---o---
"So, we're free."
In front of Ishtar's temple, a girl's hesitant voice sounded.
The source of the voice was a very beautiful girl.
Her orange hair was braided into a side ponytail, and the form-fitting maid outfit she wore perfectly accentuated her well-proportioned figure, one that would make Fu Hua weep.
Her delicate face possessed a heroic spirit rarely seen in a girl.
But when that heroic spirit was contrasted with the cute orange cat-ear headband on her head, a wave of gap moe washed over the observer.
What an adorable girl.
And if I manage to win Guda over, it'll probably come with a whole series of beautiful girls like Mash as a bonus.
The youth, whose interest in Miss Guda was growing rather strong, watched the seemingly bewildered girl and smiled faintly.
"I've already received the compensation from Chaldea. As promised, I should let you go."
I'm... just being let go like this?
Miss Guda, who had always felt that this fellow looked at her the same way a big dog looked at a beautiful married woman, was a bit stunned, her expression somewhat suspicious.
When a big dog was faced with a beautiful married woman, he would be relentlessly persistent, spouting an endless stream of flirty lines. But this guy, who had the same look in his eyes as that big dog, was just letting her go so easily?
He was being a little too reasonable.
"I don't have a hobby of tying girls to my side."
The youth looked at Miss Guda, whose expression was still hesitant, and spoke gracefully.
"Using the matter of the debt to forcibly keep you by my side for three days has already broken my own rules a bit."
"Now that Romani has given me the ransom, it would be going too far if I were to continue to detain you."
His way of thinking was strange, yet surprisingly reasonable and principled. These words fell on the ears of the girl who, for the past two days, had been constantly worried about her chastity being in danger.
This guy is actually pretty nice.
Miss Guda thought.
A person's impression of another can be reversed.
If a seemingly perfect, good person is seen doing one bad thing, people will often be disappointed by it.
Conversely, if a person who seems like the ultimate bastard does something decent, it can make people feel that "this guy doesn't seem so bad after all."
It sounds ridiculous, but this phenomenon truly exists.
"So, let's part ways here."
The youth, looking quite dashing, clapped his hands, and a giant dragon-like Honkai beast swooped down from the distance.
"Farewell, and may we meet again."
Miss Mash bid a cheerful farewell to the youth, who actually had a very good temper.
Then, she froze.
The reason was simple. Her Master—Miss Guda's—expression didn't seem very happy.
What was wrong?
Could it be that her Master liked that guy?
Miss Lecherous Eggplant, who would fall for Guda whether she was male or female, looked slightly flustered.
"Um..."
The girl, whose mission in the Seventh Singularity was to retrieve the seventh Holy Grail and repair the Singularity, took a hesitant step forward, walking over to the unknown sun god who seemed about to depart.
"If I may ask... could you transfer the seventh Holy Grail you took from Kingu to us at Chaldea?"
The girl, who was well aware that her request was a bit outrageous, asked with some trepidation.
But, trepidation or not, she still had to ask.
This was a matter concerning the restoration of the Human Order.
She couldn't just ignore the future of human history because she was too thin-skinned.
"We will do our best to provide you with some supplies to compensate for your loss of the Holy Grail."
As if realizing her words were a bit unreasonable, the girl quickly added another sentence.
However, she didn't sound very confident.
The youth before her was a sun god of the God-King level. He didn't seem like the type to be lacking in supplies or money.
They could probably turn all of Chaldea upside down and still not find anything he would deem worthy.
The youth, who had already been standing on the dragon's back, appeared beside the girl in an instant. He looked as if he had encountered a very troubling matter, his brows furrowed.
"Can I refuse?"
The youth, who did indeed possess the Holy Grail, looked at the girl who lacked confidence and spoke.
"There's really nothing in Chaldea that interests me."
"To have me trade something as interesting as a Holy Grail for some useless things... don't you think that request is a bit much?"
Those words made the girl named Fujimaru Ritsuka hang her head in dejection.
How on earth was she supposed to retrieve the Holy Grail of the Seventh Singularity?
Trade for it with something?
They had nothing suitable to offer.
Take the Holy Grail by force?
Putting aside the fact that it would be inappropriate to attack Li-kun, who had been very polite to them...
A group of Servants, whose Spirit Origins at best didn't even reach the level of Divine Spirits, trying to rob the guy who had finished off Kingu in a few rounds and probably had the strength of a main god's true body...
That sounded more like asking for a beating, or rather, suicide.
What was she to do?
Miss Guda felt that the current situation was a tangled mess.
And she didn't have a sword to cut through it.
"How about this? You could try dating me for a week."
Then, the youth's voice reached the girl's ears, making her freeze. She turned her head to look at the source of the voice.
The handsome face of the youth, who had previously stated his interest in her, came into view.
"Huh—!"
The girl, who never expected him to make such a request, found her beautiful eyes widening, like an orange kitten that had just been startled.
"Casually handing over something as precious as a Holy Grail to someone else would obviously make me a fool."
"But seeing a girl I quite like with such a sad expression on her face doesn't make me happy either."
The youth, who had been saying he would wait for Guda to conquer him, explained himself. Then, he took out the Holy Grail and sighed, as if faced with an unsolvable problem.
"So, let's make a deal."
The youth looked at the girl, who still seemed a bit dazed, and asked with great seriousness.
"Do you want to try dating me for a week?"
"If you end up liking me, the Holy Grail will be a gift to celebrate our official relationship. If you don't, then just think of it as a breakup gift."
In other words, no matter what the final outcome, he would give the Holy Grail to Chaldea for free.
Just... for me?
A strange feeling rose in the girl's heart.
The youth, who was probably going to kill Gorgon next and then commission Miss Ereshkigal to handle the soon-to-awaken Tiamat, looked at the girl who bore the mission of repairing the Singularity and asked.
"So, what's your answer?"