CH 10.1

Act 2 – 10.1 : Date With Goddess

Kuroki and Rena walked side by side along the main street of Rox Kingdom.

「There’s a lot of people around, it’s making it hard for us to walk.」

Rena spoke as she dodged a few people.

「Well, it’s a festival after all… Just bear with it, everyone is having the same experience anyway; it’s only natural.」

Kuroki rebuked Rena before she uttered any dangerous words.

「I see…」

Rena replied with a slightly displeased look on her face.

（Well, she is a goddess after all, patience might not be her forte. It might not even be a word in her dictionary…）

Kuroki thought as he acted as a shield to prevent everyone else from bumping into her.

「… Whoopsie!」

Kuroki drew Rena closer to him, saving her from the person who almost bumped into her.

Though he tried his best to become Rena’s shield as they strolled around the festival, their speed had dwindled in the process, making them advance in turtle speed. It was all due to the roads ahead of them, which were jam packed with so many people.

So jam packed to the point that Kuroki and Rena were literally glued together.

（HER SCENT IS SO D*MN GOOD!）

He noticed that Rena carried something with a really good smell on her person.

This was the first time his body was glued so close to a woman, other than Shirone of course. Kuroki felt his heart beat crazily like a drum, almost as if it would fly out of his chest.

「HEY!!」

「Ah, sorry, Rena.」

「No man has ever been that close to me before.」

「Sorry, Rena. But… It’s not like I can shove these people away by force.」

He had to consider the other pedestrians as well. There were so many people around, it wasn’t like he could just ignore their rights and push them around, he and Rena weren’t more important than others.

But, Rena, a goddess, probably didn’t have that kind of consideration toward humans.

「Okay then, just get away from me.」

Since it couldn’t be helped, Kuroki reluctantly separated himself from Rena.

「Come to think of it, can I just get rid of those hindrances over there?」

Rena asked as she pointed at the street stalls.

「Please don’t, they’re absolutely necessary for a festival.」

Kuroki struck down Rena’s request at once.

Those street stalls were essential for any kind of festival to be considered a proper festival. Without them, the event would just turn to a normal mundane day. In fact, what would people do during a festival if they didn’t have things to buy, see, or play?

Kuroki couldn’t help but reminisce about his childhood days. There was a time when he couldn’t buy the street stalls’ goods because they were too expensive for him. He always longed to try some of those street food delicacies, play some games and win a few prizes, even see a play if it was available.

That’s why Kuroki rejected Rena’s request at once. He couldn’t allow her to ruin people’s fun, especially his since he could now afford it! Well, if he had the luxury to actually enjoy this festival…

「Humph.」

Rena puffed her cheeks in displeasure in response to Kuroki’s rejection.

Kuroki felt down since he was walking right beside a woman with a horrible personality. His heart would have burst for sure if this was a real date, but he sadly ended up in this kind of situation.

In the first place, it was common sense that a festival = street stalls.

Though Rena said that she came to enjoy the festival, it felt like she didn’t care about it at all. Thus, he concluded that she was lying about coming to enjoy it.

「Oh my? What are they selling over there?」

Rena asked Kuroki while pointing her finger at a certain street stall she had noticed.

There were so many men gathered around that particular street stall.

Kuroki peeked at the stall Rena was pointing at. There, the merchandise being sold were pictures of Shirone and the others

To be exact, the pictures being sold were ones of them wearing today’s cosplay costumes. They were extremely suggestive pictures, ones that would incite every normal man’s passion.

Kuroki could only look at those splendid masterpieces with a bitter look on his face, unable to buy them since he was currently escorting Rena. He didn’t want her, or anyone else, to think he was a pervert

「Dark Knight, are they Rino and co’s believers?」

Rena asked as she looked at Rino’s picture.

「They’re not believers, but… you can think of them as something close to that.」

In fact, even Kuroki had no idea what the correct term for them was. Their behaviour kind of resembled the idol fans of his world. But, they were much more… peculiar than those idol fans.

「To think that an otherworlder like her is revered the same way as Us…」

Rena’s attitude over this matter had completely betrayed Kuroki’s expectations. But, as he pondered over it a bit, he found that, as a Goddess, it was normal for Rena to find it strange for a human to be revered like a god.

「Are you not going to buy that picture?」

Rena’s finger pointed at one particular picture.

And, worst of all, it was Shirone’s picture, the one that Kuroki wanted to buy. In addition, her voice was oozing with malicious intent. He felt a sudden chill at how accurate her coincidental guess was.

（OF COURSE I WANT TO BUY ONE DAMM*IT!)

But, Kuroki could only scream this in his heart since he knew it was rude to think about another woman while accompanying this Goddess, or any other woman at that.

