The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat - Volume 3 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 | The Assassin Goes on a Date

Our long trip to the royal capital had ended, and we were on our way back to the Tuatha Dé domain. My dad and I took turns driving the carriage. At present, it was my turn, and Dia and Tarte were keeping me company. Dia seemed in a sour mood.

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I forgot about our promise to go on a date. I just thought I would be able to make time for at least one day while we were there,” I apologized.

“Hmph. I understand that in my head. That’s why I’m not complaining. But my heart is a different matter. At least let me sulk.”

I’d promised her time together in the royal capital as thanks for working so hard on developing the demon-killing spell. Unfortunately, we kept receiving invitations from nobles of higher standing and couldn’t refuse. I’d hardly even had a free moment, much less time enough for a date.

Naoise took the one unoccupied moment I’d had. After the dinner with his father, he’d requested a secret meeting. Truly, his aspirations knew no bounds.

“I’ll make up for it. I’m going to Milteu when we get back, so we’ll go on a date for real this time.”

Dia’s face suddenly lit up as if she had never been upset. “Milteu! There were a lot of places we didn’t visit last time.”

Although I was only going to Milteu because of what Maha had said at the afterparty, taking Dia along seemed all right. I had something I wanted to prepare for her as well.

“But will that be okay, my lord? As a Holy Knight, you need to be able to head out immediately when you receive orders from the castle,” Tarte said.

“It’ll be fine. I’m only planning on staying there for one night. I won’t be there for long.”

A Holy Knight was required to head wherever demons appeared. I couldn’t risk being out of contact for too long.

“Hmm-hmm, I’m looking forward to it. Where should we go?” asked Dia.

“If you have nowhere in mind, then I’ll be your guide. I know that place like the back of my hand,” I answered.

I’d lived in Milteu for two years as Illig Balor. It was practically my second hometown.

“All right, then it’s a date. Having you show me around sounds great. Just so you know…I will be seriously depressed if it doesn’t work out this time.”

“I’ll work hard to ensure that doesn’t happen. If a demon appears near some town before we get to Milteu, we’ll just have our date there.”

“That would be fun in its own way, I guess. I don’t get to go to the countryside very often.”

“We don’t ever have a need to.”

Unless possessed of a love for travel, nobles didn’t often enter domains other than their own.

Dia rubbed her eyes, looking sleepy.

“I’m sure you’re tired. You should sleep. There’s no need to push yourself,” I said.

She’d wound up getting approached by a deluge of young male nobles at the party, likely as a result of her good looks. As a noble lady of the great House Viekone, she knew how to handle herself, but that kind of onslaught would tire out anyone. What’s more, it was very late.

“Yeah, I think I’ll do just that. Good night.” No sooner had the words left Dia’s mouth than she laid her head down in my lap and fell asleep.

I’d told Dia to get some rest, but I hadn’t expected her to indulge herself in such a way. This did have its benefits, though. It gave me a front-row seat to Dia’s adorable slumbering face.

Tarte glanced at Dia with envy.

Suddenly, Dia’s eyes cracked open slightly. “You’ve always got that longing look in your eyes. If you want to do this, too, then just say so. That’s a bad habit of yours, Tarte. If you plan on refraining, then keep your desire from showing on your face. Hoping Lugh will notice your feelings and then waiting for everything to fall into your lap is impudent and spoiled.”

“I—I didn’t intend anything like that…,” Tarte mumbled, flustered.

“I want you to trust Lugh and me a little more. Just say what you want, and I won’t get mad, okay?” Dia said.

“…Um, are you sure it’s all right?”

“It’s fine with me. I don’t know what Lugh thinks, though.”

“But…”

“Asking him is the only way to find out.”

Dia was a bit tough with Tarte, but she was right. I found that straightforwardness to be one of her loveliest traits.

“U-um, Lord Lugh, can I rest my head on you, too?” Tarte timidly inquired.

“Sure, I don’t mind. In exchange, can I use your lap when it comes time to switch coachmen?”

“Yes! I’m so excited.”

Tarte then lay right down. Dia altered her position to make room for the other girl. Having two heads on my legs was quite heavy, but I felt strangely happy nonetheless.

All right, I feel energized. Let’s hurry back home.

