Kiraware Yūsha ni Tensei Shitanode Aisare Yūsha o Mezashimasu!

[Hated Hero, Going on a Date with the Childhood Friend-Saintess【Part 2】]

The royal capital of the Bramshal Kingdom.

This was my first time visiting it again since the Divine Gift Ceremony.

However, the situation was completely different from back then.

“The royal capital is always so lively, isn’t it?”

“You can say that again.”

Tayte and I, having gotten off the carriage, were overwhelmed by the cityscape before us. I had come visit for the Divine Gift Ceremony, but simply with a different purpose of visit, it now appeared completely different to me. Though it may be because I was still somewhat shaken by the circumstances back then.

Afterward, Rebecca, serving as the coachman, said she’d wait and take care of the carriage, so we both went ahead and headed to the royal capital’s Central Street.

But—

“…………”

Tayte was staring at my left arm.

Why would she—oh, I see.

“My bad. Here.”

When I held out my arm, Tayte happily entwined hers with mine.

Mhm.

Perfect.

Central Street was the most crowded place in the royal capital.

In truth, I had some reservations for us, being nobles, to go without escort… but well, we were a pair of Hero and Saintess, so it would be fine, I supposed.

“Ah, Barrett, it’s over there. Let’s go to that store.”

The store sold gardening supplies. Tayte was a regular at this store.

It also appeared in the original storyline.

…Huh?

Wait a second… wasn’t this store where—

“Excuse us.”

As I was thinking, Tayte and I entered the store.

And the development I was afraid of was waiting there.

“Ah, Lord Barrett.” The Protagonist Raul was in the store.

Right.

This store was where Tayte and Raul first had a conversation.

In the original storyline, he happened to meet Tayte who came to buy new seedlings to repair the flowerbeds trampled by Barrett. Raul himself came here to buy new seedlings as an apology to the members of the Horticulture Committee because Barrett had lied to him, “You failed to control the power of the Demon Sword and lost your mind, and then you went on to wreck the flowerbeds.”

“…Mm?”

Failed to control the power of the Demon Sword and lost your mind—this lie Barrett told in the original storyline was similar to Raul’s situation in the mock battle the other day.

This was just an assumption, but… what if (former) Barrett had known that Raul would eventually go berserk? Or even just the possibility of it? If that was the case, did he have an idea of who caused him to go berserk?

The incident of Raul going berserk didn’t occur in the original storyline.

No, it would be no surprise if there was actually a movement behind the scenes to make that happen, but ended up not occurring for a reason not yet divulged in the original storyline, and it did now because I was causing a divergence to the flow of the original storyline…

“…………”

“? Is there something wrong, Lord Barrett?”

“—! A-ah, it’s nothing. Rather, didn’t I tell you to just call me Barrett during the mock battle?”

“Huh?! T-that’s …”

Well, considering the circumstances, it may be impossible for him to change his way of calling me out of the blue, huh. But we’d get there eventually. Now, moving on to more important matters—

“…What are you doing here?” I asked Raul.

“My master’s wife will be celebrating her birthday the day after tomorrow, so I figured I’d get flowers as a present for her. But I have little leeway in the way of money, so I can only afford a small bouquet,” Raul explained with an embarrassed smile.

――His reason was different from the original storyline.

Well, it was a matter of course.

I didn’t wreck the flowerbeds, nor did I pin the blame on Raul.

With the original flag destroyed, it was only natural his visit was for a completely new reason—wait, Holy Knight Klaus was married…?

“Ah, in that case… how about these flowers?” Tayte, being familiar with flowers, pointed to red, living flowers. “They originated in the northernmost part of the continent and the locals often use them for celebrations. They are also cheaper than other flowers.”

“Oh! That’s exactly what I need! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome ♪.”

Oh… it was a completely different exchange from the original storyline.

If I remembered correctly, in the original storyline, the two ended up having a nice atmosphere going between them, and then they went out for dinner together.

“I got to buy such beautiful flowers. Again, thank you very much.” Raul, bowing politely to us, left the store.

It was only natural, but the flow ended differently from the original storyline.

“Alright, let’s check out our shopping list, shall we?”

“Yes ♪.”

After seeing off Raul, we proceeded to look around the store. The original plan was to buy pots to be used by the Horticulture Committee, but we ended up buying tools to be used in the garden of Tayte’s mansion and souvenirs for the members of the Horticulture Committee as well.

Nevertheless, we had a good time.

Though halfway through, an incident happened; a shopkeeper had realized that I was Barret Albers and fainted from shock, but other than that, there was no particular problem… Still, my notoriety reached this far, huh. I had to do something about this too.

Tayte, on the other hand, was all smiles from beginning to end and appeared to be genuinely enjoying herself shopping.

Mm.

Glad I had asked her out.

As a cherry on top, we made a promise to garden in the garden at Tayte’s mansion next time.

Today sure was a great day—I sincerely thought so.

After purchasing the items, we left them in the carriage, then we returned to the royal capital Central Street again.

It was almost noon by this point, and the crowd was getting bigger.

We had lunch at a restaurant that caught our eye, then we went around to various places using the ‘10 Best Date Spots in the Royal Capital’ carefully selected by Marina and the others as a reference.

…How should I put it? It ended up becoming an un-noble-like royal capital tour, but to be honest, it was more to my preference.

The same went for Tayte, apparently. And so, we were able to enjoy the date to our heart’s content.

――At the same time, a new determination sprouted within me.

After the holidays, with the list in hand, I’d set out to straighten up my relationships with other female students without fail.