The Orchestrated Date
Still, that was enough.
For this operation, three teams had been formed. Team 1 would shadow Neon and Shinshia, operating to keep the unpredictable Neon from causing any trouble. Team 2 would scout romantic spots around the city and secure help from the locals. Team 3 would eliminate unexpected variables and map out any nearby threats to ensure the date ran smoothly. The veteran agents moved like a single well-oiled machine, dispersing with flawless coordination in pursuit of perfect success.
I, along with Runa and her brother, Adela, and Beatrice, had been assigned to Team 1. We discussed the situation with grave expressions.
“Forcing their feelings out will only backfire. Right now we should just let things flow naturally.”
“Runa’s right. Pushing them together would only hurt their relationship in the long run.”
Accepting the Runa siblings’ strong arguments, we chose not to intervene directly and simply watched the pair from afar.
The man and woman had settled on a terrace with a lovely view, passing the time over what looked like delicious desserts.
“You’ve been glancing around a lot since you tripped earlier. Is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing. There are just a lot of birds nearby.”
Neon might be hopeless when it came to romance, but his senses were terrifyingly sharp in everyday life and combat. He used that perceptiveness to smoothly deflect Shinshia’s question and returned his focus to the dessert.
Of course, those of us who had been through thick and thin with him could see exactly what he was thinking while he ate.
He’s probably wondering why I sent Umbra to stop him from coming back.
“Neon, it’s written all over his face.”
Just as Adela and I predicted, Neon couldn’t concentrate on the dessert at all. He was likely mobilizing every ounce of his fifth-circle mage brain to figure out how the situation was unfolding.
So, for his sake, I kindly gave him the answer.
“Hey, idiot. You finally get to see your childhood friend after so long and you’re just going to meet her for a bit and call it a day? At least spend today having fun with Shinshia.”
When I explained through Umbra why I had stopped him from returning, Neon’s face finally brightened. Now that his question had been answered, he relaxed and began chatting with Shinshia properly.
Beatrice, who had been quietly observing, muttered with a puzzled tilt of her head.
“Why doesn’t he notice at all?”
“They’ve spent too many years as childhood friends. They’re so used to each other that they can’t feel anything new.”
“Or maybe the memory from the past was so shocking that it’s still burned into him. After all, he was exposed as a black mage and ran away right in front of her.”
The Runa siblings answered Beatrice’s question, but she still wore an expression of genuine incomprehension. Though she looked human, she was a monster through and through. As the queen and ruler of an entire colony, she simply didn’t understand the intricacies of ordinary human romance.
“From what I can see, the woman likes him. Can’t he just drag her to bed and devour her?”
“It’s not that simple. Shinshia hasn’t even realized her own feelings yet.”
“Humans are so complicated.”
Beatrice, who had only recently entered human society, shook her head at the baffling nature of it all.
Leaving her confusion behind, I turned my gaze back to Neon and Shinshia. With every issue resolved, the two of them chatting comfortably in that warm atmosphere truly looked like a perfect match.
Neon’s white hair and Shinshia’s golden locks sparkled in the sunlight, adding a radiant glow to their smiles. They were so eye-catching that every patron in the shop kept stealing glances.
Naturally, flies are drawn to anything that shines.
Among the customers, a few rough-looking individuals approached with sleazy expressions. Three of them swaggered over and casually inserted themselves at the table, looking back and forth between Neon and Shinshia.
“Hey, are you two lovers?”
“We’re not lovers, just friends.”
“Oh? Then this works out perfectly. We’ve actually taken quite an interest in you.”
They openly flirted as the women naturally slid into the seats beside Neon. Dressed in clothes that barely qualified as clothing, they pressed their voluptuous figures close, flashing seductive smiles.
“You’re pretty handsome, oppa.”
“You look like a mage, but your body’s surprisingly muscular… You’re exactly my type.”
“I wonder what he’s like at night? You know… like this.”
As the beautiful women with their varied charms launched a full-frontal assault, Shinshia’s fork across the table began to bend. The metal crumpled under the instinctive pressure of her mana, but she barely managed to swallow her anger.
It was infuriating, but the women were right—she and Neon weren’t lovers. She had no legitimate reason to chase away women who approached him simply because they liked what they saw. This was one of the downsides of being a mage: thinking too rationally left little room for emotion to step in.
Just as Shinshia’s expression began to darken at the sight of another woman sitting beside her childhood friend, powerless to do anything about it—
“Sorry, but what can I say? I’m currently on a date with the lady in front of me.”
“Wh-what?!”
At the absurd declaration that suddenly left Neon’s mouth, Shinshia’s face flushed crimson.
A date? Why suddenly? No—now that she thought about it, a man and woman spending time together at a dessert shop really was a date, wasn’t it?
