A Date Between Kalian and the Demon King?
I know it’s a crazy idea.
No one knows better than me how insane this is.
Fated to kill each other, these two should at least be kept apart—but instead, I’m setting them up on a date.
But I have my own calculations.
This date holds clear advantages.
Victoria, who already has some affection for Kalian, might develop even deeper feelings through this date, and that would work in our favor.
She hasn’t yet developed hostility toward humanity.
In fact, from recent experiences, she seems to have a positive impression.
So now, I’m going to drive that home.
If the one she loves belongs to humanity… then as the Demon King, she has one less reason to be hostile toward humans.
Moreover, this plan has the added benefit of preventing Alcatraz from interfering.
Alcatraz has been trying to make the Demon King turn against humanity no matter what, so the best move is to do the exact opposite of what he wants.
But… an unexpected obstacle has appeared in their date.
To be precise, obstacles.
I had planned to start the date with just Kalian, Victoria, and Elia.
But on our way to the restaurant, we ran into several others.
As a result, at the table, besides the four of us, Evelyn, Lumia, and Serena also joined.
Evelyn asked,
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“I was just realizing… today isn’t going to be easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… you’ll see soon enough.”
This date is a matter of life and death for humanity.
Strictly speaking, everyone except Kalian, Victoria, and myself—who is meant to control them—should not be here.
But since they don’t know that, they’ve started their own battles.
Lumia, who had been watching the situation closely, immediately jumped in after Evelyn finished speaking.
“Wade, I heard you went to the Belmore estate over the weekend without me? That’s so unfair! You should have taken me too.”
“There was a reason for that.”
“I was all alone and so bored that weekend! You have to spend time with me this week.”
Lumia blushed slightly and subtly leaned her shoulder against me.
Evelyn gave her a dull, unreadable glance, but Lumia pretended not to notice and averted her gaze.
“This magic crystal is amazing, meow!”
Serena, sitting next to Kalian, was actively disrupting the rare and valuable moment between him and Victoria.
She picked up their magic crystal, inspecting it curiously, and even started haggling over buying it from them.
Eventually, our long-awaited food arrived, but that didn’t change anything.
“I shall cut your meat for you. The seasoning looks well done—so appetizing. Have a bite.”
“Ah…! M-Me too! I’ll debone your fish for you!”
Evelyn and Lumia both placed portions of their food onto my plate.
Their plates collided in front of me, and their gazes clashed in midair, sending invisible sparks flying.
“How do you expect me to eat fish that’s been mangled like this?”
“I-It’s still perfectly edible! And I put mine on your plate first. Please wait your turn.”
“What did you just say?”
As the two locked eyes in a silent battle, Elia calmly scooped a neatly prepared bite of crab meat and brought it to my mouth.
“Say ah~.”
“Elia, you sneaky little thing. That’s cheating!”
“She’s right! Follow the order properly!”
Evelyn and Lumia, who had been arguing moments ago, suddenly turned their complaints toward Elia.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Please, just stop.
At this rate, the whole date is going to be ruined.
I decided it was time for drastic action.
I decided to get rid of everyone except Kalian and Victoria—even if I had to use forceful measures.
First, I transformed into Lumia’s mentor, Markelion, and called her aside.
“Hahaha, Lumia! Have you been well?”
“Markel? What brings you here all of a sudden? Today’s supposed to be a training-free day.”
“The schedule has changed. You need to go to the Everlasting Snow Mountains this afternoon to practice mana control.”
“Wait a second! I was just having a good time for the first time in a while. Can’t we push it to tomorrow…?”
“Nope.”
“Kyahhhhhh!”
I sent her flying to the snow mountains.
She’s gotten used to extreme training lately, so a brief absence shouldn’t cause any major issues.
Now, onto the next.
“Lady Evelyn, bad news from your territory.”
During the date, Evelyn’s aide ran up to her with a grave expression.
“Bad news? What happened?”
“Well… the Lord had a… rather unfortunate accident. He was in the restroom when the ground collapsed beneath him, and he… fell through.”
“What?!”
“Only a few people know about it so far, but word will spread soon.”
“This is terrible. We must hurry back! My father’s dignity is at stake!”
Evelyn shouted urgently before rushing back to her domain.
For the record, that aide was actually Maria in disguise, and the ‘bad news’ was entirely fabricated.
By the time Evelyn figured out the truth, the date would be over.
As for Serena, I didn’t even have to do anything—fortunately, something came up, and she left on her own.
Now, only Elia remained.
“Are you going to kick me out, too?” she asked, smiling slyly.
“If I stay quiet from now on, will you let me stay?”
“Can I trust you?”
“Yes. You want to help Kalian and Victoria’s date go well, right? I’ll do my best to support them while staying in the background.”
She’s sharp.
Since we’d come this far, there was no need to reduce the group any further.
Having one helper might even be useful, so I decided to let her stay.
“What should I do?” she asked.
