Chapter 58: After a Date, a Beautiful Fox Woman Attacks

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Translator: Soafp

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The next day.

At last, the day of my date with Victoria arrived, so I waited for a while in a park in the imperial capital.

Victoria showed up.

“Mm. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“No, I just got here myself—”

I trailed off.

Naturally, Victoria wears her academy uniform at school.

She tweaks the skirt length a little, but it's still a nationally designated uniform.

And in public settings, she usually wears a princess-like dress that prioritizes ease of movement.

But today, Victoria was different.

She was wearing a pure white frilled dress, a straw hat, a cute little pouch in one hand, and a floral hair ornament.

And her hair was styled in twin tails.

“Ask. Say something.”

“You look cute, Princess Victoria.”

“…It's embarrassing when you say it so directly.”

Victoria's cheeks flushed red as she pulled her hat down low to hide her face.

She looked adorably shy, completely unlike her usual behavior.

“Asking Maidol to help plan my outfit was worth it.”

“Ah, Maidol-san, huh…”

“Mm. She said these clothes and this hairstyle would suit me, and made them for me.”

“She made them by hand?”

She's surprisingly skilled.

Still, considering she said she hated me, it's a bit unexpected that she'd be this cooperative about Victoria's date.

Or maybe she just wanted to see Victoria dressed cutely?

“Mm. Leave the date plan to me.”

“Huh?”

“Mm? What's wrong?”

“No, I actually planned something too.”

“…Come to think of it, I never said I'd be the one to plan the date.”

In romance novels from my past life, it was usually the guy who took the lead, so I planned to do that too, but…

Looks like we both slipped up.

“…I'll be honest.”

“Yes?”

“I like you, Ask, but I didn't know what you like. So I planned a date so you'd learn about the things I like. I was thinking of going around the bookstores in the capital.”

“What a coincidence. I was planning to go bookstore-hopping today too.”

Victoria blinked, looking surprised at my words.

“Is this… mutual love? Does that mean we can make babies with mutual consent?”

“No.”

And so, our date began.

What I realized was that a date isn't just about matching the other person's tastes.

Honestly, I enjoyed visiting bookstores too.

I even ended up buying an adventure novel starring a hero—something you don't often see in the kingdom—because it looked interesting.

I understood that letting the other person learn about what you like is also one way to enjoy a date.

“Mm. Dates are fun.”

“Yeah.”

“Next, let's do something you like, Ask.”

“Something I like?”

…Hmm.

“I think a date where we wear masks at night and go around healing injured and sick people would be pretty boring.”

“Mm. I'll practice healing magic.”

“Huh, you're really motivated?”

Unexpectedly, I didn't think she'd actually be willing to go along with my hobby.

Hm?

“Mm. There's a big crowd gathering on the main street.”

“Maybe there's a festival?”

“Wanna check it out?”

“I'm curious, so let's go.”

Both Victoria and I seem to be the type who can't resist curiosity, so we headed straight for the main street.

To cut to the chase, it wasn't a festival.

A young man stood at the center of a crowd of several hundred people, holding a magic tool like a megaphone and shouting toward the imperial palace at the city's center.

“We have only one demand!! The establishment of a complete six-day weekend system and tripling the minimum wage!!”

“““Only!!”””

That's two demands.

“A protest?”

“Looks like it. Pretty outrageous demands, though.”

“Mm. True.”

The surrounding people only looked annoyed by the noise, without much reaction.

You rarely see this in the kingdom—maybe it's not uncommon in the empire.

As Victoria and I watched the protest out of curiosity—

“And while we're at it, reveal how our imperial citizens' hard-earned taxes are being used!! Thoroughly investigate the embezzlement allegations against Finance Minister Wariro and Military Affairs Minister Mfon, and make the results public!!”

“““Make them public!!”””

“And we also demand the construction of schools across the empire to improve literacy rates and teach ethics to children!!”

“““We demand it!!”””

