The Promised Date

At the reception room of the village chief's residence.

"So, Wataru, Nerune wants you to go on a date with her at the new park. Can you do it?"

"Yes please!"

Having received a request from Rokuko, I was now asking Wataru to do me a favor.

He had basically no right to refuse, even ignoring how he had no reason to refuse in the first place. In fact, there was no reason for him not to accept.

"I mean, I'd be delighted to go on a date with her."

"Ah, that's great~. I do have one request~"

Just then, Nerune made an additional request.

"The purpose of this date is to increase the success rate of confessions at the park made by Rokuko-sama~, so during our date~, please confess your feelings to me~. If you confess underneath the legendary tree~, I'll answer yes~. Feel free to do whatever you like~."

"Eh?"

"Hmm~? Is anything wrong~?"

Nerune tilted her head in confusion.

"Um, I don't mind fulfilling everyone's request, but Nerune, are you okay with this?"

"It's Rokuko-sama's request~, so there's no reason for me to refuse~, right~?"

"No, I mean, not that…"

I quickly smacked Wataru on the head.

"Shut up, Wataru. This isn't something you need to discuss here."

"Eh, but…"

"Read the situation. If she didn't want to, we wouldn't force her to. Nerune is not refusing, and that's all there is to it."

"…!!"

Indeed. Rokuko and I told Nerune, "If you don't want to do it, feel free to say no."

In other words, at the very least, Nerune does not dislike the idea of being confessed to by Wataru.

To Nerune, whose thoughts had been completely absorbed by her magic research, this was a significant level of trust.

You did it, Wataru. Your love is going to be realized.

"As for the contents of your confession, it's up to you. Just make sure it's not something you'll regret later."

"Y-Yes…"

Wataru nodded firmly… So, what kind of confession will he make?

I'm kind of looking forward to this.

"You seem to be having an interesting conversation. Let me join."

"Geh, Leona!?"

—And, of course, the irregular who'd come to this village wouldn't miss such an atmosphere.

"Ah, hello, Leona. Were you also invited?"

"No, I came on my own. I sensed something interesting… So, I've heard the situation! Are you satisfied with a fixed match, where it's unclear whether love exists?"

"Uh, well…"

Hey, Chaos God, could you not turn our nicely settled conversation upside down?

"So, I'll give a gift to Nerune—yes, one of the ultra-rare magic scrolls I know."

"Really~?"

Nerune showed strong interest in Leona's proposal.

"I can make scrolls via alchemy. So, I can present you with any magic I know in the form of a scroll."

"That's very tempting, isn't it? And what's the price for that?"

Given that scrolls could be created with alchemy, there was probably no scroll that Leona, the goddess of alchemy, could not make. Even when it came to divine magic.

… But she was unlikely to give it away for free.

"If you reject Wataru's confession on your date!"

"I see~… So, that's what you mean~."

Nerune nodded in understanding and looked at me.

Her eyes seemed to be asking, "Is it okay if I reject the confession~?"

"W-Wait, Leona!? Does that mean, it's a competition between my confession and the magic scroll from you, to see which one interests Nerune more!?"

"That's right. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?"

Leona grins.

"Hey Leona, that's not fair."

"Oh? It's not a bad proposal for you, right Kehma-san? With just making her reject Wataru's confession, your subordinate gets a significant power-up."

Yes, that's what's so cunning about it. It's not a bad proposal for me.

After all, even if it's just one scroll, it can be duplicated by Soto's [Minor Replication].

Every one of my dungeon subordinates would be able to learn one of the rare magics that Leona possessed.

The Space-Time God, Soto, probably also knew about this and had told her about it.

Furthermore, the phrase "anything you want" meant that one could not choose without seeing a "list".

Being able to see the list of magic that Leona possesses is information I would like to have, considering the future.

However, that would mean throwing away the successful confession requested by Rokuko.

"… Guh…! You're really so mean…!"

This forced me to choose, in addition to whether Nerune accepts or rejects Wataru's confession, whether or not I should abandon Rokuko's request and have Nerune reject the confession.

That's how attractive the reward of "a gift of one scroll of any magic Leona possesses" was.

… The choice I should make here is—

"Alright, I understand. I'll accept your proposal… Nerune, you can decide whether to accept the confession or reject it and accept Leona's magic scroll. Show it through the results of the date."

"Really? Are you sure?"

—Throw it to the flow! I will become a bystander and leave the fate to others.

"Oh, that's a boring choice."

"I thought about it from another point of view. If there's no loss either way, I might as well just watch."

"… Fine, this time Wataru-san and Nerune-chan are the main targets."

Leona looked at Wataru with a smirk.

"So, Wataru. If you want to win over Nerune, you should try to make your confession more attractive than Leona's magic scroll."

"Oh… Yes, I understand. I understand perfectly. In fact, that's exactly what I want!!"

Well, it's good to see Wataru motivated.

… If it doesn't work out, I'll apologize to Rokuko.