I had finished my greetings and expressions of gratitude to the Six Kings' Executives—at least for the Ten Demons. All that remained were the Four Great Magic Dragons, the Seven Princesses, and Kuro's family. To be honest, dealing with the Ten Demons had been exhausting, and I wanted to wait a while before diving into the rest.
In particular, the Seven Princesses seemed like they would take quite a bit of time. Although I was already acquainted with Camellia and Erial, I still had five others left to meet.
With the intention of clearing my head, I headed out into the city. By chance, I spotted a familiar face... it was Shia. I had seen her buying super-spicy snacks before, so she probably visited the Sinfonia Royal Capital every once in a while.
"Hello, Shia. What a coincidence."
Since I had happened upon her, I decided to call out. Shia turned around with a radiant smile... wait, what?
"Ah, Kaito. It is good to see you are doing well."
"My apologies. I had the wrong person."
That was strange. I could have sworn it was Shia, but was she some doppelganger? No, I mean, there was no way the Shia I knew would respond with such a refreshing, pleasant smile. She hadn't even clicked her tongue once. She was clearly someone else... or so I thought.
"What is with that reaction? Are you mocking me?"
"No, I should be the one asking what’s with that reaction. Did something good happen to you?"
"Not particularly. I simply realized just how essential your existence is to this world, so I decided I should be at least somewhat civil toward you."
"Shia... have you finally worked yourself sick? Do you need to go to a hospital?"
"I’m going to hit you."
I truly tilted my head in confusion. Until recently, I had been questioning whether she was even an intelligent lifeform, yet her affection level had somehow skyrocketed when I wasn't looking.
"I mean, what do you mean by me being 'essential to this world'?"
"When you are here... when you are around... the Goddess of Fate actually works!"
"Oh... so that’s what you meant by essential."
"It has been such a help... Truly!"
"I-Is it really something you have to say with such deep, heartfelt emotion...?"
I could more or less guess the circumstances, but the look on Shia's face was so tragic that I began to worry about just how much hardship she had endured until now.
"Let me tell you, serving as the God of Fate's assistant is far more difficult than you imagine. First of all, as you well know, the Goddess of Fate does not work. No matter how desperately we, her direct subordinates, work, everything inevitably grinds to a halt at the stages that require her instructions or approval. And of course, even when we beg her to do her job... she refuses."
"I can imagine."
"She won't listen to a word we say, so we have to ask the God of Space-Time to scold her. Only then will she do a tiny bit of work. Truly, just a tiny bit... and once she makes even the slightest progress, she starts whining and escapes from the temple. Then we have to have the God of Space-Time catch her, and once she gets lectured again, the work moves forward just a fraction more. It was a constant, grueling repetition."
"That sounds like hell..."
I thought I understood that Fate was lazy, but hearing the actual impact from a subordinate who suffered through it made the situation sound truly dire.
"Work would progress at a snail’s pace, finally reaching completion just before things became absolutely unsalvageable. At that point, we subordinates—finally able to move forward—would work like our lives depended on it to somehow finish the task. By the time that was over, the deadline for the next job would already be looming, and the cycle would repeat."
"..."
It was a death march that could bring one to tears. Shia, as Fate's direct subordinate and the highest-ranking among the upper gods, clearly had it the worst. No wonder she had wanted to take her frustrations out on me when we first met.
"However, ever since you became her lover, the Goddess of Fate has begun to work voluntarily about once a month, though the timing is irregular. She does it so that the God of Space-Time won't interfere with her time with you."
"Ah, now that you mention it, she did say something like that."
"To us, this was a revolution. When she actually puts her mind to it, the Goddess of Fate's specs are staggering; she can clear away an entire month’s worth of backlogged work in a single day. This is a massive relief. Even if it’s irregular, since we know she will definitely do it once a month, we can just set aside the work that requires her approval and focus on our other tasks."
It certainly placed a different mental burden on them to know for certain that work would be completed at least once a month, rather than living in constant uncertainty about when she might finally feel like doing her job.
"I was honestly surprised. I never knew I could have so much free time... In fact, I have so much leeway now that I’m often at a loss for what to do. It’s not just me; all the gods who serve as her direct subordinates are grateful to you from the bottom of their hearts. Even Chronoa was full of praise for you."
"R-Really? That much?"
"Yes. The mental peace is on a completely different level. We no longer have to desperately coddle the Goddess of Fate to keep her from getting cranky while begging her to just do her job. As long as we set a deadline of more than a month, everything is guaranteed to be finished in time. it is truly wonderful."
Now I understood perfectly why Shia's attitude had changed so drastically. But to think that simply working seriously once a month earned Fate this much praise... just how much work had she been avoiding until now?
Serious-senpai: "I see. Well, her specs are actually incredibly high, so if she felt like it, she could easily finish off a month's worth of work in no time."
???: "In Fate's case, she was the type who could do it but simply wouldn't. Since her habits have improved dramatically after she became Kaito's lover, Chronoa's affection for him has also exploded."