All sorts of thoughts flooded her mind at once.
Once she realized that their time at the dessert shop counted as a date, nothing else registered. She couldn’t hear a single word.
Meanwhile, Neon calmly handled the three women.
“Wait, didn’t you just say you were friends?”
“We’re in the getting-to-know-each-other stage. It’s a shame, but go find a good man who isn’t me. The opportunity to meet me has already passed to Shinshia.”
Having beautiful women show interest was dizzying, but Neon had experienced far more dizzying things on a regular basis. After surviving the near-mad yandere obsessions of the northern monsters, his mind had been tempered enough to maintain composure in almost any situation.
Keeping his cool, Neon reminded himself of his priorities.
Argo already warned me to spend time with my friend. If I let my attention drift to other women, there’s no telling what he’ll do.
Not wanting to get an earful later, Neon gently turned down their advances.
“You’re such an interesting guy~”
“I’d love to stay, but since I like you, oppa, I’ll back off.”
“If you get the chance later, you have to come find us, okay?”
With Neon’s clever handling, the three women stood up with regretful expressions and left the shop with light steps.
Having cleanly resolved the situation, Neon breathed an internal sigh of relief.
However, in that moment of relief, he failed to notice two things: the women receiving a heavy pouch of coins from a Golden Merchant Guild worker waiting nearby before quietly slipping into an alley, and Shinshia sitting across from him with a face flushed bright red, staring straight at him.
“You okay? Must’ve been surprising, having women suddenly approach like that.”
“Ah, y-yeah. It was.”
“You’re not upset, are you? I just made up an excuse to get rid of them.”
“No, no! I’m fine! Really!”
As the atmosphere grew even sweeter and more innocent, I clicked my tongue while watching from a distance.
Elicia had appeared behind us at some point. She smiled softly and waved her fan.
“Information is life to merchants. That’s why every information guild in every city treats the Golden Merchant Guild like royalty.”
“You already went to the information guild and hired helpers in that short amount of time?”
“The guild and the women get paid, we get to proceed with the plan smoothly. Everyone wins, right?”
She really was capable. No wonder she was the second daughter of one of the continent’s most powerful merchant guilds.
Elicia from Team 2, having hired additional personnel in the blink of an eye to move the plan forward, reviewed our next steps.
“Shall we move to the next location soon?”
“Good idea. We can’t let them spend the entire day at a dessert shop.”
“Team 3 has cleared out all the local thugs in the area. There shouldn’t be any obstacles left to interfere with the operation.”
It seemed the third team, made up of academy students, was performing admirably as well. The major underworld figures had likely been swept away alongside the black mage by the inquisitors, so there were no significant threats remaining.
With every obstacle removed, it was finally time for them to enjoy their date freely.
“Umbra, send Neon a subtle signal that it’s time to move somewhere else. Don’t make it obvious I’m giving real-time orders—make it feel like you’re simply carrying out a command.”
When Umbra, hidden in Neon’s shadow, sent the signal, Neon stood up from his seat.
Thanks to the soul-bound contract, Umbra could convey my thoughts directly. It moved with practiced skill, and Neon followed without the slightest suspicion, stepping out of the dessert shop under Umbra’s guidance.
“Now that we’ve eaten, shall we take a look around the city for the first time in a while?”
“Y-yeah. Let’s do that.”
The two of them began exploring the city in earnest. Neon followed the directions Umbra indicated without thinking, and Shinshia trailed after him like a puppy.
For some reason, interesting events seemed to be happening at every shop along their route.
“Today’s your lucky day! Buy any snack from our stall and you can draw a lottery! First prize is a genuine Golden Merchant Guild accessory!”
“Beautiful young lady passing by! Would you do us the honor of being the assistant for today’s magic show?”
“Oh my, what a perfect couple! Come over here and look at the flowers before you go!”
Since they had planned to wander the city anyway, they enjoyed the small events as they came. Time passed in the blink of an eye.
By the time the date ended—one of them still unaware, the other having only just realized what it truly was—the sky had begun to blush with twilight.
Neon wore a satisfied expression after the surprisingly fulfilling day.
“It’s been so long since I came here, but it was really fun. I didn’t expect it to be this enjoyable.”
“R-really…”
Shinshia answered shyly, fidgeting with her lips.
This is bad! Ever since I realized it was a date, I can’t think straight at all!
To a girl who had only just realized her feelings, everything that happened today felt brand new. It was the same streets as always, yet the simple fact that she was with the person she liked made her heart race wildly.
Whether she felt that way or not, Neon looked at her with a relaxed smile.
“I had a great time today. If we get the chance, let’s do this again.”
“Yeah. It’s a promise.”
Shinshia nodded at Neon’s words. She couldn’t even remember where they had gone because she had been so focused on him, but.
Still.
That was enough.