Resolve (2)

I said I would try seducing him, but now that I'm actually trying to do something, I can't think of where to start.

To begin with, I'd been thinking for days that I needed to seduce the Hero somehow, but I'd done nothing at all. Only now, with one of our most formidable opponents—the Saintess—about to appear, was I thinking that I had to do something. That itself was the problem.

If I was going to do it, I should have done it sooner.

“...”

I turned to the Hero.

Thinking about it carefully, I realized that if this guy really was a regressor, he would know that the world would be destroyed unless he dated me, even if I didn't specifically try to seduce him.

The problem was that I didn't know whether he really was a regressor, and being a regressor didn't guarantee that he knew the shortcut to a happy ending. Ultimately, because I knew nothing, I was stuck in a situation where I could neither act nor retreat.

Besides, I couldn't exactly ask him to his face, “Are you perhaps a regressor?”

This was an unbearably frustrating situation.

“Huh? What's wrong?”

I shook my head.

“You're hungry, right? Shall we go get something to eat?”

“..!”

Not bad.

I'd just gotten off the carriage, and I was hungry, too.

Besides, the food we'd eaten on the carriage had been tasteless compared to what we'd eaten back then, so I found myself wondering how delicious the food in this major city would be. I nodded with an expression full of anticipation, then suddenly wondered if I might look like a glutton.

Fortunately, the Hero didn't seem like the type to care about that.

Had the previous Lumia liked eating, too..?

Honestly, she hadn't been the type to show her emotions well, so all I could do now was hope that my expression hadn't given me away.

“We had a hard time traveling here by carriage, so let's rest today and go meet the Saintess tomorrow. The Saintess will be waiting for us, too.”

That was true.

From the outset, the Saintess would be waiting endlessly at the cathedral until we arrived. I remembered her grumbling that she had to keep waiting there after receiving an oracle from the goddess until the Hero came, and that she'd been incredibly bored because of it.

We shouldn't stay too long.

Still, we were tired, so we should rest for today and head to the Holy Kingdom tomorrow.

I nodded.

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There are a lot of people.

Naturally, there were a lot of people in a major city, but for me, it was a different story.

As it happened, Lumia's character settings provided a convenient excuse.

Even though she looked like this, Lumia was quite shy around strangers.

It wasn't for nothing that she went around wearing a robe and such a huge conical hat. She was a timid character who disliked drawing attention and was afraid of standing in front of people. There was a personality-related reason she didn't even use telepathy very often.

Naturally, Lumia would feel quite afraid in a major city, especially one where countless people were constantly passing by. It wasn't the fear one felt when truly terrified, but something closer to anxiety.

If this guy was a regressor, he would know that.

The fact that he was trying to take us somewhere with fewer people was proof enough.

However, since it was such a large city, going somewhere too deserted would only lead us into a dangerous area. On the other hand, if we went somewhere crowded, it would become difficult for me to move around, so he must have been taking us somewhere suitable without letting me notice.

Lumia in the game had followed me wherever I went, so it probably wouldn't be wise to ask where he was taking us.

Even so, in this town where so many people were still walking around, what method of seduction could I use without making the Hero think it strange?

There was only one.

There was no other way.

Was that really the only way..?

I hesitated for a long while.

He'd probably become curious.

He'd wonder what method could possibly have me hesitating this much.

I'd heard that in crowded places like this, she would cautiously take my hand.

I hadn't played it myself, but I once saw a post on a community site that read, [Lumia is fucking adorable lol]. It said that whenever she walked through crowded places, Lumia would take my hand so she wouldn't get lost, since she became frightened when there were too many people.

In other words, I, who had once been a man, was supposed to take the hand of a man who was still a man.

I fidgeted for a long while, wondering whether I should extend my arm, then finally reached toward the Hero's hand.

I was acting on the calculation that, even if this guy was a regressor, simply taking my hand would throw him into considerable turmoil if things really were exactly as described in the game's setting. But now that I was actually about to take it, the repulsion I felt was no joke.

What man in the world takes another man's hand..?

Of course, I was a woman now, but since I had originally been a man, I couldn't help feeling repulsed.

Still, I'd decided to try it, so what else could I do?

I couldn't stop here.

‘Ah.. here goes..’

I took it.

Having barely taken the Hero's hand, I looked up at him.

The Hero, whom I had expected to be extremely flustered, looked back at me with an expression full of innocent curiosity rather than embarrassment.

“What is it?”

Uh.. something's strange?

I thought the game setting had him as a total novice with women.

If things were really as described in the game's setting, he should have been extremely flustered just from me taking his hand. Even if he really was a regressor and had grown accustomed to me, that should still...

“Ah... come to think of it, you've seemed really anxious for a while now. Is it because you're worried you might get lost?”

“...”

“Don't worry! Once we go to the guild and finish the escort quest, I'll ask for proper directions, too!”

The Hero said that with a confident expression.

Um... perhaps...

Could it be that he didn't see me as a woman at all..?

Given how limited the reactions in the game had been, if Cecil or Ruril had taken his hand, would his reaction have been completely different from this?

I nodded, then lowered my head.

Huh..

Huhhh..

This wasn't supposed to happen..

The plan I'd come up with was only possible if he saw me as a woman, even just a little. If he didn't see me as a woman at all, then I was simply doomed, wasn't I..?

Feeling as though I had been completely defeated, I couldn't raise my head.

I'm sad..

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‘That was close.’

I calmed my pounding heart and cast a sidelong glance at Lumia, who was holding my hand with her conical hat pulled low.

Though it had been quite a long time ago, I still remembered that Lumia used to take my hand whenever we walked through crowded places.

Back then, I thought she was genuinely anxious, so I would reassure her while holding her hand.

Since I had returned to the past, I thought she would probably do the same this time, but when Lumia actually took my hand, I was so startled that I babbled incoherently. I grew anxious, wondering whether she might find it strange that I had noticed she was anxious.

Lumia had probably just taken my hand because she felt anxious, without giving it much thought, but if she knew I was reacting like this, she might despise me.

Her hand... It was soft..

It was much smaller and softer than mine.

For the first time, I felt as though I understood how much Cecil and Ruril must have suffered because of me before I returned.

It was the feeling of loving someone and wanting to be with them right away, while they didn't know you loved them. On top of that, even though I knew both of them liked me, I hadn't properly returned their feelings because I was afraid the party might fall apart. I had pretended not to know and tried to gloss over it, which made me realize just how awful I had been.

Now that I had returned, I had to apologize to both of them all the more.

Though they probably had no idea I'd done that.

However, for the sake of the Demon King and the world, I had to love only Lumia.

That was why, if I met the two of them, I planned to tell them that I had returned and that I had to love Lumia. It hurt to have to keep this hidden from Lumia, but telling her would place far too great a burden on her.

I couldn't do that.

I had to make Lumia fall in love with me entirely through my own efforts.

“We're here.”

When we reached the restaurant, I turned to Lumia.

She looked very dejected.

“Uh... should we go in for now?”

“...”

Lumia nodded.

Could I have done something wrong..?

If we could at least talk, I could ask what Lumia was thinking, but since we couldn't, I had to figure out what I'd done wrong based solely on my own judgment.

Was this going to be okay..?

Since this was the first time in my life I'd ever confessed to someone, I had no idea what to do.

After vowing that I would definitely save Lumia, I felt miserable that things seemed to be going wrong right from the start.