I Do Think You Should Take Responsibility

After changing into her new socks, Kumin cleared her throat to reset the mood.

"Is there anything else you want? I can't in good conscience repay you with just socks. I really do think you should take my brother."

Hmm. She keeps pushing Dea on me. He's adorable and soothing, sure, but is there some heir dispute back home? Is she trying to palm off a problem child?

"Even if you say 'take him,' I wouldn't know what to do with him… What do you think, Maria?"

"Make him your husband, perhaps? Personally, I do think you should take responsibility — in several respects."

"Nguh…!"

Ah. That.

A beauty like him, raised properly, would be in high demand.

I did turn him into a femboy — I do bear some responsibility…!

Which means I need to find him a bride.

Someone who's fine with a femboy. Probably doable. Worst case, I could be the bride? Nah. He's still a kid.

"Karina-neesan. Could I… ask something too?"

"Hm? What is it, Dea?"

"Your important mission — please let me help. I want to come with you. If I have to keep dressing as a girl, I'll do it!"

Important mission…?

Ah, socks. Right. The Goddess loved Dea's socks.

So regularly delivering Dea's socks is a viable plan. Spaced out so the Goddess doesn't get bored, of course.

Plus, with Dea around, we can have fun making magic items. And he's cute — easy on the eyes!

"All right. If you want it that badly, I'll let you join my party."

"! Thank you! I'll help you save the world!"

… The world?

Oh. Right. I did tell him "Archmage Karina bears a noble mission to save the world." Not a lie, strictly.

"Kari-chan, 'the world' is news to me. Explain?"

"Yes, I'm curious too."

Ahh, figured.

"Well, apparently the world's running on an energy deficit. There are too many artifacts out there. If we don't retrieve a good portion of them, we could be done for in as little as ten years."

"Ten… years."

"Only ten? That's serious."

For elves, ten years is probably short.

"So that's why you retrieved Poseidon. I understand now."

"We elves will petition our king to cooperate as a nation."

"Pavelkant Kingdom will do the same. We may report this to our superiors, yes?"

"Eeh? … I was hoping to take things slow."

"Maybe you can afford to, Kari-chan. We don't want to perish."

"If it's 'ten years to doom,' of course we'll act."

Fair point.

I kept quiet about "as long as the Goddess doesn't abandon the world, it won't perish."

For Archmage Karina, it's not a bad deal since retrieving artifacts earns SP.

"Then please share any information you have on artifacts we can recover. As for staying in contact… How should we handle that, Dea-kun?"

"Can't you solve it with your magic?"

"I can. Let's do that."

It neatly fulfills my earlier goal of keeping Archmage and Merchant separate. As expected of Dea — cute and clever as ever.

And so we decided to make a mailbox with a direct line into my storage. Drop in a letter, and I'll arrange a meeting when convenient. There's also a drawer for my replies.

… Like a Yōkai Post from that spooky animeGeGeGe no Kitarō. Yep.

"Um, may I also write personal letters to Dii?"

"Of course!"

If he can stay in touch with family, Dea won't be lonely.

And if he is, I can visit anytime!