The long-awaited day of the date had finally arrived.
After changing into a decent outfit for going out, I headed to the plaza where I had agreed to meet Pollo.
It was the weekend, and perhaps because there was also a festival going on, the plaza was packed with people.
Even though the population density was high, finding Pollo among the crowd wasn’t all that difficult.
All I had to do was follow where the women’s gazes were concentrated.
“There he is.”
As I looked for the vanishing point of every woman’s attention, there he was. Our ever-handsome friend Pollo standing exactly where he should have been.
At that moment, Pollo was gazing at the fountain in the center of the plaza, looking as if he found it fascinating.
He was merely watching the fountain, and yet, thanks to his beautiful looks, the whole scene looked like a photo shoot. Surely, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
I could hear the women nearby either staring at Pollo in a trance or whispering schemes to ask around for his name.
I knew nothing good would come from squeezing myself into that crowd, so I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen him and just walk away. But in the end, my conscience wouldn’t let me abandon herbivore Pollo among those Amazons, so I pulled myself together and called out to him.
“You were already here.”
“Oh! Mars, you’re here! It’s fine, I didn’t wait long!”
At the mention that he had been waiting for me, the surrounding women began to glare at me as if I were someone who deserved to die.
The way their eyes said, “Who do you think you are to keep Pollo waiting?”… If I had been the innocent Mars from a past life with no memories, the sheer pressure might’ve made me pee my pants.
“What’s the occasion? Mars actually suggested we hang out? You’re usually too lazy and never leave the house.”
“Well… it’s our first festival since coming to the Academy, and sometimes I want to go out and have fun too.”
To be honest, Pollo was right.
If it hadn’t been for this whole love consultant business, there’s no way I would’ve sacrificed my precious nap time for some dumb festival.
In this couple-infested hell, with couples everywhere I turned, I didn’t have the kind of transcendent mental strength it would take to enjoy a festival alone with another guy.
Even now, girls who were clearly head over heels for Pollo were glaring at me like I was their mortal enemy for snagging the spot next to him, and I started to regret coming out in the first place.
“What the hell, who is that guy… what gives him the right to sit next to him…?”
“Ugh, I was enjoying the view, and now some squid-looking guy just ruined everything.”
“Which one’s the top and which one’s the bottom? Personally, I hope the ugly one’s the top… hehe.”
What the actual hell?! What was that last one?!
I shuddered at the creepy line, quickly grabbed Pollo, and got us out of there.
For some reason, when I took Pollo by the hand, some people actually squealed and cheered, but if I stayed there any longer, I felt like my dignity was going to shatter beyond repair. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
“What’s wrong, Mars? You don’t look so good.”
“…It’s nothing. For now… why don’t we just walk around and check things out?”
“Sure!”
There was still a bit of time before we were supposed to meet the noble lady, so I decided to take Pollo around and scope out the area in the meantime.
Pollo agreed to the idea without any suspicion, and I started casually leading him through the decorated flowers.
To be honest, I wasn’t all that interested in flowers, so “checking them out” mostly meant stuff like, “Oh, that color’s pretty,” or “Hey, this one smells nice,” but even that seemed to delight Pollo, and watching him wander around curiously wasn’t half bad.
Leaving aside whatever mysterious taste in romance this guy had, the fact remained that he was a genuinely good person, and I started to feel a bit guilty about deceiving him.
It’s time!
I eventually realized that the appointed time had arrived and quietly led Pollo to the place where the noble lady was waiting.
“Eek!”
“Whoa!”
Just as planned!
The noble lady who was wearing a wide-brimmed hat she had brought with her pulled it down low over her face and deliberately approached Pollo. Pollo who was concentrating on avoiding the crowd ended up bumping into her.
“I-I’m so sorry! I was distracted and wasn’t looking where I was going!”
“It’s a-alright… Oh? The heir of House Helios?”
“Huh? Young lady? What are you doing here?”
Since they were both members of the same club, it seemed Pollo quickly realized she was the duke’s daughter.
