The Incompetent Hero's Brothel Tour
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!! Fuck!! Fuck!!!"
"Nngh..., ahh....♥"
"You piece of shit! How dare you!! Ignore me?!!"
Abel's voice, thick with rage, rang out. Convinced he had been humiliated by Leon, he slammed his hips forward with brutal force, glaring down at Philia pinned beneath him.
"Philia! You know what that bastard said to me?! Huh?!"
"Ugh..., ahh...., how am I supposed to..., know!...."
"That arrogant little shit! He!! Ignored me!!! This fucking asshole actually dared!!!"
Abel's claims were pure fabrication. But Philia, unable to push back against his violence, could only grit her teeth and moan.
Just as Leon had predicted, Abel had stormed into the inn where Leon's party was staying and thrown himself on Philia and Tiris like a rapist. Tiris, the first to be assaulted by Abel's sudden, savage onslaught, now lay sprawled across a bed soaked through with her own juices, completely unconscious.
Schlick-schlick-schlick♥
When Tiris passed out, it was Philia's turn. When Philia passed out, it was Tiris again. Abel's endless lust left Philia sickened—yet at the same time, a wave of self-loathing rose in her for finding pleasure in sex this violent.
Pleasure was pleasure, though, and the fatigue piled up in her body refused to fade. Their frantic coupling had already stretched past three hours, and Philia's stamina was at its limit.
Schlick-schlick-schlick♥
"Hey, Philia! Can't you squeeze tighter? You're all loose!!"
"It's already!..., been three hours...,!....., don't you ever....get tired?....."
"This isn't enough to burn off the stress I've built up!"
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Ignoring her words, Abel never stopped driving his hips. If anything, he mocked her by thrusting even harder into her cunt. Each time, her mind blanked out for a split second before snapping back.
Smack!
"Hngh?!"
"Focus, damn it! I left that idiot Leon alone for your sake, Philia. If you can't even manage this much, I won't be so nice next time~?"
"Khh...."
Philia glared up at Abel with eyes full of lust and murder. That look only excited him further; his lips curled higher as he drove in deeper.
"Come on! Philia! Say thank you!"
"I already..., did!...."
"Say it! Say it! Say it!! Philia!!!"
"Hhk!...nngh..., ahh♥....."
Every deep thrust of Abel's cock pushed Philia's mind past its limit. Her body had already melted around him; each plunge made her vision flash white and drained the strength from her limbs. In the end, Philia had no choice but to force the words out again.
"Thank..., you.... Abel-nim...., for sparing that incompetent..., useless...., pretty-faced-only...., Leon...."
Her body trembled. Humiliation—yet beneath it, a base, filthy thrill from tearing down the person she loved.
"Thank you..., for letting him live♥....."
Giving her body to someone she despised, and degrading someone she cherished, produced a contradictory rush that guilt slowly ate away at her heart. And to forget that guilt, she could only chase more pleasure—an endless vicious cycle.
Smack!
"Hhk-euu~~♥"
"Good girl, Philia. You're better than the street whores in more ways than just your face. Hahahahaha!"
It was wretched. The base pleasure and thrill born from that contradiction were so hateful, so infuriating, so miserable. And yet, at the same time, they were sweet.
Feels good♥....
The first time Abel had forced himself on her, all she had felt was pain and the desperate wish for it to end. Now she still wanted it to end—and yet a part of her wanted it to go on a little longer..., just a little more. That was why she thought:
If only Leon had been as strong as Abel.
If only Leon's cock had been as magnificent as Abel's.
If only....
Ugh..., what am I even thinking....
Protect Leon. That single thought was why she had given her body. And by giving her body, she had protected him once again.
Leon is..., still weak....
Leon would grow stronger someday. But right now he was weak. Weak enough that if Abel lost his temper, Leon could be badly hurt..., or even killed. So she had to calm Abel down. So she had to protect Leon. The pleasure, the thrill, the guilt—she endured all of it for Leon's sake.
Yeah..., that's all it is....
At the same time Abel was mixing his body with Tiris and Philia, the red-light district in the back alleys of the Roman Kingdom's capital was packed as always—clients looking to enjoy a night, and the prostitutes who flaunted themselves to lure those clients in.
