How to Steal the Protagonist's Women

Chapter 16: How to Steal the Hero's Sister [End]

Boom!

Someone landed with a loud crash.

His name was Lian.

He was known as the hero of this world.

"Viola!!!"

As soon as Lian arrived at their secret hideout, he called out Viola's name.

The moment he shouted her name, he sensed a smell that shouldn't be here—the scent of a man.

'Tch, why...?'

This place was a secret space only Viola and Lian could enter.

A hideout built by gathering the world's greatest mages and architects.

It was so sturdy that even the mages who built it couldn't break in.

But he could clearly feel it.

'There's... more than one person in the room!'

"Viola!!!!"

He sensed movement inside Viola's room.

He shouted again in front of the door.

"Viola!! If you're in there, answer me!"

Lian had never entered Viola's room, not even once, while living with his sister.

It was out of a desire to protect her purity.

Viola had to remain pure, even to him, until she got married.

But now, someone was in Viola's room.

'Who the hell is it?!'

"Viola!!!"

Unable to hold back any longer, Lian kicked the door open. The door shattered and fell to the ground.

But there was no one inside.

The presence of two people he had felt just moments ago had completely vanished.

"What, what's going on? I'm sure... Huh!"

Lian covered his nose with his sleeve as a pungent, pungent smell assaulted his senses.

'What is this smell?!'

It was a smell he had never encountered before, so overwhelming that it made him dizzy.

But even in this situation, Lian's first concern was his sister.

Regaining his composure, he noticed something strange on the bed.

"...Blood?"

On the pristine white bed, where even a speck of dust would stand out, there was a clear stain of blood.

Lian's head was about to explode.

'I'll kill them!!'

Lian assumed the blood was from his sister's injury.

His mind was filled with the thought of killing whoever had hurt her.

'Could it be teleportation? Then they couldn't have gone far!'

Lian rushed to the central hall to search for his sister.

But something was placed on the usually clean dining table.

It was a cheap piece of parchment.

A single sentence was written on it.

"To the village chief's house."

***

"W-What is this?!"

The village chief screamed as he looked into the safe.

When he opened it to check its contents, he found nothing but a crystal pearl.

"How dare this bastard!"

There was only one suspect in the chief's mind.

The nameless peddler.

Furious, the chief rushed downstairs to catch him himself.

Click! Bang!

"You son of a bitch! It's you, isn't it? You... Huh? W-What..."

But what the chief saw wasn't the peddler.

It was the hero, who should have been busy on the battlefield.

Lian.

He was in the room the chief had lent to the peddler, reading a piece of parchment.

The chief broke into a cold sweat, his entire body trembling.

"Y-You, why are you here...?"

"..."

Lian didn't respond.

He was reading a letter, presumably left by his sister.

The contents were along the lines of, "Thank you for everything," "I've found someone I love, so I'm leaving," and "Be happy."

And at the end...

"I'm leaving for the desert. Don't look for me."

A firm statement.

In reality, the last sentence was something Suho had added on his own, but Lian had no way of knowing that.

The expression on Lian's face was that of a demon.

The chief wanted to run, but his legs gave out, and he collapsed on the spot.

Lian didn't care who was in the room.

His only thought was to kill someone.

Under Viola's letter was another note.

Written in the same handwriting.

[Thank you for raising Viola so deliciously.

Viola is truly delicious.

I've seen countless women in my life, but I've never met one as delicious as Viola.

You raised her so well, and I'll make sure she's happy.]

If an ordinary person had read this letter, they would have fainted from shock.

But Lian misunderstood the contents.

Having never shown interest in any woman other than Viola, he didn't realize the word 'delicious' could be used in such a context.

'This illiterate bastard... Can't even tell the difference between 'pretty' and 'delicious'? But both letters were written by the same guy....'

His thoughts ended on a hopeful note.

'Viola must have been kidnapped!!'

Thinking there might be a clue to her location, Lian slowly opened the box under the letter.

'Tch!'

The smell that wafted out was the same as the one he had encountered earlier.

A disgusting stench that could suppress his anger.

Inside the box was a piece of white silk with a sapphire on top.

'A sapphire? And under it...'

