No Sugarcoating It.

Of the cargo we'd been holding, the girl's clothes — Dea's spare outfits — were ours to keep. Nice. No shopping trip needed.

I was also allowed to keep the pirates' cash. Most of it was "Kumin's proceeds," so it'd basically cover Dea's living expenses. And sock money.

Between reparations and lost sales, Maria was probably taking the biggest hit here. She's generous like that.

Or perhaps this is just pocket change for a lord?

"Kari-chan. Don't sneak in next time either — come through the front gate like today."

"Got it, Maria. Kumin, send a letter when you're somewhere I can unload your cargo."

"I will. Please do. Dee, take care — and keep polishing that cuteness of yours."

"Yes, sister… eh?"

And with a wave, we parted.

"So, Karina-neesan. What now?"

"The church, for now. Got a lot to report."

I've got quite the backlog of deliveries to make.

And I should stock up on a few socks.

"Then… can I head back first? I'm sleepy…"

"We did pull an all-nighter. I'm sleepy too… Go on ahead. I'll catch up later. Feel free to use the room at the pirates' base."

"Okay, I'll head back. Move me, please."

I tucked Dea into storage and headed for the church alone.

 

*

 

"Goddess, I'm here to deliver—"

"You're heeere!!! I've been waiting, Karina-chan!"

"Gwah!?"

The Goddess tackled me into a hug. I went flying.

I hit the ground and she took mount.

"Quickly, hand it over! Socks! The femboy's! Dea-kun-chan's!!"

"Y-yes. P-please accept them…"

I stood and offered three pairs.

Dea's before/after femboy socks, and Kumin's socks.

"Fufu… Very good. Wonderful. I can't stop drooling! Snrk!"

"I'll use the red ticket for triple appraisal… Can I stack tickets?"

"No! The math gets annoying!"

Brutally honest.

"I'll apply the 3x red ticket to all three this time."

"Much obliged!"

"Let's appraise. First, the boy socks… sniff, hmm. 20 SP for that mixture of confusion and resolve when told to crossdress. Kumin-chan's are 20 SP too — practically new, barely worn… But! Today's main course is the femboy socks! The sweet sting of being teased by your first-crush Onee-san is sublime! 100 SP! I promised one hundred for the set, but going over is fine, yes? Please, let me pay more. A toast to fine socks."

"Of course, thank you."

Kumin's came in cheaper than expected — fresh from the bath, barely worn. Still 20 SP — 60 SP with the tripling.

Total: 420 SP.

Also, did you just casually out Dea's first love? Sorry it's me, Dea.

"And there's more, right?"

"Ah, yes… Er, the artifact Poseidon — which part of the ship counts?"

"I'll take it as-is for a flat one thousand SP. And there's more — right? From the pirate ship? Inside?"

"… Ah, the bandages. Right."

"Exactly! Yay!"

Socks (bandages) over artifacts, huh. At least this Goddess is consistent.

Well, this Goddess can draw 'energy' from elsewhere anyway.

"Mm. These have a fine bouquet of embarrassment. The despair of severed feet blended with the catharsis of Karina-chan's healing — like bitter melon stir-fry! 60 SP for the three. I'll issue a 1.5x bounty ticket for your pirate-culling and apply it, okay?"

Nice — more than expected. That's 90 SP with the bonus.

Grand total: 1510 SP. Record haul?

"Which leaves your drink-off 1.2x ticket… I'll trade you a year's supply of period-skip pills for 510 SP with that ticket applied. Limited-time offer!"

"…!?"

She's immediately clawing back the sock money!!!

Normally 600 SP, now 510. A 90 SP discount… Not a bad deal. And no expiration date.

"If you don't buy now, deal's off. Counting down — ten, nine, eight…"

"W-wait! Countdowns are dirty!"

"Se-ven, si-x, fi-ve—"

"I'll buy! I'll buy it!"

"Fo-ur, thr-ee, tw-o, o-ne!"

"I said I'm buying!?"

The Goddess clicked her tongue. Hey. You made me buy it.

"Tch. I wanted to say 'zero, zero, zero.'"

"Why three times… Don't pressure me like that."

"Ahaha. I'll put them in a little bottle."

She handed me a brown bottle with twelve skip pills.

"Oh, and Dea-kun-chan's socks about once every six months, please!"

With the delivery complete and a year's worth of skip pills secured, I returned to the mortal world as the Goddess smiled and waved goodbye.