After arriving in the Tuatha Dé domain, everyone took a day to relax and refresh. Once I’d recuperated, it was time to make for Milteu.

“…Lugh. You’ve always been superhuman, but soon you’re going to leave humanity behind altogether. How in the world were you able to get here from Tuatha Dé in just two hours?”

“I just ran with you in my arms, Dia.”

Had I been traveling with a lot of luggage, I’d have taken a carriage. However, if I had no baggage, then running was swifter. I still had plenty of room in my Leather Crane Bag, so there was no need for cumbersome trunks. Plus, I’d wanted to test the new powers I’d gained from Epona.

“Lord Lugh, I’m so tired,” Tarte groaned, and she sat down.

“That’s fine. It’s enough that you came with us,” I replied.

By running ahead of Tarte, I served as her windbreak and lightened the trip’s burden on her by a substantial amount. Still, not many could keep up with me.

“I was surprised I didn’t fall behind, my lord. I’ll go ahead and make reservations at our inn and deliver your message. Have fun on the date.”

“Thanks, Tarte.”

I’d asked her to meet with Maha ahead of me and take care of the necessary preparations. I doubted even Maha was expecting me to arrive in Milteu this quickly.

My date with Dia in Milteu was underway. We began by enjoying some cake at one of our favorite pastry shops.

“Mmm, the texture of this fresh cream is the best,” Dia remarked.

“This place never disappoints,” I responded.

This shop was on the expensive side, but not so much that it could be called a luxury establishment. The ingredients it used, however, were top-notch.

Most importantly, the chef was very skilled, especially with the fresh cream and sponge cake—their signature products. I preferred shops with true talent over those that simply constructed an extravagant atmosphere.

Dia and I sipped our tea as we enjoyed the cake.

“Oh, this is that tea you like,” she said.

“Seems like this place has become a client of Natural You as well,” I commented.

My cosmetics brand didn’t just sell makeup; we also offered herbal tea and sweets, targeted mainly at wealthy women. I’d created this particular brew by purchasing a plantation overseas and then raising the leaves through selective breeding. They weren’t obtainable from anyone other than Natural You.

Now that I think of it, Maha is a fan of this store, too.

The leaves should have been too expensive for the prices that this establishment sold the tea at. Maha probably sold to this place at a discount in exchange for greater publicity. This store was renowned and had a solid customer base.

The herbal brew tasted all the better when sampling it with this shop’s fantastic cake. Undoubtedly, many would want to buy the tea for use at home. Maha was doing a great job.

“We need to buy a souvenir. I really do feel guilty… Next time, you should take Tarte on a date,” Dia said.

“I’ve made preparations for us to pick up a gift when we leave for home, so don’t worry about it. Still, I’m surprised to hear a girl tell me to go out with another girl,” I responded.

“That’s not something I would normally say. But Tarte is so sweet that I can’t help but worry about her.”

Above all, Dia thought of Tarte as a valuable friend. What she’d talked about in the carriage the other day was for Tarte’s sake.

“…Also, I feel like I have some room to get away with saying things like that. The reason I’m comfortable with Tarte getting close to you is that I know I’m your number one. If that weren’t the case, I would probably get jealous.”

“Huh. I’m glad you told me how you feel. All right, let’s get moving. On to the next location. This date is just getting started.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

We held hands and left the shop.

Dia gazed up at me with excitement in her eyes.

“That was amazing. It’s hard to believe they did all that without casting any spells. Cutting a person in half without killing them, teleporting across the stage—it was all fantastic. Halfway through, I tried to detect mana because I couldn’t believe they weren’t using magic!”

We’d gone to see an illusion show. Nobles went to the theater all the time, so I assumed Dia would be tired of that. Thus, I thought this would be a good change of pace. This sort of act had come from overseas recently and was becoming very popular. From Dia’s expression, it appeared she’d enjoyed it even more than I’d expected.

“It was fun,” I said.

“Did you understand how they did any of it, Lugh?” Dia questioned.

“Yeah, I know how every trick was done.”

“No way. Tell me, then.”

