CH 142

“……”

I see. The smile was a mind trick to catch me off guard.

Anyway, I had nothing to say.

<You were sloppy, unlike you.>

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ is satisfied with your good strategy to induce his jealousy.]

No, they were just difficult to dispose of. If the volume is large, releasing it all at once will disrupt the market.

Thesilid’s eyes narrowed.

“You made it sound like you weren’t going to go there. You’re mean.”

“Haha……”

I hope my attempt to cover it up with laughter works.

“Well, that’s okay.”

Oh, did it work?

“We go to the mermaid’s dungeon instead.”

Nope.

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ widen her eyes, saying that this is almost like the mindset of trying to get even after seeing an affair.]

Come on, Ms. Libra. It can’t be……

“If you’re not going with me, I’m going alone.” 

“……”

She’s right.

I was a little confused because Thesilid was behaving unlike his usual self. Then he hit the nail on my head with a smile.

“You were going to go anyway.”

“……Sigh.”

This regressor is also quick-witted.

I could only meekly nod my head.

✠

On the first day of arriving at the Principality, the only schedule I had was giving blessings and attending the dinner banquet.

From my point of view, this was just like coming to play in my grandfather’s house, so I was excited to look around the Castle and chat with my Grandpa.

The wonderful and majestic Castle, an affectionate grandfather, and the kind servants.

Ah, the best.

This actually feels like a vacation, not goodwill diplomacy. But on the other hand, there was a little bit of a regretful heart.

What I want to say is.

‘If only the genre were childcare, I would have been treated like a little princess here in my childhood…’

I could have been just as good at baby tongue, being cute and cuddly. 

I’m sure it must have been. Sniff.

[‘The Critic who adjusts the balance’ is speechless at your immature mental age.]

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ since you are already way past that phase, encourages you to thrive in childcare material using your second generation.]

Of course, this is not comforting at all. Rather, it is more like a mental attack.

‘My Lord, please say one word for your loyal believer.’

I called to God hoping for healing.

[‘The World-building God’ takes a moment out of his busy schedule to think about it.]

[‘The World-building God’ nails down that your second generation’s religion must be the World Church and goes back to work.]

“……”

Even World God, whom I believed in, disappeared after only emphasizing the importance of maternal faith. I suddenly got tired.

The dinner schedule had long since ended, so I went into my assigned guest room and changed my clothes.

It was just around dusk in the Principality time zone, but my biological clock, tuned to Elpenheim, was calling for sleep. 

Suddenly, I checked the system date.

The day after tomorrow is July 11th.

“Hmm.”

I rested my chin on the back of my hand, thinking to myself. Turning to my surroundings, I said.

“Will you all please stand down? Don’t let anyone in or out until I call for you.” 

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

I dismissed the handmaidens and was left alone in the room. 

<What are you going to do?>

“I want to go to the point shop.”

I remembered that Grandma, ‘The Supreme Merchant of All Things’, had told me to drop by the last time.

I also had problems to solve.

‘Washing stolen goods……’

Am I stepping into the world of crime? It seems that I’m gradually moving away from the path of a model transmigrator.

<To the point shop……?>

Agnes’s voice caught me as I opened the menu on the system.

<Hm, you know, Ellet.>

“Yes?”

<……No. Let’s talk when we get back.>

“Agnes?”

<Let’s go quickly.>

“Hm, well, okay.”

I was curious, but Agnes’ attitude seemed cautious, so asking now didn’t seem like a good choice.

If that’s the case, we’d better hurry back so I can talk with her.

When I selected the ‘VIP Point Shop’ menu I arrived at the alley with a sense of floating in the air as always.

This was my third visit.

God Grandma was still the same. Behind the counter, she was smoking on her pipe, exuding a fragrant grassy scent.

“Hum Hum, come on in. I was waiting for you.”

“Hello, Grandmother of All Things, I remember you asked me to stop by before.”

“Yes, I called because I had something to tell you.”

God Grandma gestured to a stool in front of the show window with her pipe.

I sat down, meekly and respectfully. 

“What do you mean to tell me?”

“I think you need an exorcism.” 

“……”

At what point should I be surprised?

That this store sells a variety of intangible goods from divination to fortune telling? Or that I need an exorcism?

I was going to ask about both, but God Grandma opened her mouth first.

“I think you have some sort of stalker attached to you.”

“Hik?”

Unbeknownst to me, I made an ugly sound.

