
Sophia grabbed the hand stroking her hair with both of hers and spoke in a husky, moist voice.
"Orcs never back down from a fight. Not ever, even if it kills them. So they live every moment thinking it could be their last."
"...Got it."
"And since death could come anytime, they spread their seed whenever they get the chance."
Aha, knowledge gained. Pure breeding instinct, huh?
But why bring that up? Wait... no way?
"Beating the Demon King won't be easy, right? The kind of hard where you risk your life. ...Right?"
"Probably... yeah, not easy."
"...Oppa..."
Sophia rolled over and climbed on top of me. She reached down with one hand, wrapping her small, cute fingers fully around my cock. It was rock-hard, naturally. Satisfied, she rubbed her body against mine and started licking my nape.
"Lick... Oppa. ...I want."
"Haa... Oppa's baby..."
"Want to make... a baby with Oppa. Yeah?"