And among them walked a young man with a hood pulled deep over his face. The way he kept his features completely hidden might have looked suspicious anywhere else, but this was the red-light district, home to every kind of human specimen. The prostitutes simply assumed he was just another customer and started their pitch without a second thought.
"Hey, adventurer~"
"Oppa~"
"Did your girlfriend dump you~? Why are you hiding your face so hard~?"
"If you're having a rough time, why not play with us~?"
Two prostitutes cooed at him in cute, seductive voices designed to hook a man. The hooded man glanced at them and spoke.
"I've got a question."
"Hm? A question?"
"What is it, what is it~? Want me to tell you my cup size~?"
"Is your brothel the best one around here?"
The odd question made the two women tilt their heads, then smile and press closer.
"What a weird thing to ask, adventurer~"
"Of course we are~♥"
They clung to both his arms, cooing and rubbing against him. The hooded man sighed and shook them off. Then he pulled ten gold coins from his coat and split them evenly between the two.
"Huh?"
"Th-this is?...."
"I'll ask one more time. Are you the best brothel in this district? Whatever you answer, I'll give you another five gold each. But if I trust you, follow you, and end up disappointed..., you might want to think carefully about what happens next."
"F-five gold coins!..."
The two prostitutes flinched and looked at each other. The most they ever earned for a single night was one or two small silver coins; on a bad night, eight or nine coppers. They couldn't even begin to calculate how many times they would have to sell themselves to make five gold. And he was offering another five just for a good answer?
"If the place we take you to...."
"...isn't to your liking?"
"Then I'll look somewhere else. I won't throw a fit and demand the money back, so don't worry."
They swallowed hard without meaning to. They had no idea whether they could satisfy this man. But if they simply pointed him toward a well-known place, they would walk away with five extra gold each.
Ten gold coins total. Enough to live for a while without selling their bodies. No more ugly clients, no more faking smiles when they felt nothing, no more bruises from rough customers. Hell, this might even be their chance to quit the life entirely.
"Um, um!....."
"You're looking for the highest-class brothel, right?"
Their thoughts had been long, but their actions were fast. Afraid someone else might snatch the opportunity, they spoke in a rush.
"If you go a little deeper in, there's a brothel called Pleiades' Haven!"
"There's a girl there named Flora who's the most famous in the whole area!"
"Rumor has it even high-ups from the palace visit!"
"That's the best water around here!"
They chattered eagerly, eyes shining with expectation. The man answered that hope by pulling out a thick leather pouch and handing it over.
"What's this?"
"Your pay. Prostitutes can't exactly flash gold coins around."
"Ah...."
"Then...."
They peeked inside the pouch. It was stuffed with glittering small silver and copper coins. They would need to count carefully to know the exact amount, but even at a glance it was clear this was money they would have had to work themselves to the bone for months to earn—even if it wasn't quite five gold each.
"That's all, then."
"Th-thank you so much~"
"Come back anytime~"
The hooded man—Leon—brushed off several more solicitations after that. The prostitutes who had to sell their bodies for a living were all beautiful and well-shaped, but none of them gave him the feeling he was looking for, so he turned them all down and headed for the brothel the first two had named: Pleiades' Haven.
"Hmm..., so this is the place even palace bigwigs visit, huh?"
It was clearly larger and better-appointed than the other brothels. More importantly, well-built, well-armed guards were patrolling the grounds—proof that this place operated on a different level from the cheap joints nearby.
If it's here..., maybe I'll find what I'm looking for....
The moment he tried to step inside, the guards at the entrance blocked his path.
"Do you have an invitation?"
"An invitation?..., You need a special invitation just to go in?"
"That's right. If you don't have one, turn around."
"....How do I get an invitation?"
His polite, perfectly civil question only made the guards curl their lips in open mockery and wave him off.
"Do you have any idea how much a single-entry invitation costs? A wandering mercenary like you would have to scrape and save for a year or two just to afford one."
"Stop wasting our time and go enjoy yourself at some other brothel. This place isn't for the likes of you."
".....Tch."
They were guards. Their job was to stand at the door and screen out anyone suspicious or potentially dangerous to the establishment. They were just doing their duty, so he had planned to quietly buy an invitation and walk in like a civilized person....
"People always have to pick a fight the second you try to handle things nicely."
