Return of the Former Hero - Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Chapter 146 . Former Hero – Spends Time (Part 3)

The sun is gradually setting .

Rithina ended up returning later than expected .
Of course, the hero party’s Leon and Aura will be along with her .

[Hou…]

Perhaps it’ll be just fine . I was wondering about what will Elcure do since the hero himself will come here when I was distracted by… a spectacular view .

When I looked down from the upper floor to the ground floor, apart from Rithina and Leon’s party, I saw more than 20 strangers gathering in the lobby .

No, it’s fine .
Those strangers were the hostages rescued from the bandits or so I’ve heard .

The first thing I noticed was Leon . .
No… to be exact, the people standing next to Leon .

Next to Leon were two little girls…sticking to Leon on his left and right so closely like they are glued to each other .

Those two are standing out among the simpler clothed people downstairs .
Probably daughter of a noble he rescued from the bandits . I can imagine that .

By the way, the way those two stare at Leon .
Those are the eyes of maidens in love .

Is that the case?
A gallant and handsome prince appearing to save the despairing maidens right in the nick of time .

Tch .

I must not be outplayed next time .

Kuh .

I also want two girls sticking close to me all the time and not just limited to Laurier and Tanya only .

Laurier and Sharon haven’t returned yet and Tanya is probably still sleeping .
Celes and Kagura-san are resting in their rooms…
Gununu

How nice .

I wish I can be in his place .
How envious . . No, that’s not what I mean .

Good grief… if the two insist on always sticking together with Leon, he’ll end up being unable to fight as a hero more freely .

Something like that should only be done after our mission is completed, just like how I did .

What a waste, what a waste .

Even if those two look older than Tanya, they’re still considered very young .

Eh? Do I even have the right to tell him off?

Right, let’s ignore it .
… . what am I even thinking just now?

[Is that… . the Hero?]

Ha .

Meanwhile, Elcure already stood beside me .
Don’t do that again, geez .

[Ermm… yes, he is . ]

[I see…]

Is she satisfied with my answer? Elcure stared at Leon intently, as if observing him .
Don’t get any weird thoughts, please .

[My husband!]

Ha .

While I was concerned with what Elcure is thinking, Aura called out from downstairs .
She then climbed up the stairs to me .

Aura-san .
Please don’t call me like that in a crowded place . It’s embarrassing .

[Yet… . another new woman… Humans are…amazing . ]

Next to me, Elcure looked at me with an inquisitive look .
Is it really amazement or is it jealousy… well, regardless, she’s looking at me with a gaze that could puncture a hole in my heart .

I felt my spine shudder . I don’t understand . I really don’t .

A-anyways, at the moment, my wife Aura stopped before me .
In my mind, I already considered Etna-san as my wife as well by the way .

[My husba…no, I mean, Haruto-dono . I’ve returned . ]

[Welcome back . Thank you for the hard work . ]

The approaching Aura, probably seeing Elcure who is standing next to me, changed the way she called me .

She didn’t forget to curtsy as well… but it’s already too late for that, Aura-san .

But well, it’s been quite a while since I see her, so let it slide this time since she looks cute when she does that .
Something naturally comes to my mind after such a long separation .
But let’s leave it for later .

While I talked to Aura, Rithina and Mina, as well as Leon, Kyaron, Yunikram also went up the stairs .

Elcure hid herself behind me for some reason .

What now? Are you trying to use me as a shield?
That crossed my mind for a short while, but turned out that wasn’t really the case .

Elcure hid behind me while keeping her distance so as not to make any contact with me, as she observed Leon from the shadow of my body .

Are you just being shy there?
I was reminded of when I tried to proactively approached her .

Noo, she is too cute .
It’ll be cuter if she were to stick tightly to my back, but I guess not yet?

[Slightly better than I thought… . Looks fine . ]

Aa…… ahh?

Elcure whispered from behind me .

Oi you, do you have a crush to the hero or something?

Tch .

Is it the face?
My face is a face from different world though .

Tch .

I turned my head to look at Elcure, and our eyes accidentally met .

「……」

「……」

After staring at each other for a while, she finally turned away and went up the stairs .

What was that all about?
I’m conflicted with the cuteness and the possibility that she hates me .

Oh well .
Anyways, she seemed to be a harmless fellow after all .

[That girl just now, what’s wrong?]

[Nn? A, ah . Well, it’s alright, just leave her alone . ]

After confirming that Elcure had really left, Leon called out to me .
Naturally, Leon has already been informed on what purpose the demon girl was staying here for .

[If Haruto-san say so, then it’s going to be just fine . ]

Leon seemed to have no complaints about my judgement .
This kind of trust; is it thanks to Laurier? .

