Summoned a God by Mistake, Now He Won’t Go Back - Chapter 19

Why did she keep having these thoughts?

Was it because it had been so long since she’d shared warmth with anyone, leaving her touch-starved? Or was it simply that she found his human form so attractive that her mind didn’t care he was ‘just’ an invoked?

Either way, it wasn’t rational. Fay desperately tried to deny her own desires, insisting she wasn’t that desperate.

“Does it still hurt when I touch you?”

Infuriatingly, he always acted as though he was only concerned for her well-being, while Fay was the only one unsettled by their contact.

“N-no, it doesn’t hurt.”

“Really?”

His hand, which had been gently brushing the back of hers, slid up her arm.

“Witch.”

Focus. It’s fine. I’m not feeling anything. I’m not touch-starved. I definitely don’t have feelings for a tentacled monster in a human disguise.

Fay silently repeated this mantra and forced herself back into the conversation.

“The Emperor… He’s an extremely ruthless man who wouldn’t hesitate to do anything if it meant killing the witch.”

“But he’s still just human, isn’t he? Ridiculous. A witch, threatened by nothing but a human?”

“You can’t call the Emperor just a ‘human.’ He’s the most powerful leader among men. He controls both the nation and its religion, so a single word from him can bring thousands together.”

Yes. She should focus on the future—on what terrifying things might happen next. This isn’t the time to be getting flustered just because he touched the back of her hand for a moment.

“Troops are gathering in the capital. I don’t know how many more he plans to call, but there’s no doubt he’s preparing for an all-out war.”

Octopus. This man is an octopus. A dangerous beast with a nasty personality, whose thoughts she can’t even guess at.

Fay kept repeating this to herself, trying to settle her racing heart.

“Get it together.”

“I’ve never not been together.”

“…I wasn’t talking about you.”

Fay quietly pulled her hand away. That was enough conversation for tonight.

* * *

The fragile peace couldn’t last.

It happened on a day Fay went out to run errands. She hadn’t dared take Alnazir with her yet, so she’d left him at home.

After buying food and clothes, she was on her way back when she ran into a gang of bandits.

She’d expected this sooner or later, and gripped her staff, bracing herself. But something strange happened.

“Aaagh! Run for your lives!”

Shouldn’t bandits run away from magic, not toward it? Yet here they were, rushing at her en masse—not to attack, but to flee. Every last one of them looked utterly terrified, scrambling past her without even a thought of stealing her bags.

“What the…?”

She was so baffled she almost asked where they were going. But soon she discovered the reason for their panic: all around her house, the bandits had turned to stone, frozen mid-flight.

There were only two possible culprits: a witch, or him.

“You took your time.”

Alnazir greeted her lazily as she walked in, sprawled out on the sofa. For all his complaints about being uncomfortable outside of water, he’d gotten quite comfortable lounging on the couch when he wasn’t sleeping.

“There was something odd outside. Did you see?”

Fay pretended not to know.

“Odd?”

“People turned to stone.”

“Not sure. I didn’t notice.”

Alnazir replied, flipping a page of a book as if he couldn’t care less.

Fine then, Fay decided not to ask anymore. She checked the shelves with her potion ingredients—nothing missing. Next, she inspected the bookcase by the couch. A few books were out of place, but they were all just stuck under the sofa.

She was double-checking when something brushed her fingers: it was Alnazir, reaching up from his lounge to intertwine his fingers with hers.

“Those guys didn’t manage to steal a thing.”

He said, curling his fingers around hers.

Fay tried not to look suspicious as she took a deep breath, but the mild current running through her body made it hard to act natural. Her chest rose and fell with each uneasy breath, and Alnazir’s golden eyes narrowed in amusement.

It was obvious he was having fun teasing her, deliberately letting that faint electricity pass between them just to get a reaction.

He knew she was hyper-aware of every touch, and he was enjoying every second of it.

Well, at least it didn’t actually hurt—so technically, he wasn’t violating their contract.