Encouraged by the successful meeting, I decided it was time to step in.
“Hello, young lady! Fancy seeing you here!”
“Oh, you came too. Are you two here to enjoy the festival together?”
“Yes, it’s a special occasion after all. Did you come to see the festival too, young lady?”
“That’s right. The weather’s so nice, it would’ve been a waste to stay cooped up inside. Sometimes you just need a bit of sunlight, don’t you?”
Her acting was a little stiff, but she still managed to pull off the impression that we’d run into each other by chance.
I had been a bit worried that her acting might be painfully awkward, but as someone at the heart of high society, it seemed her skills weren’t half bad.
“Oh? A message from the professor… Ah, damn it.”
“Mars, what’s wrong?”
“Ah… I completely forgot. The professor wanted to review the material I missed while I was hospitalized. I think I’ll have to head back.”
“Really? That’s too bad, but I guess this is where—”
“No, it’s fine. You couldn’t even enjoy the festival properly because of me. It’d be a shame to just leave. Ah! You can look around with the young lady! That’s okay, right, young lady?”
“Uh, m-mhmm… I’m fine with it.”
Although everything happened in the blink of an eye, Pollo looked slightly suspicious. Still, he didn’t turn down the suggestion.
“Well, if it’s you, I guess I can’t say no… I’ll escort the young lady, so hang in there with your review.”
“Sorry about this. Young lady, please enjoy the festival too!”
After waving goodbye to the two of them, I quickly changed clothes somewhere secluded and returned to the area near them.
With my presence suppressed and my appearance completely disguised, Pollo wouldn’t be able to recognize me so easily.
As soon as I put in the mini communicator the noble lady had given me beforehand, I could hear their conversation as clearly as if they were right next to me.
– I’m sorry… You probably wanted to enjoy the festival at your own pace, and now I’m getting in the way…
– Oh, no! I was really looking forward to seeing the festival with you, too! Don’t feel pressured, really!
The atmosphere between the two still felt a bit awkward.
Walking side by side but keeping some distance, they seemed to be separated by an invisible wall.
How frustrating. At this rate, they’d never make any progress.
“Ah, young lady. Take his hand.”
– What?!
– Huh?
– N-No, it’s nothing!
“At this pace, nothing’s going to happen. Use the crowd as an excuse. Say you might get lost and grab his hand.”
No matter how awkward the relationship was, physical contact always made people start to see each other in a different light.
Between a man and a woman, that kind of contact was often the key to taking things to the next step.
– Uuuuugh…!
After a moment of hesitation, the young lady finally took Pollo’s hand.
– Young lady?
– I-It’s just! We might get separated in the crowd! If I hold on tightly like this, we won’t get swept away!
Her hand was trembling so much that even a knight like me could see it, but since she was making an effort to be brave, I decided to let it slide.
– Ah, I see. Understood.
And yet, Pollo didn’t even flinch. He didn’t seem to care at all about her holding his hand so suddenly. If I were him, I would’ve lost my mind right there.
It was around lunchtime, and I was getting hungry myself, so I told them to head to the restaurant I had reserved.
While waiting for the food to arrive, the noble lady brought up various topics, trying to make conversation, but that bastard Pollo just kept responding with half-hearted answers like “Yes”, and “I see”. He didn’t seem interested in continuing the conversation at all.
– Aang~ Here it is! Hurry, feed it to Pollo!
A beautiful girl saying “Aang” with a sweet smile.
It was the kind of legendary situation every man dreamed of.
– H-Here, Pollo… A-Aang~
With a trembling voice, the noble lady held out the food she had been eating to Pollo. I was nearly moved to tears by her courage. And yet, even this time, Pollo accepted the bite without so much as a hint of reaction. Le was like a still, clear lake.
– It’s not bad, but it’s a little salty. Most of the meat juice is gone, so the texture’s a bit lacking too.