So in order to not betray that trust, I must manage Elcure well .
Gladly . Guhehe .

… . Keeping my evil plan aside, I need to discuss the matter of Elcure and the demon king’s army with everyone .

=====
――――――――――

[… so, as for the remaining people such as the workers, I’ll be leaving them under your care . ]

Fumu .

Moving location to somewhere else, we finished listening to Leon’s report .

By the way, aside from Leon and I, we have Sharon and Laurier who just got back, Tanya who just got up, the refreshed Kagura-san and Celes, Rithina and Mina, Aura, Kyaron and the two guys . Elcure wasn’t here .

That’s quite a lot of people .

There were not much furnishings yet, but the maids did well to prepare the conference room . The long table was placed in the larger and more beautiful room and Leon was sitting at the other far end of the table .

This kind of long table is not really good .


If I could pick, I prefer a round table more than long table .

Well, that aside, let’s give Leon’s report a thought .

Leon’s report… the bottomline is that some of the people they rescued had no relatives to go to, so he wants us to take care of them .

I’d be willing even if you didn’t ask me .

[Nothing is better than more manpower . We’ll gladly accept them all . ]

After giving it some thought, Rithina spoke up .
Of course, of course, this kind of thing is what Rithina is in charge of after all .

[Well, in that case, thank you . ]

[Yes . ]

Rithina and Leon could’ve just discussed it on their own and reported the result to me later in the first place .

I don’t mind if they go ahead with things, but I guess Leon wanted to do this properly .
It’s like his custom or something . Such a straight and rigid guy .

Anyways, I should take note of this .

[Yosh, I guess that’s it for now . Thank you for participating in the bandit subjugation this time . Thanks to everyone’s efforts, the town is liberated from the clutches of the bandits without any problems . Thank you . ]

I stood up, thanking everyone equally for their efforts, bidding them some well wishes and goodwill .

It’s good that nobody was injured and the subjugation ended smoothly .
I noticed that the Lord position comes with many responsibilities, but it’s nothing bad at all so far .

After all, I no longer have any need to earn money .
Thanks to this, I can develop even more costumes as much as I want .

There are many other things I want to do .
Besides, Etna-san is also here in this town .

I’ll go for it . I’ll go for it this time .
I’ll definitely reel in Etna-san this time . Fuhaha

And then, do this and that… guhehehe

[Don’t ruin everything with that kind of face . ]

Guh .

I felt like it’s been so long since Sharon actually praise me .

That kind of face will ruin everything, huh?
I guess she may have a point . I need to reflect on it a bit more .

[Is it over already? Is it? Then let’s take a bath!]

Tanya actually proposed the thing I didn’t dare to say .

Did you not have enough bathing already?
You had one in the morning… .

Ah, that didn’t count .
More like it was my bath time instead of Tanya . right .

[Bath! Sounds nice! Ah, but… it’ll take some time if we take turns . ]

Hearing the ‘bath’ word, Sharon immediately perked up .
However, as she said, it will indeed take a lot of time if we were to take turns with this many people .

[Haruto had made a large bathtub earlier today]

[Eh? Really? Hee . Fuun]

Right, right . I created that massive bathtub for this kind of occasion .
I still have a lot more things I want to make though .

Ee, Sharon-chan, what’s with that look on your face?

If you have something to say, why don’t you just say it?

[W-what is it?]

[Nothing at allー]

Kuh, cute .

Cute is justice .

I’m just evil .

Yep .

[Umu . In that case, let’s just all of us take a bath together!]

With a rattling noise, Laurier stood up from her chair and took the initiative to leave the room .
Following that, the other female members of the group also left one by one .

Of course, I tried to follow along with them, but Sharon’s stare prevented me from doing so .
Okay . That’s scary . Really scary .

No, but come on now . How can you enjoy a hot bath without me?

I wonder if it because Kyaron will be there as well . I see now .

I made an excuse to Sharon that I’m just going to pour hot water into the bathtub, which convinced her .
Of course, under the stipulation that I’ll return to my room afterwards .

So I wonder if I can take a peek but later on, I refrain because it’s too scary .
Don’t overdo things . There is still tonight after all .

I still want to see Kyaron’s bathing scene though…

And so, after waiting for the female members to finish, the three guys and I got our turn .

We talked about the two little girls sticking to Leon and the development of his relationship with Kyaron .

After that I got out of the bath and parted with Leon, then climbed upstairs .

Once before, I said that I’ll climb the great mountain path of my harem . This time, it’s more of an actual physical climbing though .

At the end of this stairway, there are my 8 wives .
That thought spurred my legs to go faster .

Soon there will be 9…no, maybe I should prepare a space for the 10th . I must keep my door wide open .

Tonight… no, tonight as well, I shall do my very best .