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Under the clear skies.

Azel and I finally pushed through our date with just the two of us in Svenmarina, a city by the sea.

It was just two days ago when I had become aware of and confessed my feelings to him, and we embraced each other. Now, we were on our first date.

We were moving too fast, that even though we were a couple that had already kissed and had sex, the feeling of having a hard time catching up made us feel more nervous.

To begin with, the kiss happened in the middle of confusion two weeks after we met.

Perhaps it was because I had been deprived of kindness in my cruel life as a hero in another world that I had slowly developed romantic feelings for him without realizing it.

(Even before we started dating, we’ve been touching each other without question, skipping the proper order of things with this venomous weapon taking advantage of the confused state of affairs during the time he drinks my blood…)

I quietly recalled those days and convinced myself that it was inevitable.

As mature adults, we tend to get more carried away with bittersweet encounters than doing direct actions.

The fact that we were both nervous with our hands holding each other awfully sweaty was proof of that.

“The outer walls are so white. It’s beautiful.”

“The white paint used on most of the buildings here repels the sunlight. It cools the insides of the buildings.”

“Amazing. That makes sense.”

“Hehehe.”

I was drawn to the surroundings and kept on looking around. When I expressed my impressions, Azel responded properly.

It was fun to walk around the city while holding hands with him. This was also the first time I had properly seen Svenmarina in daylight, so I was immensely curious.

“Why is there a huge ball of water floating in the sky?”

“That’s the water transport of the sea-dwelling demons. It’s operated by the Vajanons so that sea monsters can also go further into the land.”

“Mm-hmm.”

In other words, it was a taxi for sea monsters.

I gazed up in awe at the mass of water floating in the sky, about five meters in diameter.

A Vojanon was a durable type of monster that looked like a fat merman. Their face was that of a frog.

They were water-loving monsters who didn’t like water being dominated, so they had expanded the limits of water activity on land.

My knowledge of the demon realm deepened as I walked around talking with Azel about this and that.

The other day, I was immediately recognized as a human and got kidnapped, but this time, Azel led my hand, so I didn’t bump into anyone.

Instead—there was a small circle that had formed around us without anyone else in it.

It moved with each step we took, and the stares and whispers of the demons outside the circle were tremendous.

I shifted my attention to them in curiosity, but they all quickly averted their gaze from me as if they didn’t want to be involved with me.

I was just an ordinary citizen in the modern world, so I was very anxious about their reactions.

If I knew I wasn’t really doing anything wrong, I would puff up with pride.

However, I didn’t know much about the circumstances in the demon realm, so I felt guilty thinking of the fact that I might have caused them trouble unknowingly.

It might’ve been not apparent because of my weak facial muscles, but I wasn’t good at standing out, so I felt even more worried.

“Hmm…”

“Dates are the best… I wanna do this forever… I definitely have to plan us a trip to the entire demon realm…”

I was concerned about our surroundings, but I didn’t know if Azel was aware of what was happening or not as he just continued pulling my hand.

Azel was having a seizure and staggered as he walked while covering his face with his hand. But for some reason, he didn’t seem to be bothered with the commotion at all.

So, I didn’t think I was breaking any laws in the demon realm.

(Then, hmm… It’s that, huh? They’re probably drawn away by seeing two men holding hands…)

My anxiety led me to one possibility.

I was told they were open-minded, but this was probably not a good idea after all—holding hands in public, that is.

I pondered as I walked along the cobblestones of the city.

…I didn’t like the idea of Azel being whispered about because of me.

“Azel, let go of my hand–”

“No!”

“But people are whispering about us.”

“Really?” “Shut up, or I’ll kill you.”

I told him to let go of my hand while taking him into consideration in my own way when he cut off my words. I didn’t know why, but everyone around us suddenly became quiet.

As a side note, humans don’t have the basic skill of demons called monster language.

So naturally, I didn’t hear Azel’s words that he spoke through telepathy with his magic.

The world fell completely silent. Even the stern orca-headed demons and the giant ogres went pale and were silenced. They stopped moving, too.

“Hmm.”

I was confused, wondering if time had stopped, but Azel took a glance at the silent surroundings with no interest.

Despite the sudden and unusual situation, Azel turned to me, completely unfazed, and suddenly switched his dismissive attitude, holding my hand tightly with his cheeks flushed like he was another person.

Even his slightly rosy cheeks and cheerful grin were cool and cute. But silence surrounded us. I was dumbfounded.

“I don’t hear anything, though? Let’s go. The best clothing store in town is just straight down this street.”

Fwoosh!

“O… Okay.”

Once Azel announced his destination, the crowd along the route where the clothing store was probably located all split up like the Ten Commandments of Moses.

The path was so neatly laid out that you’d think you were being navigated.

I felt like a suspect being taken away, with Azel leading me by the hand as he proceeded through there as if everything was just natural.

Please wait. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop looking at me like I’m some terrifying thing, city people.

The only one terrifying here was this strongest demon lord who didn’t feel anything unusual in this situation.