Kuroki steeled himself and turned away from those pictures, looking at Rena.

Oh how he wished she had never asked him about such a thing.

His brain worked at full throttle to look for an answer to her annoying question. In the end, he found something he could use. He was going to tell her that he was in the middle of his escort duty, which made it impossible for him to even think of such trivial matters. It was perfect for deceiving her.

「No, I’m with you after all.」

Kuroki replied as he stared into Rena’s eyes.

「Eh?!」

""

Rena let out a surprised voice upon hearing such an unexpected reply. Kuroki couldn’t have imagined that his words would be understood with a different meaning

She then raised her hood a little bit, her gaze meeting with Kuroki’s.

Kuroki’s face was reflected in her eyes.

（W-Wait a minute, those eyes are cheating?!）

Blood rushed up to Kuroki’s face, he came upon the realization that Rena was extremely beautiful, more beautiful than he had originally thought.

Rena looked like she was wondering about something for a while, then nodded as if she figured it out.

「Yeah, that’s only natural. I’m far more beautiful after all.」

Rena smiled delightfully.

「Yeah, they’re just fake goods.」

She spoke such mysterious words which Kuroki had no understanding of.

「Let’s continue, Dark Knight.」

As they walked again, Kuroki felt that she was a little bit happier than before.

He wondered what happened to her for her mood to take such a drastic turn.

「Yeah, let’s continue.」

Suddenly, Rena stopped on her track and turned around.

「Now, shall I do do similar gestures to what they did in those pictures for you?」

「Eh–W-What?!」

–Seriously?

Kuroki unintentionally screamed inside. It was the biggest and greatest heartfelt scream he had made in his entire life.

（I mean, Rena in those gestures…!）

He knew that Rena had a pair of delicious watermelons even just by looking at her clothes.

Thus, Kuroki’s imagination ran wild.

（If that’s the case, which of these girls’ poses and costumes is most suited for her? Is it Shirone’s? No, maybe it’s that girl, Reiji’s little sister… WRONG!!! I think that Yoshino Sahoko with her white bunny outfi—）

Kuroki’s train of thought suddenly came to a complete halt as he felt a heated gaze.

""

He looked at Rena who seemed to be glaring at him.

「Just kidding… say, you’re actually quite easy to read… like an open book.」

Rena spoke to him with a tired look on her face.

「Uuh…」

Kuroki, whose dream got shattered just now, couldn’t help but want to cry.

He should be careful since Rena had been leading him by nose since a while ago. Though he wanted to show his cool side when he was with a woman, the person himself had no experience.

After she told him that, she kept speedily walking in front of him, as if pretending that she didn’t see anything just now.

Kuroki could only miserably run after her.

「That’s…?」

The moment he was about to reach her, her gait suddenly came to a complete stop.

「Is something the matter, Rena?」

When Kuroki looked at the place Rena was looking at, he discovered a couple walking away in front of them.

""

The reason that particular couple was eye-catching was because, just like Rena, they were also hiding their face with a deep hood. But, there was no mistaking that this was a couple of a man and a woman.

They had yet to notice Rena and Kuroki’s presence since that couple was quite a distance away from them and were walking with their backs facing Kuroki and Rena.

But, Kuroki instantly knew the identity of the man.

Despite trying to hide his face with a hood, the air around him and his height had already exposed his identity to Kuroki.

（Isn’t that Reiji? What is he doing here? Moreover, who’s that woman? It doesn’t seem like it’s Shirone or one of the other girls.）

Kuroki looked closer at the woman walking beside Reiji.

From her temperament , she seemed like a woman of status. She was probably quite a beautiful one too.

Seeing this romantic scene, Kuroki couldn’t help but envy Reiji’s luck when it came to women.

The air around them was quite harmonious.

（Such a nice atmosphere. Completely different from us.）

Different from Reiji and that woman, Kuroki and Rena were literally probing each other, their atmosphere filled with snickers and sneers.

Or hostility to be exact.

Even though both of them were walking along with beauties, the difference between the two was just like heaven and earth.

「Is that, Reiji? Good grief, I wonder where he’s going?」

Rena had also uncovered Reiji’s identity, thus, the two of them decided to tail the pair.

As the couple walked further and further, Kuroki couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right. As he started thinking so, the couple seemed to prove him right as they entered a rather desolate road. Moreover, afterwards, they took a turn toward what one would call a deserted alley.

（Eh? Isn’t this… the red-light district?）

When he realized where they were, they had already entered the red-light district.

Though he was rather curious about Reiji and the woman, he decided to give up going after them as it was inappropriate of him to bring Rena further into this kind of place.

「Let’s go back, Rena. I think it’s better not to follow them any further than this…」

===

TN : Nice move!!!