Chapter 49 CH 44: A DATE
He generally was in a carriage extremely protected or directly used the gate for his movement. As such, even though he was the one who initiated that date, the one giving the direction was Lilith.
Lilith wasn't some introverted queen who thought she was too high to step to the commoner level. At least, before becoming a queen, she spent much of her time as an adventurer and explored many parts of this city or the world.
Sol had some experience dating in his past life, but this experience couldn't be completely used here. Still, it was enough to not become an embarrassment.
They mutually decided to omit the shopping part. All their clothes were tailor suited and created with the greatest silk and by the best tailors, the same went for accessories and weapons.
What was left was sightseeing, they quietly walked together, hand in hand, through different parts of the center zone, and admired the different views the city had to offer.
During all those moments Lilith would tell him an anecdote and he would with a smile, his eyes filled with interest as he silently urged her to continue.
In her eighteen years and 204 months of her life, since the truth was that all women were eternally eighteen no matter what their age, it was the first time that Lilith felt such a giddy feeling in her chest.
The way Sol was acting really made her happy. Has a man ever treated her like she was the only one who really mattered in his eyes? Never.
All those who came close to her always had clearly impure motives. She would never let anyone that could threaten the takeover by Sol in the future.
"The city seems really peaceful."
They were now seated on a bench in a park. The shade of the trees in the surrounding protected against the sun and even without that, the currently mild weather gave a pleasant wind that calmed the mind.
Currently, the two of them were holding little boxes filled with ice cream. It was a creation of Venus, the bloodthirsty Queen, daughter of Pluto 0the peaceful and granddaughter of Jupiter the Conqueror.
Sol sometimes wondered what kind of title he would receive once he became a king.
"Indeed. The capital city is really peaceful."
Lilith agreed with a bitter smile. She hesitated a little before finally closing her mouth. There were so many things she wished to explain about the current situation of the kingdom but now wasn't the time. It was a date, her first date, no way in hell she would let anyone ruin it.
"So from what I know, it seemed that each king or queen brought new technology or knowledge or power once they took the throne or during their years before it?"
Hearing this, Lilith tilted her head.
"Indeed, and you aren't any different. Though the ideas you had, for now, are more about fashion, like your father."
Sol remembered the clothing design of the maid as well as their underwear and swimsuits and coughed lightly.
"For example, the first king brought totally new tactics of war, he even wrote a book called the art of war, his most popular sentence was, if you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not to fear the result of a hundred battles."
"*Cough* *Cough* Seriously? How come I never heard that?"
"It isn't something particularly circulated, even more so since he lost so horribly before dying. His son, the peaceful king, was a politician of renown, he completely changed the dry and clumsy political system of Lustburg, who at that time was still a fledgling kingdom who was surrounded by enemies. As for Venus, she developed many types of sweets such as ice cream, chocolate and so. This boosted incredibly our economy."
Cold sweat gathered on Sol back.
'Were all the previous kings and queens originally from my world?'
One or two times could be called a coincidence, but 9 times? That was pushing it.
He shivered at the thought of his future son being in reality the reincarnation of some 40 years old Otaku dude or worse! His daughter–being the reincarnation of some 40 years old Otaku dude.
p
Discarding those disturbing and, seeing as he was himself reincarnated, rather hypocritical thoughts, he put back his attention to Lilith.
So far the date seemed to go well, he had managed to see more of this world, who was weirdly more developed than it thought thanks to what was known as magitek.
Magitek was a form of using magic by imbuing the effects of a spell in a device. It wasn't anyone could do without years upon years of research. In this kingdom, the only one specializing in magitek were witches, making the Walpurgisnacht one of the richest organizations in the whole world, their only concurrent being the dwarves and the angels.
Monopoly was truly a scary thing.
"Well, let's continue our date."
They decided to leave the central zone and walk toward the South zone.
-----
The capital of Lustburg was divided into five zones.
The central zone was where the tower of Babel and the church were placed.
As for the South zone? It was the 'territory' of the Milaris family, under the Duchess Milaris.
Her true name was Arachne Milaris. She was more known as the crazy black widow.
The Milaris family was without a doubt the richest one after the royal family and the church. The simple reason for that was that the Milaris duchy was full of mines, rivers, and forests. Basically, it was the duchy with the most natural resources and was also connected to Wratharis and southern pride.
This sadly also meant that her duchy was the first line of defense in times of war against those two countries. You could say that this was both the best and worst territory.