I asked in a somber tone.

“As expected, that floppy disk was stolen, right? You sold me stolen property, right?”

“No! As I told you before it’s really not a stolen item! And don’t worry I will only do it if you want to.”

“Of course, I trust you to do it at no extra cost.”

“That’s right. Just take out the floppy disk.”

Since this was also the purpose of my visit, I rummaged through the inventory without a word.

I put a flat diskette smaller than the palm of my hand in front of God Grandma and myself. 

Then she waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal. 

“Stay farther back. If you don’t, your soul friend over there may do a one-ticket-trip to nirvana.”

“Yes.”

I quickly kicked the floor with both feet and the wheeled stool was pushed all the way to the wall.

<Do we have to go this far back?>

“Because Agnes is precious.”

<……Uh, well, thank you.>

Just in case, I even wrapped my hands around the pendant. In the meantime, God Grandma held up the pipe she had just taken a puff of.

“Begone! Begone! Begone of this world!”

She dynamically swung the pipe into the air.

Pssscuk! Pssscuk!

A few sacred white sparks flew over the floppy disk and then faded away.

“It’s done.”

“Already?”

“Yes.”

I scooted the stool back to its original position and picked up the floppy disk to look at it. It looked the same, maybe it was a bit cleaner.

Hmm, I’m not sure, it’s better to ask. 

“Is this all right now? It doesn’t have a problem, does it? Can I use it comfortably?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I’ll gift this to someone soon.”

“Really? Then I’ll gift-wrap it for you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

As expected of the owner of a business, she had excellent skills in distracting customers. God Grandma gave me the artifact in a pretty velvet box with a single white flower.

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ regrets that there’s no ring to go inside.]

With this, I have answered the call of God Grandma, and done all my business.

“Thank you. Then I will be on my way.”

“What, are you going already? Take a look around, a lot of interesting things came in.”

“I don’t have enough points to buy anything.” 

“Do you have to buy something to be a customer? I am not such a mean God.”

“Really? Then I’ll take a look!”

My eyes lit up with excitement.

It seems like God Grandma had something she wanted to show me.

She quickly picked up a large cardboard box and held it in front of my eyes. Inside I saw a bunch of sunglasses. 

“Isn’t this that? Vitality, Sin, and Passion….Eyesight series.”

“That’s right.”

“You said this was a luxury item, is it okay to hoard and pile them carelessly like this?”

“It’s okay because these are replicas.”

“A replica?”

It’s a counterfeit.

I brought a hand to my mouth.

“Oh, my god. I thought you handled stolen goods but not fake ones. The store’s status is, hmm, a little, disappointing……”

“It’s an official product!”

The angry God Grandma lifted up a pair of sunglasses and explained.

“The old Eyesight series had a problem of not being able to be removed once applied, so it was quite the fatal downside. We improved it for one-time use and made it into a mass-production type.”

“Whoa!”

God Grandma handed me one of the mass-produced sunglasses.

“Would you like to try it? This one is Eyesight of Passion.”

“I thought you said they were disposable.” 

“Well, there are many, so what’s the big deal with using a few? Hum hum. Use it here, you can use it for 5 minutes.”

“I’m curious to see what the likability gauge looks like, but doesn’t this only work on people? I’m the only one here.” 

“You use it on yourself. Isn’t it fun? You can check your level of narcissism!”

“Ooooh!”

A Narcissism test! Interesting indeed.

“I want to try.”

“Here, here. Oh wow, that’s pretty. It suits you very well. Hum hum.”

After putting on the Eyesight of Passion, I looked in the tabletop mirror God Grandma had brought out. 

But.

1?

Number one?

“Huh?”

What? Is my self-love only about this much? Am I the type with surprisingly low self-esteem?!

<What’s wrong, Ellet?>

I stuttered.

“E-Excuse me, Grandma. What is the unit behind this number? It’s not a percentage, is it? Or is it a 1 out of 10?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“……The number 1 appears?”

“What?!”

A smoke pipe fell from God Grandma’s mouth.

Grandmother of all things didn’t even think to pick it up and looked at the sunglasses I was wearing.

And.

“Ho…Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, hong, hong ……”

“……Why are you like that? Making ominous sounds.”

“I got it wrong. I gave you the Eyesight of Sin, not the Eyesight of Passion!”

“Wait, then this number 1 is……”

The afterword was given by Agnes.

<Ellet, did you kill someone?>