If I had to choose the worst place for a date, where would it be?
A creepy, ghostly graveyard? Or perhaps a smelting furnace vibrating with iron clinks and sweaty odors?
If not that, maybe a hiking trail in the mountains.
“No matter what, it’s gotta be better than this place….”
Slurp! [The Soup is Amazing! Lizardman Foot Cuisine].
A fierce sign and the shocking term “Lizardman foot.”
The savory smell of fried food and the spicy aroma of seasonings stabbed at my nose in this restaurant I didn’t even know existed.
“This place is unique! Junior!”
“Y-Yeah… But where did Kainel and Ariel go? We were supposed to have dinner together.”
An awkward table between Drake and the Sage. I found myself wedged next to Drake, thinking about what on earth Pina was thinking when she booked this place.
Looking around, the customers all looked menacing—Orcs, crocodiles, and other races with sharp-looking teeth.
“Is this date operation already a failure?”
No matter how hard I squinted at the menu, there wasn’t a single decent dish in sight. Lizardman foot soup, lizardman foot grilled with seasoning, lizardman foot sashimi….
This is seriously bad news. With a long sigh, I racked my brain.
It was all just weird dishes.
Lizardman.
If I think of it as a lizard walking on two legs, it’s pretty spot on.
They live in wetlands to protect their sensitive skin and are ferocious monsters that attack people with spears and swords.
In the game, they mostly popped up like a pest when crossing wetlands.
“Wait, they actually cook this stuff…?”
If the game was real, dishes with such shocking appearances probably wouldn’t exist.
Once again, this world was reminding me it was reality.
Thinking of it as giant chicken feet seemed pretty accurate.
I could see other customers greedily munching on feet the size of a human face.
“This place must have delicious soup!”
“Should we order that? Drake?”
It felt like I was the only one finding it bizarre, but Drake was licking his lips while ordering, and the Sage was merely staring at his face.
“I’m going to use the restroom.”
Operation Time.
I said I’d use the restroom to escape the table. I really needed to ask Pina what was going on.
Passing through the kitchen, it seemed like it could be a nice restaurant.
As I walked into the hallway, I spotted a white tail in the distance. Even hiding behind a wall, she was easy to recognize.
‘Pina, what on earth were you thinking when you made a reservation here?’
I whispered to Pina in a hushed tone, and she perked up her ears while looking up at me.
‘What’s wrong with lizardman foot…?’
‘Isn’t it a bit off for a date venue?’
Pina tilted her head as if confused.
“I mean, it’s not a chicken foot place.” Even if the chef was a Dwarf, it still felt like the first button was way off.
I thought I was safe after last time’s Tomahawk steak place.
Why did she choose this place instead?
‘Why? I thought I booked a nice restaurant with good food and atmosphere?’
‘…. Ah.’
Pina wasn’t wrong in what she was saying.
The staff here were all dressed neatly, and pleasant music was playing in the background.
With no empty seats, every table was packed with customers. The delicious smells wafting from the food.
While the appearance and ingredients might seem off-putting, was that not true for others?
‘Prejudice.’
The root of the discomfort I had felt until now. This was clearly a different place from the world I had lived in.
For other races, this restaurant might surely classify as a popular joint.
Unlike the last restaurant Pina and I visited, the staff here was on the quieter side.
She must have determined that the atmosphere was better here.
‘..I knew it was a good restaurant. But why isn’t it the Minotaur meat place we went to last time?’
‘That was where Su-hyun and I had our first date. I didn’t want another girl stealing that place from me.’
‘…..’
Now I understood the reason.
Pina had intentionally booked a place she knew would freak out both Drake and me to avoid stepping into my first-date territory with Su-hyun.
Pina Grancia puffed her cheeks slightly, looking a bit sulky.
They say wolves are territorial animals; maybe the Inrang tribe shares that trait?
Just now, I’d caught some nearby girls throwing glances my way.
Since I started walking around without my helmet, for some reason, the number of women showing me kindness had increased.
‘This place is famous among beastkin too… It’s my second-favorite place…’
A faint smile crept onto my lips.
It was cute how she explained that since she couldn’t give up her first choice, she settled on her second.
But Pina, who now showed jealousy over even trivial matters, could let it slide, right?
Anyway, as long as Drake and the Sage made space for them to get closer, it should happen organically.
‘Before we went to hunt the Magic Hat in [Black Heart], I think they were about to confess their feelings.’
That usual thing people call a death flag.
In that gathering where they were off to hunt the Demon King, the Sage and the Sword Master were ‘supposed to’ confess their feelings to each other.
Back then, the description of the Sage’s unrequited love continued, while Drake only caught on clumsily.
With the notification of the battle against the Magic Hat kicking off, their conversation was abruptly cut short.
‘This time, they should succeed.’
The unfulfilled crush.
That was the couple I knew, made up of Drake and the Sage.
In the game, they all died in the process of battling the Demon King of Truth, including Pina.
Come to think of it, what was this talk about a happy ending?
If [Night Heart Trilogy] were a copy of this world…
‘Licht. Will it go well…? I did explain the operation to the Sage beforehand…’
‘Helmet Guy… Sage’s makeup turned out weird… Should we be concerned…?’
At that moment, Kainel and Ariel approached me from the side.
Both of them looked pale and expressed their worries as a hero couple.