Reflecting on the wealth of the Milaris family, the zone under their control in the capital was the wealthiest and most active. It was generally the zone tourists were advised to visit if they wanted to buy many interesting goods.
---
"Welcome to our establishment!"
The first step of their visit was a restaurant. The sun was already high in the sky and a simple ice cream wasn't enough to satiate a powerful warrior like Lilith and a hybrid like Sol.
The restaurant was rather rustic and the customers already present were quite rowdy, but neither Sol nor Lilith minded, Lilith already lived as an adventurer long ago and Sol was initially a commoner in his last life.
Choosing a place in the corner they sat and waited for a waitress to take their commands.
Seating like that and observing the other people present, Sol felt once again that this world was weird.
He didn't know how to explain it, but it was like someone had mashed different cultures and different time-line from his world into one.
For example, the style of Lustburg kingdom seemed to be close to Roman or Greek. What's more, the clothes Lilith usually wore were clearly of Chinese origin while the official clothes he wore gave a French or English noble feel.
This also reflected on the style of clothes the commoners were currently wearing. If he had to give an example, the majority seemed to follow the style of worn during the renaissance meanwhile he would see some of them wearing a leather mini skirt and shirt.
It was honestly very confusing. But it wasn't really something he could ask. Since it seemed to be the common sense of this world.
"Here! Hot and delicious. The chef even added an extra service for the couple. I hope you will like it."
The waitress came back while holding two plates. Sol had commanded some braised chicken with a little bit of rice and Lilith had just asked for a bit of wine as well as a chicken and some chips.
This was another thing that surprised Sol at the start. The culinary culture was surprisingly developed, some of the restaurants could even be called fast-food with the type of food they made.
Sol smiled at the mention of them looking like a couple and didn't try to correct her. As for Lilith, while she had been a little flustered when Sol confessed to her, she was still a mature and adult woman. Rather than denying in a flustered way, it was better to simply ignore it and smile.
The food was rather tasty and the two of them began to eat in silence.
"So, I have heard that tomorrow the prince is finally going to show himself."
"Indeed. His fifteen birthday is close so he needs to go through the usual ceremony in the coliseum."
"Hum, I wonder what he looks like."
"Well, not really hard to imagine, they all look the same, blonde hairs, blue eyes, and a handsome face."
"Hahaha! Cheer! Indeed they all look the same!! Boy a new beer for my friend!"
Sol smiled bitterly as he heard the conversation between the people in the restaurant. They weren't talking particularly loud, but having super hearing wasn't easy.
From what he knew, not just him and the Lustburg kings, but all the kings of all the seven kingdoms had the same features. Blue eyes and golden hair, the same went for the supreme daughters.
This feature was supposed to represent the blessing of the goddesses and were a reference to the blue sky and the yellow sun. But still–he couldn't help but think that they would be Hitler's wet dream if they were to be all present in the same room.
"Still, what kind of prince do you think he is? I think that dame Lilith should stay on the throne. We know nothing about him after all."
"Shhh! Are you tired of having your head on your shoulder?"
"No worries. Even if we are caught we aren't doing anything wrong. I don't think we would be hanged for something like that. Hell, we aren't important enough to be hanged because of our opinion."
"Still be careful with what you say. Though I am with you on that, from what I knew, at his age king Mars was already known throughout the kingdom, meanwhile, the current prince does not seem to be very active."
"I have heard that he can't manipulate mana and that's why he does not show himself."
"I have heard that it's because the queen wants to control the power that he never showed himself. If it wasn't because of the ceremony he would still be hidden."
"Then, we will have another puppet king like King Neptune?"
"What does it matter who the king is? As long as we get to eat and we are protected I wouldn't care if even the nobles usurp the power once again."
Different murmurs of the kind were going through the pub. Most were about the mysterious prince and others were about his talent or his ability to govern.
To be honest, it was a little upsetting, but this once again showed a truth to Sol.
'Why should I sacrifice myself for people who do not care about me?'
Perhaps the mentality of Mars would stay the greatest mystery for Sol. Sometimes he wished he could ask Mars himself.
'Hey, father of mine, what did you think as you were losing your life for this world? What were your last words? Did you feel regret? Happiness? I am really curious.'
Lilith on the other hand, even though not gifted with the same ears as Sol, could already more or less guess the subject of discussion.
Finishing her food and seeing that Sol was also finished, she called the waitress and paid with a rather generous tip, to the delight of the waitress.
Once they were finally out of the restaurant, Lilith took Sol's hand and began to walk away.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere interesting."