God, I was about to unleash my domain…
This was supposed to be a love comedy, but instead of playing along, Pollo was acting like a blue-and-white gourmet chef, and it was more than enough to make me smack my forehead.
After that, I repeatedly told her to show off her charms. Like pressing her chest against his arm while pretending to be surprised, showing the nape of her neck while pretending to fix her hair, and gently wiping sauce from the corner of his mouth with her own hand. But none of these temptations worked on Pollo, who had already entered a state of nirvana.
“I… I’m going to the restroom for a bit.”
After just an hour or two, the once-spirited noble lady now looked completely drained, and with much less energy than before, she dragged her feet toward the restroom.
Should I just go out there and beat the crap out of him right now?
I barely held back the urge and decided to wait until the noble lady finished her business and came back out.
***
Selene had entered the restroom to fix herself up a bit.
Luckily, it was empty, so she was able to comfortably check the mirror and straighten her appearance.
“…I went through all the trouble to dress up nicely.”
Whether he simply wasn’t interested or was just oblivious, Pollo hadn’t said a single word about her outfit.
Selene who had secretly been hoping for a reaction began to doubt whether she had made the wrong choice.
– Some might think your eyes make you look a bit cold because they slant upward, but when you smile, they make your smile even more beautiful. And because you have a slender figure, clothes hang perfectly on you, like a model. So please don’t worry too much about the outfits, and smile more often.
“W-Why is that coming to mind right now!”
Suddenly, Mars’ compliment came back to her.
The sincerity in his eyes, with not a hint of deceit, made her realize that every word he had said was genuine. She was overwhelmed by embarrassment, so she had hurriedly kicked him out at the time.
She had tried so hard to forget him, brushing him off as a smooth-talking flatterer. And yet, without meaning to, Selene found herself clinging to Mars’ heartfelt compliment, struggling to push it out of her mind.
“Young Lady?”
Selene who was jolted from her thoughts by someone calling her from the side realized that she had been in the restroom for quite a while.
When she turned her head, one of the female knights assigned to guard her had entered the restroom.
“Oh, sorry!~ I must’ve been in here too long! It’s nothing, so you don’t have to worry…”
At that moment, what caught the noble lady’s eye—
Was the dark red liquid seeping from the sword at the knight’s side.
And then—
Thwip—
“Guhk…!”
With the sudden sensation of something stabbing into the back of her neck, a wave of drowsiness crashed over her, swiftly consuming her consciousness.
***
While the noble lady was in the restroom, I had temporarily taken the communicator off my ear.
It’s not like I’m some kind of pervert. Listening to a woman using the restroom just felt wrong.
So I waited fifteen minutes for her to come out.
“…She should be coming out by now.”
Sure, women usually take longer in the restroom, but this was starting to feel excessive.
But still, what if I reconnected the communicator and ended up hearing something awkward…
“Maybe they ran out of toilet paper? I should ask the guards to… Wait a minute.”
As I mumbled to myself absentmindedly, a sudden sense of foreboding crept down my spine.
The moment I spread my senses to scan the area, I finally realized—
The presence of the guards who had been standing by nearby had vanished.
I had noticed the presence of the guards around us from the beginning of the operation, but since they were there for her protection, I didn’t pay them much mind.
And yet, those very people had suddenly vanished from my senses!
“What the hell…!”
I quickly rushed into a nearby alley where one of the guards had been stationed, only to find a man lying there with his throat slit. He was already a cold corpse.
Judging by the still-wet pool of blood giving off a metallic stench, he hadn’t been dead for long. The severity of the situation was undeniable.
“When did this even happen…?! Damn it!”
I immediately ran over to Pollo, who had been waiting with a worried look on his face.
“Mars? Didn’t you say you had something urgent to take care of? What are you doing here—”
“Pollo! Go to House Euss right now! Tell them the young lady’s been kidnapped!”
“What?! You just show up out of nowhere and say—!”
“Go! We don’t have time!”
“A-Alright! But what about you?!”
“What do you think…”
I’ve got to go save the young lady.
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