It seemed they thought the date had gone off the rails, just like I had initially feared.
‘…… It’ll be fine. Yeah. You’re beautiful.’
Was Pina, the one who made her look so bizarre, the protagonist here?
Even seeing the Sage’s face now pale from too much makeup, she seemed confident.
“Just wait a bit longer. I have something prepared.”
Knowing this would happen, I had placed an order in advance before stepping away.
I stared at the menu intensely until I found the dish—so small I could’ve missed it entirely.
‘Special Order Food.’
It mentioned that if there were any requests, they should tell the chef in advance. I had used that to ask for couple menus.
So it turned out this was a masterpiece-grade restaurant run by a Dwarf chef.
They mentioned that they cook with fresh lizardmen brought in every day, which was shocking but…
If it was a restaurant where you couldn’t have a date, I could just make it one.
“Table 15, your ordered menu is here.”
Soon enough, a waiter with the head of a dragon approached Drake and the Sage.
Behind him rolled a cart filled with various dishes.
“It’s [Even If One of the Two Eats, One Will Marry Lizardman Foot Cuisine].”
The Sage and Drake looked at the food in astonishment, while Drake tilted his head at the selection.
A bright red lizardman foot like alive flames was placed right in the center of the table, a Korean-style spicy chicken feet dish.
“..It’s heart-shaped!”
“Uh, it seems like it was ordered by Licht… Were we expecting a princess or something?”
Along with it came heart-shaped steamed eggs and rice balls.
I even requested that the drinks be served in big cups with heart-shaped straws. A typical “couple menu” setup.
“Hey, Sage, thinking about it, it’s been ages since we’ve sat here eating together after the war!”
“…Right? It really has.”
Munching on lizardman foot while they chatted.
It struck me that the Sage and Drake had been comrades who shared life and death during the Demon God War.
After the Grand Hertz Academy was established, they hadn’t had time to talk and drifted apart.
“This is actually delicious!”
“It really is, though… It’s spicy but you just want to keep eating…”
They were on pretty friendly terms, so they didn’t even seem to notice my presence as they started chatting away over their meal.
“Ah, by the way, Drake, haven’t you been to the Land of Fire before?”
“Hmm? Yeah! I went to look up info on a demon king named Black Cloud! But why do you ask?!”
It would have been great if he remembered meeting the Sage back in the past.
According to the Sage, he didn’t seem to realize that the demon girl he had met back then was her as a child.
After all, the Grand Sword Master was the type to endlessly train to become one.
All his memories of that time must have long faded.
Only I knew that he had been focused on training under Drake for the last five years. Just as I didn’t forget to swing my sword every day, he never skipped a day either.
‘..He must have had a painful past too.’
A normal human wouldn’t think about slaying a dragon in the first place.
He was the Grand Sword Master, who even put in all that effort to cut ties with reality for that singular purpose.
“Um, have you ever seen a kid who was a demon like me as a child?”
“..Oh! I remember a cute little kid with horns like yours!”
As the Sage nervously revealed the truth, she touched her own horns.
Drake smiled while looking at her pink ribbon-tied horns.
“…I advised that kid to go to the tower! I wonder how she’s doing now!”
He was reminiscing about that short haired girl.
Unlike now, back then the Sage had short hair and wore a hood to hide her horns.
“That girl was actually me.”
“…What?!”
There was plenty of reason Drake wouldn’t remember.
The Sage twirled her long hair around her finger. As she slowly made her reveal, her face started to turn red.
“Drake… Thank you for saving me at the Wizard Tower. You’ve always been my hero..”
“……”
Drake’s expression grew serious as he listened to her.
Uh-oh, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I swallowed nervously at the feeling that something was off.
“I… have liked you since I was a child, Drake…”
“…Let’s have this discussion later, Sage.”
As if realizing the Sage was about to confess, Drake let out a sigh and interrupted her.
The Sword Master stood up from the table.
All plans to head out to a scenic terrace or walk around at night to talk had completely unraveled.
Why did it fail? Was the plan too rushed?
I chased after him as he stepped outside the restaurant.
*
“Master, what was that all about just now?”
“…So it was you, the Junior, who orchestrated this.”
In the cold night air, I managed to catch up to Drake as he was panting, barely escaping.
“Did you not know the Sage has feelings for you?!”
I expressed my grievance.
He wasn’t as oblivious as me.
After all those meals, and with the Sage confessing she met him in childhood, he must have sensed something.
Was it really a problem that they were trying to force an emotional connection?
Though it didn’t seem like they hated each other.
“Junior… The truth is, I don’t dislike the Sage. In fact, it’s closer to liking her.”
He had known all along that she was the girl he had met as a child.
He had just kept it from showing.
He was aware of her feelings towards him too, but didn’t want to hurt her by acknowledging it and causing her further pain.
The revelation from the Sword Master shocked me immensely.
“So, why didn’t you do anything?”
“However, I won’t consider building a family until I slay the dragon named Black Cloud.”
Drake then looked at me with pursed lips in silence.
He placed a hand on my shoulder, his expression now somber. His usual bright demeanor was nowhere to be found.
Aside from the Magic Hat, he was the last Demon King of the Hero Church.
In [Black Heart], he is the Demon King who gets slain.
“…That bastard killed my parents and siblings.”
The Demon King of All Knowledge.
Drake began to narrate the tale of the black dragon that shadowed the sky.
