Well.

"Uuugh… I'm so sorryyyyy…"

"Honestly. Soto, if something that important was going on, you should've talked to me about it properly. You are my daughter, aren't you?"

Soto flopped over the table with a groan. And then the extent of her crimes became clear.

Apparently, she'd really been doing whatever she wanted when it came to socks and such…

But more importantly—it seems Leona was destined to die.

So, in order to protect her, Soto had confined her and surrounded her with strong, fortified walls.

It's something that's supposed to happen in a decade or so, but she figured better early than late and took advantage of the timing when I was ordered by Haku-san to go to Wakoku to put her plan into motion.

"B-But, Leona-san is your and Mama's mortal enemy, right? I thought you wouldn't help even if I told you, so…"

"Well, yeah, that's true, but things have changed quite a bit thanks to you, haven't they?"

After all, right before we went to Wakoku—Leona was the one who trained me.

Presumably, from that point onward, Soto—more precisely, the Space-Time God Karinisoto—was intervening.

"… Still, how exactly did you manage to confine Leona?"

"Heehee… With love. Love!"

"I'd like to hear a more concrete explanation."

"I made restraints out of love."

What is that even supposed to mean? Is love a physical substance now?

I figured I might have to interrogate her further, but… she genuinely seemed to believe it.

"I kinda want to ask more… but also kinda really don't…"

"Materializing concepts is the foundation of divine artifact crafting! Papa's not quite ready for that level yet."

So, uh… my daughter's crafting skills have already entered god-tier territory?

… Well, I guess if it weren't at that level, she wouldn't have been able to restrain Leona in the first place.

"So you can do it? Well, I guess you can since Leona is restrained…"

"I can only make items that work specifically on Leona. I hardly have any divine power, after all."

Soto puffed out her chest proudly.

She's seriously a Leona specialist, huh…

"Hey, Kehma. If you used GP, couldn't you get Otou-sama to make something like that for you?"

"Ah, using GP like that… I guess that is an option."

"Maybe I should try getting a set of restraints made for Kehma."

"Please don't, Rokuko. There's no need for that, right? … Right?"

"… True. Regular restraints would probably suffice for you."

"Yeah, no reason to go that far with me, right?"

"Exactly. For now, anyway."

… Do Dungeon Cores have some kind of innate desire to entrap their treasures or something…?

Anyway, Soto confessed and Leona was successfully rescued.

The hidden room where Leona had been confined was concealed behind five layers of walls, and it was apparently set up like a small maze.

Why the hell were you building a dungeon without using your Dungeon Core functions?

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Leona arrived at the reception room, leaning on the shoulder of Suira, the head succubus sister.

It had been a day since her rescue, but she still didn't seem fully recovered.

"… Thanks for rescuing me, Kehma-san."

"Well, um… sorry about my daughter, I guess?"

"N-No, it's fine… really, yeah… Ugh, I—I need a tonic…"

Leona pulled a red stone out of nowhere and began gnawing on it.

"Hey, are you really okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I'm totally fine."

That… doesn't sound like something someone who's totally fine would say. Her legs were still shaking and she couldn't even walk properly. Honestly, I could probably beat her in a fight right now.

"What exactly did she do to you?"

"She smothered me with love. I… can't exactly tell a parent the details…"

With a mix of humiliation and embarrassment, Leona turned red.

"If I had to describe it, I'd say… too much pure love becomes a kind of poison. One that even poison immunity doesn't work against."

"Pure love… That's how you'd describe it? From our daughter, it sounds more like stalker-level confinement. In Japan, this would definitely warrant police involvement."

"When you put it that way, it's a crime here too, isn't it? But I won't press charges. It'd be pointless anyway."

"… Well, I appreciate that. I really don't want Soto to have a criminal record."

"She won't. She's Haku-chan's niece, right? Even if she killed four or five nobles, she'd still get off scot-free. Confining one rootless wanderer like me would just get brushed off with a yawn."

Well, one of the reasons we invited Leona here was to settle things, so I'm glad she was on board with that from the start.

Then, as if she suddenly remembered, Leona pulled out another red stone and started gnawing on it again.

"… By the way, what is that red stone?"

"Oh, this? Philosopher's Stone. Want one? They're pretty soothing."

"Wait, the Philosopher's Stone is a tranquilizer now?"

"It's a universal elixir I can mass-produce with [Super Alchemy]. I still need one every 30 minutes just to function after being confined by your daughter…"

"I did scold her, but… seriously, I'm sorry. Really, I am."

She started piling more stones onto the reception room table with a clatter.

I tried taking one. Gnn—hard. It's literally just a stone!?

"You need to channel magic into it, or it stays a regular rock."

"You could've told me that first. I thought I cracked a tooth."

When I chewed it while channeling magic, it had the texture of… cheese? No, more like a gummy—stretchy and chewy.

It was pleasantly soft. Salty, with a slightly metallic taste.

"It's… stickier than I expected."

"The texture changes depending on the magic. With yours, it comes out like that. Mine makes it taste like an apple."

"If Ichika finds out, she's totally going to hand them out to random people…"

"… If you made this with regular alchemy, a pebble's worth would go for about a hundred gold coins? But with [Super Alchemy], I can make them infinitely for free."

Apparently, in [Super Alchemy], the Philosopher's Stone is the base for all kinds of creations—it's basically Alchemy 101. And if she wanted, she could even create them from nitrogen, ignoring the law of conservation of mass.

… So basically, she could make stuff out of thin air with no materials.

How the hell did Soto manage to confine someone like that? Just how broken were those love-powered restraints?

"But still, why does Soto love you so much, Leona? Didn't she get a love confession or something?"

"… Apparently, I 'taste sweet and delicious, forever and endlessly'."

"What does that even mean? Are you a cake?"

"Guess that makes Soto-chan the fork…"

Since she's usually snacking on socks, I guess the Space-Time God version of Soto has completely broken taste buds.

We seriously need to work on her dietary education. I'll ask Ichika to help too…

Oh, and as for Leona's settlement fee? It turned out that just the info that [Leona's supposed to die in a decade or so] was good enough.

Well, with her abilities, she didn't really need any material compensation anyway.