Plania

I think I tried pretty hard to seduce him.

Since I couldn't say anything directly, I tried to seduce him subtly by pretending not to know anything, but his reaction was weaker than I'd expected, whether he was actually impotent or simply didn't see me as a woman. It did seem a little stronger than before, but otherwise there was nothing unusual.

I took his hand while doing my best to act like the Lumia I knew, smiled whenever our eyes met, and wiped the food from the corner of his mouth after he ate.

Of course, I didn't go any further than that.

What I'd done up to this point was based on memories from the game of Lumia taking care of me after I'd raised her affection to a certain level. Aside from that, I could have pretended to bump into someone and fallen into the Hero's arms, or personally straightened his disheveled clothes, but I couldn't find the right timing.

Of course, I couldn't exactly call this a successful romance strategy.

Affection did rise when you spent time together as party members.

I make a point of not looking at walkthroughs, so I knew Lumia was a very difficult character to pursue because her affection barely increased, and that's why I never tried to romance her. Affection would rise naturally up to a certain level just by being party members.

This sort of care from Lumia was one of the things that came from that level of affection.

Anyway.. Though I did try various things because this was a major city, the Hero barely reacted no matter what I did, so I'd practically given up long ago.

If he wasn't reacting, what good was it for me to spend all day seducing him?

There was no way it would work.

In the end, I spent the day sightseeing around the city without managing any meaningful seduction, and evening came.

Since I couldn't keep wandering around outside like this, I headed to the inn I'd reserved.

This time, too, I managed to get us to share a room for the same reason as last time, but remembering how we'd woken up embracing each other left me a little confused.

“Anything you want to eat?”

After walking around all day, I was extremely hungry.

While looking over the menu and wondering what to eat, I told the Hero to choose for me, since I'd never eaten any of it anyway. Since he was presumably a regressor, he would probably choose something suited to Lumia's tastes.

I wasn't Lumia, but as far as I could tell from checking last time, there didn't seem to be much difference between us when it came to our tastes. If Lumia enjoyed a dish, I should be able to enjoy it too.

Thinking that, I poured myself a cup of water and drank it.

I'd been walking around all day and had only just arrived at the inn, so I was quite thirsty.

As I watched the Hero answer the clerk's question about what we would eat, I suddenly thought that he must be thirsty too after walking around all day.

I briefly wondered whether I should get a new cup, but decided there was no need and filled the cup I'd been drinking from with water before handing it to the Hero. This was merely a courtesy, so if he wanted more water, he could get his own cup and drink from it.

The Hero accepted the cup I offered, looking dumbfounded as he alternated his gaze between the cup and me.

What's with him?

“Uh.. Thanks..”

I nodded.

Though I'd practically given up on seducing him, it felt a little wrong to give up immediately after resolving to try today..

Is showing some skin really the best way to seduce someone, after all?

I wondered whether the Hero would even pay attention to me if I showed some skin with this pathetic, scrawny figure.

I lamented my past self, who had watched a heroine sigh while fondling her meager breasts in a dating-sim game and thought that she was pretty anyway, so why not just throw herself at him.

I really couldn't have been more of a piece of shit.

...

Why am I experiencing the heroines' feelings..?

Thinking about this and that made my thoughts tangled.

The robe I was wearing had begun to feel stifling, so I took off my robe and pointed hat and set them beside me, thinking I should at least remove them while eating.

“..?”

“!”

The Hero stared at me blankly, then, perhaps sensing my gaze, jerked his head away.

Well, I mean.. Lumia rarely took off her robe or pointed hat. She removed them when they felt stuffy after being worn too long, or when bathing or going to bed, but under ordinary circumstances the pointed hat and robe were always worn as a set.

Even if he knew about Lumia before his regression, he didn't know everything about her, and I was behaving within the bounds of normalcy, so it should be fine.

Good grief, how does Lumia wear this thing for so long..

It's so stifling I feel like I'm going to die.

“...”

Something more important than that had come up now.

After spending the entire day eating, drinking, and walking around, I needed to use the bathroom.

I turned my head and looked around.

“...”

Surely this wasn't going to turn into one of those erotic games, was it?

