Summoned a God by Mistake, Now He Won’t Go Back - Chapter 128

Fay had already learned firsthand that even helping Virelda with her duties for a short while was genuinely exhausting work. Virelda had spent years preparing alongside Merga before stepping into that role. For Zynie, who had become Guardian with no preparation at all, it would inevitably be far harder.

But contrary to Fay’s worries, Zynie seemed to be managing surprisingly well. Speed was one of her greatest strengths. By the time Fay stopped by out of concern, a third of the backlogged work had already been cleared.

“Zynie, you can’t push yourself too hard.”

The speed was admirable, but it was moving so fast that Fay worried whether she was actually reading and thinking things through properly.

Is this really all Virelda could manage? Struggling over something this easy? Hilarious.

Zynie had been quietly laughing to herself on the inside, so Fay’s concern landed as nothing but nagging. Just another way of treating her like a child and looking down on her.

“I can help you with some of this.”

“I don’t need help that isn’t actually helpful.”

The sharpness of it made Fay question whether she’d heard correctly. When she gently pointed out that the remark was a bit much, Zynie scoffed.

“Do you still think you’re in a position to say things like that to me? You don’t have that right anymore, Fay.”

She had come to help, and this was what she got for it. Fay left in a thoroughly sour mood.

In the end, Fay went home having accomplished absolutely nothing, leaving Zynie to her stubborn independence.

“Why do you look like that?”

She walked through the door still showing her irritation, and Alnazir noticed immediately. He had been pleased to see her home earlier than expected. But her expression killed the mood entirely.

Fay turned her scowl on him. When she thought about it, every single thing that had gone wrong today traced back to the man standing in front of her.

“From now on, don’t just go around granting people’s wishes on a whim.”

“…Can you be more specific?”

Alnazir tilted his head at the sharp look she was giving him. On a whim was far too vague a standard. He had come to understand well enough that his own sense of what was reasonable differed greatly from the norms of this place.

Which meant that without clearer guidelines, even a wish he granted with good intentions was liable to earn him Fay’s fury. That rather defeated the point of doing anything nice at all. It was practically a net loss.

“You want me to spell out the criteria? Which wishes are acceptable to grant?”

“Yes.”

Fay fell into thought, her expression staying sour throughout. When she finally spoke, her voice was thick with displeasure.

“It’s not as though you’re actually a god here. So why should you be granting other people’s wishes?”

You’re just my familiar.

Alnazir blinked slowly at her grumbling. He hadn’t anticipated the objection coming from that angle. But now that she said it, she wasn’t wrong.

There really was no particular reason for him to be granting wishes. It wasn’t as though he was getting anything in return.

“Should I start asking for proper compensation next time?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. What I’m saying is, why would you grant someone else’s… actually. Never mind. Forget it.”

Fay cut herself off abruptly, feeling flustered after frustration.

“Just, just forget I said that last part.”

The stumbling over her words told him she was thrown off about something. Alnazir watched her retreating figure and turned the exchange over in his mind. Then it clicked.

“You’re telling me not to grant anyone’s wishes but yours, aren’t you?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Jealousy. Got it. That’s adorable.”

“…I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. I never said anything like that. Very funny!”

Fay corrected him in a slow voice. She hits the mark and then acts like denying it is enough.

Alnazir smiled to himself and wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her in at the waist and burying his face in the back of her head. He breathed her in. She smelled strongly of wherever she had been; she’d been walking around a lot today.

“Alright, Fay. From now on, I’ll only listen to you.”

“……”

“Feel better?”

“Not really. I feel strange, like I’ve turned into some petty, small-minded witch.”

Fay whined softly, admitting that even she didn’t fully understand the mess of feelings inside her.

“Small-minded, maybe. Still adorable.”

“Something about the way you’re saying that feels off to me…”

It didn’t help that Alnazir was rubbing her stomach as he said it. Fay’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, while he looked back at her with a picture of innocent obliviousness.

She decided she must be the only one thinking strange thoughts. Embarrassed, she cleared her throat.

“A-anyway! No more granting wishes on a whim going forward. And the definition of ‘on a whim’ is other people. Anyone else. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Fay knew perfectly well that she was being petty. But she extracted the promise from him anyway. Something like this could easily happen again, after all.

Right. This is about prevention. Getting ahead of future disasters before they happen. She rationalized to herself that this had nothing to do with jealousy.

What she didn’t realize at the time was that one must be careful when making wishes of a god. Asking him not to grant the wishes of others was in itself, a wish.