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Chapter 9 : The Goddess And The Dark Knight~Date Chapter~
TN : It’s a safe and healthy chapter!!!
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The Hero’s comrades, Chiyuki and co, were currently enjoying the mansion’s hot spring, which was spacious, and comfortable.
Though it was considered quite small compared to other hot spring establishments, it was still spacious enough for all the girls to enter together and still have enough space to swim around.
「Is something the matter, Nao?」
Nao’s body was immersed in the hot spring, with only her head popping out and her gaze locked on Chiyuki.
「Your hair is so beautiful, Chiyuki-san.」
「Oh, thank you.」
It wasn’t the first time someone praised Chiyuki’s hair.
Naturally, It wasn’t a bad thing to hear such praise every now and then.
「As expected of the one crowned as the Black Haired Sage.」
Black Haired Sage was Chiyuki’s nickname, that was how the people in this world often called her.
She wasn’t the only one with a nickname though.
Shirone was the Sword Maiden and Rino was the Fairy Dancer.
Thinking about that fact, Chiyuki looked at the two, only to see them coming towards her and Nao.
「Eeh, what are you girls talking about?」
Rino asked the two.
「I’m praising Chiyuki-san’s beautiful hair.」
「Indeed, her hair is really beautiful. I’m so jealous of her hair.」
「I think Shirone-san’s hair is also beautiful though.」
「Yup. Especially when her ponytail dances beautifully as she moves around in battle. As expected of the Sword Maiden.」
Shirone was visibly embarrassed upon hearing Nao’s praise.
「Sword Maiden, huh… that’s really fitting of her.」
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Rino spoke with an envious look on her face.
「But of course, I think the name Fairy Dancer suits you too.」
「Yesh! I mean, I’m so jealous of Shirone-san and Rinocchi for having such cool nicknames. I want one too…」
That was the truth, Nao didn’t have a nickname, though she was called “Feral Child” back in their original world, but Chiyuki wouldn’t tell her that.
「It’s better than having a weird nickname.」
Saying that, Rino looked at the two people who were resting in a slightly secluded area.
It was Kyouka and Kaya.
Kyouka’s nickname was “Exploding Princess”, a dishonorable nickname that she got after using explosion magic in the middle of the city. It was a nickname that was disliked by most of them and loathed by the person herself.
「Indeed…」
Nao readily agreed.
「Speaking of nicknames, where is our “Hero of Light” and “White Saint” right now?」
Rino was wondering about the whereabouts of those two.
「Our White Saint is preparing dinner.」
The nickname “White Saint” referred to Sahoko.
Sahoko made dinner for the group since there was only a small number of maids in the mansion. In addition, it seemed that the royal palace’s chef was also coming to assist her.
Sahoko and Kaya were the only ones who could cook amongst their group. The others didn’t dare to compete with them.
Sahoko had taken the role of their cook when they were out on their journey. In that regard, Sahoko specialized in home cooking, different from Kaya who specialized in cooking extravagant and gorgeous meals meant for a party.
Chiyuki had some expertise in that area; however, her cooking skills were nothing compared to those two.
Rino, Nao, and Kyouka, on the other hand, didn’t like to cook at all; they didn’t even want to touch ingredients if that was possible.
Though Shirone was interested in learning how to cook, she was a murderous chef. She could blow up a kitchen with the things she created. Anything she made would taste completely different from what it was supposed to taste like. None of them would ever dare to eat any of her meals. Naturally, none of them dared to say that in front of her though.
Chiyuki recalled the past.
There was a time when Shirone baked unbearably salty cookies. She had made them for Reiji, but after taking just one bite, Reiji didn’t dare to continue on eating them. Even swallowing that bite he had taken was the most difficult thing he had ever gone through. It was only normal for him to have that kind of reaction when he was already used to eating Sahoko’s great cooking.
Since it couldn’t be helped, Shirone ended up giving those cookies to her childhood friend but, it seems that her childhood friend was actually extremely happy when he received those cookies.
Chiyuki secretly worried about Shirone’s childhood friend’s stomach.
