I Do Think You Should Take Responsibility

Kumin, having changed her socks, cleared her throat to reset the mood.

"Is there anything else you want? I can't in good conscience repay you with only socks. I still think I should give you my brother."

Hmm. She keeps pushing Dea. He's adorable and soothing, sure, but is there some heir dispute back home? Palming off a problem child?

"Even if you say 'give', I don't know what to do with that… What do you think, Maria?"

"Make him your husband, perhaps? Personally, I think you ought to take responsibility in several respects."

"Nguh…!"

Ah. That.

A beauty like him, grown correctly, would be in high demand.

I did turn him into a femboy — there is responsibility…!

Which means I need to find him a bride.

One who's fine with a femboy. Doable, probably. Worst case, I'll be the bride? Nah. He's a kid.

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

"Hm? What is it, Dea?"

"Your important mission — please let me help. I want to go with you. If I have to stay dressed as a girl, I'll keep crossdressing!"

Important mission…?

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

Then regularly delivering Dea's socks is a viable plan. With spacing so the Goddess doesn't get bored.

Plus, with Dea we can have fun making magic items, and he's cute — soothing to look at!

"All right. If you insist that much, I'll add you to 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 an energy deficit. There are too many artifacts. If we don't retrieve a chunk of them, we'll be done 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 for national cooperation."

"Pavelkant Kingdom shall as well. We can report upward, yes?"

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

"Maybe you can, 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 bad since retrieving artifacts earns SP.

"Then share any info on artifacts we can recover. As for 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 requirement to keep Archmage and Merchant separate. As expected of Dea, cute and clever as ever.

Thus we decided to make a post box with a direct line into my storage. Drop letters in and I'll meet as 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!