“For the one where they sawed a person in half, they used a special bed with a blanket covering the legs, which prevented us from seeing under it. That’s how they pulled off the illusion. There were actually two people in the bed, both bending their bodies at the waist. The person playing the top half of the body had the bottom half of their body hidden below the bed, and the person playing the bottom half of the body did the opposite. The blade went in between them, so it didn’t truly cut anything.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

While the trick was very simple, it was tough to notice.

“All right, what about the teleportation?”

“They used twins. There was a hidden door on the stage with enough room for one person to hide behind. Remember how they threw a card high up into the air and then waved a cloth around? They were drawing the audience’s attention toward the fabric. The first twin used that moment to jump into the hidden door, and the other twin emerged from another concealed exit on a different part of the stage. It’s common to conduct this trick with a secret passage, but these performers took advantage of having twins by making the second one appear instantly to increase dramatic impact.”

“How did you know it was twins?” Dia pressed, hungry for more.

“If you looked closely, you could see they had slight differences in appearance that suggested they were separate people, and their clothing only made it more obvious. To the untrained eye, they were wearing the same outfit, but there were differences in the sheen of the leather, the cleanliness, the seams, and more.”

“…Even in matters unrelated to magic, mana, and physical prowess, you really are inhuman, Lugh.”

Dia’s words almost wounded me.

“Do you feel better knowing the secrets behind their tricks?” I asked.

“Yeah, I do. But it’s impressive you saw through all of that.”

“It’s a habit of mine. The techniques behind illusions can be divided into two extremes. The first is to deceive the audience by creating a blind spot, and the second is to direct the crowd’s attention to something else in order to keep them from seeing what’s really happening. It’s the same in my profession. When someone tries to guide my eyes a certain way, I instinctively look in the other. If I didn’t do that while on a job, it would mean death. That’s how I discovered the secrets to their act.”

The similarities between assassination and illusions went beyond basic ideology. There was a decent number of killing techniques that looked like prestidigitation. Because of that connection, I’d learned a fair number of magic tricks in my past life. It served as good training for my creative thinking, awareness, and dexterity.

“You really can do anything… Do you by chance know how to do illusions even better than the ones we saw today?”

“I do.”

“Then please show me sometime! Let’s throw a party at the estate. Not the aristocrat kind, though, just the sort where you hang out with your family. You can put on an amazing show for us.”

“That sounds fun. Would you be willing to help me with that? I’d need an assistant.”

“Hmm, as long as there’s nothing that looks painful like getting cut in half, then sure.”

“You’ll be a big help. Illusions look better the more beautiful the assistant.”

“Oh, don’t make me blush.”

Dia squeezed an arm tightly around mine. We then set off walking through the streets together at night. We’d finished with everything I’d planned for today, and all we had left to do was return to the inn.

Somewhere along the way, Dia came to a sudden halt.

I turned to look at her. “Something wrong?”

“Hey, Lugh, can we make a stop on the way back?”

Dia had stopped in front of a love hotel. These kinds of establishments were rare in rural areas like Tuatha Dé, but cities had them in abundance.

“Um, with Tarte and Esr…Mom around at the estate, I’ve been too shy to ask you for this kind of thing, but here…,” she whispered with a face flushed pitifully red.

It might have been my imagination, but she smelled sweeter than usual.

“I don’t mind, but if we go in, I don’t think I’ll be able to restrain myself. Are you okay with that?” I questioned.

“…Stop asking me that kind of thing. I’m already so embarrassed, I feel like I’m going to die.”

True to her words, Dia had already become unable to look at me and was casting her eyes down to the ground.

I’d wanted to sleep with Dia for a while, but I had been too afraid of what I might do once I lost myself to lust and had refrained thus far. Yet, if I didn’t take her now after what she’d said, I’d be unworthy of being called a man.

“I’ll be as gentle as I can, Dia.” I took her hand without waiting for a reply. Dia didn’t lift her eyes from the ground, but she returned my grip with a tight one of her own.

I guess it’s finally time, I thought, gulping.

I’d had sex plenty of times, both in this life and my last one. Yet this would be my first time with someone I loved. Admittedly, I was nervous, more than I had been in my entire life. Even when I’d killed presidents, I hadn’t been so anxious.

Thankfully, I knew an assassination technique to prevent any of that from showing on my face. I was sure that if I looked apprehensive, it would only serve to frighten Dia.