The white silk was stained with a dirty liquid and blood.

Lian didn't want to touch the filthy silk with his hands.

"Ugh...."

If Suho had heard this, he would have been terrified, but luckily, he wouldn't hear it.

Before leaving, Suho had given each of them different instructions.

He told the old woman to dig under a tree with a ribbon tied to it, and he told the militia member to head east from the old woman's hut, where he would find her.

The two had met, so they decided to at least check it out.

And soon enough, they found the tree with the ribbon.

"...Has he not arrived yet?"

"Let's do what he said first. Dig here."

"What kind of alcohol is hidden here.... It'd be easier to just pull the tree out."

"What nonsense.... Ugh!"

Crunch! (Tree: Aaaah! I'm being squeezed!!!)

The tree was at least as thick as a grown man's torso.

The militia member wrapped her arms around the tree and pulled it out by the roots.

Her thick arms were covered in sap.

She tossed the tree aside.

Thud... (Tree: Damn it... This isn't what I saved my sap for...

"Heave-ho..."

"Ugh, crazy..."

After pulling out the tree, they saw a buried bundle.

"What's this?"

"What is it?"

Inside the bundle were gems and pieces of parchment.

The militia member looked at the old woman in surprise.

"Wow~ This is a fortune, isn't it?"

"Never mind that, what's with these parchments? Can you read?"

"I may look like this, but I used to guard the queen, so I can read."

"Then read it. I don't know how to read."

The militia member's face hardened as she read, and she relayed everything to the old woman.

The last parchment had a single sentence.

"Use it well."

"This is going to be a headache if it gets out..."

"I... have to spread this."

"...It won't be easy."

Exposing the dark secrets of a world-renowned hero wasn't going to be easy.

But for the militia member, that wasn't the point.

"Wait! He said he'd come, but he's nowhere to be found!?"

"Ugh, you crazy woman! Is that what's important!?"

"It's important to me!! Waaah!!!"

Boom!!!

A tremendous noise and vibration shook the area.

The old woman thought the militia member had cast some kind of spell.

"Ugh! What are you doing!!!"

"T-That wasn't me... L-Look..."

"W-What is that...."

The two saw a massive flame engulfing the village.

***

[COO's Office]

"Armonia."

"Yes."

"Thank you for saving me."

"It was only natural."

Armonia replied expressionlessly.

In my office, Armonia and I briefly discussed what had happened.

According to Viola, the hero was supposed to arrive in three days.

But that was in the past.

The monster who used to take three days to travel that distance now did it in one.

So how did Armonia arrive a day early?

Scheduled-wise, Armonia should have arrived the next day.

If there had been any trouble along the way, it would have been even later.

But luckily, during warp navigation, they encountered a Zodiac communication ship and were able to return immediately.

If even a single second had been off, I would have died.

"Still, thank you."

"..."

The expressionless Armonia didn't respond.

After a moment of silence, Armonia asked me something.

"Why did you leave the letter and crystal at the chief's house? You could have left them in the central hall, and they would have definitely seen it."

"Ah, that...."

I hid the smile I had been giving Armonia and instead showed a cruel smile.

"It was a mistake to say that to me."

"?"

The chief's words when he first saw me.

"Are you deaf? Tsk tsk, you can't even understand human speech."

That statement still repulsed me, and I didn't want to let the chief off the hook.

"I understand."

"If it were up to me, I would have killed him myself."

"Then why did you help the militia member and the old woman?"

"I didn't help them out of kindness. I just thought they were the right people to spread the word about the hero."

The gems were just something I threw in to get rid of them.

Despite everything that happened, I didn't feel any goodwill toward them.

I didn't help them—I used them because I needed to.

"Armonia."

"Yes."

"I don't help people unnecessarily unless I consider them true allies, like you and Viola."

"Understood."

"Do I seem like trash?"

I glanced at Armonia.

But Armonia remained expressionless as always.

"Not at all. If I had summoned someone hypocritical, I wouldn't have summoned you or started this in the first place. I actually..."

"?"

"I think it was a stroke of luck to summon someone like you."

"Heh... You're my partner, after all."

And so, our first mission ended with an unexpectedly good outcome.