“For now, let’s just watch. We’ll stay close but give them choices rather than interfering.”
Finally, the four of us began the real date.
As Elia and I walked together, Kalian and Victoria naturally formed a pair.
Kalian looked awkward, clearly unaccustomed to having a woman beside him.
He seemed unsure whether he should hold hands or do something else.
Victoria, on the other hand, seemed indifferent.
“What’s that? Let’s go take a look.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
She pointed at something, and Kalian followed her without thinking.
They arrived at an outdoor game booth, which had activities like archery and a manual whack-a-mole game.
These kinds of stalls weren’t meant for knights but for regular people with average physical abilities.
“Welcome!”
“What is this?”
Victoria stopped in front of a wooden box with multiple holes in it.
The vendor handed her a small, cute mallet.
“This is a whack-a-mole game. You hold this hammer and hit the moles on the head when they pop up.”
“Moles? But there’s no living creature inside this box.”
“They’re wooden moles.”
“I see. So I just need to kill the moles.”
The vendor pressed a pedal, making the wooden moles pop in and out of the holes.
“Let me know if the speed is too fast for you.”
“The speed doesn’t matter. No matter how much they try to escape, I just need to destroy their hiding place.”
“…Excuse me?”
CRACK!
Victoria raised the mallet—and smashed the entire box.
Wooden pieces, gears, and pedals scattered across the ground as the vendor fell backward in shock.
“W-What just happened…?”
“This way, you can catch the moles easily.”
She looked down at the vendor with a smug expression.
Kalian quickly stepped forward to apologize.
“I’m sorry… My friend here has a bit of a penchant for being rough. I sincerely apologize on her behalf.”
“Apologies aren’t the issue! She destroyed my entire game booth! My daily sales are ruined!”
Before the shop owner could finish his complaint, Kalian spoke up.
“I’ll compensate you for the broken equipment. And for today’s lost revenue as well.”
“A-Ah… even so, this is a bit too much…”
Seeing Kalian bow his head, Victoria’s lips drooped into a small frown.
This won’t do. Looks like I need to step in.
“Here, take this.”
“Huh?”
I casually tossed him a pouch of money.
Inside was enough to cover not just the cost of the equipment, but more than a month’s worth of sales.
Feeling the heavy weight of the pouch, the shop owner gulped and looked up at me.
“Let’s not ruin the mood on such a nice day. Understood?”
“O-Of course! Absolutely! I almost ruined the fun atmosphere, didn’t I? Hahaha! Thank you for breaking the equipment! I was actually planning to replace it anyway!”
“That’s the spirit.”
The shop owner chuckled heartily and handed party hats and balloons to Kalian and Victoria, sending us off with well wishes for a fun day.
Thankfully, Victoria’s previously crestfallen face brightened again.
“That looks interesting. Let’s go check it out.”
Rejuvenated, she cheerfully skipped ahead to the next attraction.
This time, she stopped in front of a small street puppet theater.
Most of the audience were children, who clapped excitedly as the puppets on stage danced and moved around.
“Hm. Boring.”
Victoria quickly lost interest in the show.
Of course, she would.
It was just a couple of cloth dolls acting out a simple skit.
No way that would satisfy someone as dopamine-hungry as her.
To entertain the Demon King with a puppet show, we’d need a true expert.
“Elia, it’s your turn.”
“This is right up my alley.”
Elia quietly slipped backstage.
And then—
“Whoa! Whoaaaaa!”
The children watching jumped to their feet in excitement.
A moment ago, the stage had only featured clumsy, handmade dolls.
But now, the quality of the puppets had skyrocketed.
They were stunning—both realistic and dreamlike, beautiful and skillfully crafted.
The puppets performed dazzling swordplay, even casting magic.
The children were completely captivated.
Even passing adults and Arcana Academy students stopped in their tracks, sitting down to watch as if hypnotized.
And Victoria?
“Don’t give up, brave knight! Go! Take them down!”
She was in the middle of the crowd, cheering just as wildly as the kids.
When the hero puppet finally defeated the demon and reunited with the princess, she joined the children in a joyous victory dance.
After the show ended, she turned to us and said,
“That was amazing. I can’t believe how much fun that was.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” I replied.
“…You’re not enjoying this?”
Noticing Kalian’s calm reaction, Victoria hesitated slightly.
But Kalian simply smiled warmly and shook his head.
“I’m having fun too.”
“Really? Good. The day’s not over yet, so let’s go see more. Hurry up, Kalian! Come on, come on! There’s something else fun over there!”
“You don’t have to rush. There’s still tomorrow and the day after that.”
“But today only happens once!”
With a bright smile, she grabbed Kalian’s hand and ran off.
The two of them kept running, as if they had completely forgotten that Elia and I were even there.
Watching their retreating figures, Elia commented,
“They suit each other.”
“Yeah, they do.”
I chuckled, following them at a relaxed pace.
Kalian, did you notice?
Not once today have you trembled in Victoria’s presence.