No Sugarcoating It.

Of the cargo we were holding, the girl's clothes — Dea's changes — were ours to use freely. Nice, no shopping trip needed.

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

Between reparations and lost sales, Maria's probably taking the largest loss — she's generous.

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."

"Yes. Please. Dee, stay well — and hone your cuteness."

"Yes, sister… eh?"

And with a wave, we parted.

"So, Karina-neesan. What now?"

"Church, for now. Lots to report."

I've got quite the backlog to deliver.

And I should stock up on a few socks.

"Then… may I go back ahead? I'm sleepy…"

"We did pull an all-nighter. I'm sleepy too… Go ahead. I'll come later. Use the pirates' base room as you like."

"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. My drool won't stop! 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 the mixture of confusion and resolve at being told to crossdress. Kumin-chan's are 20 SP too — practically new, barely worn… But! Today's main dish 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 exceeding 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 casually expose Dea's first love? Sorry that 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. This Goddess is consistent at least.

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 three. I'll issue a 1.5x bounty ticket for pirate-culling and apply it, okay?"

Nice — more than expected. 90 SP with the half-again extra.

Grand total: 1510 SP. Record haul?

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

"…!?"

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

Normally 600 SP, now 510. A 90 SP discount… Not a bad buy. Not limited in validity.

"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 corner 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 year's worth of skip pills secured, I returned to the mortal world, the Goddess smiling and waving.