The demands suddenly shifted from ridiculous to extremely reasonable.

The level jumped up all at once.

“Hey, you two over there!! You've been watching us for a while—are you interested in the protest too!? We're an anti-government group that appeals with words!! Come, shout with us!!”

The young man who seemed to be the protest leader noticed us and called out.

What should we do?

It feels like a bad idea for Victoria or me to join a protest in a foreign country.

“Mm. Looks fun, let's join.”

“Is that really okay?”

“As long as no one finds out I'm a princess, it's fiiine.”

“Well… yeah.”

Since we were there anyway, I decided to join too.

“Build state-run clinics in small villages and towns too!”

“Mm. Ask should hurry up and marry me and make babies.”

“That's still too early.”

“Stingy.”

“…Please don't press your ch*st against me.”

After shouting along with the protestors for a while, several heroes arrived on the scene.

Among them was Lidiel, and our eyes met.

“H-hey!? What are you doing, Ask-kun!?”

“We're on a date.”

“I've never heard of a couple protesting on a date!?”

Fair enough.

“Are protests not uncommon in the empire?”

“Y-yes, that's right. His Majesty the Emperor has a policy of ‘adopting useful opinions,' so a lot of people think there's no harm in speaking up.”

“I see.”

“But sometimes the crowds get too big and turn into riots, so heroes are dispatched to suppress things before that happens. This time the protest leader seems reasonable, so it probably won't escalate… but when manpower is short, even students from the Hero Academy get mobilized, so honestly, it can be pretty tough.”

Since becoming a first-class citizen, Lidiel had begun working as a hero even while still a student.

Her popularity was skyrocketing, and she seemed busy every day.

“Mm. Ask, chatting with a thieving cat in front of your fiancée is not admirable.”

“H-h-hey, I'm not a thieving cat—”

“Ask is my man. I won't give him to anyone else, except maybe Christina Onee-san.”

Saying that, Victoria pressed her ch*st against me, as if to show Ridiel.

Squish♡ Squish♡ Squoosh♡

The large, soft sensation made me tense up slightly.

Lidiel silently alternated her gaze between Victoria and me—

Then tilted her head.

“……”

“Lidiel-san? Is something wrong?”

“…No, it's just that I feel like I'm having palpitations again… There shouldn't be anything wrong, though.”

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yes, I'm fine… But why does my chest feel all fuzzy whenever I look at you two?”

Maybe it's a new kind of illness.

I should drop by at night as No-Name and give her a checkup sometime.

“Well, I should get back to work. Things can escalate, so you two should leave soon.”

“Okaaay.”

“…Mm.”

After Lidiel returned to work, Victoria and I resumed our date.

---

“Mm. It's gotten completely dark.”

“If we don't head back soon, we'll get scolded. Want to take a shortcut?”

“Sure.”

After finishing our bookstore tour, we headed through a deserted back alley toward the imperial palace.

On the way—

“…After receiving a report from Hitoha… to think I'd find you so quickly…”

A bell-like voice echoed through the alley.

Turning around, I saw a tall woman with pure white hair and golden eyes.

She was a beautiful woman with nine tails and fox ears.

She wore a loosely draped kimono—the first I'd seen since reincarnating into this world—exposing her ch*st, shoulders, and thighs so boldly that I didn't know where to look.

Faced with the sudden appearance of this sleepy-looking beauty, I tilted my head.

“Um, who might you be?”

“…You who impersonate… that revered one… must die… die…”

The fox woman's eyes glowed eerily in the darkness.

At first, her voice carried anger—but the moment she looked at me, it weakened.

Then she muttered softly.

“…Impossible. And yet… I should never mistake… the soul of that revered one…”

The fox woman murmured as she approached, then suddenly hugged me.

It happened too fast to react.

No—more astonishing than that were the overwhelming twin fruits pressing against me.

If Christina and Victoria were melons, this fox woman was a watermelon.