Scratch a man's temper this hard and even he couldn't stay calm. Besides, he was already known as the Incompetent Hero—if he caused a scene here, no one would suspect a thing. Thinking about it that way, the Incompetent Hero title was actually pretty convenient.
"Hey. Move while I'm still asking nicely, or go get your boss."
"What the hell is wrong with this guy?!"
One of the guards, clearly pissed, grabbed him by the collar.
Tch..., how cute....
"Th-this bastard..., his strength...."
The guard had probably meant to shove him back, but a man with only thirty or forty Strength had no chance of moving someone whose effective Strength sat at 99. The guard froze in panic as their eyes met.
"What are you doing? Let go."
Leon watched the guard stand there in that awkward half-stance for a moment, then simply pried the man's hand off and flung him. Despite his bulk, the guard couldn't resist at all and went flying into the wall.
Crash!!!
The noise was dramatic, but the man wouldn't be seriously hurt. With Technique at 999, Leon had controlled the force precisely—enough to keep him down without real injury.
The racket, however, drew every eye in the vicinity.
"Kyaa!!"
"Wh-what's going on?!"
"Something's happening at Pleiades' Haven?"
Treating the stares like an audience, Leon walked forward at a leisurely pace. Of course the noise hadn't only reached the neighboring brothels and waiting customers. People inside the Haven itself had heard it, and more guards came pouring out.
All of them are weak.
Well, of course they were. No matter how high-class a brothel claimed to be, it was still a brothel. Anyone with real skill would be out raising their market value as a top-tier mercenary, not standing around here. The only people left were the half-baked ones who weren't good enough for anything else.
"Stop right there!"
"Do you even know where you are, causing a scene like this?!"
"It's a brothel. The way you talk, you'd think this place was something special. And for the record, I was trying to settle this peacefully until you started the fight. You threw the first punch. So go get the owner."
"This lunatic!"
They charged. Their gear wasn't uniform, but most of them carried clubs. Apparently the standard procedure for dealing with rowdy customers was a thorough beating and a toss out the door—which, to be fair, was cleaner than drawing blood.
"Too bad. Doesn't work on me."
"Guh!"
He slipped the attack and threw a punch; the man flew with a comical yelp. Watching gag-comic physics come out of his own fist was oddly fascinating. One, two, three..., more than ten of them slammed into walls before the remaining guards finally stopped charging and settled into a wary standoff.
"What? Not coming?"
"Kh...."
"Do you have any idea who is inside right now...."
"Who's inside is none of my business. I said bring the owner. Are you hard of hearing?"
Somehow the scene had started to look like a villain trying to drag out an innocent proprietress..., but whatever. He didn't care.
"Please stop."
"?"
"M-Madam!..."
Just as he was about to push through the standoff, a woman with mature, radiant beauty and soft lavender hair stepped out of the entrance, flanked by several striking young women. She glanced around, then offered a faint smile.
"I am Syr, the proprietress of Pleiades' Haven. I hear you were looking for me."
"That's right. And..., I'm not someone who needs to give a name. Sorry about that."
"That's perfectly fine. First..., there are rather a lot of eyes on us. Shall we continue this conversation inside?"
"Good. Finally someone who can hold a conversation."
Syr shot the surrounding guards a look that needed no words. They scrambled to haul their fallen comrades inside and disperse the crowd that had gathered to gawk. After watching for a moment, Leon curled his lips and spoke.
"Come to think of it, they told me I needed an invitation to get in and turned me away. I was ready to buy one, but your staff laughed and said trash like me could never afford it even in my dreams."
"Our staff committed a grave discourtesy. I apologize. I will make certain they are properly trained so this never happens again. As a token of apology—however inadequate—we will waive the invitation requirement for you."
"Ah, no, that won't do."
He walked up to the madam. The guards tensed, but Syr raised a hand and stopped them. Even if they had charged, the result would have been the same.
Leon pulled a leather pouch from his coat and handed it to her.
"This is?"
"Invitation fee. No idea how much it costs, so I just stuffed it full. Don't complain if it's short."
"...!"
The pouch was packed with gold coins, and here and there even platinum pieces glinted. Syr passed it to one of the prostitutes attending her.
"More than enough. Our staff truly committed an unforgivable rudeness."
"As long as you understand."