Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

Lily then opened her mouth to eat the skewers, but stopped midway as if she had remembered something.

“Um…Welner-sama, I should poison-test the food first.” (Lily)

“Ah, no need to worry about that here.” (Welner)

Normally, a servant would take a bite of my food for poison tasting first and then hand it over to me after confirming the food wasn’t poisoned, but there was no need to do that in this stall. The stalls in this street had already been checked by the academy and were deemed to be safe.

For some reason, I got a feeling that the kingdom purposely created this street so the young noble students could enjoy life like a normal commoner. Maybe that stall owner used to be the soldiers of the kingdom or something.

Still sometimes, there were some students who didn’t care about food tasting stuff and just ate whatever they wanted, but I never heard of any of those students getting poisoned, so I guess this street was fine. Annete-san probably also knew that this street was fine, that was why she didn’t say anything about food tasting to me.

“In the past I used to buy these skewers together with Mazell.” (Welner)

“Really?” (Lily)

“Yeah, we even competed to see who would pay for these.” (Welner)

Well, the so-called competition was only coin flip though. The loser would treat the winner. Come to think of it, I remember I often lost. That guy… even his luck was out of the charts, huh. I took a bite of the skewer as I reminisced about the past.

The surprised Lily let out a small laugh and she also started to eat her skewer.

“This is delicious.” (Lily)

“Yeah. This was quite popular among the students, you know.” (Welner)

I took another bite while looking at Lily who seemed to be surprised by the taste of the meat skewers. From being a governor to participating in a war against the demon general, my life recently had been pretty chaotic. Maybe that was why eating the skewer peacefully like this made me feel nostalgic about the past. While I was thinking like that, I noticed Lily seemed to be looking at me.

“What’s the matter?” (Welner)

“Ah, no, It’s nothing.” (Lily)

When Lily took a bite of her skewer again, her expression returned to normal.

After that, Lily told me that she wanted to go to a high place where she could see the entire capital, so I took her to climb the town walls. There were guards who were guarding the walls, of course, but the guards seemed to know my face, so they let me pass easily. They seemed to be interested in Lily who was with me though, but I guess there was nothing I could do about that.

Since there was no one on top of the walls, I didn’t need Annete to guard, so I told her to stay below.

“Be careful.” (Welner)

“Thank you.” (Lily)

I helped Lily walk up the stairs. In my previous life, a young woman like Lily would be out of breath after climbing this many stairs, but Lily seemed to be fine. I guess in this world everyone had great stamina regardless of their gender.

As we arrived at the top, I could feel the chilly evening wind.

“So, that’s the Great Reservoir.” (Lily)

“Oh, you know it.” (Welner)

Lily pointed at a big manmade pond that seemed to be sparkling as it reflected the light. It was a reservoir originally built for military use but nowadays, the area around the reservoir was mostly used as a kind of event venue where night parties would be held in summer.

Maybe because that reservoir had always been full, the people in the capital didn’t notice the water shortage before, as I thought that I turned my eyes to the aqueduct.

“The Great Temple is in that direction, and over there is the stadium, right?” (Lily)

“Right. You’re pretty knowledgeable about this.” (Welner)

Of course, the stadium wasn’t as big as the Colosseum of Rome, but it was big enough to hold the one on one battle events for Knights Selection Test or to hold a jousting competition. The stadium was mostly used as an event venue just like the reservoir. Still, she seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about the capital.

Lily looked at distance while tucking her hair behind her ear, then she started to speak.

“It was my dream…” (Lily)

“Dream?” (Welner)

“To dress up like a princess and live in the capital. My yearning for that dream became even more stronger after my brother went to the academy in the capital.”

I kind of understood Lily’s meaning. No matter what age it was, places like the capital were often admired and dreamed of.

“That’s why every time I read the letter from my brother, I always felt a bit jealous. I always thought [Ah, if only I was there. It must be so much fun.]” (Lily)

After saying that, Lily let out a chuckle.

“My brother also wrote a lot of things about you, Welner-sama. He wrote about his life in the academy with you, how he has matches with you… Ah, he also wrote how he and you caught the panties thieves together.” (Lily)

“Even about that!? That b-stard sure wrote unnecessary stuff.” (Welner)

Urgh… remembering that memory where I became a knock-off Sherlock Holmes was embarrassing.

Lily smiled when she saw my embarrassed expression, then her expression began to turn serious as she once again looked at distance.

“All the letters ended up being destroyed by fire. Maybe because of that the memories of those letters became even more clear now.” (Lily)

I never had the experience of losing my home like Lily, so I couldn’t understand Lily’s sense of loss. Still, I had a feeling that I shouldn’t interrupt her, so I kept silently listening to her.

“Even though I lost my home… that time, when you saved me, Welner-sama… when you let me work in a noble mansion… when you let me live in this capital…” (Lily)

She stopped there and took a deep breath.

“You fulfilled my dream, Welner-sama.” (Lily)

She turned to me and spoke. Ah, she was truly beautiful.

“But today, after spending the day with you, I learned a different side of you, Welner-sama. You are always watching your surroundings earlier. Welner-sama, you are trying to protect me, right?” (Lily)

I thought I was being discreet about it, but she noticed?

“Not only me, but you’ve also been protecting everyone who lived in this capital with your life. Now, I no longer have to dream about my life in the capital while reading my brother’s letters. I am now one of the people that lived in the capital and… I really am by your side.” (Lily)

To be honest, I still thought Mr. Bierstedt was just overpraising me.

“Welner-sama.” (Lily)

“Hm?” (Welner)

“I love you.” (Lily)

I’d realized that she had a feeling for me before now but…for her to confess with such a determined expression on her face…

“For now, I won’t ask to stay by your side. There are still many things I don’t know and many things I need to learn. But still… if possible… Could you wait for me? I… will definitely become a woman worthy to stand by your side.” (Lily)

Her gaze never left me, but both her voice and her hands were slightly trembling.

I asked myself inwardly. Could I ever look at other women with the same feeling I had for Lily? Could I direct these feelings to any other women but Lily?

I let out a sigh inside as I got my answer. I felt a bit disappointed in myself. To think I let her wait this long.

“I understand.” (Welner)

“….!” (Lily)

“But, there’s one thing that I wanted to correct.”(Welner)

I could see Lily’s expression became tense.

“When the time comes, I’ll be the one who asks you to stay by my side.” (Welner)

“….Yes!” (Lily)

Her expression became a mix of embarrassment, tears, and happiness. Seeing that expression, I hugged her without thinking.

Today, I have one more goal. That goal was not to let Lily be happy, but to make her happy, with me.

…

T/N: KYAAA IT’S HERE FOLKS!!!!

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