Though Chiyuki had never seen Shirone’s childhood friend, according to Rino, he seemed to be quite the looker. Nevertheless, he lost by a mile compared to Reiji.
— I wonder where Reiji is right now?
Chiyuki suddenly wondered about Reiji’s whereabouts.
「I wonder what the Hero of Light is doing right now?」
In fact, Chiyuki had set up a barrier around the hot spring as a preventative measure against peepers. Though the barrier also prevented her from knowing what was happening outside. That’s why everyone had no idea what Reiji was doing right now.
（Reiji’s matter aside, the same goes for the Dark Knight and Rena’s movements. I wonder what they’re doing right now?）
Chiyuki pondered over these matters as she dipped her body in the hot spring.
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Meanwhile, around the time Chiyuki was wondering what the Dark Knight and Rena were doing.
Kuroki, the Dark Knight himself, and Rena, were currently standing in Rox Kingdom’s mainstreet.
Even though it was still early in the morning, food stalls had already been set up on both sides of the crowded main street.
Seeing this familiar setup of streets filled with stalls, Kuroki couldn’t help but recall his hometown back in Japan.
Though he didn’t go to festivals nowadays, he had often gone to ones with Shirone during his childhood days.
The reason he never went to festivals again was because he was now alone.
As for the other reason, it was simply because it was a man’s romantic dream to go to a festival with a cute girl in hand.
That’s why his current situation could be said to be the best he could hope for.
Kuroki looked at the woman who stood by his side. Most of her face was covered by a hood. But, Kuroki knew that the face hidden beneath that hood was a world toppling beauty.
Goddess Rena.
That was how Shirone and the others called her.
This was the second time Kuroki had met her. He wondered what in the world she was doing in this kind of place.
— Is she trying to do something to Shirone and the others again?
Kuroki kept pondering about Rena’s aim.
Initially, he had no intention of getting himself involved with Shirone and the others again, yet he ended up receiving a request to escort the Hero and search for his enemies; it was truthfully quite ironic.
If he were to be honest, he was cutting corners as he did those two jobs, reason being he knew that Reiji and his companions were powerful enough to defend themselves—there was almost no one who could hurt them.
He was going to give a half-hearted report and leave the rest to the Temple Knights who came as their escorts.
That’s why he was really surprised with what he found as he stood on top of the rampart—he knew in one glance that the one who wore the hood was Rena.
Since he found her, there was no way he was going to let her off scot free. He understood more than anyone else that Rena was the most dangerous existence for the Hero and his comrades.
Thus, he appeared before her.
And yet, he was at a loss of what to do after he greeted her.
So, for now, Kuroki was only trying to guess what her plan was.
Naturally, he had no intention to stay in this kingdom if she called Reiji and the others here and asked them to fight him.
「Contrary to your appearance, you’re unexpectedly quite an overbearing man.」
Rena snickered at Kuroki as they walked side-by-side.
Kuroki recalled their banter a while ago.
When he inquired what she was doing in this place, Rena said that she wanted to enjoy the festival. Naturally, it was a big fat lie. Thus, Kuroki told her that he would tag along and enjoy the festival with her.
（Guess I have no choice but to tag along with her, I really need to choose better words next time…）
Kuroki couldn’t help but ponder about that matter.
But, reality was truly harsh.
He knew that the Goddess before him was an extremely dangerous being, he absolutely couldn’t let his guard down in front of her.
「My apologies but, I simply can’t let such a dangerous woman like yourself freely roam around…」
He never intended to lie as he stated matter of factly.
「Humph, I see.」
Rena then took a look at Kuroki, as if appraising him.
His figure was reflected in her beautiful eyes.
That alone was enough to make Kuroki’s heart skip a beat.
Rena’s charm was extremely powerful.
Sensing danger, Kuroki raised his vigilance even further in order to not lose sight of her by accident.
「Fine then, I shall allow you to go with me.」
Rena then walked ahead of him.
And Kuroki followed by her side.
Sightseeing the festival with a beautiful girl.
Otherwise known as… a date.