Judging by everything I'd seen so far, nothing seemed likely to happen, though..

I stood and headed over, intending to ask the clerk where the bathroom was.

With so many people and the tables packed fairly close together, getting through was rather difficult..

Swoosh

“!!”

Eek!

What..?

Did I just feel something creepy around my butt..?

“Pfft..”

A laugh..?

There were a lot of people, and I figured someone could brush against me without either of us noticing, but even so, both that sensation and the laugh just now had been far too blatant.

“Heehee..”

“The reaction was good, but no scream.”

“If you're going to touch her, you should grab her properly. What was that?”

“Not much to grab, though.”

Bwahaha!

Laughter rang out loudly, as though it were meant for me to hear.

Ah..

Come to think of it, this was an erotic game..

It was strange that this hadn't happened until now.

I should've just not thought about it.

Those fucking bastards..

Was it just my imagination that I suddenly felt so miserable?

As if becoming a woman after being a man weren't enough, I was already in a situation where I had to worry about dying unless I got pregnant with the Hero's child, and I never imagined I'd have to put up with this too.

I felt disgusted.

It was humiliating.

I briefly wondered whether I should use magic, but to keep up Lumia's persona, I had to let it pass as though it were nothing. Besides, I couldn't hear what they were saying in the first place, so I didn't know who had done it.

It fucking pissed me off.. I wanted to blast them away this instant, but I had to hold back for now—I had to act as though I didn't know who they were.

If they approached any more blatantly, I'd blast them away with magic.

I walked past, pretending not to notice, while sharpening the blade of revenge in my mind.

“Ah, how boring.”

“She really doesn't seem to know. She's a dumb bitch, isn't she?”

“How can she not hear us when we're talking like this?!”

CRACK!

“Kgh..”

A man was struck by a cup that flew from somewhere and collapsed on the spot.

It had been thrown so hard that his head had split open and was bleeding slightly.

As soon as he saw his companion fall, one of the men stood up, snarling and asking who had done it, and someone approached him.

It was the Hero.

He was glaring at the men with a cold expression devoid of all emotion.

By this point, even the deaf Lumia couldn't have failed to notice.

I was on my way to the bathroom, so how had things ended up like this?

Tables were smashed, people in the inn were screaming—in short, absolute chaos had broken out. The remarkable part was that the fight hadn't damaged anything around it; only the table where the men were sitting had been smashed.

“W-wait..! Fighting inside the inn is..!”

The Hero tossed a money pouch in front of the innkeeper, who had tried to stop the fight.

After checking the pouch, the innkeeper bowed and asked him not to go too hard on them.

The Hero, apparently unwilling to cause any more damage to the inn, glared down at the men he had by the collars, then threw them straight outside.

Perhaps realizing what the Hero was about to do, the people by the door opened it for him, making it easy for him to throw them out.

It was only natural that an ordinary adventurer couldn't defeat the Hero through brute strength alone, but seeing him toss those hulking men around gave me a complicated feeling I couldn't put into words.

“Are you all right? Weren’t you scared?”

The Hero approached me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and asked.

I wasn't.. scared.

It just felt fucking awful.

I nodded.

“Whew!”

“Thanks!”

“Those assholes have been coming here lately and pulling all kinds of shit, and it was fucking annoying, so it feels damn good to see them get what they deserve.”

At the cheers from the people around us, the Hero smiled awkwardly.

Were they already known for being scumbags?

It annoyed me that I happened to be the one they'd picked on.

Disgusting.

“But where were you trying to go? I'll go with you.”

...

Ah..

Right, the bathroom..

I'd forgotten because of what had just happened, and only remembered when the Hero mentioned it.

Then an urge to urinate far stronger than before came rushing over me.

‘Nnngh..’

Did I leak a little..?!

I was planning to go while I still had plenty of time..!

- Th.. the bathroooom..

In the end, I couldn't hold it any longer and hurriedly asked the Hero via telepathy to find out where the bathroom was. Only then did he finally understand what was happening; his face went pale, and he rushed toward the clerk.

F-faster..

Please save me..

At my age, in a public place..

This really wasn't okay.

Aaaah..