"All right, I'll come back to pick you up tomorrow morning…"
"Yes, thank you. You too, Iris. Please be sure to take a rest."
"Yes. Please look after Onee-sama, Exa-san."
"Yeah, leave her to me." I saw off Phinis-sama and Iris with a nod.
In truth, we were planning to return to the dwarven village all together, but Zana had gotten exhausted from crying and had fallen asleep, so it was decided that we both were to stay overnight.
Incidentally, we were staying at the vacant house provided by the chief's daughter—Elaine-san. It was normally meant as a guest house for members of other demi-human tribes on the occasions they visited the village.
Therefore, the bedding and other miscellaneous stuff were adequately maintained. Zana, who was currently still sound asleep, looked like she was feeling comfortable, too.
"Now then."
As I was stretching my back, thinking of going to have some water before going to bed,
"…Hey, Exa."
"Oh?"
All of a sudden, I heard Zana's voice, and then I slowly looked back at her.
Zana was staring at me while still lying on the bed. I sat down at her bedside and said, "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, don't worry. I've been awake since a while ago."
"Oh, really?"
But I had honestly thought she had fallen asleep because she was exhausted from crying…
"Yes. Um, I want to be alone with you, so…" Zana shyly hid her face under the blanket.
I patted her head with a smile, "I see."
Her hair was very smooth and beautiful.
Now that I thought about it, we hadn't had many chances to be alone lately.
I should use this time to spoil her.
"…You've defeated that demon, right?"
"Yeah. I beat him so badly that he regretted ever having touched you, so rest assured."
Well, it was more like I had beat him until he had lost the will to live in despair, though.
"…I see. I thought you'd never come, but then you did, out of nowhere. I was really relieved and happy to see you. Thank you for coming to save me."
"Don't mention it. It's all because I heard your voice calling for my help."
"Really?" Zana asked in wonder.
"Yeah," I nodded and continued, "I could tell you and the others were fighting, but in the midst of it, I heard a voice, a particularly loud one, calling for me. When I realized it was yours, and noticed that you were crying, I was already in front of that scumbag the next moment. I'm guessing that I'd probably awakened some sort of movement magic that makes use of the Phoenix Seal as the medium. Now, I can protect you at all times regardless of the distance that separates us."
"Fufu, you really are kind. Even before then, you were taking over the damage that I—no, that we received with your"Substitute", weren't you?"
"Haha, it activated on its own without me knowing, though. But that's only natural, isn't it? I don't want to see people dear to me get hurt, after all."
"Yeah. You're just that kind of person."
After a brief joyful laugh, Zana's eyes suddenly moistened, then she looked up at me with, "Hey, Exa," and she said, "My body was touched by that guy. He even saw my underwear. It felt really, really unpleasant."
"Mm."
"So I'd like you to make me forget. With your warmth, overwrite all those unpleasant memories."
"Yeah, I've got it. Then today, please tell me anything and everything you want. It's rare that we get to be together alone. I'll fulfill anything you request as best as I can."
"…Really? Anything?"
Mm! I gave Zana a powerful nod, and then she hid her face under the blanket again and said, "Then… I want you to say 'I love you the most' and 'I love you more than anyone else'."
"Huh!?"
"…You can't?"
"W-well, not that I can't, but…"
I felt dread at the thought of how the others would react if they caught wind of it…
But well, she had just gone through an awful experience. If it could heal Zana's trauma, then I had no other choice, I guessed.
I mean, I did say 'I'll fulfill anything you request'.
And there was no way I could refuse when she begged it with such a cute face.
I nodded, "Alright. But it's special for today only, okay?"
Zana's face brightened in elation, then she shyly opened the blanket and invited me into the bed.
◇ ◇
Meanwhile.
『—!?』
The other saintesses and some of the goddesses scattered all over the world were all attacked by an ominous premonition:
――I don't know why, but I feel like I'm falling one step behind!?